Top Ten Authors That Deserve More Recognition | Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday | The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. 

If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

This week’s topic: 

Top Ten Authors That Deserve More Recognition
Click here to see the future Top Ten Tuesday schedule. Next week Capillya from That Cover Girl is tackling top ten book covers you wish you could redesign (doesn’t even have to be because you don’t like it…just maybe if you have a cool idea for it!)

1. Beth Revis debuted recently with Across the Universe. Just this past weekend, I read the near 400 page book. She may be relatively unrecognized at the moment but I see that changing.

 

2.Winifred Watson wrote Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. This fairy tale set in 1930s London lifts the spirits. Yet, when the movie came out, I requested the book through inter-library loan. Once I read the book, copies for my local library system arrived.

3. Jeffrey Eugenides turns out a book roughly each decade. People see his genius. . . if only there were more!

4. Anya Seton wrote Katherine, the story of the real Katherine Swynford. Seton influenced others such as Philippa Gregory in the historical fiction genre.

5. Katherine Howe began with The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. In this book, Howe exhibited a fantastic take on the Salem Witch Trials. Her descriptions gave readers what they needed to see what was taking place. I can’t wait for more.

6. Rebecca Skloot’s star is on the rise. With The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, more solid nonfiction from this writer.

7. Stephen King receives a lot a recognition. However, I want to call attention to his more humanistic morality plays such as The Dead Zone and The Green Mile.

8. John Green wrote the highly amusing An Abundance of Katherines. When I read it, I couldn’t stop laughing. Definitely needs more attention.

9. Michele Andrea Bowen wrote Church Folk. She’s my sort of Christian Fiction writer – not sanctimonious at all. Her frank delivery and believable characters rock.

10. Julia Alvarez revived the Mirabal sisters by writing In the Time of the Butterflies. These characters have remained with me for nearly thirteen years. Yes, people hail Alvarez but not enough.

 

The Book of Judges

Judges – NIV archaeological study Bible: An Illustrated walk through Biblical history and culture. (2005). Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan. 9780310938521.

Judges was the third book I completed in the Read through the Bible Challenge. As it falls under the heading of “History,” this book follows Joshua in the Christian Bible.

This book is part of the Hebrew Tanakh. The introduction offers a summary of the Joshua. Beyond that, it entails the time that the judges ruled Israel. This period was rather bleak for the fledgling nation. Among the judges mentioned were: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Abimelech, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, and Samson. Judges ends with Israel’s decay – Micah’s idolatry and the crime at Gibeah and the War Against the Tribe of Benjamin.

This book isn’t for the faint of heart. Those Israelis just couldn’t get their acts together. God delivers them from Egyptian tyranny and to the Promised Land. Yet, this is how they behave. Humanity?! My favorite part was the part about Deborah assisting Barak.

On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:. . . (5:1)

For more on Judges and Bible-Reading Challenge, check out the following links:

• Judges 5 | YouTube
• Judges 5 – Passage Lookup – New International Version, ©2011 – BibleGateway.com
• Summary of the Book of Judges
• Archeological Study Bible
• Bible-Reading

 

Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen | LibraryThing

Gruen, S. (2007). Water for elephants. Detroit: Thomson Gale. 9781594132001

In my three years working as a librarian, I’ve observed trends in books. Patrons request various books. Time and again, patron sought Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants. This past November, a friend and I saw a trailer for the movie based on the novel. Yet, what encouraged me to read this book myself was a reader’s advisory workshop I participated in during February. I requested a large print copy through HCPL and received a copy shortly thereafter.

Gruen presents two different storylines. The first one is the young veterinarian student Jacob Janowski. He’s the son of Polish immigrants and his father is a veterinarian. His parents died in a tragic car accident and Jacob in effect drops out his veterinary program at Cornell. Then, Jacob stumbles onto the train of the traveling circus. He takes on the care of the exotic traveling menagerie of the Benzini Bros Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Traveling with the circus, Jacob meets the neurotic August, August’s wife - equestrian Marlena, and the anthropomorphized elephant, Rosie.

The other narrative thread finds the ninety-something Jacob in a nursing home. He reminisces about his circus days, the tempestuous August, and Jacob’s pining for Marlena.

I won’t reveal the ending but both threads are neatly and happily knit together. While I’m one who often favors such, it didn’t totally ring true. Also, learning that Jacob ends up in a nursing home where he’s patronized didn’t set right with me. Here’s the good news, though. I enjoyed reading about the animals, especially when Jacob found his vocational calling. Rosie the Elephant and Bobo the Chimpanzee were my favorite characters in the book.

Three Out of Five Pearls

Song: “The Show Must Go On” by Three Dog Night

Places : Upstate New York, The Midwest, Chicago, Poland

 

You might also like:

• Life of Pi by Yann Martel
• The Dead Zone by Stephen King
• Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
• The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
• Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz-Ryan
• Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

For more on Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants, check out the following sites:

• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen – Book Review on Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
• Literary Crap: Water for Elephants
• *Shopping Candy* for my first home.: Water For Elephants – Book Review

 

Top Ten Bookish Pet Peeves | Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday | The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list  that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It’s a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

This week the LOVELY Ginger from GReads is doing a guest post Top Ten Tuesday about her top ten bookish pet peeves because we ran into a jam here on the blog this week with Top Ten Tuesday and Ginger volunteered to step  up so I could have this for you all in a timely manner

Next week– Top Ten Authors That Deserve More Recognition

Being a librarian as well as a library patron, all of my pet peeves pertain to library books.

1. Barcodes/ Labels/ Stickers on book covers: This especially annoys me when the title, a character’s face, or the ISBN is obscured. Yes, I know libraries don’t want merchandise to “grow feet and walk” but it’s vandalism in my eyes.

2. Smelly books: No, I’m not talking about the scratch and sniff Strawberry Shortcake ones. Rather, I mean when the previous reader has been smoking and has left his/her scent. It’s awful when my eyes water and my nose run.

3. Paperbacks in general: Yes, I understand it’s cheaper production. . . but they’re so ephemeral. I feel guilty when I turn in a mangled looking book but it’s hard to avoid when it’s mass market. I do love library binding.

4. Rude folks who maim books: Hey, it’s your right to not like Darwinism, Wicca, sex, violence, or Dave Chapelle. Yet, don’t staple pages together, rip pages, or mark out passages you don’t find agreeable. Here’s a thought; check out something else.

5. When all 15 of my requested items arrive at the same time: So many books, so little time. Yet, I’m glad I know how to suspend my hold requests.

6. Folks who don’t return books on time: Hey, I’ve been guilty of this myself. Still and all, it gripes me when I’m the next person in line for the book.

7. Books returned in bad condition: When your dog barfs on your library books, please pay for it. No one else can read it!

8. Highlighted and/or underlined passages: They’re not textbooks. I bought mine; buy your own.

9. Books that should come with CDs but don’t: These also seem to walk.

10. Looking for a book and finding it on the bottom shelf: Yes, I’m 5’8, so bending down to pull something off of the floor practically irks me.

 

The Epistle to the Romans

* Bible Log – 2011 « Jorie’s Reads

Romans – NIV archaeological study Bible: An Illustrated walk through Biblical history and culture. (2005). Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan. 9780310938521.

The Through the Bible Challenge assigned the Epistles (letters) to Sundays. The first Epistle and second book of the Bible I finished was Romans, also known as The Epistle of Paul to the Romans. Romans is also classified as a Pauline Epistle since it was written by the Apostle Paul.

The Apostle Paul writes to the Romans, explaining that salvation is offered by Jesus Christ. Paul is both a Jew and a Roman citizen; he knows how to talk to both groups. While the good news is spreading through the Promised Land, Paul knows the message is meant to be shared with the Gentiles.Thus, Paul wants to preach to the Romans the gospel.

Throughout all the Pauline epistles, Paul’s logos appeal prevails. Since I’ve become a Christian, I’ve always heard of the Roman Road. This is where Paul establishes steps to salvation. Being a communication student, I truly appreciated this. Whereas Jesus spoke in parables, Paul talked to the “intellectuals.” He provides food for thought. Check out the verse below:

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[a] have been called according to his purpose.(8:28)

This was my first book in the New Testament to finish. While I prefer the Gospels, I still like reading New Testament books. The actualization of all is what I love best.

For more on Romans and Bible-Reading Challenge, check out the following links:

• YouTube – Salvation: Roman Road
• BibleGateway.com – Commentaries » Romans
• Archeological Study Bible
• Bible-Reading

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[a] have been called according to his purpose.z

 

Charles Webb’s The Graduate

The Graduate by Charles Webb | LibraryThing

* A 1001 Books Book

Webb, C. R., Brick, S., & Blackstone Audio (Firm). (2008). The graduate. Ashland, Or.: Blackstone Audio. 1433255456

The movie has pervaded American culture since its debut in 1967. Growing up in the 1990s, I remember listening to Simon and Garfunkel sing about Mrs. Robinson because my dad chose what music we listened to when we were driving. Like many other great movies, The Graduate was based on a book. Seeing that Houston Public Library owned the audiobook version, I requested it and was soon listening to this bildungsroman.

Brilliant but disillusioned Benjamin Braddock just graduated from some nice institution in New England and has returned home to Southern California. He’s discontented, unhappy, listless, seemingly aimless, not to mention whiny. His parents’ prodding just exacerbates the issue. Then, the wife of his father’s business partner, Mrs. Robinson, begins pressuring him into an adulterous affair. With nothing “better” to do, Benjamin finds himself meeting Mrs. Robinson in a hotel room. This is all fine and dandy until the Robinsons’ lovely daughter, Elaine comes home for a student holiday from Berkeley. Cuckolded Mr. Robinson urges Benjamin to date Elaine while Mrs. Robinson has other ideas. Then, Benjamin suddenly has something. . . rather someone, to live for beyond postgrad.

Once I recovered from my initial dislike of the petulant Benjamin, I enjoyed this morality play. Throughout most of it, I was purely disgusted by Mrs. Robinson and aggravated with the others “over thirty.” It amused me that the only characters with first names were the kiddos. . . just like school. I’d recommend this dark comedy to the mature reader.

Four Out of Five Pearls

Song: “Mrs. Robinson” by Simon and Garfunkel

Places : The East Coast, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbara

You might also like:

• 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die by Peter Boxall
• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
• July, July by Tim O’Brien
• On the Road by Jack Kerouc
• Summer of ’42 by Herman Raucher
• The Golden Ass by Apuleius

For more on Charles Webb’s The Graduate, check out the following sites:

• Book review: The Graduate, by Charles Webb – by Moe Zilla – Helium
• The Graduate by Charles Webb « BCF Book Reviews – Love books? Review books!
• Hanif Kureishi on The Graduate by Charles Webb | Books | The Guardian

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The Golden Ass

 

Top Ten Book Characters I’d Want As Family Members | Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday | The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list  that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It’s a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

This week is all about those characters in books that we wish were in our family! Next week the topic is Top Ten Bookish Pet Peeves (all those things that annoy you in a story, with book covers, bookstores, etc. My (Jamie’s) personal pet peeve–stickers on my books!) 

  1) Jubal Harshaw of Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land

  2) Carmela Corleone of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather

  3) Sofia García of Julia Alvarez’s How the García Girls Lost Their Accents

 

  4) Lola of Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao 

  5) Jack Salmon of Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones 

 

  6) Ashima Ganguli of Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake

  7) Clara del Valle Trueba of Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits

 

  8) Cordelia of William Shakespeare’s King Lear

 

  9) Mackenzie “Mack” Allen Philips of William Young’s The Shack

 

10) Elinor and Marianne Dashwood of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility

 

Lisa Jardine’s The awful end of Prince William the Silent . . .

The Awful End of Prince William the Silent by Lisa Jardine

Jardine, L. (2005). The awful end of Prince William the Silent: The first assassination of a head of state with a handgun. New York: HarperCollins. 9780060838355

My reasons for reading this book were threefold. First of all, I’m an amateur genealogist and discovered in 2010 that I may have descended from Prince William himself. Secondly, I’ve long enjoyed reading biographies and thought the True Crime genre aspect added some interest to it. Additionally, I found the reaction of William’s contemporaries to also be intriguing. Lastly, I registered to participate in 2011 Non-Fiction Challenge hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. After requesting the purchase, I happily checked out the book from HCPL.

In summary, Jardine gives the reader an overview of Protestant Prince William of Orange’s assassination by a French Catholic. Also, she sets the scene of young Holland’s struggle to overthrow the Hapsburg’s Catholic rule. She ends by describing the reactions of Elizabeth I and the birth of a nasty trend; taking out governmental leaders with bullets.

I thought Jardine did a great job in describing the players central to this episode of history. She drew Prince William, the Hapsburgs, and Balthasar Gérard very clearly. Jardine covered the points necessary without pedanticalness and I certainly appreciated that!

Four Out of Five Pearls

Places: The Netherlands, Germany, England, Spain, France

Song: “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” by Fall Out Boy

 

You might also like:

 

• The Wicked History Series by various authors
• Blood and Money by Thomas Thompson
• The Cop Who Wouldn’t Quit by Rick Nelson
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

For more on Lisa Jardine’s The awful end of Prince William the Silent: The first assassination of a head of state with a handgun, check out the following links:

• Review of The Awful End of Prince William the Silent: The First Assassination of a Head of State with a Handgun by Lisa Jardine | Revish
• The Awful End Of Prince William The Silent by Lisa Jardine – Reviews, Books – The Independent
• Number one with a bullet: Lisa Jardine pinpoints one of the moments that changed history in her engrossing The Awful End of Prince William the Silent, says Peter Preston

 

Top Ten Dynamic Duos | Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday | The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

This week’s topic:

Top Ten Dynamic Duos

These are the BFFs, partners in crime, powerful couples, and general groups of awesome people that I just can’t get out of my head! Next week–Top Ten Characters I’d Want As Family Members

1) Emma Woodhouse and George Knightley of Jane Austen’s Emma

2) Eve Dallas and Delia Peabody of J.D. Robb’s In Death series

3) Halley and Scarlett of Sarah Dessen’s Someone Like You

4) Jubal Harshaw and Valentine Michael Smith of Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land

5) Howard Roark and Dominique Francon of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead

6) Tita and Pedro of Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate

7) Lenny and George of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men

8) David and Jonathan of The Bible

9) Taylor and April of Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees

10) Eliza Sommers and Tao Chien of Isabel Allende’s Daughter of Fortune

 

Top Ten Books I Just HAD to Buy…But Are Still Sitting on My Bookshelf | Top Ten Tuesday

(Thanks to Lindsi from Books, Sweets And Other Treats for the new button!)

 

 

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. 

 

If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

 

This week’s topic: 

Top Ten Books I Just HAD To Buy…But Are Still Sitting On My Bookshelf

We all have them.  That book that you needed to buy so badly and had every intention of reading it as soon as possible…but they’re still on your bookshelf collecting dust or sitting in a pile on the floor.

All of books were bought from some library’s Friends’ group. All collect dust on my shelf because I’m busy reading the books I check out said libraries before they’re due.

1. Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway
2. Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
3. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
4. Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
5. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
6. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
7. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
8. Several of Shakespeare’s plays
9. Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
10. This is Just Exactly Like You by Drew Perry