~ Bookalicious: Thoughts on early reviewing

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my TBR list:

~ Darkness, My Old Friend by Lisa Unger, reviewed by Wendy at Caribousmom

~ Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante, reviewed by Lesley at Lesley’s Book Nook

Reading challenges:

~ Time for R.I.P. VI!

Book to movie and/or television news:

~ Showtime is developing Stephen King’s Under the Dome into a TV series.

Read-alongs:

~ Avis has posted the fourth part of our discussion about All Clear by Connie Willis. I won’t be reviewing it here, but you can read my thoughts in the comment section of her post. Of course, as it’s a read-along discussion, there are spoilers, so don’t read it if you plan to read All Clear. And if you haven’t read it, you definitely should – though read Blackout first, with All Clear handy because you won’t want to wait.

Other bookish links:

~ The Telegraph: Reading ‘can help reduce stress’

~ For fans of Connie Willis, her short story Firewatch, which relates to her Oxford time travel novels, can be read online.

Non-bookish links of interest:

~ This blogger makes some very good points: Regarding Facebook “Breast Cancer Awareness” Games

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Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ Perfect Reader by Maggie Pouncey, reviewed by Swapna at S. Krishna’s Books.

~ Glimmerglass by Jenna Black, reviewed by The Story Siren.

~ Queen of Secrets by Jenny Meyerhoff, reviewed by Amy at My Friend Amy.

~ The Maytrees by Annie Dillard, reviewed by Beth at Beth Fish Reads.

Book to TV news:

~ The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment by A.J. Jacobs has been optioned to be turned into a TV series.

Other bookish links:

~ Amy from My Friend Amy was interviewed by Mike Duran about the INSPY Awards. Remember, we are still looking for judges and we need nominations! Nominations are open for books from any publisher – not just Christian publishing houses – as long as the book deals with issues of the Christian faith. Click over to the INSPY blog for details.

~ For all of you Jamie and Claire fans out there, a CD is being released called Outlander: The Song Cycle, that tells the Outlander story in song.

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Post tags: a.j. jacobs, diana gabaldon, inspy awards, outlander, TBR list, television

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Author links:

~ Rebecca at The Book Lady’s Blog has a guest post by Beth Hoffman, author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt: Book Bloggers: Foxes of the Literary World.

Discussion starters:

~ Michelle’s Masterful Musings: Free Speech and Blogging

~ Bookstore People: If you could pick one book that would represent America to foreigners, which book would you pick?

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons, reviewed by Staci at Life in the Thumb.

~ Sleepless by Cyn Balog, reviewed by Irish at Ticket to Anywhere.

~ The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison, reviewed by Marci at Serendipitous Readings.

~ Library Wars: Love and War, Volume 1 by Kiiro Yumi, reviewed by Nicola at Back to Books.

~ WWW.Wake by Robert J. Sawyer, reviewed by Rhapsody in Books.

~ Time’s Legacy by Barbara Erskine, reviewed by Sarah at Reading the Past and Alaine at Queen of Happy Endings.

~ Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus, reviewed by Lenore at Presenting Lenore.

Other bookish links:

~ Lenore is hosting Dystopian August.

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Discussion starters:

~ The Bumbles Blog: Never apologize for what you read

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ Crossing to Safety by Wallace Earl Stegner, reviewed by Carol at Magistramater.

~ Tomorrow River by Lesley Kagen, reviewed by Susan at Bloggin’ ’bout Books.

~ The Quickening by Michelle Hoover, reviewed by Wendy at Caribousmom.

~ 100 Poems by 100 Poets: An Anthology, reviewed by Avid Reader.

~ The Great Lover by Jill Dawson, reviewed by Vasilly at 1330v.

~ The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst, reviewed by Jen at Devourer of Books – I already ordered this one!

~ Firespell by Chloe Neill, reviewed by Pam at Bookalicious.

~ The Boneshaker by Kate Milford and Andrea Offermann, reviewed by Amanda at A Patchwork of Books.

~ Twenty-Six by Leo McKay Jr., reviewed by Heather at Book Addiction.

~ Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons, reviewed by Staci at Life in the Thumb.

Book to movie news:

~ Daniel Radcliffe to star in a film version of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque.

~ Jude Law to star in the film version of The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.

Other bookish links:

~ The New Yorker: Fresh Hell – what’s behind the boom in dystopian fiction for young readers?

~ Los Angeles Times: Book bloggers catch on with publishers – featuring Trish, Amy, and Rebecca.

~ Jill at Fizzy Thoughts is hosting a group read of The Brothers Karamazov – I’m thinking about joining.

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Post tags: blogging, book to film, dystopian fiction, poetry, science fiction, TBR list, YA fiction

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Author links:

~ Shannon Hale: Morals and values and lessons, oh my!

Discussion starters:

~ Insert Suitably Snappy Title Here: Literary mashups – what do you think?

~ Book Chick City: Genre Misconceptions – have you ever been wrong?

~ Becky’s Book Reviews: Imagine a Blog(ger) Without Guilt

~ Truth, Beauty, Freedom & Books: Objective Reading

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ Folly by Marthe Jocelyn, reviewed at Emily’s Reading Room.

~ Epitaph Road by David Patneaude, reviewed at Debbie’s World of Books.

~ The Stormchasers by Jenna Blum, reviewed at Bloggin’ ’bout Books.

~ Illyria by Elizabeth Hand, reviewed at Things Mean a Lot.

~ Bleeding Heart Square by Andrew Taylor, reviewed at Novels Now.

~ Tethered by Amy MacKinnon, reviewed at Reading Thru the Night.

Other bookish links:

~ Jen at Devourer of Books is hosting Audiobook Week, June 21st through 25th. Count me in!

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Discussion starters:

~ Bookalicious: How to Write a Negative Review

~ Booklust: Commenting Etiquette

~ Rhapsody in Books: What Are Your Criteria for Following Blogs?

~ It’s All About Books: Attempting to List Genres

~ Things Mean a Lot: On the Meaning of Making Time to Read

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ Haweswater by Sarah Hall, reviewed by Fleur Fisher.

~ The New Brighton Archaeological Society by Mark Andrew Smith & Matthew Weldon, reviewed by Kristen at Bookworming in the 21st Century.

~ Skin and Bones by D.C. Corso, reviewed by Book Dilettante.

~ Claude and Camille by Stephanie Powell, reviewed by Amy at My Friend Amy.

~ Sweet Dates in Basra by Jessica Jiji, reviewed by Swapna at S. Krishna’s Books.

~ Victorian London by Liza Picard, reviewed by Nymeth at Things Mean a Lot.

~ Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, reviewed by Unfinished Person.

~ Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, reviewed by Sandy at You’ve Gotta Read This and Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit.

~ How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely, reviewed by Claire at Bookstore People.

~ She Thief by Daniel Finn, reviewed by Ladybug at Escape in a Book.

~ Hear No Evil: My Story of Innocence, Music, and the Holy Ghost by Matthew Paul Turner, reviewed by Jennifer at 5 Minutes for Books.

~ Countdown by Deborah Wiles, reviewed by Becky at Becky’s Book Reviews.

~ A Blue So Dark by Holly Schindler, reviewed by Susan at Bloggin’ ’bout Books.

~ Morning Tide by Neil M. Gunn, reviewed by Carol at Magistramater.

Reading challenges:

~ Worth Reading It is hosting the Hogwarts Reading Challenge. Lots of fun categories in this one.

~ Tasha at Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Books is hosting the Venice Challenge.

Other bookish links:

~ The 50 best author vs. author put-downs of all time

~ The 2010 Christy Award Nominees have been announced. Congratulations to Lisa Samson, Athol Dickson, and Andrew Peterson, three of my favorites.

~ It’s time to vote for your favorite post of the National Poetry Month Blog Tour. Not that I’m asking you to vote for me, but there are poetry related prizes, so if you enjoyed my post on Billy Collins, a vote would be nice.

Blogging tips:

~ The Story Siren: Blogger Meme vs. Blog Feature

Other links of interest:

~ Amy from My Friend Amy and Nicole at Linus’s Blanket have started Winsome Media Communications: “Whether we are creating your brand, building or optimizing your website, expanding your social network, or managing targeted social media campaigns, Winsome Media Communications offers several services to make the process of developing your brand online both effective and efficient.”

~ Rebecca from The Book Lady’s Blog and Michelle from Galleysmith have started a new business, Social MediU: “Inspired by the “teach a man to fish” philosophy, Social MediU provides education, training, and marketing solutions that equip you to promote yourself and your creative product effectively and efficiently.”

© CarrieK for BOOKS AND MOVIES, 2010. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blogging, poetry, reading challenges, reviews, social media, TBR list

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Any SpongeBob SquarePants fan worth his sea salt knows that this porous personality cannot get it together to pass his boat mobile driving class on the TV show. But now, thanks to THQ’s SpongeBob’s Boating Bash video game for the Nintendo Wii™ and Nintendo DS™, players can help SpongeBob earn his boating license and learn the basic acronym of D.R.I.V.E., a set of principles that any boating novice needs to ace the big test. So get ready to drive customizable boat mobiles and compete against your favorite SpongeBob SquarePants characters in the many zany arenas that wait in SpongeBob’s first demolition derby style game, SpongeBob’s Boating Bash!

This game has quickly become one of my boys’ favorites – they keep coming back to it over and over again, and so far, the excitement hasn’t died down, like it usually does after the “newness” of a new game wears off. They say that it reminds them of MarioKart, which they have played at their friends’ house and also enjoyed very much.

The boys – and Natalie, when she’s in the mood – can all race against each other, or they can play a demolition derby style game. They get to pick their boats and their characters and unlock different characters and better boats and higher levels. They definitely say this game is a keeper!

Noah’s review: Spongebob’s Boating Bash is one of the most fun Wii games I have ever played. You can do something that is like bumper cars, where you try to smash your opponents’ boats into nothing. Or you can race and bash at the same time and try to get to the finish line first. 4 and a half stars.

Here’s the game trailer:

Spongebob’s Boating Bash is available now for both the Wii and the Nintendo DS.

Disclosure: Spongebob’s Boating Bash was provided to me by The Highwater Group for the purpose of review. The above link is an Amazon affiliate link. If you click on the link and subsequently purchase anything, I will receive a small percentage in commission.

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Author links:

~ The Page Flipper has a guest post by Carrie Ryan, author of The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead-Tossed Waves.

~ Allison Winn Scotch, author of Time of My Life: Book Bloggers – Their Time Has Come.

~ Neil Gaiman writes for the Guardian on what it’s like to go to the Oscars.

~ Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit posted about seeing author Tim O’Brien in Washington, D.C., on the 20th anniversary of his Vietnam War novel, The Things They Carried.

~ Wendy at Caribousmom has a guest post by Tatjana Soli, author of The Lotus Eaters, which I am currently reading and finding very excellent.

~ Patrick Ness, author of The Knife of Never Letting Go, has some cool news about his next book.

Discussion starters:

~ Farm Lane Books: Does the age of the author matter?

~ My Books. My Life: The results are in on memes.

~ One Literature Nut: What Should Come First, the Book or the Film?

~ 1330v: What inspires you to keep blogging?

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ The Last River Child by Lori Ann Bloomfield, reviewed by Chris at Book-a-rama.

~ 1916: A Novel of the Irish Rebellion by Morgan Llywelyn, reviewed at Truth in Fiction.

~ The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers by Thomas Mullen, which I found on the author’s web site when writing my review of The Last Town on Earth.

Book lists:

~ Library Journal: 20 Core Steampunk Titles

Reading challenges:

~ Bibliobabe has compiled a list of all the current reading challenges – enough to keep you busy for a long, long time – all on one page. Very handy.

Book to movie news:

~ Keira Knightley, Eric Bana, and Richard Gere have been cast in the film version of the novel The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud.

~ Kate Hudson, Ginnifer Goodwin, and John Krasinski have been cast in the film version of the novel Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin.

Other bookish links:

~ I set up a page for Books and Movies on Facebook, so if you’re on FB, please feel free to “become a fan.”

© CarrieK for BOOKS AND MOVIES, 2010. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: authors, blogging, book to film, reading challenges, TBR list

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Since I didn’t do a links post last week, I have a ton of links to share with you. I didn’t get to them on time for Saturday, though, so the Sunday Salon it is.

Author links:

~ Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit has a guest post from Jamie Ford, author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: Writing Spaces and Other Forms of Solitary Confinement.

~ Patrick Ness, author of The Knife of Never Letting Go, appeared on Good Morning, New Zealand.

Discussion starters:

~ Booklust: What Makes You Unsubscribe?

~ A Striped Armchair: How I Read

~ Book Chick City: Reviews – Long or Short?

~ Michelle at My Books. My Life asks for your thoughts on memes.

~ Devourer of Books: Say Yes to the Book

~ A Striped Armchair: On the Validity of Audiobooks

~ Michelle’s Masterful Musings: Why Blog?

~ My Friend Amy: Literary Identity and the Weight of Recommendations

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ The Disappeared by Kim Echlin, reviewed by Jill at Fizzy Thoughts.

~ Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, reviewed by Jenn at Jenn’s Bookshelves.

~ When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, reviewed by Tim Challies.

~ Postcards from a Dead Girl by Kirk Farber, reviewed by Amy at Steele on Entertainment.

~ Merlin’s Harp by Anne Crompton, reviewed by Pam at Bookalicious.

~ Castle in the Air by Judy Corbett, reviewed by Cathy at Kittling Books.

~ Bellfield Hall by Anna Dean, reviewed by Aarti at Booklust.

~ Angelology by Danielle Trussoni, reviewed by Swapna at S. Krishna’s Books.

~ The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow, reviewed by Amy at Steele on Entertainment.

~ The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips, reviewed by Jane at Fleur Fisher Reads.

Book lists:

~ Robin at My Two Blessings posts a list of 50 of the best Irish books.

Book to movie news:

~ There will be a film version of one of my favorite books: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It will star Christoph Waltz as August, Reese Witherspoon as Marlena, and Robert Pattinson as Jacob Jankowski. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Giveaways:

~ Win The Fiddler’s Gun by A.S. Peterson at Escape in a Book.

Other bookish links:

~ Persnickety Snark: Top 100 YA Titles Poll

~ Truth, Beauty, Freedom and Books: Suggestions for Reading Classics.

~ Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon returns April 10th. Volunteers are needed, if you’re interested in doing more than reading.

~ Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit is calling for bloggers to help celebrate National Poetry Month in April.

~ L.A. Times: Young adult lit comes of age

~ EW has a first look at the cover of Cassandra Clare’s next novel, Clockwork Angel.

~ I have a guest post up at Po(sey) Sessions: James Dashner and the Male Reader

~ A video that every reader, teacher, and parent will love:

~ And just because he’s gorgeous, here’s Hugh Jackman dancing in a Lipton Iced Tea commercial.

© CarrieK for BOOKS AND MOVIES, 2010. | Permalink | 24 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: audiobooks, authors, blogging, book to film, classics, TBR list

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Disney celebrates a modern-day classic from the directors of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. Discover what really happened after the princess kissed the frog in an inspired twist on the world’s most famous kiss. This hilarious adventure leaps off the screen with stunning animation, irresistible music and an unforgettable cast of characters.

Enter Princess Tiana’s world of talking frogs, singing alligators and lovesick fireflies as she embarks on an incredible journey through the mystical bayous of Louisiana. Spurred on by a little bit of courage and a great big dream, these new friends come to realize what’s truly important in life…love, family and friendship.

Overflowing with humor and heart, The Princess and the Frog is an incredible motion picture experience your whole family will want to enjoy again and again!

The kids and I absolutely loved The Princess and the Frog. Lately, it seems like the best Disney movies have been coming from Pixar, but I liked the return to the older style of animation I loved in The Little Mermaid and The Beauty and the Beast. The Cajun music was absolutely fantastic, and I love the fact that the princess was African-American, the prince was Hispanic, and no big deal was made of it. And, unlike a lot of the Disney animated sequels that have come out, this one had a terrific story and character development. Shocking how that makes a film better, but it does!

Here’s hoping that this movie means Disney is back on track with their non-computer animated division. I look forward to more animated features like this one.

Oh, and all four of my kids loved it – even my three boys.

The Princess and the Frog will be available on DVD on March 16th.

(Disclosure: The Princess and the Frog was provided to me by Click Communications for the purpose of review. The above links are Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one and subsequently purchase anything, I will receive a small commission.)

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