Show Us Your Books Link-Up: November 2017

Yay, SUYB! This month was a pretty good month...a lot of books that were okay-ish but a few standouts.

The Connected Child by Karen Purvis

This is really highly recommended in the foster care/adoption blogosphere. It was...okay. There was some helpful tips and coping mechanisms and information, but the presentation was a little dry and repetitive. I took some great notes but also had to force read parts.

★★★

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

This has been sitting on my Nook app forever. It was good, a good thriller for October. Some points were a little on-the-nose regarding descriptions and feelings...I like a little more subtext. But overall a good read with some disturbing moments (I skipped some of the violent, sexual descriptions).

★★★★

 

Turtles All The Way Down by John Green

This book is standard John Green in a lot of ways, which I personally love! 

I know some people think John Green is over-hyped as an author; if that's you, I'm not sure this book will change your mind. I'd still go for it if you are really interested in an Own Voices depiction of OCD and anxiety, but much like real life a person is not separate from their mental illness...it's still very much his voice and style and story.

Personally, I really enjoyed this slightly different twist from a favorite author and will re-read soon. I also got my signed copy which is always nice :) 

★★★★★

 

 Pride's Run by Cat Kalen

This has been on my Nook app for ages...maybe a Nook Free Friday? It's a pretty typical supernatural YA novel, about a teen girl who is...basically a type of werewolf. It's okay, held the interest fairly well but I'm not in a rush to get to the rest of the series. 

★★★

 Uninvited by Lisa TerKeurst

This is a somewhat standard self-help Christian book...but there is a reason these keep getting published. It was good to read and remember what my focus in life should be (and it isn't popularity). I'd recommend for the right person at the right time...basically if this sounds like something you'd like to read, do it. If not, you're probably not missing out.  

★★★★

What have you been reading this month?

Link-up & share!

Erin's Reading Challenge 7.0- I'm done!

I finished this challenge months ago, it seems, but didn't update. I really enjoyed almost all of theses books, which you probably know if you have been reading and seeing my Show Us Your Books posts.

The Banned Book choice was Faulkner and as a good Southern girl I wanted to love it...but it was terrible.

• 5 points: Freebie – Read a book that is at least 200 pages 
• A Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers

• 10 points: Read a book that starts with the letter “B”
• Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson
• Library, physical copy

• 10 points: Read a book that has a (mostly) yellow cover
• Texts from Jane Eyre by Mallory Ortberg
• Library, physical copy

•  15 points: Read a book that has a picture of an animal on the cover (submitted by Mattie) 
• The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well by Meik Wiking
• Library, physical copy

• 20 points: Read a book that was published in 2017
• The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli 
• Library, physical copy

• 20 points: Read a book with a compass or cardinal direction in the title (submitted by Mary) 
• Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

•  25 points: The ALA’s “Banned Books Week” occurs while our challenge is happening. Read a book from this list of the most commonly banned books in America (submitted by Christina)
• As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner 
• Library, e-book

•  30 points: Read a fictional book about mental illness (submitted by Jamie)
• Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
• Library, physical copy

• 30 points: Read a book with a non-human main character; i.e. animals, elves, gods, robots, merpeople, etc. (submitted by Bev)
•  The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
• Own e-book

• 35 points: Read a book a Disney movie was based on OR a book based on a Disney movie (submitted by Kirsten- don’t forget to check that the book is at least 200 pages)
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
• Own physical copy
• Okay, I just can't get into it. I was reading this to Babycakes and it's fine...but so disjointed and there's no overarching narrative and I just can't get into it.

So I guess I technically didn't complete the challenge...but I'm totally done.

If you are doing the challenge, how's it coming along?

Words are Weird

I'm a reader, and a kind-of writer or blogger or whatever you call it. I tend to enjoy words. Not just words put together to form a book but words in general.

Words can be super weird. The same word can mean different things, or change meanings over time. Or just mean different things in different countries- or different parts of the same country!

In fact, while this post was sitting in draft this video about words that changed meanings was posted on Mental Floss and Amber from The Sensible Mama did a collab with a northern friend that resulted from confusing everyday conversations.

This comes up a lot in the Facebook groups in I'm in for Bullet Journaling. It's hard to define a bullet journal for a lot of people. I think this is because it is a combination of several things, and each person can add or subtract or prioritize different aspects of it. But it came up in a conversation that the word "diary" means different things in the USA and the UK.

Here in the US we typically use diary to refer to a journaling of thoughts, sometimes daily. Apparently in the UK is refers to what I would call a planner- a system of organizing events and dates usually following a calendar method.

There's no real point to this.

Just...it's worth considering when having a conversation I guess.

Semantics matter to a lot of people. It can affect things.

It's hard for me sometimes- especially when "discussing" things with Tank. Or at work when I'm training people. I have forwarded emails to my supervisors with the apology "Hello, XYZ problem, but I have run out of ways to say this. Any suggestions or assistance would be greatly appreciated."

I  can't do that with Tank...but sometimes I need to.

I need to figure out how to use words and understand them better, even when they don't make sense.