Sand and Books

Watch that Ends the Night Review (audio version)

2012-01-18T16:31:00.001-06:00

The Watch That Ends The Night: Voices From The Titanic by Allan Wolf
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow! Really enjoyed listening to this one. It is written in verse. (downloaded it via Overdrive from my local public library system). The different points of view in the telling (the iceberg, the ship's rat, Capt. Smith, passengers, etc.) made it quite interesting. The story starts with an undertaker who has gone to the site of the sinking to recover corpses. I'd never really thought about that before, and don't think I've ever read anything that addressed the recovery operation.

I don't know if I would have stuck with this one if I was reading it. I tend to shy away from books written in verse. Now I think I'm going to have to go out and try to find some others written this way and try listening instead of reading.

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Tsar by Ted Bell--What's in a Name - 2 Challenge Profession

2009-01-11T22:02:00.004-06:00

Ted Bell's Tsar is a political thriller starring Alex Hawke, a British espionage agent. Hawke is the main character in several Bell titles. This is the first I've read by the author.

Hawke is recruited to become part of Red Banner a new British/American intelligence network designed to investigate recent political changes in Russia. The Cold War is long over, but someone in Russia is plotting to bring back the country's prominence as a super power.

The story has a lot of action, the characters are fun, and though the ending was somewhat predictable, I did get a surprise or two.

War through the Generations Challenge

2008-12-28T20:17:00.004-06:00

Anna and Serena are hosting the War through the Generations reading challenge on their blog. As a frequent reader of books set during World War II, I decided this challenge is right up my alley.

My goal is to read five books on the theme during the year, though, hopefully, I'll read several more (there are a BUNCH on my to-read list, already).

My titles are:

Brothers in Arms by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
City of Thieves by David Benioff
Left to Die: The Tragedy of the USS Juneau by Dan Kurzman
Scheisshaus Luck by Brian Brock
The Few by Alex Kershaw

My choices for "What's in a Name 2"

2008-12-28T19:47:00.010-06:00

I've come up with a tentative list for my first foray into a reading challenge. They are:

1. A book with a "profession" in its title. Tsar by Ted Bell

2. A book with a "time of day" in its title. Days of Summer by Jill Barrett

3. A book with a "relative" in its title. Brothers in Arms by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

4. A book with a "body part" in its title. Song I Knew by Heart by Bret Lott

5. A book with a "building" in its title. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

6. A book with a "medical condition" in its title. Shoe Addicts Anonymous by Beth Harbison

I don't know if the list will stay the same through the year, or if some titles will change.

2009 What's in a Name - 2 Challenge

2008-12-20T10:09:00.003-06:00

Annie is hosting the What's in a Name - 2 Reading challenge. The rules can be found on her blog. Briefly, here is the info.

*Dates: January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009

*The Challenge: Choose one book from each of the following categories.

1. A book with a "profession" in its title. Examples might include: The Book Thief, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Historian

2. A book with a "time of day" in its title. Examples might include: Twilight, Four Past Midnight, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

3. A book with a "relative" in its title. Examples might include: Eight Cousins, My Father's Dragon, The Daughter of Time

4. A book with a "body part" in its title. Examples might include: The Bluest Eye, Bag of Bones, The Heart of Darkness

5. A book with a "building" in its title. Examples might include: Uncle Tom's Cabin, Little House on the Prairie, The Looming Tower

6. A book with a "medical condition" in its title. Examples might include: Insomnia, Coma, The Plague

*You may overlap books with other challenges, but please don't use the same book for more than one category.

Library Learning 2.0

2008-10-19T16:00:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about participating in CSLA's Library Learning 2.0 program since with was first mentioned on LM_NET and had big plans to get started over the past summer.

Since that didn't happen, I decided to use the program as a component of my Professional Growth Plan during the 2008-09 school year.

My PGP says that I will become more familiar with Web 2.0 tools and make use of at least one of them with a class during the school year.