Book Picture of the Week

Whether or not I will post more Book Picture of the Week's, I don't know. But on Saturday afternoon I started taking book pictures -- two hours later, I had 200 new pictures, and I have to share some. :) So here are a few of my favorites.

Whoops, so much for starting with just one!

Birthday: Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

 

Birth: February 12, 1809

Death: April 15, 1865

It’s his 203rd birthday!

You know him because – he was our nation’s 16^th President, the one who steered us through the Civil War, and was assassinated at the end.

Princess Ben

Author: Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Genre: Adventure, fantasy

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 9

Type: Fairy tale

Number of pages: 344

My overall opinion: A fun fairy-tale type book! A new story, but with an occasional trace of one old one or other. Mostly clean, and thoroughly enjoyable. I’d let my sisters read it (ages 14 and 12).

Birthday: Lorne Greene

Lorne Greene

Birth: February 12, 1915

Death: September 11, 1987

It’s his 97th birthday!

You know him because – he starred as Ben Cartwright in the TV show from the 60's and early 70's, Bonanza.

Giveaway!!!!

Oh, how I love giveaways. :) And Miss Laurie from Old-Fashioned Charm is having one. Several, actually. As you hopefully know, she's been having Charles Dickens Birthday Week, and is wrapping it up with this giveaway! There will be three winners. One will win the Charles Dickens Devotional and two will win a Charles Dickens novel of their chioce! I hoping to win Little Dorrit, FYI. ;)

Anyway, so click HERE to enter this totally wonderful giveaway! Good luck winning. It ends on February 17.

Roller Skates

Author: Ruth Sawyer

Genre: Childhood

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8

Type: Fiction, children’s story

Number of pages: 186

Time period: 1800’s

My overall opinion: It’s a sweet old-fashioned childhood story. J The adventures of a young and active girl over a year. Fun story, good for grade-schoolers. Completely clean.

Death Comes to Pemberley

Author: P. D. James

Genre: Mystery

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 291

Time period: 1800’s

Passage from book: Note that this section came in parts from the Prologue. It made me go “oh! So that’s how it ended!” There’s plenty more information in the actual book. J “It was generally agreed by the female residents of Meryton that Mr. and Mrs. Bennet of Longbourn had been fortunate in the disposal in marriage of four of their five daughters. . . Lydia, the youngest, aged only sixteen…had eloped with Lieutenant George Wickham, an officer in the militia. . . the marriage of Miss Bennet to Mr. Bingley and Miss Elizabeth to Mr. Darcy took place on the same day in Longbourn church…it would have been the happiest day in Mrs. Bennet’s life had she not been seized with palpitations during the service, brought on by fear that Mr. Darcy’s formidable aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, might appear in the church door to forbid the marriage. . . within two years of Jane’s marriage, Mary was the wife of Reverend Theodore Hopkins…Mary…was introduced to him by Jane at the church door after the service and immediately impressed him by her compliments on his discourse, her endorsement of the interpretation he had taken of the text, and … frequent references to the relevance of Fordyce’s sermons.”

My overall opinion: I didn’t like it as much as I’d hoped. It was completely free from anything sensual or wrong in that way. No swearing, a little violence (it IS a murder mystery…). If you love Pride and Prejudice you might enjoy at least trying this book. Fun read.

Lord of the Rings Posters: Two Towers

Third and final Lord of the Rings movie posters post! Check out the "Return of the King" and the "Fellowship of the Ring" posts!

I really like the one above. :)

Okay, that one is really awesome too. Wow, yes, I really like that. Except I think the picture of Aragorn should be bigger. :)

I take back what I said about Two Towers probably having the fewer posters. I say that Fellowship definitely has the fewest, and Return probably has the most.

Cover Focus: A Most Unsuitable Match

A Most Unsuitable Match by Stephanie Grace Whitson

Book blurb from goodreads.com : An unlikely attraction occurs between two passengers on a steamboat journey up the Missouri River to Montana...

She is a self-centered young woman from a privileged family who fears the outdoors and avoids anything rustic. He is a preacher living under a sense of duty and obligation to love the unlovable people in the world. She isn't letting anything deter her from solving a family mystery that surfaced after her mother's death. He is on a mission to reach the rejects of society in the remote wilderness regions of Montana. Miss Fannie Rousseau and Reverend Samuel Beck are opposites in every way... except in how they both keep wondering if their paths will ever cross again.

Read my review: http://austenitis.blogspot.com/2011/09/most-unsuitable-match.html

Why I like this cover: Two reasons, primarily. 1. It’s pretty. 2. It’s unique. Now for a little more detail, starting with the lady (whose name, incidentally, is Fannie). That yellow dress is one of unique parts of the cover. It looks like a yellow and green plaid underskirt, and a yellow overskirt, and a big (look at it, very large) plaid bow. Plus a little more plaid around the collar and on the hat. I, for one, am curious to see what it looks like from the front. And don’t you love that yellow parasol? Goes perfectly with the outfit, and so dainty. Then the guy (whose name is Samuel, and whose outfit isn’t so interesting) has a basic black suit, and isn’t it called a derby hat? I think so. All the colors on this cover are so interesting! So many reds (like on the deck) and yellows (especially on Fannie’s dress). If you look out between the rails, you can see they’re not sailing across an ocean, but up a river. Did you notice the sky? Either sunrise or sunset, very pink, and I love the clouds. Before you go, take a special look at the “A”. See all the pretty stuff (for lack of a better name) behind it? Adds greatly to the effect. J

Leaving

Author: Karen Kingsbury

Genre: Life

Series: Bailey Flanigan series

Number in series: 1st

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 9

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 352

Time period: Present

My overall opinion: It was really good. Having finished the Above the Line series (which I also loved), I knew I had to read this series and get the rest of Bailey’s story! She’s such a delightful main character, and I definitely empathize with her. Wonderful book that I highly recommend.

Birthday: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

Birth: February 7, 1867

Death: February 10, 1957

It’s her 145th birthday!

You know her because – she wrote the hugely popular Laura Ingalls Wilder books about her childhood. Who hasn’t heard of Laura and Mary and their good old bulldog, Jack?

I think our books used to look like that...but now they have been greatly loved, and don't look quite as nice as at first.

A Girl to Come Home To

Author: Grace Livingston Hill

Genre: Romance

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 9

Type: Fiction

Time period: 1940’s

My overall opinion: Another sweet GLH. This one is a soldier who returns home, and meets a delightful young woman, while being pursued by a former girlfriend (a nasty one too). It includes a prying cousin, bad girls, good girls, a nice brother for the soldier (and the brother’s a soldier too), etc. I enjoyed this one a lot.

Birthday: Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

 

Birth: February 7, 1812

Death: June 9, 1870

It’s his 200th birthday!

You know him because – he’s the author of several famous books, including David Copperfield, Great Expectations, and Little Dorrit, among others.

Charles Dickens Birthday Quiz

Miss Laurie from Old-Fashioned Charm is having a special week of posts and activities in honor of Charles Dickens' 200th birthday today! This week includes guest posts (watch for bloggers you may know!) and this fun tag. Since I'm totally in love with tags, this was naturally one I had to do! So here we go. (First, if you want to do this tag, please go here to see the original question list)

1. How were you first introduced to Charles Dickens? Probably when I read Christmas Carol. I think that I was about eleven or so at the time. I can remember receiving a copy for Christmas, so I assume I must have read it! But I know I read Great Expectations by the time I was about 12.

2. Which Charles Dickens novels and stories have you read? Which are your favorites? Excellent question. Let's see here: David Copperfield, Nicholas Nickleby, Great Expectations, Tale of Two Cities, most of Oliver Twist, Hard Times, and Christmas Carol. Favorites would be Christmas Carol (because it's a great story and pretty easy to read) and Great Expectations (because...I find it fairly easy to read compared to some of his, and it's an interesting [if strange] story).

3. Which Charles Dickens novels do you most want to read? Without a doubt, Little Dorrit. I loved the movie, and realy want to read the book.

4. What are your favorite Charles Dickens quotes? Oooh, fun. "There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.” “No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”    “Although a skillful flatterer is a most delightful companion if you have him all to yourself, his taste becomes very doubtful when he takes to complimenting other people.”    :)

5. Which Charles Dickens film adaptions are your top three favorites? (If you haven't seen three, tell some you want to see) Let's see here. I enjoy Christmas Carol (the one starring Patrick Stewart).

And as formerly said, I love Little Dorrit.

And I really want to see Great Expectations.

6. Who are your top three favorite Dickens heroines? Why? I like Estella from Great Expectations for some reason. I mean, I think she’s awful, but she’s still really cool. Sorta.

I love Amy Dorrit. She’s such a sweet girl, loves her family. J And I really don’t have others that I even kind of like!

7. Who are your top three favorite Dickens heroes? Why? Hmmm. That’s hard. I do like Scrooge, at least by the end. Arthur Clennam from Little Dorrit isn’t bad. A little strange at times, but definitely nice by the end.

And Pip from Great Expectations is a sweet guy, most of the time.

8. Which three Dickens villains do you most love to hate? Mr. Murdstone from David Copperfield is just terrible. Even his name sounds bad. Squeers from Nicholas Nickleby is pretty bad too. Ooo, and Rigaud from Little Dorrit is amazing. I mean, terrible. Or something. He’s really awful. And scary and all.

Oh, Uriah Heep – bleh.

9. Which Dickens characters (up to three) do you find the most funny? Peggotty is so funny in David Copperfield. And oh…what is his name…the guy in Little Dorrit who sniffs in a positively hilarious (and semi-disgusting way) while talking…what IS his name? My memory has fled.

10. If you could authorize a new film adaptation of one of Dickens's novels, which would it be and why?Hmmm. Since I haven’t seen a lot, I really don’t know.

11. If you could have lunch with Charles Dickens today, what question would you most like to ask him? How in the world did you come up with the totally bizarre characters in so many of your books? What inspired them?

12. Have you ever read a Dickens biography or watched a biographical film about him? I don’t think so, no. But I should!

I have posted reviews of Great Expectations and Tale of Two Cities. And movies reviews of Little Dorrit and Christmas Carol. Book review of Nicholas Nickleby coming later this month!

Movie: Thor

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8.5

Genre: Fantasy, science fiction, adventure

Series or set: I think it may be technically part of the super-hero movies that the “publisher” is coming out with (they did Captain America too [which I haven’t seen]).

Primary actors: Chris Hemsworth

Length: About two hours

Based on: Very very very very very loosely on Greek gods. But not really.

Time period: Fantasy

Year it came out: 2011

My overall opinion: It was good. I admit, I liked it quite a bit. Not animated (as is obvious from the pictures). Well, mostly not animated. A little. J It was fun, it was stupid, and yes, I enjoyed it. One kiss between two people who couldn’t marry that was a little too long for my liking. (Umm, they lived in different solar systems, so that was the big problem) Other than that…yeah. :)

To Die For

Author: Sandra Byrd

Genre: Life

Series: Ladies in Waiting

Number in series: 1st

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 9

Type: Historical fiction

Number of pages: 329

Time period: 1500’s

My overall opinion: Somehow, back when I took that six week blogging break, this book was read but not reviewed, as I discovered very recently. How terrible! And I liked it a lot too. So I’m reviewing it now…and apologize for the long wait. This is Anne Boleyn’s story as seen through the eyes of her young friend Meg, who comes to live in King Henry VIII’s court with Anne. I found it well written and intriguing – most things concerning that particular time period are. This one more than some! It’s an amazing book and I highly recommend it to historical fiction lovers. And everyone else too.

Check out my cover focus: http://austenitis.blogspot.com/2011/09/cover-focus-to-die-for.html

The Messenger

Author: Davis Bunn

Genre: Christian

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 140 (small book, easy one-sitting read)

Time period: Present

My overall opinion: I enjoyed it. It’s a sweet story about angels, specifically one who is sent to earth. It was interesting and fun!

Another Awesome Giveaway!

Katy, at Legacy of a Writer, is always having great giveaways, and this one is no exception! Today she was interviewing suspense author Irene Hannon, and giving away books! The one I really want to win:

Look exciting? I think so. Click here to read an interview with Irene and see the other books being given away! But hurry -- the giveaway closes on February 5 at midnight!