Her Book Self

Book: The Last Wilderness by Erin Hunter

Series: Seekers

Book Order: The Quest Begins*  (1), Great Bear Lake* (2), Smoke Mountain* (3), The Last Wilderness* (4), Fire in the Sky (5) 
* indicates a book I have read

Erin Hunter's Seekers series follows the story of three bears - no Goldilocks this time - Kallik, a polar bear; Toklo, a brown bear; and Lusa, a black bear.  The three cubs come from very different backgrounds but are drawn together, along with a very special guide, on a quest to save the wild.  Each sees the way that their environment is affected by humans and pollution and it becomes their quest to find a way to stop the destruction of the natural world.

As much as this is a story about environmentalism - hence the tie in to carbon neutral blogging - this series is also about friendship.  With stoic Kallik, grumbling Toklo, and happy-go-lucky Lusa, the ties between these bears and their unique personalities make for wonderful storytelling.   There are plenty of challenges they face throughout their adventures, and the action and suspense woven into each book creates a string of great novels.  This series is all the more enjoyable in that it subtly incorporates the theme of awareness for the conservation of natural resources.  

If anyone is interested in joining me in the carbon neutral blogging endeavor, I'd love for you to also post the image above to your blog and follow the instructions on their website.  (I know it states Arbor Day 2010, but I emailed and they are still planting trees!)  And if anyone else a favorite new tip for energy conservation, share those here too!

Book: In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith

Series: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Book Order: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency* (1), Tears of the Giraffe* (2), Morality for Beautiful Girls* (3), The Kalahari Typing School for Men* (4), The Full Cupboard of Life* (5), In the Company of Cheerful Ladies* (6), Blue Shoes and Happiness (7), The Good Husband of Zebra Drive (8), The Miracle at Speedy Motors (9), Tea Time for the Traditionally Built (10), The Double Comfort Safari Club (11), The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party (12)  

* indicates a book I have read

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies is the sixth book in Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series and since it's difficult to review this book without mentioning previous events in the series, let me just say that this may have been my favorite book yet. 

In terms of more general information, the series is set in Botswana and the main character is an entirely endearing female detective named Precious Ramotswe.  Backing her up in the stories are Grace Makutsi, who scored the record ninety seven percent at her secretarial college, and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, proprietor and master mechanic at Tlokweng Speedy Motors.  Each character in the series is fully developed and Alexander McCall Smith brings Botswana alive.  These are books with a true sense of place, and the culture of the country shines through in the pages. 

The mysteries are never overly complex but remain entertaining in their simplicity, akin to the traditions of classic writers such as Agatha Christie.  Each book tells a full and unique story, but as the series continues the characters grow and develop and it is the thread of these maturing relationships that drives each book to be even more engaging than the previous ones (which were excellent in their own right).  

I think this series is overall wonderful and I find myself recommending it a lot.  For anyone looking for a charming mystery or anyone looking for a great book set in Africa, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a great place to start.  For now, In the Company of Cheerful Ladies is my favorite of the series, but that could easily change when I read on and discover the next books in line. 

Book: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Series: The Hunger Games

Book Order: The Hunger Games*  (1), Catching Fire* (2), Mockingjay (3) 
* indicates a book I have read

There's a part of me that's resisted reading this series because of all the hype surrounding it. Staring at the dramatic black cover of book one, with its striking golden bird, I wondered if the product could truly live up to the promise. Could this book really be as good as everyone has said?

I have to admit I have heard much more about The Hunger Games rather than hearing what The Hunger Games is about. The story is set in Panem, a dystopian version of America divided into twelve districts. Every year at a ceremony called The Reaping, young adults - one boy and one girl - from each district are chosen to fight to the death in a barbaric and brutal survival contest called The Hunger Games. The hero and heroine of the book are representatives from the coal mining District Twelve, Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen. They are drawn together in their fright and disgust at the contest, but pulled apart knowing that friendship cannot last when there can only be one survivor.

It was the character of Katniss that drew me so deeply into this book. She is a great picture of adolescent strength and has a bright loving spirit that occasionally shines through the hard, rough exterior that her life and circumstances forced her to adopt. And yet, even with tinges of romance, this was not a girly book. It's a gritty, violent, suspenseful story of survival and battle - people against each other and the elements - but the emotional side of the story complements the action wonderfully.

As intense as Deathly Hallows and with a love story more believable than Twilight, it's no surprise that The Hunger Games has captured so many fans. This is a book that truly does live up to its hype, and like many, I can't wait to read the subsequent books in the series.

In celebration of Series in September and because I enjoyed this book so much, I'm going to give away one (once read, like new) paperback copy of it to a lucky winner!  The contest will be open internationally - or basically to any address that I can ship a book to within my price range.  (My apologies to those on the International Space Station, I don't think I can get this one to you...)  There will also be a reader loyalty bonus in that entrants who have previously left meaningful comments on this blog will be given one extra entry - I know who you are.  :)

To enter, leave a comment on this post telling me what interests you most about The Hunger Games, why you want to win this book, and your email address written in spam protected format (ex: herbookself AT gmail DOT com).  Selection from eligible entries will be made using random.com.  Winner will be contacted by email and will have three days to respond with a valid mailing address; otherwise a new winner will be chosen.  Contest closes on October 1st - or when Her Book Self reaches 100 followers, which ever comes later.  Let me know if I've forgotten any details or if you have any other questions.  Best of Luck!

Ahoy there me hearties!  It be a holiday fit fer the seven seas and if ye landlubbers are not  knowin' what I be speakin' of; then ye've not been properly interduced te Talk Like A Pirate Day!  This be the holiday to be celebrated on the nineteenth o' September and in honor of such a fine day I want to be tellin' ye all about the first book I be havin' the pleasure of readin' on me new Kindle!

Treasure Island be the title of this tome and the writer be Cap'n Robert Louis Stevenson!  In this adventure set on the high seas, the reader be interduced to the young lad Jim Hawkins, who finds himself in possession of the map to an island filled with buried treasure.  Young Jim be recruited as a cabin boy and joins a crew of seasoned sailors lookin' to seek out the loot, and amid these salty dogs is the one legged cook - known by the fearsome name of Long John Silver. Yarr!  It be no surprise that Jim overhears Long John Silver plannin' a mutiny but the young lad must take it upon himself to thwart the plans of the filthy pirate, keepin' the treasure and the honest crew members safe.

Cap'n Stevenson does a fine job with this swarthy tale of swashbuckling adventure.  Older readers as well as the wee little ones will find this story to be a great way to be passin' the time while out at sea.  From the parrot that skwaks out "Pieces o' eight" to the singin' of the pirate song "yo ho ho and a bottle o' rum", this story be havin' all a buccaneer could want and rightfully earns its place as a classic.

So now I ask all ye blog readin' mateys to answer me this - what be yer favorite book featurin' pirates or other adventures on the high seas?


Quick disclaimer: I wrote this review specifically for Talk Like a Pirate Day. Please forgive my grammar and salty dialect as I only take one out of 365 days to actually talk like a pirate!  For more Pirate Day entertainment, stop by the official Talk Like A Pirate Day website and feel free to check out my Talk Like A Pirate Day archives from my previous blog here - there's some good pirate jokes as well as my rundown of great movie pirates!  As I'm fond of saying, I was a pirate before pirates were cool.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week is wrapping up and today's reflection is to ponder Future Treasures - to look back on what we've most enjoyed about this week and to share blogging goals for the future.  I don't know that I have many blogging goals for the next year other than to continue on doing what I'm doing.  I've always lived more on the five month than the five year plan.  I suppose I could throw out another teaser for The Hunger Games giveaway that I will be hosting soon, but the first part of today's prompt is much easier for me.  I've enjoyed everything about Book Blogger Appreciation Week.  The writing prompts have been really fun and I love all the posts on the BBAW blog too.  Mostly, though I love the community spirit.  I feel that this week has introduced me to many new book blogs and has brought many new readers to Her Book Self for the first time. Thanks to everyone who has stopped by, and I look forward to connecting with you more in the future!

In the spirit of celebrating the book blogging community, I want to take this opportunity to share some love for my fellow bloggers and pass on a blog award that was given to me last month.  I was fortunate to have been awarded the One Lovely Blog Award by both Crazy Bookworm and Ramblings of a (Future) Librarian.  I love reading both these blogs and their reviews are always interesting and insightful!  Thank you both for recognizing Her Book Self and considering my blog to be as lovely as yours!  And as with many awards, the "rules" say to pass it on to up to fifteen other bloggers.



Happy Book Blogger Appreciation Week to all!  Thanks to everyone who has visited here for the first time.  Double thanks to those who have left comments and/or started to follow me!  I'll try to return follows but I'm a little behind checking out everyone's awesome blogs but please keep coming back, I love interacting with all of you!

 

Welcome back to everyone celebrating Book Blogger Appreciation Week.  I'm feeling pretty appreciated and I hope all of you are too!  :)  Today's theme is Forgotten Treasure and the goal is to highlight a book that has not gotten much buzz from book bloggers.  I was really tempted to use this post to share more about Maid of Murder or The Muse of Edouard Manet, but since I've already blogged about both those books and interviewed their awesome authors (with thanks again to the lovely Ms. Flower and the always entertaining Mr. Clifford) - I thought I would pull a treasure from my pre-blogging days and highlight a book that, in my opinion, never got the spotlight it deserves.  My Forgotten Treasure is the book Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby.

Thirteen year old Joanne "Joey" Willis has been deaf since the age of six. Her mother Ruth wants her to function in the hearing world by reading lips and adapting to school life with special sound monitors, but despite Ruth's efforts, Joey struggles to fit in and feels isolated from her classmates as well as her family.

Things change when Joey meets Dr. Charles Mansell (Charlie) and his baby chimpanzee Sukari who both speak American Sign Language. Charlie begins to teach Joey ASL, opening up a whole new world of communication for her - against her mother's wishes. Sukari and Joey form a unique bond but when Charlie's situation changes, it is up to Joey to speak up for Sukari and protect the life of her new found friend.

Hurt Go Happy is a captivating and believable novel, with details based on true events. The characters are richly drawn and ready to pull readers in from the very first chapter. Ginny Rorby expertly describes problems involving the culture clash between deaf and hearing people and also weaves several other serious issues into her story, including: animal rights, teen friendships, fitting in at school, family conflicts, homelessness, and abuse. Highly emotional and overwhelmingly powerful, Hurt Go Happy is an amazingly well written book.

I must admit, the cover first drew me to this book.  I love chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and apes and monkeys of all sorts.  But the title and book description took it from an eye-catcher to a must purchase.  I took a sign language class in college; the syntax of the title reminded me of ASL structure, and I was thrilled to know that the book also dealt with deaf culture, a subject that I learned a lot about in school but rarely encounter in YA novels.  I actually ended up reading this one as a read aloud with my husband (who shares my fondness for Great Apes) but neither of us was expecting the powerful, emotional, and amazing story we discovered.  I can't say enough good things about this book - though perhaps I should warn that it may jerk out some tears - so I will just say, emphatically, if you have not already done so: Read this book!  Blog about this book!  Tell others about this wonderful book! 

(If you're one of few that's already encountered Rorby's great work, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it too!)

As Book Blogger Appreciation Week continues, today's theme is "Unexpected Treasure" and bloggers are promted to discuss a book or genre that they read on the recommendation of a fellow blogger.  This one's a bit of a challenge for me as I don't often keep track of how or where I first hear about the books I read, and really, people would be hard pressed to identify a genre that I haven't read. 

There are instances, though, where a book will linger on my TBR list for far too long, until other people start talking about it.  It starts with a few casual mentions, some early buzz, and then it gets to the point where publicity overflows and  I've heard about the title from so many different places that I can't even say where I heard it first.  And then, eventually, I read it. 

This was the case for me with The Hunger Games.  It's been sitting on my shelf, alongside Catching Fire, unread for a year or more.  Before the book blogging community starts rallying with pitchforks, I knew it was planned as a trilogy and I really wanted to wait until all three books were published before I started to read the series.  And then there's the issue of hype.  When everyone I talk to raves about something as "THE BEST BOOK IN THE WORLD!!!" it sort of makes me not want to read it.  My expectations are raised so high, that I wonder if the product can ever live up to the promise.  As soon as Mockingjay came out, I was almost turned off the series entirely, as I desperately tried to avoid spoilers.  But since some of that buzz slightly settled, I finally did pick up The Hunger Games. 

I want to save my thoughts and review of this book (and series) for next week where I will be highlighting it as another entry in my Series in September meme, but I could not think of a better book (that I have not already blogged about) to highlight as my Unexpected Treasure.  I'm sure I would have read this book eventually, but it was my fellow bloggers that prompted me to read it now.  And I'm very, very glad that I did.  Despite the hype, and my own hesitations, this book won me over.  So much so that I will be hosting a giveaway of it in the near future!  I'm not sure if I want to design this as a 100-follower giveaway or just gift it away to a lucky reader that has not yet read it, but stay tuned to Her Book Self for more details.  As with my previous contest, there will likely be some type of reader-loyalty bonus, so if you're interested in scoring a win, following, reading and commenting can only help you out!

As part of the festivities for Book Blogger Appreciation Week, today is Blogger Interview Day!  Whether through a computer glitch or my own error, I was actually given two interviews to conduct but rather than regret the extra effort, I'm thrilled that the experience has put me in touch with two seasoned book bloggers whose wonderful work I may otherwise have not discovered!  Please join me in welcoming to my blog Tif of Tif Talks Books!  (And be sure to also check out my interview with Angie of Angieville!)

Hi Tif!  Tell us a little bit about yourself.

My name is Tif and I'm a book blogger! I'm sure you actually want to know more about me, so here's a really quick synopsis of myself . . . I'm a reader, a wife, a mother of 2. I love to write, to read, and try to be creative. During the day, I'm an Academic Advisor at a local university, an advocate of many things, and try to squeeze in as much reading as possible whenever I can! And, have I mentioned that I love to read?!? That about sums me up!

How long have you been blogging? How did you get started as a book blogger?

This last May, I celebrated my 3rd blogiversary! Those many years ago, I had many friends who were blogging about family and crafts and cooking, but none of those fit me. I have always enjoyed reading and writing, and it just made sense to blog books! The rest is history!!

Describe your blog in five words or less.

Eclectic, Fun, Spontaneous, and Genuine

You listed Harry Potter and Wicked as two of your favorite books. If Harry and Elphaba were in a fight, who do you think would come out on top?

I am totally going to cheat on this answer!! Neither Harry nor Elphaba are actually violent by nature and truly fight for the common good of their magical worlds. I actually see them on the same team, fighting side by side, both coming out on top between the battle of good and evil . . . at least in my world! :)

I love your feature of Fairy Tale Fridays! How did that idea develop? How do you choose the fairy tales you read? (Badge at right from Tif Talks Books courtesy of Ye Olde Faery Shoppe)

More than a year ago, I read The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. This book spurred an interest in fairy tales, and re-visiting or discovering the original tales that inspired Connolly's work. I had no memory of such violence that appears in the tales and thought it would be fun to explore them further now that I am an adult. Along the way, we have also explored lesser known tales and those featured around the globe. It is fun to see how culture influences the tales, and how some morals reverberate no matter where in the world you may be.

As for how I make the choice of the weekly pick . . . completely random!! I am sometimes inspired by my fellow participants and/or bloggers, books I come across at the library, and some days, I truly will randomly pick a story from the list of classics, having no idea where it will take me or what it will be about!

Along with Tif Talks Books, you host an author directory called Literary Locals. Who is your favorite local author? Do you go out of your way to choose local works or do you generally find them by chance?

The Literary Locals author directory was inspired by my monthly feature that I started back in January 2009 by the same name. Unfortunately, due to my current time constraints, the site is still under construction. I hope it to go completely live no later than January 2011.

I love to support local authors, a tradition that was influenced by my grandfather. It only grew when I worked at a local independent bookstore while attending graduate school and that featured a multitude of local and national authors. Since then, I have lived in a multitude of other states, but I always tend to gravitate towards the authors of the Northwest, the place I truly call home. I have a hard time choosing a specific author as my favorite, but a few that really stand out to me are Pete Fromm and Christopher Paolini, both from the great state of Montana!

How can other bloggers add local authors to your directory? How can they use it to find authors local to them?

Bloggers, readers, and even authors themselves can be added to the directory by filling out the survey linked on the Submit Your Local Author page. The reason in the delay of the launch really comes down to enough content to let it go live! I encourage you to share your authors with me!

To find authors local to you, you will be able to select the state you live in and authors will be listed alphabetically. Select the author and more information will be provided. This is one of the items that is still in the works, so once it is completely launched, more information will be provided on how to use the site.

If a random stranger only had time to read three posts on your blog, which three posts would you point them to as your favorites?

This is one of the hardest questions I have ever had to answer!!!! I think if I had to narrow it down, I would go with a few recent ones that I had the best time writing . . .

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Literary Locals: June 2010 . . . Visiting the Home of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Fairy Tale Fridays: Hansel and Gretel

What would you say is the most rewarding experience of being a book blogger?

Hands down, the community! I love knowing that I always have someone to turn to for great recommendations and to just talk books at any time of the day or night! I love how others get as excited as I do about new releases or old favorites! And, I love knowing that I am not alone in my passion for books and literacy!

Anything else that you want Her Book Self readers to know about you and Tif Talks Books?

I just want to say thank you so much for having me!! The blogger interviews are my favorite part of Book Blogger Appreciation Week and it has been a pleasure getting to "meet" you and I know that I will be back for more! Afterall, I am joining you for your Series in September!!

And, last but not least, I want to encourage everyone to enter my current contest, where the love of classics hits the fashion world in my Wonderful Wonderland Giveaway!

Thanks Tif, and keep up the wonderful work!  And check out the flip side of this interview where Tif interviews me too!