Buzzards at Breakfast...and a Book Giveaway!

For more Wordless Wednesdays,

click here.

But wait...there's more!

Enter to Win DIVERGENT!



Don't forget to enter the Readerbuzz Monthly Giveaway!

This month's giveaway book is Divergent!

Books I'm So Happy Were Recommended To Me

Top Ten Books I'm So Happy Were Recommended to Me

10. Thank you to teachers

who encouraged me to try classics

that intimidated me.

9. Thank you to mi esposo,

Jim Nance,

who led me to Ray Bradbury and

all the great science fiction reads out there.

8. Thank you to Oprah for sending me

to A Fine Balance and many

more fantastic reads during

my stay-at-home years.

7. Thank you to Candy Morgan,

my mentor during my first years of teaching,

who shared Where the Red Fern Grows.

6. Thank you to Miss Rowena Hillhouse,

now long since passed away,

who pointed out all the good reads in the children's section

of the Alvin Public Library,

including Half Magic and A Wrinkle in Time.

5. Thank you to the members of Bookgrouplist,

who revolutionized my reading when I joined the group in 1999.

Among others, they recommended Haruki Murakami, Richard Powers,

and A. S. Byatt.

4. Thank you to my mother who suggested

the amazing Gone With the Wind

and Love is a Wild Assault.

And almost every other good book

I read for the first fourteen years of my life.

3. Thank you to my Australian friend and fellow reader,

Louise, who told me about

1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up.

She not only led me to this book, but to the 1001 children's books

I am now attempting to read before I grow up.

2. Thank you to my sons, Jon and Ben,

who talked me into reading

Ender's Game and

The Phantom Tollbooth

when they were boys.

1. Thank you to the professor at University of Houston who put

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance as the only book

that was required reading for an Educational Philosophy class in 1976.

The class did not make,

but that didn't matter,

because I'd already started reading the book

which was to become my favorite read ever.

Enter to Win DIVERGENT!



Don't forget to enter the Readerbuzz Monthly Giveaway!

This month's giveaway book is Divergent!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Is My Kid Stupid? and a Giveaway!

Photo by Ashtyn Renee

I've been an educator since 1977. 

I've been a parent since 1984. 

I've been a human being since 1956.

Despite all this time in the trenches,

I feel like I don't have a clue about what makes people tick.

So I valiantly continue to live in the world

and read about the world and try to figure people out.

If you are like me, you might like to try this book then.

It is called Is My Kid Stupid?

Here's a blurb from the publicist that tells about it:

Is My Kid Stupid? was written to fill a need for all parents of children who are struggling in school, or who have been diagnosed with learning disabilities. Is My Kid Stupid? addresses concerns like: • How to get a free private school education for your child • How to choose a practitioner for your child • How to choose the best advocate for your child, or how to advocate for your child yourself • Special education laws and how you can make the most of them • How to significantly lower the cost of college for your child   Is My Kid Stupid? also offers letter templates, and additional websites that may be helpful during your search.

I have read this book now.

I found it to be all that it describes itself to be.

I found it to have nice summaries of the

various learning disabilities children often manifest.

That was helpful.

Two annoyances: 

(1) The author warns against relying on this book for information,

and repeatedly asks parents to seek out professional advice. 

Somehow that goes against the idea of buying the book, doesn't it?

(2) The very title of the book is irritating.

I shared this book with the speech teacher at my school

and she immediately noticed that the title

 makes this a difficult book to recommend to parents. 

As a librarian or a counselor or even a classroom teacher,

would you really say to a parent,

"Hey, I've got a great book to help you with your child.

The book is called Is My Kid Stupid?!"

This week's reading:

 Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch

Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky

 Migrant Mother: How a Photograph Defined the Great Depression by Don Nardo

Divergent by Veronica Roth

And now for the giveaway!
What if each month
I give away a book?

So, for my first giveaway,
how about Divergent?

Rules for the Readerbuzz Monthly Giveaway
are simple:
(1) You must

  follow me.

(2) You must live in the US.

(I apologize to those who live outside the US,
but mailing costs are now ridiculously expensive.)
(3) You must leave a comment here
that expresses your interest in this giveaway
and includes an e-mail address
 (posted in an elusive way to thwart the wicked).
(4) If you really, really want to win this book,
you are welcome to receive extra entries by:

Following me at Twitter

and leaving a comment +1 

Befriending me at Goodreads

and leaving a comment +1

Befriending me at Facebook
and leaving a comment +1

I will leave this giveaway open until May 31st.
Good luck!

Thank you to the publishers who
provided copies of Migrant Mother,
Tolstoy and the Purple Chair,
Is My Kid Stupid? and
Divergent.

The Queen Died and the King Died

Welcome to the Literary Blog Hop hosted by The Blue Bookcase!

This week's prompt: 

 Discuss your thoughts on sentimentality in literature.

When is emotion in literature effective and when is it superfluous?
Use examples.

My reply:
E. M. Forster wrote: 'A fact is "The queen died and the king died."
A story is "The queen died and the king died of a broken heart."'
I prefer stories.


This blog hop is open to blogs
that primarily feature book reviews of literary fiction,
classic literature, and general literary discussion.

Hoppy Easter Eggstravag​anza Giveaway Hop: Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card or A Box of 15 Fantastic New Fiction Books

Thank You, Followers!

I have two prizes in the Hoppy Easter Eggstravaganza Giveaway Hop!

Entering is easy!

Just:

 (1) follow me and

(2) leave a comment, stating which prize(s) you'd like to win,

and providing an email address where you can be reached.

What are the Prizes?

Prize Package 1...

A Box of 15 New Fantastic Fiction Books!

Last week I went to a Texas librarian conference.

Books, books, books everywhere.

It was fantastic.

I came home with 170 wonderful books.

Now I want to share that experience with you.

I will send you the fifteen amazing new ARCs seen below!

(I'm sorry, but this is only open to bloggers in the US.)

Thank you to HarperCollins, Viking, Little Brown, Random House, Harcourt, and Hachette

for providing all these wonderful ARCs for this giveaway.

Prize Package 2...

Win an Amazon Gift Card!

(This is open to bloggers anywhere Amazon can ship.)

You can enter one or both of these giveaways!
Good luck!

Bonus Entries:

Follow me at Twitter

and leave a comment. +1

Befriend me at Goodreads

and leave a comment. +1

Hoppy Easter Eggstravaganza Giveaway Hop is scheduled
 to begin on Wednesday, April 20th at 12:01 am EST

and end on Monday, April 25th at 11:59 pm EST.

All participating blogs will be linked up through

a Hoppy Easter Eggstravaganza Giveaway Hop linky.

Rewind

This week's prompt is fun.

Top Ten Tuesday Rewind:

Pick a past Top Ten Tuesday that we've done

that you didn't get a chance to participate in.

Look here for past topics.

I missed the first nine prompts.

Of these, I chose this one for this week's Rewind:

Top Ten Most Intimidating Reads

Moby Dick

Middlemarch

Infinite Jest

Ulysses

Gravity's Rainbow

The Magic Mountain

The Sound and the Fury

 Proust's In Search of Lost Time

Beloved

War and Peace

 

 

Foolishly, I vowed to try to read the last two titles this year.

 

How about you?  What titles intimidate you?

Any suggestions about how to get through these?

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND sign Mister Linky at the bottom to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Don't worry if you can't come up with ten every time..just post what you can!

TLA 2011: A Photoblog Post

There is nothing like

the Texas Library Association Conference.

And there is nothing like going to TLA

in Austin!

Austin, Texas!

From my hotel window.

TLA always means fantastic authors.

And various odd creatures,

ready and eager to come to your library.

Even Wonder Woman,

making an appearance at the Capstone Breakfast.

Here we librarians sit,

awaiting the bats

arising from under a bridge over Town Lake.

My first political rally!

Two thousand librarians

on the steps of the Texas Capitol,

pleading with the legislators

to think about children.

My haul:

56 posters,

3 t-shirts,

12 tote bags,

2 stuffed animals,

1 puppet,

and...

170 books!

TOP TEN BOOKS I'D LIKE TO SEE MADE INTO MOVIES

TOP TEN BOOKS I'D LIKE TO SEE MADE INTO MOVIES

I almost never see a wonderful book made into a wonderful movie.

I hesitate, then, to condemn a great book

to new life as a bad movie.

I'm afraid I have to say that

I'd rather keep my wonderful books

as wonderful books.

My short answer is none.

How about you?

Are there movies you would, bravely,

have made from your favorite books?

Dewey's 24-Hour-Readathon in New York, New York

 My favorite reading event of the year, Dewey's 24-Hour-Readathon!

This year, I read New York City
to prepare for my first trip there this summer.

A photo for inspiration:

Wow...New York City....

The books I collected for this readathon...

I added my location to our Google map of readers,

joined in on the collaborative story,

and popped in on a few blogs.

I wrote a little about my favorite classic.
I read for ten hours before
hitting the wall,
and stopping to eat dinner,
enjoy a movie, and go to sleep.

And I finished ten books:

New York: 365 Days

Here is New York by E. B. White

New York: The Big City by Will Eisner (graphic novel)

Miffy Loves New York City by Dick Bruna

The Inside-Outside Book of New York City by Roxie Munro

Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin by Duncan Tonatiuh

New York City: An Illustrated History of the Big Apple

Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City

Rosy Cole's Worst Ever, Best Yet Tour of New York City

Top Ten Book Covers I Wish I Could Redesign, or Don't Judge These Books by Their Covers, and the 2011 Indie Lit Awards

Top Ten Book Covers I Wish I Could Redesign

I could pull almost any book off my shelf and

shake my head when I see its cover design.

Lots of very sad book covers out there.

So here's a list of some of my favorite books with awful covers:

Civility by Stephen L. Carter

Not only a bad cover, but a boring title.

Who's gonna read this fantastic book

with a cover and a title like these?

Sandkings by George R. R. Martin

I really don't know why I picked up

this beautifully written science fiction novel

with a scary cover like this.

.

One Man's Meat by E. B. White

If you didn't recognize the author from Charlotte's Web

and know that he wrote brilliant essays (some of which

are in this book), you'd never choose this book.

 The World is Not Enough by Zoe Oldenbourg

Certainly doesn't look like the best historical fiction ever written,

does it?

No, it looks more like a history book about war.

Into That Good Night by Ron Rozelle

Such an amazing memoir that it was published

by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux,

but they certainly didn't spend much on the cover.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

You'd never guess this is a fantastic and mysterious thriller from the cover.

Who wants to read a book with a statue on the cover?

Finally, the type of cover I hate most is...

Book Covers with the Author's Name Written Bigger than the Title!

(Does that bother anyone else,

or is it just me,

growing increasingly cranky with age?)

I'm going to stop here,

because I'm starting to rant a little

and that's never pretty.

So what did you choose?

What book covers do you wish you could redesign?

Before you move on,

let me share with you a wonderful blog event

that will be taking place at the end of this year,

the Indie Lit Awards.

This year in 2011, like last year,

I'll be serving on the panel to choose the best

nonfiction of the year.

I'm a little worried this year, as

they've pulled Memoir into a separate category.

So, please, please, start sending me

titles of deserving nonfiction (non-memoir only, please)

published in 2011

so that I can start reading!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!



Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND sign Mister Linky at the bottom to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Don't worry if you can't come up with ten every time..just post what you can!