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It Has Been So Long
1 year ago
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Bitten BY books Naughty days of Christmas ends tomorrow but here is savannah Chase's link
http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=2967
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
New review
Title: Message Stick
Author: Laine Cunningham
Publisher: Sun Dogs Creations
Copyright: 2008
ISBN 10: 0-9822399-0-4
ISBN 13: 978-0-9822399-0-2
Pages: 273
Rating: 4 leaves.
Growing up, learning about yourself, Accepting yourself and everything that makes you you is usually achieved by teens and young adults. Coming of age in every culture is usually recognized by some sign specific to that culture. In some cultures there is a ritual recognizing the child's entrance into adulthood. One such culture is the Australian Aborigines. At this time the young have learned the basics of their culture and during the ritual learn the secrets of their gender. A child becomes an adult and has the skills that are traditional.
In Australia there is a whole generation of biracial Aborigines who are called the Stolen Generation by those Aborigines still living the traditional life in the outback. The government had a policy of removing biracial children from the Aborigine families and clans, placing them in orphanages, foster homes and for a rare few adoption. These children are very visibly different from the people around them in the cities on the coast. They face the choice of completely turning their backs on anything Aborigine and embracing the White culture or rebelling and returning to their roots as soon as they are old enough.
Message Stick by Laine Cunningham is a story that explores both these ideas from the viewpoint of one of the Stolen Generation who chose the White culture route. In this story we see the progression of Gabe from a city boy who fully embraces the White culture and remembers nothing of the Aborigine culture and has little interest in knowing. He is forced to face his Aborigine roots when his friend sends him a message stick before disappearing in the Outback. He doesn't understand why he is sent the message stick and sets out to find his friend for both himself and his friend's parents. Both reasons set him on a path to learn Aborigine Culture, come of age, learning his true self and a unknowing conflict with a person stealing and selling the important Aborigine objects like the message stick he has been sold.
Gabe's growth is shown in an expert fashion. We have a clear view of his change from the person his upbringing has made him to a man who has learned many of the skills taught to the young and who is changing and growing. He is shocked when he is told the young man he has been traveling with is considered his father because that is the name given to one who teaches. He is nearing middle age and the man named as father is in his early twenties. I have never read a book that showed such growth and change in a character done so skillfully. I saw no places where the changes were handled in an unrealistic manner or didn't stay on a consistent timeline.
This story is not the most exciting story I have ever read but it is handle so skillfully that I found myself pulled in and ended up reading the book in one sitting. I wanted to see what happened to Gabe next, what he learned , how he changed. There was conflict, involving the stolen artifacts and his friend's disappearance, but this this was not the major part of the story in spite of the relationship with why Gabe is involved in this whole situation. I enjoyed reading this story and was impressed by the handling of the whole theme.
Message Stick is clearly literature as opposed to plain fiction but it is one of the most enjoyable pieces of literature I have ever read. I can see it as a book used in college course within the next few years. This is a definite read.
I give it 4 leaves.
Author: Laine Cunningham
Publisher: Sun Dogs Creations
Copyright: 2008
ISBN 10: 0-9822399-0-4
ISBN 13: 978-0-9822399-0-2
Pages: 273
Rating: 4 leaves.
Growing up, learning about yourself, Accepting yourself and everything that makes you you is usually achieved by teens and young adults. Coming of age in every culture is usually recognized by some sign specific to that culture. In some cultures there is a ritual recognizing the child's entrance into adulthood. One such culture is the Australian Aborigines. At this time the young have learned the basics of their culture and during the ritual learn the secrets of their gender. A child becomes an adult and has the skills that are traditional.
In Australia there is a whole generation of biracial Aborigines who are called the Stolen Generation by those Aborigines still living the traditional life in the outback. The government had a policy of removing biracial children from the Aborigine families and clans, placing them in orphanages, foster homes and for a rare few adoption. These children are very visibly different from the people around them in the cities on the coast. They face the choice of completely turning their backs on anything Aborigine and embracing the White culture or rebelling and returning to their roots as soon as they are old enough.
Message Stick by Laine Cunningham is a story that explores both these ideas from the viewpoint of one of the Stolen Generation who chose the White culture route. In this story we see the progression of Gabe from a city boy who fully embraces the White culture and remembers nothing of the Aborigine culture and has little interest in knowing. He is forced to face his Aborigine roots when his friend sends him a message stick before disappearing in the Outback. He doesn't understand why he is sent the message stick and sets out to find his friend for both himself and his friend's parents. Both reasons set him on a path to learn Aborigine Culture, come of age, learning his true self and a unknowing conflict with a person stealing and selling the important Aborigine objects like the message stick he has been sold.
Gabe's growth is shown in an expert fashion. We have a clear view of his change from the person his upbringing has made him to a man who has learned many of the skills taught to the young and who is changing and growing. He is shocked when he is told the young man he has been traveling with is considered his father because that is the name given to one who teaches. He is nearing middle age and the man named as father is in his early twenties. I have never read a book that showed such growth and change in a character done so skillfully. I saw no places where the changes were handled in an unrealistic manner or didn't stay on a consistent timeline.
This story is not the most exciting story I have ever read but it is handle so skillfully that I found myself pulled in and ended up reading the book in one sitting. I wanted to see what happened to Gabe next, what he learned , how he changed. There was conflict, involving the stolen artifacts and his friend's disappearance, but this this was not the major part of the story in spite of the relationship with why Gabe is involved in this whole situation. I enjoyed reading this story and was impressed by the handling of the whole theme.
Message Stick is clearly literature as opposed to plain fiction but it is one of the most enjoyable pieces of literature I have ever read. I can see it as a book used in college course within the next few years. This is a definite read.
I give it 4 leaves.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
some reviews to come
Although I am presently reading The Message Stick to review it I had a request for some well known psychology books. I am not ready to publish my review on Message Stick, I read over 100 pages of it last night but I have found reading this type of book as an eBook is slower than reading the same book in hard copy. I will be posting on Friday. The holiday has slowed things down a little. To help out my reader from SE Asia I will be posting reviews of 2 older but well known psychology books. I am not sure exactly what type of psychology book that they are looking for so I will be writing a review of Girl, Interrupted and The Dance of Anger. Both have been done many times and are familiar to many American and Canadian readers they are not as well known in other countries, especially not in non-English speaking countries. I hope this will answer the request I had and share information on two books that many people may have heard of but never read. I read Girl, Interrupted long before the movie was ever made. The Dance of Anger has been translated into many languages but many people still haven't personally read it.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Information for Fairy Dreams
Title: Fairy Dreams
Author: Brenna Lyons
Publisher: Muldania Press
Copyright: 2007
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-59426-395-8
eBook ISBN: 978-1-59426-394-1
Page count: 348
Reviewer gave: 5 hearts
I'm glad I don't appear to have anyone actually reading this blog as I get it up and running and find my feet. I apologize to anyone reading back posts for all my errors. This is a learning experience. I still haven't figured out graphics so no picture of the book cover. After the holidays I hope to have this ready to publisize.
Author: Brenna Lyons
Publisher: Muldania Press
Copyright: 2007
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-59426-395-8
eBook ISBN: 978-1-59426-394-1
Page count: 348
Reviewer gave: 5 hearts
I'm glad I don't appear to have anyone actually reading this blog as I get it up and running and find my feet. I apologize to anyone reading back posts for all my errors. This is a learning experience. I still haven't figured out graphics so no picture of the book cover. After the holidays I hope to have this ready to publisize.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Posting info on book later
I will be posting all the information for buyers to find this book later. I need to find it first. Right now it is 8 am and I haven't been to bed yet so I think sleep has to come first.
Wednesday --- Wow!!!
Recently I spent most of one night laying on the floor in the dark my laptop perched on my chest keeping it in easy reading distance. For those wondering what had me up all night; I was on a rollercoaster of humans, fairies and love. I spent the night reading Brenna Lyons book Fairy Dreams. It is a slightly older book but I had read an excerpt and it sounded like a book I would enjoy.
This is a book that never stops. It goes from one high to the next with little or no breaks. I could not find any break in the action that I felt allowed me to stop reading after the first 50-75 pages. I quite literally could not put it down. At nearly 600 pages, this is a long book but it didn't feel like it was any where near that long.
I called this a rollercoaster because there are so many peaks and valleys. Countless times I thought that the action was winding down and wondered how the remaining pages were going to be filled. It just seemed like it couldn't get any better but each time it did. This was one of the most enjoyable reads I have had in a long time. I read many books I really like but I only started with ebooks a few weeks ago and this is by far the longest that I have read.
Brenna Lyons was able to keep the action and the surprises coming throughout the entire book. The biggest surprise is barely hinted at throughout the book yet when it is disclosed it make perfect sense and all the clues are there in retrospect. It takes incredible skill to write a book this long and not have a dull moment. I didn't see a single dull moment. The story moved the reader from one scene to the next keeping the tension and interest level high.
I don't want to disclose too much about the actual story because I don't want to spoil it for future readers. The excerpt gives the information that the story involves the Blake women, especially the last one, their land and a fairy named Caudal who is there to help protect the land. That is a bare minimum or information but the excerpt pulls the reader in and makes you want to see more. I loved this and definitely want to read more of her books. In this case I found a new author to love. I can't wait to read more.
This book is definitely a 5 heart read.
This is a book that never stops. It goes from one high to the next with little or no breaks. I could not find any break in the action that I felt allowed me to stop reading after the first 50-75 pages. I quite literally could not put it down. At nearly 600 pages, this is a long book but it didn't feel like it was any where near that long.
I called this a rollercoaster because there are so many peaks and valleys. Countless times I thought that the action was winding down and wondered how the remaining pages were going to be filled. It just seemed like it couldn't get any better but each time it did. This was one of the most enjoyable reads I have had in a long time. I read many books I really like but I only started with ebooks a few weeks ago and this is by far the longest that I have read.
Brenna Lyons was able to keep the action and the surprises coming throughout the entire book. The biggest surprise is barely hinted at throughout the book yet when it is disclosed it make perfect sense and all the clues are there in retrospect. It takes incredible skill to write a book this long and not have a dull moment. I didn't see a single dull moment. The story moved the reader from one scene to the next keeping the tension and interest level high.
I don't want to disclose too much about the actual story because I don't want to spoil it for future readers. The excerpt gives the information that the story involves the Blake women, especially the last one, their land and a fairy named Caudal who is there to help protect the land. That is a bare minimum or information but the excerpt pulls the reader in and makes you want to see more. I loved this and definitely want to read more of her books. In this case I found a new author to love. I can't wait to read more.
This book is definitely a 5 heart read.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
deciding and getting organized
I'm caught up in trying to get an idea and plan of when I will do specific blogs. I'm also trying to decide what books to review to start with. Most of my present collection of books are at least several months past their debut. I have recently begun reading ebooks. I enjoys them but have been reading some older ones by authors that have current excerpts that sound good. I prefer not to spend much money on books that are unreadable. Unfortunately, many of the books I have bought in the last year that were not by my tried and true authors have fallen into that category. I will be doing some reviews of older books that I found so good that I couldn't put them down or so bad they fall into the very small group of books I refuse to have in my house. I'm still working on getting the blog setup and organized. I am going to try and post a review 1 day every week. Right now I am aiming for Mondays. It may change after I see how it fits into my schedule but for now that is what I see happening. Tomorrow I am going to have a review of Fairy Dreams by Brenna Lyons. It is a few years old but I think it is worth a review.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Hi there....
Hi all,
Just getting started but wanted to give a taste of what to expect here. I'm an avid reader. If it has been written unless it is incredibly bad I am at least willing to try reading it. I have even read the front of the yellow pages when stranded without a book.
I enjoy sharing what I have read. Letting friends know what books I have liked, which not so much, which weren't to my taste and which I can't see how any one could like. Since my friends have trusted me to read and review books for them for years I thought I would give it a try for general audiences. It's a bit easier for my friends since I know them well enough to be able to tailor my opinion to their preferences. This will be a bit different for me.
I am also a writer. So far other than my college newspaper and some group newsletters I haven't been published but I am working on it. I wrote my first book (complete with illustrations) in second grade. I write in a wide variety of genres. At the moment I have a children picturebook completed that needs to be submitted to a publisher, and my WIPs include: A children's book about a mouse and kitten who are friends, a sci-fi based on aliens and my cat, a paranormal romance, a romance about a second chance at love and family, some short stories and a couple of erotic romances. Some of those WIPs are barebones research and ideas some have several chapters done, some I am rewriting because though they were backed up sections were lost when I killed my pc. If you can do it to a computer I probably have.
I hope you will come back and see what I have to say. It may be a review of a book, an excerpt of a WIP, or information on other authors or contests but it will always be something unique.
Just getting started but wanted to give a taste of what to expect here. I'm an avid reader. If it has been written unless it is incredibly bad I am at least willing to try reading it. I have even read the front of the yellow pages when stranded without a book.
I enjoy sharing what I have read. Letting friends know what books I have liked, which not so much, which weren't to my taste and which I can't see how any one could like. Since my friends have trusted me to read and review books for them for years I thought I would give it a try for general audiences. It's a bit easier for my friends since I know them well enough to be able to tailor my opinion to their preferences. This will be a bit different for me.
I am also a writer. So far other than my college newspaper and some group newsletters I haven't been published but I am working on it. I wrote my first book (complete with illustrations) in second grade. I write in a wide variety of genres. At the moment I have a children picturebook completed that needs to be submitted to a publisher, and my WIPs include: A children's book about a mouse and kitten who are friends, a sci-fi based on aliens and my cat, a paranormal romance, a romance about a second chance at love and family, some short stories and a couple of erotic romances. Some of those WIPs are barebones research and ideas some have several chapters done, some I am rewriting because though they were backed up sections were lost when I killed my pc. If you can do it to a computer I probably have.
I hope you will come back and see what I have to say. It may be a review of a book, an excerpt of a WIP, or information on other authors or contests but it will always be something unique.
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