King Arthur Movie Tristan

Teaser Tuesdays asks:

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.

I do not know how I come to be in this time, in this place, in this body. But I do know that any place where there are six novels by the author of Pride & Prejudice must be a very special sort of heaven.

Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict

title: Something Beyond Greatness

authors: Judy Rodgers & Gayatri Naraine

pages: 122

published: 2009


genre: non fiction/self help

rated: 4 out of 5

In their worldwide search for extraordinary figures who fit the criteria for 'something beyond greatness,' authors Judy Rogers and Gayatri Naraine humbly discovered that the quality of greatness is not the exclusive province of those recognized publicly for their deeds. While all of us acknowledge that this noble characteristic is shared by people such as Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King Jr., what Rogers and Naraine found is that this life-affirming quality very often rests in the ordinary.

In Something Beyond Greatness authors Judy Rodgers & Gayatri Naraine write about great people who have changed the world for the better. Their inspiration for this book was an Indian spiritual leader named Dadi Janki. They began searching for people who dedicated thier lives to serving others.

They simply feel that they were in the right place at the right time: the moment appeared, they had the opportunity to be of service to another, and they took it. In thier heart of hearts they believe that they only did what anyone would have done.

The authors then go on to speak with Humberto Maturana, who is a professor of Biology in the University of Chile in Santiago and an author, as well as Dadi Janki.


I found this book to be interesting and insightful. It was a quick read and I finished it in one sitting. Several passages stood out. This is one of my favorites:

Greatness is present when we mutually care for one another, when we listen to one another in mutual respect, and when we are open to mutual understanding. Greatness is naturally present, because love is the foundation of human coexistence.

This amazing quote comes from Dadi Janki:

Silence is the language of the soul. In deep silence I turn my attention from me, the soul, to God, the being of light who is my eternal parent, and I become lost in remembrance. In this space of deep, silent remembrance, I forge a relationship, and I experience God's love.

About the authors:


Judy Rodgers is a writer and communication consultant who has worked extensively with thought leaders. She has held a range of executive positions in large media companies such as CBS Video, CBS-Fox Video, and New World Entertainment. She has worked with opinion leaders such as Tom Peters, Peter Senge and David Cooperrider. She is also founding director of Images and Voices of Hope, an international dialogue initiative with media, journalism and the arts that seeks to strengthen the role of media as a constructive force in society.



Gayatri Naraine has been the Brahma Kumaris’ (BK’s) representative to the United Nations since 1980. In that capacity, her role was to connect what the UN was doing on a global scale in the social and humanitarian fields of development with what the BK’s were doing in those same areas using their expertise in spiritual growth of people on a personal scale. Gayatri was pivotal in the development of the Living Values Education program and worked closely with UNICEF and UNESCO in its implementation. She has also contributed to ILO’s (International Labor Organization) Agenda on Decent Work in their consultation with non-governmental organizations.




Special thanks to TLC Book Tours

www.tlcbooktours.com

Happy Sunday everyone. I hope you are enjoying your weekend.
It's been a busy week here for me, but I did manage to get some reading in. I read and reviewed A World I Never Made , which I really enjoyed. Click here to see my review as well as guest post by author James Lepore.


I am currently reading Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict and really enjoying it!





Besides reading, i've been crocheting as well. I finished up this amigurumi this past week. The pattern is called 'Oui Petite' and is from Roxy Craft.











Enjoy your Sunday everyone :O)

While visiting Serena's blog, I stumbled upon the Everything Austen Challenge. Of course I had to join this one.


Info:

The Everything Austen Challenge will run for six months (July 1, 2009 – January 1, 2010)! All you need to do is pick out what six Austen-themed things you want to finish to complete the challenge.

If you're a follower of my blog, you might know that I am a fan of Jane Austen and kind of have a 'thing' for Pride & Prejudice.





Anyway, i'll be reading Austen related books as well as reviewing some of my fav film adaptations. Stay tuned :O)


Reviews so far:


1. Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict


2. Emma (movie)


3. Mr. Darcy, Vampyre

Cover Attraction: I’m a very visual person and love beautiful cover art. It doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll read the book but at least I might stop and take a peek instead of walking right on by.

This week’s Cover Attraction is:

Divisadero by
Michael Ondaatje

When I saw the cover for this book, I automatically thought 'sisters'. It looks like they are leaning against each other for support. I wonder why.

From the celebrated author of The English Patient and Anil's Ghost comes a remarkable, intimate novel of intersecting lives that ranges across continents and time.


In the 1970s in Northern California a father and his teenage daughters, Anna and Claire, work their farm with the help of Coop, an enigmatic young man who makes his home with them. Theirs is a makeshift family, until it is shattered by an incident of violence that sets fire to the rest of their lives. Divisadero takes us from San Francisco to the raucous backrooms of Nevada's casinos and eventually to the landscape of southern France. As the narrative moves back and forth through time and place, we find each of the characters trying to find some foothold in a present shadowed by the past.

title: A World I Never Made

author: James Lepore

pages: 262

genre: mystery, suspense

published: 2009

first line: Dad, I don't owe you or anybody an explanation, but I think you'll appreciate the irony of a suicide note coming from a person who has abhorred tradition all of her life.


rated: 4 out of 5





In A World I Never Made, American Pat Nolan is called to Paris to claim the body of his daughter Megan. Apparently Megan was suffering from cancer and commited suicide.
Megan had been traveling the world working as a freelance journalist for many years and Pat went for long stretches of time without seeing her. Pat raised Megan alone because her mother died during childbirth.
However, when Pat sees the body, he knows right away it is not his daughter. For some reason Megan faked her death and Pat is trying to find out why she did it and where she is now.

Pat looked into Annabella Jeritza's eyes and then down at his hands. He had used these hands to do and fix many things. Move the earth with a giant machine, tear apart and rebuild a car engine, make a soda box wagon for Megan. He sometimes thought that whatever he was good for in life was contained in his hands. But now he had entered the territory of the broken heart, which hands could not repair.

With the help of a beautiful Parisian detective Catherine Laurence, Pat goes on a hunt to find his daughter. Slowly but surely, startling secrets are revealed about Megans life.


As the book goes on you get glimpses into Megans life. She met a Saudi businessman named Abdel Lahani and began to have an affair with him. What Megan doesn't realize is the danger she has put herself into because of her connection to Abdel.




I really enjoyed A World I Never Made. There were alot of plot twists and turns. I liked Pat's chracter and I was quickly drawn into the story.

If you're in the mood for a suspenseful story with interesting characters, pick this one up.


Special thanks to Lisa at TLC Booktours




---------------------------------

Now onto author James Lepore's guest post.




Naida,


You have kindly said I could feel free to post whatever I like, so here goes.

“When women stop reading, the novel well be dead.” Ian McEwan, novelist.

I have been thinking lately about the fact that women make up 70% of the fiction readers in the world and wondering what effect this will have on me and the career I would like to have as a novelist. Reasons for the women-read-more-fiction phenomenon abound: women have more advanced mirror neurons (some kind of nerve endings behind the eyes), which make them more empathetic; women are genetically engineered to be more in touch with their own emotions and therefore are more willing to make the emotional commitment required to engage with other people, in the real as well as the fictional world; girls do better at reading/writing assignments in school because they are more patient and this carries over into adulthood. Whatever the reason, it’s a hard fact that women read much more fiction than men.


What does this mean for me, a male novelist? Can I compete with the many extremely popular female writers out there? I don’t know. I take heart from the fact that of the twenty or so good reviews of A World I Never Made, ninety percent are by women. One or two have commented on the well-drawn female characters in the novel. (There are two, Megan Nolan, the beautiful, cynical young woman who fakes her suicide because she is on the run from some very bad people; and Catherine Laurence, a French detective who shakes off her sadness to help Megan’s father, Pat, track her down). We all have traits or “sides,” as they say, that are thought more traditionally to belong to the opposite sex. Maybe I have a feminine side that gives me insight into women, or at least helps me describe the workings of their hearts with some credibility. Or maybe it’s because there came a point in my life when, after much resistance— dumb guy that I was—I finally began to grapple with, rather than avoid, my own feelings.


I don’t know the answer. I do know that, as a man, I like action as a means of resolving problems. I do not see the point of dithering when a decision has to be made. However, I understand that it is the heart that has to be looked to—and listened to—when deciding what action to take. Megan Nolan had a huge heart-driven reason for doing what she did, as did Pat and Catherine. To me, listening to the heart is a human thing, not a gender thing. It is the first thing we have to learn how to do in order to grow as human beings. And I hope this idea—how crucial it is that we listen to our hearts—is what people—men and women—take away from A World I Never Made, and anything else I am fortunate enough to get into print in the future.




------------------------


Thank you Mr. Lepore for stopping by my blog today!
I totally agree when you say: 'listening to the heart is a human thing, not a gender thing'




About the author:


Jim Lepore practiced law (civil trial work) in New Jersey for over twenty years and then sold the practice so he could write and take pictures full time. Some of his photography can be seen at nakedeyeimages.com.

photo above is courtesy of stager57



Mailbox Mondays


A wonderful book arrived at my doorstep this week. I look forward to reading it!





Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon

This is an ARC, the book will be released on August 25, 2009.

The lives of three strangers interconnect in unforeseen ways–and with unexpected consequences–in acclaimed author Dan Chaon’s gripping, brilliantly written new novel.


Longing to get on with his life, Miles Cheshire nevertheless can’t stop searching for his troubled twin brother, Hayden, who has been missing for ten years. Hayden has covered his tracks skillfully, moving stealthily from place to place, managing along the way to hold down various jobs and seem, to the people he meets, entirely normal. But some version of the truth is always concealed.


A few days after graduating from high school, Lucy Lattimore sneaks away from the small town of Pompey, Ohio, with her charismatic former history teacher. They arrive in Nebraska, in the middle of nowhere, at a long-deserted motel next to a dried-up reservoir, to figure out the next move on their path to a new life. But soon Lucy begins to feel quietly uneasy.


My whole life is a lie, thinks Ryan Schuyler, who has recently learned some shocking news. In response, he walks off the Northwestern University campus, hops on a bus, and breaks loose from his existence, which suddenly seems abstract and tenuous. Presumed dead, Ryan decides to remake himself–through unconventional and precarious means.


Await Your Reply is a literary masterwork with the momentum of a thriller, an unforgettable novel in which pasts are invented and reinvented and the future is both seductively uncharted and perilously unmoored.

Happy Sunday everyone. And Happy Father's Day to add the dads out there! We took hubby out to his favorite restaurant today for some Spanish cuisine. Then after filling our bellies we went for a nice walk.




I can't believe it's already June 20th. I feel like the summer is flying by. Sadly, we haven't had that much warm weather here, I haven't even taken the kids to the beach yet, it's been too cold and rainy. We even had hail last week.

Hopefully we'll get some warmer weather soon and it will start feeling like summer.



As far as reading goes, this past week I read and reviewed:

The Convenient Marriage, which I enjoyed very much.







I'm currently reading:


Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict









A World I Never Made









Dear Jane Austen: A Heroine's Guide to Life and Love








And having been inspired by ScrapGirl who posts pictures of her beautiful garden, here are a few photos of my garden so far.


When we bought our house nearly 5 years ago, there was no garden in the backyard and I wanted one badly. So I went out a bought a few plants and started digging. I enjoy digging in the dirt, I find it relaxing for some reason..lol. And it's great to see the results. Each year I add a new plant to my garden. I like the perennials that come back year after year.
I fell in love with these Asiatic Lilies and hubby bought me 4 plants, all different colors.
As the years passed, the orange ones took over. Each year they blossom in June and are very pretty.












A few weeks ago I bought this little tree, it's a tropical plant and it's supposed to blossom with bright yellow flowers. I planted it in a container because it began to die in my garden. It's doing better now. The kids named it 'Tropicana'...lol.
We almost lost Tropicana during the hail storm last week. I had to bring her inside to wait it out.




You can see the hail in this photo, all the icy looking balls:









This is my little rosebush, it gives bright pink flowers.










As you can see by this photo, Diego is perfectly content romping thru the yard. I caught him here sneaking around.





Enjoy your Sunday everyone.

"Reading Challenges: a help or a hurt? Do you find that the reading challenges keep you organized and goal-oriented? Or, do you find that as you near the end of a challenge that you've failed because you fell short of your original goals? As a result of some reading challenges, I've picked up books that I would have otherwise never heard of or picked up; that, frankly, I have loved. Have you experienced the same with challenges? If so, which ones? Do you have favorite reading challenges?"

Great topic this week at WG. Reading Challenges. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a good reading challenge. I can't help myself. I do join several reading challenges and I try to complete them, but more often than not I am unable to finish all of them. It's fun trying and I do get to read books that I would not have read otherwise if I hadn't joined certain challenges.

One of my favorite places to find new reading challenges is over @ A Novel Challenge. She posts links to all the challenges on the blog-o-sphere.

If you look on my sidebar on the right, I list the challenges I am currently participating in. They are all fun, and I've met some great bloggers thru these challenges.

I like challenges that are low pressure, this way I don't feel obligated to finish them quickly. One of my favorite reading challenges is Carl's R.I.P reading challenge which runs from September thru October and is all about reading supernatural, thrillers and gothic novels...anything scary.


Some of you know I run my own reading challenge called Romance Reading Challenge which challenges you to read 5 romance books in 12 months. I'm happy to see bloggers participating and enjoying the challenge.







What about you? Do you participate in reading challenges?

title: The Convenient Marriage

author: Georgette Heyer

genre: regency romance

pages: 307

published:1934

first line: Lady Winwood, being denied, the morning caller inquired with some anxiety for Miss Winwood, or, in fact, for any of the young ladies.


rated: 4 out of 5









When the Earl of Rule proposes marriage to her sister Lizzie, Horatia offers herself instead. Her sister is already in love with someone else, and Horatia is willing to sacrifice herself for her family's happiness. Everyone knows she's no beauty, but she'll do her best to keep out of the Earl's way and make him a good wife. And then the Earl's archenemy, Sir Robert, sets out to ruin her reputation...Unbeknownst to Horatia, the Earl is enchanted by her. There's simply no way he's going to let her get into trouble…





Horatia (Horry) Winwood is the youngest of three sisters. At age seventeen, she's not what society views as a beauty, and she herself has pretty much accepted that she will not marry. Horry is short, has severe eyebrows and a studder when she speaks.

Miss Horatia, the youngest of the three, had nothing that declared her lineage except her nose. Her hair was dark, her eyes an profound grey, and her brows, nearly black and rather thick, were quite straight, and gave her a serious, almost frowning, expression. No amount of careful training would induce an arch in them.
She was quite half a head shorter than her sisters, and, at the age of seventeen, was obliged regretfully to admit that she was not likely to grow any taller.

Horry's eldest and beautiful sister, Lizzie, is promised to marry the Earl of Rule.
She needs to marry the Earl to save her family from the gambling debt that her brother has put them in. Lizzie, however is madly in love with Edward Heron. But Edward is is not wealthy and would not be able to take Lizzie's family out of debt.
Horry decides to take it upon herself and visit the Earl and convince him to marry her instead. Being that her other sister, Charlotte, flat out refuses to marry him herself. The Earl is amused by Horry, and he decides to take her up on her proposal, he agrees to marry her.






This book had me laughing out loud. Especially when Horry arrives back home after proposing to the Earl, in his carriage, to the shock of her family. She then announces that he has agreed to marry her instead and that she's convinced him to be a Patron to Edward. Her family can hardly believe it, they have to whip out the smelling salts so the mom won't faint. But true to his word, the Earl arrives that afternoon to officially ask for Horry's hand in marriage.

'And I explained how n-nothing would induce Charlotte to m-marry him, and he did not seem to m-mind that.'

'I shall die,' said Charlottle with resolution, 'of Mortification!'

'Oh Horry dear!' sighed Elizabeth, between tears and laughter.

'And I asked him,' concluded Horatia triumphantly, 'if he would m-marry me instead.' And he is g-going to!'

Her relatives were bereft of speech. Even Lady Winwood apparently considered that the situation had gone beyond the powers of her vinagrette to mend, for she allowed it to slip from her hand to the floor while she stared in a bemused way at her youngest-born.


It was Charlotte who found her voice first. 'Horatia, do you say that you had the Indelicacy, the Impropriety, the-the Forwardness, to ask Lord Rule to marry you?'

'Yes,' said Horatia stuanchly. 'I had to.'

'He cannot,' said Charlotte, 'have noticed the Stammer.'

Horatia put up her chin. 'I s-spoke to him about the S-stammer, and he said he l-liked it!'

As the story goes on, Horry does Marry Lord Rule and she begins to live a life of luxury. Soon enough, she begins to gamble and winds up getting herself a bit of a reputation. She meets a man named Robert Lethbridge, with a reputation himself of being a ladies man. Before she knows it, Horry starts a friendship with Lethbridge, against her husbands wishes. But Horry wants to make Rule jealous, she knows he keeps a mistress himself, the Lady Massey.






I really enjoyed The Convenient Marriage. What a fun, light, and sweet read this was. There's plenty of interesting characters and the plot has good twists and turns. I liked Horry's character, although she annoyed me a little at times with her foolishness. I did like Rule's character, lucky for Horry, he was older and wiser than she was. Horry's brother Pel, who enjoys gambling and drinking was another memorable character. He gets himself into plenty of trouble including a duel over Horry's honor.


Georgette Heyer is one of my favorite authors, I will have to read more of her work. This is my third novel by her and will not be my last. Ms. Heyer had a way of creating a story and just running with it, you never really know what is coming next. She added plenty of plot twists and charm to her books.









About the author:


http://www.georgette-heyer.com/

Author of over fifty books, Georgette Heyer is the best-known and best-loved of all historical novelists, who made the Regency period her own. Her first novel, The Black Moth, published in 1921, was written at the age of fifteen to amuse her convalescent brother; her last was My Lord John. Although most famous for her historical novels, she also wrote eleven detective stories. Georgette Heyer died in 1974 at the age of seventy-one.

Special thanks to Danielle Jackson over @ http://www.sourcebooks.com/ for sending me this book to read and review.