Contents of blog copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2023
I've been gone a while. I started reading fanfiction to escape and I got sucked in an abyss.

I have no idea if someone else is hosting similar challenges. I just grabbed some of what I have hosted before.

Here's to a happy year of great reading
Jan2023: Not much has changed. Writing a fanfiction now O_o as well as reading but I bought 7 new books in December and hope to get those read soon. Crossing fingers about adding challenges (late!)
Showing posts with label Armchair BEA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Armchair BEA. Show all posts

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Armchair BEA Daily Topic ~ Genre: Picture Books to Young Adult

  
Armchair BEA
May 28 to June 2 


For more information and to register,  click here

 Genre: From Picture Books to Young Adult, link up here


I will read almost anything but I absolutely love children's books. My youngest child will be 24-years-old this summer but I'm still buying them. Picture books can bring back memories but often they're just a nice story. 

I recently read An Extra-Ordinary Princess and enjoyed it so much that I told a girl about it that I meet at California Adventures while waiting for the water show! (I've also bought one she recommended) I've told countless people about There's No Such Thing as a Dragon. Neither of these were read when I was little, or with/by my kids.

The Mr. Putter and Tabby series was enjoyed by my son. I recently purchased and read Spin the Yarn, and am thinking of purchasing all the ones I missing.

I'm not too thrilled about some of the newer Young Adult. Usually they are well crafted, wonderful stories, Harry Potter anyone, but some are just toned-down adult books with as much sex as they think they can get away with. I've been trying to read the under 12 books more instead of the 15 - 18 range. I'm totally up for recommendations!

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2013

Armchair BEA ~Please Introduce Yourself



Armchair BEA
May 28 to June 2 

Please Introduce Yourself

For more information and to register,  click here

Go here to link up your post or to read what others have to say (linking up is closed but there are some in the comments, including mine, and lots of linked post to read)

 Questions to choose from:
  1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging? 
  2. Where in the world are you blogging from? Tell a random fact or something special about your current location. Feel free to share pictures. 
  3. Have you previously participated in Armchair BEA? What brought you back for another year? If you have not previously participated, what drew you to the event? 
  4. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2013? 
  5. Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you. 
  6. Name your favorite blog(s) and explain why they are your favorite(s). 
  7. Which is your favorite post that you have written that you want everyone to read? 
  8. If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why? 
  9. What literary location would you most like to visit? Why? 
  10. What is your favorite part about the book blogging community? 
  11. Is there anything that you would like to see change in the coming years?

I'm a stay-at-home-mom of adult children. Daughter (26) is an embalmer and lives close enough to meet for weekly workouts but far enough away that we don't just drop it. Son (23) and still lives at home. My husband and I will be celebrating our 27th anniversary this summer. We are currently owned by two cats.

I've been book blogging since 2009 and started because I found a reading challenge on a Yahoo!Group and needed a place to keep track of it. I've since joined more reading challenges, hosted some and discovered book reviewing.

I'd rather be reading than most anything but am bipolar so that can interfere plus am a newly diagnosed diabetic and that needs to be a new focus.  

I read print and electronic books, have 2000+ print books in storage because I ran out of room (I'm working on that) plus that many again on my kindle app (most were free).

2) I'm in California, USA, in Los Angeles county. This doesn't narrow things down much, there are over 9 million people here in approx 4,000 square miles. The fun thing about where we're at is that we can go to Disneyland one day, Knott's Berry Farm the next. Then spent a day at the beach and another in the mountains. All in the same week but sleep at our home each night. We can spend a long day and go to Magic Mountain and another long day for Sea World. Whale watching (Long Beach harbor), star-gazing (Griffith Observatory), and visiting Hollywood can all be done on the same day. Add in the weather, shopping, and cultural diversity and it's a great place to live. Except for the traffic :p 

7) Maybe not my most favorite but one I want everyone to read, my review of Book Banning in America: Who & Why. Another post on censorship, this post has a rant about banning. huh, yeah, it's a sensitive subject with me.

9) I'd like to visit Pern (Anne McCaffrey) but want to live in a Weyr not a Hold and have a fire lizard.

11) I love read-a-thons and other events like this. It is wonderful for me to be able to talk books, so many in my circle just don't get it. I love having a peek at not only a bloggers shelves but also into their lives.


copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2013

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Armchair BEA Daily Topic ~ Genre: Non-Fiction



Armchair BEA
May 28 to June 2

For more information and to register,  click here

Genre: non-fiction in all it's forms!







After Etan: The Missing Child Case that Held America Captive
by Lisa R. Cohen

True Crime

my post

On the morning of May 25, 1979, six-year-old Etan Patz left his apartment to go to his school bus stop. It was the first time he walked the two short blocks on his own.

But he never made it to school that day. He vanished somewhere between his home and the bus stop, and was never seen again.

Thirty years later, May 25 is recognized as National Missing Children's Day, in Etan's honor.



The Noticer  
Sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective
by Andy Andrews


Philosophy/Practical Living

my post

A couple are having problems, she thinks he doesn't love her because he doesn't say it, he thinks she doesn't love him because she doesn't acknowledge all the little extra things he does around the house.

Just a small piece that needs a little perspective. I wish I could buy this for everyone!



Repairing Rainbows
A True Story of Family, Tragedy and Choices
by Lynda Fishman

Memoir

my post

A child leaves home with relatives, she'll be getting the summer place ready for the rest of the family. Mom and the other two girls will fly out for two months, Dad will come for the last two weeks. The plane crashes and the world ends for the Dad and the daughter that survives. Lynda takes us through the surprise, denial and pain of her experience. This is a book about tragedy. It is also a book about hope and perseverance. A book about choices.



Soft Spots
A Marine's Memoir of Combat and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
by Clint Van Winkle

memoir

my post

Clint Van Winkle has invited us into his life and into his nightmares. He'll be sitting in a bar sharing "normal" life with us but when the news comes on; the ghosts come out - and not just the dead ones.

The writing flows so smoothly between current events, nightmares and memories that it took awhile to get use to it. One minute we're sitting in the living room drinking a beer and the next paragraph we're sitting in Iraq. It happened that fast for him, it happens that fast for us.

This book taught me to be angry and thankful. Read about it, think about it, thank a vet.



Mistaken Identity
Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope

Don & Susie Van Ryn and Newell, Colleen & Whitney Cerak
with Mark Tabb

memoir

my post

I read a book earlier called Eye Contact and thought it was a mother's worst nightmare, getting a phone call from your child's school and hearing "I'm sorry, your child is missing from campus". Then I read Mistaken Identity with the late night/early morning phone call, and "there has been a terrible accident" and "I'm sorry, your child didn't make it".

A terrible accident, five funerals, one severely injured and comatose. Then five weeks later. . .

"Okay, Laura, I would like you to write your name for me," the occupational therapist said.

W-H-I-T-N-E-Y"


and some I didn't post about but should have. . .



Until Tuesday
The story of a wounded veteran and his service dog. The trials of life before they came together as well as the ups and downs they dealt with together.

by  Luis Carlos Montalvan










The Man Who Loved Books Too Much
The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession

by Allison Hoover Bartlett











The Gardner Heist
The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft

by Ulrich Boser












copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2013

Armchair BEA Starting Line post


Armchair BEA
May 28 to June 2

For more information and to register,  click here

Design credit: Sarah of Puss Reboots
 
Armchair BEA is an online conference that runs in conjunction with Book Expo America in New York City. There are a large number of people around the world that are not able to join in the literary celebrations in the Big Apple, so Armchair BEA brings the celebration to you by allowing networking among other book bloggers, authors, and publishers as well as special coverage of the event, all from the comfort of your own comfy armchair.

There will be daily discussion topics, twitter chats, and giveaways.

I wasn't going to participate at all this year, it is an extra busy week for me but I just couldn't stay away. This will be my starting point to hold the links to the other posts I do. I decided to link up to tell you about a special non-fiction. Not sure if I'll get the others but I did see picture books listed!

Genre: non-fiction


copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2013

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Armchair BEA: Best of 2012

Woo Hoo! For those who want to participate during Book Expo America but are unable to head to New York. . .

Armchair BEA

hosted by a bunch of wonderful bloggers at Armchair BEA Central

Today's topic: The Best of 2012

At least I don't have to pick just one.

List from Introduce Yourself post:
Zero Day by David Baldacci
Micro by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston
Brownies and Broomsticks by Bailey Cates
Quinn by R. C. Ryan
Nobody's Safe by Richard Steinberg
Dance with Me by Heidi Cullinan
Spellbound Falls by Janet Chapman
A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas

List from Edelweiss
I didn't read about each book listed, just clicked on interesting covers or maybe a title or two.
Contingency Plan by Lou Allin
The Box by Axel Janssen
Tallie's Hero by Sara Luck
Crewel by Gennifer Albin
Fighting to Serve by Alexander Nicholson
Feng Shui Your Life by Jayme Barrett (except I think I'd need a new house)
Dog Speak by Christiane Blenski  (except I don't have a dog)
The Paladin Prophecy by Mark Frost
Gardening by Cuisine by Patti Moreno
Defiance by C. J. Redwine
Sable Island : The Wandering Sandbar by Wendy Kitts
The Lost Treasure of Tuckernuck by Emily Fairlie
The Princess Who Could Not Sleep by An Leysen
Great Modern Structures: 100 Years of Engineering Genius by David Littlefield, Will Jones (This is going on my "order for husband" list!)
Come In, We're Closed: An Invitation to Staff Meals at the World's Best Restaurants by Christine Carroll, Jody Eddy
Paper Suncatchers by Christine Gross-Loh
Pandora the Curious by Joan Holub Suzanne Williams
Change Your Life in 7 Days by Paul McKenna
The Lady Risks All by Stephanie Laurens (this is one of my must purchase authors)
The Seasonal Baker by John Barricelli
Wards of Faerie: The Dark Legacy of Shannara by Terry Brooks
Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit: A Book of Changing Seasons by Il Sung Na
The Bhagavad Gita According to Gandhi by Mahatma Gandhi
Modular Origami Paper Pack: 350 Colorful Papers Perfect for Folding in 3D by Michael G. LaFosse, Richard L. Alexander
Eve and Adam by Katherine Applegate, Michael Grant
Katie's Hellion: Book I, Rhyn Trilogy by Lizzy Ford
Endlessly by Kiersten White (except I need to read Paranormalcy first)
The Girl Who Fell to Earth: A Memoir by Sophia Al-Maria
The Last Victim: A Novel by Karen Robards
Divine Madness by Robert Muchamore (and the CHERUB series)
Life Happens Next by Terry Trueman (and Stuck in Neutral)
Dancing Dogs: Stories by Jon Katz
The Legend Thief by E. J. Patten, John Rocco (and Return to Exile)
The Memory Thief by Emily Colin
2012 POLESTAR PLANNER by Ruth Porter (what does the inside look like?)

I'm done. I don't even know If I "randomize this" through all the titles available. I'd be happy if any or all of these fell into my mailbox ;) but there are several that are going on my wish list now.

I'm not even sure if this is what we were suppose to do but I'm getting a little loopy so I'll see you tomorrow.

oops, later today ;)


copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2012
Disclaimer

In accordance to the FTC guidelines, I must state that I make no monetary gains from my reviews or endorsements here on Book Dragon's Lair. All books I review are either borrowed, purchased by me, given as a gift, won in some kind of contest, or received in exchange for an honest review.