Dewey's Weekly Geeks

I just signed up for this challenge hosted by Dewey called Dewey's Weekley Geeks. It's a blogging challenge and every week either a participant or Dewey picks that week's theme. This week theme is Discover New Blogs. You have to find five blogs that you haven't visited yet. Here's my five.

1. Naked without Books by Bybee. Bybee had me laughing in the first 30 seconds of reading her posts.

2. Renay at The Deus ex Machina. Another funny bookworm. Her goal is to read 100 books my June.

3. Lightheaded at Everyday Reads. I picked this blog because I fell in love with the layout. Absolutely beautiful. Or maybe it's just the fact that I love goldfish and the color orange. Now I'll read anything she writes.

4. Tinylittlelibrarian has my dream job: she's a children's librarian. I love going through other bookworms' book reviews to discover new authors I probably wouldn't have found.

5. Last but not least is Ravenous Reader at Bookstack. She just finished reading Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth and loved it. Now it's on my TBR list. Thanks for the great review.

Love Walked in

Love Walked In (2005)
Marisa De Los Santos
320 pages
Rating: 5 out of 5

Marisa De Los Santos is my hero.

Her debut novel, Love Walked In, is the best book I've read this year. It made me laugh, cry, and shout with rage. There was so many times I had to put this book down and just look at the front and back covers asking myself, "Who is this woman that wrote this great book?"

Love Walked In is about Cornelia Brown, a woman who is funny, smart, a hopeless romantic, and the friend every girl needs. She meets Clare Hobbs a young girl who abandoned by her mother, is now trying to fit into her father's life while not getting crushed by the hope of her mother returning.

It's love at first sight between the two as Cornelia opens her heart and her home to Clare. They develop a friendship and a love that helps them both grow. This book is a testimony to the love between friends, families, and those you meet while you're out living your life.

My favorite character is Cornelia. I absolutely love her. She's passionate about her family, friends, and classic movies. Sarah Jessica Parker might end up playing Cornelia in the film version. I think the casting director needs to be fired but that's just my opinion. Love Walked In will have you hooked from beginning to end.

Happy Book Day!

No, it's not really book day but yesterday was the best day ever for books. I received through the mail eight books. About two weeks ago my comment about a book was picked for Powell's books 'Daily Dose'. I won a $60 virtual credit which I spent in less than an hour. The books I picked are:

1. The Gathering - Anne Enright (fiction)
2. Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman (a favorite of mine thanks to last year's R.I.P. 2 challenge)
3. Nights at the Circus - Angela Carter (magic realism)
4. The Stolen Child - Keith Donohue (magic realism)
5. Betwen Trapezes - Gail Blanke (self-help)
6. Cries of the Spirit - Marilyn Sewell (poetry)
7. Courage and Craft - Barbara Abercrombie (writing)
8. The End of the Alphabet - Cs Richardson

My eighth book I received from paperbackswap. Now I just have to find some time to set aside to read.

The Arrival

The Arrival by Shaun Tan (2007)

128 pages

Rating: 5 out of 5

I didn't know what to expect when I put this book on hold at my local library. I just heard that it was a pretty good book to read. What an understatement.

The Arrival is a wordless story about an migrant's journey from his country to the new world, leaving behind his wife and child. In the new world armed with just a handful of money and a suitcase, the man finds various jobs, a place to live, and also food to eat. You watch as he struggles to learn the language, the customs, and find his way around. Along the way our main character meets others who tell him their journeys to the new world. Soon he learns how to belong in this strange new world he now lives in and how to make it a home. Tan captures perfectly what a migrant probably goes through coming to a new country and trying to learn the customs. You see the main character learning to eat unfamiliar food, trying to tell time a new way, and even how to mail a letter.

The pages of this book are so stunning, so beautiful. I guarantee you haven't seen beauty like this before. Though it is a graphic novel, I think it's best appreciated by anyone nine and over. This is my first encounter with Shaun Tan and it won't be my last.

I'm a question mark.

You Are a Question Mark

You seek knowledge and insight in every form possible. You love learning. And while you know a lot, you don't act like a know it all. You're open to learning you're wrong. You ask a lot of questions, collect a lot of data, and always dig deep to find out more. You're naturally curious and inquisitive. You jump to ask a question when the opportunity arises. Your friends see you as interesting, insightful, and thought provoking. (But they're not always up for the intense inquisitions that you love!) You excel in: Higher education You get along best with: The Comma

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

I won!!

Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings have picked me for the Anne-Julie Aubry prize pack. Her work is so beautiful. I am so happpy: I screamed so loud when I found out that I scared my best friend Yvette. Yah! Thank you, Carl.

Booking Through Thursday

When somebody mentions “literature,” what’s the first thing you think of? (Dickens? Tolstoy? Shakespeare?) Do you read “literature” (however you define it) for pleasure? Or is it something that you read only when you must?

When someone mentions literature, the first thing that comes to mind is books, just the image of books. But when I really get to thinking about it, John Steinbeck, Toni Morrison, Tolstoy, and the many other great heavyweights come to mind. I think, for me, literature is any book that gives me pleasure and makes me think.

You Set It Paperback Challenge

One more challenge. Now I'm up about 16 challenges! So I just signed up for the You Set It Paperback Challenge. The rules are you pick how many books to read, you set the time limit but it has to be at least one month, and you only read paperbacks. I think I will read six books in next six months, starting today. Here's my list.

1. The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion

2. The Penderwicks - Jeanne Birdsall

3. The Scent of God - Beryl Singelton Bissell

4. Her last death - Susanna Sonnenberg

5. I am no one you know - Joyce Carol Oates

6. A good man is hard to find - Flannery O'Connor