From where he was standing, seventy yards away, Pete saw it all. He saw the state trooper reach out with the barrel of his gun to open the station wagon’s door the rest of the way; he saw the barrel disappear into the door as if the whole car were nothing but an optical illusion; he saw the trooper jerk forward, his big gray hat tumbling from his head.Bookmark Monday – Harry Potter (July 10)
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Bookmark Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Aloi from guiltless reading. Take a picture of one of your favourite bookmarks, post it on your blog, and head over to guiltless reading to share a to your post.
A couple of weeks late, but I thought I’d share these anyway. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter book our library gave away the above bookmarks and badge. I didn’t start reading the series until after I saw the first movie, but I bought the seventh book on the day it came out and had it finished the same weekend.
There was even a weak apology in their gestures, like they was gentlemen at heart, and only rough times forced them to act this way. And this politeness, this quiet civility, it scared me more than outright violence.Bookmark Monday – Canada (July 3)
Bookmark Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Aloi from guiltless reading. Take a picture of one of your favourite bookmarks, post it on your blog, and head over to guiltless reading to share a to your post.
Saturday was Canada Day, so I thought I’d share this free Canada 150 bookmark that I got from our local library. We had a fairly quiet weekend and that was fine.
WWW Wednesday (June 7)
WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. Here is what you have to do to participate:
Answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments section the host page for others to look at.
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Currently Reading:
I’m currently reading these two books:
- Star Wars: Heroes For a New Hope by Mark Waid , Charles Soule , Gerry Duggan , Terry Dodson , Rachel Dodson , Alex Maleev , Phil Noto , Jordie Bellaire , Paul Mounts, VC’s Joe Caramagna
- Convictions Matter: The Function of Salvation Army Doctrines by Ray Harris – I bought this one about three years ago when it first came out. I started it, but never got back to it. So I’ve restarted it now. It will probably take me a little while to get it read as I’d like to complete the reflection exercises at the end of each chapter too, plus it’s not really a book that you can rush through.
Recently Finished:
I finished the following books this week:
- Boxers (Boxers & Saints #1) – Gene Luen Yang. This was a decent graphic novel telling the story of the Boxer Rebellion from the point of view of a young peasant who joins the rebellion.
- Saints (Boxers & Saints #2) – Gene Luen Yang. This graphic novel is a companion to Boxers, telling the story from the viewpoint of a young Chinese girl who converted to Christianity. Reading this one right after the first one helped me to understand the story from both sides.
- Are You Seeing Me? – Darren Groth. This was a book I received through Early Reviewers at LibraryThing. It was quite a fairly moving and, at times, humorous read, telling the story of twins from Australia travelling to BC and Seattle on a journey where they discover more than they expected to.
Up Next:
These are the same two that I mentioned last week and are both books that I also received from Early Reviewers at LibraryThing. Maybe I’ll get round to them before next week’s post!
- Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan
- Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen
Top Ten Tuesday – I’ve Started, So I’ll Finish (June 6)
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week a different topic is posted inviting the participants to come up with a list of ten things to do with the topic.
This week’s topic is ‘10 Books From X Genre That I’ve Recently Added To My TBR List.’ Rather than choosing a particular genre, I’ve chosen ten books on my currently reading list at Goodreads. These are books that I started a long time ago and for some reason or other I never got back to them. So I’ve made a separate TBR pile for them and hopefully this might inspire to pick them up and start reading them again. For some of them it’s been so long ago that I started them that I’ll have to go back to the beginning and start all over again. Here are the ten I picked:
- If I Had Lunch With C.S. Lewis:Exploring the Ideas of C.S. Lewis on the Meaning of Life by Alister McGrath
- Soccer in Sun and Shadow by Eduardo Galeano
- Hollow City (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children #2) by Ransom Riggs
- Daddy Lenin and Other Stories by Guy Vanderhaeghe
- The Story of Kullervo by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Convictions Matter: The Function of Salvation Army Doctrines by Ray Harris
- In the First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
- George MacKay Brown: The Wound and the Gift by Ron Ferguson
- Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
- Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
It seems like a daunting list, but hopefully I’ll get some of them read soon.
Book Beginnings and Friday 56 – Are You Seeing Me? (June 2)
My book for this week’s Friday meme combo is Are You Seeing Me? by Darren Groth, a book I received from Early Reviewers at LibraryThing. It’s one of three that I recently received from them, so I’m hoping to get them all read soon. Goodreads shares the following description:
Twins Justine and Perry have left their home in Australia and embarked on the road trip of a lifetime in the Pacific Northwest.
It’s been a year since their dad lost his battle with cancer and Justine became the sole caregiver for her autistic brother, Perry. Now Perry has been accepted into an assisted-living residence in their hometown, Brisbane, Australia, but before he takes up residence, they’re seeking to create the perfect memory.
For Perry, the trip is a glorious celebration of some of his favorite things: Ogopogo, Jackie Chan movies, and earthquakes. For Justine, it’s an opportunity to learn how to let go of Perry and of her boyfriend, Marc. Justine also wants to offer their mother the chance to atone for past wrongs.
But the instability that has shaped their lives will not subside, and the seismic event that Perry forewarned threatens to reduce their worlds to rubble…
Now for this week’s excerpts:
Book Beginnings is hosted by Gilion at Rose City Reader, who invites anyone to join in, saying: ‘Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author. Leave a link to your post. If you don’t have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.’
The beginning of Are You Seeing Me?:
Perry is standing on the far side of the metal detector, feet planted on the red stripe. Beads of sweat dot his forehead. His right leg twitches, keeping pace with some inaudible rhythm. At regular intervals, his lips curl inward then spring open, releasing a loud pop. He’s stuck. He’s been stuck for a while.
An interesting opening. Something’s gonna have to give soon. I’m about a third of the way through now, so I know what happened next, but I won’t give it away!
The Friday 56 is a book meme hosted by Freda’s Voice and the rules are as follows:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it) that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.
It’s that simple.
From page 56 of Are You Seeing Me?:
I snap at the band at my wrist. The kneejerk, bad voice in my head isn’t helping. Like Dad used to say: Think it through before you throw yourself or somebody else off the Story Bridge.
That sounds like decent advice. Anyway, I’m enjoying this one so far and hope to get it done this weekend and move on to the next one. As usual, I have too many books to read and not enough time, which isn’t that much of a problem really.
Bookish (and not so bookish) thoughts (June2)
‘Bookish (and not so bookish) thoughts’ is hosted by Christine at Bookishly Boisterous. It’s just a round-up of bookish and other things from the previous week. Share a link there if you want to participate.
1. I can’t believe it’s June already. Half the year is almost done! Our daughter has less than a month of High School left and then it won’t be long until she’s off to University in the Fall. Where have all the years gone?
2. I finally got around to reading Hidden Figures. It was a great read, but one that couldn’t be rushed. There was a lot of information to take in, especially in regards to segregation and race issues. It’s a well-researched book about the stories of four women who overcame those issues and played an important part in aeronautics and the space race from WWII onwards. I’m looking forward to seeing the movie soon.
3. There’s some great movies out now or coming soon. I’m not sure how many of them I’m going to be able to see. Ones that I’m looking forward to include Wonder Woman, The Book of Henry, Despicable Me 3, and Baby Driver, among others. I’m also tempted to go and see The Captain Underpants Movie for old times sake. Those books were very popular in our household a few years ago.
4. TFC are still going strong. After a hiccup again Ottawa last Tuesday, we took the second leg 4-0 last night and are headed to two games against Montreal for the Canadian Championship. We’re still sitting at the top of the Eastern Conference and are leading the race for the Supporter’s Shield as well. Rangers new coach, Pedro Caixinha, is beginning to show he means business, with a couple of strong signings made so fa this week in Bruno Alves and Ryan Jack.
5. I still haven’t got to the half dozen of boxes of books that remain unpacked since we moved here almost two years ago. I’ll need to get to them soon, just in case there are some that I need to get rid of. We’re planning a trip to Bearly Used Books in Parry Sound this summer and I could alway take some of them there to get some more store credit. We already have over $200 credit there, so I’m not sure if it would be wise to get more, although I’m sure I could easily find ways of spending it!
6. I’m still looking for something different to binge watch on Netflix. I probably won’t watch much during the summer, as I have lots of reading lined up, but it would be good to find something for the Fall. Any ideas would be most welcome.
7. I found a new bookstagram challenge for June. It’s the Bibliophile Book Pile Challenge hosted by @justolivia_19 and @thingsthatkeepmeupatnight If you’re interested I’m @wcs53 on Instagram.
WWW Wednesday (May 31)
WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. Here is what you have to do to participate:
Answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments section the host page for others to look at.
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Currently Reading:
I’m currently reading the above two books:
- Are You Seeing Me? by Darren Groth. This is one of three books I received from LibraryThing for review. I started it a few weeks ago and it’s time I got back to it.
- Grounded: Finding God in the World. A Spiritual Revolution by Diana Butler Bass. I started this one last year and never got it finished. Now that I’m back to it again I’m really enjoying it and should be finished it soon.
Recently Finished:
I finished the following two books this week:
- Black Road, Volume 1: The Holy North by Brian Wood , Garry Brown , Dave McCaig
- Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly. I bought this a few months ago and finally got around to reading it last week. It’s a great book and well worth taking the time to read. Hopefully I’ll get to see the movie soon.
Up Next:
Once I get the couple of books I mentioned earlier finished I’ll try to get to the other two review books that are waiting to be read.
- Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan
- Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen
Book Beginnings and Friday 56 – Optimists Die First (May 26)
For this week’s Friday meme combo I have chosen a book I recently received from LibraryThing for review, Optimists Die First by Susan Nielsen. I also received her previous book for review and enjoyed that one, so I’m looking forward to getting into this one soon. GoodReads has the following description:
Life ahead: Proceed with caution.
Sixteen-year-old Petula De Wilde is anything but wild. A family tragedy has made her shut herself off from the world. Once a crafting fiend with a happy life, Petula now sees danger in everything, from airplanes to ground beef.
The worst part of her week is her comically lame mandatory art therapy class. She has nothing in common with this small band of teenage misfits, except that they all carry their own burden of guilt.
When Jacob joins their ranks, he seems so normal and confident. Petula wants nothing to do with him, or his prosthetic arm. But when they’re forced to collaborate on a unique school project, she slowly opens up, and he inspires her to face her fears.
Until a hidden truth threatens to derail everything.
Now for this week’s excerpts:
Book Beginnings is hosted by Gilion at Rose City Reader, who invites anyone to join in, saying: ‘Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author. Leave a link to your post. If you don’t have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.’
The beginning of Optimists Die First:
The first time I saw the Bionic Man I was covered in sparkles.
I don’t remember the first time I saw the Bionic Man, but I’m pretty sure I wasn’t covered in sparkles!
The Friday 56 is a book meme hosted by Freda’s Voice and the rules are as follows:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it) that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.
It’s that simple.
From page 56 of Optimists Die First:
I marched over and grabbed the scrapbook from his lap. It was open to my most recent page.
Woman Dies from Minor Cut on Finger
A mother of two contracted necrotizing fasciitis, more commonly known as flesh-eating disease, after receiving a minor paper cut at work…
I’m not sure what kind of scrapbook we are talking about here, but I look forward to finding out soon. I hope to make a start on it this weekend anyway.
