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Words Move Me – Giveaway of Sony Reader Pocket Edition

Nov 16th, 2009 by trish

I'm pretty sure you're new to my blog, so I'd like to encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed. I generally talk about books, authors, blogging, and life. Feel free to poke around; I think you'll really enjoy it! Thanks for visiting!

sony reader pocket editionOh, do I have a giveaway for you.

I was approached by Digital Influence Group, a company that has teamed up with SONY Electronics Inc. to generate awareness around a new website called words move me. To generate awareness and excitement for words move me, they’re giving away a SONY Reader Pocket Edition to one of you.

Words move me is about connecting readers with the emotions they felt while reading a certain book. If I want to read an inspiring book, I can search that term and see what it brings up. (By the way, I DID search that term because I always want to be inspired, and found this: “I discovered Arty when I learned to read. He was a little fish who didn’t follow the crowd. When others swam this way, Arty swam that way. He also wanted to make a big splash in life. Arty inspired me to follow my heart, even when I had to swim alone.” The book is Arty the Smarty by Faith McNulty. That book sounds like a keeper. ;) )

If you search “wow”, you’ll find this: “With little interest in literature, I was assigned One Hundred Years of Solitude. Wow! It ignited a passion for literature, unlocked my own creativity and opened my world to non-Western works leading to life enriching cultural exploration and adventures.” Doesn’t that make you smile? To know that One Hundred Years of Solitude opened up the world of books to someone? Doesn’t that make you want to go read the book if you haven’t?

If you search “hopeful”, you’ll find this about A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith: “Since age 13, this has been my touchstone. The story of Francie Nolan growing up passionate, creative, hopeful-despite poverty and tragedy in the concrete in a Brooklyn tenement. It still thrills my heart. I even named my firstborn daughter Francie Nolan.” I don’t know about you, but I’ve just moved that book to the top of my teetering TBR pile.

I’ve had lots of emotional reactions to books. In fact, you could say that’s how I choose which books to keep! I went through my books and came up with several that I wanted to document how they’d made me feel. You can check them out in this cool widget. :)

SO! I’m sure you want to know how to win the SONY Reader Pocket Edition, right?

I’m going to make this really easy on you. Here’s the deets:

How to Enter:

  • Answer this question in the comments section: What is the one book that you’re never able to forget and what was the emotion that that book inspired?

Rules/Information:

  • One entry per person.
  • Any entry that does not follow the rules will be disqualified.
  • This contest starts on Monday, November 16, 2009 and goes through midnight PST Friday, November 20, 2009.
  • Winner will be announced on Monday, November 23, 2009.

Disclaimers:

  • SONY has empowered me to participate in this campaign and I have been compensated with a SONY Reader Pocket Edition™ valued at $199.99 (I got the pink one).
  • No purchase necessary to win. Odds of winning are not increased by a purchase.

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Posted in Books, Contests & Giveaways | 146 Comments »

Sometimes You Just Gotta Cry (Or, Let’s Talk Sad Movies)

Nov 13th, 2009 by trish

Warning: This post may be unsavory to anyone of the male persuasion.

I’m generally a happy and optimistic person, if a bit on the prickly side when someone calls me on the phone and expects me to know who it is without them saying their name, particularly when I only see them in passing and have never spoken to them on the phone.

I digress.

(and notice how I digress IN THE FIRST SENTENCE. Having a conversation with me is kind of like having to play connect the dots with your eyes closed.)

ANYway, while I AM generally happy and optimistic, sometimes I just need to cry. Sometimes emotions get pent up because you can’t always tap into an emotion right when you feel it. And where are those emotions supposed to go? My emotions don’t just evaporate. My emotions ferment and fester and get nice and ripe until I have a complete meltdown over something insignificant.

I’ve learned over the years that when I’m feeling the need to cry but don’t know the reason and don’t really have an outlet, I can rent a sad movie, cry my eyes out, and get on with my life. If I do this, I don’t have meltdowns, I don’t blow things out of proportion, and I don’t get unusually sad. I get on with my life in a productive way.

hope floatsIt used to be that when I needed a good sob, I’d watch Hope Floats (because that first scene can make me cry every. single. time.) and be done with it.

Lately…meh…I don’t really feel like watching Hope Floats. I’ve seen it a dozen times, and I just need something different.

I used to watch Beaches, because there’s this one scene where Bette Midler is yelling at Barbara Hershey that would make me cry and cry and cry…but I’ve now seen it a dozen times.

Kind of related to this whole subject, I saw City of Angels when it first came out, and I’ve never been so depressed over a movie. I’ve never seen it again, because while sad movies can be good, I’d rather not finish the movie thinking that the world is a terrible horrible place.

ps i love youA couple of months ago I rented P.S. I Love You, having a vague idea of what it was about, and sobbed the length of the film.

I’ve been feeling the need to watch a sad movie lately, to adjust my inner balance. I’ve rented P.S. I Love You for the weekend. My husband is playing poker with his buddies tonight, and I have nowhere to go tomorrow, so I can watch the movie tonight and not worry about having puffy eyes tomorrow. I’m going to cry out all of my pent up frustrations so I can start with a fresh, clean bottle with which to start bottling things up again. :D

(I’m hoping against hope that it’s these pent up feelings that are giving me nightmares again. Two nights ago I had a dream that I saw a woman take her child (5 years old?) to a window, hold him out of the window (the child had wanted to hang out of the window, but still!), and ended up dropping him. The child hit a bench with about half of his body. Obviously, he died. I need to do something so I have more pleasant dreams!)

Now that you know how *I* deal with feelings and emotions that can’t be dealt with in the moment, how do you  deal with those emotions that pile on and pile on until you could explode?

Or! What movies make you cry? (You get -1 point if you mention Steel Magnolias.)

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Posted in Life | 46 Comments »

Review – The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson

Nov 5th, 2009 by trish

adoration of jenna fox

The Adoration of Jenna Fox
by Mary E. Pearson
265 pages
Published April 29, 2008
Fiction, young adult

You can hear me blather on about The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson OR you can take my word for it that you should just drop everything and go read this book. I’d seen this book around and I was all, Mmhm, looks like a good book, I’ll pick it up later blah blah blah. But then finally, FINALLY, someone convinced me to go read it RIGHT THAT MOMENT. Hopefully I will do the same with you.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox takes place in the future when medicine is more advanced. Jenna Fox wakes up from an accident and doesn’t know where she is, doesn’t know what happened, and can’t even remember who she is. She has to rely on home movies her parents made from when she was a child until not long before the accident.

But what’s weird about this whole thing is Jenna has no friends and she’s not allowed to venture outside of the house.

WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON??!!

And it is from there that greatness is achieved in this book.

And it wasn’t just that it was a great story, though it really was a great story and really well written. I have no beef with either of those elements. It had great themes and it made me think and I think I tried to make out with the book. Err, scratch that last part.

How far would you go for someone you love? What are the pressures and expectations that parents put on their children? What kind of pressures do kids put on themselves? When does medicine go from helpful to harmful? When can someone make a choice for someone else? How far will a parent go for a child?

But with all the scenes, the birthdays, the lessons, the practices, the ordinary events that should have been left alone, what I remember most are Jenna’s eyes, flickering, hesitations, an urgent trying. That’s what I remember most from the discs, a desperation to stay on the pedestal. I see that in her eyes as much as I see their color. And now, in the passing of just a few weeks, I see things in faces I didn’t see before. I see Jenna, smiling laughing, chattering. And falling. When you are perfect, is there anywhere else to go? I ache for her like she is someone else. She is. I am not the perfect Jenna Fox anymore.

I loved this book, and I hope you go out and read it RIGHT NOW.

Rating: 95 out of 100

Mary E. Pearson’s website

Other reviews:

Book Addiction

Becky’s Book Reviews

Mrs. Magoo Reads

The YA YA YAs

The Well Read Child

Reviewer X

Maw Books

Semicolon

Presenting Lenore

Book source: I checked this book out from the library.

And one more thing? If you click on one of the The Adoration of Jenna Fox links and buy something from Amazon, I’ll make a commission! Mwahahahaha!! Maybe with the pennies I make I’ll be able to call someone who cares.

You can thank the FTC for this disclosure!

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Posted in Books | 25 Comments »

What Are You Doing Here? Part 4

Nov 3rd, 2009 by trish

Part A

Part B

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

can you eat crisco raw – Heck yes! It’s even better with some brown sugar on it. Don’t ask me how I know that.

i know this much is true. i loffed it – “I loffed it”? Is this the new version of lurve? I kinda like it. Sounds very…foreign and sophisticated.

“giving a dutch oven” – *snicker* Umm, I won’t give you instructions on how to give one, nor will you find any stories about giving dutch ovens. I don’t give them because the payback I would receive would not be worth it. (Apparently, there’s a bunch of people who actually don’t know what a dutch oven is, so I’ll go ahead and tell you: it’s when you’re in bed, someone farts, and then that someone pulls the covers over your head, trapping you with their stink. Charming, huh?)

how to be a book blogger – that’s way more involved than I want to get into right now. BUT! If you want to start a book blog, you’re welcome to email me at trish(at)heylady(dot)net. I don’t bite, and I answer all my emails.

co-workers always turns on ac – I KNOW. So does mine, and I think it’s ridiculous that I’m bundled up but she’s wearing long sleeves. I mean, seriously?

granny eats granpa – There is no good answer to this.

hairless butt – Hmm. When have I ever talked about this? Oh, that’s right. NEVER.

sexy grannys.org – My eyes! My eyes are burning!

let me introduce you to my little friend – I think the phrase is, “Say hello to my leettle fren.” (Sorry, I’m horrible at writing out diction, or whatever it’s called. But I found the video clip for you!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gy-Cq75BWY

where do i poop when there is no bathroo – erm…your pants?

recipe for oreogasms – I HAVE NO IDEA BUT WOULD LOVE THE RECIPE. Oreogasms? Heck yes! Sign me up.

semen-based recipes – I can only hope you’re looking for the silly book that has recipes featuring semen. I hope I hope I hope.

can’t find internet explorer icon – sounds like a personal problem.

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Posted in Blogging, Contests & Giveaways | 19 Comments »

Review – Night Runner by Max Turner

Nov 2nd, 2009 by trish

Night Runner

Night Runner
by Max Turner
272 pages
Published September 1, 2009
Young adult – urban fantasy

Night Runner  by Max Turner is about Zack Thomson, a 15-year-old boy who lives in a mental ward because both his parents are dead. He has a sun allergy as well as a myriad of food allergies, requiring him to drink a special liquid diet that has all the vitamins and proteins he needs in it. His life is turned upside down when this homeless looking guy crashes into the mental ward and tells Zack to run. Actually, they have a slightly longer conversation than that, and Zack sees this guy get shot a bunch of times, then break of the ambulance that’s taking him to the hospital.

Zack, not quite knowing why  he should run, doesn’t do anything. Lo and behold his long lost uncle shows up and confirms he’s in danger and that he should, in fact, run. Zack ends up running from a creature that killed his dad and is more powerful than anything he ever imagined existed.

Basically, this is a vampire story. And I know, the market is saturated with vampire stories, but a well-told story is a well-told story. Right?

The story was told pretty well, but I did have a few problems. Zack’s friend Charlie was a little too…oh, I don’t know the word. But when Charlie found out that Zach is a vampire, he was like, Oh. Huh. Okay. And it’s like, REALLY?! Is that REALLY his reaction? He finds out his friend’s a vampire and he’s not at least a little wigged out? I mean, I know there’s people who would have that reaction, but frankly, those people probably don’t have two brain cells to rub together anyway.

It turns out that Zack never went to school, and I was like, Oh, come on. I know this book takes place in Canada, and despite the fact that a kid growing up in a MENTAL WARD is a bit contrived, I’m hard pressed to believe that the woman who was watching out for him was like, Meh, I don’t think Zack needs an education. That’s soo  20th century.

And don’t even get me started on Zack’s love interest.

But then you get to the end, and the ending is actually pretty dang good! And even though the ending was good, I didn’t want to have to wade through the other 225 pages to get there.

And I totally get that this is a young adult book, and probably many young adult readers aren’t as critical as I am, but I’m a firm believer that a great book will transcend age and genre preferences, so I can’t give this book a pass just because I’m an adult and it’s aimed at young readers. With that said, I do  think this series (from the ending, I’m sure it’ll be a series) has promise. The first book isn’t necessarily the best, so I’m hopeful that the story will get even better.

Rating: 72 out of 100

Other reviews:

Fantasy Book Critic

Karin’s Book Nook

Charlotte’s Library

Becky’s Book Reviews

Book source: I got this book from the fantastic Sarah at St. Martin’s Press.

And one more thing? If you click on one of the Night Runner links and buy something from Amazon, I’ll make a commission! Mwahahahaha!! Maybe with the pennies I make I’ll be able to call someone who cares.

You can thank the FTC for this disclosure!

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Posted in Books | 10 Comments »

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