Thursday, December 31, 2015

I hope everyone has a wonderful, happy and healthy 2016 with lots of books!


Tuesday, December 29, 2015

According to Buzzfeed there are 24 things people slightly obsessed with books believe to be true.


  1. You know nothing beats the smell of a brand new book.
  2. except maybe the smell of an old one,
  3. Sometimes you wonder if it is normal to like a books more than people.
  4. You are never, ever without a book.
  5. The Twight Zone episode "Time Enough at Last" is your actual worse fear.
  6. There are books you associate with certain points in your life, and re-reading them takes you back.
  7. You begin to think of fictional characters as real people.
  8. and talk about them accordingly.
  9. The thought of moving scares you because you are going to have to haul about 127 boxes of books.
  10. And, of course, there is the matter of deciding which twenty (-500) books you'll take with you on a trip.
  11. You feel a secret thrill when a book teaches you a new word.
  12. Sometimes you become so immersed in a book that you begin thinking and speaking like its characters.
  13. Nothing and no one can keep you away from a book you're invested in.
  14. You've caught yourself sneaking to read while you're supposed to be working or studying.
  15. And you've started a book only to look up and discover an entire day has gone by.
  16. You were probably raised by LeVar Burton.
  17. You distinctly remember the day you got your first library card.
  18. You've dreamed of living in a mansion just so you could have one of those giant, crazy, rich-people's libraries all to yourself.
  19. For you, going on a trip means a chance to visit a new bookstore.
  20. And you can't just "visit a bookstore."  Oh no - you practically move in!
  21. Plus, you can't just casually ~peruse~a book.  You GET ALL THE WAY INTO IT!
  22. You've put a book aside because you can't bear the thought of finishing it and having it all be over.
  23. But you've also made the extremely difficult decision to keep reading instead of going to sleep.
  24. You know there's no feeling quite like that foggy dreaminess that sits with you right after you finish a book.

List compiled by Alex Alvarez


Sunday, December 27, 2015

Friday, December 25, 2015

BEWARE!  An article by author, Derek Haynes - Trust Me I'm an Editor about the concerns of new 'professional' editors popping up all over social media sites and the internet.  Many of these people are not competent so Mr. Haynes wants new writers to be careful.  I think he definitely has a valid point.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015


RIP Peter Dickinson who died recently at the age of 88.  He was an author of 60 books including both children's and adult's.  His books have been translated into 53 languages - can you imagine?  He one the Carnegie Medal from the Library Association in 1979 and 1980 as well as a finalist for the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 2000 - all for children's books.

He also wrote the James Pibble mystery series and many other adult books,  Peter Dickinson was a multi-talented author born in Africa and raised in England.   His talent brought him many other awards too including the Phoenix Award and the Globe-Horn book award.




 

















Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Well, I did it.......I finally opened a twitter account.  lol, I know - probably most people have one but what can I say, I'm a dinosaur.  lol    You can follow me @Diane_Kas   
BUT


Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Here are 14 Bookish Words of Wisdom for the Holiday Season by Crystal Paul for Bustle online magazine.

1.  "For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas."  Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
2.  "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."  J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit
3.  "One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
4.  "You give but little when you give of your possessions.  It is when you give of yourself that you truly give."  Khalil Gibran, The Prophet
5.  "Christmas it seems to me is a necessary festival; we require a season we can regret all our flaws in our human relationships:  it is the feast of failure, sad but consoling."  Graham Greene, Travels with my Aunt
 6.  "Presents are made for the pleasure of who gives them, not the merits of who receives them."  Carlos Ruiz Zafron 
7.  "Hey great idea:  If you have kids give your partner reading vouchers next Christmas.  Each voucher entitles the bearer to two hours' reading time *while the kids are awake.*  It might look like a cheapskate present, but parents will appreciate that it costs more in  real terms than a Lamborghini."  Nick Hornby, The Polysyllabic Spree
8.  "Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind."  William Shakespeare,
9.  "One can never have enough socks," said Dumbledore.  "Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair.  People will insist on giving me books."  J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 
10.  "After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations."  Oscar Wilde,
11.  "One day you will do things for me that you hate.  That is what it means to be family."   
12.  "Later, when you've grown up, you realize you never really get to hang out with your family.  You pretty much have only eighteen years to spend with them full time,  and that's it."  Mindy Kaling, Is Everyone Hanging Without with Me? 
13.  "I can't help detesting my relations.  I suppose it comes from the fact that none of us can stand other people having the same faults as ourselves."  Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
14.  "And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us,  new, untouched, full of things that have never been, full of work that has never been done, full of tasks, claims and demands; and let us see that we learn to take it without letting fall too much of what it has to bestow upon those who demand of it necessary, serious, and great things."  Ranier Maria Rilke, Letters of Ranier Maria Rilke, 1892-1910

For the complete article check here






Friday, December 4, 2015

I know the refugee issue is a hot topic these days and I'm not getting involved with it here.  Everyone has their opinions yay or nah - that's for the individual to decide.  What I'm highlighting today is a wonderful woman who saw a need and took action.

Her name is Gil Ganzo and she started an after school program for refugee children.  The Program's name is Our Bridge.  It helps children with academics and gives them a place to play.  Let
s face it from a child's perspective being a refugee or immigrant is a scary situation.

Here is an article that tells you more about Gil Ganzo and Our Bridge Inside an After-School program for Refugee children

No matter which side of the issue you're on - these children are here, needed extra help and she stepped up and did something about it.


Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Interview with author Jill Bialosky check it out here Book Browse interview with Jill Bialowski 


Biography from her website:  Jill Bialosky was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She studied for her undergraduate degree at Ohio University and received a Master of Arts degree from the Writing Seminars at The Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from University of Iowa Writer's Workshop. 

Her collections of poems are Subterranean (Alfred A. Knopf, 2001) and The End of Desire (1997). Bialosky is also the author of the novel House Under Snow (2002) and The Life Room (2007) and co-editor, with Helen Schulman, of the anthology Wanting A Child (1998). 

Her poems and essays appear in The New YorkerO MagazineParis ReviewThe NationThe New RepublicKenyon ReviewAmerican Poetry Review among other publications. 

Bialosky has received a number of awards including the Elliot Coleman Award in Poetry. She is currently an editor at W. W. Norton & Company and lives in New York City.








Saturday, November 28, 2015

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Did you know these 8 comic book characters that are also Thanksgiving food?  This is a list posted by David Winnick on the Quirk Books blog  In case you don't recognize them, I posted the links to their bios.

          Howard the Duck 


    Buttery Pat - he is the 4th one down

      Milk and Cheese

Sass Squash is a vegetable like creature in My Little Pony comics.







Monday, November 23, 2015

Isn't this the coolest thing ever?????????  I think more cities and towns should have them!  It is called a Story Pod.  Info is below the pic.



From MyModernMet.com

Architecture studio AKB is bewitching Toronto's book lovers with an inviting design known as the Story Pod. As its name suggests, it's a pod for stories. Located near Main Street in the town of Newmarket, the compact construction serves its purpose as a book exchange where visitors can take a book, leave a book, or lounge on the built-in seating for a relaxing reading session. Regardless of the reasoning behind a person's visit to the pod, each person is met with an artistically designed structure with a series of vertical slats. When the slats are closer together, they look like an opaque wall, but they reveal book stacks when the openings are widened. There are also gaps backed by transparent plastic, which allows light to filter through and add to the piece's dynamic nature. 
To invite readers into the space, Story Pod's doors pivot open in the morning to mimic the covers of a book. Once nighttime falls and the doors are locked to protect the books, energy efficient LED lights (which are powered by the roof's solar panels) make the structure look like a lantern. For those who are walking around at night, the Story Poddoubles as a beacon of illumination.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

REVISITING THE NEWVEMBER



I spent Thursday walking around in a crazy love-struck stupor. Even though I knew it was far too early in the game to use the “L” word, I felt a strong link between us, an invisible thread holding us together. Granted, showing up for work with only a couple hours’ sleep didn’t help matters, either. No doubt, there would be complaints of mixed up mail; I could barely see the sidewalk in front of me, forget about scrawled addresses on envelopes. Hopefully, no one would bother calling in, and the recipients would think the mix ups were the result of a newbie, or substitute, or something.
By the time I had finished work, all I wanted to do was heat up a frozen dinner and find my bed. I was so very exhausted. Yet at the same time, I had this adrenaline rushing through me every time I thought of what had occurred between Sawyer and me. Sex in the stairwell – who would have thought? Laid out like that it sounded crass and vulgar, but in my mind it was something else entirely. Erotic, romantic, passionate, exciting – all rolled into a dreamy movie that kept playing through my head, making me hot and flushed every time I thought about it.
The first thing I did when I returned home was turn on my computer. While the settings were loading, I popped a President’s Choice frozen entree into the microwave, and then headed to my room to change out my uniform. Normally, I would go from uniform to workout clothes to pyjamas, but I went straight for comfort. I knew that even with all those images floating through my mind I would still easily drift off to sleep long before my usual bed time.
Angela had set my browser to open Facebook as my homepage. The moment I clicked on the program, I was logged in and ready to go. The live newsfeed indicated quite a bit of activity, considering all the people who had updated their statuses were supposed to be at work. I had a number of requests and something waiting for me in my inbox. Lucky me.

When I clicked on the message bubble, I could see it had come from Olive. Thinking it was probably “an about time” kind of message, I opened on it. Had I realized sooner what it was, I would have ignored it. As per usual, her timing was horrible.


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Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Stan Lee has written his memoir with David Peter & Colleen Doran.  The publishers are Simon and Schuster and here is what they have to say about it:

In this gorgeously illustrated, full graphic memoir, Stan Lee-comic book legend and co-creator of Spiderman, the X-Men, Avengers and the Hulk, and a legend of Marvel super heroes-shares his iconic legacy and how modern super heroes came to be.
Stan Lee is a man who needs no introduction.  The most legendary  name in the history of comic books, he has been the leading creative force behind Marvel comics and has brought to life - and into the mainstream - some of the world's best-known heroes and most infamous villians throughout his career.  His stories-filled with super heroes struggling with personal hang-ups and bad guys who possessed previously unseen psychological complexity-added wit and subtlety into a field previously locked into flat portrayals of good vs. evil.  Lee put the human in superhuman and in doing so-created a new mythology for the 20th century.
In this beautifully graphic memoir-illustrated by celebrated artist Colleen Doran-Lee tells the story of his life with the same inimitable wit, energy and off-beat spirit that he brought to the world of comics,  Moving from his impoverished childhood in Manhattan to his early days writing comics, through his military training films during World War II and the rise of the Marvel empire in the 1960's to the current resurgence in movies Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible documents the life of a man and the legacy of an industry and career.
This funny, moving and incredibly honest memoir is a must have for collectors and fans of comic books and graphic novels of every age.





 

 

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Ok, I've heard everything now.  There is video game for book worms.  It is called Fallout 4 set in post apocalyptic Boston.  Overdue library books must be returned in order to complete the game.  Check it out here:  Video Game - Fallout 4

Here is the actual game trailer  Fallout 4


Monday, November 16, 2015

Oxford Dictionaries word for the year 2015 has been chosen and it is not a word but an emoji.  This is the first time ever it hasn't been an actual word.  Which emoji was picked?    Tears of Joy



To read the article regarding how it was chosen and why check out 

Friday, November 13, 2015

Author spotlight.................Juliet Hulme aka Anne Perry, born in London in 1938

Did you know?

  1.   She had TB as a child?  She was sent away to live in a warmer climate till she was 13.
  2.   She helped a friend when she was 15 beat the friend's mother to death and served 5 years in     prison.
  3.   Peter Jackson's film Heavenly Creatures is based on that story.
  4.   When she got out of prison she changed her name to Anne Perry.
  5.   Anne became a flight attendant and published her first book, The Cater Street Hangman, in    1979.
  6.   Since she has written more than 50 novels.
  7.   She is most known for her historical detective series (Thomas Pitt and Monk) but has also        branched out to YA and Fantasy.
  8.   In case you are wondering the TV series Monk has nothing to do with her books.
  9.   She won an Edgar award for Heroes (Most Wanted) in 2000
  10.   For more info about Anne Perry check out:  News from Anne Perry

I gathered info for this from Wikipedia, Anne Perry's website (listed above), and  The Guardian - older article

Here is an article with Ian Rankin and Anne Perry  2007 Interview regarding her crime (very wise words)

Wednesday, November 11, 2015



Thank you to all who serve & all who have served!

Happy Veteran's Day! 





For baseball fans everywhere, Vox Magazine of Columbia, MO has come up with a list of books to keep baseball alive till the next season starts.  (I am and always will be a diehard Cardinals fan - - I mean really is there a better team?)  LOL  Anyway before I get myself in trouble here is their list:
Keeping Baseball Alive  I will say that I would add one book and that is The Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig  The link is to my review!

Sunday, November 8, 2015

I found an interesting article on school libraries. I spent lots of time in school libraries and public libraries.  We had a great public library that was huge in the town where I grew up.  Once a week my Mom would take us to check out and returns books.  This was say 50 years ago and they had programs we participated in too.  I loved my school's library too.  As you can tell I read a LOT!

Anyway back to the article it is here New Report from Scholastic Shows School Libraries Work  I don't know if they have a period during a child's day where they take the kids to the school library or not anymore.  We did in graade school and I think it is a great thing to do to encourage young readers.

Isn't this an awesome school library.  It is Bowden Primary school but I don't know where that is.

Friday, November 6, 2015

Ok this doesn't have a lot to do with books  -- oh wait there are Dr. Who books.  I am a major fan of Dr. Who and look what I got in the mail from Amazon (super quick shipping, I might add)  Excuse the pic I'm in the middle of a revamp of my house.  lol


Thursday, November 5, 2015

Here are the highlights of an interview with Leah Remini about her experiences in the Church of Scientology.  The actress has starred in  films and TV shows such as Diagnosis Murder and The King of Queens. She had been a member of the Church for 30 years before leaving and writing her book Troublemaker.  A 'Troublemaker' Leaves her life in Scientology  I think I'm going to put this on Mt. TBR



Tuesday, November 3, 2015

What do you think of Amazon's review policies?  I haven't given them much thought except that I do believe they should allow reviews to be posted prior to the release date so that perspective buyers can read them.  Here is a link to an article on what some authors think.  Authors call on Amazon to Review Reviews process.  They do have some valid points that I had never thought about.  I do have a pet peeve that really irritates me and that is when a reviewer totally tears apart a book negatively and makes negative comments about the author.  As a reviewer I may not like a book but I don't have to tear it apart.  I can constructively say what I did and didn't like about it and not be nasty.

Ok, I am stepping off my little rant box.  lol

 
5 star
51%
4 star
33%
3 star
12%
2 star
4%
1 star
0%

Monday, November 2, 2015

Well my goal this year was to read 80 books!  I have already read 140 according to Goodreads and I still have 2 months to go!!!!   I'm amazing myself.

Lots and lots of author interviews.  How did they get started?  Some interviews are on specific books.  Some of the authors:  Dan Brown, Stephen King, Fern Michaels, Neil Gaiman, Jung Chang as well as children's authors:  Judy Blume, Eric Carle and many, many more in 50 Famous author interviews that shouldn't be missed