Comments (1)

By bethany (dreadlock girl), March 12, 2010 22:01

Welcome to Orbis Terrarum 2010!!!

This is year 3 of our big adventure. There are some different things going on this year, so read up.

Orbis Terrarum 2010 Challenge Rules:

*The Orbis Terrarum Challenge begins April,1st 2010(you are welcome to join later) through the month of November.
*For the challenge each reader is to choose 8 books (for the 8 months of the challenge).
*Each book must from a different country, I have decided to go by the country of origin of the author, or the country he/she lives in is fine as well-meaning NOT the country the book is set in!!
*You don’t have to have a list, that means you can change your mind at any time. As long as there are 8 books you have completed the challenge.

What is different about this year in the Orbis Terrarum Challenge?? Well, there are some differences I think you will like, the above rules stay the same, but there are some options for your reading that I would like each challenger to consider.

1.) It has its own site, a part of my blog where I have much more freedom than on the old blogger site, check it out!!!

2.) This year I am allowing all the books to be from the same country and by the same author (although I would have you not choose your OWN country, because this challenge is meant to expose you to the world not your neighborhood!) For example, if you would like to focus on South Africa because you have an intrest in that then you can read all your books from that nation if you want.

3.) I want you to worry not about me putting up a post each month where you post your reviews, but that you’d post them in the appropriate continent location as you read along. These can be found by clicking on the images to the right. It has been a nightmare to try to organize these on my own, so I am asking (BEGGING) you to please first make sure your author’s country is listed in that particular Continent list, then include the nation of origin (or where he/she resides or resided or if you are choosing to go with where the author was born) of the author, as well as the title of the book. For example: (Absent by Khedairi- Iraq)or (Half of a Yellow Sun – Nigeria)

4.) The 2010 Orbis Terrarum Challengers Raising Funds for Clean Water Worldwide (optional!)

I am a big believer in not just reading about what is going on in the world, but about doing something about it. For this reason I am going to be reading away for Living Water International during the challenge and donating an amount per book. I also ask that you consider doing the same. If every one of us just gave $1 per book we read during the challenge, that is only 8 dollars, but if we all did it it that would be a good amount (last year we had 74 challengers, reading 8 books= $592 !)

You can make your donations directly by going to the Orbis Terrarum Challenge Fundraiser page. (They will send you a receipt for your tax deductible donation directly) Or by clicking the widget in the upper right of this challenge’s page.

I’ll post again on this soon.

However, you don’t need to feel obligated to donate!!

Who wants to join in the Orbis Terrarum Challenge for 2010 (add your link below)?? Feel free to post about this challenge on your blog so that we can gather more international book travelers!!!

How to join??

1.) Sign Up here
2.) Write up a post about it on your blog so that your friends can join you. (feel free to use either of the buttons at the top of this post)
3.) Get a readin’!!!
4.) Post a link to your review in the appropriate continent (click on images to the right).
5.) Contact me with any questions or comments.

SIGN UP for the Orbis Terrarum Reading Challenge here!!!! (still working with the site, let me know if something is off-I’d so appreciate it!)

Comments (2)

By bethany (dreadlock girl), March 10, 2010 21:30

I have been reading books about running, that is what you do when you are a reader and a runner I guess. So since I have read a couple so far I figured I’d share my thoughts about them with you. I have more on hold from the library that I just haven’t gotten over to grab yet, I’ll review those next time. I’ve also chosen a couple flicks to tell you about and some training programs to get you started in the running process.

Running Books I’ve Read: Mini Reviews

Runner’s World Complete Book of Women’s Running: The Best Advice to Get Started, Stay Motivated, Lose Weight, Run Injury-Free, Be Safe, and Train for Any Distance

This is the first book I read about running as I started training again, while it is somewhat helpful it is not for the intermediate to advanced runner at all. This book would be perfect for the woman who is just starting out and is wanting to know what she is getting herself into. While there is valuable info, and I did learn a couple of things, much of it was pretty obvious since I ran my little legs off in high school for 4 years. Still it has its merit and I did learn that I should always look every oncoming person in the eye with confidence so as to be able to identify him in a line up. I’d say that is valuable info for sure!! It also contains helpful information on how to start out, how to stretch, how to loose weight and so on. A good book for anyone thinking of running, the beginner who needs some tips.

The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer This is an excellent book, filled with information on how to keep in the run, stay motivated, which shoes to buy, how to train, when to run, how to stretch, how to eat, when to drink….on and on. This book is the best one I have read so far on training for the marathon (thanks Becky!!!!!). It pretty much takes you from day one of being completely out of shape and gets you into decent enough shape to complete a marathon in 16 weeks. How is that not the coolest ever!?!

Even after having run a lot in my previous life (High school!) I find this read to have so much information that I either forgot or just never knew. It is helpfully detailed, easy to understand and as long as you  are willing to follow it-you should have no problem completing the goal of a marathon that you are set out to run.Even though this book was written for training for a marathon, there is so much other valuable information,that any runner could glean from it.  That being said, it is very specific to long (very long)distance training. Intended for the beginner (or not so beginner) planning on running for the long haul. I love this book!!!

Run Your First Marathon: Everything You Need to Know to Make It to the Finish Live
I checked this one out from the library as well and it did have a lot of useful information,however it seemed a little general in its approach. I liked the format of the Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer (above) better. This is a quality book though packed with photos, tips and hints to training and running your first marathon, but if you have been a runner for a while much of the information will be obvious to you already. It is always good to brush up on the basics though.

I felt it to be lacking in depth, but as a first time runner you may appreciate the facts and details that are covered in Run Your First Marathon. If a broad picture of the training and racing is what you are looking for this is your book!

To Get You Up of the Couch: Running Movies

Spirit of the Marathon This movie is very entertaining, it follows a group of elite marathoners and a group of your average joe  people turning into marathon runners. For some it is their first time, others have run several and find themselves addicted to the race. Real life gets in the way at times of meeting goals or satisfying personal dreams- and it is neat to watch each individual learn to overcome or work through the hurdles of reality. They run on their time off, late at night, after taking care of their family.

Men and women of all ages are running for one common goal, and that is to complete their race. The elite runners have all the gear, and spend their lives running.  They dream of getting first at a prestigious American marathon and the viewer gets to follow the training and the finish of each runner.

This is a great flick if you are trying to motivate yourself to get out and exercise, there is so much value in it. I thought it was an interesting approach-kinda a la reality tv or something for runners. I watched it at Netflix in the play now.

Chariots of Fire

This is the best running movie of all time, yep of all time. I watched this I don’t even know when and fell in love with it instantly. I think I need to go grab it and watch it right now actually, it is about courage, about two men running for very different reasons. Chariots of Fire isn’t just about the races and the running, that is a part of it but it is also full of the lives that surround these two runners and the people who influence them and those whom they have influence on. The only downside (for me at least) is that Chariots of Fire is not about distance runners-I’ll let that slide.

Each time I watch it I want to get right up out of my chair and run, maybe even go for a good barefoot running experience on the beach!! Better pick this one up the next time you are at the video store it is much more than a running flick- it is a classic! Enjoy!!

To Get You Started: Free on-line Training Programs

5K Training

Couch to 5k this one looks great! For all those out there who are really at the beginning of the running thing, this is a good way to get up and at it. Your local sports equipment stores will be excellent resources for finding out when you can run a 5k in your town. Up and at ‘em!!
5K Race Training: Run Your First 5K
6 Weeks to a 5K: Beginner Training Plan BY Fitness Magazine
Running Times Magazine: 12 Week Training Program for Beginners
The Ultimate 5K Plan by Runner’s World With information for all types of runners, from beginners to advanced and what to do  with training and tons more good information.

10K Training

Your Ultimate 10K Training Plan by Runner’s World
Hal Higdon 10 K Training head on over and click on beginner, intermediate, advanced or walk to find the perfect match for you!
Jeff Galloway’s 10K (or 5k) Training Injury Free
Running Planet’s 10K Training Program and Advice for Recreational Runners

Half Marathon Training

Half Marathon with Hal Higdon you can select beginner, intermediate, advanced or walk to adapt this workout to you.
The Runner’s World Half Marathon Training Plan complete with speed workouts and race day tips (and much more).
Rookie Half Marathon Training
Jeff Galloway’s Half Marathon Training
Basic Half Marathon for Beginners
Running Planet’s Half Marathon Training Program

Comments (2)

By bethany (dreadlock girl), March 9, 2010 23:32

Translation Is a Love Affair by Jacques Poulin

This is the story of a writer and his translator. A young woman arrives in Quebecois to meet a writer with a bad back, a cat with an SOS message attached to his collar, and a little girl who loves animals just like she does. The journey is a take on love, of a different kind of love than the romance of  feelings met and encouraged-but one where the desires are known, yet never spoken. The translator, and the writer join forces on books, memories and most mysterious of all the search for the owner of the cat with the secret message.

Poulin consumes the reader in this modern love story where love is time, time is slow and a cry for help is all that one needs to jump out of their own life to reach into another’s nightmare. Goodness it is breathtaking!! If  you don’t mind thinking as you read versus the modern novelist gibber that so many are pumping out these days-this read will make you think, make you wonder and amaze you with its richness.

A publisher at Archipelago sent me this book a while back telling me that I would like it. I have yet to doubt anything that comes from that press. The skill of Archipelago strikes again with the decision to translate this modern-day gem. I followed Jacques Poulin page after page and marveled at the excellent translation by Sheila Fischman. Pick this one up, it is art inside a pretty cover. I recommend it for those looking for an artistic and rare approach to the meaning of love with mystery tucked inside. Enjoy!

Archipelago Books I have reviewed:
Plants Don’t Drink Coffee
Mourior
The Vanishing Moon
Sarajevo Marlboro
The Waitress Was New
Moving Parts

ISBN: 9780981955704

Author: Poulin, Jacques

Publisher: Archipelago Books

Translator: Fischman, Sheila

Subject: Literary

Copyright: 2009

Publication Date: November 2009

Binding: Paperback

Language: English

Pages: 144

I am an affiliate of  TOMS SHOES and Powell’s Books and I do receive a percentage of the sales of any item you buy using my links. Thank you!

Comments (7)

By bethany (dreadlock girl), March 1, 2010 23:04

It seems to happen on the days when I sleep in later than I should, the days when the world seems to be spinning a little faster than usual, those are the days when life gets the best of me.

We all have these days, the days in which our grandmas would have said that, “we got up on the wrong side of the bed”. That seems so meaningless- and when you think of the situations which we tend to let overwhelm us, they are really just as trivial.

We have an extra bill to pay instead of spending that dough on shoes, I didn’t get up in time to go running, Oliver gets the bigger ice cream cone, Brad doesn’t call me when I was needing him to, it is raining, it is cloudy, it is cold, it is hot, the house is dirty, I have no clean clothes, I have so much to do….on and on and on. However, I am a wimp. Even one of these non-hypothetical problems can throw me off for the day. If it is ‘the house is messy’ one, awk-there goes my week! Yep, it happened just the other day, the boys were fighting from when the got up and I hadn’t had my tea, my run, or most importantly any time with God and therefore allowing my circumstances control me and my mood.

Jackson screeched from the other room about how Oliver had hit him and not said sorry, and then Oliver started crying too. I stomped over to their room looking as grouchy as I could declaring, “You guys are acting horrible, and making me get into a bad mood”!! Did I say that!?! Yes, I did. The very thing that I have been working on my kids with- that others don’t control how they feel, or what they do. It is true for me too- so true. It doesn’t get any easier as we get older unless we work on it, does it?

Nothing has the power to rob me of my joy unless I allow it to, and I do let plenty things under my skin. Maybe not who gets the bigger piece of chocolate cake (don’t think I am above that though) but close.  I want to be more and more filled with Christ and the joy He gives which is certainly not circumstance based, but a commitment of lifestyle. It is so much easier for me to be joyful when I spend time with God, each time I fall in love deeper and the things that used to bug me seem less and less important.

What dictates your day?

PS. That chocolate cake sounds really good right now.

Comments (0)

By bethany (dreadlock girl), February 24, 2010 09:32

The Weight of Heaven

Frank and Ellie Benton loose their only child, a seven-year-old boy to a rare illness before the opening pages of the book. The Weight of Heaven is their lives lived with an attempt to survive that death-and are fearful that maybe that was the only thing uniting them. Frank and Ellie had been married for 11 years before the birth of their son Benny, but now that seemed like another life ago.

Amongst their pain and grief Ellie nudges Frank to take what she sees as a shot at saving their relationship, a move to India where Frank’s boss has asked him to head up the local office. Will they have changed just enough to no longer be able to cope or work as a team in a strange environment? They have alienated themselves-even from each other, could this be the chance to have to face their pain united?

None of us know really how we’d deal with such a loss, at least not until we have suffered it and know from the inner strength (or lack of it) what we can live with. Thrity Umrigar does an amazing job of capturing the feelings of alienation, even from a spouse who has undergone the same loss, the blame that humans place on each other, and the enormous pressure from the hamster wheel of life to keep going no matter how bad you hurt. The Weight of Heaven feels so real, so true that I had to remind myself that it is fiction- when that is the case I know the author has gone to great trouble to know the details, to understand the whole environment of loss, and I was really blown away by her thoughtfulness with this tender subject.

To me the writing was amazing-brilliant actually, I was right there with her from page one and didn’t need to work at all to get emotionally involved in the book. I believe that  Thrity Umrigar is a master at what she does and have heard nothing but good about her previous books as well, so I am off to spend some Powell’s dough on one of her others, maybe The Space Between Us which I have heard bookies rave about for a while now. I now know what is so attractive about her novels, they bear the weight of their subject matter and lead the reader by the hand to grasp difficult pain but also they show cultures, life, joy and most importantly our cultural blind spots.  I will read Thrity Umrigar again, I have no doubt and I am thankful I was introduced to yet another of the few modern novelists who work their words like art in form of ink and letters. I highly recommend this read, very highly. Grab it up!!!

Thrity Umrigar’s website: http://www.umrigar.com/

Title: The Weight of Heaven

ISBN: 9780061472541

Publisher: Harper

Author: Thrity Umrigar

Subject: fiction

Pages: 384

Copyright: 2009

Publication Date: April 2009

I am an affiliate of  TOMS SHOES and Powell’s Books and I do receive a percentage of the sales of any item you buy using my links. Thank you!

Comments (2)

By bethany (dreadlock girl), February 22, 2010 12:01

How to Take Good Pictures in Bad Weather Conditions:

1.) Be prepared at all times: Bad weather can, but it may not give you a warning. Being prepared to shoot in poor conditions will allow you to capture that shot that you would have missed had you not been geared up and mentally prepared for.

2.) Protect your equipment. Don’t sacrifice your camera to get that shot. This is why rule #1 is very helpful.

3.) Many times when weather is at its worst, photography is at its best. The sky is brighter, darker, the fog is like a blanket- all those situations make for some great shots. The key is being willing to get outside when you don’t want to, to leave the warmth of your couch and put on your rain gear.

4.) Don’t pose people- they will all look miserable. This no posing rule is especially important in cold, windy, wet conditions! Shoot people doing what they want to do, some will turn out others won’t. Don’t worry about that.

5.) Be ready, be quick and then be done. Take the time you need, but then go home.

I always love answering questions for readers. I’d love ideas on future Dreadlock Girl Photography Tips sessions if you have them. Leave me a comment, I love hearing from you!

Previous Dreadlock Girl Photography Tips Posts:

The Basics
Capture Real People, In Real Life Shots
Work That Thing! How to Get the Best Shots
Tips for Group Shots: How to Shoot a Group Session Like You Know What You’re Doing!
Photo Editing, Fixin’ Your Images
Taking the Best Black and White Photos: What to Look For
What does the ISO Do For You?: Learning more about the ISO
How to Take Good Pictures in Bad Weather Conditions

Dreadlock Girl Photography Tips: I am going to do several of these posts, I am not a professional photographer by a long shot, but I love taking pictures and seeing beautiful pictures so I want to share what I have learned with you.

Comments (2)

By bethany (dreadlock girl), February 18, 2010 22:26

Closer: Devotions to Draw Couples Together

Devotions need to be a priority, weekly, daily- that is up to you, but there needs to be time set aside to nurture and grow that relationship which is of utmost importance- the one between a couple and towards God. So often when you don’t it is easy to nag each other, pick fights or feel like your marriage is a working relationship, or maybe a black hole depending on how dramatic you are. Over the years love hits the backseat and romance has departed for good after  you spend a good amount of time pushing your spouse away. I suggest devotions together, they bless us every time we do it, and we see the rewards big time. It doesn’t have to be this book, it could be one that speaks to you, or reading the Bible together- but don’t put it off.

Brad and I have made our way peeking into several different devotion books over the 8 years of our marriage. I thought this one would be the same, but this time this book hit the mark. The initial devotions seem a little to simple and straightforward (just blah) so we almost tossed the book into the pile of devotional books that haven’t quite cut it.However, Closer gets better and better (or was it my attitude that improved?) I recommend sticking with it through at least the first 5 devotional sessions and you will find yourself and your spouse in a deeper place with God and a closer place as a married couple.

Jim and Cathy Burns co authored this book, I have been blessed by them in the past as Jim Burns wrote several amazing books for age appropriate sex education which I love, LOVE. This devotional book is good, and I recommend it. Our typical devotions set begins with some worship, then we read and answer the questions from on chapter of Closer: Devotions to Draw Couples Together, then read a chapter of the Bible, and close it off with prayer for each other. We have grown, and God has grown in us through this time. There is nothing more we could ask!

Do you have a favourite couples devotional book that you could recommend to me?? We’re going to be done with this one and I would love some suggestions on ones that aren’t cheesy and that really dive deep. Ideas anyone??

ISBN:9780764207037
Subtitle:Devotions to Draw Couples Together
Author: Burns, Jim And Cathy
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Subject: Christian Life – Devotional
Christian Life – Love & Marriage
Publication Date: October 2009
Pages: 222

I am an affiliate of  TOMS SHOES and Powell’s Books and I do receive a percentage of the sales of any item you buy using my links. Thank you!