Entries in Book review (5)
The Fairy Chronicles
I’ve done a few book reviews before, when I’ve volunteered or read a book by someone I knew, but a while back I was contacted by a publicist I’ve never heard of who wanted to send me books! It wasn’t hard to figure out why. I have two daughters, ages 10 and almost-9. The Fairy Chronicles had them at hello. It’s a good thing they sent two books, or otherwise, we’d have a war going on! A couple of days later, I was “allowed” to read the first book myself, after Princess was finished. Gothgrrl is finished with the second book and impatient to read the first one. They assured me I would enjoy them. When I asked what the first book was about, Princess launched into an excruciatingly detailed synopsis that was still going when school started. Yeah, they liked what they read. They were disappointed to learn they’d have to wait til July to get the third and fourth books.
The Fairy Chronicles is a set of four (so far) books written by J.H. Sweet and beautifully illustrated by Tara Larsen Chang. The tagline is “Inside you is the power to do anything.” I like that. I know better, but I’m old and cynical and my girls aren’t yet. The first book is Marigold and the Feather of Hope, The Journey Begins (The Fairy Chronicles, Book 1)
fairies. I had a flashback to Samantha breaking the news to Darren that she’s a witch. In this mythos, the fairies each have a different gift, or a secret power. They work together to help people and solve problems. Right there you have some nice underlying themes that may not be so obvious to kids, what with all the magic. The little girls who turn into fairies are stronger and more capable than they could imagine. Their mission is to help the Brownies (the sprites, not the Girl Scouts) recover their treasured feather from the nasty Gremlins. The plot is secondary to the rush the girl/fairies get by using their powers to turn wrong into right.
I found the writing way over-descriptive, but that’s my age showing. My daughters adored the detailed description of the outfits each fairy wore, and flowery explanations of the characters and their personalities. It works for the target readership. Half of the first book sets up the fairy mythology; I imagine the later books add to that or have more involved missions. Gothgrrl, who read the second book (Dragonfly and the Web of Dreams
Marigold and the Feather of Hope
Look for the first two books at a bookstore near you, or you can click these images and order them from Amazon. Remember, when you go through Miss Cellania and buy anything from Amazon, I get a small portion. The third and fourth books will be available sometime in July. Read more about The Fairy Chronicles here.
And now for something completely different...
For those who expect something a bit more adult, here’s your Story Time.
Deana Molinaro’s Not-for-Children Books. (via the Presurfer)
94 Ways to Keep Kids Busy for the Work at Home Parent. I’ll be working on the ages 8-13 list this summer. (via the Presurfer)
Kids in the News
A nine-year-old German girl held up a sign in her bedroom window that said "Help! Please call the police!" and of course, someone did. Turns out she was in trouble with her mom for not cleaning up her messy room.
Blog of the Day: Everest 2007. This would be fascinating even if you didn’t know that it was written by 18-year-old Samantha Larsen, who holds the world record for the youngest climber to scale all the world’s “seven summits”, while maintaining high grades and playing in the orchestra.
A Fair(y) Use Tale. Disney characters explaining copyright laws.
Thought for today: According to the fairies, the two most important things in life are how we treat other people and what we teach to children. -The Fairy Chronicles
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Promoting Your Ebook
This post is a book review of the book A Complete Guide to Promoting and Selling Your Self-Published Ebook. I shortened that so the title of this post would fit on one line. I am today's stop on Dorothy's Virtual Book Tour. You can catch all the other stop by checking in her blog. OK, so I am here today promoting an ebook that will help you promote your ebook. If thats not the definition of recursive, I don’t know what is. If you don’t understand recursion by that definition, then go look at some recursive “art”, the Hasselhoffian Recursion. But if you’ve written an ebook, you’ll want to know this stuff. And if you haven’t written an book because you thought the hassle of marketing would be beyond you, think again. Eboooks and the internet take the decisions out of the hands of the big publishing houses, and puts them in the hands of the author.
Dorothy Thompson is a relationship expert, coach, and author. She’s also a friend, so when she was rounding up folks to review her new ebook, I made the list as the ONE reviewer who isn’t a writer or expert on these kinds of things. I think she likes me because some of my weird relationship experiences remind her of a book plot.
A Complete Guide to Promoting and Selling Your Self-Published Ebook took me longer to read than I thought it would. And not just because the title is so long. And not because its difficult, but because some of the promotion tips she shares are good not only for ebooks, but for websites as well. I had to stop every so often and do something she suggests to make this site more visible! She shares lots of advice about how to make your own website for promotional purposes, how to network with other writers and writer’s publications, and how to set up your virtual book tour. She lists specific sites that can be of use to you. In fact, there are tons of lists here, information that would take me years to find on my own! I wold never know how to set up a “shopping cart” online otherwise. Other advice includes how to write a press release, getting yourself on talk shows, and how to get people to review your ebook. Of course, I was easy. Every review I’ve done so far earns me nothing but free books. But free books is a GOOD thing!
The whole idea is that you CAN do this. If you’ve got a book in you, an ebook is the easiest and fastest way to get that knowledge to readers. Dorothy’s ebook, as recursive as it is, will lead you through the process of getting that ebook into the conciousness of the internet. To get the book, go to this site. 
Dorothy's Other links
Relationship advice from Dorothy Thompson.
Ebook Promotion for Self-Published Authors. This site explains the virtual book tour concept. You can find the previous and future blog stops on this tour.
Dorothy’s blog is called Boomer Chick: Musings of an Over The Hill Chick.
Books written or edited by Dorothy Thompson
Romancing the Soul
How to Find and Keep Your Soul Mate
101 Facts you Never Knew About Soul Mates
The Search for the Million $$$ Ghost
eBooks
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Getting Published. This is a FREE ebook for writers!
The Search for the Million $$$ Ghost
Other Ebooks by my friends
The Tao of Politics Anthology by Ed Bremson.
Also available in paperback
Queen Klutz by Marti Lawrence.
Also available in paperback.
And now, a joke or two!
SOME HAVE IT, SOME DON’T
There was once a young man who, in his youth, professed a desire to become a great writer. When asked to define "great" he said:
"I want to write stuff that the whole world will read, stuff that people will react to on a truly emotional level, stuff that will make them scream, cry, wail, howl in pain, desperation, and anger!"
He now works for Microsoft, writing Excel error messages.
WRITING TIPS
Like the virgin prairie for the explorer, metaphors are pregnant with possibility, but don't mix them.
It behooves the writer to avoid archaic expressions.
One should not shift from the third person to the second person when you write.
I once read that splitting modifiers was wrong in the library.
It is generally recommended that the use of the passive be minimized.
Write assertively, I think.
A sentence containing a parenthetical phrase (must be a complete sentence) without that phrase.
Avoid the use of vulgarisms that might piss off the reader.
Avoid rephrasing, which is, in other words, paraphrasing or rewording of a statement, sort of like repeating it.
I've told you a million times not to exaggerate.
Ambiguity is more or less undesirable.
Hyperbole is the worst mistake you can possibly make.
You will die horribly if you are overdramatic!
Boise, Idaho's 7327 English teachers agree that all statistics should be verified.
Don't verbify nouns.
I have traveled all over the world, known many important people, received many degrees, and have learned that it is in bad taste to use yourself as an expert example even though I am one.
djust the margins before print
opy of the completed docume
When choosing among two, make the best choice. Between three or more, pick the better one.
Avoid overuse of rhetorical questions. Know what I mean?
I could care less about expressions that mean the opposite of what they say.
Vary sentence length. Conformity is boring.
Be sure to use the correct word accept in certain cases.
Don't use no double negatives.
Avoid clichés like the plague.
Each pronoun should match their subject.
Never use a preposition to end a sentence with.
Try to not split infinitives.
Don't be repetitively redundant or repetitious.
Thought for today: The trouble with doing something right first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was.
humor book review ebook promotion Dorothy Thompson soul mates
It's A Girl!
Time for a book review! This is my third, so I’m well on the way to having a career in literary criticism, if I live to be 100. Its a Girl: Women Writers on Raising Daughters is the first book I signed up to review, because I have some experience in the area, being as I have two daughters. Princess is nine, and Gothgrrl is celebrating her eighth birthday this weeknd. Her birthday is in June, but no one ever comes to her parties during school vacation, so we are having the party in May this year. Such is the logic when you are raising kids. Its a lot of learning as you go. Like I've said before, I was an expert in child rearing, right up to the time they handed me my first kid. Then all bets are off, and I became as confused as the next parent.
Its a Girl is an anthology. Lots of stories and essays here, by many different writers. Its a project of Literary Mama, a group of writers who happen to be mothers. The book focuses on the particular experience of raising daughters. The cover reminded me of something I’d seen before... Yeah! I have a photo like that, of one of my daughters’ friends. Princess and Gothgrrl dressed her up. Its a similar illustration of the complete dichotomy in our perception of the world. We split girls into categories; “girly-girl” or “tomboy”. I have one of each, but truth be known, there is plenty of “girly-girl” in Gothgrrl, and plenty of “tomboy” in Princess.
Oh yeah, the book. In the introduction to Its A Girl, we look at the way mothers (and those around them) react when told they are going to have a girl child. Often people will tell you that raising girls is more complicated. Sometimes they are rude enough to be sad about it. Mothers are often just plain concerned for what they cannot put into words. This book puts it in those words.
But the concerns of writers in Its A Boy were about the otherness of the male gender: What the heck do you do with a boy? Its a Girl writers ask the same question about their daughters, but what prompts it is not fear of the unknown, but fear of what they know all too well.
The first section deals with gender angst. Am I woman enough to raise a girl? Am I feminist enough to raise an independent woman? Am I secure enough to raise a confident daughter? Is my girl too girly? Is she too tomboyish? Can I exert any control whatsoever over any of that? It all comes down to a question of balance between a) raising your daughter to change the way the world sees gender roles, and 2) teaching her how to bend and manipulate herself to cope with the way the world already is.
Tough Girls, by Rebecca Steinwitz, is about the choices we most make between girly-girl toys and clothing. The world is divided into boy and girl things. But can we really force our choices onto our daughters?
... she wanted sneakers with pink flowers. I had my usual pang of frustration, but I bought them, because part of bringing up a feminist girl is letting her make her own choices.
The second section deals with beauty. Way more to stress about here, plastic surgery, eating disorders, little girls pressured to look and dress like women. We want our girls to follow their hearts. We want them to appreciate and care about themselves. We don't want them to think that how they look is more important than their character. So much for what we teach them; the rest of the world is telling them that how they look is the defining aspect of their being.
Personally, I had convinced myself over my lifetime that attractiveness was a combination of looks, personality, wisdom, and the way you treat people. That illusion was shattered bigtime when I found myself suddenly single in my mid-40s. My experience since then tells me that it doesn’t matter how wise, interesting, or caring you are if your butt is big or your hair is grey. Normally, this revelation wouldn’t be a problem, but I have two impressionable daughters who can’t help but see me fretting over my hair and weight. Never mind that they are ten times prettier than they need to be, they are learning well how to fret. After several episodes of Princess asking me if her butt looked big in these jeans, she finally got it right yesterday when she asked, "Mama, does my butt look good in these jeans?" Yes!
The third section is about bonding with our daughters, and by extension, our mothers. Mothers and daughetrs have very complicated relationships, because we want to be like our mothers, and we want to be different. We want to bond and we want to be independent. We want our daughters to reflect ourselves, but we also want them to have it better or BE better.
Daughter Dread, by Vicky Mlyniec revisits the concern over finding your child is a girl.
Why this daughter dread?
My best guess was that I didn’t want to deal with the staggering emotional complexity of raising a daughter.
Having a boy would just be so much easier.
On Wanting a Daughter, by Sheri McDonald Strong affected me, not only because I could relate to the international adoption story, but mosty because of the journey she takes in learning to accept her strong-willed non-conformist daughter. I am working on maintaining the same type of acceptance with Gothgrrl, and appreciating the gift that she is.
Oh yeah, you’ll like Its A Girl if you have a daughter. Or even if you don’t! If you are not a mother, or even a woman, you’ll learn a LOT about the workings of the female mind by reading this book. Edited by Andrea Buchanan. Available at Amazon.
Previously on Miss Cellania: Literary Mama
Thought for today: The mother of a girl must plumb the depths of the girlhood she’d thought she had safely escaped-but this time through the eyes of her daughter, whose experience is neccessarily different. -Andi Buchanan
The Tao of Politics Anthology
When I began blogging, I didn't know anyone online outside of my adoptive parent�s circle. Ed Bremsom was the one of the first new bloggers I "met" after launching this site. He recently asked me if I would read his new book. Would I? I jumped at the chance! Ed is one of my favorite philosophers, a mixture of intelligence, simplicity, and kindness. That adds up to wisdom in my eyes. What I received in the mail was The Tao of Politics Anthology. Anthology? Bonus! This book is the combination of three of Ed's previous books, The Tao of George Bush, The Tao of Red States and Blue States, and The Tao of Politics, plus the brand new Tao of America. So if you have ever considered buying on we of those, now you don�t have to decide which, just get the anthology. So I began at the beginning, The Tao of George Bush.
I had no idea.
Ed, you didn't tell me it was funny! The premise is that George Bush is learning philosophy from the Tao Te Ching. His notes (in red) in response to various points of the Tao Te Ching (in italics) are downright... poetic.
Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is in their hollowness that their use depends.And I loved this zinger:
Empty space can be very useful.
A pot is useful because its empty.
A door is useful when its open.
A room depends on the empty space within.
To be a room.
Remember that
The next time you're
Criticizing me.
The sea is able to receive tribute from all the valley streams because it is lower than they.THE TAO OF RED STATES AND BLUE STATES
There is a big difference
Between the Tao and me.
Inthe second book of this anythology, Ed goes all Zen on me. He tries to give a yin and yang for the different aspects of the last two presidential elections, but he cannot totally hide his leftward leanings... and I wouldn�t want him to. Convictions are convictions, even for someone who tries to see the two sides of the coin.
He even numbered each paragraph to link it with the corresponding To Te Ching passage. My favorite line is from paragraph 18.
Voters are free to be just as dumb or just as intelligent as they want to be.
This is not meant to knock anyone�s IQ. Whether you are informed on political issues is a personal choice. You can read, listen, and do the research, or you can vote for the candidate with the best smile. Your choice. That's freedom, no matter what the consequences.
The yin and yang lessons here hit me in a very personal way, because I�ve been struggling with a question of opposites in this last month. I can�t really explain the process, but reading this helped me understand how two opposites CAN coexist peacefully in the same world. Carville and Matalin. Dharma and Greg. Mutt and Jeff. Just kidding. As Ed says in paragraph 67,
There are three precious things:
Cooperation
Compromise
Consensus.
THE TAO OF POLITICS
This section follows the same format as the previous, with a broader focus on the entire political process in America. A passage that caught my attention makes up paragraph 32:
The relationship of Politics to Government
Is like that of sex to a large family
While some may consider the former to be dirty,
Yet we must engage in it in order
To ensure the existance of the latter.
Its a dirty job, but somebody�s gotta do it. Maybe. My family is the exception, Ed. The next verse is even better.
For some, Politics is just as enjoyable as sex.
For some, Politics leads to sex.
For some, sex leads to Politics.
THE TAO OF AMERICA
This is the never-before-published material. Ed here is no longer following the Tao Te Ching format, but giving us his observations and opinions about our country. Its very apparent that Ed, despite the fact that he leans toward Asian philosophy and looks askance at our political process, really loves America. His many observations range from the proud
If there is a mysterious quality about America, perhaps it is the fierce patriotism of her citizens... Perhaps it is because of our fierce love of freedom and justice, our intense hatred of tyranny and injustice.to the obvious
There is nothing that Americans like more than having some french fries in one hand, and the steering wheel in the other.to the brash
A lot of people might think that Americans are arrogant, and maybe we are. but thats alright... Americans often have good reasons to be that way.to the just plain odd.
They take something that has no taste to begin with, add a bunch of flavors to it, and make it so cheap that anyone can afford to buy it. Now thats Democracy!
CONCLUSION
The Tao of Politics Anthology is not for political neophytes. Ed assumes the reader has some passing knowledge of the Republican-Democrat schism and what each party stands for. It would also help if you had some familiarity with Asian philosophy, but its not absolutely neccessary. Any political animal, or those who are seeking a unifying theory of different political views, will benefit from reading this. You�ll laugh at the first section, be forced to think during the middle sections, and swell with pride during the final section. At least I did.
You can purchase The Tao of Politics Anthology at this site. Its also available as an ebook at a bargain price. There is lots more info at Ed�s website, The Tao of Politics. You can also get any of the smaller books contained in the anthology, or The Tao of Love, a poetic look at love that made me cry in places. Ed, your wife was a lucky woman to have had this book written for her, and you are lucky to have had her inspire it.
Thought for today: Nothing is more beautiful than watching and listening as a stand full of Americans cover their hearts and sing the National Anthem at a baseball game on a crisp October night. -Ed Bremson in The Tao of Politics Anthology
PS. Ed, the next time you give away a book you wrote, you could autograph it, ya know!
book review Tao politics Bush America philosophy Ed Bremson
1 Reference
Literary Mama
My very first book review! I can�t believe this deal, I get a new book, and all I have to do is read it and tell you about it. W00t! I�m qualified because a) I�m a mother, b) I have a blog, and c) I can read. So I received Literary Mama in the mail and started reading. There are photos to prove it.
Its a compilation of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and other thoughtful works of varying length from writers who are also mothers. The two aren�t mutually exclusive, although the introduction explains how it may appear to be, considering the dearth of maternally-minded literature. The state of motherhood gives a whole new dimension to writing, because it gives a whole new dimension to emotions. Motherhood doesn�t snuff out the ability to write, only the available time. And for a born writer, the time will be found. You�ll find out all about the impetus for this book at the Literary Mama site and the Literary Mama blog.
Quite a variety of topics here, which is refreshing. I could read a short story, or a long article, and not worry about losing my place, since I couldn�t put it down anyway. The only thing these authors have in common is that they are mothers and writers. Not all of the experiences related here are universal, but they all touch a place in our hearts. For example, I don�t have any sons, but I laughed out loud til my sides split at �Analyzing Ben�, a story that I referenced in my Little Boys post. Jennifer Eyre White is the author/engineer who calculated that her son was 15.3 times as likely to do something dangerous as her d
aughter.
The section on Sex, Fertility, and the Body turned the temperature up in whatever room I was reading in. Just what this lonely widder needs! The stories are not designed to be titillating, but to be real. And they are. Both.
I had put off reading the section entitled Surviving Illness and Loss until the last minute. I finally read it Tuesday, the absolute worst day I could have selected. February 7th was my late husband�s birthday. It was also my second day of cigarette withdrawal, so I was already primed to either blow up or fall apart. The stories of loss are devastating, but also cathartic. After reading �Johnny� by Heidi Raykeil, I was ready to go out and get a tattoo, which I�d never considered before. Maybe a bass guitar on my butt.
You�ll relate to some of the stories, and the ones you don�t relate to, you�ll learn from. I understood the writers who dealt with infertility, with people who question your motherhood, with death in the family, and who love a child with a serious problem. I understand the universal mother-guilt. I don�t have experience with labor pains, sons, or the Empty Nest Syndrome, but I enjoyed those stories as well. I can easily put myself in these writers� places. The stories are that vivid.
You don�t have to be a mother to enjoy Literary Mama. If you are, you�ll love it! If you aren�t, it will help you understand the mothers you know. AND you�ll enjoy it.
Literary Mama is subtitled Reading for the Maternally Inclined. Edited by Andrea J. Buchanan (not this one) and Amy Hudock. You
can see the introduction here. Available at Amazon and at a bookstore near you. Pick up a copy, and let people think you really do read more than the TV Guide.You'll find much better reviews here and here.
Thought for today: ...these are writers who do not deserve to be forgotten. -Literary Mama introduction.
Update for the regulars: Three days not smoking. Outside of the homicidal fantasies and the out-of-body experiences, I'm doing OK. This better be worth it.
book review Literary Mama Andi Buchanan literature compilation