Dishing It Party--Summer Reads

Hey, join in the party! Here are the questions you get to write a post about and then link up at Serenity Now--A Mommy's Solution to Staying Sane. Be sure to visit other blogs that have joined the party too!

~Give us your list of top 5 picks for summer reading.
1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. House Rules by Jodi Picoult
3. Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber
4. Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein
5. Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper

~What genre of literature makes you want to pick up a book and read (biographies, chick lit, Christian fiction, historical fiction, etc.)?
Gerard best likes books about dogs and events that happened that he doesn't know a lot about. He likes books on war and sports as well as books about Christianity. He prefers non-fiction and likes memoirs or biographies.

I like a wide variety and just depends on what mood I'm in as to what I choose. I like both fiction and non-fiction, some historical fiction, biographies/autobiographies, some young adult fiction, sometimes romance, sometimes suspense or books involving teachers.

~What are your favorite magazines?
Gerard's are Newsweek, Time and Sports Illustrated. I don't read magazines.

~If you had to be stuck on a desert island with any fictional character, who would you choose? Definitely Katniss from The Hunger Games because she is a survivor and knows how to cook, hunt and fish.

~How do you make time to escape into a good book?
We read during our lunch and breaks and Gerard reads some in the evenings. I like reading at the library garden on my lunch hour in downtown Cleveland. I read on the bus to and from work and sometimes on the porch or by a window in the evenings.

~What's your favorite place to get your books?
The library. If I want own a book, I check http://paperbackswap.com (they have more than paperbacks).

~What's next on your "to-read" list?
See our header on this blog. Those are the books we are reading next.

I Don't Like These, I'm Going Back To The Library!

We always go the library on Saturday mornings.  Gerard usually has some books waiting for him to pick up that he ordered ahead.  We combine our stacks and then I get a picture of them to post for our header on here along with whatever pet comes around. 


This morning it was just Spunky Doodle who came.  Unfortunately, Gerard started reading Before I Fall and decided it was too much of a teen girl book that he didn't want to read anymore.  He also got Mr. Peanut which is about the Sam Shepherd case he said.  Once he found out other books he ordered arrived later in the day, he took these to back and got two others instead:  Zoo Story and A Dog's Purpose.


This made it necessary for me to retake the blog picture only Spunky Doodle just was too hot and not in the mood.  Manny came up though, but only wanted to do it if he could be on the ledge.  I said, okay and retook the picture.


This is another advantage of using your local library rather than buying books.  We love the library and are participating in the "Books Ahoy" contest.  They have drawings every week of the contest and we both won Indians ticket vouchers and two coupons for Chipotle.

How often do you go to the library?

"Still Standing: The Untold Story About My Fight Against Gossip, Hate and Political Attacks" by Carrie Prejean

Still Standing:  The Untold Story About My Fight Against Gossip, Hate and Political Attacks by Carrie Prejean is the revealing story of her participation in beauty pageants and how her simple answer that she believed "marriage is between a man and a woman" resulted in a national smear campaign against her, including her own pageant directors.  The judges were looking for a "politically correct" answer and the one who asked the question gave her a zero on that part of the competition.  She still came in second.   She tells the whole story of what really happened.

 

I found it very interesting that she liked sports and was an athlete before entering a beauty pageant and supported the Special Olympics.  As she won and moved up to the next levels, the "handlers" became more determined to change her to increase her chances of winning, such as dying her hair and paying for a boob job.  It is a great look at behind-the-scenes and she goes into detail about all the ramifications she faced from the media and liberals.  She just wanted to be true to herself and give an honest answer.  I could identify with her throughout the book and applaud her for taking a stand for what she believed, even if it meant losing. 

 

I liked this book because I only heard bits and pieces about her experience from what I read on some blogs and found it very interesting to get the whole story.  If you don't like her, you probably won't like her book either.  I thought the advice she gives to girls in the last chapter based on lessons she learned along the way was good. 

 

Following are the main points:

1.  Be true to yourself.  Don't let anyone bully you or trick you into doing something that you feel uncomfortable doing.

2.  Never fear that God's standard is the right standard.

3.  Grace turns losses into gains and accidents into your best opportunities.

4.  Seek advice from a "multitude of counsel."

5.  Forgiveness heals.

6.  Don't leave yourself outside of the circle of forgiveness.

7.  Don't let the culture convince you that trying to hold to a high standard is being "too judgmental."

8.  Stand up with courage.

(Karen's review 1/27/10)

Please tell us: What categories of literature do you like? What are you reading now? Who are your top five favorite authors? Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

What Book Can't You Wait To Read (Book Blogger Hop)

We are doing this book hop sponsored by Crazy For Books. This weekend we are supposed to share what book we can't wait to read. For both Gerard and me, that is easy--definitely Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins which is the sequel to The Hunger Games which we both thought was an awesome book.

While we are waiting for this one to come in from our library, we look forward to reading Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim, the actress who played Nellie on "The Little House On The Prairie.

What book can't you wait to read? Visit the book blogger hop to find more great books!

"The Last Christian" by David Gregory

The Last Christian by David Gregory is about Abigail who grew up in Africa with her missionary parents.  When a strange disease wipes out the village except for her so has to come to the USA.  Everything changes for her and no one believes in God anymore.  The Last Christian was better than I expected--a good page-turner for sure.  If you need a faith pickup, this book will do it!

Please tell us: What categories of literature do you like? What are you reading now? Who are your top five favorite authors? Have you read this one? What did you think of it?