Holiday today

Besides being my brother's birthday, today is a world-wide holiday near and dear to my heart. Oh, yeah, so happy birthday big bro. Now. . . .  on to the important celebration.

It's not too late to start making some holiday plans for the day because today.. . . . .yes,  this very day  is International Penguin Day. No, not just just here in Podunk (actually, every day in my little corner of Podunk is penguin day) but in the WORLD! So, Kaye, what can we do to celebrate this wonderful day, you ask?

Here are a few suggestions; first off, you could put on your favorite black and white outfit complete with assorted penguin jewelry. What? You don't have penguin jewelry? C'mon over, I'll lend you some. Brew a nice pot of tea in your favorite penguin teapot and pour into your favorite penguin mug. What? Again? You don't have a penguin mug? Good grief, peeps! Am I celebrating by myself? ** Snicker**

Okay, so maybe you don't have some of the accoutrements of the true penguin lover, it's okay, it's okay (she says soothingly). You could start by watching the movie clip that started my life long obsession admiration of the noble bird that is called penguin! Yep, this is the movie TBG took me to when we were first dating. After the fiasco first date movie of I Saw What You Did Last Summer that almost scared me to death, he must have thought this was a tamer follow-up.




Wasn't that fun? Did you watch it like a gazillion times? No? Alright, so once is probably enough for you.

 On to celebrating the day with books like Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater or Do Penguins Have Knees? by David Feldman.

Another fun site for a lot of penguin information is the New England Aquarium. They have one of the best penguin habitats I've seen. (Trust me, I've seen plenty! I've dragged gladly accompanied TBG to many penguin exhibits.) The aquarium's  website has pictures of baby penguins, videos on the African and Rockhopper penguins and live webcam to watch the penguins plus several lists of books if you really want to read more.

 That should give you a little start to celebrating International Penguin Day. Enjoy!

Edith Piaf

Photo from wikipedia

On this date in 1963, the world lost one of the most beautiful voices ever; Edith Piaf, the little sparrow, died at only 47 years of age. One of her most famous songs is also one of my favorites. I could listen to this over and over. If you didn't see the movie, La Vie en Rose, I would highly recommend it. I thought it was superbly done.

I'm not sad, I'm just a little blue.

Hmmmm . . . . . I always wondered why the color blue is associated with sadness. Does anyone know the origin of this? But that's not the real reason for this post.

Actually, I'm more than a little blue - I'm blue all over. My legs are blue, my head is blue; an absolutely gorgeous shade of cobalt blue. Even my antennae are blue. This is caused by a genetic defect. Now, most of my peers are greenish-brown but gather up approximately 2 million of us and chances are you will find that one rare blue one.
The last time we were on Cape Cod, we took a little day trip to Woods Hole where the famous Woods Hold Oceanographic Institute can be found.We visited there and then went to the nearby (within walking distance) Woods Hole aquarium to see this little guy. I think his picture came out really well considering I took it through the glass.
I know this isn't earth shattering or anything to do with books, but I just thought some of you might like to see a blue lobster. Wikipedia (scroll down to Mutations) has a pic of an even rarer lobster-it's yellow and the chances of finding one are 30 million to one! Now, that's rare!
Right about now I'd like to see a cooked one on a plate, but that's beside the point! So what do you think? Isn't he gorgeous?

Characters' actions - How do they affect you?

Hmmm. . . . . .So what do you think about this?

While reading Tell me Something True by Leila Cobo, the main character, 21 year old Gabriella Richard is confronted by her grandmother and her cousin Juan Carlos about a man she has started to date; Angel Silva, son of an imprisoned drug lord. Gabriella is on her usual annual visit to Cali, Colombia to stay with her grandmother for a month. While there, Gabriella finds her late mother's journal and discovers her mother had had an affair while working in Colombia. Her grandmother knew about it but her father never found out about his wife's infidelity. Gabriella gets defensive when her grandmother tells her to stop seeing Angel as she fears for her safety.

Now, when her grandmother says she will have to tell Gabriella's father, she lashes out at her grandmother that if she does tell him Gabriella will tell him about her mother's affair and that her grandmother knew all about it and did not stop that. Gabriella up to this point had been somewhat of an inocuous yet likeable character. Right about now I'm not liking Gabriella too much. Not only is she willing to hurt her own father but she is not showing her grandmother any respect. This is how it went down:

"You tell him," Gabriella says carefully, "and I'll tell him that you knew about this Juan Jose character and my mother. I'll tell him how she had an affair wiile staying in your houre, and you let it happen. And that you didn't have a problem with."

The words spill out before she can stop them, and she is appalled at how awful they are.

She wants to grab them back, but now they hover in the hushed room and she can see them poisoning the air, physically attacking her grandmother, who suddenly looks to Gabriella like an old woman.
Okay, so she feels some remorse. Still, shouldn't a 21 year old have some more restraint and not act like a small child saying anything to hurt her beloved grandmother, especially when she is staying in her home? Maybe because I never knew any of my grandparents, ( they had all died by the time I was born) I feel people should show respect for theirs.

This is about one third of the way into the book. So far, Cobo has not shown me any of Gabriella's feelings about her discovery. I hope Gabriella can redeem herself in my eyes. Am I being unreasonably judgemental when it is just a fictional character? Have you read books where you did not approve or like a character's actions? Did it color your opinion of the rest of the book? Did it make you feel more empathy for the one who has been wronged?

December trip to Russia: Midpoint

For my magic carpet ride to Russia, I had the overly ambitious plan to read books from my shelves set in Russia during the month of December. It's not even the middle of the month and I can see already that this will take me much longer. It should probably be a year long challenge as I keep finding more books that look interesting. Maybe one on Siberia, Catherine The Great or Rasputin. Since The Russian Concubine is actually set in China, I took that one off the list. Who knows, maybe I'll steer the magic carpet towards Asia one of these days.

I didn't plan on doing a full review on each book separately but just give you my overall impressions and recommendations. The first book I started with was:

Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie. This book definitely put me in the mood with it's gorgeous descriptions of Imperial Russia and depictions of Russian life starting in the year 1894. Massie portrays Russia as a dichotomous society in which peasants would take the thatch off their roofs to feed the livestock during the famine while others were decked out in furs and jewels attending opera, lavish balls and numerous other cultural events.

When Nicholas's father, the autocrat Alexander III, passes away at 49 years of age, 26 year old Nicholas becomes Tsar of all the Russias; a role he is not prepared for nor does he really want. A week after the funeral, Nicholas marries Queen Victoria's granddaughter; Alexandra, Princess of Hesse Darmstadt. Theirs is a true love match instead of a political alliance marriage that were common at the time among royalty.

The story takes us through the reign of Nicholas II witnessing the ever changing face of Russia. Massie gives us a complete picture of the evolving political scene as the fabric of Russia unravels, the country hurtles toward revolution and a tragic ending to the Romanov dynasty. Behind the scenes we see the internal thoughts of the characters as simply human beings in a family not just as mighty rulers. I felt like the proverbial fly on the wall seeing this all happen in such fascinating and intricate detail, heart wrenching though it was. I absolutely loved this book! Highly recommended reading .

My second choice was:

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Translated by Jessie Coulson and with an intro and notes by Richard Peace.

From the back cover: Crime and Punishment (1866) is the story of a murder committed on principle, of a killer who wishes by his action to set himself outside and above society. A novel of great physical and psychological tension, pervaded by Dostoevsky's sinister evocation of St. Petersburg. It also has moments of wild humor.

Dostoevsky's own harrowing experiences mark the novel. He had himself undergone interrogation and trial, and was condemned to death, a sentence commuted at the last moment to penal servitude. In prison he was particularly impressed by one hardened murderer who seemed tohave attained a spiritual equilibrium beyond good and evil: yet witnessing the misery of other convicts also engendered in Dostoevsky a belief in the Christian idea of salvation through suffering.

After Raskolnikov commit the murder he considered his punishment to have started immediately; the fear that he would be found out. He's convinced the police know the whole story but are toying with him to drive him insane; a psychological game of cat and mouse between murderer and the police. Several times he is so tempted to just turn himself in and "get it over with".

I guess I must have missed the wild humor part because I didn't find any in this story. It was an okay read but if I hadn't read it, I wouldn't feel that I had missed anything special. I know, I know ; it IS one of the world's classics, but still it dragged a little too much for me. Melodramatic overkill would be two words I would choose. I also have The Karamazov Brothers by Dostoevsky on my list. I hope it's a lot better than this one.

One of the more interesting parts of the book, though, was in the introduction about Dostoevsky himself. Like his character, Raskolnikov, he was an abjectly poor student who fled abroad to escape his creditors. While in Wiesbaden, he turned to gambling and lost what little he still had. This is when he conceived the idea for Crime and Punishment.

Needing a break from reading about the Russians, I managed to read a few other books in between but then watched two travelogues on Russia. One of them was Russia: Moscow, St. Petersburg and Murmansk. The close ups of St. Basil's cathedral, Red Square and the Kremlin were particularly beautiful but the rest of the video was amateurish and could have had a lot more depth to it.

The second video was A Russian Journey. This one was much more professionally done, had some beautiful photography and was very interesting. Did you know the trans-Siberian railway crosses through 8 time zones or that there are 129 different ethnicities in all of Russia? Or the fact that the onion domes actually have a purpose other than just being aesthetically pleasing? The shape of the roofs deters snow from collecting on them and possibly causing roof damage. I really enjoyed this one.

Since I just came across the Chunkster challenge for 2010 I decided to save the other books on the list for that challenge. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy is 1,455 pages long. That's three chunksters in itself! That's okay because I really like Tolstoy. After all, he wrote my favorite book, Anna Karnenina. The Karamazov Brothers is up in the air as to whether I am going to read it or donate it somewhere.

Disclosure: All of these books are from my personal library and have been purchased by me.

December Trip to Russia

Throughout the entire month of December I'll be in Russia. I'll be hobnobbing with nobility and peasants alike. Maybe even partake of tea with the tsar and tsarina. Attend a ball or two and hear all the social gossip along with the latest war news. That Napoleon is really making a name for himself. It will be a glorious and enlightening visit! Through the incredible power of the printed word and my imaginary magic carpet, I will be mentally transported to Russia without even leaving my sofa.
While reading Take Me Away Saturday: Russia at Lost In Books, I realized I have some of the books Rebecca featured in her post. It reminded me that I've had these books on the shelf for a while now and it's time to get dedicated. I had promised myself that this month I am reading only what I want to read not what I am obligated to read; sort of like my own personal mini-challenge. So here is my tentative list:

War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy - Yes, I do realize it is over 1100 pages long.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russka by Edward Rutherford
Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie My local library has a few travel videos on Russia and if I have time I might even round out my trip with watching at least one of them. So, my magic carpet is all dusted off and ready to escape into the world of imagination; a world that is so accessible through the power of books.

If you were to take a magic carpet ride, where would it take YOU?

Changes, ch-ch-ch-changes. Your thoughts?

Now that I have been blogging for a little over a year, I want to make some changes here at P.P.P. After reading a post by J. Kaye on book reviews that engendered a lot of terrific comments, I know I need to make my reviews much shorter. Maybe more on the line of Show Me Five Meme because in reality, how much more do you need to know about a book? I probably only review 10-20% of the books I read because reviews to me are so hard to do and I know I am terrible at it. So, hopefully more reviews or just thoughts and opinions that are much more concise.

After reading another great discussion, this time about awards at The Bumbles, I have decided to become an award free blog. Please don't take this as being unappreciative of all the wonderful bloggers who have awarded me in the past. I truly value every one but I do want to find other ways to highlight or acknowledge blogs that I like without them having to jump through the hoops of award giving and linking. A link to past awards will now be on the sidebar. (Honestly, it's in the works)

If I have reviewed a book that you also reviewed and would like me to link to your review, please let me know and I would be most happy to do that. The more opinions, the better! Speaking of links, for a while now I have not been allowing backlinks due to too many (7) on one post that had nothing to do with my post and always from the same blog site. I mean one or two, no problem; but 7, that's just too many in my opinion. That policy will not change. Again, I am happy to link to your blog or review if it is relevant to that particular post.

Okay, now I will probably qualify for the cratchity crab award. Just be advised it will not show up in an actual post but in the sidebar as a link. ;-) (did I tell you that I'm working on that ?)

Contests (and I hope to have more of them in 2010) will now be for followers only. Want to enter? Become a follower! Saves up the tallying of bonus points. I'm toying with the idea of a random follower appreciation contest for best comment on any post of the month. What do y'all think of that idea?

Streamlining is the key word for the new year. Of course, this could all change at any moment and one click on the delete button and the whole blog could just go poooff. I know one thing for sure though, I want to read more books on my own shelves and from my tbr list in the following year.

Any suggestions for more improvements or just general feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Heeey ! What the ??? . . . . . .

Do you ever look forward to a day and eagerly plan for it? Seriously, I mean, you get up early and you even have lists. You can feel the anticipation building. And then . . .


Well, I've done it again. Not exactly a day late and a dollar short scenario . . . . this time I was early. Yeah, like a whole week early. But I was ready. Last night I went through my read list and then my wish list for authors and made another list of authors to look for at the County Library's annual sale. I had cash in my hand, comfy stand- in -line shoes on and a big empty canvas bag. They advertised over 65,000 books and I know quite a few had my name on them. Last time we came home with close to 100 books. Yes, we are crazy! Knowing that there is always a line, I left early and when I got to the auditorium, I had a sinking feeling. No cars in the parking lot, no people in line at the door. Oh, oh, now what? So I cruise past the sign and it boldly states ~ Library booksale Oct 2-6th. Hello, it's still September.
Hubby looked mighty surprised when I came home so soon with an empty bag. I reminded him of the Greek Festival we went to only to find it was the next week. But you can bet that next Tuesday I'll be more than ready for $3 a bag day! After all, I've even got my list ready. Sheeesh! At least I got to the post office and mailed off The Year of the Flood to Jemima, the contest winner.

Does anyone else ever do this or is it just me?And what did you do today? Anything exciting?

Cover art trend? Your thoughts ??

Is this the new trend in cover art?

Is it just me, or do you find these images lacking, not just the body part that's MIA, but visually appealing kind of lacking? I feel like I am missing something vital.

I want to see eyes. Yes, plural. Not just one "creepy "eye, but both eyes, don't know why, but I just do. Is that so difficult for a photographer? Not for me when I first used the digital camera, but hey, I never said I was good with new technology. Is it that they don't have to pay the model full price if they don't get to see the full picture? Are we supposed to infer some hint of mystery? I mean, really, a woman in an apron with potholders on, now just how mysterious can that really be? They can't all be in the witness protection program, now, can they?

Just thought I would throw this out there to see what you think. Thoughts, anyone? Somebody? Anybody?