Archive for List

Into Africa cover

My TBR Challenge 2019

By Jan
 on June 23, 2019

I’ve been reading (ahem…) about book challenges this week and remembering my previous attempts to keep up with them. I’m fairly sure I failed 90 percent of the time. Regardless, I’m ready to take one on again!A Journey Through Texas cover

What’s that you ask? “Why would you do that again, given your track record?” I enjoyed the 2018 Reading Challenge at Goodreads, and I did well, for a change. Maybe I’m flushed with my success and ready to repeat it.

Whatever the reason, I’m doing something a little different—at least, for me.

One of the (many) things I love about reading is actually the acquisition of the books. I love buying books of all kinds and keeping track of them. I have hundreds of unread books in my Kindle Library and quite a few in my Audible library. For 2019, I want to read books I ALREADY OWN. Thus, I’m borrowing the To-Be-Read (TBR) Challenge from other sources for myself.

The following books I have already acquired are on my reading list for 2019:

  1. Quite Ready To Be Sent Somewhere: The Civil War Letters Of Aldace Freeman Walker by Thomas Ledoux [ebook and paperback][COMPLETE]
  2. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah [audiobook] [COMPLETE]
  3. The Forever Life (The Forever Series Book 1) by Craig Robertson [ebook]
  4. The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick [audiobook] [COMPLETE]
  5. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt [ebook]
  6. A Journey Through Texas, Or, A Saddle-trip on the Southwestern Frontier (1857) by Frederick Law Olmsted [ebook and paperback][COMPLETE]
  7. Dread Nation by Justina Ireland [audiobook] [COMPLETE]
  8. The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell: A Novel by Robert Dugoni [ebook]
  9. Then She Was Gone: A Novel by Lisa Jewell [audiobook] [UNFINISHED]
  10. Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone by Martin Duga [ebook][COMPLETE]
  11. Forsaken Kingdom (The Last Prince Book 1) by J.R. Rasmussen  [ebook]
  12. Crow Hollow by Michael Wallace [audiobook]

Updated 8-30-2019

In categories List, Reading Tagged with ,
King Arthur-Keira Knightly

“Best Of” War Movies

By Jan
 on January 13, 2019

Here I present a few special awards for the “best of” films about war. This is not an all-inclusive list, of course, but some of the highlights. Enjoy, and if you don’t agree with my choices, let me know.

Best use of animals in combat scenes: “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” (2003) – the oliphants (Mumakil), the horses, the eagles, and of course, the moth. 🙂

Most cinematic battle scene: Tough one…there are so many, but the final battle scene from “We Were Soldiers” is at the top (also for the music). Alternatives: Ride of the Valkyries from “Apocalypse Now” (1979); Attack on Aqaba from “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962)

Most realistic battle scene: “Saving Private Ryan” (1998) on Omaha Beach is the absolute winner [not for the faint of heart]; Alternate: Little Round Top from “Gettysburg” (1993)

Best one-to-one battle in a war movie: Hector vs Achilles in “Troy” (2004);

Best chase scene in a war movie: Steve McQueen on a motorcycle in “The Great Escape” (1963); Alternate: Frank Sinatra running for the train in “Von Ryan’s Express” (1965)

Best use of music for a war movie: “Schindler’s List” (1993); Alternates:”Enemy at the Gates” (2001),”Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957)

Best war movie costumes: You wouldn’t normally think war movies would be in the running for best costumes at all, but in this case, it would have to be the Picts in “King Arthur,” (2004) especially Keira Knightley in the leather straps and blue paint. Alternates: “The Last Samurai” (2003) and “Ran” (1985)

King Arthur-Keira Knightly

Photo by Jonathan Hession – © 2004 Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. All rights reserved.

Most poignant scene in a war film: The Death of Sgt. Elias in “Platoon” (1986); Alternate: The Russian Roulette scene from “The Deer Hunter.”

Made you jump moment:  The cannonball from “The Patriot” (2000) at the Battle of Camden

Most difficult war movie to watch: “Restrepo” (2010), because it’s not fiction.

In categories List, Movies Tagged with ,
Ereader photo

The Three Best Sources of Free or Discounted Ebooks

By Jan
 on January 30, 2016

I’ve tried many sources for ebooks and have found the following three to be the best for me.

All of these:

  • Are completely free to use. They use affiliate links to booksellers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, and more, which is how they make money.
  • Allow you to choose only the genres you wish to see
  • Include the cover and a blurb about the book so you can see more about it
  • Send out one email message a day
  • Allow you to browse their web site instead of receiving an email message
  • Have contests and giveaways you may enter
  • Include a blog on their site with articles of interest to readers

 

1. Book Gorilla

Offers many categories and sub-categories for types of books you wish to see:

Book Gorilla choices

And a maximum number of books you want to see in each email message:

Book Gorilla choices

EXAMPLE ENTRY (1-30-2016) Click to see a larger version.

Book Gorilla example entry

2. BookBub

EXAMPLE ENTRY (1-30-2016) Click to see a larger version.

BookBub example entry

3. Sweet Free Books [No longer working]

EXAMPLE ENTRY (1-30-2016) Click to see a larger version.

SweetFreeBooks example

Give these a try and see how you like them and please leave me a comment.

In categories List, Reading
The Walls of the Universe cover

San Antonio Books Lovers Meetup, Feb. 14, 2015

By Jan
 on February 15, 2015

These are the books that were discussed today at our Book Lovers Swap at the Brook Hollow Library:The Walls of the Universe cover

Strangers in Death by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) – 26th Eve Dallas mystery
Blind Man’s Bluff by Faye Kellerman – 18th Decker/Lazarus mystery
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
The Hormone Factory: A Novel by Saskia Goldschmidt
The Harvest Man (Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad) by Alex Grecian – 4th in the series
I Still Dream About You by Fanny Flagg
Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny – 6th Chief Insp. Armand Gamache mystery
For the King by Catherine Delors
The Walls of the Universe by Paul Melko
Midnight’s Children: A Novel by Salman Rushdie
The Microbiome Diet: The Scientifically Proven Way to Restore Your Gut Health and Achieve Permanent Weight Loss by  Raphael Kellman, MD
The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science RevWhat Are You Hungry For? covereals How We Can Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer by Gretchen Reynolds
What Are You Hungry For?: The Chopra Solution to Permanent Weight Loss, Well-Being, and Lightness of Soul by Deepak Chopra
A Murder is Announced: A Miss Marble Mystery by Agatha Christie
The Art of the English Murder: From Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock by Lucy Worsley
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas
Nemesis: A Marcus Didius Falco Novel by Lindsey Davis – 20th in the series
The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
Black Coffee (Hercule Poirot Mysteries) by Agatha Christie
Divergent by Veronica Roth – first in the series
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The UnStoppables: Tapping Your Entrepreneurial Power by Bill Schley
Success at Life: How to Catch and Live Your Dream: A Zentrepreneur’s Guide by Stuart Avery Gold and Ron RubinThe Lost City of Z cover
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (3rd in the Millennium Trilogy) by Stieg Larsson
Hitler’s Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields by Wendy Lower
The Hope We Seek: A Novel by Rick Shapiro
Barefoot: A Novel by Elin Hilderbrand
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Help for the Haunted: A Novel (P.S.) by John Searles
Flight Behavior: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver
The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Book 1) by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Lucia Graves
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Practice to Deceive by Ann Rule
Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore
(Bite me)
I May Not Be Totally Perfect, but Parts of Me Are Excellent by Ashleigh Brilliant
Clouds of Witness (A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery) by Dorothy L. SayersThe Shadow of the Wind cover
The Lover by Marguerite Duras
Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Yellow Birds: A Novel by Kevin Powers
The Invention of Wings: A Novel by Sue Monk Kidd
Remarkable Creatures: A Novel by Tracy Chevalier
Rachel’s Folly by Monica Bruno
Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II’s Most Audacious General by Bill O’Reilly
Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges (The book that inspired the film “The Imitation Game”)
The Street Lawyer by John Grisham
The Black Cat: A Richard Jury Mystery (#22) by Martha Grimes
Mental Floss presents Forbidden Knowledge: A Wickedly Smart Guide to History’s Naughtiest Bits
Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice by A.S. Byatt
The Little Black Book of Stories by A.S. Byatt
St. Burl’s Obituary by Daniel AkstThe Historian cover
The Mystery of the Hidden Room by Marion Harvey
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Navigating the Tides of Change: Stories from Science, the Sacred, and a Wise Planet by David La Chapelle
The Sun magazine
I’ll Never Bother You Again, a short story by Heather Sellers
Apartment 5, a short story by Kelly Grey Carlisle

Have you found any from this list that you especially liked? What is on your to-be-read list?

In categories Book Club, List
The Borough Press logo

For Twitter Users: Book A Day

By Jan
 on June 8, 2014

The Borough Press in London has launched a fun meme for those of you who use Twitter. It’s called “Book A Day” and uses the following list for the month of June:

Book A Day list

Simply tweet once a day, answering the corresponding query for the day of the month, and include the #bookaday hashtag and a photo of the appropriate book if you can. Although I’m a little late with this, I’m going to follow along. It looks fun and something that others can adapt for their own use.

You can find me on Twitter at @mcfitzsatx and this meme at #bookaday.

In categories List, Reading Tagged with
Age of Wonder cover

My To-Be-Read Pile: Non-fiction

By Jan
 on May 24, 2014

I have a very long list of books on my Kindle wish list on Amazon.com: currently 142 books. There are many historical novels, fantasies and science-fiction, and historical mysteries. The rest are non-fiction, and I thought I thought I’d start with a few from that group. Hopefully, you will find one that sounds good and add it to your own list.

What is on your list of TBR? Can you categorize them easily, or are they eclectic? What is on the top of the list?

The Business Card: How a few words on a business card changed a man… by Steve Steff
“… beautifully describes the life changing experience of a successful business owner as he chooses to live out a commitment to God and a love for others.”

Business Card cover

Cat Sense: How the New Feline Science Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet by John Bradshaw
“… renowned anthrozoologist John Bradshaw takes us further into the mind of the domestic cat than ever before, using cutting-edge scientific research to explain the true nature—and needs—of our feline friends.”

Cat Sense cover

The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet: Activate Your Body’s Natural Ability to Burn Fat and Lose Weight Fast by Mark Hyman
“Based on Dr. Hyman’s groundbreaking Blood Sugar Solution program, THE BLOOD SUGAR SOLUTION 10-DAY DETOX DIET presents strategies for reducing insulin levels and producing fast and sustained weight loss.”

The Blood Sugar cover

It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences: A Writer’s Guide to Crafting Killer Sentences by June Casagrande
“In this wickedly humorous manual, language columnist June Casagrande uses grammar and syntax to show exactly what makes some sentences great—and other sentences suck.”

Sentences book cover

The Strategic Web Designer: How to Confidently Navigate the Web Design Process by Christopher Butler
“More than a book about building websites, The Strategic Web Designer is your guide to thinking about the web in a strategic and comprehensive manner. Be more than just a web designer–take charge of your web projects and make yourself invaluable to clients.”

Strategic Web Designer cover

Three Squares: The Invention of the American Meal by Abigail Carroll
“Revealing how the simple gruel of our forefathers gave way to cheese puffs and moon pies, Three Squares fascinatingly traces the rise and fall of the American meal.”

Three Squares cover

The Age of Wonder: The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes
“… a colorful and utterly absorbing history of the men and women whose discoveries and inventions at the end of the eighteenth century gave birth to the Romantic Age of Science.”

Age of Wonder cover

The Doctor Wore Petticoats: Women Physicians of the Old West by Chris Enss
“… in small towns all over the west, highly trained women from medical colleges in the East took on the post of local doctor to great acclaim. These women changed the lives of the patients they came in contact with, as well as their own lives, and helped write the history of the West. In this new book, author Chris Enss offers a glimpse into the fascinating lives of ten of these amazing women.”

Doctor Wore Petticoats cover

In categories List Tagged with ,
5 gold stars

5-Star Books

By Jan
 on October 1, 2013

One of the ladies in the On the Same Page Ladies Book Club recently asked if I’ve ever given a book 5 stars. The question came about because I have yet to rate of our book club reads higher than a 3 on a 1-to-5 scale. I never thought of myself as a picky reader, but I’ve definitely become more, shall we say, discerning in the past few years. I believe that is a sign of aging… I feel as if there are far too many books for me to ever read, so I should choose the ones I really want to read. This is a variation of the “I’m on top of the food chain, so why should I eat broccoli?” argument.

Seriously? It’s because I’m as lazy as an old cat and I don’t want to bother with those literary tomes that make me think too much. Most of the time, I read to escape, so why agonize over Dostoevsky when I can romance with Devereaux? Why slug through Rousseau when I can fly with Rowling? Why wrestle with Joyce when I can joust with Jecks? Okay, that was fun, but back to the point.

Here are just a few of the many books that I have rated as deserving 5 stars (alpha by author).

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin [Duh!]

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson [The title says it all.]

Letters from an American Farmer by J. Hector St John De Crevecoeur [Early American history]

Tarzan of the Apes (free) by Edgar Rice Burroughs [Pulp fiction from the early 20th century]

A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birders and Their Quest to See It All by Luke Dempsey [non-fiction]

A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux [Yes, even romance]

Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons [Great fiction]

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann [History adventure]

Wool Omnibus Edition by Hugh Howey (Wool Part 1 is free) [Science-fiction]

West with the Night by Beryl Markham [Classic non-fiction]

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron [Aww, kitties!]

The Face of a Stranger by Anne Perry [Victorian-era historical mystery]

Faded Coat of Blue by Owen Parry [American Civil War historical mystery]

The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel by Diane Setterfield [Gothic novel]

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis [Science-fiction/romance/humor]

A Short History of Nearly Everything cover A Supremely Bad Idea cover The Thirteenth Tale cover

So, what do you think? Have you read any of these and do you agree (or disagree) with my ratings? Let me know!

 

FTC Disclosure: I have an affiliate relationship with Amazon.com. Some of the links in this post may go to their site. If you purchase something using that link, I may receive a small compensation. I am never paid to review books and am always brazenly honest (ask my husband). Thank you!

In categories List
List of books

List of Book Lists and a fun post

By Jan
 on September 2, 2013

Today I’m pointing to a fun post from Half Price Books that will bring back some memories and hopefully make some new ones. 50 Greatest Love Stories Ever Told (in a book) by Meredith celebrated “Kiss and Make Up” Day on August 25.

I like book lists. It’s fun to look through them and pick the ones you’ve read and want to read, or to wonder how in the world the author came up with that one to add to the list. Although they are usually somewhat subjective, sometimes I wonder, “What were they thinking?” It’s interesting to read the comments, too, and either chuckle, growl, or nod my virtual head at ‘omissions’ and ‘additions.’

  • I love the “Have You Read?” section in Bookmarks Magazine, which includes themed lists sent in by readers.
  • I adore Flashlight Worthy Books, a web site full of handpicked book recommendations by readers; it’s a terrific resource.
  • The Listmania feature on Amazon.com is touch and go, but contains some real gems.
  • I don’t use the Library Thing Zeigeist feature as much as I used to, but it can be extremely handy for finding books, authors, genres, and users in several different ways.
  • Goodreads has its own version of Listopia that is a very effective tool for finding old favorites and new possibilities.

Have fun with the lists, and please let me know if you have more to add.

From “50 Greatest Love Stories Ever Told (in a book)” on the HPB blog

© Jan McClintock of We Need More Shelves

In categories List Tagged with , ,
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