Thursday Thirteen 148: Recently Read

For those who don't keep up with my Teaser Tuesday excerpts, here's a look at what I have read so far this year—quite an eclectic selection, if I do say so myself. I know some may think this a lot, but I actually feel behind in my reading for this year. If I hope to make my goal of at least 75 books again this year, I need to step up the pace a bit. Click on any cover to find out more about the book!













How about you? Read anything good lately?



LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:
(Please leave your link if this is your first visit!)

Shelley Munro * Stephanie Adkins * Janice SeagravesAdelle Laudan * Lia Morgan * Alice Audrey * Janet
Jehara * Desi * Melissa Mashburn * Deb * Hootin' Anni * Hazel
* Jill Conyers * Rhyzmomplus2 * CountryDew * Nina * Elise Logan
Burn * Journeywoman * Denise Moncrief * Kristen
Harriet * Paige Tyler * Jennifer McKenzie * Ms Menozzi
Tatiana Caldwell * KS Manning


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Teaser Tuesday 28: The Botticelli Secret

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read.
* Share a few “teaser” sentences from somewhere in the book.
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away. You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!


I was lucky to win an ARC of The Botticelli Secret by Marina Fiorato through the Goodreads first reads program. There were so many great lines in this one, some flowery and some witty, that it was difficult selecting just two. So...I chose short lines from two different scenes. And isn't this a beautiful cover?

(Please note that, as my copy is an ARC, page numbers may differ slightly from the final print version of the book.)

God, he could be boring. It was fortunate that he was so pretty. (pg 80)

A knock woke me and I was up and into his arms, holding tight to his wiry body for a second before he pushed me away in haste, as he had done in Venice. I did not care—I had him back. (pg 401)

About the book:
Genre: Historical Fiction

When we first meet Luciana Vetra, she is a 16-yr-old prostitute in 1482 Florence. Turning tricks and modeling since she was twelve, she is offered the chance to sit for Sandro Botticelli's new work, Primavera—an assignment that suddenly finds her fleeing Florence for her life with novice monk, Brother Guido della Torre. As they try to puzzle out the mystery hidden in Botticelli's painting, their journey takes them through Pisa, Naples, Rome, and many other vaunted cities of the Italian Renaissance. Can they figure out the secret before the assassin on their heels catches up to them?

This is a wonderfully crafted story that transports one to the Middle Ages. The language is alternatingly course and beautiful, as befits the pair of unlikely main characters, and the growing romance is as intriguing as the mystery itself. I had difficulty setting this one down, reading the bulk of it over a weekend.

Mmmm

Need I say more??

Thursday Thirteen 147: New Music Thursday

Not having listened to the radio much between November and January (other than the all-Christmas station), I've been catching up on new music the last few weeks. Here are thirteen new songs I'm liking playing on my local radio station. Click on the links to view the videos.


* Chasing Pirates ~ Norah Jones

* Kandi ~ One Eskimo

* Halfway Gone ~ Lifehouse

* You Run Away ~ Barenaked Ladies

* I and love and You ~ Avett Brothers

* Song Away ~ Hockey (LOVE the '80s sound of this one!)

* Heartbreak Warfare ~ John Mayer

* 100 Days, 100 Nights ~ Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings

* Fearless Love ~ Melissa Etheridge

* All I Have ~ Mat Kearney

* 1901 ~ Phoenix

* She is Love ~ Parachute

* You & Me ~ Dave Matthews Band


LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:
(Please leave your link if this is your first visit!)

Adelle Laudan * Colleen * JourneyWoman * Hazel * Brenda
Alice Audrey * Shelley Munro * CountryDew * Elise Logan
Stephanie Adkins * Paige Tyler * Jennifer McKenzie * Ms Menozzi
Janice Seagraves * Bryn Donovan * KS Manning * Jill Conyers Melissa Mashburn * Tatiana Caldwell * Sasha Devlin * Desi


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Teaser Tuesday 27: Shutter Island

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read.
* Open to a random page.
* Share a few “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away. You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!


I wasn't going to read this book. I wasn't. Honest. And then it somehow found its way into my shopping bag a few weeks ago when I saw it on discount. But I still wasn't going to read it until after I had finished other books I'd committed to reading this month. Sigh... Yeah, I caved. And I could not put it down. All I can say is...WHOA! Definitely one I'd recommend! Have not decided yet whether or not to see the movie. May have to wait for it to come out on DVD.

"The mind," he said. "Mine, yours, anyone's. It's an engine essentially. That's what it is. A very delicate, intricate motor. And it's got all these pieces, all these gears and bolts and hinges. And we don't even know what half of them do. But if just one gear slips, just one...Have you thought about that?"

(pg 109)

About the book:
Summer, 1954.

U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels has come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Along with his partner, Chuck Aule, he sets out to find an escaped patient.

But nothing at Ashecliffe Hospital is what it seems.And neither is Teddy Daniels.

Is he there to find a missing patient? Or has he been sent to look into rumors of Ashecliffe's radical approach to psychiatry? An approach that may include drug experimentation, hideous surgical trials, and lethal countermoves in the shadow war against Soviet brainwashing ...

The closer Teddy and Chuck get to the truth, the more elusive it becomes, and the more they begin to believe that they may never leave Shutter Island.

Because someone is trying to drive them insane ...

Birthday Tree

A ten-minute birthday card...


Stamps: Forest Friends, Birthday Whimsy (Stampin' Up)
Paper: DCWV
Ink: Avocado Green (SU)
Accessories: Grosgrain Ribbon (JoAnn's)

A Michael Cartoon

Last Friday I shared several pictures my friend's son had drawn. We had a huge get-together over the weekend, and Michael gifted another friend with a present. This friend is as huge a Star Wars freak as he is, so you can imagine how much she appreciated the following. I hope you like it as well! (Click on image to enlarge)

Thursday Thirteen 146: Reading Stats

Since March is National Reading Month, how about a few statistics on reading and literacy. Some of these facts are a bit scary, and some may surprise you.

* 46% of American adults cannot understand the label on their prescription medicine.

* 50 percent of American adults are unable to read an eighth grade level book.

* More than 20 percent of adults read at or below a fifth-grade level - far below the level needed to earn a living wage.

* Forty-four percent of American 4th grade students cannot read fluently, even when they read grade-level stories aloud under supportive testing conditions.

* More than three out of four of those on welfare, 85% of unwed mothers and 68% of those arrested are illiterate. About three in five of America's prison inmates are illiterate.

* It is estimated that the cost of illiteracy to business and the taxpayer is $20 billion per year.

* Out-of-school reading habits of students has shown that even 15 minutes a day of independent reading can expose students to more than a million words of text in a year.

* Babies as young as 9 months have the ability to read. This is a natural and essential part of development. In 1999, only 53 percent of children aged 3 to 5 were read to daily by a family member. Children in families with incomes below the poverty line are less likely to be read aloud to everyday than are children in families with incomes at or above the poverty line.

* Numerous infant studies prove that the earlier a child learns to read, the better they perform in school and later in life.

* Children who have not developed some basic literacy skills by the time they enter school are 3 to 4 times more likely to drop out in later years. Disadvantaged students in the first grade have a vocabulary that is approximately half that of an advantaged student (2,900 and 5,800 respectively).

* 21 million Americans can't read at all, 45 million are marginally illiterate and one-fifth of high school graduates can't read their diplomas.

* 15 percent of the population has specific reading disorders. Of these 15 percent as many as 1/3 may show change in the brain structure. Dyslexia affects one out of every five children - ten million in America alone.

* Over 50% of NASA employees are dyslexic. They are deliberately sought after because they have superb problem solving skills and excellent 3D and spatial awareness.


Find more facts here.



LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:
(Please leave your link if this is your first visit!)

Adelle Laudan * Mary Quast * Tracie * Alice Audrey
Alexia Reed * Stephanie Adkins * Colleen * Shelley Munro
Hazel * Melissa Mashburn * Jennifer McKenzie * Desi
Elise Logan * Harriet * Sophia Parkwood * Janice Seagraves
Sasha Devlin * Tatiana Caldwell * Jeanne St James * Paige Tyler
Jehara * Inez * Megan Rose * A. Catherine Noon * Ms Menozzi


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Erin Go Braugh!

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!


STAMPS: Studio G clear stamps
INK: Green Galore (Stampin' Up)
PAPER: White cardstock; Patterned Papers (DCWV)
ACCESSORIES: Ribbon (Michael's)

Teaser Tuesday 26: If Books Could Kill

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read.
* Open to a random page.
* Share (at least) two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!

If Books Could Kill is the second in the Bibliophile Mystery series by Kate Carlisle. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this book. Though the mystery is good, it's the zany cast of characters that truly makes this series shine. The author's wry wit and heroine's often hilarious misadventures kept me laughing throughout. I am already impatient for book three—which isn't out until November. (Whimper)

If the police didn't know I was teaching a bookbinding class, they would think I was carrying a small arsenal. I suppose a glue stick could be considered a dangerous weapon if you used it to poke somebody's eye out.

(pg 214)

About the Book:
Murder is easy-on paper.

Book restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright is attending the world-renowned Edinburgh Book Fair when her ex Kyle shows up with a bombshell. He has an original copy of a scandalous text that could change history—and humiliate the beloved British monarchy.

When Kyle turns up dead, the police are convinced Brooklyn's the culprit. But with an entire convention of suspects, Brooklyn's conducting her own investigation to find out if the motive for murder was a 200-year-old secret—or something much more personal.

Sleeping Garden

Still slumbering...for now.

Winter Seat

Bit by bit, this bench is slowly being liberated from the deep drifts of snow that have imprisoned it during the long winter months. You can see where the snow has melted just under and behind.

Budding Artist: Michael J

One of my friends has a talented son. Michael is 8-1/2 and quite the developing young artist. He loves to draw and, as you can see from the pictures below, is very good at it.


He drew this one on a napkin last year, when we were all out to dinner for my birthday:



This is another he drew on a napkin, a few weeks later:



My Christmas present was a bonefied hit. He also received art supplies from two others that night, so was in absolute heaven.


He set about using them right away. These are two that he gave me:




And this is one our friend Kim received from him that night. She also has a Darth Vadar he drew, but I did not get a chance to photograph or scan it yet.


Sherrie said she wanted a picture of a princess. After sneering at her (he is a boy, after all), he drew this:

I don't think we want to know who he used as a model, LOL.

Last year around this time, I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. He replied, "An artist. Or a writer." I told him there was no reason he couldn't be both. I think we have a future graphic novelist on our hands!

Thursday Thirteen 145: Birthday Presents

So, you all remember last Thursday was my birthday. It was...okay. Definitely ended better than it started. I have six sisters. I did not receive a card from any of them. In fact, aside from lunch last Saturday with one sister, my birthday was completely ignored by family. Which had me in a bit of a funk most of last Thursday. My friends, on the other hand, feted me in grand style, and I am actually having lunch this weekend with another who could not make dinner last week. I shared a few gifts here Wednesday, but here are a few others received. Of course, the best present was just spending a stress-free night filled with friendship and laughter. And believe me, there was plenty of laughter, which I really needed this year!



Laughter on demand, 24/7. This is the only comedy I watch anymore and, of course, it's on USA, which I no longer get as of this month (SOB). I can't stand anything that passes for comedy on the four major networks these days. Whatever happened to wholesome family entertainment Some of my favorite episodes are from season three: "Murder?... Anyone?... Anyone?... Bueller?" (the class reunion ep, which aired the week before our HS reunion, kid you not!), "Tuesday the 17th" (hilarious spoof on Friday the 13th, and aired on that date), and "High Noonish" (Shawn and Gus visit a ghost town).


If the material in this bag looks familiar, that's because it matches the quilt received last year. It has become my designated craft bag, a place where I can keep material, kits, and the most-used pattern books all in one convenient, totable space. Love it!


Believe it or not, there are eleven unique items in this picture. The set of four itty bitty items lying across the long notepad are magnetic bookmarks. At bottom are a set of note cards, a memo pad, ink pad, and epoxy brads. There is also a set of dies for my little Sizzix machine, colored pencils, and craft scissors. Yup, my friends seem to know me pretty well!


LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:
(Please leave your link if this is your first visit!)

Brenda ND * Alice Audrey * Adelle Laudan * Willa * Jana
Shelley Munro * Ms Menozzi * Hootin' Anni * Sophia Parkwood
Elise Logan * Inez Kelley * Ella Drake * CountryDew
Jennifer McKenzie * Stephanie Adkins * Harriet * Colleen
Mary Quast * Paige Tyler * Janice Seagraves *Tatiana Caldwell
Jeanne St. James * Sasha Devlin * Bryn Donovan * Alexia Reed
Jehara * Melissa Mashburn * Deidre


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Book her!

Some of my friends think they know me pretty well...

One journal, four books, and a gift card to buy three more books -- I guess they do know me! *vbg*

Teaser Tuesday 25: Blood Ties

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read.
* Open to a random page.
* Share (at least) two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!


Finished reading this one over the weekend!

Blood Ties is book twelve in Kay Hooper's Bishop/SCU series. One thing I found helpful in this book is the inclusion of an index of characters and their abilities, as well as footnotes throughout referencing books in which previous events occurred. The Special Crimes Unit is a unit of the FBI that deals with unexplainable crimes, or those with "supernatural" elements. Each of the agents assigned to this unit has different psychic abilities. In this particular scene, Diana and Hollis, both mediums, are looking for a way out of "the gray time," a corridor between the worlds of the living and the dead.

Down the corridor a bit, one of the doors swung inward with a faint but audible creak.

"Oh, that can't be good," Hollis said.

(pg 69, hardcover)

Book Blurb:
The elite Special Crimes Unit, the FBI’s most controversial and effective team, is a group of mavericks and misfits trained to use their unique psychic abilities to hunt the worst monsters imaginable – human ones. Led by the enigmatic Noah Bishop, the SCU team has earned a reputation for pitting their skills and cunning against killers that other cops fear. But this time Bishop and his agents face an enemy who has them in his sights, a trained sniper with a deadly
plan — and more than one ace up his sleeve. Read more

Winter Birds

I thought I would share these while there was still snow on the ground. With temperatures warming into the 40s over the next week (woo-hoo!), the snow should really start to melt. Yay, spring is on its way! These were taken in January, through the window of my mom's room at Hospice. Bird feeders were hung between rooms so that patients and families could enjoy the feathered visitors. There were actually two pairs of cardinals, rather fitting as that was Mom's favorite bird, as well as a number of chickadees. Click on any image to enlarge.


A little hard to tell, but think this is a chickadee

Pretty female cardinal

Male cardinal

Mates

Thursday Thirteen 144: Birthdays

Fabulous People Born on March 4:


1. Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, Composer (1678)

2. Benjamin Waterhouse, physician, smallpox vaccine pioneer (1754)

3. Johann Wyss, Swiss folklorist/writer, Swiss Family Robinson (1782)

4. Knute Rockne, American football player and Notre Dame coach (1888)

5. Robert William Wood, American landscape artist (1889)

6. John Garfield, actor, (The Postman Always Rings Twice) (1912)

7. Barbara McNair, singer and actress (1934)

8. Paula Prentiss, Actress (Where the Boys Are) (1938)

9. James Ellroy, American Writer (1948)

10. Emilio Estefan, musician/producer (1950)

11. Patricia Heaton, Actress (Everybody Loves Raymond) (1958)

12. Khaled Hosseini, Afghan author (The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns) and physician (1965)

13. ME! (yeah, like I'm saying what year)



LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:
(Please leave your link if this is your first visit!)

Alice Audrey * Hootin' Anni * Ms Menozzi * Stephanie Adkins
Shelley Munro * Adelle Laudan * Colleen * Journeywoman
Ella Drake * Kaye * Jana * Jeanne St. James * Elise Logan
Jennifer McKenzie * Bryn Donovan * Sasha Devlin
Paige Tyler * Tatiana Caldwell * A. Catherine Noon * Mary Quast

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Blog Awards

I've been a bit remiss the past couple of months in sharing a few blog awards. Please forgive me for being so tardy in posting these and for not following the "rules" attached to each, and accept my sincere gratitude. Thank you.



From Heather

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From Missy:

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From Alice:

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Also from Alice:

Teaser Tuesday 24: Truly, Madly

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read.
* Open to a random page.
* Share (at least) two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!


This week's teaser comes from Truly, Madly by Heather Webber. I highly recommend this book. There were so many great and funny lines that it was difficult choosing which to post. I could easily do an entire Thursday Thirteen on this one! For today, the following will have to do.

Where are we? Sean and Lucy are in Great Eskar Park near Boston, Massachusetts. At night. How's that for setting the tone? *g*

A look of horror swept across his face as he stared at a length of human bone. "What is that?"

Through chattering teeth, I said, "The question should be 'Who is that?' And the answer is 'I don't know.'"

(pg 123)

Book blurb:
Meet Lucy Valentine; sassy, fabulously original…and psychic.

Lucy hails from a long line of matchmakers known as Valentine, INC. According to family legend, the Valentines have been blessed by Cupid with the ability to help couples find true love. Trouble is Lucy’s powers were zapped away by an electrical surge and now all she can find are lost objects.

But what good is that in the matchmaking world?

Lucy is about to find out when she tries to solve a murder and winds up falling into a romance of her own.