Women Unbound Reading Challenge

I am so excited for this challenge! Eva at A Striped Armchair, Aarti from Booklust, and Care from Care's Online Book Club are have opened a challenge dedicated to women. The Women Unbound Reading Challenge encourages participants to read nonfiction and fiction books related to women’s studies. Eva gives a definition of this on the page about the challenge. Eva has even given us a great reading list to give us some ideas. They've definitely left the topic of women's studies broad enough that the choices are practically endless.

There are three levels you can choose as a reader:

• Philogynist: read at least two books, including at least one nonfiction one.
• Bluestocking: read at least five books, including at least two nonfiction ones.
• Suffragette: read at least eight books, including at least three nonfiction ones.

Head on over to the Women Unbound blog to learn more and sign up. The contest runs from November 1, 2009 - November 30, 2010, so going to go for Suffragette. With a whole year ahead of me, I'm optimistic that eight books is no problem!

Eva has posted a WOMEN UNBOUND Start of Challenge Meme:
1. What does feminism mean to you? Does it have to do with the work sphere? The social sphere? How you dress? How you act?

Feminism, for me, is the philosophical belief that people are equal regardless of gender and contains the express purpose of countering antiquated beliefs about what it means to be a woman. I don't believe feminism is particular to any specific situation or locale. It is a state of mind, something that does not leave you or shift from one place to another. And it doesn't have anything to do with the way you look, the way you dress, where you work, sexuality, religion, or even gender.

2. Do you consider yourself a feminist? Why or why not?

Absolutely. The issue of female equality has been lauded as a success. Oh, Hilary Clinton, Sarah Palin, look how far women have come. And I absolutely agree that the struggle for equality has come a long way, but there is still much to do. When 19 year old females in my college English course tell me that they wouldn't vote for Clinton because she's a woman and "can you imagine what she'd do while PMS-ing?", I know that we have a long, long way to go.

3. What do you consider the biggest obstacle women face in the world today? Has that obstacle changed over time, or does it basically remain the same?

The biggest obstacle women face today is the misconception that the struggle is over. That we are equal to men and we can relax now. We have fooled ourselves into believing that the issues women face have been solved; that perceptions regarding womanhood have shifted to the point where we no longer need to be so concerned. These rose-tinted glasses mean more and more women are blind to the obstacles we still have to overcome. As for a second obstacle - WOMEN. We are our own worst enemy as we allow ourselves to be objectified and even encourage this objectification and youth-based sexualization. Even after how far we've come, girls still "act stupid" around guys - I see it every week in the college courses I teach; an A female student will dumb herself down for the C male student she has a crush on. It's terrifying.

Book Review: The Chosen One : Giveaway

Title: The Chosen One
Author: Carol Lynch Williams
Published: 2009 Pages: 213
Genre: YAL

Buy  |  Borrow  |  Accept  |  Avoid

Plot Synopsis

The Chosen One is based on a true story: Kyra's life is about to change. God has spoken to the Prophet and dictated that she must marry her sixty-year-old uncle, an abhorrent prospect for Kyra on many levels.

My Thoughts

First, I want to thank Elizabeth at As Usual I Need More Bookshelves for sending me this book as part of the BBAW Giveaways. The Chosen One was a wonderfully quick read. I picked it up around 9pm and was finished and in bed by 10:45. It was hard to sleep though, but more on that later.

The fast-paced plot doesn't dwell on unnecessary details or wax poetic on morality, but instead presents one girl's life clearly and concretely. The deeper philosophies are identifiable and intrigue through their simple presentation. The horror of living under the tyrannical power of "The Prophet", of having your entire life planned out for you and controlled, reveals itself to the readers through concrete action.

Kyra's personality is revealed in similar anecdotes. She questions her community, her life, and even goes so far as to outright defy conventions. She reads books, thinks of killing The Prophet, wishes for outside help for her mother, secretly meets with a boy; all things she is not only forbidden from doing, but if caught, her punishment could be as severe as death.

I should not read books about polygamists, Fundamentalists, child abusers, or gated communities. Nightmares on the page, that is what these books are for me. I see Kyra's parents defy their own logic and emotion, and for what? They are unhappy with their life, disbelieving in The Prophet, and yet they are willing to abuse their children, physically punish them, give them as wives to men 50+ years older? These people should be quickly caught and executed. It is that strong emotion which tells me I should probably stop reading such books. After finishing one, I am horrified, disgusted, and almost violently angry; and it is a feeling I can't shake for days.

I had the same negative reaction when reading Carolyn Jessop's Escape, the true story of one woman fleeing from a fundamentalist Foundation for Latter Day Saints' compound. As I said in that review, "I can not possibly understand a faith which allows for spousal and child abuse, a faith which elevates the man/husband to a position of such power that even those who disagree with the way he "runs" his family will not step in and help because they still believe it is his right. I also found myself annoyed that as a country, we allow a community to violate our laws and commit oppressive and abusive acts. People say this country was founded on the concept of religious freedom, but I would like to think that personal freedom is the real foundation. And when religion calls for the subjugation of the individual, personal freedom must trump religion. We will use the civil rights violations occurring in the Middle East to encite support for a war, but we won't deal with those same civil rights violations within our own boundaries. Seems...illogical and self-destructive."

Memorable Scene: Mariah, 8 months old, cried when the Prophet and some respected Brothers visited Kyra's family. Later, Kyra's uncle comes over and forces the family to punish Mariah. The mother has to submerge Mariah in water until the Brother says she can raise the baby up. Twice. After he leaves, it is a quick race to get Mariah to breathe again. The mother doesn't want to do this; the father doesn't want it done; Kyra is screaming to stop; and yet they give in to the power of their "religion".

Memorable Quote: We are here for the men...It's as though someone punches me in the throat.

Question: Are there any topics that evoke such powerful negative emotions in you that you almost don't want to read about them?

Other Reviews
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Book Review: Cirque du Freak

Title: Cirque du Freak
Author: Darren Shan
Published: 2000 Pages: 692
Genre: YAL

Buy  |  Borrow  |  Accept  |  Avoid

Plot Synopsis

While the cover has The Vampire's Assistant as the title, this book is actually a collection of the first three installments in the Cirque du Freak series: A Living Nightmare, The Vampire's Assistant, and Tunnels of Blood. These three stories take us through young Darren's initiation into a world he didn't believe existed.

After finding an advertisement for a freak show, Darren and his best friend Steve enter an old theatre and watch the parade of freaks. But at the Cirque du Freak, the Bearded Lady is more than a woman with glue on her face and the Wolf Man is more wolf than man. The real attraction for both boys, however, is the vampire, Crepsley, and his spider, Madame Octa. Darren desires the trained spider, but Steve's desire is more focused on the vampire. Their desires get them both into a spot of trouble, and in the end these two best friends must part...and not quite amicably. And so ends A Living Nightmare.

The Vampire's Assistant picks up as Darren, forced to leave his comfortable life, begins his life as Mr. Crepsley's assistant. The two are traveling but circumstances, and Darren's loneliness, convince Mr. Crepsley that a return to the Cirque du Freak is in order. There, among a man who can sprint on his hands, another who can lose and regrow limbs, and the mysterious Mr. Tall, Darren finds a place for himself, and a friend in Ezra, the Snake Boy. Ezra and Darren also befriend a boy from town named Sam and an environmental nut, but these two characters cause a few problems among the freakshow.

In the final book, Tunnels of Blood, Mr. Crepsley takes Darren and Ezra to his home town to fight a subdivision of the vampire community called vampaneze. Unfortunately, Mr. Crepsley is rather secretive about his mission, so the young boys are unsure if Crepsley is the good guy or the bad guy this time around. To make matters more complicated, Darren is rather smitten with a young girl who lives across the road from his hotel.

My Thoughts

You should read this. All three of these books kept my attention, and not just for short spurts of reading. I read all 692 pages during the readathon and honestly, when I finished, I wished I had the rest of the series on hand. Keep in mind that I finished the last page around 6am after reading for 23 hours prior.

Darren Shan intrigues me as a character, in part because he is the author and this is a true story. I love it when books are set up this way; it's just such a fun little extra. In the world of the book, I still love the character. He's in an untenable situation and his adaptation to this new world is strikingly realistic - emotional but not overly dramatic; afterall, he's a young boy. They aren't exactly drama queens. I will say that *minor spoiler* when he steals Madame Octa and then doesn't tell the truth about what happened to Steve despite the life or death circumstances, I was a bit off-put. Those are some pretty big no-nos for the hero. But he does redeem himself throughout the next two novels.

This is getting long, but I am discussing three books! Just one more thing...The Cirque du Freak has some weird hooded characters that never show their faces and eat meat...like people meat from time to time. I can't wait to find out more about these oddities which are ruled by the only true mark of evil in the books (so far). Okay I'll stop now.

Memorable Scene: At the end of A Living Nightmare, Steve, feeling betrayed, attacks the not-so-much-dead Darren. This loss of friendship was oddly poignant for me. Typically in these situations, there is a distinct good guy and bad guy. For me, both boys had shown their faults and their strengths before this point, so while Darren is clearly the protagonist, you still feel for Steve, an unhappy young boy who feels his best friend has stolen the life he was meant to live. Then again, his violent reaction is unwarranted and the reader empathizes with Darren's pain as the friend he sacrificed so much for actually vows to kill him. It was a scene that really stuck with me - one of many.

Memorable Quote: Imagine: a real-life vampire! I used to believe they were real but then my parents and teachers convinced me they weren't. So much for the wisdom of grown-ups!

Question: Are you guys reading or re-reading this before watching the film? If you plan on watching it at all that is.

Other Reviews
If you've reviewed this book (or any one of them), let me know. I found a bunch of giveaways but no reviews when I did a quick search.

Better Men Than I 2

My own opinion is that the intellect of modern man isn't that superior. IQs aren't that much different. Those Indians and medieval men were just as intelligent as we are, but the context in which they thought was completely different. Within that context of thought, ghosts and spirits are quite as real as atoms, particles, photons, and quants are to a modern man. In that sense, I believe in ghosts. Modern man has his ghosts and spirits too, you know.

~ Robert M. Pirsig
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Do you have any true ghost stories?

Book Review: Dreaming Anastasia

Title: Dreaming Anastasia
Author: Joy Preble
Published: 2009 Pages: 310
Genre: For Preble on Genre go here


Buy  |  Borrow  |  Accept  |  Avoid


Plot Synopsis
Anna's dreams are full of witch's huts, not-dead royalty, and kisses that kill. Then a stranger enters her life and tells her she's the only one who can save Anastasia Romanov, the not-dead royalty in those disturbing dreams, and Anna's life will never be the same.

My Thoughts
My thoughts are confused, so back to the handy-dandy likey/no likey list.

What I Liked

• The premise of the story intrigues me. I love the power of dreams possibilities, and the story of Anastasia Romanov is certainly romantic enough to carry such a plot.

What I Didn't Like

• The constant switching of perspectives from Anne to Ethan to Anastasia. I found this needlessly confusing, especially when perspectives were changing every third or fourth page.
• The handwritten letters to Anastasia's family were hard to read and seriously frustrating.
• The ending, mainly the major and unwarranted shift in character personality, really disappointed.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, despite the fact that my no likeys outweigh my likeys. The book kept my interest for the full time reading. At the same time, I was mildly disappointed in that I wanted more: deeper backstory, richer characterization, and a more fitting end.

On a side note, I'm having difficulty as I'm writing reviews for my readathon books, determining how much my experience of the books was effected by the circumstances under which they were read. A certain type of book is more valuable during a 24 hour readathon. I have pleasant thoughts towards those books which were easy to read and consistently exciting. So would I have appreciated this book more or less had I read it on its own over the course of a few days?

Memorable Quote: Well, Duh. It makes perfect sense. Of course Viktor wants to keep his immortality. It's like it's in the Bad Guy's Handbook or something. Keep on ticking as long as possible so you can continue to stay rich and powerful and pretty.

Question: How much do you think the reading situation affects the reading experience?

Other Reviews
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13 Days of Halloween: Satanism

The Nine Satanic Sins

Yep, some people are going to have problems with this post. Sorry. I'm not a satanist, and honestly, I don't know much about it outside of the Hollywood version. In my interesting halloweeny info search, I stumbled across the Nine Satanic Sins, and I just had to post about them.

Anton LaVey is the founder of the Church of Satan in America, which seems to be predominantly concerned with the elevation of the individual's wants and desires specifically in regards to materialism.

On a bookish note, LaVey's satanistic tradition is largely rooted in the realm of the literary. The principles of his religion are based in the works of Ayn Rand, Friedrich Nietzsche, Alastair Crowley, H.L. Mencken, and Jack London (at least according to two reasonably credible websites). LaVey himself wrote four separate books: The Satanic Bible, The Satanic Rituals, Satan Speaks, The Devil's Notebook, and The Compleat Witch, or What To Do When Virtue Fails.

In 1987, LaVey published the Nine Satanic Sins. They are as follows:

Stupidity
Pretentiousness
Solipsism
Self-Defeat
Herd Conformity
Lack of Perspective
Forgetfulness of Past Orthodoxies
Counterproductive Pride
Lack of Aesthetics

Okay, is it just me or are those kind of right on? I mean, I can totally get behind these being sins, things to avoid. And here I thought sins in satanistic religions would be things like: being nice to others, helping old people across the street, and not eating small children. Forgive me satanists, I have pegged you all wrong. But no, I still don't want to sign up.

Book Review: Big Fish

Title: Big Fish
Author: Daniel Wallace
Published: 2003 Pages: 180
Genre: Contemporary Lit

Buy  |  Borrow  |  Accept  |  Avoid

Plot Synopsis
As his father dies, William listens and remembers his father's many stories of a life lived big, and through these stories, he comes to terms with a father with a big imagination.

My Thoughts
Many children see their parents as being larger than life, but in William Bloom's case, this is true. His stories ring of myth, confrontations with giants and possessive lovers, beautiful maidens and hidden love, witchy women with glass eyes. Between his stories, his absence, and his jokes, Edward has not been a normal father. And yet the legacy of storytelling has clearly been passed down as William revisits and revises the myth of his father's death.

Stories are powerful, and Edward clearly understands this. He suggests that truth is not about fact, that stories are metaphors which reveal a greater truth than the reality of a situation can translate. I discuss this with my students quite often. How focused on fact are we? And is truth actually better transmitted through story?

Memorable Scene: I am very creeped out by the story of how Edward left Ashland. In the story, Edward decides to leave his hometown, knowing that to do so he would have to pass through a shadow version of Ashland like all others who had tried to leave before. Those who were meant to leave were allowed to pass, but those who should not have left, stayed forever in the ghost-town. As Edward goes through the town, the scary dog-guardian clearly permits Edward to leave, but the sad inhabitants want him to stay. All in all, I was horrified by the despair within the townspeople.

Memorable Quote: This is how we talk. In the land of the dying, sentences go unfinished, you know how they're going to end.

Question: Do you think truth is more or less important than fact?

Other Reviews
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Trish's Reading Nook; Tripping Toward Lucidity;

The Brightest Thing

I know exactly how that is. To love somebody who doesn't deserve it. Because they are all you have. Because any attention is better than no attention.

For exactly the same reason, it is sometimes satisfying to cut yourself and bleed. On those gray days where eight in the morning looks no different from noon and nothing has happened and nothing is going to happen and you are washing a glass in the sink and it breaks - accidentally - and punctures your skin. And then there is this shocking red, the brightest thing in the day, so vibrant it buzzes, this blood of yours. That is okay sometimes because at least you know you are alive.

~Augusten Burroughs
Running with Scissors

Have you ever loved somebody that didn't deserve it?

13 Days of Halloween: Whuhdjamacallit

Real Scary

The following are beings that actually exist, but they must be the foundation of many a supernatural legend. Featured below are the Saiga Antelope, Aye Aye, Star-Nosed Mole, Angora Rabbit, Coconut Crab, and Chinese Giant Salamander.



For entry into the contest, tell me what supernatural legend (real or made-up) is based on one of these creatures!

Book Review: Dream Country

Title: Dream Country
Author: Neil Gaiman
Published: 1995 Pages: 112
Genre: Graphic Novel

Buy  |  Borrow  |  Accept  |  Avoid

My Thoughts
Dream Country contains 4 disturbing stories: Calliope, A Dream of a Thousand Cats, A Midsummer-Night's Dream, and Facade. Plus, Gaiman has included his script for Calliope which gives us insight into Gaiman's writing process on this particular story.

Calliope was difficult for me to read. Artfully done and intriguing, the story features a young author who comes into possession of a muse (who used to date...is that the right word?...Dream) and uses her to become rich and famous. That is not the difficult part. The author rapes the muse. And not only do we read about it: "She's not even human, he told himself. She's thousands of years old. But her flesh was warm, and her breath was sweet, and she choked back tears like a child whenever he hurt her." But since this is a graphic novel, we also get to see it. Rape is so abhorrent to me that I dislike seeing it in books or films.

A Dream of a Thousand Cats freaked me out with its focus on the possibility of dreams. In it, a group of cats listen as one cat tells them about their power to change the world, to re-elevate cats over humans, through a mutual dream. I find cats terrifying; I find the images in this story stomach-clenching. The illustrators manage to create visuals of cats that are at once familiar and highly other. It may have been my favorite of the collection.

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Titiana and Auberon arrive as guests of Dream to watch Shakespeare and Company present A Midsummer Night's Eve. I loved the layers of this story, the intricacy of a play about fairies being shown to the real fairies. And who doesn't love Puck?

Facade features Urania Blackwell, a lonely woman, altered by Ra, able to change her physicality but unable to fix her destroyed face. She uses masks to hide her disfigurement but is still primarily a solitary figure. Death reappears in this story, as an unexpected consolation.

Other Reviews
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Movie Review: Star Trek

Title: Star Trek
Director: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana
Release: May 8, 2009
Country: USA
Genre: SciFi, Action
Rating: PG-13
First Viewing: June 2, 2009

Plot Synopsis
For the first time James T. Kirk, Dr. Spock, and the rest of the crew come together to fight off a Romulan ship intent on destroying the Federation.

My Thoughts
Remaking an iconic franchise is a risky endeavor, but Abrams manages to maintain the feel, the nostalgia, of Star Trek while simultaneously updating and bringing a new generation into the cult. The film was not merely an introduction to the world of Star Trek; the backstory is an actual story and an interesting one at that with lots of action.

Whenever a film is remade with younger characters, I worry. Will they make it all campy teen flick? is the first question that pops into my mind. Will the characters morph into too-young, no-brain, all-sex-all-alcohol-all-the-time, Animal House-style college kids? I am happy to say that is not the case in this film. The characters are true to the original, and while their youth is evident, it is not the focus of the film. These are ironically true-to-life twenty-somethings, more on the verge of adulthood than living the last hurrah of childhood.

The visual effects are stunning - I'm half in love with the octupus-like Romulan spaceship - and the action is fast-paced. The final point in its favor that really pushed me into giving it a high rating is that I had to use the restroom something fierce after my way-too-large coke, but I absolutely refused to get up and go. So what I want to know is: when's the sequel coming out?

Rating: 5 out of 5 bags of popcorn

13 Days of Halloween: Reading Scary

Books to Read for Halloween

Here are six stories that I think are Halloween-approved. These aren't my favorite, the scariest, the creepiest, or the best; they are just solid reads of a darker tone. I tried doing a top five list, but I ended up with about 34 books before I realized I couldn't actually rank books. Hence, I randomly selected from the list.

What do you think are the best reads (or just good ones) for Halloween?

Read-a-Thon Hour 24

6am-7am

Since Last Update
Minutes Read: 0
Pages Read: 0
Time Blogging: 30 mins

Totals
Time Reading: 14 hours 8 mins
Pages Read: 1771
Books Read: 8
Mini-Challenges Completed: 9
Time Blogging: 8 hours 11 mins
Total Comments: 150

Books Read
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
Big Fish by Daniel Wallace
A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan
Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
The Sandman: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman
The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan
Tunnels of Blood by Darren Shan

~~~~~~~~~~~~
End of Event Meme

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

• I must say the worst for me was hour 21 when I realized how close and yet how far away I was from the end.
  

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?

• I read some absolutely excellent books this time around. The Vampire's Assistant series by Darren Shan were very fast, exciting reads. Big Fish and Dreaming Anastasia were light reads but very beautiful. And anything by Neil Gaiman rocks, but The Sandman series is especially suitable for later in the readathon as it is a graphic novel series.
  

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?

• I think it went fabulously. It might be nice to have people who are participating sign up the day of the readathon in a Mr. Linky other than the original sign up post. I spent a lot of time clicking on names of people who weren't actually participating. I also missed having mini-challenges in hours 22 and 23; this was the time I needed some light distractions from reading.
  

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?

• As this was my first time, I obviously can't compare to the past, but I loved the consistent hourly updates on the main blog. And the cheerleaders are awesome!
  

5. How many books did you read?

• 8
  

6. What were the names of the books you read?

• See above
  

7. Which book did you enjoy most?

• Ooooohhh tough call...I think I have to pick the entire Darren Shan series. It was like one big, long movie I was watching.
  

8. Which did you enjoy least?

• Stormbreaker, but not because it wasn't good. It was my first book of the day after very little sleep, and I had a hard time focusing because I was so curious as to what was going on online!
  

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?

• Come up with some fun comments ahead of time, but still personalize them to the individual blogger if you can as I just think that's more polite.
  

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?

• I will absolutely participate. I have had so much fun today. It's not often I can take a regular 12 hour day to read, let alone a full 24, and it was wonderful to have an excuse to just indulge myself! I was a Cheerleader, a Mini-Challenge Host, and a Reader this time around, and I would probably do the same next time. This was a wonderful experience for me!
  

Read-a-Thon Hours 22 & 23

4am-6am

Since Last Update
Minutes Read: 65
Pages Read: 213
Time Blogging: 50 mins

Totals
Time Reading: 14 hours 8 mins
Pages Read: 1771
Books Read: 8
Mini-Challenges Completed: 7
Time Blogging: 6 hours 41 mins
Total Comments: 146

Books Read
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
Big Fish by Daniel Wallace
A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan
Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
The Sandman: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman
The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan
Tunnels of Blood by Darren Shan

Some Thoughts
Only one hour to go, and I think I'm going to spend it cheering, twittering, and in general on the computer. It's nice to finish the readathon by finishing a book, I think, and I don't want to grab a random short short book just to be able to finish it in the next hour.

Read-a-Thon Hours 20 & 21

2am-4am

Since Last Update
Minutes Read: 70
Pages Read: 226
Time Blogging: 60 mins

Totals
Time Reading: 13 hours 3 mins
Pages Read: 1558
Books Read: 7
Mini-Challenges Completed: 6
Time Blogging: 5 hours 41 mins
Total Comments: 124

Books Read
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
Big Fish by Daniel Wallace
A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan
Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
The Sandman: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman
The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan

Three Hours Left!

Read-a-Thon Hours 18 & 19

12am-2am

Since Last Update
Minutes Read: 60
Pages Read: 112
Time Blogging: 50 mins

Totals
Time Reading: 11 hours 53 mins
Pages Read: 1332
Books Read: 6
Mini-Challenges Completed: 6
Time Blogging: 4 hours 41 mins
Total Comments: 100

Books Read
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
Big Fish by Daniel Wallace
A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan
Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
The Sandman: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman

~~~~~~~~~
The Picturrific Challenge!

I'm just about to start The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan, which is about to be a movie release, so I really lucked out on this one. Here is a screenshot from the upcoming film:



Awesome! Yes?

Read-a-thon Hours 16 & 17

10pm-12am

Since Last Update
Minutes Read: 90
Pages Read: 158
Time Blogging: 15 mins

Totals
Time Reading: 10 hours 53 mins
Pages Read: 1220
Books Read: 5
Mini-Challenges Completed: 4
Time Blogging: 3 hours 51 mins
Total Comments: 80

Books Read
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
Big Fish by Daniel Wallace
A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan
Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

Some Thoughts
We've hit the witching hour here in the midwest with seven hours of reading left. My butterscotch sundae was absolutely delicious; although I mixed it up almost enough to be more of a butterscotch shake. I'm oddly awake and hopeful that I will make it all the way to seven. How many of you out there are going for the full 24 hour push?

Now what am I going to read next?

~~~~~~~~~~
5 Children's Books (straight off the top of my head) Mini-Challenge hosted at Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile

The Phantom Tollbooth - Best children's book out there in my opinion

The Story of Ping - see my post here for the complete story!

Anything by Gary Paulsen - just a wonderful author

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH - Many lessons can be learned from these rats

The Chronicles of Narnia - enough said

Read-a-thon Hours 14 & 15

8pm - 10pm

Since Last Update
Minutes Read: 75
Pages Read: 132
Time Blogging: 32

Totals
Time Reading: 9 hours 23 mins
Pages Read: 1062
Books Read: 4.5
Mini-Challenges Completed: 4
Time Blogging: 3 hours 36 mins
Total Comments: 78
Caffeine Drinks in my Stomach: 4

Books Read
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
Big Fish by Daniel Wallace
A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan
Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (not finished)

Some Thoughts
I hit 1000 pages! Yay! That was my unspoken goal for the readathon, and I still have nine hours left. And I'm happy to say that my 1000 pages didn't include children's books or graphic novels. Not that there is anything wrong with either (in fact I'll be reading a graphic novel next) but I personally wanted to hit 1000 pages of text, instead of the pictures and white space that are part of children's books and comics. Now that I've hit the mark, well, all books are up for grabs!

Now I am rewarding myself with a bowl of butterscotch covered ice cream!

Read-a-thon Hours 12 & 13

6pm-8pm

Since Last Update
Minutes Read: 88
Pages Read: 170
Time Blogging: 24 mins

Totals
Time Reading: 8 hours 4 mins
Pages Read: 930
Books Read: 4
Mini-Challenges Completed: 3
Time Blogging: 3 hours 4 mins
Total Comments: 65
Cokes, Coffee and Diet Green Tea in my Stomach: 4


Books Read
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
Big Fish by Daniel Wallace
A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan
Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble

Some Thoughts
Dreaming Anastasia was absolutely wonderful. All in all the four books I've read so far have been good reads. I'm interested to see how I feel after letting the books percolate for awhile. I've been jumping from reading to cheerleading to updating so fast, my head is spinning a bit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now for the....

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now?

2. How many books have you read so far? 4

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? I have no idea what I'm going to read; although The Vampire's Assistant will probably come in at some point.

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? All I had to do was convince the husband to entertain himself - no easy task I might add.

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? I've had interruptions but they've been minor, and actually rather nice breaks.

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? How much there is to do besides just read!

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Things are going swimmingly in my opinion.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? I'm feeling pretty good about the experience; but if I could change something about this year, I would have gotten more than five hours of sleep last night!!!

9. Are you getting tired yet? I think I'm too wired to be tired, but there's a lot of time left.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? Randomness is working for me. Originally I was going to post every two hours, spend only twenty minutes every two hours cheerleading, and blah blah blah. But doing what I want when I want is definitely working out better for me than trying to schedule things.

Read-a-thon Hour 10.5-12

4:30pm-6pm

Since Last Update
Minutes Read: 44
Pages Read: 86
Time Blogging: 61

Totals
Time Reading: 6 hours 40 mins
Pages Read: 760
Books Read: 3.5
Mini-Challenges Completed: 2
Time Blogging: 2 hours 40 mins
Total Comments: 65
Cokes and Coffee in my Stomach: 3


Books Read
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
Big Fish by Daniel Wallace
A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan
Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble (not finished)

Some Thoughts
It is now 6:30 pm, and I finally showered. Yay for feeling clean. Now then, back to reading.

Read-a-thon Hours 8.5-10.5

2:30pm - 4:30pm

Since Last Update
Minutes Read: 30
Pages Read: 54
Time Blogging: 50

Totals
Time Reading: 5 hours 56 mins
Pages Read: 674
Books Read: 3
Mini-Challenges Completed: 2
Time Blogging: 99 mins
Cokes in my Stomach: 2

Books Read
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
Big Fish by Daniel Wallace
A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan
Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble (not finished)

Some Thoughts
The past two hours have been relatively unproductive in reading. I spent 50 minutes of the time blogging, and then mom stopped by to drop off a pizza and the hubby came home, so time talking to family took up another portion. All in all, this is SO MUCH FUN! It is so nice to have an excuse to do nothing but read!...well read and blog...

Mini-Challenge Winners
I would first like to thank everyone who participated in my Mini-Challenge. I was surprised and happy that so many participated. Now for the answers:

#1 Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
#2 The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
#3 The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

And finally....THE WINNER IS.... Dave

He will choose two books from my BookMooch list and will also receive a set of 6 ALA Bookmarks for participating.

But the fun doesn't end there. Since so many people participated, I thought it would be a good idea to have two more winners, each to receive their own set of 6 bookmarks, so Eden and Amanda have won as well.

Congratulations you guys!

ReadaThon Mini-Challenge Hour 9

Nicole at Linus's Blanket is hosting a mini-challenge for the ReadaThon asking participants to find a passage in their reading where characters are eating. Well, don't I just have a fantastic one for you here.

I just finished A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan, a true story about a boy who becomes a vampire's assistant, and here is his first experience eating:

"We clashed with each other just before reaching the ball. Alan gave a yell and went flying. I laughed, trapped the ball under my foot, and turned toward the goal. The sight of blood stopped me in my tracks. Alan had landed awkwardly and cut his left knee. It was a bad gash and blood was welling up. He had started to cry and was making no move to cover it with a tissue or a scrap of cloth...



...My eyes were focused on Alan. More specifically, on Alan's knee. More specifically still, on Alan's blood. I took a step toward him. Then another. I was standing over him now, blocking the light. He gazed up and must have seen something in my face, because he stopped crying and stared at me uneasily. I dropped to my knees and before I knew what I was doing, I had covered the cut on his leg with my mouth and was sucking out his blood and gulping it down!"

Nasty business being a vampire.

Read-a-thon Hours 6-8.5

12pm-2:30pm

Since Last Update
Minutes Read: 98
Pages Read: 248
Time Blogging: 30

Totals
Time Reading: 5 hours 26 minutes
Pages Read: 620
Books Read: 3
Mini-Challenges Completed: 1
Time Blogging: 49 mins
Cokes and Coffee in my Stomach: 2


Books Read
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
Big Fish by Daniel Wallace
A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan

Read-a-thon Hours 4-5

10am - 12pm

Since Last Update
Minutes Read: 93
Pages Read: 180
Time Blogging: 19

Totals
Time Reading: 228
Pages Read: 382
Books Read: 2
Mini-Challenges Completed: 1
Comments Left: 13
Time Blogging: 19
Cokes and Coffee in my Stomach: 2


Books Read
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
Big Fish by Daniel Wallace

ReadaThon Mini-Challenge!!!

I decided to do a Name That Book Mini-Challenge! And I decided to do it in vlog format. So what you have below are three videos of me reading passages from books. Your task is to email me at eclectic.eccentric@hotmail.com with the titles of the books. If you get all three correct, you will be entered to receive your choice of Two Books from my BookMooch list and a collection of SIX ALA Banned Books Week Bookmarks. Here are pictures of 4 of the 6:




I have no idea why the sound isn't synced..Sorry! It looks fine on my computer and every now and again it's fine on YouTube, but for some reason it goes out of sync for some people. How annoying...but just don't look at me and you should be fine. :)

Book 1
Hints: Firemen, Dystopian Literature,


Book 2
Hints: Dystopian Literature, I recently reviewed it,


Book 3
Hints: Books are Alive, The author shares a name with a vegetarian vampire,

Read-a-Thon Hours 1-3

7am-10am
Minutes Read: 135
Pages Read: 192
Time Blogging: 0

Totals
Time Reading: 135
Pages Read: 192
Time on Elliptical:
Books Read: 1
Mini-Challenges Completed: 0
Time Blogging: 0
Cokes and Coffee in my Stomach: 1


Books Read
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

13 Days of Halloween: Be Buggered Blackguard!

Curses

The use of words, specifically poetry aka "spells", to benefit or harm oneself or someone else is not to be taken lightly. Nor should it be considered something from the past. Even today, we whisper little prayers for good luck or little curses for the shrieking neighbor woman to take a long walk off a short cliff (or at least lose her voice for a week or so).

Today, we rarely believe in the viability of our soft utterings, but in the past curses were taken very seriously and often touted as the cause of a bad harvest, miscarriage, disease, and even the fall of Rome. The following are mainly Celtic curses (I'm Irish, what can I say).

• May every day be wet for ye
• May onions grow from your navel
• May a little child be named after you (they only gave children the names of the already dead)
• May you die and be reincarnated as a candelabrum, to hang by day and burn by night
• May your sword become as dull as your wit, your shield as thin as your deeds and your armor as dented as your brain appears to be
• May the cat eat you and the devil eat the cat

Sadly today we fall back on curses with little ingenuity or wit. For us, the big curse is:

Go to Hell

For entrance to win a bookish giveaway, come up with an original curse!

13 Days of Halloween: Why Oh Why Women?

5 Costumes Women Need to Stop Wearing
AKA...Please Get Some New Ideas Now

I don't necessarily have a problem with sexy, but overdone, oversexualized, youth-based, service-based sexy kind of disgusts me. It's so cliched and really sets women back.

My question: What is a sexy but unique and more "feminist" Halloween costume?

INTP Anyone?

Your Personality is Very Rare (INTP)

Your personality type is goofy, imaginative, relaxed, and brilliant. Only about 4% of all people have your personality, including 2% of all women and 6% of all men. You are Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

An INTP:

• is internally focused
• lives in a world of theoretical possibilities
• values knowledge above all else
• does not like to control people
• can be overly sarcastic and critical
• likes facts to be conveyed concisely
• exhibits weakness in maintenance tasks like bill paying and dishwashing
• loves new ideas and thinking
• may seem dreamy or spacey to others
• can be misunderstood
• is independent, original, and creative
• can be temperamental
• has unconventional thought patterns
• can seem callous
• works best alone
• can be rather eccentric

I took a Meyers-Briggs about a year ago and received the exact same results. The difference: MB was about 100 questions and this one was about 12...interesting. I have to say of all the personality tests I've taken, this one strikes me as the most correct.

So, I'm INTP. What's your type?

13 Days of Halloween: Just Run Away

Things That Shouldn't Kill You, But Do

#3 Real but UnAlive Things Plants, dolls, your office chair: these are things that aren't supposed to have a brain. And yet these things seem intent on killing us! Plants are supposed to be not-all-the-way-alive, stationary, and benign. Unfortunately, there are a few plants who would much rather eat you. In Little Shop of Horrors and The Ruins, giant plants eat humans whole. Oh, there are the Killer Tomatoes too. Nothing should be more wondrously innocent than dolls. Unfortunately, the little buggers just won't stay inanimate. Chucky of course is the most popular of the doll killers. But we also have Sheridan Le Fanu's little blood-sucking-monkey-shape-shifter thing. #2 Dreams This one is just wrong. Dreams should not, no-way-no-how, be able to kill you. Sudden Unexpected Nocturnal Death Syndrome (SUNDS) is about the loopiest thing I've ever heard of. A literal death from dreaming, SUNDS seems particularly popular among Hmong immigrants to the United States. Over 100 Southeast Asian immigrants have died from SUNDS since 1977. The Asian belief is that the cause is a "nightmare" in the sense that a being visits you in the night and kills you. Next up, we have people who believe that these people are dying from their dreams. Finally we have the rest of us who are choosing to ignore the occurrences because it just really freaks us out! #1 Not Peeing Yep, it's true. If you hold it too long, your bladder will explode, releasing your toxic urine into your body and in effect, poisoning you. Nuff said.

Book Review: The Year of Magical Thinking

Title: The Year of Magical Thinking
Author: Joan Didion
Published: 2006 Pages: 227
Genre: Nonfiction

Buy  |  Borrow  |  Accept  |  Avoid

Plot Synopsis
Part essay collection, part stream-of-consciousness, The Year of Magical Thinking is Joan Didion's personal accounting of her grief the year after her husband died.

My Thoughts
I don't know that I have anything intelligent, witty, or critical to say about this. The palpable grief revealed in these pages left me thinking too long and too hard about how I would deal with my own husband's death. The deep-sinking-sickness in my torso is a small scratch to the horror of the real experience, but it was enough to make reading this book uncomfortable.

I will say, however, that I was impressed by Didion's honesty and her consistency. This is not a self-help book or a "one woman's journey of personal discovery" book; for me at least, this was an honest and heart-wrenching look, not at how one recovers from the death of a spouse, but at how one does not recover. And that feels so much more real to me than the myriad other books out there on the subject that hold on to hope as the central message.

Memorable Scene: When Joan's daughter, Quintana, needs a tracheostomy, Joan refuses. Her mind is convinced that if the operation isn't performed, Quintana will be fine. She can see the illogic but can't feel it: "This was demented, but so was I."

Memorable Quote: Nor can we know ahead of the fact (and here lies the heart of the difference between grief as we imagine it and grief as it is) the unending absence that follows, the void, the very opposite of meaning, the relentless succession of moments during which we will confront the experience of meaningless itself.

Question: How much of a difference do you think it makes if the reader of this book is married or single?

Other Reviews
If I've missed yours, let me know!

Sophisticated Dorkiness
Shelf Love
Care's Online Book Club
Stone Soup
Stephanie's Written Word
Asylum
Dear Author
She Treads Softly