Blog Book

Way back in January of 2008 I printed my blog into a book. I used blurb. You can read about it here.  You downloaded a book software program, selected SLURP and you had a book.  I did not spend any time reformatting it.  I just ordered it and was done.  I love it!!!!  Then came early 2009 and it was time to print out my blog for 2008 --

Blurb was no longer supporting SLURP for bloggers. (although they do now -- it was just a temporary outage)  I tried several different things and after spending lots of time decided it was too much of a headache and time waster to finish it.  Some would not download pictures that were hosted on exterior sites.  Some would only do a couple posts at a time. 

Just a few weeks ago my friend told me about blog2print.  I was pretty sure I had looked at it 2 years ago.  Back then it seemed to struggle downloading more than 3 months at a time.  But not this time around.  It even downloads images hosted elsewhere (like photobucket or flickr).  (Although it will not do slideshows -- so I will probably do fewer slideshows from now on).  

They have definately improved the process.  You simply enter your blog address, tell it what dates you want the book to cover, choose the cover and in 2 minutes it is done.  It lets you choose whether to keep the formatting just like your blog or to condense it a little to save pages.  It looked awesome.  I ordered my 2008 book in under 10 minutes.  Then I ordered my 2009 book.  They came in the mail 4 days later.  I chose the soft cover option and the price includes shipping. 

I love them!!!!  So if you are looking for a great way to print your blog -- here is the link!

http://blog2print.sharedbook.com/blogworld/printmyblog/index.html

And here are my books!!!!

Ford County -- Book Review

Ford County by John Grisham


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have always loved short stories and most of the time wish many novels would have been handled as such, but THEY JUST DON'T MAKE MONEY for the publishing houses so unless your name is John Grisham, the editors and agents will take a good short story and S T R E T C H it out until it is novel length.

So it was fun to read these 6 stories. You are able to get such a glimpse into small town Mississippi life through the eyes of vastly different charachters in such a short time. Ultimately these stories are the stories of ordinary people showing that even the ordinary life is interesting.

I laughed at the immaturity of the 3 boys headed to the big city as "soon to be heroes".

I found myself liking the swindler and even feeling like he deserved the money he swindled.

I found the mother's devotion to her rotten death row son inspiring.

I felt immense sadness at the family whose son was wrongfully injured during birth and the burdens they carried.

I like reading about anyone who figures out how to win at blackjack.

And the story of the man with AIDS returning to his small (and still very ignorant town) a sad statement of how most people are so willing to find an excuse for bigotry.

Nice themes to ponder, a few corny moments, 1 ridiculous ending (the casino one), a bunch of sad people, sprinkled with humor and charm.

Sounds a lot like real life to me.

View all my reviews >>

Shopping for books

Each town’s library has a volunteer group called “Friends of the Library” who go around town and accept donations of books from the residents and then either once or twice a year have a big book sale where all the proceeds go to the library for new acquisitions. The first day of the sale is always Friday (they charge 5-10 bucks to get in and hard cover books are 3-5 bucks and paper backs are 1-3 bucks). On Saturday, there is no charge to get in and on Sunday the books are half price. But the day I go is on Monday. On Monday, the books are $3-5 a bag. It is so much fun to get books for this price. Today I went to the sale in Norwalk. It was $3 a bag. I got 3 bags full -- or 138 books (which is roughly 7 cents a book). Some of them I keep- some I use for gifts (because a lot of the books are in brand new condition) and some of the books even I don't want, but with my kids there helping me, we always come how with a few stragglers. Here is what I got today.

These are the 3 Adam chose.

Here are most of the ones Madelyn chose (yes, she went with me -- she was coughing all night and so I kept her home from school -- has she coughed at all today? nope. . . but better safe than sorry)

You should see if your libraries have these friends of the library sales and see what you can get for $9 bucks!

Criss Cross

Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
I picked this book up at a used book sale and grabbed it because it had the newberry medal winner seal stuck on it. As I held the book the seal started to unstick and roll. I was having a hard time liking the book and started wondering if it had really won the Newberry medal or if someone had haphazardly stuck the sticker on this book by accident. I read another 20 pages and then had to go look online to see if it was really a winner.



It is.



So, with affirmation that others had in fact liked this book enough to grant it an award, I kept reading. I figured it had to get better, right?



Well, now I am done with it. I thought it was OK. not great. not terrible. The story has multiple characters and changes points of view often. You are stuck in the heads of 14 year olds. I AM SO GLAD I AM NOT 14 ANYMORE. I really can remember thinking like them-- trying to glean as much meaning out of nothing. feeling predestined for something great, but not knowing what. and knowing there were experiences to live that would change your path forever but not really knowing where to go to live them.



I don't know who I would reccomend it to -- there were some funny moments and I liked the coordination of a few key illustrations, photos, and writing styles.


View all my reviews.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book was like finding a kindred spirit. The main character has come to Connecticut from Barbados and finds all about New England to be a little crazy. The story is set in 1687. The author's note at the end says ". . . [these men:] and the freemen's struggle to preserve their charter is known to every schoolchild in Connecticut."



Well, it was not known at all to me a "schoolgirl" raised in Texas. So I found the history interesting as well as the fictional story relating some of the problems -- witch hunts, puritans, quakers, and rigid religious beliefs. Maybe as my children have to study Connecticut history I will learn "what all schoolchildren know."



But the real enjoyment of the book was just reading about someone else discovering 4 seasons for the first time. Barbados and Houston must be very similar (the character describes barbados as hot, humid, and always green, the air thick -- sounds just like Houston to me!)



So this was my favorite quote in the book



"All at once Kit was aware that this New England, which had shown her the miracle of autumn and the white wonder of snow, had a new secret in store. This time it was a subtle promise, a tantalizing hint of beauty still withheld, a beckoning to her spirit to follow she knew not where. She had forgotten that summer would come again, that the green would spread over the frozen fields, that the earth would be turned up to the sun and the seed sown, and that the meadows would renew themselves. Was this what strengthened these New Englanders to endure the winter, the knowledge that summer's return would be all the richer for the waiting?"


View all my reviews.

Book Orders

Remember the book orders from school. I do. There was usually an apple book order and a scholastic book order. Nowadays there is only scholastic. My girls keep coming home from school with them. They always have 50 or 60 items selected that they want. I usually let them pick one. And then one day it occurred to me, that somewhere in my Mom's house all of my books were sitting in boxes. I went there and searched and found a ton of books from my childhood. These sure brought back memories.
Sweet Valley Junior High -- and sweet vally high -- Wow, did I really read those???

Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew (It took me 2 more trips to my Mom's, but I just found my yellow hard bound Nancy Drew books) The hardy boys books were trent's as a kid.

Is it any wonder that Madelyn is obsessed with The wizard of Oz? I was. I read and reread the whole Oz series. I still love them!

Charlotte's web -- Julianne said, "I thought that just came out" -- I am sure she thought that becasue we took her to see the movie a couple years ago.

The babysitter's club --

















The Secret garden -- one of my very favorites!
















Mysteries -- I had tons of trixie beldon, bobbsey twins, but Nancy Drew was my favorite!

Eclipse

I read pretty much all day. I thought it was awesome.

Chronicles of Narnia

Well, I just finished the whole Chronicles of Narnia series. I read them as a kid (at least a few of them) and then decided to read them all again. I really enjoyed them. They are not long and they are not a series where you need to read each book before to understand what is happening. They are each independent -- almost vignettes that stand alone and yet, belong to the group. I liked them because they just made me think . . . think about the themes and the characters and then knowing that they are each Christian allegories they made me ponder other things as well. I love great minds and C.S. Lewis definately had one. I just marvel that he thought about all these beliefs and ideas and then put them into a context (the Narnia backdrop) to provide better understanding to his ideas. How the mind works . . . But check them out -- then we can chat about what some of you thought!

I can read!

Julianne is loving reading. She has made it part of her routine to read to Catherine and Madelyn each night. She is a sweet big sister!

Books

I took the kids to the library today. I checked out Artemis Fowl, Hoot, and books 3 and 4 in the Chronicles of Narnia Series. I seem to really enjoy Young Adult literature. I find them easy to read and though they deal with serious issues and deep emotional themes, they are not going to drag me into a depression like much of the more mainstream literature does. I read for lots of reasons but to get depressed is not one of them! I also checked out the Charlie Bone series on CD -- I started reading the first one some time ago and despite the fact that it seems like a Harry Potter knock off enjoyed it. With my kids we are still reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. We are on book 5, By the shores of Silver Lake. I think they are great!

I am working on updating all the photo frames in the house. Wow is that ever a project! Well, my newborn is calling for food and unfortunately I can't type and feed him.