The Week in Reading and Writing ( TSS )
I have some very good news, my Orbis Terrarum Reading Challenge is starting up again really soon (soon as in 4 days from now)!! Please don't miss out, you will be incredibly bummed if you don't join in on the fun this year- this is our 3rd go at it! You could also host a mini-challenge if you want (email me for more information on that)
How to join?? The deets and the SIGN UPs for the Orbis Terrarum Reading Challenge here!!
Besides that I have to broadcast all over just how much I loved NurtureShock, it is the best child Studies/parenting book that I have ever read, it is by far an A+ I haven't read anything better! Head over to my full review of NutureShock. It will blow your mind and give you so much insight.
This week I shared my dreams of one day owning a One Room SchoolHouse, and how I think our children are missing out because our society is so age segregated. They aren't asked to interact with different age groups, therefore missing out on a whole chapter in their development.
PS. One of those buildings would also be an excellent home! One day I dream of buying one of these old one room schoolhouses and living in it (with an added loft for bedrooms and an add on bathroom of course).
Last but certainly not least, in my life right now I am training for a half marathon. We'll see how it goes, but since I am a reader and a runner and a movie watcher I have gleaned some excellent materials on running from several different sources. Weather you would like to be motivated enough to run twice a week, walk to work or as my friend says "run to eat" you should check out what I've read, watched and learned so far that has inspired me to get my butt off the couch! You might find yourself itching to bring those old tennies out for a jog!
That is what I have been up to this week, how has your week been?? Oh, and tomorrow is my birthday too- the big 3-0 and I can't wait!! Each year is getting better. Which has been your favourite age to turn so far?
Sunday Salon: I am reading
I am almost done with North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley. This is my review in short: "North of Beautiful gets everything that Twilight gets so very wrong- RIGHT!" It is about a teen girl whos home life leaves her empty. Terra tries to make up in every way possible for her port-wine beauty mark. She is dying to fit in- to cover herself up, until she gets to know someone who enjoys being with her without makeup-and who makes her feel, for the first time, free to be herself. I am not done with it so I don't yet know what else to write...but when I finish I will get my review up. Keep an eye out, I think it will go up on Tuesday.
Currently I am working on the audiobook version of A Passage to India by EM Forester. I have mixed feelings about it so far, but maybe that is because I need to step away from the audiobook and actually read the book. I am getting distracted easily. Anyone care to share some advice? Maybe not listening while driving in rush-hour traffic? Huh, I should consider that!
As for creative outlets I am at the moment loving on Handmade Home- I love it to bits. I will review it soon, I wanted to make something from it first, but since we leave for Spain in 5 days I may have to let that wait! What are your favourite new craft books?
There you have it....that is what I have done this week. Oh, be sure to enter my giveaway for your choice of one of two bookshelves!!! (Today is the LAST DAY to enter)
This Week at Dreadlock Girl:
Flick Review: The Visitor (Awarded My Stellar Five Chicken Flick)
Portland Book Blogger Conference
Book Review: The Photographer (a graphic novel like you have never seen before!)
The Sunday Salon: Why I Read. And You?
I suppose it depends on what types of books you read, but since I read novels, mostly I read to live a life other than my own for a while. I read to get away, to dream of somewhere far away, or to understand where someone is coming from better. I love international fiction because I can travel somewhere I have never been, or walk the streets in a well known village 8,000 miles away. I am teleported through reading to a dream or a nightmare, depending on the book. I can live an exciting night, even though I don't have a million dollars for travel fees and a babysitter that night!!
I guess movies could be the same thing, but they really aren't, for me at least. Because they don't allow me to take my time, I am on their schedule and just working on keeping up most of the time with what is being said and the images that flash on screen. In reading, I live longer in the places I want to and skip-run-jump through those that freak me out. I like reading.
I have recently been transported to China while reading The Kitchen God's Wife (Amy Tan), to a Russian threatened Afghanistan in The Photographer (graphic novel), and through racial and spacial bounds in Zimbabwe in Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. Where have you been lately? Have your travels taken you pleasant places or nightmareish-ones? Do you read for the same reasons as me or different reasons?
Sunday Salon: One Thing I Love About my Library? Preloads!
I am currently reading Amy Tan's, The Kitchen God's Wife and it is excellent! I love getting the preloaded audio books from my library. Does every one's library have these? It is the size of a deck of cards and lighter and you just have to plug in your headphones and hit play. No need for an ipod or to put it onto your computer and then transport it into a different format to work on your MP3 player, it fab.This is what they look like:
It really is a great idea. So far I have listened to two of them, last week I listened to Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, before that John Green's Paper Towns and this week I loving The Kitchen God's Wife. For my little ones I checked out The Island of Blue Dolphins, and Charlie and the Chocolate factory two books I enjoyed as a kid. Our library gets them through Playaway, and the quality is good, you can even mess with the settings and speed up the reading if you want. They are marketing to the military, schools and libraries, places where more than one person would benefit from the usage of the pre-loads, I tell you....I can't get enough!
I have enjoyed the online download audiobooks that our library has, but these are even way more fun!
What about your library? Do they embrace new technology or is your library slower to accommodate the changing times? Tell me something you love about your local library, I'd love to hear it!
The Latest Posts:
- Our Schoolhouse: Kindergarten and First Grade Classical Education Curricula
- A Journey in Simplicity: Why We’ll Never Be Content With What We Have
- The Last War
- A Journey in Simplicity: Breaking Bad Habits
- A Journey In Simplicity: Moment of Truth
- A Journey in Simplicity: Fasting for Simplification and To Be Re-Sensitized
- A Journey in Simplicity: Starting Out
- Foreign Flicks Review: Some Good, Some Great.
Books In My Lap Now
I (adoringly) HEART—>
Read in 2010 (so far)