Top Ten Tuesday: Hyped Books I've Never Read

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by brokeandbookish 


1. I have never read any of the 50 shades books nor do I ever plan to. Do I really need to list the reasons why?

2. I read the Hunger Games before it blew up. Not a bragging thing just a statement of fact. I fell in love with it and begged my stepdaughter to read it. Well confession time I've never read the next two books. I feel in love with Hunger Games so hardcore I was afraid to be disappointed by the other two books.

3. So Cinder has been sitting on my TBR pile since it pretty much first came out. But I haven't bothered to read it. I WANT to. I just keep skipping over it for other books.

4. So I've seen the movie (not the US version) but I've never read The Girl with Dragon Tattoo. I know it is supposed to be really good and the movie was good but I've just never gotten around to it.

5. I can't put up a list of hyped books without putting up at least one classic. I've never read Pride and Prejudice and to be honest I don't have any plans to.

6.  The Notebook is another book that I hear so much on but I have no plans on ever reading,

7.  I remember a few years ago when everywhere you turned someone was reading Eat, Pray, Love. I don't know not my cuppa.

8. The Fault in Our Stars is actually one of the few books on the list that I really do want to read. Again it is just a matter of my putting other books ahead of it.

9. Ok here is another one I've been meaning to read but just haven't. I've heard so much about The Iron King and the rest of the series but I just haven't gotten around to it.

10. Lastly, this is another that has been sitting on my TBR pile forever. I'm starting to become afriad that it wont be as good as what everyone says about it.

Readers Workouts July 7th 2015

So this week is my first week doing Readers Workouts. I've mentioned it on here before but I have  a lot...I mean A LOT of weight to lose. Think somewhere in the ballpark of 150lbs. I know yikes! How does someone let themselves get that big? I always used to wonder it myself. I've struggled with weight all my life but when I was a teenager I was just chubby. God I'd kill to be chubby again. To weigh what I did back then when I thought I was so gigantic...to not have all the illnesses I have? Yeah, I'd jump in my time machine any time to reverse the damage I've done. But since there are no such things as time machines (I'd have made a great companion to the Doctor).  I'm taking to post on here about my progress.

So I haven't been working out out for very long. Try two days. But you have to start somewhere. Last year I start walking and I was walking 3 miles a day 4 days a week. I want to get back to that point. Several years ago (talking 15 years ago) I big into cycling. I would ride my bike 4-5 days a week 40-50 miles a day. I don't think I'll get back to that point but I'd like to walk much more comfortably. Right now my biggest problem is that I get thoroughly wiped out from walking. I know 1 mile isn't much but when you weight almost 300lbs it is a lot to walk. Keep in mind lugging all that extra weight is a workout in and of itself. I just want to stop having to take a nap after working out.


Monday 7/6/15- 1.83 miles
Tuesday 7/7/15- 1.5  miles

Book Review: Don't Dangle Your Participle by Vanita Oelschlager

I've very nearly cleared out my *Netgalley list. I was hesitant to read this one because I wasn't sure
how my son would do since he is not ready for learning parts of speech etc.

This book explains what a participle is and how to properly use it. By using examples of the right and wrong way to phrase things.

This reminded me of Eats Shoots and Leaves. In fact we have the children's version of it lying around here some where. This wasn't bad at all but I didn't bother to explain to my son what a participle is. I just read it and pointed out the silly things. I explained that the book was showing people how writing things the wrong way changes the meaning of the sentence. Needless to say this was waaaay over my son's head.

The drawings were cute and did a great job of depicting the sentence. My son did ok and cracked up at the silly things but he really didn't understand what the point of the book was. This book is not for younger kids or those with learning disabilities like my son. They may still enjoy the book but they wont understand it like an older or more advanced child would.

I have a hard time rating this because there is absolutely nothing wrong with the book it just wasn't a fit for my family. Because my son did laugh and get some amusement out of it I'm going to go with 4 out of 5 stars.











*I received a free copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion
**This book was read with my special needs son who is severely learning disabled. The review reflects not only my opinion but his as well

Book Review: Pine and the Winter Sparrow by Alexis York Lumbard

I picked this one up from *Netgalley. I thought it would be nice to read a "winter" book in the summer. You know give the illusion of coolness...or Christmas in July kinda of thing.

The book is about a sparrow who has injured his wing. He cannot migrate with the rest of his family so he tries to find a place to live through the winter. He approaches tree after tree but they all turn him away. Pine is the only one that accepts him. That is why pines stay green all winter long.

Ok so I hate having to be so honest but this book really was not for me. Normally I love retellings of different stories from different cultures. Hence why I do Thursday's Tales with CarolsNotebook. There was just something very off putting about this. It read more like Christian Children's Fiction than it did of a native american story.

That being said the illustrations were great. I loved how the pine tree needles almost looked like feathers. It was pretty to look at.

As for my son...well I think he picked up on my squirming during this book and I think his reaction to it was affected by my reaction to it. So I'm having a hard time gauging what this one is actually rated at.

I'm going to go with a middle of the road 3 out of 5 stars.












*I received a free copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion
**This book was read with my special needs son who is severely learning disabled. The review reflects not only my opinion but his as well

Book Review: Magic Words: From the Ancient Oral Tradition of the Inuit by Edward Field

Ok so I've requested a lot from *Netgalley lately...too much. So I'm trying to put out all of my reviews of books I requested before I start getting request happy again. This is one of the books I recently requested. I thought the cover looked interesting and how often do you find books from Inuit tales?

Magic Words tells the story of when people could turn into animals and animals could turn into people. Words were special and if you spoke it things would happen.

The ironic thing is that Magic Words is fairly light on words. But what is not light on is beautiful illustrations. These were downright gorgeous. The native feeling comes through them and the colors are perfectly picked. This is one where you pause to look over the whole picture before you move onto the next page.

My son couldn't quite follow the flow of the story but he did enjoy looking at the pictures. I think that it had something to do with the almost stilted like writing that he couldn't quite follow. I think the writing lended to being just like a book being transcribed from oral stories. But in this case it was a little harder for my son.

4 out of 5 stars.





*I received a free copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion
**This book was read with my special needs son who is severely learning disabled. The review reflects not only my opinion but his as well

Book Review: Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton by Don Tate

It seemed rather poignant that I read this book. With the last few months showing that sadly racism has not died I thought it important to introduce my son to dark time in our history...Slavery. I doubt that my son will ever understand white privilege (sadly most white people don't). But I'm happy to say that he is raised in a family where we know that is not the color of your skin that matters but rather who you are as a person.

George Moses Horton was a slave in North Carolina. From an early age he loved words and eventually taught himself how to read. Soon he was composing poems of his own and memorizing them. While selling fruit on the weekends at a college campus he would recite his poems and was making money by selling his poetry.

I have to admit I had never heard of George Moses Horton before today. So for me this was a fascinating read. I intend to look more into him because it really was a remarkable story. My son seemed to do ok with the story. At one point I asked him if he knew what slavery was. He didn't. I tried my best to explain it but how does one explain something so evil as that?

I loved the illustrations. The soft colors were perfect and this was another childrens book that did the artwork just right. I couldn't tell what my son thought of the drawings.

5 out of 5 stars.






*I received a free copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion
**This book was read with my special needs son who is severely learning disabled. The review reflects not only my opinion but his as well

Book Review: Four Eyes Volume 1: Forged in Flame (Remastered) by Joe Kelly

I want to read more comics/graphic novels. I keep saying to myself you love art so much you HAVE to start it now. Well when I saw this on *Netgalley I was transfixed by the cover. I just HAD to check it out.

Four Eyes tells the story of a young boy name Enrico. Taking place in an alternate 1930's, his father is a dragon hunter. When his father dies one day Enrico and his mother are left to fend for themselves. Enrico is exposed to the world of dragon fighting and is soon well over his head.

I was so in love with this! I didn't want to stop reading and soaking in the incredible artwork. The story line was captivating. I don't even know where to start because I'm fangirling it hardcore right now. I mean literally I thought that this was one of the best comics I've ever read. Now to be fair I haven't read very many but it doesn't matter. I could read comic like this all day every day.

The plot was interesting and I love that the main character was a little boy forced to be the man of the house. I love that he is stubborn and has tons of courage but at the same time he is full of heart and cares very deeply for his mom. Him mom is not the best but you can tell she is struggling to do the best that she can.

The art in this...OH MY GOD! This perhaps more than anything has me squirming with delight. It's the tiny details that get to me such as one of the pictures of Enrico shows one of his shoelaces untied. Such a minor thing but it made it all the more powerful and totally gave a complete picture of a little boy trying to make in an adult world.

I tried to see if there were any more in the series but so far from what I've seen there was just Volume 1. If I find out more were done I'm totally there!

With out a doubt this was solid 5 out of 5!!!!!!!!




*I recieved a review copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.