Taking a Break

I am taking a break from reading and reviewing books. My heart is no long in it. In fact I haven't picked up a book in weeks other than Tear Soup by Pat Schwiebert. The reason for this is my sweetheart of 35 years lost his battle with cancer. I am working my way through the grieving process and hope to be able to do the things I once enjoyed! Right now I am in survival mode as one of my friends call it. I do believe I will be making my own Tear Soup for a long time!

~The Ice Princess~

The Ice Princess is the first in three part series of detective novels by Swedish author, Camilla Läckberg. This book is set in Fjällbacka, the coastal village where Camilla was born.

~Matched and Crossed~

Ally Condie announced that she is giving away galley copies of Crossed on all three of her web sites. I loved the Matched and meeting Ally when she presented at the Local Authors Book Group for Teachers. I don't know about the rest of you, but I am on pins and needles with excitement for Crossed. Submit your entry for an ARC copy at:
Monday, March 21:The Matched Department
Wednesday, March 23: The-Society.NET
Friday, March 25: http://community.livejournal.com/matched_trilogy
Good-luck!

~The Land of the Painted Caves~

Yeah, my book came today! The sixth and last book in Earth's Children Series by Jean Auel. I won it on Goodreads! Thanks so much! I am excited to read it. The trouble I am having is deciding if I should go back and read the series again. It has been so long since that last one came out and this is an advanced copy. So cool! Maybe I will just jump into it like I did with each of the Harry Potter books. Hmmm ...... jumping!

~The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard~

The Story Of Stuff was not at all what I expected. I was hoping for a book that the everyday reader would understand.This book had some interesting concepts but reminded me too much of a textbook. As I do with most textbooks, I skim and not deep read. Being a teacher I had taken several courses on ecology and the environmental impact of man. I found nothing new in this book but updated statistics.

I would recommend it for use as a college or high school text. Annie Leornard's approach isn't as dry as the typical textbook.
What I found interesting about Ms. Leonard was her thoughts on books vs. electronic reading devices. I don't agree with her on this point.Sure the readers are another electronic device, but think of all the trees being saved. Most people, including me, keep the same ereader device for years. When a new version is released, the old one is passed on to other family members. Each device holds thousands of books. Yeah, there are book swaps and such, but isn't her book adding to the pile of "stuff?" I am guessing her book will not be available electronically! This book was given to me by Free Press Blog Tours.