I Joined Twitter

I have to laugh at myself.  When Twitter began taking off in its popularity I was one that smirked and shook my head about it.  So was my husband.  We both thought that it was 'just another social site' like MySpace or Facebook.  I did not anticipate the powerhouse Twitter would be in regard to professional networking.  It seems that every where I turn - there's Twitter.  As a writer (aspiring for publication) the opportunity to create name recognition is something I can not pass up.  Essentially, Twitter is free advertising for me.

Will I follow my family, friends, authors and bands that I like? Of course I will.  There's no reason not to do so.  So, feel free to laugh at me as I am laughing at myself.  And here's my link to Twitter if you are interested.

The Pentagon Burns 10,000 Books

My husband and I saw the above title as a news ticker on CNN this morning while we were working out.  Honestly, I about fell off the treadmill.  I had to make sure he read it because I thought I had to be seeing things.  Unfortunately, I read the ticker correctly.  Upon doing a Google search I have learned that this dismal act has indeed occurred.

Yes, in the year 2010 the American government is burning books! Appalling, disgusting and illegal are three words that immediately run through my mind, heart and soul about this act.  As Americans we have a constitutional right to free speech and yet this atrocity has occurred.

Here's a link to the article on Fox News.  I couldn't find anything at the CNN website, even though their channel is where we saw the news this morning.  The book is called Operation Dark Heart by Lieutenant Colonel Tony Shaffer.  Here is a blurb from the Fox News article about the book:

In a letter obtained by Fox News, the DIA says national security could be breached if "Operation Dark Heart" is published in its current form. The agency also attempted to block key portions of the book that claim "Able Danger" successfully identified hijacker Mohammed Atta as a threat to the United States before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

I can honestly say that I understand and appreciate that the military works hard to keep American citizens safe.  I also understand that they were concerned about certain security breeches within this book.  However, the Pentagon approved the printing of this book.  If they had concerns about the content, why wasn't it dealt with before the book went to print?

Now the answer given by Obama and the Departement of Defense is to buy the first printing of the books - BURN them - then change the content and allow a second, new printing.  We do not live in Nazi-era Germany! WHY is the United States of America burning books? If the act itself isn't insulting enough - they've done this during the American Library Associations Banned Books Week.  As I said, appalling!

Currently Reading

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme about (mostly) books and reading. This weeks question:

What are you reading right now? What made you choose it? Are you enjoying it? Would you recommend it? (And, by all means, discuss everything, if you’re reading more than one thing!)

I am still reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson.  The book is really good but I've been busy (as usual) so I'm only 100 pages into it.  This is the third book in Larsson's Millenium trilogy.  I have been curious about this series for a while.  It seemed, for a while, that every where I turned someone was talking about or reading these books.  I had to know what all the fuss was about and gave them a try.  I'm relly gad I did.  I love this trilogy and will definitely keep the books for a future re-read.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Teaser

Teaser Tuesday's is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read -
Open to a random page -
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
 
Teaser from The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson. 

"Blomkvist won't discuss it without his lawyer being there.  And Paulsson arrested Blomkvist when he was trying to hand in the weapon to the police."

I'm only about 50 pages into this book but I am loving it so far.  I'm trying really hard not to read the book too fast but I think I'm going to fail at this.  I already feel myself not wanting to put it down when I have to.  If I get a chunk of reading time I know I'm going to spend it reading.  I just need to know how everything ties up for Blomkvist and Salander.

Strong v. Weak Characters

Musing Monday's is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading! This week’s question:

What makes you love or hate a character in a book?

Quite simply, I love strong characters.  If they are dealing with or have overcome adversity in a strong, positive way then I am a happy camper.  What I can't stand is whiny, pathetic, feel-sorry-for-me characters.  The ones who never grow and just want the world to cater to them.  Yuck! Give me a kick-butt, strong character any day, thanks very much.  Lisbeth Salander from Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy is my favorite right now.

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon is held twice annually; once in April and once in October.  Which means, to my excitement, that there is one coming up in three weeks.  Saturday, October 9th, to be exact.  Before anyone is daunted by the '24 Hour' part of this - don't be.  This is, above all else, meant to be a FUN event.  If you read for the full 24 hours then great and if you don't that's great as well.  Just so long as you have fun while participating.  For more information and to sign up go here.

This will be my first time participating in the read-a-thon.  Do I want to read for the full 24 hours? You bet I do! I am a proud bookworm and would absolutely love to read for that much uninterrupted time.  Will I read for the full 24 hours though? Probably not.  I assure you that I am not being pessimistic but wholly realistic.  With two wonderful, active children and an equally wonderful husband I just know that there will be the need for my attention through the day.  I am going to participate though and be happy with any amount of time that I get to devote to reading. 

Oh, and another reason I know my time won't equal 24 hours? Sleep.  I am no longer of an age (and no, I'm not that old) where I can go without my sleep.  No way, no how, not going to happen.

So, who wants to do the read-a-thon with me? Let's read and blog and have fun doing this together.

Love Walked In Teaser

Teaser Tuesday's is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read -
Open to a random page -
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
 
Teaser from page 39:  I'm not very far along in this book but I'm enjoying it.  This is just what I needed after my last book.

Less than twenty-four hours after I got the flowers, he called.  Didn't just call, but called from London, thank you very much.  When I heard his voice I could just feel the presence of scones and lemon curd on a tray next to him and the red double-decker buses lumbering by outside.

Accidental Water Damage

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme about (mostly) books and reading. This weeks question:

You’ve just dropped your favorite, out-of-print book into a bathtub, ruining it completely … What do you do now?

I'm positive the first thing I'd do is cry.  Then I'd frantically pull out the hair dryer and valiantly attempt to dry all of the pages.  Although, I do have to say that if it was my favorite book and out-of-print - I wouldn't have it near the tub of water in the first place. 

All Right

All is well with the library.  I suppose the e-mail I received must have been an automated thing because my account is free and clear; everything returned and no late fees.  Now I'm just waiting on books I have on hold.  Which is perfectly all right as I rather enjoy the anticipation of the upcoming books.  LOL

I am also finally at the end of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.  I say finally because it has taken me a while to get through the book.  I like the style of Sebold's writing but the story has been very difficult for me to read.  It's actually going to be a relief to finish this book.  Then a proper review shall follow.

Slight Frustration With My Library

I had books that were due back to the library yesterday.  I usually like to get my books back early but just didn't have the time to make that happen this go around.  However, I did return them on time.  When I went to the library yesterday afternoon, much to my surprise, it was closed! I don't like returning my books to the outside dropbox but had no choice.  Sure enough, today I got an e-mail telling me the books were now overdue! UGH!! I'm really hoping this is just a computer glitch that will be taken care of come Tuesday.  If not, I am going to pitch a fit because I always, always, always return my books!

Banned Books Week Sptember 25 - October 2, 2010

Just the idea of banning books makes my stomach turn.  Knowing that there have been so many banned and often literally burning mountains of books makes me want to cry.  Why some people feel they have the right to decide what others should not and can not read makes me furious.  Of course, I do not mean a parent's obligation to be sure their children are reading age appropriate material.

Every year the American Library Association hosts Banned Books Week in order to educate the public about books that certain groups either have or are attempting to have banned.  This weeks is also designed to celebrate an individuals freedom to read. 

For more information, including a list of banned and challenged books, visit the ALA website

I must admit that I have read several of the books on these lists.  There are even some, such as Animal Farm and To Kill a Mockingbird that I read in high school.  These two books are considered 'too political'.  That is so utterly ridiculous to me! Too political? In the United States of America - really? Well yes, I suppose so, as it has become increasingly popular to not have a clear political opinion.

I'm going to read through the entire list and pick one or two books to intentionally read during this week.  Actually, I've just decided that I'm going to read all of the books on the darn list.  I have no idea how long it will take me to do this but I'm going to do it all the same.

Long Weekend

I am so very happy that we have a three day weekend ahead of us.  Hopefully there will be a lot of fun, relaxing family time and plenty of time for reading.  I am planning to finish up The Lovely Bones and a J.R. Ward book that I am also reading.  Then I will finally be diving into The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson.  I have been looking forward to this one a lot.

I also need to return some books to the library tomorrow.  Since I am not able to return from there empty-handed - I'm certain my to be read pile will be even bigger tomorrow night.

Film to Paper

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme about (mostly) books and reading. This weeks question:

Even though it’s usually a mistake (grin) … do movies made out of books make you want to read the original?

The simple answer for this question is yes.  Of course, I'm not going to leave it at just a one word response.  I recently watched the movie Ghost Writer with Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan.  I didn't know that it was based on a book when I rented the movie for my husband and I to watch.  At the end of the movie (which I thought was excellent, by the way) I found myself yearning for more details and wishing it was based on a book.  I did a little research and was quite pleasantly surprised to learn that the book is called The Ghost by Robert Harris.

Another book/movie combo that I've just recently learned about is Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.  I saw the preview for the movie when I went to see The Girl Who Played With Fire with one of my closest friends.  I definitely want to read this book now.  I probably will see the movie as well, once it comes to Netflix.

I will add that I almost always like the book better than the movie.  Of course, being an avid reader, that's no big surprise.

September

I can not believe that it is September First already.  The time really does fly.  It seems to fly by faster each year now that I've had children.  I think that's in part because I have so much fun with them.  Plus, their schedules are crazy, as well.  Before I know it, it's going to be December and the holiday season and another year will begin.  Great fun!

Anyway, it's September and I am still blogging.  I don't know if I'll be able to continue doing it every day (probably not in all honesty) but I'm going to continue as long as I feel inspired.

I have to go now, though.  The wonderful children who keep me so happily busy are in need of my attention.  Here's hoping (and trying) for another month of wonderful blogging.