27Apr/0915
Follow Me
author photo from hachette images
Follow Me
by Joanna Scott
432 pages
Fiction
Little, Brown and Company
April 22, 2009
When a young girl longs to learn of her family, of her heritage she is in for an exciting narration from her grandmother (AKA Sally Werner). She makes the young girl promise to never tell another soul what she is going to tell her, as she has never told anyone herself. In her grandmother's words she pieces together the mystery of her father's choices, and mostly the choice he made to leave her, a choice she lives with daily. Her family secrets are what make up a history of hardship and difficulty, however at the same time she realizes that within her family's history fanciful legends and tales hold the same value as the truth. However when she is confronted with her father, a man she had never known because of his choice to (after a failed suicide attempt) leave both she and her mother for a better life, she learns that he has another story all together about her grandmother. But could the elaborate story that her grandmother entrusted to her may only be fiction after all?
Follow Me is an interesting portrayal of family difficulties, discrepancies in family history and more than anything the lives that become that history. Since lives are lived only by one person, and seen by others in a much different light than one intends, history of the living is difficult to nail down. Follow Me is a novel of mysteries, family secrets and after a full dose of half-truths and some lies, there is a family history that evolves.
My thoughts are scattered on this read. I did enjoy the writing, it was as fluid and practical as it was elegant. Joanna Scott is an amazing storyteller and an extremely gifted writer, the tale flows from her words with ease. The only problem was that sometimes it seemed like it was too at ease, too leisurely, and I wished to learn faster. I found it interesting, but felt myself lagging behind in the thrill of it. I didn't completely fall head-over-heels with Sally Werner either, who this story is really about. For me it was mostly that somehow I felt I needed to be guarded against her because her choices made me nervous, and when I was allowed to know her thoughts about herself they were so harsh- that it just made me distrust her. By far the biggest fault of the book, which may be my own, is that I just lacked that personal bond with the characters. I did enjoy this read though, just not as much as I had hoped when it started out.
When you don't connect with the characters, does it make it harder for you to fall in love with the book? Do you find it harder to connect with characters you feel consistently make the wrong choices?
Some other perspectives:
Peeking Between the Pages
Bermudaonion
My Friend Amy
S. Krishna's Books
Booking Mama
Caribou's Mom
Savvy Verse & Wit
26Apr/0916
Sunday Salon!
This wasn't a very productive week for me, as I was just coming off of the intensity of the read-a-thon and it took me several days to catch up around the house. I am easing back into it and have finished some books this week and started others. I had a hard time wanting to sit inside so I brought my macbook outside and posted away between gardening breaks.
I posted a discussion post this week, if you care to join in, it is about reviews and what you think is a must have in a review you read. Do you like a personal touch? That the review is more formal? put in your two cents telling the rest of us What do you think makes a good review?
I am also currently hosting a giveaway for some two sweet homemade lunch bags that I made from a pattern out of Linen, Wool, Cotton (a fab book) check out the review and giveaway !
Reviews posted this week:
Books that I read this week:
So lately I have fallen in love with Mangas (AKA Graphic novels) I love them! I didn't ever think that I would, or that I would love them this much. These are perfect for me this week, as since the read-a-thon I have had a hard time with my attention span and reading. What are your experiences with graphic novels? Is there a certain genre which you were surprised by?
24Apr/0914
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is the tale of a boy who finds the fountain of youth located on the 'second star to the right and straight off 'till morning'. That place is Neverland. In Neverland there are adventures to be had, and it is the dreamiest world to be for any young boy, because it contains all the fantasies with none of the responsibilities of getting older. Peter and the lost boys fight pirates, they can fly, they magically have food to eat and they get to run around with real swords and weapons! There is never a bedtime to be kept, no rules, no nagging or chores to do, there is time for everything in a life free of cares and hardships.
When Peter brings in Wendy and her siblings though, things start to get funky. The lost boys begin to dream of the mother they have never had, of a mother who loves them. For a while Wendy fills this role, but then she too misses her own mother.
Peter Pan is certainly a classic worthy of all the hype as it has graced the stages from Broadway to Disney, to Hollywood, to so many different book publishers who hope to carry on this glorious favourite. I think somewhere in marketing however has made a mistake. I believe the story should not be marketed towards children, as they have yet to know what the abandoning of youth really means, but that it should be read more often by adults. Kids grasp the fun that this Neverland world would be, but neglect to see the implications of living there forever.
I don't cry when I read books, so I was astonished when I cried in the final lines of Peter Pan. It is that forgetting of childhood, of moving to a new season, of letting go of things that were once all that you dreamed of and thought about. I have never understood it more clearly than with the finishing of this text, the sadness that it would be to live as a child for the rest of your life and watch everything else grow and change except you.
For me this book is a coming of age tale, a choice we all have to make of weather to stay in our own fantasies, of having everything taken care of for us or actually having the bravery to face our fears and then enjoy along with the responsibilities, these are the benefits of aging. More than a dream, to live forever in an mortal world would be a curse, it makes me sad thinking about it, Peter is not a hero but a victim of a place and an imagination that he cannot will himself to escape for fear. We are meant to embrace each new stage, each step and grow and learn with them. I loved the impact that Peter Pan had on me as an adult. When I was younger I really didn't get the point, and it seemed so anti-climactic in the end, I didn't get it at all. I am in love with this classic now for sure. I can relate in so many ways to the war of embracing the future- while still longing for the past, the fear things will change and not knowing how that will feel. There is also no question about it, Peter Pan gets all my chickens clucking and the Stellar Five Chicken Book Award.
Have you ever read Peter Pan? What is your favourite children's classic? Have you found out like me that when you read a childhood classic later on in life it has much more meaning than when you were a kid? Which classic was it?
<img style="width: 450px; height: 110px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FyuzzdAoCw8/Sc3WctW9QeI/AAAAAAAAET0/yC4T3ge8s58/s1600/stellar%2Bfive%2Bchicken.jpg" alt="[stellar+five+chicken.
Cover of 1915 edition of J.M. Barrie's novel, first published in 1911.
Peter Pan playing the pipes, from the novel Peter and Wendy published in 1911
22Apr/0940
What makes a good review? talk to me.
We all review differently, some of us are chatty, others serious and formal. As reviewers we have different flavours and tastes but it seems that there are good reviews and not-so-good ones. Right? I think we all have reviews that we are prouder of, and it isn't necessarily because we liked the book a whole lot better but because the review written is really good. I have been thinking about this and wondering what you all think. (I did promise a non-negative discussion, and this is it!)
What would you say completes a good review? I mean good as in high quality, not as in a positively raving review of a book. Is a good review a positive one? Is it a balanced portrayal taking note of the good and bad? What about spell check? HA! Should the reviewer do some research and find important links or key things the reader may be interested in?
What about the 'bore factor'? Are reviews that are more academic and 'boring' better or worse maybe it depends on the book? Oh, I'd say by far worse, at least for me. Maybe they are suitable for an academic journal of some sort...but I don't read those for fun. I like real reviews, personal reviews. How about length? Humor? Can a review that is too long turn off a possible reader? I think so, my attention span is short so a long review, well lets just say I usually don't read the whole thing.
I know, a review belongs to the reviewer and all reviews are different, but there should be some key factors in every high quality review. Would you agree that these should be key factors in every review?
- the use spell check!! (Amen and AMEN!)
- learn about the author (do your homework)
- include links to interesting things related to the book/author
- if you hated the book, don't skimp at review time!
- picture of author, of book cover....of something! (I am a visual person so this is a must have for me, but it may not be for you)
What do you think a high quality review should include? What do you think it should NOT include? What do YOU say, are there key elements or not?? If there are good reviews are there also bad reviews, how are they bad?
22Apr/0918
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
A Novel in Words and Pictures
by Brian Selznick
533 pages
YA Fiction
Published March 2007
Scholastic Press
Set in France in 1931, this is a story told in pictures and words giving a complete portrayal of Hugo Cabret. Hugo is a boy who lives at the train station, loves machines and robots and is a thief. I am fearful to share more because as it is a mystery I'd hate to taint even a second of your experience with this book. I enjoyed discovering every little piece of information as it came. I hate ruining surprises, but: it should be no surprise that this book is wonderful both in imagery and word! What I can tell you is that if you are at all on the fence about this book, not knowing if it is really something you would like to read, go to the bookstore and open it up. You will not even realise that you are slinking down to the floor to read page after page and dream along with the author in the world of Hugo Cabret and his invention. Then with the close of the book, the words written THE END across the back, you will come to, understanding but not believing that it wasn't actually real, that you didn't actually dream it up. It is that good- that entrancing.
I didn't have any idea what this book was about, the cover didn't particularly call my name, since it looked boyish. Oh, but thanks to Alyce (who is in my real-life book club) who walked me over to it and opened it. I think I heard music playing then, and since that moment I knew I would have to read it. I knew it!
It reads like a silent film, and many pages are a full spread of a face, a hand, or a machine. The art is so fantastic and beautiful. Brian Selznick really broke the mold with The Invention of Hugo Cabret, as it isn't a graphic novel, but the story is narrated just as much in pictures as it is in words. The style of the charcoal and pencil drawings is elaborate and very high quality, not leaving any detail out. I love to draw and that is another reason I couldn't stop looking at this book (still can't)! The little gizmos and gadgets come to life for sure, but more than the story of an invention it is the story of a family separated through time but united in memory and in likeness, it is a mystery that brings up almost too much pain for the past to carry and yet it is so gentle in its touch that it feels almost light.
I loved it, loved it! You have to try it too. It wins my Stellar Five Chicken Book Award (That means it is even better than a smashing five star hit- because chickens are better than stars!!!)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret book trailer:
Did you read it? What did you think of the art? Didn't the story just captivate you!?! It did me, and that was after I had already been reading for 12 hours straight for the read-a-thon!
20Apr/097
Patchwork Style
Patchwork Style
35 Simple Projects for a Cozy and Colorful Life
by Suzuko Koseki
144 pages
Crafting, Patchwork, Quilts & Quilting
Trumpeter Books
14, April 2009
The blending and bonding together of different types of fabric gives a sweet and comfortable appeal to the patterns and designs in Suzuko Koseki's Patchwork Style. Each pattern, charming in its own way, brings together fabrics of solids and prints, designs and florals that will not hesitate to lighten up any room! As comfy and country as your impressions of quilting may be, be warned that although this is a quilting and patchwork book, it is certainly modern in is appeal, not your grandma's quilting. However, the idea of quilting is to embrace the past, the scraps we have left behind and want to incorporate into our future and Patchwork Style does that with a finesse that is truly noteworthy.
As for which patterns are included, there are quilt blanket patterns, patchwork purses, satchels and packs, change purses, pillow covers (which I need to make BADLY!), pot holders, floor mats, lap blankets, curtains and aprons. The lineup is sublime. Each chapter in Patchwork Style is set up by the techniques which are used that section. The chapters are broken up into different quilting methods, as follows: Log Cabin, Applique, Free Stitching and Patchwork Squares, and Square Applique. Each pattern has a picture (or more than one) where you can see what the finished product will look like, and then a page number at the back of the book with detailed instructions on how to create the masterpiece. Each pattern has step by step, along with illustrations on the project to get you through to completion.
I really love Patchwork Style! There is so much to learn. I have been quilting and sewing for a little while, and have family members who have quilted for decades, so I have certainly been around quilts and loved quilts and make patchwork designs of my own. Still the fresh and new patterns in this book are so welcomed, they are brilliant, fun to follow and put together. There are so many in here that I would love to make right now! So yes, I have a high opinion of this book for sure. I give this a double decker two thumbs up, no question about it.
Patchwork Style belongs of the Japanese Crafts Style books also known as Make Good: Crafts + Life, a group of books believing in the goal to simplify life. Another book that I have reviewed and also loved in this series is: Linen, Wool, Cotton by Akiko Mano
Are you a knitter, quilter, do you sew? If not, would you like to learn?
19Apr/0924
Sunday Salon: Yes, I did a vlog with my chicken!
Hey Sunday Salon folks!!!
I did the read-a-thon yesterday and it was delightful. What I like best about it is how much of a community building event it is, people going out of their way to encourage others and really all the cheers made my day.
I knew I had to get a little sleep because we have church this morning and I also have little kids who need mom today so I just can't do that on no sleep. But it was great while it lasted for sure.
I was able to read American Born Chinese, Peter Pan, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and I made it half way through Anne's House of Dreams. My total number of pages was 1401 which smashed my previous read-a-thon page count by a boulder!
I read in my car, on the floor at the lib (in a private quiet room...huh, I do wish they had comfy chairs in there...wooden ones weren't cutting it!) and on the hammock outside in my backyard.
Here are some highlights that I would like to share with you all:
My husband (B) and I decided to donate $.10 for every page that I could read during the read-a-thon. He jokingly accused me several times of trying to make him go bankrupt ;p
That was certainly one of the coolest things for me for the day, the reading with a purpose! I was able to raise $141.00 for Living Water International!!!
Reading at the library, with my lap quilt.
Green Tea Frap!!
and my favourite personal highlight was this vlog I did, I had so much fun with it and my chicken was a great co-star!!! (her name is Francisca)
Have an amazing Sunday, blessings all around! And a HUGE thank you to the cheerers, the commenters and all my friends I tried to keep up with during the read-a-thon.
19Apr/0917
Read-a-thon: T plus 21
Titles of books completed:
American Born Chinese
Peter Pan
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Titles of books still working on:
Anne's House of Dreams
Pages read since last update:
* The Inventions of Hugo Cabret p. 165
Total: 165
Running total of pages read since you started:
*American Born Chinese p. 233 (complete)
*Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress p. 192 (complete)
*Peter Pan p. 276 (complete)
*The Inventions of Hugo Cabret p. 533 (complete)
*Anne's House of Dreams p.77
Total: 1331
Money Raised for charity: $ 133.10
Who I am *trying* to keep track of:
Ti from Book Chatter and other Stuff
Vasilly at 1330v
Trish from Trish's Reading Nook
Claire from Kiss a Cloud
Chris from Stuff as Dreams Are Made On
Joanne from The Book Zombie
Jennifer from The Literate Housewife
Megan from Medieval Bookworm
Laura from Reading Reflections
Violet from Violet Crush
Parole (Words)
I heart Monster
So I just finished The Invention of Hugo Cabret and it is so cool!! Here is a book trailer, I have never seen another book quite like it.
I don't know what I will read next. I am still working on Anne's House of Dreams but I don't know that I will have time to finish it.
UPDATED: I am going to keep reading Anne's House of Dreams for a bit and then go to sleep. I'll post a complete update tomorrow. Good night and sweet dreams/ or reading!!!
19Apr/0915
Read-a-thon: T plus 18
If you missed my vlog with Francisca the chicken, ya gotta see it!!
Titles of books completed:
American Born Chinese
Peter Pan
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Titles of books still working on:
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Anne's House of Dreams
Pages read since last update:
* Anne's House of Dreams p.20
* The Inventions of Hugo Cabret p. 262
Total: 282
Running total of pages read since you started:
*American Born Chinese p. 233 (complete)
*Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress p. 192 (complete)
*Peter Pan p. 276 (complete)
*Anne's House of Dreams p.77
*The Inventions of Hugo Cabret p. 368
Total: 1223
Money Raised for charity: $ 122.30
Who I am *trying* to keep track of:
Ti from Book Chatter and other Stuff
Vasilly at 1330v
Trish from Trish's Reading Nook
Claire from Kiss a Cloud
Chris from Stuff as Dreams Are Made On
Joanne from The Book Zombie
Jennifer from The Literate Housewife
Megan from Medieval Bookworm
Laura from Reading Reflections
Violet from Violet Crush
Parole (Words)
I heart Monster
I am engulfed in The Invention of Hugo Cabret, it is amazing, the charcoal drawings are so good!! You all are so sweet, I am so happy you liked my vlog. Francisca the chicken says she will sign autographs if you slip her some mula 
After I finish this book I don't know what to start next. Maybe The Book Shop? I don't know yet.
What are you reading? Are you planning on going all night?
19Apr/0926
Read-a-thon: T plus 15
Title of books completed: American Born Chinese, Peter Pan, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Title of book still working on: The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Anne's House of Dreams
Pages read since last update:
* Anne's House of Dreams p.57
* The Inventions of Hugo Cabret p. 106
Total: 163
Running total of pages read since you started:
*American Born Chinese p. 233 (complete)
*Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress p. 192 (complete)
*Peter Pan p. 276 (complete)
*Anne's House of Dreams p.57
*The Inventions of Hugo Cabret p. 106
Total: 864
Money Raised for charity: $ 86.40
Who I am *trying* to keep track of:
Ti from Book Chatter and other Stuff
Vasilly at 1330v
Trish from Trish's Reading Nook
Claire from Kiss a Cloud
Chris from Stuff as Dreams Are Made On
Joanne from The Book Zombie
Jennifer from The Literate Housewife
Megan from Medieval Bookworm
Laura from Reading Reflections
Violet from Violet Crush
Parole (Words)
I heart Monster
Okay, so this time I spent most of my time driving home, eating dinner, making the above video and getting my kids to bed. I need to sit down and really bust out some pages now. I hope you enjoy the vlog!
My tummy is happy.
