Japanese Literature Challenge 3

I have just learned about this challenge today and I am really excited about it. I have been a huge fan of Murakami's work for quite some time, but I have never really branched out to any other Japanese writers' works, which is exactly what this challenge will help me to do. For information about this challenge go to the following link Dolce Bellezza and join up! The challenge only requires that you read one book, but I am quite sure that I will be reading more than one. In fact, I already have in mind some of the books that I want to read for this challenge. I was thinking about Banana Yoshimoto's book, Kitchen - which I have heard such great things about. Also, I want to get a copy of Yoko Ogawa's book, The Housekeeper and The Professor. And I might read a Murakami book that I have not read before, maybe Kafka on the Shore or Sputnik Sweetheart? Either way, there are so many fantastic Japanese writers to choose from and I just can't wait to dive right in! Crikey! I just realized that I am now going to be participating in 4 challenges. Yikes! Maybe I need to see which books can overlap in which challenges. Hmmm. Either way, I am going to be reading some great literature. Cheers for now! Happy reading!!

The Random Reading Challenge

Hi! I have just joined the Random Reading Challenge. I found about this challenge over on the blog, Lit and Life and it just really seemed to hit the spot as to what I was looking for next with regards to my reading. I've been attempting to muddle through Ulysses for Team Ulysses and I have been reading and watching films for the Everything Austen Challenge, so my reading habits have been a tad more focused than I would have them normally be. I am the type of reader who picks up a book based on my mood or if it catches my eye. With this new challenge I will be able to pick up any one of the many, many books sitting about on my shelves that need to be read and finally dive right in! Sounds lovely to me!! Of course, the books that are random will be selected via a True Random Number Generator, which means that I need to just grab about 12 books and assign them each a number (1-12) and then the generator site will pick my book for me. Okay, so maybe the books won't be so random, since they will have to be assigned numbers and so forth, but it will be interesting to see which book the generator picks first. The challenge begins in August and so I will start grabbing books now. For all the details regarding this cool challenge head on over to LitandLife . Happy Reading to all!!! Cheers!!!

A Sworn to Silence Early Review

Here is my review of the book: Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo. - I just finished reading this book tonight and found it to be mediocre at best. The language of the book is rather simplistic, which I feel keeps in line with the sub par plot. We have an ex-Amish,female, Chief of Police who is struggling to solve a recent crop of murder cases in her small town, Painters Mill. She has a devoted team of officers on hand, a meddling town council to contend with, a rogue detective that has been called in to help her, and a family secret she can never reveal. All in all your typical suspense thriller book that can be found at your local grocery store's check-out. This is the type of book that you read at the beach or find at a hostel - its a quick and easily forgotten read. The writing is weak, the descriptions are banal and the characters are one-dimensional. Overall, in my opinion, a must-not read.

Thank you to the LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program for sending me this book!

A Booking Through Thursday Meme

I found this meme on several other book blogging sites and wanted to give it a go.

Which do you prefer? (Quick answers!)

• Reading something frivolous? Or something serious? Mostly serious, sometimes frivolous (depends on my frame of mind).
  
• Paperbacks? Or hardcovers? Hardcovers.
  
• Fiction? Or Nonfiction? Fiction.
  
• Poetry? Or Prose? Prose.
  
• Biographies? Or Autobiographies? Only read them if it is about a favorite writer.
  
• History? Or Historical Fiction? Historical Fiction.
  
• Series? Or Stand-alones? Stand alones (sometimes an occasional series).
  
• Classics? Or best-sellers? Classics, unless the best-seller is literary.
  
• Lurid, fruity prose? Or straight-forward, basic prose? Straight-forward, basic prose.
  
• Plots? Or Stream-of-Consciousness? Stream-of-Consciousness is nice once in a while, but I usually prefer a good plot.
  
• Long books? Or Short? Long.
  
• Illustrated? Or Non-illustrated? Non-illustrated, of course there is always an exception (depending on the book).
  
• Borrowed? Or Owned? Owned.
  
• New? Or Used? New, unless the book is hard to find, then Used is perfect!

Take part in this meme if you want. Its quick and fun! Cheers and Happy Reading!!!

Four Things!

I saw this on Lit and Life and thought it was fun so I figured why not give it a go. Besides I wanted to post something on a lighter note since my last post was on a topic that was dark. Anyhow, here goes:

Four jobs I've had:
1. office clerk in high school
2. baby sitter in high school
3. refreshments peddler at local movie theater in college
4. Accounts Payables and Writer

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Boys on the Side
2. The Spitfire Grill
3. Amelie
4. Just Friends

Four t.v. shows I love:
1. The Vicar of Dibley
2. Absolutely Fabulous
3. How I Met Your Mother
4. The Big Bang Theory

Four places I've vacationed:
1. London
2. Scotland/Ireland
3. Italy
4. Austria

Four dishes I love:
1. veggie lasagna
2. steak and fries
3. cheese pizza
4. roast chicken and potatoes

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. anywhere with my family
2. walking around Italy
3. at home with a book
4. eating scones and drinking tea in England

Please leave a comment with a link to your post if you choose to do this. If you don't have a blog, pick one of the categories and leave me your four.

Cheers!! And Happy Reading!!!

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Last night I finished the book Nineteen Minutes. It took me nearly two days to read the book because I wanted to take my time with it and wrap my head around the story. The book is about a high school kid, Peter, who has been bullied his entire life and who one day wakes up and decides to take matter into his own hands: kill the bullies. The format of the book consists of chapters which jump back and forth between years/months/days prior to the shooting and months, days following the shooting. We learn about several characters, each of who have been severely affected by the horrific events of that day and all of who have some sort of connection with the shooter, Peter. Through these characters we learn about their lives and we learn about Peter. We find out that Peter was bullied by his school mates, we learn that he was struggling to discover his sexuality, we learn that he loved one of his classmates, we learn about the humiliation he experienced on a daily basis (getting shoved into his locker, being pantsed in the cafeteria, getting called names and beat up), we find out Peter had a passion for computers/computer games and we learn how scared and alone Peter felt growing up. Of course, we learn that Peter was not the only kid to be bullied at school, and so we struggle with "why" - why did he choose to kill his classmates, why did he want to die, why did he feel as if this was his only answer to his problems, why could he not talk to his mother or father, why? We also wonder, why did these kids choose to humiliate Peter every day (more so than any other kid they picked on), why did the school administrators standby and allow this type of bullying behavior to persist, what could the parents have done differently to help their son Peter? How could they not have noticed that he was unhappy or that he was hoarding weapons in his room? The book shows us how his parents felt towards Peter and themselves before and after the shooting. We read about them questiong their roles as parents and whether they could have done more to prevent Peter's actions. We read about his old childhood friend Josie and how she used to stick up for Peter and how she loved spending time with him. But then we learn that Josie no longer wanted to only have one friend and how she wanted to belong to the "in" crowd at school and so she chose to stop talking to Peter. We read about pain, loss, love, death and unhappiness and are left with so many questions. This book is relevant in today's society because of the fact that these types of events have occurred at our schools and because bullying has become national news and a part of our headlines. I think this book is a great read because it opens our minds about all of the people affected by such an event and also because it inspires dialogue about an issue within our schools that needs to be addressed today. We need to remember that words can and do hurt more than sticks and stones.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Attack!!

I have finally finished Pride and Prejudice and Zombies!!! Yay!! I am just happy to be finished with the book because it took me a bit longer to read than normal. The weird thing is that normally I read rather fast, but this time round I just could not find my normal speed for reading and wound up reading bits here and there. Perhaps my mind was just not in the right frame. Anyhow, the book itself is definitely a must read for Austen fans. It was hilarious!! I found myself cracking up and wondering what Austen herself would have thought about this new interpretation of her book. The story itself remains the same, except now we have all five Bennet sisters fighting against the unmentionables (the zombies). Trained by their father in martial and weapons each young woman is more than capable of taking care of themselves and their family and friends. We find Elizabeth in the same scenario of hating Mr. Darcy for his rudeness towards her and her family and especially for his interference with Bingley's feelings towards her favorite sister, Jane. The story follows the same plot of Elizabeth slowly realizing that her feelings toward Darcy have changed from animosity to love. Throughout this discovery of love, Elizabeth finds herself fighting off the unmentionables with great speed and agility and realizing that she is not only a warrior first, but also a woman first. It is so fun to read about her and Darcy slaying numerous zombies and how they battle each other through words and fight in the book. The way the zombies are inserted into the story line only adds another dimension of fun and appeal to the book. I have to say it also added a bit of sauciness to the book. The manners in which we read about Mr. Bennet's liasons with various women during his and his daughter's trip to China (where they trained) was unexpected, along with the occasional reference to the way Darcy's trousers clung to him. Definitely a new take on an old classic. I really enjoyed the book and am looking forward to the September release of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. I love the idea of taking the old and giving it a new twist. I guess this is my third item for the Austen Challenge - I can't help it! There are just so many fun things out there that are Austen related. I think for next month I will watch Lost in Austen on dvd. That will be a fun treat I am sure. Well, hope you all have a wonderful week filled with lots of fun reading! Cheers!!

A Clueless Bridget Jones's Diary Task

For my first Austenish item I selected to watch Clueless and Bridget Jones's Diary (mainly because they were on the telly and I was not in the mood to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies at the time). The former is inspired by the Austen novel, Emma. In Clueless, we have a beautiful, young, rich, girl who lives with her father in a gorgeous estate. Her name is Cher(Emma). Throughout the movie we learn that Cher likes to match make and argue with her cute older stepbrother named Josh(Knightley). Cher spends her time with her friends shopping and wondering how to catch the eye of the cute guy in her class named Christian(Frank), who turns out to be a better friend than boyfriend. As for her new project of making over Tai(Harriet) and attempting to set her up with Elton(Mr. Elton), lets just say it doesn't work out as planned. Instead Cher realizes that Tai has always been interested in Travis(Mr. Martin) and vice versa. As for Cher, well, her feelings towards Josh(Knightley) are changing and she soon realizes that she has fallen in love with him. In the end Cher and Josh wind up happily ever after, just as Emma and Knightley did in the book Emma. Overall, any viewing of Clueless is fun and comparing it to Emma was a blast. It was neat to be able to notice which characters were the ones from the book and realize how much the film resembles the book. Definitely a fun movie watch! As for Bridget Jones's Diary, well, we know that it is inspired by Pride and Prejudice. We have Bridget who is Elizabeth and Mark Darcy who is Darcy. The movie has Bridget falling for the wrong guy and discovering that the right guy is the one who has appeared to dislike her from the get go. We see the transformation of Bridget when she decides to quit her job and accept that her romance with Daniel Cleaver is never going to be the great relationship she was imagining for herself. We see Bridget take charge of her life and realize that what she has are dear friends who love her, crazy parents who care about her in their own way and a new job on the telly. She also realizes how much Mark Darcy has always cared for and finds herself caring for him. In the end both Bridget and Mark wind up happy and together. I have read both Bridget Jones's books and watched both films and I have always found them to be quite entertaining. Watching the first film and comparing it with Pride and Prejudice was great! It was easy to see how much of the book was in the movie and wonderful to take note of what parts of the film resembled parts of the book. It was neat to imagine Bridget and Darcy as Elizabeth and Darcy and how their disdain for each other turned into love for one another. Definitely a great a movie based on a wonderful book! What a fun task for a great challenge. And now I will most definitely be reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies!! Cheers and Happy Reading!!

Happy 4th!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July weekend!!! Enjoy the time off (if you get it) and just relax and spend time with loved ones (or alone, if you need some alone time). I can't believe that we are already in the middle of the year and that Christmas is only 6 months away. Its crazy how quickly time seems to be passing by lately. I guess I better get to getting if I want to finish all of my TBR books. As of now, I am reading P&P&Zombies for the Everything Austen challenge and I am slowly reading Ulysses for the Team Ulysses challenge. I have just re-read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and am now re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I know, I know, I am such a geek, but I do like to re-read the books before a new movie comes out. I am actually looking forward to the new Harry Potter movie - should be a fun watch. And I am also looking forward to watching Johnny Depp on the big screen - Public Enemies!! What a handsome bloke! I've also been listening to MJ a lot lately over these past few days. It is so sad that he passed away at such a young age. I'm just glad that the media is focusing on his music and what a supreme artist he was. He was and always will be the King of Pop. And right now I have Billie Jean in my head. Such an awesome tune! Alright, I'm off. Have a fab weekend and happy reading!! Cheerio!! (p.s. I only ever heard one person use the expression, "Cheerio" one time during all of the years I lived in England.)