Owl Tell You About It http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com an eclectic book blog Sun, 19 May 2013 14:32:10 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Week 20: Owl tell you… http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/posts/week-20-owl-tell-you/ http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/posts/week-20-owl-tell-you/#comments Sun, 19 May 2013 14:30:14 +0000 Laura http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/?p=8727 This is a weekly round that includes info about my life, the blog, my reading, bookish news, and awesome blog posts I read. It’s inspired by the many weekly posts out there such as It’s Monday! What are you reading?,Sunday Post, and Clock Rewinders. …about my life This was a pretty busy week, a little [...]

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This is a weekly round that includes info about my life, the blog, my reading, bookish news, and awesome blog posts I read. It’s inspired by the many weekly posts out there such as It’s Monday! What are you reading?,Sunday Post, and Clock Rewinders.

943036_10201243124385296_2106964921_n (1)…about my life

This was a pretty busy week, a little busier than I expected. Ben graduated from college Friday so his family came into town Thursday night. We spent the beginning of the week preparing for them to be here, so picking up and giving the apartment a good clean. We went out to a nice dinner Thursday night, where I had the best salmon I’ve ever had in my life. Ben graduated Friday and we went to an early dinner of Mexican afterwards. It’s actually the same restaurant we went to after my graduation. Then we just hung out his family for a few hours, and they headed out yesterday morning. Yesterday was my nephew’s birthday so we drove down to my brother’s to celebrate. It was a family-filled weekend for sure. Here’s a picture of Ben and I after his graduation. I’m so pale!

…about my blog

Last week I got a little distracted with Ben’s graduation so I didn’t get as much on the blog as I had planned. I reviewed Black Bird vol. 13 for Manga Mondays, and “A Family Illness” for Short Story Saturday. I also posed my Top Ten Books Dealing With Tough Topics and my list for The Classics Spin. I promise more reviews and posts this week!

…about my reading

It seems like I got more reading done the week before Bout of Books, but oh well. I’ve been preoccupied. This week I read several Candlewick picture books and Blush by Lauren Jameson, which I may review here. I haven’t decided yet. I’m still reading Iinsomnia, but I intend to finish that today. I also hope to read Cut and Black Bird vol. 14 today. I’ve also been re-reading The Angel. So, I started The Darkest Minds on audio earlier this week, but I couldn’t get into it so I quit listening. Should I come back to it later or just let it go? I also never got into The Forgotten Garden. I’ve been so terrible with book club lately. We’re about to try something new though, so maybe I’ll be able to read the book this time.

…about some (bookish) news and articles

The 2013 Children’s Choice Book Awards have been announced, and The Fault in Our Stars made it on the list.

Check out the 2013 Innovation in Reading Prize. I want a Little Free Library here.

Oh, and please ignore that link last week about Microsoft buying Nook Media. That’s not really happening.

Check out Richard Tuttle’s awesome bindings for classics. I want one of these!

I enjoyed this article about the social aspects of reading discussed at the CBC Forum.

…about some cool blog posts

Jamie at The Perpetual Page-Turner confesses that she does some things that make book lovers cringe.

Ginger at GReads writes about settings.

Asti at A Bookish Heart writes about illustrated YA books.

Amanda at On a Book Bender ask us to recommend some audiobooks. We all know how much I love audiobooks.

Rachel at Parajunkee’s View posts The Adventures of Evil Book Blogger Ep. 1. Love it!

…about book and blog events

You still have a little time to make your list for The Classics Spin.

Sign up for next month’s The Beats of Summer reading event.

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]]> http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/posts/week-20-owl-tell-you/feed/ 0 The Classics Spin! http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/posts/the-classics-spin/ http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/posts/the-classics-spin/#comments Sat, 18 May 2013 18:24:49 +0000 Laura http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/?p=8722 I missed the last spin and I’ve really fallen behind with my classics club list so I thought I should participate in this one. I didn’t really pick from every category. I basically picked a few I’m dreading and mostly books that I already have copies of on my shelf. Wish me luck! You can [...]

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I missed the last spin and I’ve really fallen behind with my classics club list so I thought I should participate in this one. I didn’t really pick from every category. I basically picked a few I’m dreading and mostly books that I already have copies of on my shelf. Wish me luck! You can read more about the classics spin at The Classics Club Blog.

  1. Atwood, Margaret: A Handmaid’s Tale
  2. Baldwin, James: Giovanni’s Room
  3. Bronte, Charlotte: Vilette
  4. Burnett, Frances Hodgson: A Little Princess
  5. Carroll, Lewis: Through the Looking Glass
  6. Dante: Inferno
  7. Dickens, Charles: A Tale of Two Cities
  8. Faulkner, William: The Sound and the Fury
  9. Fitzgerald, F. Scott: This Side of Paradise
  10. Gaskell, Elizabeth: Wives & Daughters
  11. Hardy: Thomas: Tess of the D’Urbervilles
  12. Hesse, Hermann: Steppenwolf
  13. Hugo, Victor: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
  14. Kerouac, Jack: On the Road
  15. Milton, John: Paradise Lost
  16. Montgomery, L.M.: Anne of Green Gables
  17. Pyle, Howard: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
  18. Salinger, J.D.: The Catcher in the Rye
  19. Salten, Felix: Bambi
  20. Wilde, Oscar: The Importance of Being Earnest

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]]> http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/posts/the-classics-spin/feed/ 4 Short Story Saturday: A Family Illness http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/posts/short-story-saturday-a-family-illness/ http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/posts/short-story-saturday-a-family-illness/#comments Sat, 18 May 2013 15:11:31 +0000 Laura http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/?p=8719 Necessary Noise was assigned to me for my YA class. I’ve actually already read it once, but I had so much trouble writing a review, that I decided to reread it so I could review every story individually. That’s why I’m now participating in Short Story Saturday, created by Lauren at 365 Days of Reading. [...]

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]]> Necessary Noise was assigned to me for my YA class. I’ve actually already read it once, but I had so much trouble writing a review, that I decided to reread it so I could review every story individually. That’s why I’m now participating in Short Story Saturday, created by Lauren at 365 Days of Reading. I plan to keep participating after I finish working through this book so I can get exposed to more short stories and more authors.

I want to take a moment to explain this anthology a bit, as Michael Cart does in his introduction. When we think of family, sometimes our view is skewed by what we have or what we think is normal. Family used to mean something very different to most people: a husband, a wife, 2.5 children, and a dog. In Necessary Noise, this idea of family is thrown out to make room for the reality of families today, whether that means a single parent family, a child with homosexual parents, or a family found in friends. Families come in different shapes and sizes and this book does its best to celebrate that.

Story: “A Family Illness”
Author: Joyce Carol Thomas
Anthology: Necessary Noise: stories about our families as they really are

Summary: This is a dialogue between mother and son about his mental illness.

My thoughts: What a haunting story! Most of it keeps a good pace and sense of suspense. It’s what I think any good short story needs. There’s full character development, which is crucial in so few pages. The ending, however, felt too much like an ad for schizophrenia awareness and I the pop-culture references are dated. I think those would hit the mark with the intended audience, unless they had a thing for 80s music. Still, it’s a powerful story and great abstract prose.

Disclosure: I borrowed this book from the library.

Book Information

Joanna Cotler Books, 2003
Hardcover, $15.99
ISBN 9780060274993

Also in this series

Hardware
Siskiyou Sloan and the Eye of the Giraffe
Necessary Noise
The Throwaway
Visit
A Woman’s Touch
Sailing Away
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde
Snowbound

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]]> http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/posts/short-story-saturday-a-family-illness/feed/ 0 Top Ten Books Dealing With Tough Topics http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/posts/top-ten-books-dealing-with-tough-topics/ http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/posts/top-ten-books-dealing-with-tough-topics/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 01:08:00 +0000 Laura http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/?p=8714 This is what I’m talking about! Tough topics are what I’m all about. They’re so much more realistic that way. I can definitely come up with a list for this. In fact, my problem was narrowing it down to ten. Here’s what I came up with. I included some classic tough topic books. There’s a [...]

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This is what I’m talking about! Tough topics are what I’m all about. They’re so much more realistic that way. I can definitely come up with a list for this. In fact, my problem was narrowing it down to ten. Here’s what I came up with. I included some classic tough topic books. There’s a few books on cancer because I got weirdly masochistic when my father was sick and read every book about cancer I could get my hands on.

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Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Leverage by Joshua C. Cohen

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Don’t Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Wake by Abria Mattina
Crank by Ellen Hopkins
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

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]]> http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/posts/top-ten-books-dealing-with-tough-topics/feed/ 3 Manga Mondays: Black Bird vol. 13 http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/posts/black-bird-vol-13/ http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/posts/black-bird-vol-13/#comments Mon, 13 May 2013 14:30:01 +0000 Laura http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/?p=8701 Black Bird, Volume 13 by Kanoko Sakurakoji I can’t tell if things are winding down with this series or if it’s just moving toward a new conflict. I have two more volumes to read of what has already been released, and I know another volume is coming out soon or has come out recently. I [...]

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Black Bird, Volume 13 by Kanoko Sakurakoji

I can’t tell if things are winding down with this series or if it’s just moving toward a new conflict. I have two more volumes to read of what has already been released, and I know another volume is coming out soon or has come out recently. I guess I’ll just keep reading and see. It’s nice to know I’m catching up though. In the previous volume, Hoki was on his way to challenge Sho after he tried to take down the Daitengu. Of course, that’s basically a suicide mission so Kyo is pitching a fit, but he’s still injured from his face off with the uncontrolled Zenki. Misao is trying to heal him as quickly as she can. Hoki ends up facing Sho, but neither attacks the other. Hoki finds this strange and speculates that there may be something wrong with Sho. Meanwhile, Misao and Kyo are having some cute flirty time when she opens a door and suddenly finds herself thrust into Sho’s hideout with no way back to the village. There’s some good development for Sho in this one. I’m never sure what to think of him. One moment he’s sweet to Misao, the next he’s trying to kill her or use her as bait to get to Kyo. Misao seems to think he deserves her pity. She’s just too sweet and it gets her into trouble all the time. She’s so trusting. It’s nice to see that she has some resolve where Kyo is concerned though. The ending was a little crazy. I don’t think I’ve come across a cliffhanger that intense in this series yet. It was a good volume. A few more weeks and I’ll be caught up on this series.

Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my local library.

Book Information

VIZ Media, 2007
200 pages
ISBN 9781421541778

Also in this series

Volume 1 – Volume 2 – Volume 3 – Volume 4 – Volume 5 – Volume 6 – Volume 7 – Volume 8 – Volume 9 – Volume 10 –Volume 11 – Volume 12

 

Manga Mondays is hosted by Alison Can Read.

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