Jennifer Priester's Blog, page 7
February 6, 2014
Animals, Magic and the Liebster Award
First off I would like to say a special thank you to Ernesto San Giacomo of the following blog: http://ernsangia.wordpress.com/ for nominating this one for the fun blogging award.
However, before I can accept the award there are a few rules I am required to follow:
To accept the Liebster Award, first each nominee must link back to the blog of the person that nominated them. As you can see I did this above. Ernesto writes a good blog so at this time I will go beyond the requirements by telling you to go check it out.
The next thing nominee’s are required to do is really fun. It requires answering 10 questions that are given to the nominee by the nominator. Because each nominator comes up with their own set of questions these vary. I did a bit of blog hopping to see the various questions asked throughout the award’s history and had a lot of fun doing so. Anyway I will now answer the 10 questions that Ernesto asked me.
1) If you could have dinner with any five people from history, who would they be?
That’s a tough and possibly impossible question for me to answer at this time. If it were to say fictional people or animals I would have had this question answered in just a few short minutes. As it is I’m not too interested in history so even coming up with names from history is a bit difficult. Maybe I will come back to this question later because as of right now I don’t have an answer.
2) How many pets do you own and what are their names?
Currently I have 4 pets: My Chihuahua, Taco, My Mini Rex rabbits, Chibi & Kojikaki, and my goldfish, Pumpkin.
3) Do you know how to cook? If so, what’s your best dish?
I know how to cook, however I don’t do this much or make too many different things. With this said my best dish is either tuna salad, a venison dish with beans and sauerkraut, or my tofu, rice, and random vegetable mix.
4) What hobbies do you have?
I don’t have too many hobbies. I mostly like to read, play video games, watch TV/movies, write, draw, and collect anything and everything related to Wishbone, the Jack Russell Terrier from the TV and book series.
5) List your five favorite films.
I have way more than five favorite films, but five of my favorites include: For the Love of Benji, The Fox and the Hound, The Lion King 1 1/2, The Cat From Outer Space, and Napoleon.
6) List your five favorite books.
Just as it is for movies I have a lot more than five favorites. To attempt to find a short list of favorites I decided to answer with my five favorites so far from my 2014 reading. Even this is too long. However as it was still shorter, these are five of my favorites from this year: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again by: Frank Cottrell Boyce, Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by: Chris Grabenstein, Gasp of the Ghoulish Guinea Pig (Undead Pets series) by: Sam Hay, I Was a Teenage Mad Scientist by: Derek J. Goodman, and Sidekicked by: John David Anderson.
7) Do you practice any religion?
Let’s put it this way. I am of a religion but am not always know for practicing it. Enough said.
8) What is your dream vacation?
My dream vacation is a vacation to a theme park with lots of rides and attractions such as Disney World or Disney Land, of which I have never been to either.
9) Where do you get ideas for blog posts?
My review posts come from books I read, posts about myself come from who knows where, posts about my pets come from the pets themselves…usually, sometimes other bloggers give me ideas. Ideas for my blog post usually come from either obvious places that anyone can figure it out, or I have absolutely no idea.
10) What prompted you to start writing?
I couldn’t say exactly. I just started writing and never stopped. The original reason behind why I started is unknown but the reason I kept writing was because it’s a lot of fun.
Okay, my nominator’s questions have all been answered. Next I am required to nominate 10 other blogs for this award. It might be easy and it might not. If it were just bloggers that would be easy, however the rules also say the bloggers must have LESS than 200 Wordpress followers-email followers aren’t counted for this. I must also let them know I nominated them.
I have found my 10 bloggers to nominate. It took a while, but now it’s time to have some fun again. Now it’s my turn to come up with 10 questions for my nominees.
Nominee’s here are the questions you must answer. The rest of you can answer the questions if you want either on your own blog or in a comment after this post. I think it would be interesting to see your answers! For fun, next week you will see what my answers to the questions would be.
1) If you were to picture yourself as an animal what would you be and why?
2) Do you play video games? If so what game is your favorite?
3) What fictional world would you love to be a part of and why?
4) If you were a superhero’s sidekick what superhero would you want to be partnered up with most?
5) If you were a smurf what would your name be?
6) Quick, name a book! What book did you think of first?
7) What one food do you think you could never get tired of eating?
8) What’s one thing you wish somebody would invent?
9) Who is your favorite fictional character and what do you like about them?
10) If you could have an animal character from either a book, TV show, or movie, which would you choose and why?
My nominee list:
1) If Books Could Blog: http://pageturnerblog.wordpress.com
2) indyyme: http://indyyme.wordpress.com
3) Forever Summer: http://andiover.wordpress.com
4) According to Plan: http://ecopapillon.wordpress.com
5) The Whimsical Wonderings of a Working Writer: http://btenpenny.wordpress.com
6) A MaeDae Life: http://maedaylife.com
7) A Writer’s World: http://sophiaew.wordpress.com
8) Legend Trippers – Screaming is Believing: http://legend-trip.com
9) musings of a disorganized mind: http://raegan78.wordpress.com
10) Jodie Llewellyn: http://jodiellewellyn.wordpress.com
January 30, 2014
Review of “97 Ways to Make a Dog Smile” by: Jenny Langbehn
This book really works! My dog enjoyed almost all of the things this book says makes dogs smile! Before reading this book I knew several of these ways, but found several others that I didn’t know about and had a lot of fun trying them out with my dog! If you have a dog and are looking for new ways to make him/her smile this book is perfect! The book is also entertaining just to read.
January 10, 2014
Review of The See Through Leopard by: Sibel Hodge
Ebook Purchase Links: (Also available in some places in print) A percentage of the royalties from sales of this book are given to Panthera, a leading international conservation organization dedicated to protecting and preserving the world’s big cats.
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-see-through-leopard-sibel-hodge/1116793528?ean=9781492282488
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/350229
My review:
First off I love the imagery as the scenes with the native wildlife are told. The author does an amazing job of making the reader feel as if they are really there. Throughout the book she writes about the animals in a way that captures nature perfectly.
The author also does a very good job spreading the word about animal conservation and the more serious issue of animal poaching in a way that is realistic yet entertaining. It is clear that the author is highly passionate about these subjects.
Though not overly so for a YA book, because of the subject matter there are a few scenes that are a little graphic and can potentially be highly emotional for some readers, especially animal lovers. However, through these moments is when the authors message comes across clearest to readers and all the good moments in this book, of which there are plenty, make these more difficult moments worth the read.
This book also contains some very entertaining and funny moments.
The only problem I had with this book was an inability to understand and identify with the main character of Jazz. Overall I liked her but aside from the feelings about the leopard and her attitude towards conservation, I had nothing in common with her.
I also have some mixed feelings about the books ending. Although I was not particularly fond of the way the final chapter ended, I still really liked it in a way especially because its not how I expected it to end so it came as a surprise and it also did a really good job of reinforcing the real life issues presented in this book.
I would definitely recommend to any and all animal lovers but particularly those who have found themselves in the situation of bonding with an animal, either wild or domestic as a foster or caretaker whose job is now or has been in the past to prepare the animal they have bonded with for the new life that it would live upon leaving their care.
Besides the general message about poaching and animal conservation I think this book also serves as a good reminder for why animal fosters and those who rehabilitate wild animals do what they do.
January 3, 2014
Review of “Worlds Dumbest Signs, Ads, and Newspaper Headlines” by: Daniel Jankowski
I loved this book! It was really funny and I used to like it so much I reread it many times and I don’t usually like rereading things! This book is perfect for anyone who loves to laugh because it will make you laugh!
December 27, 2013
Review of “A Dog’s Purpose” by: W. Bruce Cameron
When I started this book I was actually going to put it down because I wasn’t finding it very interesting in the first few chapters but I kept reading and the book picked up a little and I began really enjoying it. This book is about a dog that gets reincarnated several times into different lives, each time wondering and finding out what his purpose is. It really is a very good look into what dogs are and what they mean to those of us who are dog owners and lovers. After fully reading this book I believe all dog lovers will love it.
December 20, 2013
Character Creation: How 3 Mortal Realm Witch Characters Came to be
In character creation I rarely decide much about a character, other than age, appearance, and some base personality traits, before beginning to write about them. Sometimes they have started out very different, but my four favorite human, and characters that were human when I first wrote about them, in my Mortal Realm Witch series all started out the same way. Each of these characters, DWW, Sampson, and Asantra all started out by having many similarities or differences to myself at the time I began creating them and over time began to develop their own personalities.
When DWW was first created I was around the same age as she was when she is given her powers. In creating her I basically imagined what it would be like if I was a witch. Like DWW, in the first three stories of Book One, Mortal Realm Witch: Learning About Magic, I would have been looking for ways around the rules and would have just wanted to have fun using magic. DWW first began to split off from myself as she got older and by the second book, Mortal Realm Witch: The Magic Continues, the biggest changes began to become noticeable. By Book Two, DWW is no longer using her magic irresponsibly or using it only to have fun, instead the magic has become just another part of herself. DWW also becomes very focused on one specific goal that she would like to achieve and remains this way throughout the whole series. DWW also is much more patient than myself, and beginning in Book Two, although you don’t learn it directly, rather see examples over time, DWW becomes what I refer to as “the ultimate good guy”. This means that she doesn’t support violence of any kind with the exception of hunting for food, she doesn’t approve of using animals for anything without the permission of the animal, and other things as well. What does happen to remain the same between us however, is a common way of thinking and coming up with creative, although not always good, solutions to problems, and the love of our animal friends.
When I created Sampson, I had no plans on creating a series villain. I did plan on creating a villain, I just expected him to be there only for the story of “DWW on the Witches Council?” in Mortal Realm Witch: Learning About Magic, in which he was only supposed to come across as an ambitious teenage boy with the dream of taking over the two Realms. This was as much of his personality that I felt needed to be know about. Although he was supposed to be a one time character, he was so much fun to write about that he became on of my main characters and because of this, starting with Book Two, I really began to develop his personality. By the time I was done, Sampson was a true villain and would pose a challenge to every one of my three main series witches; DWW, Turtle, and Asantra. Sampson is mostly DWW’s opposite in almost every way except for his creativity and an ambition that basically begins with the same idea. The part of Sampson’s personality that is based off myself is his unwillingness to change his mind once he has decided on something, his sense of humor, his creativity, and his occasional failure to see the long term effects of some of his actions.
Asantra is possibly the strongest reflection of myself when it comes to the various characters I have created. Getting her start in Book Four, Mortal Realm Witch: The Adventures of DWW2, Asantra is perhaps the most complicated character I have created to date. Much of her personality is an extremely exaggerated version of my own although there are several differences as well. Asantra really just likes to have fun, almost always keeps an odd, but usually good sense of humor, she loves go on adventures, and she loves to spend time with her wolf pack. One of the biggest differences, between myself and Asantra, is that Asantra almost always acts on what she is thinking regardless of the consequences. I often think of doing things, but never actually get that far. She also finds herself often playing the roles of both hero and villain, sometimes within the course of only a few hours! She switches fast and often and it is very unclear to outsiders where her loyalties lie.
December 13, 2013
Review of “Wolf the Journey Home” by: Asta Bowen
This book was really good, if a little sad, and is the story of a mother wolf and her pups after being relocated. Once moved begin to try to get back home to where they came from. This book was based off of the lives of real wolves that were being studied and because of this the wolves in the book are normal wolves. This is a very good read for anyone who loves animals, especially wolves and want to read a more natural book. Unlike many documentary’s, the story is told in a very interesting way. Once you begin reading this book you won’t want to stop until you know what happens to the wolves. Just a warning though, the more you love animals the more emotional you will be while reading this book. I loved it and it is one of my favorite books that don’t have or need speech between the animals to make it interesting.
December 6, 2013
Review of the “BakeGyamon” series by: Mitsuhisa Tamura
I really love the BakeGyamon books. In BakeGyamon, the characters are gathered into a different world to become players in a big competition. They must play games and collect cards that have monsters in them that can be used to help them in the games. Each game in the series is based off a real life game only the games are played backwards. All the rules of the games are backwards. This is a really good action/adventure manga series.
The BakeGyamon series is made up of five books.
November 29, 2013
Review of “ER Vets: Life in an Animal Emergency Room” by: Donna M. Jackson
A really good nonfiction book for younger readers about being a vet, specifically an ER vet. Readers will learn what these vets do. There are many real animal photos in this book but nothing too graphic for a young reader. The book is also very entertaining and is a good book for a kid considering being a vet to read.
November 22, 2013
Review of “Wild Blue: The Story of a Mustang Appaloosa” by: Annie Wedekind
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Very realistically told from the horse’s point of view. The author clearly knows something about horse behavior and language. It is also a good and well told story.
