Hurray for Spring! And Elephants!
Weekly Low Down on Kids Books 5/03/12
Title: Hurray for Spring!
Author: Patricia Hubbell
Illustrator: Taia Morley
Publisher: NorthWord
Genre: Childrens, Picture Books
Ayla has a wide assortment of books of her own, she can’t help it with a compulsive book buying mother. But going to the library and picking out special books for just the week is always fun. At a year and a half, she already loves books and spends a lot of time pretending to read or browsing illustrations. ‘Shopping’ at a library, however, is so much different than shopping at a store. For starters, there’s the Dewey Decimal System to contend with, something I honestly haven’t used in about ten years. Then, there’s the lack of beautifully merchandised end caps – you can ask my best friend, I’m a complete sucker for a pretty display. (That’s probably why I enjoyed making them so much in my merchandising days.) Still, we manage to find precious gems and exciting reads every week.
This week we haphazardly pulled Hurray for Spring! off the shelf. The poem tells of all the adventures one can have throughout the season and is accompanied by gorgeous illustrations of kids playing and dragon flies and flowers. There’s mice playing in the weeds, beautiful blue skies, and the book is an all around treat. We read it four times in a row before bed time Tuesday night because Ayla kept demanding, “More” as she turned the book back to the first page and patted the title, indicating a re-read.
I’d like to buy a copy to use to celebrate Easter every year. Its fresh, lively, and is a good way to get kids excited about playing outside, but if read softly the cadence of the words can still put a baby to sleep. We love Hurray for Spring! Even now Ayla discovered it in my hand and is hopping around, rummaging through the book bag, and begging me to read it again.
Title:
Busy Elephants
Author: John Schindel
Photographs: Martin Harvey
Publisher: Tricycle Press
Genre: Childrens, Board Books
In the past, we’ve tried Busy Penguins, which I loved, but Ayla had little interest in. This time, Busy Elephants was all the rage. Each page contains a photograph of elephants out in the wild, eating, running, bathing, etc. And after months and month of every blessed furry (or even some non-furry) animals being called ‘Dog’ its nice to finally see her point with recognition at the elephants on each page, listen to me say elephant, and then try the word out on her own mouth. So far, all we get is “lphn,” but that’s enough for me this week. She’s excited to learn new words, even if she can’t quite pronounce them properly. That’s what makes these kinds of books so great for babies: real photographs, repitition of a word, until by the end they’ve seen the world and added something to their vocabulary.
Titles, Actresses, and of Course Murder… Oh My!
First Edition UK Cover 1933
Title: Lord Edgware Dies
Author: Agatha Christie
Going through my own personal Agatha Christie Crime Collection challenge, next on my list for April was 13 At Dinner. My copies are leather bound editions with 3 titles per volume, in no particular order, so I thought my eyes were just going bad when I couldn’t find the title. Finally I settled on 13 Problems and thought I was ready to go, but opening it up, something didn’t feel right. So it was back to the internet to check over my list.
That’s when I discovered that 13 At Dinner was originally published as Lord Edgware Dies, and low and behold, I actually have a copy of THAT. The story follows the trail of a woman suspected of murdering her husband because, quite frankly, she told everyone he would and then he drops dead. It happens during a dinner party at which there are 13 guests, hence the republished title. But that doesn’t explain why they chose to retitle the book.
I was doing a little research into this phenomena, and discovered that this happens quite often especially in crime fiction. For Christie alone, there’s a fabulously long list of retitles, mostly between the first edition UK and the first edition US:
After the Funeral (UK) = Funerals are Fatal (US)
Death in the Clouds (UK) = Death in the Air (US)
Destination Unknown (UK) = So Many Steps to Death (US)
Dumb Witness (UK) = Poirot loses a Client
(US) Five little Pigs (UK) = Murder in Retrospect (US)
4.50 From Paddington (UK) = What Mrs McGillicuddy Saw (US)
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas (UK) = Murder for Christmas (US)
Hickory, Dickory Dock (UK ) = Hickory, Dickory Death (US)
The Hollow (UK) = Murder after Hours (US)
Lord Edgware Dies (UK) = Thirteen at Dinner (US)
The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side (UK) = The Mirror Crack’d (US)
Mrs. McGinty’s Dead (UK) = Blood will Tell (US)
The Mousetrap (UK) = Three Blind Mice (US)
Murder in the Mews (UK) = Dead Man’s Mirror (US)
Murder is Easy (UK) = Easy to Kill (US)
Murder on the Orient Express (UK) = Murder in the Calais Coach (US)
One, Two, Buckle my Shoe (UK) = The Patriotic Murders (US)
Parker Pyne Investigates (UK) = Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective (US)
Poirot’s Early Cases (UK) = Hercule Poirot’s Early Cases (US)
The Sittaford Mystery (UK) = Murder at Hazelmoor (US)
Sparkling Cyanide (UK) = Remembered Death (US)
Taken at the Flood (UK) = There is a Tide (US)
Ten Little Niggers (Original UK) = And Then There Were None (Current UK) = Ten Little Indians (US)
They do it with Mirrors (UK) = Murder with Mirrors (US)
The Thirteen Problems (UK) = The Tuesday Club Murders (US) T
hree-Act Tragedy (UK) = Murder in Three Acts (US)
Why Didn’t they Tell Evans? (UK) = The Boomerang Clue (US) T
– taken from http://www.gaslightbooks.com.au/checklists/mchanges.html
While looking into that little curiousity, I stumbled onto another bit of fun. One of the characters in this particular Poirot adventure is based off a real historical person. Inspired would be more correct, as Ruth Draper
Draper was known for her monologues, ability to become something new with few props, and to immitate anyone. When Christie discovered Draper she thought “[…] how clever she was and how good her impersonations were; the wonderful way she could transform herself from a nagging wife to a peasant girl kneeling in a cathedral. Thinking about her led me to the book Lord Edgware Dies.” (from Christie’s autobiography
Apparently, Draper loved to perform at parties as well as on Broadway. It was said that she would watch people, taking note on all their little quirks and behaviors, and then turn what she gathered of them into one-person sketch, worthy of all sorts of accolades. She traveled throughout Europe as well and was quite the sensation. The character of Carlotta Adams is one in the same, aside from the small little detail that she doesn’t live to the ripe age of 70 because she gets wrapped up in a murder mystery.
I’m enjoying my weekly sit downs with Christie, and Lord Edgware Dies has been no exception. Its fun, interesting, and Poirot always keeps me on my toes.
Gothic Picture Books
While picking out picture books, I’m slowly but surely learning that the things that grab my attention may or may not grab Ayla’s, and even if they do grab Ayla’s sometimes maybe I shouldn’t be reading them to her quite yet.
The Spider and the Fly
Then, there’s books that are simple, like Nosy Rosie
How do you decide what to hand them when? On one side, I don’t want to be Phoebe’s grandmother on Friends who turned off all the movies before the unhappy ending and the character didn’t know that Bambi’s mother got shot or that Old Yeller died at the end until her thirties. But neither do I want to be the creepy mother raising her child to disturbing things like “A is for Amy who fell down the stairs,” even though as a teen and adult I find them quite funny.
So again I ask you, how do you decide what to hand them and when? I suppose the age old dilemma for every parent is based in the fear of warping their child, and when it comes to books I have an even bigger problem because its not just about what my child can handle, its the message I give her when I make the decision. I don’t believe in censorship, but I greatly believe in reading guidance.
What are some of your favorite ‘gothic’ picture books? When did you decide to share them with your kids? Or did you let them seek them out themselves?
Male Readers for Outlander Series
After I posted my review for Dragonfly in Amber, I got a Twitter response from author Diana Gabaldon. She stated that although it was a “lovely review” she doesn’t like her books classified as romance because “a) they aren’t b) doing so cuts off ALL the male readers and the female readers who don’t think they read THAT kind of book.” While working in a bookstore and being taught to shelve her books in the romance section, I’d often heard the author had this preference against it, but had never done very much research concerning the matter.
The books are lovely. There is sexual content, but it’s not all ripping bodices and whatnot typical of a romance novel. In that regards I completely agree with her. The truth is, I can’t think of a good section for this astounding author’s work. I think they would get lost in the fantasy section and many bookstores don’t have their own historical fiction department.
What I love most about the books, is that even the store I worked, housed in the romance section, people sought her books out. I agree that placing them in that section cuts off certain new readers, but once introduced, there is no stopping a man from waltzing into that wall of pink and half exposed breast covers to pick out the next in the series. I’ve seen it happen over and over again.
That being said, I wanted to share this fan letter Diana Gabaldon has available on her site:
Thank you from an American Soldier (UNCLASSIFIED)
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Caveats: NONE
Ma'am,
I don't know if you will personally read this. I hope and pray you do. No, I am not an obsessed fan. But I am someone who enjoys your work. It has touched me on a very personal level. Please allow me to explain.
I am a soldier in the United States Army and have been for about 18 years. I had my first of three long deployments in 2003. I have deployed twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. And each time I took your books with me. When I first bought Outlander, I am ashamed to say I only bought it because it was a very thick book. Getting ready to deploy I know that I would have a very long journey ahead of me. On the plane from Louisiana (where I was stationed) To New York to Maine to Italy then into Kuwait I couldn't put the damn thing down.
While I was deployed it was my escape. I sent a message home to my mother to find other books in the series. Lucky she found more. I have to say that your books helped me escape the reality that war can be. When I suffered personal hardships (IED blasts, fire fights and death of my friends) your books were a way for me to escape and even if for a brief few moments a way for me to keep my sanity. I am so very grateful to you for that.
Since my first deployment each time I had to say goodbye to my son, your books were in my rucksack. They are dog-eared and a bit worse for the wear...think Dragon Fly in the Amber even has a huge blood stain on it from when I got hurt. But I repaired them lovingly with what we call 90mph tape. Anyway they have traveled all over the world with me.
It is because of your writing that I have chosen to get my degree before I retire (when ever that will be). I have chosen history for my course of study. Once again...thank you.
I know you are busy but I wanted to let you know how much your work means. Thank you for taking the time to read my letter. God bless you and yours.
Very Respectfully,
SSG [name and unit omitted by request]
P.S. enclosed is a picture of me in Iraq on my most recent deployment and one of me at Gettysburg, Pa on mid tour leave.
Staff Sergeant [name and address omitted] Attachment Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Attachment Caveats: FOUO
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Caveats: NONE- http://www.dianagabaldon.com/from-the-fans/readers-letters-2/
Isn’t that the most wonderful thing? To have the spawn of one’s imagination be so inspiring and comforting to so many people is such a glorious privilege. That’s something that would inspire any writer to attempt to be such a story-teller. And if that didn’t do it for you, read her bio, its quite impressive: http://www.dianagabaldon.com/about-diana/bio/
The 8th of The Outlander Series is thought to come out sometime next year. I will be reading the 3rd (Voyager) in the next few months. Anyone interested in a readathon?
Post Edit: I found this Outlander Reading Challenge and joined. http://www.thelitbitch.com/?page_id=1314
A Romance to Last the Ages
Title: Dragonfly in Amber (second in The Outlander Series
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Publisher: I am reading from A Dell Book, pocket papberback, published in 1992.
Length: 947 pgs
Although the book covers are a bit outdated and have been revamped and republished, The Outlander Series itself will never be outdated… will never get old. Often shelved in the romance sections for its sexual content and love story, its a little more dramatic, a little more fantasy, and has a little more historical detail than your average romance. Gabaldon has written a saga that is a “little more” no matter where you house it in your bookstore.
Where I devoured Outlander (the introductory book of the series, published in the UK as CrossStitch), Dragonfly in Amber I mosied through. I kept it on my nightstand and read 20-30 page here and there, until I finally finished it this morning over breakfast. But not because it wasn’t good.
Jamie and Claire Fraser are the kind of characters you like to let linger with you. By book two you see more of their faults and weaknesses as well as their strengths, and they are less token flat romantic leads strictly enamoured with each other. Still definitely a romance, these books are also clearly about a marriage tried by time travel, war, and witch hunts, and more. There’s a real element to them that traditional romances don’t have, the Outlander Series is all adventure but never fairy tale. Knowing there’s a whole series of nearly 1000 page books, its easy to set it down after a little bit, assured they will be there when you come back.
Of course, the moment you get to the end of one, Gabaldon has teased you with some lingering story line that makes you want to immediately start the next. I recommend having several of the series set aside before you begin so when that moment comes you aren’t left with the deep urge to leave your house and run to the nearest bookstore hoping they have the one you need in stock. Just buy them all up whenever you see them, and toss them (in order) on your TBR pile.
Like Baroness Orczy’s The Scarlet Pimpernel, I think The Outlander Series will be a romance that lasts through the ages.
A Natural English Journey for Earth Day
Title: Birds of Selborne
Author: Gilbert White
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Length: 96 pgs.
This pocket sized series of letters from naturalist Gilbert White about the village of Selborne should be a part of every environmentalist’s collection. White studied at Oriel College in Oxford and then spent years travelling around England. Birds of Selborne is a segment of The Natural History of Selborne, a work he published after he returned home from his travels.
I love these little books, its a branch off of the Penguin Great Ideas series, an “English Journeys” collection of which this is number 19. Much of this particular edition is filled with White’s bird watching adventures, but also covers things about the trees and weather as well. If you’ve ever enjoyed the work of Darwin’s Origin of Species or Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, Gilbert White is worth your while.
Tomorrow is Earth Day, don’t forget to check out your local bookstore and pick something up from the nature or gardening section to kick off your Sunday (after church, if you go). Find a spot under some trees or in the sun to celebrate your Earth while you read. Half Price Books in Humble will have Eco-friendly goodie bags to hand out to 50 customers, if you’re in the Humble area you should check it out. If you’re in the Dallas area, there’s a tree planting event on April 28th: http://www.hpb.com/treeweek/
Water for Elephants: 24 Hour Fairy Tale
Title: Water for Elephants
Author: Sara Gruen
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: I read from the Algonquin Books, a division of Workman Publishing, movie cover edition
Length: 445 pgs.
When I first see a book, I mentally catalogue it. I see On What Grounds, Cleo Coyle, mystery by author, C’s. I see On Art and Life, John Ruskin, philosophy by philosopher, R’s. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen, general fiction by author, G’s. I see Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, general fiction by author, R’s. I see Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire, Amanda Foreman, History, British biographies by subject G’s.
At second glance, it becomes a more personal catalogue: bubble bath, afternoon, 24 hour, week, over time.
A bubble bath read is a Cleo Coyle Coffeehouse mystery series. Roughly 200 pages, usually purchased in paperback format, I can read it in an hour to an hour and a half. John Ruskin’s On Art and Life is part of my Penguin Great Ideas books collection, they are small, but involve a little more brain power than a fun, cozy mystery, I will spend an afternoon on one of these books. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen? I saw ladies pick this up for their book clubs, I weighed it in my hands, and thought: I’ll read that… looks like a romantic 24 hour fairy tale. You see the pattern.
Yet I waited. I impulsively buy many things when it comes to books… bubble bath reads because I read them often; Great Ideas books because I collect them; week longs because work like Carlos Ruiz Zafon is heaven to me; history and science books because I have an insatiable thirst for knowledge. But 24 hour reads get brushed under the rug fairly often. They are often times catalogued as fluff I don’t have time for.
The movie came and went, the movie edition came by the hundreds. Still, I passed it up.
Finally, my best friend bought a copy during a Valentine’s Event hosted at the Half Price Books in Humble (Buy your favorite love story, get a chance to win a dinner for two at Italiano’s). Now, for a book reviewer, blogger, and aspiring novel writer, you’d think I had a best friend who reads with me. You probably envision a girl that goes and gets coffee and pours over reading material only to gab about it later with her bestie. Well, I have very close friends that I do that with, but Danielle isn’t one of them. My best friend absorbs books on her own, stews over them in her mind, and then cherishes them and tries to not breathe a word of them with another soul lest she ruin the magic of the experience. Point? She wont read with me. But I found out what book she bought at that event, and I picked up a copy of my own on clearance.
24 hours of entertainment for 25 cents – heck yeah!
Now, granted, I wasn’t reading Water for Elephants for 24 hours straight. Just between baby, husband, event planning, house cleaning, playdates, meals, emails, pampering, and dog walking, it took me 24 hours to finish it. If however, you are going on a vacation and have a chance to read it all in one sitting… I HIGHLY recommend doing so.
The New York Times Book Review calls Water for Elephants “An enchanting escapist fairy tale” and despite the sociopathic husband of the love interest who gets off on beating animals and people and lording over a small community of travelling circus hooligans, it really is a bit of a fairy tale, and its definitely an escape from your own reality.
Water for Elephants reads a bit like a Kate Morton novel, but at a quicker pace, with lots of layers, old age, storytelling, and flashbacks. Unlike Kate Morton, this first person narrative is written from the perspective of the man in the saga – rather than aged ladies. Where Kate Morton’s fabulous books strike me as having a very female target audience, I feel that marketed a bit differently, Sara Gruen has the potential to engross a population of male readers who have missed out under the impression that this fairy tale is a romance novel.
Gruen has done extensive research into depression era, of circuses, and of elephants, and it shows. Although Water for Elephants is about two people finding their fairy tale life in the midst of harsh circumstances, its ultimately the greatest coming of age story I’ve read in a long time. You’ve got a virginal college boy experiencing the death of his parents and loss of all his future plans, running away to join the circus, telling you the story of his life, all his trials and tribulations, from a nursing home at age ninety – or ninety three. From becoming room mates with a dwarf, losing his virginity, learning the fine art of train hopping, planning a murder, witnessing a murder, and falling in love, and becoming an unsung hero, Gruen leads you effortlessly through the life of an ex-circus vet, and its wonderful.
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but when I do, I’ll tell you all what I think.
Fantine
Notes from a Les Miserables Readalong
I am reading from the Modern Library edition
On History
As a reader, I am captivated by novels about the Napoleanic Wars, or more accurately, set during the Napoleanic Wars. Long have I loved Jane Austen heroines, had my heart pitter patter to the feats of Horatio Hornblower, and kept such writers as Alexander Kent and Patrick O’Brian on my TBR pile. But I’ve never take the approach of a historian to these wars, and certainly never contemplated the affect they had on the countries involved. So with a copy of Les Miserables sitting on my night stand, I am now admonished for my previous ignorance. So much pain, so much chaos, on every level of the human experience: politics, religion, the whole of society has been torn apart. And just a few pages into Les Miserables, I can’t help but wonder: Is Hugo going to put it together again?
On Writing
Reading old letters in novels always has struck me. So often characters end with something along the lines of running out of paper or their paper being filled up. Even as a child, reading all the historical pieces I could get my hands on, this concept amazed me. The idea of running out of paper! What luxury we have in this modern age of ours! (Yes, in a book about people starving and not having enough to keep a fire in winter, the luxury I am stunned by is paper, not the fact that I am always well fed!) Never am I out of stationary or cards to write letters; never am I out of journal space, always buying the next one when I see that I am thirty pages or so near the end. How spoiled we all are that now we are even less likely to run out of room to express ourselves with all the unlimited cyberspace at our fingertips – unless of course while on Twitter, confined by 140 characters.
On Personal Experience
“being in the mountains, the evenings of October are cold there.” – pg. 54
Its always the little things I get hung up on when I’m reading, often distracted by my own experiences. I see cold and October in the same sentence, I swear, for nearly ten minutes I stop reading and think of all those excrutiating Halloween nights in Texas. I distinctly remember, and most often recall, that one muggy night spent in a pumpkin suit noisily shifting the newspaper so my chest and belly could breathe. “Who thinks about pumpkin suits while reading Les Miserables?!” is the thought that occurs to me, bringing me back to the page… only to see traveller and innkeeper and start thinking about Christmas. That train of thought wasn’t done any favors by the fact that the innkeeper tells the traveller, “Monsier, I cannot receive you […] I have no room.”
On The Bishop
Of course, I adore him.
“In such moments, offering up his heart at the hour when the flowers of night inhale their perfume, lighted like a lamp in the centre of the starry night, expanding his soul in ecstasy in the midst of the universal radiance of creation, he could not himself perhaps have told what was passing in his own mind; he felt something depart from him, and something descend upon him; mysterious interchages of the depths of the soul with the depths of the universe.” – pg. 49
That description is so beautiful. The man himself is so beautiful. I envision him sitting around endless vines of jasmine under the moonlight communing with God and its just a very pretty image that resonates with me and does not leave. Then, later, I nearly cried the moment the bishop ordered the woman to put clean sheets on the bed for the convict.
On Felix, Fantine, and Cosette
Felix is such an irresponsible jerk! And the girls to praise him such with laughter! Fantine is such a fool, never met such a naive character in all my life. And poor little Cosette, the victim of their faults. Its true that while reading this book your heart just breaks and breaks over and over again. Hugo doesn’t help matters, the moment I get attached to a character – even in their woe and distress – I am whisked away to be introduced to another.
On Jean Valjean
The story of Jean Valjean is quite possibly the most depressingly awful thing I’ve ever read, until I read about all the escape attempts and deem the man an idiot for not just waiting out his sentence patiently. For his intial nineteen years in prison, I have no sympathy. However, he redeems himself and earns my care later, but I don’t want to post any spoilers at the moment… not until everyone dives into the book and gets more than their little toes wet.
Favorite Quotes
“Table talk and lovers’ talk equally elude the grasp; lovers’ talk is clouds, table talk is smoke.” – pg. 115
“He loved books; books are cold but sure friends.” – pg. 142
“Some people are malicious from the mere necessity of talking.” – pg. 155
Fantine Posts from the Kate’s Library Readalong Blog Hop
Kate’s Library http://kateslibrary.blogspot.com/2012/03/les-miserables-victor-hugo-post-1.html
Southern Bluestocking http://southernbluestocking.com/2012/01/07/les-miserables-book-1-fantine/
A Room of One’s Own http://jillianreadsbooks2.wordpress.com/category/authors/victor-hugo/
If you’re in this blog hop too, please leave a comment below with a link to your post about Part I: Fantine.
Next Les Miserables Blog Post by Anakalian Whims: https://anakalianwhims.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/les-miserables-readalong-update-50412/
Celebrating Earth Day, April 22nd
While gathering up promotional items for Half Price Books Earth Day Celebration Goodie Bags (Humble Location), one of the participating business owners described me as “earthy” to one of his associates. I’ve worked for a company I hear people refer to as “hippie” in nature for five years now, but I never thought of myself as being a hippie myself… I always just thought of myself as bookish. But I suppose working with people so dedicated to reusing and recycling, some of it had to sink into my being in an observable way.
Since I’m so “earthy,” I thought I’d share a little bit about what I do as part of my daily routine. I’m not out to save the world, just out to minimize my footprint when its convenient to do so.
1. Recycle cans. Its as easy as dropping your can items into a separate trash container. Sometimes loading them up and dropping them off at a recycling center is a hassle, that’s where nieces and nephews come in handy. Most kids will jump at the chance to earn some spare change (I know I LOVED collecting and selling crushed cans as a kid), so even if you don’t haul them off yourself, its probably pretty easy to find someone willing (and eager) to do it for you.
2. Reusable shopping bags. I don’t have a recycle pick up in my neighborhood. So rather than acquire a mountainous number of plastic bags I am too lazy to deliver to a recycling dispenser, I just use reusable ones instead. It saves me a lot of grief and guilt, and is surprisingly simple once you get in the habit of keeping a stash of them in your car. My favorites are Pat’s Bags at Half Price Books. They are $1.98, made of recycled water bottles, and have cute art designed by one of the store’s founders Pat Anderson.
3. Dump coffee grounds and egg shells in the garden. Instead of dumping my coffee grounds and egg shells in the trash, I make sure to mix it into my garden soil. Coffee grounds help keep nutrients in the soil, fight off diseases your plants can get, and keeps the garden soil looking dark and fresh. More specific information about coffee grounds can be found on this blog: http://groundtoground.org/2011/08/28/coffee-grounds-for-your-garden/. Egg shells are more specifically good for your vegetable garden, so I crush those up and put them with my tomatoes. More specific information on eggs shells in your garden can be found here: http://www.allotments.ie/?p=515.
4. All natural cleaning products. This habit benefits me two fold: I am allergic to everything, and its better for the environment. I am a huge fan of homemade mixes (using baking soda, vinegar, and essential oils), Seventh Generation, and J.R. Watson. As for my personal hygene, I love soap from Connie’s Bath Shack in Old Town Spring – http://conniesbathshack.com/.
5. Reuseable water bottles. I have reuseable water bottles galore from all the Earth Day Celebrations of Half Price Past. I don’t buy plastic water bottles in packs at the store, I diligently refill my Half Price Books bottles. Water bottles are a simple, yet awesome thing of genius, and you can get them anywhere, I think even Starbucks sells them.
As you can see, that’s not a lot, but I think it makes a big difference.
But, this is a book blog, so I’ll get to the bookish parts.
I love this very green ad from hpb.com!
Half Price Books loves to celebrate Earth Day, and in working there for five years, I can proudly say it was my favorite time of the year in the four and half years I worked in the store. The displays are full of my favorite color (green), the nature and gardening sections become a little more prominent, people seem more interested in buying books to read outside under trees in parks… I love that. Smack dab in the middle of Spring, people just seem cheerier in general, and with Mother’s Day around the corner, and lawn projects in the works, I always felt like I had a better chance to help people out. One year, I even got to participate in a tree planting for Trees for Houston. Half Price Books sent a group of volunteers to the planting, as part of my working hours, to plant trees! That was an all out blast.
Visit your local Half Price Books on Earth Day, they just might be doing something cool that day. But even if there’s not too much out of the ordinary happening, its good to get your books reused! One of my favorite HPB purchases is actually featured in that ad to the left, Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods
A Walk in the Woods makes me desperately want to go hiking. This was my first Bryson, I find the author surprisingly witty and fun, although perhaps a bit truthfully cruel in the beginning. I have to admit, prior to reading this I knew very little about the Appalachian Trail – it was a trail I had heard of but didn’t really have a clue about its length (Georgia to Maine, 2200 miles), its fame, or its history. This is the perfect blend of traveling memoir and a true survival/ adventure story, and I was completely captured by the weather conditions, the terrain, the fellow hikers, and the long nights in cold shelters. Its definitely an adventure I’d like to take, even if it means I only finish 39% of the trail like Bryson himself.
Another little favorite of mine is Don’t Throw It Out
Also, one of my most recent purchases, is Generation T
So whether you pop into a used bookstore and pick up some new resources, ride your bicycle that day, take a gander in the public park or local arboretum, or start a new earth friendly habit… be a good steward of your resources and respect your world, take a moment, sniff the roses, and celebrate Earth Day!
*Disclaimer: Although I am currently an extremely part-time, work from home, employee for Half Price Books (about 20-30 hours a month to organize events like booksignings, raffles, and other fun stuff), this blog is purely my own. What I say here is always of my own volition, and is not backed or on behalf of the company. This is my personal blog of all my personal interests. Those personal interests just often include everything HPB as its a huge part of my world.
Anakalian Whims 
Voice of Conscience by Behcet Kaya – A Review
April 28, 2012 at 10:10 pm (Reviews) (behcet kaya, books, culture, debut novel, reviews, social commentary, Turkey, turkish authors, world literature)
Author: Behcet Kaya
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Length: 414 pgs.
Described by multiple reviewers as a Shakespearean Tragedy, Kaya’s debut novel Voice of Conscience
is a little bit Kite Runner and a little bit Bourne Identity, but still something all its own.
Best read in three days (because of its three parts set in Turkey, London, then California), Voice of Conscience follows the life of Ramzi Ozcomert Jr., from his childhood in Turkey and a culture of vengeance and family tradition – to love, marriage, and finally the return to his roots. In the spirit of Khaled Housseini (author of Kite Runner) and Manil Suri (author of The Death of Vishnu), Kaya dives into his own culture and gives us social commentary of a country often overlooked in literature. Addressing deep issues of the human condition througout love, loss, revenge, and guilt from the perspective of a Turkish author, I found the book rather enlightening and educational.
Prior to Kaya’s novel, the only books I had ever read involving Turkey were Middlesex by Jeffrey Euginedes (entire portions of the novel dedicated to the relationship between the Greeks and the Turks) and vampire hunting novels that often use Istanbul as a pitt stop within plot developments. I’ve encountered Orhan Pamuk over and over again, having worked in a bookstore running the literature section for years, but I never actually picked up any of his work, despite their accolades.
I read Part One set in Atamkoy, Turkey in 1962 curled up in my library with a cup of coffee, thinking this little tragedy was going to be more of a depressing, cozy read. Turns out, through Parts Two and Three, I had migrated to my Gazelle
where I can work out and read simultaneously due to its low impact and breezy routine. I’m a mood reader, and the more the story progressed, the more Ramzi got closer and closer to going all mercenary ninja on his enemies, which gave me the desire to be on the move. By the time the book ended, in tradition of a perfect story arch, I was back in a cozy chair with my coffee and a beagle on my feet.
Overall, I appreciate Kaya’s novel and how much of himself he has poured into it. Its an excellent first novel, and I look forward to reading more of his work in the future. My only complaint is in some of the dialogue which occasionally seems to fall a bit flat and is often times too lengthy. (This coming from a girl who talks incessantly and tends to write how she speaks… could be the pot calling the kettle black!) But all in all, well done!
Additional articles to read:
http://www.prlog.org/11463686-behcet-kayas-voice-of-conscience.html
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-273884-international-readers-need-to-discover–turkish-literature–say-publishers.html
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