Lyn (Readinghearts)’s Comments (group member since Apr 07, 2009)

Lyn (Readinghearts)’s comments from the Pick-a-Shelf group.

JUNE

1. Mini SAT: 50 points when you have read off the following 12 shelves (with 5 books or less):

general
general-fiction
action
action-adventure
college
business
school
stories
horror
memoir
memoirs
economics

2. 30 points: LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) Pride Month as declared by Barack Obama on 1 June 2009. "The movement has three main premises: that people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity, that diversity is a gift, and that sexual orientation and gender identity are inherent and cannot be intentionally altered"

Read a book about this movement / written by LGBT authors / contained LGBT characters.

Note: a number of other countries also celebrate in June (eg. Canada, etc) but a few celebrated in other times of the year

Possible Helpful Links:
The Best LGBT Books of 2009
Recommended GLBT Books
Most Anticipated LGBT (Relevant) Books of Fall 2010
List of LGBT Writers - Wikipedia
Lambda Literary Award
Stonewall Book Award

3. Spelling Bee (31 May - 2 June 2011): We love our spelling / reading games so choose a word from this list and read a book (your choice of title / author names but be consistent for the one word)

a. words with 5 letters or less: 20 points per book; OR
b. words with 6-10 letters: 20 points per book for the first 5 letters then 50 points per book for additional letter/s; OR for the Really Overly Ambitious
c. words with more than 10 letters: 20 points per book for the first 5 letters then 50 points per book for additional letter/s PLUS double (2x) your points upon completion

Maximum of 5 books per challenge rule is overrulled in this instance.

Example for option b: 'misspell' (8 letters): (20x5) + (50x3) = 250 points

Example for option c: 'interesting' (11 letters): [(20x5) + (50x6)] x2 = 800 points

4. 20 points: Opposites: Different parts of the world are experiencing different seasons. Let's celebrate our differences by reading seasonal books (by cover / word in title) of where you are located. For example, if you are in the US, read a summer-y covered book or book with 'summer' in the title OR if you are in Oz, read a winter-y covered book or book with 'winter' in the title.

For 100 bonus points: Read 5 books to celebrate all seasons: summer, winter, autumn / fall, spring... and to make up to 5 books: 'tropics' (for word in title: 'tropic' or 'tropical' acceptable) or 'season' (seasons, seasonal, etc acceptable)

5. 20 points: Father's Day: Read books you have gifted / are giving to a father* OR books of interests** to them.

*this can be your own father, your partner / father of your child, your father in law, etc... essentially any father figure you know

**It can be books on cars or camping or martial arts etc... wherever their interests lay

Mid-month


Popular Books:
On the top of your GR page, click on the arrow next to the 'friends' link and click on 'popular books'. This will then list popular books among your GR friends. Read a book off this list for 40 points (it can be a re-read).

Wow, you guys get out late, Slayermel. Hope the last 8 days go well!

Bea wrote: "So far I have finished for World Lit/SRC challenges (and need to post a review): Siddhartha and The Book Thief.

I have just started Memoirs of a Geisha which ..."

One of my favorite books, Bea. It is so beautiful written.

OMG, Arlene. This is SO perfect as I am participating in a challenge to read from genres I don't usually read from in July, and Western is on the list. I will look to see what I have in this shelf. For sure, I know I have:

True Grit by Charles Portis
Sackett's Land: The Sacketts by Louis L'Amour
The Blessing Way by Tony Hillerman

Congrats Arlene. Go for it! Can't wait to see what you pick.

Some of the beautiful imagery from The Book Thief by Markus Zusak:

"A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spat blues. Murky darknesses. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them.

"It's the leftover humans. The survivors. I witness the ones who are left behind, crumbling among the jigsaw puzzle of realization, despair and surprise. They have punctured hearts. They have beaten lungs."

"It felt as though the whole globe was dressed in snow. Like it had pulled it on, the way you pull on a sweater. Next to the train line, footprints were sunken to their shins. Trees wore blankets of ice."

"Snowflakes of ash fell so lovelily you were tempted to stretch out your tongue to catch them, taste them. Only, they would have scorched your lips. They would have cooked your mouth."

I am reading two books right now:

Beaufort 1849, a novel of antebellum South Carolina by Karen Lynn Allen. This book seems like your typical Antebellum South book.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This book fits 4 challenges in different groups and I have been wanting to read it for a while. I am having trouble really getting into it, though. The imagery is beautiful, but the narrator's cadence is putting me off a bit.

Just checked out the new black and white Nook and now I want one, lol. They are smaller and lighter over all, but have the same size screen, about the size of a mass market paperback. PLUS they are faster, have a longer life battery (supposedly 2 months) and the eInk technology has been improved. I think Kindle in coming out with a comparable new Kindle soon, too.

Who knew I would love an e-reader so much. I still like my print books, and love to look at them on the shelf, but for carting around, an e-Reader is great!

I will do the same as Dee and bump up The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which is on my list for this month.

Kathie wrote: "Candiss wrote: "Erynn wrote: "Ironically the eInk ereaders will outlast the eReaders that are back lit because eInk acts almost like an etch-a-sketch whereas the Kindle or even the iPad is back lit..."

Just one more clarification, the black and white Nooks are NOT backlit, they use e-Ink, and I am guessing that the color Kindles will be as there is no way to do a color screen without backlighting.

There are several things that I like about my Nook, but feel in the end, that both the Nook and the Kindle are just as good. It is sort of a personal preference. Some of the things that I like about my Nook are the ability to read any book for free in a B&N store. I have a B&N store pretty close, and use this for new and popular books that have huge wait lists at the library, but I don't want to buy. In the beginning I liked the ability to get books from more places than just B&N also. I could download to my Nook from the library, and most free books sites on the net. I think the Kindle can do that now, too, though. My battery lasts about 10 days on airplane mode, which is good for me.

I have a Nook, also, and I love it, but like many of you, I still love my "real pages". I would say that probably my reading is still 60 print 40 e-reader. I also read books on my phone, which has both the Kindle and the Nook app. At times it is really nice to have the capability to read on a portable electronic device. For example, we just spent 18 hours over 2 days getting my youngest son and bringing him here for the summer and it was nice not to have to cart a bunch of books in the car. One device had them all. Also, I am in a Reading the Chuncksters club, and it is nice not to have to tote such huge books around. That said, there is nothing like sitting in my favorite chair, or on the back deck with a print version of a book.

Ya, I thought for this one we had to either use all authors first names, all authors last names, or all titles?

Impressive, Krait. I have over 500 books that I have bought and not read yet, lol.

:) Thanks Karen. I think incorporating it into ROAR is a really great idea, too.

Coralie wrote: "From Seeing on page 136

The silence that followed these words demonstrated once more that time has nothing to do with the time told by clocks, those small machines made of wheels that..."

Great quote, Coralee. I love Saramengo. Is that a sequel to Blindness?

Oh man, Lynne. I am SOOOOOO gagging right now.

ALthough, I agree that the avitar is really cute.

I have updates for April and May, just need to get them posted.

I, too, loved the idea, but just couldn't fit books in what with the ROAR challenge, and the traveling library group that I am in. Maybe we should try it again another time?

Lynne wrote: "Lyn M wrote: "Lynne wrote: "Okay I FINALLY got to the library yesterday and here is what I picked up for World Lit:

Dubliners by James Joyce (which also counts as short ..."

Nope, you haven't that is the newest one. Came out after he died in December 2009, I think. I have it, but havn't read it yet, which is why you haven't gotten it yet, lol.

I have that to read for the SAT, too, Susan, so good to know.