Grandpa Smith gets an "atta boy" for posting the first comment about the book. We were duly impressed! He has paved the way for the rest of you to also share your thoughts. Please keep in mind, you don't have to be finished with the book to post. Feel free to post as you read if you feel moved to share something you think others might find of interest to ponder or to send a follow-up comment about.
Don't be shy. You know you want to.*smile* And remember ........ I sent everyone an invitation to be an author so you have absolutely NO excuse.
So, who's up for a little book fun? Don't raise your hands all at once. *wink* Annette and I decided the book moons have aligned and the time is right for our first, very official, Smith Family Book Club Contest. So, get your competitive nature out of hiding, prime the creative juice pump, read up on the contest specifics, and GO FOR THE BOOK GOLD!
Contest Specifics:
You have until midnight April 30, 2011 to have some type of book experience other than the reading of Unbroken and then post a description of that experience on the blog. You can include pictures or graphics, write a poem or screen play, be serious or funny. You may enter more than once and all entries will be considered for our fabulous book related prize. The winner will be interviewed and the interview will be posted on the blog. If you have any questions, feel free to contact myself or Annette.
Also, as a gentle reminder, please send second quarter book ideas to me at dsdyckman@gmail.com as soon as possible. I will list the choices on the area designed for book choices on the blog. All you have to do is vote for one using the toggle button. Please cast a vote by March 31, 20011.
My love to you all and as always ...........put a smile on that face, a book in your hands and find a quiet spot for an hour or two of reading delight.
Happy reading!
Debbie
1 comments:
While growing up, there were a few books that captured my attention: Go Dog Go (it still does!), The Great Brain series, Hatchet, & Jurassic Park. But largely, I would abandon a book for a basketball and could oft times be found out in the woods building a fire instead of reading a book by a roaring fire indoors. There are a few things my mother stuck with despite my bellyaching. This list included Chopin on rides to baseball practice, making sure I ate a colorful diet, writing in my journal every Sunday, and yes, nurturing a love for great literature. These days, a perfect evening might include a colorful gourmet meal with some classical music playing in the background followed by a night of family book reading. If only I could make time to write about it in my journal... So, thank you Mom for sticking with me.
Over the past decade as I have really come to love reading, I have labored over how to find the truly great books. Perusing book stores is a favorite family past time, but let's face it, book jacket descriptions and pictures inside can be deceptive. One usually only picks out a truly remarkable book every other time. With the advent of the internet and Amazon, user ratings and reviews have been extremely helpful in finding new books, but you have to weed through a fair amount of rants. One of my favorite and most time-tested ways of finding new books is through personal referral. We wouldn't have Unbroken if it wasn't for Nettie (right?). And then you can go to the NYT bestsellers list, critic’s lists or look for books that have won various awards. But even then, you are parsing through various opinions that sometimes don't add up to what I would call a great story/history/etc.
A few years ago, my friend Nicholas, had the same conundrum. He started collecting the classics, but noticed that many “best books of all-time lists” varied greatly. As an economist for the Bureau of Economic Analysis, his mind instantly sprang to developing a methodology to combine 50 or so lists of notable mention in order to determine which were, in fact, the greatest books of all time. The list is still subjective in some regards: He assigned weightings based on the list designer’s perceived expertise in the field. In other words, he gave Time magazine more credibility (and a slightly higher weighting) than a famous book blogger. All in all, he did a superb job of combining the opinion of many to determine worthwhile reads.
I hope you can find many books you have read on this list and identify a few more to put in your reading queue.
*Below are the top 10 on the list. To see the complete list of 1-100, please click on the following links.
1. The Great Gatsby
2. The Catcher in the Rye
3. 1984
4. To Kill a Mockingbird
5. The Grapes of Wrath
6. Lolita
7. Catch-22
8. Ulysses
9. Pride and Prejudice
10. Brave New World
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