Sunday Salon: Time Flies!

Well, I did end up watching THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL (on DVD), but not last Sunday. I think it was Monday or Tuesday when I finally got around to it. And, it was decent… it stayed fairly true to the book, aside from cutting out a lot, and aside from it jumping around a bit (some scenes were ‘out of order’ if you put it next to the book’s sequence). Still good, though. I enjoyed it.

I’m still reading LEAVE IT TO CHANCE by Sheri Sand, and it’s a good book. In fact, there was one scene that I read the other day that had me crying from laughing so hard! My stomach hurt when I was done with the giggles it induced! LOL. :P Definitely check it out. It’s not a fast-moving book, and it’s not “extraordinary”, but it’s just a good book. I’m finding that a lot of it resonates with my own life, so that makes it interesting.

Today I hope to finish reading that book so that tomorrow I can start on a new one (an A.R.C) that I received in the mail this past week — a young adult book called “THE OLD MAN’S SECRET” by Sandra Kay Austin. The author’s husband contacted me, via email, and asked if I’d like to review the book, so I said I’d be happy to!

I’m utterly amazed at the amount of people that have signed up for the new 2009 challenge I created… the RYOB (Read Your Own Books) Challenge! It started out as a personal challenge that I was going to do on my own. But, after I mentioned it over at Should Be Reading, a bunch of people showed an interest… now there are over 60 people planning to participate! Whoa! :-O I’m excited about that, though… it’s always more fun to do reading challenges with other people.

Lastly, I’m starting to get into a Christmasy mood… I’m starting to look forward to celebrating Christmas, and to the family gatherings and such that come with that. I already have my Christmas lights on (on the exterior of the house), but my Christmas tree won’t go up until December… probably the first week (so only one week away!). Time is really flying this year… seems like we just DID Christmas 2007, and already 2008 is ready to be ushered out the door! Yikes!

Anyhoo… Hope ya’ll have a great week! Stay warm!

Faith 'n Fiction Saturdays: Books to Movies

Amy of My Friend Amy’s blog hosts the weekly event, “Faith ‘n Fiction Saturdays” where we get to answer questions about Christian fiction!

Today’s post asks:

We’ve been blessed to finally start seeing some of our favorite Christian books come to life on film. So far, these have been largely low budget films, but they generally get the heart of the books across. But my question for you is…if you had an unlimited budget, what Christian fiction book would you like to see made into a film? Who would you cast in the main roles? Would you have a preference on director? Any songs you’d like to see on the soundtrack?

Hands-down, I’d want to see Robin Parrish’s “Dominion Trilogy” come to the big screen! They’re such fantastic books, and they’re the PERFECT type of suspense thriller that would transfer well to the screen — and probably attract a TON of viewers, too! The books, themselves, are written in such a way that even non-Christians can thoroughly enjoy them without feeling like they’re reading a “Christian” book — there’s almost NOTHING (until the third book, anyway) to suggest that these are Christian fiction. They’re just good, clean –VERY well-written!– suspense thrillers!

As for who to cast in the roles, I’m not sure. Because these books don’t have any of the “Christian-ese” in them, really, basically any actor could play the roles. Main character, Grant Borrows, is telekinetic, so we could maybe cast Zachary Quinto (”Sylar” from the tv series, “Heroes“). In fact, any of the cast members from “Heroes” would fit for the parts of the “Dominion” trilogy movies, as the books are full of the same sort of thing that you’d find in “Heroes“! LOL.

No preference on director for the film(s) as I’m not thoroughly ‘up’ on who’s who in that business. Maybe we could use one of the guys that did the Marvel Comic-type movies. That might work.

As for music, I have NO idea… totally don’t know what would fit.

Friday Finds: Nov.21

What great books did you discover this week? SHARE WITH US YOUR FRIDAY FINDS!

My Finds:

“A Dog Named Christmas” by Greg Kincaid









“The Book of Lies” by Brad Meltzer













“Good Luck” by Whitney Gaskell











“Testing Kate” by Whitney Gaskell (just loved the cover of this one! LOL)

Booking Through Thursday: Honesty

Today’s Booking Through Thursday post asks:

I receive a lot of review books, but I have never once told lies about the book just because I got a free copy of it. However, some authors seem to feel that if they send you a copy of their book for free, you should give it a positive review.
Do you think reviewers are obligated to put up a good review of a book, even if they don’t like it? Have we come to a point where reviewers *need* to put up disclaimers to (hopefully) save themselves from being harassed by unhappy authors who get negative reviews?

I receive copies of books to review, too, from several different sources. And, never once have I felt “obligated” to give a glowing review of a book I didn’t like. If I don’t like it, I’m going to say so, but I’m going to try to do so in a way that’s gentle and that still shares something positive about the book, if at all possible. I know that authors go to a lot of trouble to write their books, and that they put their heart into it. Their work means a lot to them. So, I’m not going to bash the author, or be mean.

Authors have to understand, though, that everyone’s tastes are different, and not everyone is going to like the same book. There are going to be people who just don’t agree.

But, you can have a negative opinion of a book, and still find a way to say so without totally offending the author, too. I think that reviewers should, above all, be honest, and yet kind.

Teaser Tuesdays: Nov.18

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:
Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
Please avoid spoilers!

My 2 Teasers:

“So, Scripture such as ‘Do not worry about what you eat or drink‘ was long forgotten and replaced with an obsession of worry about missing nutrients and about our human body and its needs. As the population became more focused on food and our physical bodies, the population –especially in America– continued to get heavier.”~ p.23, “The Weigh Down Diet” by Gwen Shamblin

Musing Mondays: WWW...

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is a short meme:

WHAT ARE YOU READING RIGHT NOW?
I'm currently reading LEAVE IT TO CHANCE by Sheri Sand.

WHAT DID YOU RECENTLY FINISH READING, and WHAT DID YOU THINK OF IT?
Recently finished THE BIG HEAT by Jennifer LaBrecque, a HQN romance, and it was okay... a little *too* raunchy for my tastes. Should've been expected with a HQN title, though. ;)

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WILL READ NEXT?
I'm planning on reading "THE OLD MAN'S SECRET" by Sandra-Kay Austin, an A.R.C. I received in the mail recently.

WILL YOU READ ANY HOLIDAY-THEMED BOOKS SOON?

I'm thinking of reading "A DOG NAMED CHRISTMAS" by Greg Kincaid, as it looks really cute!

Sunday Salon: Cold Out

Today it’s cold out, so it feels like the perfect day to curl up with a book. I’m currently reading LEAVE IT TO CHANCE by Sheri Sand, and I’m skimming through THE BIGGEST LOSER: SUCCESS SECRETS.

Yesterday I really wanted to be reading, as it was nasty outside… first it rained, then it snowed, then it rained again. But, I had to work.

I do intend to read today, though. I have nothing else to do … well, that’s not entirely true. I could watch my movie: I got “THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL” on DVD from the library, and I want to watch it. I recently read the book, and I’m curious to see the movie. I hear it isn’t much like the book at all. I just hope it doesn’t ruin my experience of reading the book, though.

Hope ya’ll have a great week! Stay warm!

Faith 'n Fiction Saturdays: Reviewing

Today’s “Faith ‘n Fiction Saturdays” post asks:

Do you receive review copies of Christian books? If so, do you review them honestly? How do you handle it when you don’t like a book but are obligated to provide a review? Who do you see your first commitment being to in book reviewing (besides God)? Yourself? The author? Your readers? Does your review change based on the spiritual content of the book or is it solely based on technical or artistic merit? Have you ever had a negative experience with an author after giving them a negative review? (please don’t name names)

I do receive review copies of Christian books — through FIRST Blog Alliances, mainly. But, I’ve also received some from the authors, themselves, too.

Just because they’re Christian books doesn’t mean I’m going to treat them any different, from a reviewer’s stance, than I would any secular book. Nor would I treat the author any differently — I try to treat all people with respect and courtesy, Christian or not.

My first committment in reviewing lies with God, of course, but then with the author. It’s my “job” to give the author a fair review of this book they’ve worked so hard to create. They want to know what their readers think of what they’ve written, and they want –I’m sure– to learn from those reviews for future writing.

At least, being an aspiring author myself, this is what my take on things is. :P And, I have to say that it makes it much harder –wanting to BE an author– to give a negative review of a book. I have had one incidence, so far, where I truly did not like the book I was sent from a Christian author… the writing was amateurish, and I felt that the characters were very “flat”. Because I couldn’t find much “nice” to say about the book, I chickened out and didn’t bother to send my review. I should’ve written something, but instead I just wrote and thanked the author for sending me the book. I didn’t say whether I liked it or not. Not a great way to do things. But, I learned from that… I learned that I should be willing to be honest, but pray for God to help out while I’m doing so, both so that I’m gentle, and so that the author doesn’t get hurt.

I think, as a reviewer, I also have a committment to my readers… to those who will read my reviews. They want to know what the books are about, and whether or not they’ll enjoy them for themselves. It’s my responsibility to provide enough information (without spoiling the plot, of course!) that they can make an informed decision. Goodness knows, I’ve been helped out by fellow reviewers countless times! I rely very heavily on my blogging friends’ reviews of books for whether or not to add them to my TBR (to be read) lists! ;o)

Lastly, my reviews are always based on several aspects: whether or not the book was written well enough, whether or not I could care for the characters, whether the plot moved along nicely, and –for Christian books– what the spiritual aspect did for me, as a reader.

One thing I’ve loved about independent reviewing is that I can write my reviews how I want to… I don’t have to follow any particular format, and I can just write what I feel. That has been a real blessing, and I feel it gives more to my reviews. They’re not “cookie-cutter” reviews. While there’s nothing wrong with those formatted reviews, of course (they’ve helped me out many times, as a reader!), I just don’t like them for how I review.

What I'm Thinking

I'm thinking of copying one of my Wordpress blogs over here, as sometimes WP limits me in what I can add to make my blog... "pretty". LOL. So, if you see anything here that's "repeated" from another place on the web... it's just 'cause I got frustrated and needed another space where I could do more. ;)