I am not sure what this mini challenge is numbered as because I quickly want to enter this one.
Bart from Bart’s Bookshelf is hosting this one. Here is what his mini challenge is:
Quite simple really, I want you to pull three or four books off of your bookshelves and use them to form a sentence, from the book titles, take a photograph and upload it somewhere you can link to it from. (ie: your blog, photobox, flickr any of the various twitter pic sites, facebook… etc… etc…)
He suggested you don’t spend more then 10 minutes doing this one and I think I did.
Here is my sentence:
Five things I can’t live without: my little red book, New york City, roses, the blue notebook and marshmallows for breakfast.
I hope that is okay if not perhaps you got a good little laugh out of it.
copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.
Okay I think I just realized I labelled these wrong so let me correct this, the post after this is technically the intro mini challenge and this is the first mini challenge. So sorry to confuse anyone.
Thanks to Miss Remmer from Miss Remmers Review for hosting the first mini challenge.
In this challenge we would like you to write a post on your blogs about your kick off strategy. What have you surrounded yourself with for these early hours of the challenge besides your books? Is there a coffee thermos, lucky book mark, snacks, pillow…. We want to know how you have prepared so you do not have to leave your cozy reading space (by the way – we’d like to know what is too…. (are you still in bed, a chair, the couch…..)
As you can see by the above photo this is where I will be situated most of the day today. This is the comfiest love seat and perfect for me to recline and stretch out. I have my book buddy handy if my hands start to get sore from holding the book (s) but for now its my handy little holding spot for a big cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate. Also near by is a little note pad and pen to make notes after I am done reading my book, I have two new book marks that I recently bought to use should I switch books in between readings. I know you can’t really tell by the picture but that blanket is super soft and comfy. That cute little dog is a webkinz that Michael gave me for mother’s day a few years ago to keep me company.
Happy reading.
copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.
With the first hour under our belts it feels pretty good.
Here is the first mini challenge that is being hosted by Darcy.
Where are you reading from today? 3 facts about me … How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours? Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)? If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, Any advice for people doing this for the first time?
-I am reading from my comfy love seat today. (If I can remember I will try and snap a picture of my reading spot today.)
-Three facts about me:
I love to read
When I read I tend to munch.
I need to be 120% comfy when I am reading so I always dress comfy and have a nice soft blanket around.
-On my TBR pile today I have 6 complete books to read and one that I started to read last night. Plus I have 6 mangas I borrowed from the library to break up my reading.
-My Goals:
To at least complete 5 books so that I can have a weeks worth of reviews scheduled to post the week I am in NYC.
To try and read at least the whol 24 hours
To try and comment on as many blogs as I can.
– I am not a vetern read a thoner but I know the general advise is not to get overwhelmed. Start out light and easy and mix things up.
Good Luck fellow read a thoners.
copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.
TITLE: Dirty Little Secrets AUTHOR: C.J. Omololu PUB DATE: February 2010 PAGES: 212
ABOUT THE BOOK: A gripping story about the secret shame of compulsive hoarding
Everyone has a secret. But Lucy’s is bigger and dirtier than most. It’s one she’s been hiding for years—that her mom’s out-of-control hoarding has turned their lives into a world of garbage and shame. She’s managed to keep her home life hidden from her best friend and her crush, knowing they’d be disgusted by the truth. So, when her mom dies suddenly in their home, Lucy hesitates to call 911 because revealing their way of life would make her future unbearable—and she begins her two-day plan to set her life right.
With details that are as fascinating as they are disturbing, C. J. Omololu weaves an hour-by-hour account of Lucy’s desperate attempt at normalcy. Her fear and isolation are palpable as readers are pulled down a path from which there is no return, and the impact of hoarding on one teen’s life will have readers completely hooked.
MY THOUGHTS:
After reading Kristi’s The Story Siren review of Dirty Little Secrets I had to rush out and buy the book.
All I have to say is “OMG” what a read. It was really good but yet sad and disturbing. Once I started to read the book I couldn’t put it down and I pretty much managed to read it in one sitting. I think there was only one part that I found kind of gross and I had to put the book down but I guess it is to be expected in a household that hoards.
Lucy is the main character and she is a young teenage girl who wants a life like her friends do and to live like they do. In a clean and organized house. Only once has Lucy’s secret got out and she was made fun of. Now in a new school she is trying so hard to keep her lies and her secrets from her best friend, Kaylie.
No one knows what goes on behind closed doors. That is until her mother suddenly dies in the house buried under junk that Lucy fears her secret is about to explode and everyone will find out what kind of life Lucy is living. She is afraid that she will loose her best friend and possible new boyfriend should word get out about what goes on behind closed doors.
The book is about that one day when Lucy finds her mother dead on the floor. She fears calling 911 because she doesn’t want everyone to know about the hoarding. So she comes up with a plan, will she be able to do it or will it all back fire?
In a way I was frustrated with Lucy for not calling 911 but for some reason I could understand why she didn’t right away. If you had that kind of secret would you want the world to know?
Did you know that within 100,000 people that roughly 350 of them are hoarders? Did you know that 250,000 animals are victims to animal hoarding?
Thankfully I have no problem passing things on and getting rid of things either by friends, drop off center or recycling (garbage etc. I never knew anyone like this growing up and it was only when I met someone in my now extended family did I realize this was something. I knew this person was a hoarder from day one of walking into his apartment. He would never throw away anything and I mean that. I know the location of a storage locker to prove it. He would actually root through what people threw away and if it was good he would pick it up. He tried several times to pass things on to us and we would quickly throw it away once we got home.
copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.
I have been sitting on this idea for a little while now and wondering if I should take part? For me it always seems that the 24 hour read a thon always falls on a Saturday that I am super busy so is the case again this time.
Saturday this year falls once again on the weekend that I have to take care of my mother plus in the afternoon I am going to an author event at my local Chapters bookstore. Catherine McKenzie is going to be there signing her book Spin.
I was on twitter this week and there was talk about the read a thon. I mentioned that I might take part but not sure, well before I knew it Kate from Midnight Book Girl bookmailed me. (blackmailed)and I am not one to be bookmailed or blackmailed so I gave in to the pressure and signed up.
The only thing that I plan on doing differently is making up the time I have to take out of my Saturday to go to the book signing and my mothers and add it on to Sunday. I am suppose to start at 8am Saturday and finish at 8am Sunday. I hope that is okay with the organizers.
Also the books I will be reading in that time frame is books that I have on my TBR pile which consist of books I either bought, was given to me or ARC’s. I don’t have a set list yet but will post them in my beginning read a thon post on Saturday. I am sure my list will be alot but I am really hoping that I can at least read 5 books.
Those reviews will only appear on my blog in May as I am trying to make sure to have content for BEA/NYC week and this is the reason I am doing the read a thon.
I didn’t see anything in FAQ about any of this so I am presuming it will be okay.
Wish me luck I know I probably won’t last but I figured if I can at least get 5 books off my shelf its better then nothing.
copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.
TITLE: Asking For Trouble AUTHOR: Sandra Byrd PUB DATE: April 2010 PUBLISHER: Tyndale House Publishing PAGES: 272
ABOUT THE BOOK: When her family moves to London, 15-year-old Savvy Smith has to make her way in a new school and a new country. She just knows the school newspaper is the right place for her, but she doesn’t have the required experience, and the cute editor-in-chief is not looking to train anyone. She has to come up with a way to prove herself and nab the one available position on the newspaper staff at Wexburg Academy. London Confidential is a new series where British fashion, friendships, and guys collide, and where an all-American girl learns to love life and live out her faith.
MY THOUGHTS:
Sandra is a new to me author. She has written several adult and young adult novels. Asking For Trouble is her latest young adult novel which just happens to be part of a four book series.
Savvy’s family has just moved to London England. She is 15 years old. Her father got a job promotion and that is why the family is in London. Her mother is a stay at home mom and she has a little sister and her dog to deal with.
Her father is doing very well he fits in at work it just seems like everyone else hasn’t just yet. Savvy hasn’t made friends yet and its seems like her old friends from back home are all moving on which bothers Savvy.
Savvy wants to fit into her new school very badly and make friends. She discovers how hard it is to fit in and to make friends as it seems like everyone is already friends with who they want to be.
Seeing a poster in school looking for someone to help out on the Wexburg Academy school newspaper. Savvy jumps at the chance thinking this will be her ticket in. The only thing about this is that Savvy has no experience working on a school paper and Jack the super cute editor of the paper lets Savvy know he has no time to train her but offers her the position of delivering the school paper.
With the chance of the school dropping the paper from the budget they have to figure out how to keep the paper alive. Savvy comes up with the idea to put in an advise column. Jack likes the idea and she writes a sample column and gives it to him. Will he think its good enough to get a spot on the school paper or will it go to someone else?
I really enjoyed reading Asking For Trouble so much that I actually went out and bought the second book in the series. There was enough action going on in the book that kept me interested in reading the book and I managed to read it in one sitting. I think this is a great book for the tween and young adult crowd.
Special thanks to Christy Wong of Tyndale House Publishers for sending me a review copy.
copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.
It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!
You never know when I might play a wild card on you!
***Special thanks to Christy Wong of Tyndale House Publishers for sending me a review copy.***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Best-selling author Sandra Byrd has published nearly three dozen books in the Christian market, including her latest series, French Twist, which includes the Christy Award finalist Let Them Eat Cake (WaterBrook Press, 2007) and its sequel, Bon Appétit (WaterBrook Press, 2008). Many of her acclaimed fiction and nonfiction books target the tween and young adult markets. She has also published a book for new moms entitled Heartbeats. Several of Sandra’s shorter works have appeared in periodicals such as Relevant, Clubhouse, Pockets, Decision, and Guideposts. For the past seven years, she has shared her secrets with the many students she mentors through the Christian Writers Guild. Before turning to full-time writing, Sandra was an acquisitions editor in the ABA market. She lives in the Seattle, Washington, area with her husband and two children.
List Price: $6.99 Reading level: Ages 9-12 Paperback: 272 pages Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers (March 4, 2010) Language: English ISBN-10: 1414325975 ISBN-13: 978-1414325972
AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:
I hung back at the doorway to the cafeteria of my new supercool British school, Wexburg Academy. Most of the lunch tables were already packed, and the room was buzzing with chatter. The populars, whom I’d secretly nicknamed the Aristocats, commanded an entire table right in the center of the room. Their good looks and posh accents made up the sun around which all other tables orbited. The normal kids were in the second circle, arranged by friends or clubs or activities. The drama table was on the outer edge of the room, and so were the geeks, the nerds, and the punk wannabes–way out there like Neptune, but still planets. Most everyone had a group. I didn’t.
Okay, so there was one table with lots of room. The leftovers table. It might as well have been the dark side of the moon.
No way.
I skipped lunch–again–and headed to the library. One of the computers was available and I logged on, desperately hoping for an e-mail from Seattle.
There was an e-mail from my grandmother reminding me to floss because British dentists only cleaned adult teeth.
Spam from Teen Vogue.
An invitation to join the Prince Harry fan club–I opened it and gave it a quick scan. I’d consider it more later.
And . . . one from Jen!
I clicked open the e-mail from my best friend at home–well, it had been my home till a couple of months ago–hoping for a lunch full of juicy news served alongside tasty comments about how she missed me and was planning stuff for my next visit home. I craved something that would take me the whole lunch period to read and respond to and remind me that I did have a place somewhere in this universe.
From: Jen To: Savannah
Hey, Fortune Cookie, so how’s it going? Met the Queen yet? LOL. Sorry I haven’t written too much. It’s been so busy. Samantha took the position you’d been promised on the newspaper staff. She’s brand new, but then again you would have been too. It seemed strange without you at first, but I think she’ll do okay–maybe even better than okay. And hey, life has changed for everyone, right? Things are crazy busy at school, home, and church. We hang out a lot more now that a bunch of us are driving. Will write again in a few weeks.
Miss you! Jen
A few weeks! My lungs filled with air, and I let it out slowly, deflating like a balloon with a slow leak. I poised my hands over the keyboard to write a response but just . . . couldn’t. What would I say? It had already been weeks since we’d last e-mailed. Most of my friends texted instead of e-mailing anyway, but texting across the Atlantic Ocean cost way too much. And the truth was . . .
I’d moved, and they’d moved on.
I logged off the computer and sat there for a minute, blinking back tears. Jen hadn’t meant to forget me. I was simply out of her orbit now.
I pretended to read Sugar magazine online, but mostly I was staring at the clock, passing the time till I could respectably head to my next class.
Five minutes before class I swung my book bag onto my shoulder and headed down the hall. Someone was stapling flyers to the wall. “Hi, Hazelle.”
“Hullo, Savannah.” She breezed by me, stapling another pink flyer farther down the wall. We had math class together–oh yeah, maths, as the Brits called it–first period. I’d tried to make friends with her; I’d even asked her if she’d like to sit together in lunch, but she’d crisply informed me that she sat at the table with the other members of the newspaper staff.
She didn’t bother with small talk now either, but went on stapling down the hall. I glanced at one of the flyers, and one sentence caught my eye right away: Looking for one experienced journalist to join the newspaper staff.
I yanked the flyer off the wall and jammed it into my bag. I was experienced. Wasn’t I?
A nub of doubt rose inside me–the kind that popped up, unwelcome, anytime I tried to rationalize something that wasn’t exactly true or right.
This time I swallowed it back. I thought back to Jen’s e-mail that kind of felt like a polite dismissal. I lived in London now.
It was time to take matters into my own hands.
My review is scheduled to appear shortly after this is posted. Check back to see what I thought of the book.
copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.
TITLE: Asking For Trouble
