April Graphic Novel Reviews Part One

Ocean

I'm torn on this one. I really liked parts of it but I disliked others. I wanted more at times. It should have been a series rather than one volume.

El Deafo
A fantastic story about a deaf girl navigating school and life. I loved everything about this. Recommended for middle grades and up.

Sisters
It was a likable story but being an only child, I couldn't relate.

Earthlight vol 1

A story about teens and their families living on the moon. Good story, had a good twist at the end that made me put the second volume on my tbr list.

I knew this month I'd have too many graphic novels for one post. So see next week's installment for more!

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Brooklyn, Burning

I heard good things about this one.

I Am Her Revenge

Interesting sounding new YA.

What did you get this week? Share below!

Teaser Tuesday-One For The Books by Joe Queenan

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Books did not need to be beautiful back in the Fifties, because nothing else was beautiful back then. Books were simply there; you read them because they were diverting or illuminating or in some way useful not because the books themselves were aesthetically appealing. "
pg 54 One For The Books by Joe Queenan

Delicious Foods by James Hannaham

I heard about Delicious Foods from an ad on Goodreads. The title caught my eye but I noticed that it wasn't a book about food but it still sounded interesting. I put it on hold at the library and was surprised how quickly I got it. Delicious Foods was a difficult book to read at times but was very captivating and heartbreaking.

The story alternates between Eddie who's about 12 at the start of the story and his mother, Darlene. After Eddie's father dies, Darlene struggles to remain stable and provide for Eddie. One day, she gets an offer to work at Delicious Foods where she'll be paid well and be able to provide for her son. Sadly, that's not what happens and Darlene becomes an indentured servant for Delicious Foods, leaving Eddie without a mother or father.

The book was hard to read for two different reasons. First, some very terrible and painful things happen to the characters in the book. Hannaham doesn't flinch in showing the violence that people can inflict on one another. Second,  most of Darlene's chapters are actually narrated by her drug of choice, crack cocaine, which she calls Scotty. Sometimes these chapters are incoherent and difficult to follow. I got used to it. Hannaham does an excellent job though of making you care for these characters. After the first chapter, I had to know how these characters got to were they were when I met them and where they were going to go.

Overall, I liked Delicious Foods. If you do read it, you have to be prepared for some brutal scenes and a lot of heartache. It might not be something you can read all at once, Hannaham does such a good job of making these characters real that I needed breaks from them. Others who shared their thoughts on Delicious Foods:Kathy Reads Fiction.River City Reading,and Alison Mccarty.

What To Eat This Week

Last week was another one of those weeks. I had a migraine on Tuesday.  I went to get a massage hoping it would relieve some of the pain and wound up in worse pain than before. The whole week was physical painful and stressful. I'm glad it's over. Here's to a better week!

 Bacon Apple Smothered Pork Chops with mashed potatoes and sauteed zucchini and yellow squash- I've made this before and it was a hit again. So yummy!

Zucchini Frittata-Our usual spinach frittata with leftover sauteed zucchini and yellow squash

Chicken Marsala over pasta- I used chicken tenders and this recipe was ready in no time. Would definitely make again.

 Paleasagna

Dinner with friends

Dinner with friends

Honey Sriracha Chicken

Date night with Tai

Dinner with friends

 Skillet Spinach Pie

What's on your menu this week?

Readathon End of The Event Survey

This readathon felt off to me. It could have been that this previous week so stressful and the idea of just sitting and reading wasn't working for me. Or maybe I expected too much. I still had fun especially toward the end. 

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? After we came back from lunch, I tried to read but was too sleepy. I took a nap for a bit.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? I always like novellas and graphic novels. Super easy to read and fun. I saw a lot more people reading graphic novels which made my heart happy.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? It's gotten so big. I imagine that it's tough for the planners. Kudos to them for all their hard work.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? For me, cheering. I'd done less cheering in the past. But I did more cheering this time around. Go #teamrogue!
5. How many books did you read? 6
6. What were the names of the books you read? A Right To Be Hostile, The Sword vol 2, The Sword vol 3, The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam, We Should All Be Feminists, Alex + Ada  vol 1.
7. Which book did you enjoy most? I liked Alex + Ada more than I thought I would. We Should All Be Feminists was amazing. 
8. Which did you enjoy least? A Right To Be Hostile was a bit dated so it wasn't as provocative or funny as it would have been in 2003.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? The cheerleaders did an excellent job!
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I've got the October date on my calendar and plan to participate.

Readathon-Midway Post

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now?
I just finished a book so I haven't grabbed another one.
2. How many books have you read so far?
One. 
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
Not sure. I'm hoping to read more. 
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
So this has been my day: Woke up, made breakfast, cheered, read, went to lunch, took a nap, read. Dinner will probably be in 2 hours so hoping for more reading and cheering.
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
Nothing. I've learned to go with the flow.

Readathon-The Start

Ok, it's four hours after my official start time. When I woke up round 5am, i had a headache so I decided to go back to sleep. Headache's better so here we go.

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
A suburb of Seattle, WA.
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Hereville for the graphic novels and My Invented Country for the books.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
I have a popcorn addiction so most likely the popcorn.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
I'm a married lady in my late thirties. I love to cook and read, sometimes at the same time. I've started strength training which I really like.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
I've participated in the readathon around ten times. I love the readathon. No plan other than to have fun.

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

The 24 hour readathon is this weekend. I'm still pulling books for my stack! Will you be reading this Saturday?

Then Again, Maybe I Won't

A Judy Blume book I've never read! 

Miss Mayhem

The sequel to Rebel Belle.

Picking Bones From Ash

I don't remember how I heard about this one but it sounded good!

What did you get this week? Claire's got the linky!

Teaser Tuesday-Delicious Foods by James Hannaham

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"A year after his father died, Eddie's mother hadn't moved his father's clothes out of the bedroom. She stopped speaking to a friend who'd tried to set her up with a man."
pg 83 Delicious Foods by James Hannahan

My Readathon stacks

Preparing the giant stacks of books I might read for the readathon is almost as fun (to me) as getting to read them. There's no shortage of books in my house. And I didn't really request any extra books from the library. I've been saving some for this weekend.

First the books:

 From the top to the bottom:

Then Again Maybe I Won't by Judy Blume

Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott

Zom-B Angels by Darren Shan

We Are The Goldens by Dana Reinhardt

My Invented Country by Isabel Allende

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

The Ivy by Lauren Kunze

Rock And A Hard Place by Angie Stanton

Women of the Harlem Renaissance by Lisa B. Mckissack

The Dark Thirty by Patricia C Mckissack

And the graphic novels.

From top to bottom:

Not Love but Delicious Foods by Fumi Yoshinga

Alex and Ada vol 1 by Johnathan Luna

Palestine by Joe Sacco

Hereville vol 1 by Berry Deutsch

The Invisibles vol 3 by Grant Morrison

The Invisibles vol 6 by Grant Morrison

The Intrepids by Kurtis Wiebe

The Dark by Lemony Snickett

Saga vol 4 by Brian K Vaughan

The Invisibles vol 1 by Grant Morrison

Birth of A Nation by Aaron McGruder

Ronin by Frank Miller

Obviously I won't be able to read them all but I would like to read 8 total this time. 

Looking forward to Saturday!

What To Eat This Week

Last week was pretty good. Cooked almost every night. Go me!

 

Nachos-Delicious and quick.

Italian Antipasto Salad- Another super quick meal. Made biscuits to go with. Delicious. Will make again.

 Asian Chicken Salad With Crunch Ramen Noodles-Big hit. Made a ton of food. Would be a great meal for a potluck. Will make again.

Spinach fritatta-Yummy as usual.

Skillet Spinach Pie

 

Ketchup Spaghetti

Bacon Apple Smothered Pork Chops

Leftovers for the guys. I have to work late.

Jill's Pork Tenderloin

Zesty Lime Shrimp and Avocado Salad

Steak

What's on your menu this week?

Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford

Songs of Willow Frost was one of the saddest books I've read recently. Sad but good. I choose to read Songs of Willow Frost because I had enjoyed Ford's other book, Hotel On The Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Plus his books are set in Seattle which is an added bonus.Despite the sad tale, I liked Songs of Willow Frost.

It's 1934 and William is turning twelve. William lives at Sacred Heart Orphanage and been there for five years. William misses his mother but believes she is dead. For his birthday and the birthdays of all the boys at the orphanage, the nuns take them to see a movie. During the movie, William sees a woman he believes to be his mother. With the help of his friends, Sunny and Charlotte, William sets out to find Willow Frost.

William is the narrator for much of the book. He's twelve but I choose to believe he was looking back as a grown man. Some of William's thoughts are too advanced for a twelve year old with limited schooling. Plus some of the circumstances of him being in the orphanage and what happened to his mother were more than I think a twelve year would understand. But William's story is sad. And his friend Charlotte's story was sadder. Charlotte had been blinded at birth when nurses put the wrong eye drops in her eyes. Charlotte's mom died and her dad was in prison. Instead of adoption, Charlotte was going to be placed at a school for blind children. Charlotte didn't want to go and instead clung to William. They had a cute twelve year old romance.

Ford also deals with how people of color were treated in the 1920's and 1930's. William's friend, Sunny, is Native American and ostracized for it. William also had difficulty fitting in with the other kids because he was Chinese. In fact Ford talks about Chinese kids weren't adopted. Chinese families saw them as a bad omen and white families didn't want Chinese kids. Most of the kids at that time weren't adopted due to the Depression. Many were turned to labor farms. Willow also faced a lot of discrimination due to being unwed Chinese mother. Her story was sad too.

Even though this is one of the saddest books I've read, I would recommend it. I loved the history of Seattle. I think it would be a great book club book. There's plenty to talk about. Others who shared their thoughts on Songs of Willow Frost: Alison's Book Marks, Novelicious, The Underemployed Librarian, and Joyfully Retired.
This is my seventh read for the Historical Reading Challenge

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

We Should All Be Feminists

I've been looking forward to this one for quite a while.

The Intrepids vol 1

After adoring Rat Queens I decided to see what else Wiebe has done. And here it is.

What did you get this week? Share below!