July 9, 2009
The Blog Improvement Project is hosted by Kim of Sophisticated Dorkiness and this month’s assignment is:
- Find your original BIP goals post and take a look at what your goals were. Or, if you came to the BIP late or are just joining now, look at the Week #1 assignment to learn about setting goals.
- Any other comments about the BIP?
- Are there any blogging-related topics you feel like you know a lot about and would be willing to write a BIP guest task on?
- What are the top three things you still would like to work on this year?
- Which tasks have been the most helpful? Least helpful?
- If appropriate, reset your goals. Get rid of goals you’ve accomplished, and add new ones that make sense. Think about where you want to be at the end of the year. Or, if you’re new, set some goals for the remainder of the year. Write a post with your new goals, and leave a link here in the comments or sign Mr. Linky. Stop back to this post and revisit some BIP blogs to check in on their goals too.
The last thing I’m asking is more of a favor than a requirement for this week’s task. If you have time, I’d love it if you could do me a favor and answer the following questions in your goal post, in the comments to this post, or in an e-mail to me [sophisticated.dorkiness{at}gmail.com]. I’m trying to figure out what to do for the rest of the BIP, and I hope re-reading the goal posts and looking at some of these questions will help me out.
- What BIP task have you liked most? Least (including ones you have skipped)?
- Which tasks have been the most helpful? Least helpful?
- What are the top three things you still would like to work on this year?
- Are there any blogging-related topics you feel like you know a lot about and would be willing to write a BIP guest task on?
- Any other comments about the BIP?
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I will be the first to admit that I haven’t participated in this as much as I had hoped/planned to. My original goals for the year were:
- Publish interesting posts daily
- Write better reviews that aren’t too lengthy
- Learn how to use Stumble Upon and technorati to help the Book Blogging Community
- Continue reading and commenting on other blogs
- Encourage new bloggers
- Limit memes – I currently participate in 2 and I think that’s enough
- Learn a better way to list my blogroll – it currently takes up too much of my sidebar
- Learn more html
I think I’ve done pretty well with some of my goals and not so well with others. I’ve published a new post every day except one – some have been more interesting than others, but I’ve tried! I’ve continued to read and comment on other blogs and have tried to be encouraging to new bloggers I’ve met. I did start a new meme, but I dropped one as well, so I currently participate in two. My blogroll is off of the sidebar and is on its own page now – this will be the only goal I will delete.
I still do not understand technorati or Stumble Upon even though I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out both of them. I haven’t learned any new html. I haven’t found any secret formula to improve my reviews, and as always have found some to be better than others.
- My favorite BIP post was the Blog Post Bingo.
- Brainstorming Ideas has probably been the most helpful, even though it wasn’t easy for me. I actually started a new meme because of this one.
- I would still like to work on understanding Stumble Upon and technorati and improving my reviews without becoming too wordy.
- I wish there was a blog related topic I knew a lot about! I just make things up as I go along.
July 8, 2009
Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading. Feel free to join in the fun. (Don’t forget to leave a link in your comment if you’re participating.)
All of my words this week come from books with beach themes. The first two are from The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand.
1. pareo - “She was wearing her bathing suit and a pareo.”
A pareo or pareu (either spelling is correct) is a wraparound skirt usually made from a rectangular piece of printed cloth and worn by men and women throughout Polynesia.
2. spliff – “But I have just been lost in the wilderness and experienced what I can most accurately describe as fear for my life, and a little spliff feels like exactly what I need right now.”
This word isn’t a beach word, but it does show you how out of it I am. A spliff is a joint (marijuana cigarette) sometimes rolled with half weed, half tobacco.
My last word is from Beach Trip by Cathy Holton.
3. loa – “Like their own personal loa .”
I had to look on wikipedia to find this one. According that site, loa are spirits of the Voodoo religion practiced in Haiti and other parts of the world. They are similar to saints or angels in Christianity.
What new words have you discovered lately?
July 7, 2009
Four couples from Nantucket form a friendship so strong, they’re almost like family to each other. When they take their first vacation together, they decide that they need a name, and come up with “The Castaways” since “they had all washed up on the shores of Nantucket, and they had stayed and made it their home.” The four couples lives intertwine constantly and they always support each other, even though they have their differences. One of the couples, Greg and Tess, decide to sail to the Vineyard to celebrate their anniversary. When their boat is found capsized and they’re found dead, each of the other members of The Castaways harbors feelings of guilt, because of secrets they’ve kept, and grief over the loss of their friends. They all wonder if it was an accident or murder/suicide.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand. (Click on the author’s name to join her fun ning group.) When I say this book is loaded with drama, I mean it in a good way. There’s lots of scandal in this book – affairs, drugs, cover ups and so on. The mystery aspect of this book was loads of fun and kept me turning the pages as fast as I could. I just had to know what happened to Greg and Tess and why. The real point of the story is how the remaining members deal with their guilt and grief, though, and I wanted to see how they’d cope. I love the way the story is told - in a non-linear fashion from the points of view of all six remaining Castaways. Through their stories you find out about the past of all eight members. The Castaways is deeper than I thought it would be and would make a fantastic beach read.
Other blogs on the tour today are:
http://booknaround.blogspot.com/
http://www.sheistoofondofbooks.com/
http://peekingbetweenthepages.blogspot.com/
http://bfishreads.blogspot.com/
http://hiddenplace.wordpress.com/
http://www.bellasnovella.com/
http://www.acircleofbooks.blogspot.com/
http://booksandneedlepoint.blogspot.com/
http://bridget3420.blogspot.com/
http://abookishmom.blogspot.com/
I have an extra copy of The Castaways to give to one lucky reader. To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment on this post. Contest is open worldwide. I will use random.org to determine the winner. Contest ends at midnight EST, Wednesday, July 15, 2009. Winner will be announced on Thursday, July 16, 2009.
July 6, 2009
A big thanks to Marcia of The Printed Page for hosting this fun meme. Check out her blog to see what everyone else got last week or to play along. This is what I found in my mailbox last week:
Wednesday
Thursday
I think my stacks may have actually decreased! What books came into your home last week?
July 5, 2009
Charles and Sarah are an older married couple who’ve raised three children. Like most marriages, theirs has had its ups and downs, but they’ve settled into a happy, comfortable routine. Their three children are grown and successful, but Charles struggles with his relationship with their son David and Sarah and their daughter Charlotte have their differences. Their other son, Tom brings home a lovely young woman and life seems good.
When Charles passes away unexpectedly, Sarah finds herself at loose ends. Things that she deemed so important at one time (a clean house, great meals, etc) no longer interest her. There’s a small cabin on Sarah’s property and when a friend asks her to allow her cousin to live in it and write, Sarah reluctantly agrees. Sarah’s daughter, Charlotte, and granddaughter, Lottie, are having trouble getting along so Sarah permits Lottie to move in with her.
Lottie persuades Sarah to allow several of her friends to move in and from there, things mushroom, and Sarah finds herself providing a safe haven for “every last cuckoo.”
The beginning of Every Last Cuckoo, by Kate Maloy, is told in a non-linear fashion so it took me a while to discover where the story was going. The family dynamics were very believable because they’re so well written. I felt like the ups and downs in Charles and Sarah’s marriage were so realistic too. Even though I’m not as old as Kate, I could relate to her and was so glad when she discovered the wisdom she had inside. I enjoyed this well written book, but found the middle to be a little be too philosophical for me and the ending a little bit long and predictable.
Review copy provided by Algonquin Books.
July 4, 2009
Vance is home for the summer and our nephew, Adam, is visiting us for the holiday weekend, so I’m surrounded by testosterone right now! Carl and Adam went bike riding yesterday and I’m hoping to drag everyone to a movie this afternoon before our cook-out tonight. The title of my post is inspired by a 4th of July we spent in France. When people heard us speak, they could tell we’re Americans, and everyone kept saying “Bon Anniversaire” (Happy Birthday) to us. I was really puzzled, until it dawned on me that it was Independence Day!
The picture wasn’t taken on the 4th of July, but I thought it might embarrass Vance and Adam still suited the occasion because there’s no better way to spend the holiday than at the beach with your family. The picture is from June of 1994, so Vance was almost 7 and Adam was almost 12.
I wish everyone a safe, fun holiday with the ones you love!
July 3, 2009
Cousins April and Oliver grew up very close, but drifted apart when Oliver went away to college. Now that they’re adults, April seems to be attracted to violent, abusive men and Oliver has given up his beloved music. Oliver has returned to the East Coast to attend law school and he’s brought his fiancee, Bernadette with him. April and Oliver are re-united at the funeral for April’s brother, Buddy, who April loved as if he were her own child.
April and Oliver are drawn together and Bernadette can sense the attraction between them. As the story unfolds, they discover that much of their lives have been complicated by lies that they thought were true.
I found April & Oliver, by Tess Callahan, to be a brooding, gloomy novel, yet I couldn’t put it down. The secrets to the past unfold slowly, but the character development is so good, I just had to know what was going to happen next. I became attached to April since she is such a kind soul (especially with her grandmother) so I kept hoping she would make a good decision when it came to the men in her life. I became angry when her past was revealed. Oliver is a confused, kind-hearted soul who needs to come to terms with his feelings. This book serves as a reminder of the dangers of keeping secrets. I loved this book, even though it is a little dark, and think it would make a great choice for a book club to read.
This is Tess Callahan’s first novel and I certainly hope it’s not her last. You can listen to an interview with her on Blog Talk Radio.
Review copy provided by Hachette Books.
July 2, 2009
Description from Hachette’s web site:
William Smithback, a NY Times reporter, and his wife Nora Kelly, a Museum of Natural History archaeologist, are brutally attacked in their apartment on the Upper West side of Manhattan. Eyewitnesses claim and the security camera confirms the killer seen leaving the building was their strange, sinister neighbor–a man who, by all reports, was already dead.
Captain Hayward leads the official homicide investigation, while Pendergast, D’Agosta, and Nora undertake a private quest for the truth. Their serpentine journey takes them into a part of Manhattan they never imagined could exist: a secretive and deadly hotbed of Obeah, the West Indian Zombii cult of sorcery and magic. And it is here they find their true peril is just beginning.
I listened to the audio version of Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child and was captivated right from the start. When the subject turned to zombies, I was a little bit skeptical, but stuck with it because I was interested enough that I wanted to know what happened. This book has lots of twists and turns and exciting moments. Some moments were so gruesome, they made me wince. The ending took me totally by surprise and made me glad that I stuck with the book, since I ended up really enjoying it. The audio version is read by René Auberjonois (I knew him as Clayton Endicott III in Benson) and he does a superb job – not only does he create different voices, but he makes guttural zombie sounds! There is violence and some language in this book.
After I wrote this review, I decided to look for a video to include and discovered that this is the ninth book in the authors’ Pendergast series. This novel stands well alone, because I had no idea it was a series as I listened to it.
Review copy provided by Hachette Books.
July 1, 2009
Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading. Feel free to join in the fun. (Don’t forget to leave a link in your comment if you’re participating.)
All of my words for this week come from Love Walked In by Marisa De Los Santos.
1. profiterole - “Her mother arrived when they were still at the breakfast table, and she would sit for a minute and have coffee with Liv and tell vivid little stories about the party: a minor avalanche of profiteroles, a drunk guest’s profanity-studded toast, a hostess swooning in her tight-cinched corset-bodice dress.”
From the context, I thought profiterole was food and I was right. A profiterole is a miniature cream puff with a sweet or savory filling.
2. frangible – “For a few groggy seconds, it was nighttime, and she was back in her house, alone with her mother’s roaming in the frangible untrustworthy quiet nighttime always brought.”
Frangible means readily or easily broken.
3. self-abnegating – “I thought about arguing, re-submitting my transubstantiation theory, but quickly recognized this thought for the self-abnegating lunacy it was .”
Abnegate means to deny or renounce, so self-abnegating would be denying or renouncing oneself.
What new words have you discovered lately?
June 30, 2009
Four young women are assigned as suitemates when they’re freshmen at Bedford University, a small Episcopalian women’s college in western North Carolina. Even though they come from different backgrounds, the four become fast friends and remain roommates throughout college. The women haven’t see each other in over twenty years when Lola calls and invites them to join her at her new beach cottage for a week. The four women are:
- Lola, the daughter of a former governor of Alabama – she’s led a privileged life but ends up being forced to marry the “right” man instead of the man she loves. She has everything money can buy.
- Mel, who is the daughter of a hugely successful car dealer. He’s a bully, though, so Mel has issues with love. She’s a novelist who’s been divorced twice.
- Annie, a sweet woman from a happy family. She’s in a stable loving marriage, but doesn’t know what to do with herself now that her children are grown.
- Sara, who struggles, along with her husband, with balancing their needs with the needs of their autistic child. She has a dark secret from her college days that is eating her alive.
When the women first get together at the beach house, they’re reserved with each other and not all that kind. It’s not until their last night together, when they each decide to reveal something about themselves that no one else knows, that they realize how important their friendships are to each other. Sara said
I was afraid after all these years apart, we wouldn’t have anything to talk about. But the funny thing is the minute I saw you all it felt like we were eighteen again. We’re different, but the friendship’s still there, it’s intact, and it makes me feel – I don’t know, safe. Y’all are the sisters I never had. I can tell you anything.
I found Beach Trip by Cathy Holton to be a pleasant, satisfying read with quite the dramatic ending! This is a great book to take to the beach with you this summer. The story is told in the present day with flashbacks to the characters’ childhoods and their days in college. Since it’s told in the third person, the transitions are easy to follow. All of the main characters is believable and well written – I saw a little of myself in each one of them. This book serves as an important reminder of the importance of friendships.
This is Cathy Holton’s third book. A true Southern girl, she lives in Tennessee with her husband and children. She is currently working on her fourth book. This is the final stop on her TLC Book Tour.
