Guest Blogger: My daughter Hannah Detweiler

My Daughter just recently read Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and I had her write a book report about it. 

Warning:  Book Report contains spoilers 

   Treasure Island is a story about an innkeeper’s son named Jim Hawkins. His father and mother run an inn called the Admiral Benbow Inn. Everything is nice and calm until one day an old seaman who calls himself “The Captain” but is really named Billy Bones comes along and makes quite a nuisance of himself.


He’s loud all the time, singing an old pirate song and expecting everyone to sing along with him. He doesn’t pay for his stay at the inn, and he also drinks ALOT…like more than Captain Jack Sparrow and his whole crew! But that’s not important at the moment.

Bones pays Jim a few cents every week to keep an eye out for seafaring men, and to warn him if he sees one with a wooden leg. A few months later, a man by the name “Black Dog” shows up. Their meeting turns into a fight, and Bones has a stroke (because of stress and all his drinking) while Black Dog gets away.

While Jim takes care of Bones, he confesses that he’s hiding from his old crew and they want his sea chest.

A while later, another of men from his crew named Pew, who is blind, comes and forces Jim to lead him to Billy Bones. When Pew gets to the inn, and comes to Bones, he gives him a paper, and leaves.

Bones opens the paper to see that it has The Black Spot on it, which is a pirate thing where it means you have until 10 o clock to do what the people that gave the said ‘spot’ want. When he saw this, Bones drops dead from another heart attack.

Jim and his mother open Bones' sea chest to collect the amount needed for Bones' room and rent, but before they can count out the money that they are due, they hear pirates coming to the inn and are forced to run away and hide, Jim taking with him a weird oilskin packet from the chest. The pirates, led by Pew, find the sea chest and the money, but are mad that the chest does not contain "Flint's fist." Revenue agents approach and the pirates escape to their ship, except for Blind Pew, who is accidentally run down and killed by the agents' coach and horses.

Jim Hawkins comes to the house of local landlord Squire Trelawney and his mother's friend Dr. Livesey. Together, they look at the oilskin pouch, which contains a logbook explaining the treasure was stolen during Captain Flint's career, and a detailed map of an island, with the location of Flint's treasure marked on it. Squire Trelawney immediately plans to get a ship to hunt the treasure down, with the help of Dr. Livesey and Jim. Livesey tells Trelawney to keep quiet about their plans.

Going to Bristol, Trelawney buys a ship named Hispaniola, hires a Captain named Smollett to command it, and also gets Long John Silver, owner of "The Spy-glass" tavern and a former sea cook, to run the ships kitchen. Silver helps Trelawney to hire the rest of his crew. When Jim comes to Bristol and visits Silver at the Spy Glass tavern, his suspicions are immediately alerted: Silver is missing a leg, like the man Bones warned about, and Black Dog is sitting in the tavern. Black Dog runs away at the sight of Jim, and Silver says he doesn’t know the fugitive so convincingly that he wins Jim's trust.

In spite of Captain Smollett's misgivings about the mission and Silver's hand-picked crew, the Hispaniola gets going to the Caribbean Sea. As they get closer to their destination, Jim climbs into the ship's apple barrel to get some apples. While inside, he hears Silver talking secretly with some of the other crewmen. Silver admits that he was Captain Flint's quartermaster and that several of the other crew were also once Flint's men, and he is getting more men from the crew to his own side. After Flint's treasure is found, Silver means to kill the Hispaniola's officers, and keep the treasure for himself and his men. When the pirates have gone back to their places, Jim warns Smollett, Trelawney, and Livesey of the nearing mutiny.

As soon as they reached the Treasure Island, most of Silvers men got off right away and went to shore. Even though Jim wasn’t aware of it, Silvers men had given him the black spot, and wanted to get the treasure right away and not go with the plan to hide the mutiny and or violence until after they got the treasure but instead just wanted to get it at all costs. So Jim goes with the crew to shore, but runs away as soon as he possibly can. While he hides in the woods he sees Silver kill a guy named tom, who was loyal to captain Smollett. While he runs for his life, he runs into a man by the name of Ben Gunn, who has been marooned on the island for three years, another of flints old crewmen, but this one treats Jim nicely for a chance to return home with Jim and the good guys.

In the meantime, Trelawney, Livesey, and their men surprise and over take the few pirates left on the ship. They row to shore and move into an old stockade on the island, where they are soon joined by Jim Hawkins, since he left Ben Gunn behind. Silver comes to them under a flag of truce and tries to negotiate Smollett's surrender; Smollett refuses him totally, and Silver gets really super mad saying he’s going to attack the stockade. "Them that die'll be the lucky ones," he says as he stomps off. The pirates attack the stockade, but are kept back in a mean battle.

During the night, Jim sneaks out of the stockade, takes Ben Gunn's small boat thing and goes to the ship while it was still dark. He cuts the ship's anchor cable, setting it adrift and out of reach of the pirates on shore. After dawn, he manages to approach the ship again and board it. Of the two pirates left aboard, only one is still alive: the coxswain, Israel Hands, who has killed the other guy in a drunken fight, and been badly hurt himself while doing so. Hands agrees to help Jim take the ship to a safe beach in exchange for medical treatment and alcohol, but once the ship is nearing the beach, Hands tries to kill Jim. Jim escapes him by climbing the rigging, and when Hands tries to stab him with a dirk, Jim shoots Hands dead.

Having beached the Hispaniola securely, Jim returns to the stockade while its night time and still dark and sneaks back inside. Because of the darkness, he does not realize until too late that the stockade is now occupied by the pirates, and he is easily captured. Silver, whose command has been continually questioned and has become more tenuous than ever, captures Jim as a hostage, refusing his men's demands to kill him or torture him for information.

Silver's rivals in the pirate crew, led by George Merry, again give Silver the Black Spot and move to take him away from being captain. Silver rebukes them for ruining a page from the Bible to create the Black Spot and reveals that he has gotten the map to the treasure from Dr. Livesey, in turn restoring the crew's confidence in him. The following day, the pirates search for the treasure. They are followed by Ben Gunn, who makes ghostly sounds to scare them from continuing, but Silver storms ahead and finds the place where Flint's treasure was buried. The pirates discover that the place has searched and all of the treasure is gone.

The mad pirates turn on Silver and Jim, but Ben Gunn, Dr. Livesey and his men attack the pirates by surprise, killing two and scattering the rest. Silver surrenders to Dr. Livesey, promising to return to his duty. They go to Ben Gunn's cave home, where Gunn has had the treasure hidden for months. The treasure is divided among Trelawney and his loyal men, including Jim and Ben Gunn, and they return to England, leaving the surviving pirates marooned on the island. Silver escapes with the help of the scared Ben Gunn and a small part of the treasure.

Book Beginnings

This Meme is hosted by Page Turners.  Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading. If you like, share with everyone why you do, or do not, like the sentence.


Never Let you Go by Erin Healy
 
For seven years, Lexi Solomon had been as cold as the wind that raced down the mountain above  her home.
 
 
That just makes me want to read more to find out more!!

Book Blogger Hop

Book Blogger Hop is a great weekly Meme where you can visit other bloggers.

Head over to Crazy for Books to join in on all the fun.  

And Wish Jennifer a Happy Birthday !!  

Allon by Shawn Lamb

Format: Paperback

Number of Pages: 288

Vendor: Creation House
Located in: Antioch, TN



  Allon is an exciting new adventure series by Shawn Lamb.  This book combines fantasy, Knights, Princes and evil vs good.

This book reminds be of alot of different books having elements of them all, Lord of the Rings, Eragon, King Aurthur.

I will admit that I was a bit lost at the beginning as the characters were introduced as there are alot of characters and at times I found it hard to keep them straight.  This is probably why Fantasy adventure is not usually my cup of tea.  But I found that after a bit the story sucked me in and I got the characters sorted out.

Prince Ellis is the true ruler of Allon appointed by Jo'rel.  Shannen is the Daughter of Allon his soul mate.  He must prove himself worthy and that he is the true ruler and in the process gather his council together.  He is helped out by Guardians supernatural beings that work for Jo'rel.

King Marcellus is the current king who is influenced by Latham  (who is the servant of the supernatural being Dagar).   They are helped out by Shadow Warriors (Guardians who have been reconditioned).

I am looking forward to the next book to find out how this struggle turns out.  My daughter loves these types of book so I will be turning this over to her to read.

You can check out more about Allon at the interactive site Allonbooks.com.  There you can see a trailer for the next exciting book and read an excerpt of Allon.

I wish to thank Shawn Lamb and Rebeca at Glass Road PR for a copy of the book. I was not required to write a favorable review. 

Allon: Book 1 by Shawn Lamb - Book Trailer

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is a Meme hosted by The Printed Page.

 Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

This week I got::


Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame- Smith  on audio from Hatchette Audio

Eat the Cookie... Buy the shoes by Joyce Meyer from the publisher

Texas Roads by Cathy Bryant from the author for a blog tour

seven Cities of Greed by Jean Sheldon from the author for Reviewthebook.com

Prophecy by Dawn Miller for a blog tour

I picked up from the free table at the library :

The Grilling Season by Diane Mott Davidson 

The Cat who Moved a Mountain by Lilian Jackson Braun

The Naked Gospel by Andrew Farley

 

The Naked Gospel by Andrew Farley

I received a free copy of this book through The Blog Tour Spot.  I did not receive any money for this review.

This book got my interest with the whole concept of taking the Gospel at face value nothing added, nothing subtracted just the Gospel.  My husband and I have within the last few years have gotten dissatisfied with the way the modern churches have gotten into programs and gotten into the newest things and have kind of gotten away from the teaching of the Bible.

This book is in no way a bashing of the church.  It is just a straight forward challenge to us as Christians to take the Gospel as is and not try to add anything to it.

I wasn't really surprised at the results of the survey that was taken at Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois.  Just because you are very active in church doesn't automatically lead to feeling fullfilled.

I was also not surprised at the story of the author's  father asked to give his testimony and the father wasn't even a Christian at the time.  Yes he attened church but had not made the decision to follow Christ yet,  He recieved a great response.  I have recently had a conversation with my oldest daughter about this.  She recetnly moved out and meet some new people at a local church's singles ministry but none of this young people are Christians!!.

This book is really good at getting you to see the difference between the Old and the New (referring to the Old Testament and New Testament).

I would encourage anyone who wants to just get back to the Gospel to read this book and keep your mind open.  There are many things that author brings out that goes against what we have always been taught or learned in church, but then again didn't Jesus go against the religious traditions of his day?

This is part of a blog tour so check out these other sites to see what they have to say.   You can also get more info about Andrew at his website http://www.thenakedgospel.com/.


A Sunny Place

Awesome God . . . Ordinary Girl

Be Your Best Mom

Belbellita

Bell Whistle Moon

Blessed

Blog Tour Spot

Book Nook Club

Flores Que Sonham

Hurdling Hurdles

Jesus Needs New PR

Karen R. Evans

Musings

Musings by Lynn

Pix N Pens

Ponderings by Andrea

Sueth sayings

Tasra Mar

The Friendly Book Nook

The Gospel Writer

The Scroll

Friday Follow

Friday follow is Hosted by One 2 Try,Hearts Make Families, and Midday Escapades. Head over to one of them if you want to join in the fun.



Welcome anyone who came here through the follow. Browse around a bit, Hope you have a great day!!

Dracula by Bram Stoker

What can I say about Dracula that hasn't already been said. It did bring something out that has been bugging me alot lately. You can write a great book without all the language and violence. Yes there is violence in Dracula (how can you not have it in a book about vampires) but it isn't the main focus. I listened to this book on audio ( a freebie I got from Audible) and really enjoyed it. I probably wouldn't have read it otherwise. It is a classic worth giving a try, read like a pretty modern story.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne



My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The reason I gave this book a Three out of five stars is because I listened to it on audio and I didn't like the way they stopped each chapter and said the chapter, who read it and who the publisher was (Loudlit.org). I had read this in high school and I will say that I enjoyed it much more this way through audio. Mary Woods did an excellent job of reading it (she is also the narrator of the Sue Grafton Alphabet Mysteries). Worth the listen. I think I got it free from Loudlit.org



View all my reviews >>

Necessary Heartbreak by Michael J. Sullivan

Preview:

An extraordinary journey back in time shows a struggling single dad that the faith he's lost is still alive—and stronger than ever. . . .



Michael Stewart has weathered his share of past hardships: a troubled childhood, the loss of his mother, even the degradation of living on the city streets. Now he's raising his teenaged daughter, Elizabeth, on his own and doing the best he can at work and at home. But he's turned his back on his faith—that is, until the morning Michael and Elizabeth volunteer for a food pantry at their local church.



While storing boxes in the basement, they step through a mysterious door . . . and find themselves in first-century Jerusalem during the tumultuous last week of Jesus Christ's life. It is a dangerous and violent place, where doing what your heart tells you is right can get you imprisoned—or worse—and they are thankful to take refuge with a kind widow.



But when they come face to face with Judas Iscariot and the condemned Christ himself, Michael realizes that before they can escape Jerusalem, he must experience history's most necessary and shattering heartbreak—and that pain and loss must happen if Michael is to be set free: to live, love, and reclaim the blessings he has in the present day.




MY TAKE:  I chose this as one of the books that I read during the Dewey Read-A-Thon.  I was happy that I did because it not only kept my attention but I found a very thought provoking book and I have thought about it several times over the last couple of day.  I knew that the days of Christ weren't pretty but I guess I like so many of us have the scenes in our heads from countless Sunday School Classes and picture books.  This book brought to light just how brutal that period of time could be especially to women.    It also tells the story of a man's journey from lack of faith to spititual awakening.  I would recommend this to anyone who wants an edge of your seat read but with a spiritual message.  Great book.

I am writing this as a part of a blog tour.  Visit the sites below for what they thought of the book.

  Necessary Heartbreak: Tuesday, April 20th


Drey’s Library: http://dreyslibrary.blogspot.com/


Dragonflies ‘n Daydreams: http://dragonfliesndaydreams.blogspot.com/


Book Junkie: http://myfoolishwisdom.blogspot.com/


I Read: http://sumanam.wordpress.com/


Just One More Paragraph: http://tweezlereads.blogspot.com/


My Friend Amy: http://www.myfriendamysblog.com/


Starting Fresh: http://startingfresh-gaby317.blogspot.com/


Frugal Plus: http://frugalplus.com/


Broken Teepee: http://www.brokenteepee.blogspot.com/


Rundpinne: http://www.rundpinne.blogspot.com/


The Bibliophilic Book Blog: http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com/


The Avid Reader: http://www.tarmyblogspot.blogspot.com/


Jeanne's Ramblings: http://www.jeannesramblings.com/


Blog Business World: http://www.blogbusinessworld.blogspot.com/


A Journey of Books: http://ajourneyofbooks.halfzero.net/


Sharon's Garden of Book Reviews: http://sharonsgardenofbookreviews.blogspot.com/


Simply Stacie: http://stacievaughansblog.blogspot.com/


Bibliophile’s Retreat: http://bibliophilesretreat.com/


The Book Tree: http://thebooktree.blogspot.com/


You Wanna Know What I Think? : http://www.kballard87.blogspot.com/


Libby’s Library News: http://www.libslibrary.blogspot.com/


Book Tumbling: http://booktumbling.com/


I Heart Monster: http://www.iheartmonster.com/


Wendy’s Minding Spot: http://mindingspot.blogspot.com/


Pam’s Private Reflections: http://hip2bhomeschooling.blogspot.com/


My Book Views: http://my-book-views.blogspot.com/


Write For A Reader: http://www.writeforareader.blogspot.com/


I Heart Book Gossip: http://juniperrbreeeze.blogspot.com/


This Book For Free: http://thisbookforfree.com/


Mad Hatter Mom: http://madhattermom.com/


Books Reviews by Buuklvr81: http://www.buuklvr81.blogspot.com/


Arms of a Sister: http://www.armsofasister.com/


Books and Needlepoint: http://booksandneedlepoint.blogspot.com/


A Room Without Books Is Empty: http://detweilermom.blogspot.com/


Country Bookshelf: http://www.countrybookshelf.blogspot.com/


Bellas Novella: http://www.bellasnovella.com/


I Heart Books: http://luv-books.blogspot.com/

Loving Heart Mommy: http://www.lovingheartmommy.com/

I Thank Sarah at Gallery and Pocket books for the opportunity to read and review this book. I did no treceive any money for this book and didn't have to write a positive review.

Winner Announced For Abraham Lincoln : Vampire Hunter

The Winner of this Contest  is .....


demmi

I will be sending you an email shortly.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone for entering. 

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is a Meme sponsored by The Printed Page.

 Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Head over to her blog and join in on the fun. 


In My mailbox this week I got quite a load!!!

Monday  - 

The Practice of Godliness set  from Navpress for a review

I bought Life as we Knew it  for my daughter since she was almost finished with The Dead Tossed Waves

I got The Healing of a Broken Vessel from the author for a review.

and I got Cook The Books  from a giveaway.

Tuesday -

Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow from Hatchett in their campaign of the book before the sequel comes out.
Should We Fire God?  from FaithWords, which is an imprint of Hatchett, for a review

Wednesday -

Her Mother's Diary from Author Marketing Experts Inc. for review

Thursday -

The Second Ship from the author for review

Friday -

Alex Cross' Trial by James Patterson  from Hatchett

Saturday -

Unseen by Nancy Bush for review


Can't wait to visit others to see what they got. 

Does God Exist? Building the Scientific Case by Focus on the Family

Focus on the Family has come out with a wonderful little dvd set that focuses on making and argument for the Existence of God using Science. 

I received my set from Tyndale House for and honest review and received no compensation for my review.   

This set comes with two dvds and a little booklet.

There are 10 lessons which would be about right for a high school or college level Sunday School class quarter.  The little booklet has an overview of each lesson and then some questions to help facilitate discussion in the class.  Throughout ar sprinkled quotes by scientists pertaining to the topics.   The lessons are about 30 minutes long and cover such topics as DNA by Design and The Big Bang Cosmology. 

These lessons help the student to be able to defend their faith with scientific knowledge.  This is really helpful especially when you are up against those that think that Faith and Science are exclusive of one another. 

I plan on using this for part of my daughters high school  curriculm and will encourage my church to use a copy also. 
  

Alex Cross' Trial Winner Announced

The winner of the Alex Cross' Trial giveaway is......



JaniceH!!!!  Congratulations. 


I will be sending you an email shortly. 

Thanks to everyone who entered and don't forget to enter the Abraham Lincon giveaway ending today!!  So Hurry.

PRESUMED INNOCENT WINNER ANNOUNCED

The winner of my giveaway of Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow is............




SHARON54220



Congratulations and I will be sending you an email shortly. 

Thanks everyone for entering and don't forget to enter the other two giveaways ending today and tomorrow.

Lost States: true Stories of Texlahoma, Transylvania and othe States that never made it by Michael J. Trinklein

I won this as part of Library Thing's  Early reviewer program.

This book is a hoot.  Not only does it give some of the ridiculous names for states Forgottonia, Half-Breed Tracts, and No Man's Land to name a few.  But it also goes into alittle of the history behind each of these state requests.

Did you know that when they made Mount Rushmore that they wanted a state that was mainly there becasue of Mount Rushmore?

Albania (the Country)  loves America so much it wouldlike to become a state? 

Boston wanted to become it's own state?

These are just a few of the tidbits that you will find in this book.  It also has a book jacket that when opened has the outlines of some of the more prominent states on a map of the US. 

This is book is highly interesting and would be a great addition to any family library.
  

Book Blog Hop

It's Friday so Head over to Crazy for Books to sign up for the Book blogger Hop and Hop around to see what you can find. 

Booking Through Thursday

In general, do you prefer the beginnings of stories? Or the ends?

I guess really when I think about it I like the Endings.  It's  the payoff after reading the whole book and if the author has done a good job it leaves you wanting more. 

If you would to participate in Booking Through Thursday  go here

Wyatt's Revenge by H. Terrell Griffin

I received this book through Reviewthebook.com and am not required to write a positive review.

Wyatt's Revenge by H. Terrell Griffin  is a rollercoaster ride of a book.  When someone ordered a hit on Laurence Wyatt they didn't realize that his friend Matt Royal , a retired lawyer living on a small island in the Florida Keys) would take it upon himself to revenge his death.  But just why was Wyatt killed in the first place?  As Matt follows one clue after another and works his way up the chain of people involved in the hit he gets closer and closer to the answer.

This is usually not my kind of book.  I like mysteries but  more of the cozy type than the harboiled type.  I did find myself entertained though and I would recommend this to anyone that likes this type of book.  Very well done.  

There is violence and some language.  

The General and Monaville, Texas by Joe G. Bax

I received this book from Reviewthebook.com and did not receive any money for this review nor am I required to write a positive review.

The General and Monaville, Texas is about a young boy named John Ross Wilhite growing up in Texas post Civil War. His grandfather was a General in the war fighting for the south but has since put that behind him.  He has set his slaves free and given most of them land as sharecroppers.  He takes a genuine interest in them expecially Blue for who the General sets up a blacksmith shop in the town.

John Ross is growing up and is starting to get interested in girls expecially his friend Afton.  Coming from a small town they all start asking him about his "friend Afton".

Not everyone is willing to let the loss of the Civil War go to the wayside and with the help of the District Attorney and the drunken Sheriff a group forms the local Klan.  They don't take kindly to the former slaves being treated as equals and start to cause some trouble in the area having deadly consequences.

And if the Klan isn't enough to handle a former slave show up to take revenge out on the General.

This book isn't very long , only 168 pages, but it sure packs a punch,  I found myself not being able to put the book down.  The book does end with somewhat of a mystery though and i would love to read more about John Ross and the town of Monaville, Texas.

Mail Box Monday

Mailbox Monday is sponsored by The Printed Page.

Once again I had a great week as far as getting books.

On Monday I got


The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw for review

Horns by Joe Hill  a win from Goodreads

On Tuesday I got

Take Three by Karen Kingsbury which I had ordered from Amazon.

On Wednesday I go

Time Pirate by Ted Bell which I got from Shelf Awareness

Lost States by Michael J. Trinklein which I won from Librarything

And on Saturday I got

Searching for Atlantis by Richard Barcott to review for the author through Reviewthebook

White by Ted Dekker which was for my son but I ordered and it came to my house.

Good night everybody

I have finished my 16th hour of the read-a-thon and I am quite pleased with myself.  I got two books read and got to read alot of neat blogs.  I will visiting blogs over the next couple of days and looking at them more closely.  Happy reading to everyone that is continuing on but this is it for me.  I have really enjoyed myself and will definetly do this again is I can.

Hour 16

Well I am starting on my last hour of the read-a-thon for me.  I have really enjoyed this and will be doing this in the future.  I will come back one lasst time before I go to bed.  Happy reading everyone.

Hour 15

The video over on the main page of the read-a-thon was really cute.  How does he dance the exact same way every time.  Anyway gotta get back to reading.

Hour 14

Wow can't believe I have been doing this for this long.  Only three more hours for me.  Good luck to everyone who does the whole thing.!!

Hour 13

Well I put quite a dent in Necessary Heartbreak and its just getting real good so I gotta go read some more.

Hour 12

Great video posted by our host to get us pumped up for the next half of the Read-a-thon


Mid-Event Survey:


1. What are you reading right now? I just finished The General and Monaville, Texas and will be concentrating on Necessary Heartbreak for the rest of the challenge for me.

2. How many books have you read so far? Just the one but it's not so much how many I get read but about how much fun I am having

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? Necessary Heartbreak  Hope to finish this one  so far I really like it.

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? No special arrangments

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? No interruptions either

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? How fun it is

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Not that i can think of

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? plan alittle better since I just decided yesterday to do this.

9. Are you getting tired yet? Not yet

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? nope

Hour 11

Okay so I decided to read something different this past hour and read Lost States a book I won from Library Thing.  Really interesting book about the different state that never were Like Albania (seriously the country of Albania).  Any way glad to see everyone reading away.  I will be reading The General again this hour. 

Hour 10

Took part in the challenge over at http://www.nomadreader.blogspot.com/ where we post where are books are located (of the story that is).  Interesting to see the wide variety of places.  Didn't Finish the General yet but I will before the night is out.  I have decided that I am going to read until midnight which will put me at 16 hours.  I need my sleep for tomorrow and I am no spring chicken.  Loving this whole day though. 

Hour 9

I may finish the General and Monaville Texas this hour.  Good Reading everyone!! 

Hour 8

Wow it has been 8 hours all ready since I started.  Can't believe  it.  I am really enjoying this whole experience and am really liking visiting other bloggers and finding out how they are doing and what they are reading.  Keep up the reading every one!! 

Hour 7

Still reading but I am having fun. 

end of Hour five and start of hour six

Got alittle more read this hour.  Read The General and Monaville, Texas this hour.  Hour six it is back to Nessary Heartbreak.  From what I have been read on the blogs it look like everyone is doing great.  Keep Reading everyone.

Hour 4

total bust as I left to go get Chinese Food ( iI just get these cravings some times).  Plan to spen the rest of the hour checking out other blogs and after hour 5 mini challenge is posted it will be back to the reading.

Hour 3

Well i got alittle reading done in The General and Monaville, Texas.  It is for a review.  I think that I will change books every hour to keep things fresh unless I get to a really good part so this hour will be Necessary Heartbreak. 

I am not going to participate in the meme this hour because I need to get back to reading but I did visit the bloggs that were featured.

Happy Reading everyone.

Hour 2

Not much reading done last hour except other blogs LOL.

This hours challenge is what we are surrounding ourselves with.  I am surrounding myself with my books and my nice comfy bed. 
Happy reading everyone.

Read A Thon

As a last minute thing last night I decided to join the read a thon.  I will be doing the read a thon lite though as one of the blogs I follow put it.  I will read but will not be doing it hard core. 

Here is a mem for hour 1

Where are you reading from today? I am reading in Lancaster Coutny PA




3 facts about me … 1.  I have alwasy loved to read 2. I am a total book junkie 3. I have homeschooled all three of my kids



How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours? Three  I know that isn't as many as others but I will be happy if I read one



Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?
Not really since I did this on the spur of the moment.


If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, Any advice for people doing this for the first time?


good luck to everyone on their goals

Friday Follow

Book Blogger Hop

It's Friday so time to do the hop.  The Bookblogger Hop that is!! Head over to Crazy For Books and find out the details and do the Hop.

Under the Dome by Stephen King

I really liked Stephen King novels every since I first read Carrie.  One of my favorite books and movies of all time is Misery.  I use to buy every book that he wrote until I discovered that I really wasn't enjoying them very much.  I decided that I would try Cell a few years back when it came out and didn't really enjoy it very much either.  I don't know what made me try Under the Dome but I am really glad I did.  

One thing is I listened to this on audio and the narrator did a really good job the different voices.  That being said this was a LONG book so took me quite a while to listen to it.  I think it was over 40 hours.  

Because there were so many characters I was alittle lost at the beginning trying to keep all of the characters straight but soon realized that I just needed to keep the main characters staright and if I remembered the secondary characters good but if not no really big loss.  

I really think that Stephen King's best works are when he puts people in a situation and lets us(the readers) just sit back and observe what they do.  He did this in The Stand and He does this in Under the Dome. 

One fall day nothing seems to be out of the ordinary,  People are out working in their yards,  a lady is taking a flying lesson over Chester Mills,  a gopher is lumbering along the road looking for food to eat.  One seconD everything is fine.  The next the town of Chester Mill is enclosed in an invisible dome where no one and no thing can get out or in. Even though the dome is the precipitating factor it's what happens inside the dome that is the real horror story.   What human's are capable of if given the means and the motive.  But there is good in the whole mess too.

There is quite a bit of violence and language throughout the book.  The main complaint I have about the book was the way that Christians were portrayed. I am not sure what type of Christians Mr. King has been aquainted with but even though there are people who are bit like Jim Rennie but the majority of the Christians I know are good upstanding citizens and contribute alot of good to the world.    

     

Burned : A Tragic Mystery by J.A. Nevling

Jim and Sharon seemed to have the whole  America dream going for them.  They had a nice home and had a wonderful baby girl.  But their dream turns into a nightmare in one instance as a horrible accident turns everything to ash.

Most of this book is told in the present with flash backs to the reason that Sharon and Jim are separated and living  100's of mile apart.  Sharon has taken a job as an accountant at Prescott Inc.  and  is on the verge of starting an affair with her boss.  He assigns her the task of checking the accounts when an audit is announced.  While in the office here the files are kept she discovers a secret door and can swear that someone is spying on her.  She discovers a secret that she feels could be the reason someone is trying to kill her.

I found this a very interesting mystery and I really had no Idea who was the culprit till the very end.  I did find Sharon's character unlikable even though I really wanted to like her.  That didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book though.   

 

Rick and Bubba's Big Honkin' Book of Grub

When I first ordered this book for my selection from BookSneeze for my review copy I kinda figured that it was a book with some commentary but a book with recipes.  Not so much.  Althoughtthis book has some recipes (in a section called Rick and Bubba's Secret Recipe File and sprinkled through out the book) it is more a book of the author's relationship with food and all things related.

They talk about diets and give their tips for dieting (when you weigh yourself put the turkey leg down first).
They have a chapter dedicated to meat.  All types of meat, even spam and they even have a recipe for spam and taters .
They list what they consider as underrated food like peanut butter. 

They have rules for eating (don't use a fork when you should be using your hands).   Rules for church potlucks (a sampling of each dish should be put aside for food poision testing later).  Rating system for restraunts (space between tables!!)

They even have a list of various food festivals like the World Grits Festival in St. George, South Carolina.

This was an enjoyable book that had both information and  humor. 

I got this book form Thomas Nelson as part of their blogger review program.  I was not required to write a favorable review.     

Two New Giveaway's

Look at the new giveaway's I have posted on their own pages.  Make sure to check them out and enter them if you would like to try to win one. 

Presumed Innocent Giveaway

I am hosting a giveaway of a copy of Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow.
  

I read this when it first came out and there will be a sequel coming out in May.  I am really looking forward to it. 

The rules for the giveaway are simple.  You get one entry for commenting and one entry for following (people who are already following will get an entry if they comment).

I will close the giveaway on April 16th and will pick the winner on April 17th.

That's it!  Good luck to every one. 

Giveaway only open to US and Canada and no P.O. boxes. 

  

Pennywise by Jill Brock

This is a funny mystery written by Jill Brock. 

Odessa Wilkes's life has spiraled out of control when she loses her job and is dumped by her boyfriend all in one day.  She is stuck baking for her ovebearing sister at the family restaurant for a living.

Odessa's life is further thrown for a loop when her best friend Maggie comes into the restaurant  

,with her son Rocket in tow, crying that her husband , Roger, has disappeared.  After much drama and pleading on Maggie's part Odessa agrees to help find the missing Roger.  

The plot thickens after Maggie finds some insurance files that Roger has signed which is unusual since he wasn't involved in that aspect of the job anymore.  She also found a mysterious list of numbers.    

So Odessa and Maggie start their search for Roger armed with their copy of  'Private Invesigating for Dummies'  and helped or hendered by a wide assortment of characters from Odessa's Aunt Renne to the sinister Hamm.

I really enjoyed this book and will be seeking out other books by this author.  I recieved this book through reviewthebook.com for free and I am not required to write a favorable review.   

Mailbox Monday

Mail box Monday is sponsored by The Printed Page.

My Mailbox was pretty full this week. 

I got;

Necessary Heartbreak by Michael Sullivan for a blog tour on April 20th for Gallery Books.  Minor complaint - the company that delivered it didn't wrap it well enough for the rain and it is water damaged. 

 

Allon by Shawn Lamb for a blog tour by Glass Road Public Relations on April 30th.

Rick and Bubba's Big Honkin' Book of Grub by Rick Brugess and Bill "Bubba" Bussey for Thomas Nelson.

Wyatt's Revenge by H. Terrel Griffin for reviewthebook.com

The Naked Gospel by Andrew Freeley  for a blog tour April 26th -30th for The Blog Tour Spot.

Book Blogger Hop

Jennifer over at Crazy-for-Books is hosting this meme.  Hop over and find out the rules and find some awesome new blogs to follow.  This Is my second week and I really enjoyed visiting all the neat blogs last week.   

Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke

I really like the Hannah Swenson cozy mysteries.  I love the recipes(although I haven't tried any of them yet they all sound delicious).  I love Hannah and her relationship with her sisters.  I love how the little town Lake Eden is always celebrating something it seems.
This time it is a fmaily reunion for the families of Lisa and Herb.  Guess who shows up?  Long lost Gus, who left town years ago without a word to anyone and oweing several people money and getting into a fight with Lisa's dad.  Gus is rich now and is flashing around his money, clothes and car. 
Hannah is helping out by cooking and baking like she always does.  She especially made a carrot cake for Gus at the request of his sister.
It's Family Picture time and no one can find Gus so Hannah is sent to find him and find him she does.  He is in the pavilion dead in the middle of her carrot cake.
Who would kill Gus?  There is a long suspect list.  Seems Gus made alot of enemies.
Mike makes a deal to share his info with Hannah if she will share her's with him.  But will He?
And why is Moishe the cat acting out?

As usual I had no idea who did it till the very end.