Little Thoughts About Books and Stuff

This is one of our pick for our May book club.  This was just one of those books I happened to see while browsing the shelves and I'm hoping it turns out to be a good pick.

Today is the anniversary of William Shakespeare's birth and death. I got to visit Straford-Upon-Avon five years ago and we toured the house where Shakespeare was born. I'm really not a fan of Shakespeare's Sonnets but there are some speeches in his play I just love.  One being the St. Crispin's Day Speech from Henry V.  I first heard this speech in the movie Renaissance Man and then went on to read the play and it might just be one of my favorite histories.  St. Crispin’s Day speech from  Henry V  (1599) by William Shakespeare WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here But one ten thousand of those men in England That do no work to-day! KING. What’s he that wishes so? My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin; If we are mark’d to die, we are enow To do our country loss; and if to live, The fewer men, the greater share of honour. God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more. By Jove, I am not covetous for gold, Nor care I who doth fe...

How to Be Single by Liz Tuccillo This sadly has been labeled as Did Not Finish. I made it as far as the third chapter and was really forcing myself. I just couldn't get myself interested, which is really sad because this has been sitting on my TBR Pile for awhile now.  I thought the concept was really interesting and reminded me a bit about Eat, Pray, Love , but it just didn't capture my attention. I've said this in other reviews and I'll repeat it here, a character needs to make me want to read their story.  I didn't really care that much about Julie. If this had been a non-fiction book, I may have been more interested in what the author found out about the single life around the world.  As a fiction book, it wasn't enough to keep me reading. *Spoiler Alert* I skimmed ahead in the book to see if anything later on would catch my attention.  Nothing did, and what I did skim, I didn't like.  Julie has an affair with a married man.  I kno...

How did I miss this one?! I put it on hold before the book trailer was even done. I can't wait to read it! Data, A Love Story by Amy Webb Published on  Jan 4, 2013 This is the video trailer for the book by Amy Webb. DATA, A LOVE STORY is a lively, thought-provoking memoir about how one woman "gamed" online dating sites like JDate, OKCupid, and eHarmony -- and met her eventual husband.

For April we made a change in our meeting day and time. We are now meeting for brunch on the weekends, this adds a whole new level to our group as pointed out by one of our members. We are all happy! No more group of grumpy women who have just went through long days at work. We were a smiling bunch as we sat down to discuss our books. Shadow Woman by Linda Howard My rating: 4 of 5 stars I had previously read Shadow Woman when it first came our and suggested it for the group. I thought the whole concept of waking up and not recognizing your own face was a great starting point for a story. Everyone else seemed to think so too. Unfortunately we didn't get to discuss this book in depth since a few members hadn't had a chance to finish it and didn't want the story spoiled. The prologue all captured our attention and those of us who have finished the book have all commented on how the connection to the story surprised us. This bit of information only sp...

This book is on my To Be Read list, it just sounds like a really interesting story.  If it wasn't already on my list I think this trailer would have made me add the book.  This is a cute video that made me chuckle. The Love Song of Johnny Valentine by Teddy Wayne Published on  Oct 17, 2012 Teddy Wayne's The Love Song of Jonny Valentine explores the underbelly of fame in twenty-first century America's celebrity culture, told through the eyes of an unforgettable child. From the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of Kapitoil, this new novel is a literary masterpiece by one of the standout writers of his generation.

So my new semester started last week and I'm really excited by our reading material.  I forgot how much I enjoyed Medieval literature.  I know...it's odd but I can't help it!  As proof here's a Build-a-Bear I built while I was at Rutgers. This is Sir Gwain the Scarlet Knight.  It's a play off of one of my favorite pieces of Medieval literature, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . We won't be reading that for a few weeks.  This week we start our two week discussion on Beowulf !

I've been slack on catching up with all the info in my Google Reader, some of my newsletters and of course in my posting. I finally have caught up and there were three book trailers shared in my Shelf-Awareness newsletters I just had to share. So the next few weeks I'll at least have one post to share on Thursdays! This first one caught my eye because I associate T-Rex with my friend Amanda and her husband. I tend to share anything T-Rex/dinosaur related with them.  This book looks so cute and it's based off a Tumblr blog so I'm going to have to follow that as well as get my hands on this book!   T-Rex Trying by Hugh Murphy Published on  Nov 8, 2012 Poor T-Rex. It's hard to be the Lizard King when you can't even change a light bulb. Drawn from Hugh Murphy's wildly popular Tumblr feed of the same name, T-Rex Trying depicts the stubby-armed tyrant in a range of hilarious—yet pathos-inducing—activities that we humans take for granted. Murphy's ...

A Year in the Life  is the book I'm currently trying to write.  For my final project in my class Contexts of Writing: Writing and Publishing, we had to write up a book proposal.  Here is the synopsis I wrote up for that project.  I don't know if my final story will be exactly like this, but it's a close bet.             Two years ago, Lily Fitzgerald realized that she no longer knew whose life she was living.  It wasn’t the life she had planned on having when she married Ryan ‘Fitz’ Fitzgerald right out of college.  Eighteen months ago, Lily and Fitz decided that a separation would be a good idea.  Fitz thought he’d move to the cabin and Lily would stay in their Seattle apartment.  Lily had other plans; she decided to move back to her hometown in New Jersey. One year ago, Lily took the advice of her best friend and started writing a self-therapy blog.  Gina, a marriage counselor...

Life of Pi by Yann Martel My rating: 4 of 5 stars I know it's not our normal theme of book, but we all felt we needed a break from romance. I read the book back when it first came out and really enjoyed it.  We didn't have a full group for our meeting*.  Those that did show didn't really care for the book.  So sad. For April we are back to romance with Gena Showalter's Last Kiss Goodnight. View all my reviews *We had to reschedule so not every one came and we didn't really have a book discussion.  We are moving out meeting dates in hopes that we can get everyone together again for a full meeting.