Award - The Sunflower Award

First and foremost I need to send a thank you, out to Allyn for giving me the Sunflower Award.  I am very honored.  You can find her site HERE.    

Here are the rules:

1.                  Share Eleven Facts About Yourself.

2.                  Answers the Questions Set by your Nomination Blogger

3.                  Pass on the award. 

Sounds easy, yes?  Okay, here are Eleven Exciting Facts about me! 

1.                  I am left-handed.

2.                  I love to cook, but hate to clean up afterward.

3.                  I can decorate quite the fancy cake.

4.                  I don’t much like meat.  If I could get away with not eating meat, without complaint from my family, I would.  However, they tend to complain if I go veggie for too long. 

5.                  I like to read steamy romance novels.  For shear fun.  Not for learning, not for grammar, just to enjoy an easy read. 

6.                  I have a fruit orchard that consists of peaches, pears, plums, and cherries.  I keep trying to add in apples, but the deer keep wiping them out.  Yes, I’ve tried fencing and other things. 

7.                  I have a tank top addiction.  I love them and wear them, every single day, either on their own or under whatever I am wearing.  I have over 30 at this point and I am already looking forward to the new styles of the year. 

8.                  I’m clumsy to the point of dangerous.  One of these days I will grow into my feet and the clumsiness will abate.  Wonder when that will finally happen?

9.                  I can’t draw to save my life.  Stick figure, oh yeah.  Anything more complicated than that, forget it. 

10.              I have a real fear of the dark.  Well, not so much the dark itself, but what could or might be in the dark that I can’t see. 

11.              I do believe in ghosts. 

And next we have the 7 questions from Allyn:

1.                  What is your favorite thing to cook:  Pasta.  It is so versatile.  You can add just cheese or you can toss with mushrooms and spinach and a bit of garlic, or toss in some other fresh veggies and a bit of olive oil.  It can be an entrée or just a side.  I enjoy pasta. 

2.                  Would you rather be an Avatar, a vampire, a Star Trek character, a princess in a storybook or a mermaid:  A vampire.  I think I could get over the whole blood thing if I could live for as long as I wanted.  So many things in life I want to see and do.  I don’t think there is enough time in one lifetime to do it all.

3.                  Would you take a pill if it promised you the figure of your dreams:  Yes.

4.                  How many published books would it take you to be confident in calling yourself a successful author?  This is hard, as I could self publish all the books I wanted but that would not make me successful.  I think it’s the fan base and the sales that give you confidence to call yourself successful.

5.                  To date, what has been your favorite blog that you’ve posted?  I did a series of blogs about what events of my life formed me the most.  Those were fun to write.

6.                  If you had to pick one of the following holidays to remove from the calendar, which would it be and why? Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentines Day, Easter, Memorial  Day, July 4^th, Labor Day or Halloween.  Valentines Day.  It was fun as a child, but as an adult it’s a bit of a pain.  If you don’t know you are loved every day, then a silly card and a bit of candy wont help. 

7.                  Since you’re receiving the Sunflower Award and we associate sunflowers with happy things, what makes you the happiest.  The sun.  No really.  Doesn’t matter what type of mood I am in, if I can go outside and feel the sun on my skin, I am instantly in a better frame of mind and happy for that moment.  It doesn’t ask anything from you.  It simply is there. 

I know I am supposed to past this onward, but I’m going to decline that part of the award.  Why?  Mainly because I don’t want to double up the award on someone and after checking, most of the bloggers that I would have passed it on to, have already received it. 

Thanks again, Allyn for the honor of this Sunflower Award. 

Have a great week everyone.  Hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about me as a person. 

ctny

Book Thoughts – The Book Thief

I posted a few weeks ago that I was reading The Book Thief.  I finished it about a week ago and decided I needed to write a review. 

I have a fascination to stories during the holocaust.  I don’t know what it is exactly.  It has something to do with the claims of so many in Germany “that had no idea” what was going on.  It’s also the stories of survival.  How very strong the human soul is.  I say soul as sometimes I truly believe that is what holds people here on this earth.  When the body wants to give up, it’s the fighting of the soul that holds on.  That’s me though. 

I picked up the book simply because I wanted to see the movie.  I try to always read the book before seeing the movie of a book.  It’s a quirk of mine.  Had I not wanted to see the movie, I never would have picked up this book. I wouldn’t have known it was out there.  I am so very happy that I did. 

This book was the story from a different view.  The view of death and the story of one girl, one family, that didn’t choose to look away.  That didn’t choose to pretend it wasn’t happening. It tells of their struggles, their own bouts of hunger, their own moments in the face of violence and death. 

Here is the book description stolen from Amazon:

  It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

  Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement. 

  In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

That is such a bare bones description if I have every read one.  This was a story of love.  Love for our parents.  Love for our siblings.  Love for our friends and neighbors.  Love of life.  It’s also a story of fear.  Fear of the color of your eyes or hair.  Fear of death and dying.  Fear of being left behind.  Fear of the unknown.  Yes, there is book thievery.  Yes, there is accordion playing.  But these are only the outside moments of the story.  It’s the people met along the journey that make this book what is. 

Liesel is a wonderful character.  The author brings her to life with such color and emotion that you find yourself cheering her along and crying right beside her.  Yes, I spent several moments during the read of this book with tears coursing down my cheeks.  I am not much of a crier either.  I couldn’t help myself. 

The secondary characters, didn’t feel secondary to me.  The were alive and front and center, holding hands with Liesel during her journey.  

The first chapter or two were a bit slow.  I’m so sorry to say this, but I don’t want someone to read the first chapter and think, what the hell is this crap?  Get past the first chapter or two and you won’t be sorry.  If you are, feel free to contact me and tell me how much you hated it and why and how it’s all my fault you read it in the first place. 

Let me know what you think or thought of the book.  I really want to know. Have a great week everyone!

ctny