Ramblings-n-Writings

Archive for the ‘book related’ Category

I know that many of you out there enjoy reading about the new books that are hitting the market and sometimes stop by here before heading to the library or buying a book. 

I’ve mentioned in the past that one of my goals as a book reviewer is to always read the book before posting anything about it. Without reading the book, I feel as if I can’t recommend a book 100% and I may let down some of my blog readers by recommending a book that isn’t up to par.

Unfortunately, you may have noticed that during the past month, I’ve had to post only the publisher’s information about a book and not an actual review. Now, I’ve done this in the past when time is running short but the book has either been read or halfway completed. Having read part of a book, I generally feel safe recommending it to my readers.

Starting in July, I’ve failed to receive books that I’ve requested from publishers. The main reason? A year ago I changed my mailing address to a PO Box because of my living situation (sharing a mailbox with my former in-laws, etc.). While I consistently give the correct address in my communications when I request books, some publishers are failing to change the address in their databases.

If you’ve ever moved, you know that the US Postal Service will forward mail from your old address to your new address for one year. After that, the mail gets returned to sender as an invalid address. That’s what is happening to my books and I’m so disappointed.

If I was requesting books directly from the publisher, I would have some resources to turn to in order to solve the problem. But, alas, the requests go through a 3rd party.

One aspect of the address change thing that I fail to understand is how a bunch of mail order catalogs can automatically send copies of their catalogs to my new address without my ever telling them to change the address. Yet when I tell other organizations to change my address, I lose out on receiving one of my favorite things – books.

Maybe I should start reviewing mail order catalogs instead …

Do you remember reading the Mandie books when you were growing up? Or maybe your girls or granddaughters have read the series? Here’s the description of the first book …

Amanda Shaw, Mandie for short, is almost a teenager, and she is certain God no longer loves her as she watches her father being lowered into his grave. Mandie’s move into a neighbor family’s home, when her mother remarries, does not soften her grief. Her only comfort is the promise from her father’s faithful Cherokee friend, Uncle Ned, to watch out for her and be a friend.

Will Mandie be able to escape her new and nearly intolerable home situation? Will she find her long-lost family? When she finds a mysterious key, she hopes it will unlock the door to a secret tunnel and her own family’s history. This wholesome, entertaining series for young readers is a delightful mingling of suspense, tears and joy. Recommended for ages 8 to 13.

I remember getting Mandie books for my birthday, Christmas, good grades on my report card, and probably other occasions. I was growing up at the time when author Lois Gladys Leppard was writing the series so it was always a looooong wait between each book. It probably wasn’t as long as it seemed, but to a little girl wanting to know what mystery happened next, it seemed like forever!

(According to the Mandie website, there’s 40 books in the series. If your daughters (elementary – middle school age) haven’t read the books, I highly recommend them.)

Anyway, I found out the most interesting piece of information via Facebook today. And, by the way, this totally made my day! Someone made a Mandie movie!!! In fact, there’s a sequel that is scheduled to start production very soon. (I learned this fun fact from one of my former students who is on the film production crew for the sequel – how cool is that?)

The first movie is about the first book, Mandie and the Secret Tunnel. From what I’ve been told, the movie follows the book’s plot fairly close. And the preview trailer makes it look like a great movie.

Since I have the entire series of Mandie books gracing a shelf in my office, I had to order the DVD. I feel like I’m 12 years old again waiting patiently for the next book to come out. And, I know that others of you who enjoyed the series or have little girls who enjoy would love to watch the trailer and other movie/production clips. I’m including the trailer here but make sure you go to the Mandie Movies site to see more.

MANDIE and the SECRET TUNNEL Trailer from Owen Smith on Vimeo.

*This is not a paid review, but merely ramblings of my own about something that made my heart glad.

To make a new life, she’ll have to learn how to breathe again…

By the time Dominic and Moira St. Clair get their ailing sister, Odessa, to Colorado Springs in the winter of 1883, she is nearly dead. Odessa has been seriously ailing for the past year from consumption, an illness that claimed the lives of four of her younger brothers, prompting her father, to send his only surviving children west to chase the cure.

Moira is beautiful and dangerously headstrong; and pugnacious Dominic is charged with establishing a new arm of the family business–a business he doesn’t want.

Several days after her arrival, Odessa witnesses what she fears is the murder of miner Sam O’Toole, friend and neighbor to the charming Bryce McAllan.

What’s more, Sam leaves her a poem containing clues that seem to direct her to his mine, which is purported to carry a fantastic vein of silver. But if she is ever to rise from her bed again, she must first concentrate on conquering the giant that threatens her─consumption. Indeed, she must learn to breathe again─daring to embrace her life, her future, and hope in her God.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Breathe, go HERE

MY THOUGHTS

Quite a few years ago, I read Lisa Bergren’s Northern Lights series. Having not read anything recent by this author, I was intrigued to find out if her books were as good as I remembered.

They were.

A couple of things stood out to me about Breathe. The opening scene, which you can read through the chapter link above, immediately pulled me in to the story. Odessa St. Clair suffers from consumption (what we call tuberculosis today) and at times, you could feel her agony as well as determination to take one more breath. I imagine that the feeling is much like someone who has severe asthma. Wishing her to conquer the disease is what made me continue to turn the pages.

The story focuses on the St. Clair siblings, as it should, but at times I found myself wishing for a little more description or detail especially about their surroundings. The secondary characters in the story are well-developed to the point that I could sense the growing animosity of the St. Clair siblings towards the sheriff.

Overall, Breathe is an excellent read. The story line may be cliche’ at times (it is a romance!), but it’s clean and even appropriate for teenage girls. Breathe is not “preachy” either. God is present in the story, but only as He naturally fits in the characters’ lives – no forced preaching scenes, long spiritual discussions etc. If you want to introduce a friend to Christian fiction, but she doesn’t want to be preached at, suggest that she read Breathe.

We’re heading to the “big city” library today. While I love our local, small town library in Spencer, I get really excited about going to the “big city” library in Charleston.

Guess what? The big city library has 3 floors of books! Three floors!!! Three biiiig floors – like one floor is twice the size of the small town library. (The small town library could probably fit inside my house. Things might be a little tight, but it would fit.)

The only gripe I have about the big city library is the layout is confusing. Couldn’t they start the Dewey Decimal system at the front door with the 000′s, then 100′s, then 200′s? Nope, that would be too easy! They have special sections that repeat poor Mr. Dewey – oversized books, reference books (can’t check out), reference books (can check out), W.Va. stuff, new releases, not-so-new releases-but-still-new  etc. Does your library do that?

Over the years I’ve learned to pay close attention to the card catalog. Besides having a call number, each book also has a location stating the floor and section. Now when I plan my library list … wait, what?! You don’t plan your library list? I sure do!

Since the big city library has limited parking (Who wants to pay for a meter when there’s free 15 minute parking? Oh, and there’s that whole parallel parking thing. I live in the country and don’t intend to parallel park my car again. Ever.) As I was saying, since the parking is limited, I always go online the day before and use the library’s online catalog to plan my list.

I search for books by author, title, keyword, or subject. (The online catalog is identical to the catalog system in the library.) Sometimes I hop over to Amazon to read more about a book that sounds interesting.

If I find a book I want, I write down the call number and location (the most important part LOL). And if I plan enough in advance, I place a hold on the books I want and have the books waiting at the circulation desk when I walk in.

I like to think I’m being frugal – by planning in advance, I save time in the library plus money in the meter (25 cents for 30 minutes. No thanks.). And by checking the catalog ahead of time, I save needless driving to and from the library (small town is 25 miles one way, big city is 60 miles one way) if books aren’t available.

And, don’t worry, I still like to browse around the library stacks and pick up random books. Browsing the big city library is cool because they have books on just about every topic. Plus browsing means I don’t have to think like Sherlock Holmes to find Dewey #737.4 oversized book.

Do you access your local library’s online catalog at home?

P.S. – The teacher in me says that showing your kids how to browse the online catalog at home might alleviate some of the nightmares caused by Junior needing a real book, not the Internet, as a research source for an English paper. Imagine a teacher actually expecting a high school freshman to get a book from the library. *gasp* What a mean teacher!

The winner of Mary Byers’ book Making Work at Home Work is *drum roll please* commenter #5 – LaDonna!!! She says…

I am a Distributor and Team Leader for a company that produces Gourmet Candles, Bath Products and (coming soon) a top line Mineral Makeup. I can do Retailing, Fund-raising and Team Building. I am always looking for information to help me be even more productive. I think I would glean a lot from this book!

LaDonna’s website is Dakota Heart Scents. Stop by and visit her when you have a few extra minutes.

I enjoyed reading about the different kinds of work you ladies do at home. Let me encourage each of you to purchase a copy of Making Work at Home Work – you won’t regret it. It’s available from Amazon for $10.18 and Christian Book Distributors for $9.99.

Oh, and here’s Random.org’s results:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

5

Timestamp: 2009-05-20 14:16:02 UTC