It’s a holiday weekend here in the U.S., so let’s keep today’s question simple–What are you reading? Anything special? Any particularly juicy summer reading?

It’s Amy here…Sally and Leah are actually on holiday in Costa Rica at the moment (well Leah lives there, but you know) so I’ve been holding down the blog fort so to speak.

I’m currently reading Love Starts with Elle by Rachel Hauck. I’ve been really looking forward to this book because I loved Sweet Caroline and I adore the cover and title of this one. I really like it, Rachel brings a special heart and believability to her characters.

As far as juicy reads? I don’t think anything in my queue of books is juicy exactly, just your typical literary fare.

How about you? What will you be reading this holiday weekend?

Don’t forget to enter our contest for a copy of Live a Little by Kim Green! Enter by July 23rd!

Also be sure to check out our contest for an ARC of Guardian!

This is an ARC I picked up at BEA and I really looked forward to reading.  I had never read anything by Julius Lester before, but the story was about a young boy who chose not to tell the truth and then had to face the consequences of a destroyed friendship.

It’s a very small book, and my favorite parts were the prologue and the epilogue. I thought they were beautifully written. Unfortunately, I didn’t find that the actual story to live up to the promise. It’s the story of a horrific lynching that took place in the South from the perspective of a young white boy.

I was even more interested in reading the author’s note at the end of the book than the actual story..I found it incredibly informative. I hestitate to give this any sort of final judgement, though. The ARC is very small and the marketing information on the back says the book will be 160 pages long. So I can’t help but wonder if some more meat will be added to the story. I think it could use it.

I have little else to say about this book except that I’d like to give someone else the chance to read it and review it. If you are interested in my ARC, please leave a comment. This giveaway has the condition that you must have a blog of your own that you will agree to review this book on. It won’t take you long to read it. It will be marketed as a YA book and I should mention that there’s quite a bit of frank sexual talk in it. To double your chances of winning, post about this giveaway on your blog with a link back to this post. I’ll choose a winner randomly on July 11th.

Guardian will be available in October 2008 from Harper Collins.

 

We’ll be having another group read discussion in August of Kim Green’s Live a Little! Once again, the publisher (Hachette Book Group USA) has offered to give a copy to one lucky reader. Here are the rules:

1) Leave a comment agreeing to participate in the group discussion August 27-29.
2) For two extra entries, post about this giveaway on your blog and leave a comment here with your link.
3) This will be open until July 23rd. At that point, we will choose a winner. That is the same day the book will be available in stores.

Here’s a little about the book from the publisher’s site:
-What do you do if you have two bratty teenage kids who don’t give you the time of day?
-What do you do if your husband is more interested in his remote than you?
-What do you do if you’re forever being compared to your perfect sister–who just happened to marry your perfect boyfriend?
-And what do you do if you’re told you have stage 4 breast cancer?
Well, if you’re Raquel Rose, you tell your family your diagnosis, and then you watch them go from treating you like dirt to treating you like a queen. Then you go on to raise unprecedented amounts of money for breast cancer research. You fulfill your early artistic promise. And you find you love this new life of yours, no matter how fleeting it may be.

So when the doctor calls to tell her that there was a mistake and she’s actually perfectly healthy, instead of sharing her good news, Raquel can’t relinquish the sudden attention and love from her family. Soon Raquel’s lie by omission snowballs and the wise-cracking 40-something becomes a sought-after figure on her sister’s popular talk show, elevating her “illness” to local rock star status. Her mistaken diagnosis becomes the fated opportunity to fix the glaring problems in her life–her stalled career as an artist, her lackluster marriage, her unappreciative children, and her highly dysfunctional family.
And while she wants to tell the truth, she’s afraid to give it all up–would her family go back to taking her for granted? Would the donors rescind their checks if they think she was a fraud? In the end, it’s up to Raquel to find her real “cure”: an ending that befits the second chance she’s been granted.

About the book: What if your ex was famous and adored by millions? What would you do if you had one chance to make him regret his entire existence? How much would you risk?

Kate Hollis’s ex-boyfriend’s face plasters newsstands and TV, the Internet, and the multiplex. Jake Sharpe is one of the biggest recording stars on the planet, and every song he’s famous for is about Kate. For over a decade his soundtrack has chased her — from the gym to the supermarket, from the dentist’s office to the bars. Now thirty-year-old Kate gets the call that Jake has finally landed back in their Vermont hometown for an MTV special. The moment she has been waiting for has arrived.

On the eve of their prom, Jake Sharpe vanished, resurfacing when his song Losing — about his and Kate’s first sexual experience — shot to the top of the Billboard charts. And the hits kept coming, each more personal than the one before.

Now Kate gets her chance to confront Jake and reclaim her past. But after eleven years of enduring protracted and far-from-private heartbreak, everyone in Kate’s life has a stake in how this plays out. Kate must risk betraying the friends Jake abandoned, the bandmates whose songs he plundered, and her own parents, who fear this will dredge up a shared past more painful than any of them want to acknowledge. But after getting the call in the dead of night and jumping on a plane, can she turn back now?

My Review: I loved The Nanny Diaries immensely but also really enjoyed Citizen Girl so I was looking forward to reading this latest from the Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. I wasn’t disappointed.

If you have ever experienced deep hurt at the hands of someone you loved, especially a first love, I think you will find something you relate to in this book. Hopefully, you’ve moved on enough that you wouldn’t do what Katie does in this story…hop on the first plane to go see him, but the fantasy of doing such a thing…showing up looking fabulous is always there, even a little, isn’t it?

In any case, the story weaves together the timeline of the past with the present situation. This creates some mystery (what exactly did Jake do???) but also pushes the story forward. There’s a little bit of romance and a lot of angst!

I can’t say that I found the entire book to be terribly realistic, but it’s a good read and an interesting chance to ask yourself…what if?

What I love about McLaughlin and Kraus’ writing is how well they create the feel of a scene. They add in a lot of little details that make you feel like you’re there. This is one of their greatest strengths, I think. Just be warned there is a bit of foul language.

Dedication was just released in trade paperback format by the Atria Division of Simon and Schuster books.

You can visit Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus here.

I just finished reading this last book in the Sisters of Holmes County trilogy. It was great! What is it about you ask? Well here is what Amazon.com says:

Lose yourself in Holmes County, where romance, suspense, mystery, and faith-filled Amish ways rule the day! Martha Hostettler is concerned about the continuous attacks being made on her Amish family. With a definite motive and a myriad of methods, Luke Friesen looks like the culprit. Determined to clear his name, Martha decides to play detective. What will the search for truth cost her?

My opinion: This was a good series. It kept me with it throughout all three books. I loved the mystery and relational elements. This family is not from Pennsylvania, but from Ohio. So we get a tiny bit of a different feel. These books are a fast read - I read this one in a couple of days after and before work. I think Brunstetter has a different take on the Amish than Beverly Lewis. Where Lewis makes the Amish seem strict and legalistic in their Christianity, Brunstetter shows her characters more faithful. Therefore I enjoy both authors - it possibly gives a fuller picture of what the Amish life is like. This book deals with depression, forgiveness and the “English” and Amish working and living together as family.

If you are interested in reading about different lifestyles and are fascinated by the Amish, this is a good book for you! I recommend it.

It’s not here!  But Hachette Book Group USA, whom we love, is doing another one of those huge 14 book giveaways over at Trish’s Hey Lady!  Whatcha Readin?

So head on over for your chance to win!

Since you guys haven’t had a chance to read the book, yet, we’ll push the rest of the discussion to next weekend…does that sound good?  Be sure to let anyone else interested know!

We met online for a chat to discuss the book and the discussion went all over the place! But I hope you have had a chance to read and finish the book now. There’s a lot to talk about, and we’ll be working off some of the discussion questions that Hachette provides as well as some of the things that come up in comments from you! So speak up!

You can access the discussion questions from Hachette here.

The first question, in short, is what constitutes true art? Laurel makes quilts, but her sisters dismisses as them mere handicraft.

Here are some of our thoughts, please share yours!
Sally Oh yeah, art, something I know so much about
Leah art - um, i would say it is an expression
Sally I do think that art includes lots of things and I would include quilt making
Leah I would definitely include quilt making
Amy I think art is the expression of the soul
Sally Especially since it’s called art quilting
Leah Her quilts sounded kinda morbid though, didn’t they? not sure if they would be my thing, but still would be art.
Amy I think it involves other things, like the discipline and knowledge of the craft

What did you all think? What is true art? Are Laurel’s quilts true art?

The second question involves Laurel’s mother. Laurel’s mother cut herself off from De Lop but continued to bring them canned goods. Do a person’s motives add or subtract to a charitable act?

Amy This is in many ways the question of the book to me.
Leah Well, I think the receiver of the charitable act can tell the difference, but hey, food is food when you are hungry.
Sally Yes, I think it’s all about motives and feelings. Laurel’s mom was trying to salve her conscience because she had severed all ties and she wanted to be perceived as a good person.
Amy Well yes. I do think it diminishes the charity, but like you said, it’s still being done.
Sally Maybe in the end the motive is what really matters. Is it guilt, desire, conviction???
Amy To the giver, the motive matters, to the one receiving, it matters less.
Sally I think it mattered to Bet in the book.
Leah Definitely mattered to Bet.
She came to love Laurel even though Laurel stayed distant from her.

What do you think? How important is motive in charity?

Tomorrow we’ll tackle the family relationships and the issue of poverty in the book! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for joining in this week everyone! I”ll be figuring out the final number of entries for everyone and holding the drawings sometime this weekend.

Our final topic is books that transport you. It’s hard to take a trip with rising gas prices so thank God we can travel through reading! What are some of your favorite books that transport you to a new place?

LEAH: The Mark of the Lion trilogy (excellent, excellent, excellent) places you right smack dab in the middle of Rome in the 1st century. Along with a great story, it really gives you the feel for the times and culture.

Beverly Lewis along with other authors have written some great stories about the Amish way of life that transports you right into their world. Their culture, way of dress and talk, delicious food, and religious beliefs are all described in these books as the story unfolds.

Finally, even if you are not a fan of the movie, you have to give J.R.R. Tolkien credit for having created a completely different world, creatures, languages, and geography in his Lord of the Rings trilogy. Talk about imagination! These books transport us to places we can never actually go and yet still make us feel as if we’ve been there.

SALLY: It’s summertime and I like to think and dream about traveling. The book I just finished about traveling is Sisterchicks Go Brit. Kellie and Liz get a surprise trip to England. This book is loosely based on a trip the author Robin Jones Gunn took to research the book. In fact in the back of the book are pictures of many of the places mentioned. I like to read these books BEFORE I visit a place. Even though they are fiction, they have GREAT ideas. I would love to go to England and even though I prefer traveling with my husband, this might be a place I’ll have to find a sisterchick to go with. A sisterchick is a friend who shares the deepest wonders of your heart, loves you like a sister, and provides a reality check when you’re being a brat.

One of the things I loved about this book was that Kellie and Liz visited places they had read about in British literature. They spent a great deal of time visiting places made famous by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. They were gone a week or a little more and were able to pack so much in! They visited three cities; Olney, Oxford, and London. They had taste delights and grew to prefer tea over coffee. They stayed close friends through it all and their relationship with God was at an all time high. I love these books because they enable you to visit a place vicariously. I love reading them before I visit a place, and I love reading them to see if I may want to visit a place. The sisterchicks have been to many places. Each book has a different pair of sisterchicks, but they are all middle-aged with teenagers or grown children.

AMY: A book I read this year that transported me out of my everyday life was The Moon in the Mango Tree by Pamela Binnings Ewen. You can read my review here. She really brought the life in Siam (Vietnam now) i 1920’s to vivid reality. There’s a scene that takes place during a storm that was particularly horrific and had me cringing!

Another book that took me to a new place was Memoirs of a Geisha. I love this book so much and I thought it really brought the life of a geisha to reality for me. I was just newly moved to Japan when I first read it, and it helped me become more curious about the country. I even got my own geisha photos made when I visited Kyoto!

What are your favorite books that have transported you to another place? Write your post, link back here (which is to say–put a link to this post in your post) and then sign the Mr. Linky! Thanks for all of the fun and great reading recommendations everyone! The Girl Who Stopped Swimming Discussion begins tomorrow and our August group read will be announced on Monday!

Today’s topic is summer reading activities. What we love so much about reading is that it expands our world! If you have any fun traditions or activities that you share with your kids or students that have to do with reading, today is the day to share them.If you don’t have kids, maybe you have a bookclub that does has some fun traditions or you enjoy organizing your books in the summer. Be creative and share with us!

LEAH: I like to read books with my kids that have something to do with the activities that we are naturally doing. For example, Christmas stories at Christmas time, stories about camping when we are going camping, pumpkin-carving stories in the fall. So for the summer, we will be reading school vacation stories such as “When It’s the Last Day of School,” Fourth of July stories such as “Fourth of July Mice,” and beach stories such as “Swimming With Dolphins.” My mom (Sally, who also writes for this blog) has been great about supplying my girls with all sorts of seasonal books and it is so much fun. Reading books like these add to the anticipation of the events you have planned for the summer.

Because of the way our school year runs here, my girls only have the month of July off for summer vacation. However we will have a week or two where not much is going on. I would like to take advantage of that time to do some extra reading. This year we will be reading about plants and how they benefit human life. I will have my girls help me plant some little flowers or herbs so that their reading can come to life. They can watch the process of growth and be involved in the care of nurturing the plants. (Lord knows I need the help with my serious lack of green thumbs!). This is one simple activity that most people could do during the summer months. SALLY:First, buy and read the book “Bartholomew and the Oobleck” by the wonderful Dr. Seuss. Then make some oobleck! Here is the recipe:

1-1/2 cups of corn starch
1 cup room temperature water
green (or whatever color you want) food coloring

Mix the ingredients and allow children to play with the mixture. When “pushed” together, the mixture will appear dry and solid; as children let go of the mixture, it flows like a smooth liquid.

What can you do with oobleck? Try making it into a ball. Does it bounce? Try to pull it apart, slowly and then quickly. Hold it in your had to see what happens. Does it stick to the table?

Have fun!

What are your summer reading activities? Write up a post and share! Be creative! It doesn’t have to be kid related. Invite your readers to join in the fun by linking back here and then come sign the Mr. Linky with a direct link to your post (and NOT your general URL). Remember, everyday of participation earns you an entry in the contest pool.

Just a reminder that our group discussion of The Girl Who Stopped Swimming starts on Saturday!