<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138</id><updated>2011-07-30T18:08:56.484-06:00</updated><category term='Book Reviews'/><category term='Read Your Name Challenge'/><category term='Romance Reading Challenge'/><category term='Great Finds'/><category term='Dangerous Reads'/><category term='Awards and Tags'/><category term='Centuries Challenge'/><category term='Messages'/><category term='Pretty Cover Awards'/><category term='Misc.'/><category term='Outlander Challenge'/><category term='Challenges'/><category term='Giveaways and Contests'/><category term='What&apos;s in a Name?'/><title type='text'>My Passion For Books</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>22</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-6835931087412343635</id><published>2009-08-04T15:06:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2009-08-04T15:06:47.975-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Thank you!</title><content type='html'>&amp;nbsp;After much thought, I have decided to discontinue this blog. I adore reading and blogging about it, but I found I don't blog about it enough. Though I will still update when I finish reading challenges, there won't be anymore reviews here. I will be combining this blog with my main blog, &lt;a href="http://www.lifessweetpassions.com/"&gt;Life's Sweet Passions.&lt;/a&gt; For anyone who is interested, I will still be posting about my reading there, under the tag: &lt;a href="http://www.lifessweetpassions.com/search/label/Books%20and%20Reading"&gt;Books and Reading.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;I want to send a huge "thank you," to my followers and subscribers who have made this blog fun.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-6835931087412343635?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/6835931087412343635/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/08/thank-you.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/6835931087412343635'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/6835931087412343635'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/08/thank-you.html' title='Thank you!'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-2237603999452937505</id><published>2009-06-08T16:44:00.001-06:00</published><updated>2009-06-08T17:07:31.848-06:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Book Reviews'/><title type='text'>REVIEW + GIVEAWAY: If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still be Okay</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/Si2UAFheraI/AAAAAAAAAu4/S-j2DyGJmSE/s1600-h/if+your+kid+eats+this+book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/Si2UAFheraI/AAAAAAAAAu4/S-j2DyGJmSE/s320/if+your+kid+eats+this+book.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;i&gt;  Dr. Zibners covers every part of the body and offers sound advice (for example, did you know that oil is a remedy for dissolving superglue between body parts?), all the while maintaining an hilarious tone. To the question, "What if she chokes on her vomit?" Dr. Zibners answers that a healthy child  will not choke on her own vomit, unless she is "drunk or high on Grandma's sleeping pills." &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Finally, no more frantic, late-night searched through the "what to buy," "how to diaper," or "what to feed him" sections found in other childcare books to find out if little Franny needs to go to the ER. This book focuses on the essential questions, like how to keep her from electrocuting herself in the first place.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Did you know that even though your kid just took a swig of bleach, she may not have to go to she emergency room?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When I first received this book for review, I expected it to be yet another version of way-too-overdone parenting book. I began reading and waited for the chapters about changing diapers, washing bottles, and how to tell if your child is really hungry vs. really tired. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is not that book.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Everyone wishes they could have a stand-by Medical Doctor in their home. Well, this book isn't that, but it's the next best thing! &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Lara Zibners, MD, tells us parents all about the Emergency Department (apparantly it's the ED, not ER) and when to take our children there. We are told that over half of the 25 million visits made by children per year, to the Emergency Department, are unnecessary. Zibners used her good sense of humor to gently educate parents on what types of injuries or illnesses really warrant an ED visit, vs. what doesn't. I especially love the way that Dr. Zibner uses her sense of humor to make the reader feel more comfortable. The entire section on vomit in Chapter 6 had me laughing out loud so many times. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;"Vomiting Colors&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;I honestly could care less what color the vomit is until you tell me it is green. And not the yellow-green that comes up when there is nothing left to vomit. That is stomach juice. We are talking green, green, green. Green like a Christmas tree green. Green like my scrub pants green...."&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I've definitely been guilty of bringing this up to my doctor before...actually, more than once. She gently ensured me that the color really doesn't matter unless it's green. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I was extremely surprised by some of the things I learned in this book and I really wish I could have read it two years ago, just before I had Monkey, as I found the newborn chapter especially helpful and full of amazing facts that I didn't know.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Great book, Dr. Zibner, I'm so glad I got to read it!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Don't forget to &lt;span style="font-size: large;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.lifessweetpassions.com/2009/06/giveaway-if-your-kid-eats-this-book.html"&gt;enter my giveaway&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; on my blog, &lt;a href="http://www.lifessweetpassions.com/"&gt;Life's Sweet Passions&lt;/a&gt; to win one of&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt; &lt;span style="font-size: large;"&gt;five copies&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; of this book! &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-2237603999452937505?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/2237603999452937505/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/06/review-giveaway-if-your-kid-eats-this.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/2237603999452937505'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/2237603999452937505'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/06/review-giveaway-if-your-kid-eats-this.html' title='REVIEW + GIVEAWAY: If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still be Okay'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/Si2UAFheraI/AAAAAAAAAu4/S-j2DyGJmSE/s72-c/if+your+kid+eats+this+book.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-1942479757112334864</id><published>2009-06-01T16:58:00.002-06:00</published><updated>2009-06-01T17:19:34.298-06:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Book Reviews'/><title type='text'>The Mortal Instruments Series, by Cassandra Clare</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SiRc2koCRgI/AAAAAAAAAuY/Ou1RE_RJmTM/s1600-h/COB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SiRc2koCRgI/AAAAAAAAAuY/Ou1RE_RJmTM/s200/COB.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SiRc3_mjA2I/AAAAAAAAAug/IKIKoy2hYbc/s1600-h/n244247.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SiRc3_mjA2I/AAAAAAAAAug/IKIKoy2hYbc/s200/n244247.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SiRc5d6jLVI/AAAAAAAAAuo/F9BvGAF6mF8/s1600-h/asheforblog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SiRc5d6jLVI/AAAAAAAAAuo/F9BvGAF6mF8/s200/asheforblog.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Okay, This series by Cassandra Clare is one of my absolute favorites. And I know I say that a lot, but this time I really, &lt;b&gt;really&lt;/b&gt;, mean it! I soooo want to spoil the books for everyone because I want to talk about them, but I won't. I'll satisfy that urge by joining online fan forums. :)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There are three books in the series, The city of Bones, The city of Ashes, and The City of Glass. I just finished reading The City of Ashes, and am now hyped up on demons, battles, and witty sarcasm... which the books have plenty of. Clare's characters are hillariously funny, and even her own descriptions in the book hold to their own sense of humor. I loved coming across descriptions that were so random and sarcastic, they made me laugh:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;"The boy's wide eyes were way too bright a green, Clary noticed: the color of antifreeze, spring grass."&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;"He had electric blue hair that had stuck around his head like tendrils of a startled octopus."&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There were some grammar errors that I noticed in the book (but don't expect me to look them up; I've long forgotten them...it would have taken me out of the great story to stop and write them down!), but other than that, I didn't have any negative feelings towards the books. I do, however, know that some people were bothered by the reasons behind the "forbidden love" in the book. I was bothered by it a little, but I did see it coming before it happened, and by the time I finished the second book I relaxed, realizing from the hints given, that things weren't as they seemed. I know that whole sentence sounds like a code, but I can't explain any further without spoiling the book. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;All in all, this is a great series. I still need to read the last book, but from what I hear about it, I know I'll love it. I recommend The Mortal Instruments series to those who love the magical world, those who love sitting on the edge of their seat, those who are looking for forbidden love, and those who love mysteries and adventures with a sense of humor.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;All I can say now, is: "Move over Edward, Jace has now arrived."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3 down, 2 to go for the &lt;a href="http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/romance-reading-challenge-2009.html"&gt;Romance Reading Challenge&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;3 down, 3 to go for the &lt;a href="http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/rose-by-any-other-name.html"&gt;What's in a Name? Challenge. &lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-1942479757112334864?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/1942479757112334864/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/06/mortal-instruments-series-by-cassandra.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/1942479757112334864'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/1942479757112334864'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/06/mortal-instruments-series-by-cassandra.html' title='The Mortal Instruments Series, by Cassandra Clare'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SiRc2koCRgI/AAAAAAAAAuY/Ou1RE_RJmTM/s72-c/COB.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-2952360520814084229</id><published>2009-05-30T00:27:00.001-06:00</published><updated>2009-05-30T00:29:21.790-06:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Book Reviews'/><title type='text'>Wings, by Aprilynne Pike</title><content type='html'>I ended up reading Wings, by Aprilynne Pike, after all. What can I say? I adore the cover.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SiDSM7CIaWI/AAAAAAAAAuQ/bHS9GEFj-40/s1600-h/wings-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SiDSM7CIaWI/AAAAAAAAAuQ/bHS9GEFj-40/s320/wings-1.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;"Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful--too beautiful for words.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;&amp;nbsp;Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings."&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The book follows a teen named Laurel, as she comes to find out that her average life isn't so average. When she wakes up one morning to find that she's sprouted an interesting and non-human item from her back, she begins an adventure that defies all she formerly knew to be true about her life. Add her new best friend David,who wishes he were more than just a friend, plus the mysterious and handsome Tamani, from Laurel's childhood, and you've got the perfect setup for a great book.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To be straight, I liked the book a lot. It was humorous, sweet, imaginative, and so far-stretched that it was believable. My favorite thing about the book is that when I finished reading it, I really wanted everything in it to be true. I wanted to wake up one morning with a "pimple" on my back and watch it grow into something spectacular. Aprilynne Pike's world of fairies is so very different from all others...but it works!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Although the story was great, I must say that the book is good, not amazing. There were parts where I felt as if time had skipped forward, or where it seemd as if a chunk of the book was missing. The book longed for those missing pages.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But, I would still recommend the book to those who love magical things, and anyone who wants to be taken on a different and new adventure. The story is so enchanting, even with the "time skips," that I look forward to reading the next one.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-2952360520814084229?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/2952360520814084229/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/05/wings-by-aprilynne-pike.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/2952360520814084229'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/2952360520814084229'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/05/wings-by-aprilynne-pike.html' title='Wings, by Aprilynne Pike'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SiDSM7CIaWI/AAAAAAAAAuQ/bHS9GEFj-40/s72-c/wings-1.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-8365245486701556177</id><published>2009-05-07T02:22:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2009-05-07T02:22:28.831-06:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Pretty Cover Awards'/><title type='text'>Pretty Cover Award - Wings</title><content type='html'>It's been so long since I have updated! I feel like such a flake, but I haven't been reading any books lately...blasphemy, I know. I'm so behind on my challenges, and my bookshelf is starting to get a little dusty.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Never fear, I did pick up my long-forgotten copy of Beowulf, my neglected copy of Voyager (Outlander series, book 2), and my intimidating copy of Dracula, and am on my way to some (hopefully) happy endings and more reviews.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SgKZa3fz8YI/AAAAAAAAArs/Ye6LyiiU9iY/s1600-h/prettybookaward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SgKZa3fz8YI/AAAAAAAAArs/Ye6LyiiU9iY/s320/prettybookaward.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;But until then, I thought I would share this book cover that I found on the net today. It was just released two days ago, and caught my attention immediately. If I were at the bookstore and looking for a book to read, I would most likely pick this one. The cover art is so gorgeous and girlie, I love it!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SgKYj0JUaOI/AAAAAAAAArk/PTbKtzCw_jY/s1600-h/wings-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SgKYj0JUaOI/AAAAAAAAArk/PTbKtzCw_jY/s400/wings-1.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;Wings, by Aprilynne Pike&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;*I have not read this book, therefore my opinion is meant only towards the cover art, not the contents of the book.&lt;br /&gt;...but, I have read some great reviews of this book and am very much looking forward to reading it!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-8365245486701556177?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/8365245486701556177/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/05/pretty-cover-award-wings.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/8365245486701556177'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/8365245486701556177'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/05/pretty-cover-award-wings.html' title='Pretty Cover Award - Wings'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SgKZa3fz8YI/AAAAAAAAArs/Ye6LyiiU9iY/s72-c/prettybookaward.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-1591562126504407568</id><published>2009-03-22T01:00:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2009-03-22T01:00:17.046-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Tower of Strength</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/ScXhU--EOmI/AAAAAAAAAmU/QzDizCTClZ8/s1600-h/Tower_of_Strength_FRONTCOVER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/ScXhU--EOmI/AAAAAAAAAmU/QzDizCTClZ8/s320/Tower_of_Strength_FRONTCOVER.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Just wanted to post about a giveaway I'm entering. &lt;i&gt;Not Entirely British&lt;/i&gt; is giving away a copy of the book, Tower of Strength, by LDS author Annette Lyon. The story is a historical fiction, about a girl who lived during the time of the building of the Manti Temple (my favorite!).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I just heard about this book a couple days ago and have been wanting to read it, so I was so excited when I found out about this giveaway! If you'd like to enter, you can find the post &lt;a href="http://annebradshaw.blogspot.com/2009/03/contest-win-copy-of-annette-lyons.html"&gt;HERE&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-1591562126504407568?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/1591562126504407568/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/03/tower-of-strength.html#comment-form' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/1591562126504407568'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/1591562126504407568'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/03/tower-of-strength.html' title='Tower of Strength'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/ScXhU--EOmI/AAAAAAAAAmU/QzDizCTClZ8/s72-c/Tower_of_Strength_FRONTCOVER.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-2118531265940207119</id><published>2009-03-02T16:06:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-03-02T16:06:28.804-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Giveaways and Contests'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Book Reviews'/><title type='text'>Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home Review , a Giveaway, and Some Exciting News!</title><content type='html'>Before I go into my review, I just wanted to let everyone know that there have been some changes over at my main blog, &lt;a href="http://www.lifessweetpassions.com/"&gt;Life's Sweet Passions&lt;/a&gt;! The first change is huge, in that the blog now has it's own domain! The address now is http://www.lifessweetpassions.com. If you currently subscribe to the feed of this other blog, there is no need to change your links (unless you feel like doing so), due to the ease of transition. Google has automatically forwarded all my current feeds. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;-The look of Life's Sweet Passions will be changing soon, as well. I have found a very talented blog designer who is currently working on a new look for my blog. I also plan to change the look of this blog in the near future, so be on the look out!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;-And now we come to the part you have most likely been waiting for. I was given the opportunity by the &lt;a href="http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/"&gt;Hachette Book Group&lt;/a&gt;, to review the book: Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home, by Mrs. Thelma Meyer. I was a bit hesitant at first about reviewing this book, as I am not usually interested in self-help books. But I was caught by part of the description that said: &lt;i&gt;"With prices going up and time seeming to dissolve with our busy lives, practical, earth-friendly, time-saving advice for cleaning seems like a good way to keep house."&lt;/i&gt; I decided to give the book a try, and am very happy that I did.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SasKT9kGlxI/AAAAAAAAAi8/4dMNONrn_9w/s1600-h/9780446544597_388X586.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SasKT9kGlxI/AAAAAAAAAi8/4dMNONrn_9w/s320/9780446544597_388X586.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;You may have heard of &lt;a href="http://www.mrsmeyers.com/"&gt;Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day&lt;/a&gt;, or you may already use the products. But if you are wondering just who this Mrs. Meyer is, then wonder no more. In this book we meet Thelma Meyer, the inspiration behind the line of eco-friendly cleaning products, the mother of nine children, and a woman who really knows how to clean. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I loved the practicality of the advice given in this book. Mrs. Meyer tells you like it is, from advice such as "do it right the first time," to "put some elbow grease into it," she tells you exactly what you need to hear to get your house clean from top to bottom. Her advice at times reminded me of the advice one would hear from a trusted family member, as she tells you how to do something twice as easy as the way you've been doing it for years. She talks about reducing the things your family uses, and about not wasting anything. From watering the plants with the water you used to wash vegetables, to using products that are good for you and the environment, she gives eco-friendly advice and cleaning recipes that will help anyone striving to be green.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I loved the book's format, which was very refresing compared to other self help books. The pages are colorful and fun to read; no text-books here! The book is choc-full of everything to do with keeping house, making it the perfect book for those who are just learning household duties. My favorite parts are the weekly, monthly, and yearly chore lists. Exactly how often &lt;i&gt;should&lt;/i&gt; I clean out the refridgerator? How often &lt;i&gt;should&lt;/i&gt; I clean the curtains and vacuum the couches? Mrs. Meyer tells in her lists, exactly when these things should be done.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And for a quick sneak peak, here's a tip from the book:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What do you do when your house is a disaster and your friends just called and will be over in a few minutes? Mrs. Meyer's advice is not to panic, take a deep breath, and do "triage."&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1. Focus what they'll see first&lt;br /&gt;2. Add shimmer and shine&lt;br /&gt;3. Beautify the bathroom&lt;br /&gt;4. Clean up the kitchen&lt;br /&gt;5. Cope with suspicious smells&lt;br /&gt;6. Dim the lights and break out the candles&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: x-large;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;Giveaway&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I've loved reading this book, and seeing the applications it has in my home. And now, &lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;five&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt; lucky readers have the chance to get their own copy of Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home!&amp;nbsp; To enter, read the rules on the &lt;a href="http://www.lifessweetpassions.com/2009/03/mrs-meyers-clean-home-review-giveaway.html"&gt;giveaway post&lt;/a&gt;, and leave a comment or two, following the guidelines!&lt;i&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: large;"&gt;Good luck, and thanks for visiting My Passion for Reading!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-2118531265940207119?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/2118531265940207119/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/03/mrs-meyers-clean-home-review-giveaway.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/2118531265940207119'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/2118531265940207119'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/03/mrs-meyers-clean-home-review-giveaway.html' title='Mrs. Meyer&apos;s Clean Home Review , a Giveaway, and Some Exciting News!'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SasKT9kGlxI/AAAAAAAAAi8/4dMNONrn_9w/s72-c/9780446544597_388X586.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-2801285901032833292</id><published>2009-02-25T01:13:00.002-07:00</published><updated>2009-02-25T01:20:46.531-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Challenges'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Outlander Challenge'/><title type='text'>The Outlander Challenge, 2009</title><content type='html'>Okay, okay, so I know I said that I wasn't going to join any more challenges this year...well, maybe I didn't post it on my blog, but I was definitely decided on the point in my head. That is, until I read &lt;a href="http://callthechicgeek.blogspot.com/"&gt;The Chic Geek's&lt;/a&gt; blog, where she posted about signing up for none other than the &lt;b&gt;Outlander Reading Challenge&lt;/b&gt;!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SaT85V2kGvI/AAAAAAAAAiw/DcYz4LEOrnc/s1600-h/tartan-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SaT85V2kGvI/AAAAAAAAAiw/DcYz4LEOrnc/s320/tartan-1.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you've read my review of Diana Gabaldon's &lt;i&gt;Outlander&lt;/i&gt;, then you'll know that it is one of my favorite books. I haven't gotten around to reading the rest of the 6 (soon-to-be 7) books in the series, so this challenge is perfect for me!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here are the rules:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Sign up!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;You must read each of the six current Outlander Series novels prior to the publication of An Echo in the Bone&lt;/span&gt; (scheduled publication September 2009).&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The format can be of your choosing (audio, book, Kindle, etc).&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;You must post your thoughts/comments/inspirations/criticisms at least once on each book.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Books can crossover to other reading challenges if you wish.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Have fun!&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Want to join this challenge with me? Visit the Challenge's blog &lt;a href="http://outlanderchallenge.blogspot.com/"&gt;HERE&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I plan on writing reviews for each book, but I'll also update this post after reading each one.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;s&gt;Outlander&lt;/s&gt; - &lt;a href="http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/outlander.html"&gt;My Review&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Dragonfly in Amber&lt;br /&gt;Voyager&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Drums of Autumn&lt;br /&gt;The Fiery Cross&lt;br /&gt;A Breath of Snow and Ashes&lt;br /&gt;An Echo in the Bone (Released 9.22.09)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This challenge is hosted by:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://readersrespite.blogspot.com/"&gt;A Reader's Respite&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://passagestothepast.blogspot.com/"&gt;Passages to the Past &lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-2801285901032833292?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/2801285901032833292/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/02/outlander-challenge-2009.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/2801285901032833292'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/2801285901032833292'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/02/outlander-challenge-2009.html' title='The Outlander Challenge, 2009'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SaT85V2kGvI/AAAAAAAAAiw/DcYz4LEOrnc/s72-c/tartan-1.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-4668035298545706134</id><published>2009-01-27T02:27:00.057-07:00</published><updated>2009-01-27T03:00:22.256-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Book Reviews'/><title type='text'>A Kiss of Shadows</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SX7UT9Uc_KI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/D9BCzHJFsF4/s1600-h/%7B83AC283D-4246-47B2-AC52-3402C51F2D86%7DImg200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SX7UT9Uc_KI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/D9BCzHJFsF4/s320/%7B83AC283D-4246-47B2-AC52-3402C51F2D86%7DImg200.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Merry Gentry is in hiding, living in Los Angeles as a Private Investigator of supernatural crimes, she is doing pretty well. That is until one case reveals her as Princess Meredtih NicEssus, the lost Princess of the Unseelie, or Faerie court. She is brought back home, to the place where she had been running from for the past three years. The place where attempts on her life had been overlooked by the Queen, and even accepted by some of the nobles. It had been made very clear that she was wanted dead.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Merry knows she will be assassinated when she returns home but Andais, Queen of Air and Darkness--Merry's aunt--has other plans for her. &lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I wanted to love this book; I really did. The imagination and thought that Laurell K. Hamilton put into this book is amazing. She created a world where humans and Faerie (or Sidhe) live and cooperate together. Her Fae are imaginative, unique, and glorious; my favorite Fae characterizations yet. I love the plot, and Laurell's writing style only adds to the story. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That having been said, I can only give this book three stars. Why? The main reason is that I felt as if the story ended in the middle of the book. There were a couple of things that happened which made it suspenseful, but the book had no real story arc. I felt cheated at the end, as if there should have been more to the story.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;I loved the characters in this book, but I feel as if I didn't get to know them well enough. Merry moved from one man to the next, then back again so fast that we only got to see the personalities of a few men. I loved the imaginative way the intimate scenes were described, but the feeling of detachment we often received afterward was offsetting. It was as if those moments meant little to Merry, so they meant little to me.This book had the potential to be one of my favorite paranormal romances, but I don't think it pulled it off.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Though it came short of being a great book, Laurell K. Hamilton's descriptive writing and interesting world are too tempting, and I am still interested in reading the next in the series.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-4668035298545706134?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/4668035298545706134/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/kiss-of-shadows.html#comment-form' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/4668035298545706134'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/4668035298545706134'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/kiss-of-shadows.html' title='A Kiss of Shadows'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SX7UT9Uc_KI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/D9BCzHJFsF4/s72-c/%7B83AC283D-4246-47B2-AC52-3402C51F2D86%7DImg200.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-2166572463846218020</id><published>2009-01-23T14:18:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-01-23T14:33:37.269-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Great Finds'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Misc.'/><title type='text'>Old book, New Journal</title><content type='html'>Look at these book journals I've found! They're made by &lt;a href="http://www.bookjournals.com/"&gt;ex libris anonymous&lt;/a&gt;, who takes the covers from old books and uses them as the covers for new journals! I love, love, &lt;i&gt;love&lt;/i&gt; the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys journals:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXo00O3Dg3I/AAAAAAAAAe4/q6lyW1FhwN4/s1600-h/hbseptember21+%2831%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXo00O3Dg3I/AAAAAAAAAe4/q6lyW1FhwN4/s320/hbseptember21+%2831%29.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And take a look at this Dr. Seuss journal (I especially like the clear spiral):&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXo10OI7v9I/AAAAAAAAAfA/7x4v6mzHxgI/s1600-h/dsnovember26+%2842%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXo10OI7v9I/AAAAAAAAAfA/7x4v6mzHxgI/s320/dsnovember26+%2842%29.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What's more, the site also does custom orders. So they will make a journal out of any book you send for $10! I'm thinking a Twilight journal would be nice... :)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What a great way to be green! Now, let's see who's birthday is coming up next...&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-2166572463846218020?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/2166572463846218020/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/old-book-new-journal.html#comment-form' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/2166572463846218020'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/2166572463846218020'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/old-book-new-journal.html' title='Old book, New Journal'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXo00O3Dg3I/AAAAAAAAAe4/q6lyW1FhwN4/s72-c/hbseptember21+%2831%29.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-7378079935844349333</id><published>2009-01-21T01:55:00.019-07:00</published><updated>2009-01-21T03:29:37.716-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Pretty Cover Awards'/><title type='text'>Judging Books by Their Covers</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&amp;nbsp;Confession: Sometimes I pick my books by their covers.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;I am attracted to pretty books, and prone to read them before others. Now that doesn't mean that I won't buy an ugly book, because I will. But given a choice between two good books, I will almost always choose the one with the better cover art.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now, we all know you can't judge a book by it's cover. Do that, and you're bound to miss out on a lot of great books. But let's be honest here...good book or no, you always remember the books with appealing covers.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And so I will begin giving &lt;i&gt;Pretty Books Awards&lt;/i&gt;; A way for me to talk about the many beautiful book covers out there! Here's how it works: If I happen across a cover I like, I'll award it.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;Yes, it's silly but it's fun.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXbueYNuCDI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/QgG8wolGs5I/s1600-h/prettybookaward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXbueYNuCDI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/QgG8wolGs5I/s320/prettybookaward.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here are two lovely covers for today's awards:&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;*I have not read either of these books, therefore my opinion is meant only towards the cover art, not the contents of the books.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXbwWSujaHI/AAAAAAAAAeo/zB1-DviyApY/s1600-h/cover1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXbwWSujaHI/AAAAAAAAAeo/zB1-DviyApY/s320/cover1.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Do you not find this cover gorgeous? &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;I've always had a soft spot for Victorian Era fashion and design, especially the era's pictures and historical fic. books. *sigh* this cover screams Victorian Era. I love it!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXbwzKs3b1I/AAAAAAAAAew/q3ghcmvOkxI/s1600-h/InDreamsDanceM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXbwzKs3b1I/AAAAAAAAAew/q3ghcmvOkxI/s320/InDreamsDanceM.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;(I tried and failed to find a bigger picture of this book.)&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;I picked this cover because of the picture. I like simple pictures that say a lot (like this), which is my favorite photography style. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-7378079935844349333?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/7378079935844349333/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/you-cant-no-shouldnt-judge-book-by-its.html#comment-form' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/7378079935844349333'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/7378079935844349333'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/you-cant-no-shouldnt-judge-book-by-its.html' title='Judging Books by Their Covers'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXbueYNuCDI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/QgG8wolGs5I/s72-c/prettybookaward.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-1217805881991308443</id><published>2009-01-20T14:53:00.011-07:00</published><updated>2009-01-20T16:05:42.495-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Misc.'/><title type='text'>Books Beware</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZU1lrdFJI/AAAAAAAAAdY/P6SLd1lj-dU/s1600-h/img_2340_n500_921.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZU1lrdFJI/AAAAAAAAAdY/P6SLd1lj-dU/s320/img_2340_n500_921.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: xx-small;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;By Georgia Russell&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Start hiding your books, folks, because they are no longer just for reading. Thanks to some highly skilled artisans, books have become an extraordinary platform for art. As you'll see below, there are some stunning pieces out there, and I want to share them with you!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.englandgallery.com/artist_group.php?mainId=32&amp;amp;media=Constructions%20%26%20mixed%20media"&gt;Georgia Russell&lt;/a&gt; is a Scottish atrist who has chosen books, newspapers, music scores, and more as her platform for art. As you can see, the art literally grows out of the books.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZP5JJdv0I/AAAAAAAAAco/nNcYoxQ03po/s1600-h/GR244_IMG_2381_n500_946.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZP5JJdv0I/AAAAAAAAAco/nNcYoxQ03po/s320/GR244_IMG_2381_n500_946.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZP9siT4NI/AAAAAAAAAcw/1ke3IRzppMQ/s1600-h/r500_GR204_n500_353.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZP9siT4NI/AAAAAAAAAcw/1ke3IRzppMQ/s320/r500_GR204_n500_353.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZQEj15-4I/AAAAAAAAAc4/CIPoBQzW9C0/s1600-h/GR265_n500_1316.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZQEj15-4I/AAAAAAAAAc4/CIPoBQzW9C0/s320/GR265_n500_1316.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.carabarer.com/index.php"&gt;Cara Barer&lt;/a&gt; is a photographer from Texas who's passion for acquiring and sculpting unused books has turned into beautiful photography.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZTJW9swMI/AAAAAAAAAdA/pLSHSWJjNTg/s1600-h/butterfly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZTJW9swMI/AAAAAAAAAdA/pLSHSWJjNTg/s320/butterfly.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZTM_C8v3I/AAAAAAAAAdI/cjWVOsBuMHo/s1600-h/new-century-72.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZTM_C8v3I/AAAAAAAAAdI/cjWVOsBuMHo/s320/new-century-72.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZTTSqeYWI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/ttn38qI2H6M/s1600-h/homageToChamberlain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZTTSqeYWI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/ttn38qI2H6M/s320/homageToChamberlain.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Saving the best for last: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;My favorite artist yet is &lt;a href="http://www.sublackwell.co.uk/"&gt;Su Blackwell&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Her fairy tale-inspired pieces are enchanting and truly bring the books alive. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZXPIxwbJI/AAAAAAAAAdo/20GrIu7ZuBs/s1600-h/su-blackwell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZXPIxwbJI/AAAAAAAAAdo/20GrIu7ZuBs/s320/su-blackwell.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZU_LCsMII/AAAAAAAAAdg/W0D-FaLSATs/s1600-h/book_art_008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZU_LCsMII/AAAAAAAAAdg/W0D-FaLSATs/s320/book_art_008.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZXVqS_QxI/AAAAAAAAAdw/-9c5IctFBaU/s1600-h/su-blackwell-dress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZXVqS_QxI/AAAAAAAAAdw/-9c5IctFBaU/s320/su-blackwell-dress.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZYO_CDm8I/AAAAAAAAAeA/Y3yuWPNEyqU/s1600-h/PeterPanelbarcopirata.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZYO_CDm8I/AAAAAAAAAeA/Y3yuWPNEyqU/s320/PeterPanelbarcopirata.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZYRaokSFI/AAAAAAAAAeI/j5I1bGGbqQI/s1600-h/bdd998b0db09fa259880fd3d70a46e8d0fc19084_m.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZYRaokSFI/AAAAAAAAAeI/j5I1bGGbqQI/s320/bdd998b0db09fa259880fd3d70a46e8d0fc19084_m.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-1217805881991308443?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/1217805881991308443/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/books-beware.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/1217805881991308443'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/1217805881991308443'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/books-beware.html' title='Books Beware'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXZU1lrdFJI/AAAAAAAAAdY/P6SLd1lj-dU/s72-c/img_2340_n500_921.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-3114236943050347755</id><published>2009-01-20T13:47:00.005-07:00</published><updated>2009-01-20T14:11:18.566-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Awards and Tags'/><title type='text'>Awards and a Tag</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXY5nmnTGNI/AAAAAAAAAb4/8DO_7lUJW8k/s1600-h/lovely_blog_award.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXY5nmnTGNI/AAAAAAAAAb4/8DO_7lUJW8k/s320/lovely_blog_award.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXY5tCBvhFI/AAAAAAAAAcA/GqD_BogMEIs/s1600-h/premios_dardoaward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXY5tCBvhFI/AAAAAAAAAcA/GqD_BogMEIs/s400/premios_dardoaward.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I received these two wonderful awards from &lt;a href="http://callthechicgeek.blogspot.com/"&gt;The Chic Geek&lt;/a&gt;! I am passing these on to my sister Latu's blog, because I absolutely love her posts! &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXY9QOBTWOI/AAAAAAAAAcI/61W1ije-w5s/s1600-h/You%27vebeentagged.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXY9QOBTWOI/AAAAAAAAAcI/61W1ije-w5s/s320/You%27vebeentagged.png" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;I was also tagged by The Chic Geek!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;Here are the rules:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Link to the person who has tagged you.&lt;br /&gt;Write down six things that make you happy.&lt;br /&gt;Post the rules, tag six others and let them know you did it.&lt;br /&gt;Then tell the person when your entry is complete.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Things That Make me Happy:&lt;br /&gt;1.) My son! &lt;br /&gt;2.) Singing (I dare you to sing and &lt;i&gt;not&lt;/i&gt; be happy)&lt;br /&gt;3.) Readin &lt;br /&gt;4.) Chocolate :)&lt;br /&gt;5.) The night sky &lt;br /&gt;6.) Winter&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And now, my wonderful readers, I now tag you! Yep, you read it. You have now been tagged. If you wish to participate, then by all means, go ahead!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thanks, Chic Geek!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-3114236943050347755?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/3114236943050347755/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/awards-and-tag.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/3114236943050347755'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/3114236943050347755'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/awards-and-tag.html' title='Awards and a Tag'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SXY5nmnTGNI/AAAAAAAAAb4/8DO_7lUJW8k/s72-c/lovely_blog_award.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-8054963208274876509</id><published>2009-01-11T20:43:00.030-07:00</published><updated>2009-02-25T01:21:26.968-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Romance Reading Challenge'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Outlander Challenge'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Book Reviews'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Read Your Name Challenge'/><title type='text'>Outlander</title><content type='html'>&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SWrASY33aFI/AAAAAAAAAag/5DHRhj64-c4/s1600-h/gabaldon_outlander.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SWrASY33aFI/AAAAAAAAAag/5DHRhj64-c4/s320/gabaldon_outlander.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;i style="background-color: white; color: rgb(7, 55, 99);"&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;i style="background-color: white; color: rgb(7, 55, 99);"&gt; &lt;span style="font-size:x-small;"&gt;"Good," I said, completely provoked. "You deserve it. Maybe that will teach you to go haring round the countryside kidnapping young women and k-killing people, and…" I felt myself ridiculously close to tears and stopped, fighting for control.&lt;br /&gt;      Dougal was growing impatient with this conversation. "Well, can ye keep one foot on each side of the horse, man?"&lt;br /&gt;      "He can't go anywhere!" I protested indignantly. "He ought to be in a hospital! Certainly he can't---"&lt;br /&gt;      My protests, as usual, went completely ignored.&lt;br /&gt;      "Can ye ride?" Dougal repeated.&lt;br /&gt;      "Aye, if ye'll take the lassie off my chest and fetch me a clean shirt."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="background-color: white; color: rgb(7, 55, 99);"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="background-color: white; color: rgb(7, 55, 99); text-align: right;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:x-small;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;div style="background-color: white; color: rgb(7, 55, 99); text-align: right;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:x-small;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Chapter 3: The Man in the Wood - Pages 78-79 &lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Diana Gabaldon can write one heck of a book! I was in love with &lt;i&gt;Outlander&lt;/i&gt; from the first chapter, and stayed up all night just so I could finish all 600+ pages in one sitting. &lt;strike&gt;It really took two sittings, but who's counting?&lt;/strike&gt; I had such fun reading this book, it easily makes it into my top 10 favorites...maybe even top five. And a romance novel, to boot! But not merely is it a romance novel, it also packs action, humor, suspense, history, tragedy, and true love all in one sweet little package. There was actually interesting, time-worthy content to it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Diana did such a wonderful job in developing her characters, they come alive; something that I find is usually lacking in most novels today. Jamie's innate sense of humor had me laughing long after I read his passages, and Claire's inner thoughts were interesting, descriptive, and well-placed. Even the other characters are surprisingly well-developed, steeped in the rich history of Scotland.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I waited a long time to read this book, because the synopsis did not appeal to me. Time-travel romance is not something I wanted to read about. But if this is what is holding you back, don't let it! Give &lt;i&gt;Outlander&lt;/i&gt; a try, and lose yourself like I did!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote style="background-color: white; color: rgb(7, 55, 99);"&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:x-small;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;The book is rich in history, romance, drama... It has the qualities of a true epic, easily rivalling such classics as "Gone With the Wind".&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: right;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:x-small;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;-Smhtjoa, Amazon.com customer review&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt; 2 books down for the &lt;a href="http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/romance-reading-challenge-2009.html"&gt;Romance Reading Challenge&lt;/a&gt;, 3 to go!&lt;br /&gt;1 book down for the &lt;a href="http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/p-e-n-e-l-o-p-e.html"&gt;Read Your Name Challenge&lt;/a&gt;, 7 to go!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Find &lt;i&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.amazon.com/Outlander-Diana-Gabaldon/dp/0440212561/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;s=books&amp;amp;qid=1231733479&amp;amp;sr=8-1"&gt;Outlander&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt; on Amazon.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-8054963208274876509?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/8054963208274876509/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/outlander.html#comment-form' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/8054963208274876509'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/8054963208274876509'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/outlander.html' title='Outlander'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SWrASY33aFI/AAAAAAAAAag/5DHRhj64-c4/s72-c/gabaldon_outlander.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-758644459989933916</id><published>2009-01-05T15:15:00.013-07:00</published><updated>2009-01-11T22:02:05.829-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Romance Reading Challenge'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Book Reviews'/><title type='text'>The Sugar Queen</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SWKHeLdqjvI/AAAAAAAAAY8/FALpDXvbg_g/s1600-h/n249287.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SWKHeLdqjvI/AAAAAAAAAY8/FALpDXvbg_g/s320/n249287.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Josey Cirrini's life is at a stand-still. As a child, she was bad-mannered and rude. When her father passed away at the age of nine, and she swore to make up for the bad ways that she treated her mother, she started hoarding sweets and romance novels in her closet. Now, at twenty-seven years old, she is a shy, obedient daughter to am overbearing mother, and is in love with her mailman. She keeps her dreams of traveling, adventure, and romance safely in her closet with her comfort foods. But when she wakes up to find that a strange woman has taken up residence in her closet, her entire life begins to change. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;How did you like the book?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I loved it, and would read it again in a heartbeat.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;What did you like most about the book?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I like that this book (and Sarah's other book, Garden Spells) has real-life scenarios that most books don't deal with like abuse and overeating. Sarah manages to weave these problems into a wonderful love story, while still respecting the consequences that these problems can have.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This book also has some really good plot twists!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;What did you like least about the book?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Some parts were a bit predictable.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Would you recommend this book to others?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I sure would!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Any last words?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sarah's writing differs so far from other writers I can't explain it, but I like it. I love the way she effortlessly weaves magic into her stories. I adored her first book, Garden Spells, and the magic it held (who wouldn't love an apple tree that throws apples?). I was afraid that this book wouldn't hold up to the first, but it does! Who doesn't love persistent know-it-all books that appear out of nowhere?!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To find this book on Amazon, &lt;a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Queen-Sarah-Addison-Allen/dp/0553805495"&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1 book down for the &lt;a href="http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/romance-reading-challenge-2009.html"&gt;Romance Reading Challenge&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-758644459989933916?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/758644459989933916/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/sugar-queen.html#comment-form' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/758644459989933916'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/758644459989933916'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/sugar-queen.html' title='The Sugar Queen'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SWKHeLdqjvI/AAAAAAAAAY8/FALpDXvbg_g/s72-c/n249287.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-8278944063765838836</id><published>2009-01-01T14:39:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2009-01-01T14:41:18.562-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Messages'/><title type='text'>New Year</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"&gt;It's 2009! Rest assured that I am now busily working on reading my challenge picks. Wish me luck!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"&gt;Oh, and &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:180%;"&gt;Happy New Year!!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-8278944063765838836?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/8278944063765838836/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-year.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/8278944063765838836'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/8278944063765838836'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-year.html' title='New Year'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-935407413065746423</id><published>2008-12-19T12:59:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-12-19T13:03:25.213-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Challenges'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Centuries Challenge'/><title type='text'>Centuries Reading Challenge</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SUv9TuFx7eI/AAAAAAAAAXM/GYqlMohlYIs/s1600-h/centurieschallengemostpleased02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SUv9TuFx7eI/AAAAAAAAAXM/GYqlMohlYIs/s200/centurieschallengemostpleased02.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;This one is interesting: &lt;a href="http://blbooks.blogspot.com/2008/11/centuries-reading-challenge.html"&gt;The Centuries Challenge&lt;/a&gt;, hosted by Becky's Book Reviews. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;From the Challenge Page:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;i&gt;Your challenge--if you choose to accept it--is to read four (to six) books from four &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;different&lt;/span&gt; centuries &lt;/i&gt;[written in different centuries]&lt;i&gt;. (If you choose to read six books altogether, then you can double up on centuries if you like. You can always read more than six. But you're not obligated to in any way.)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;My list (when I decide):&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1.&lt;br /&gt;2.&lt;br /&gt;3.&lt;br /&gt;4.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-935407413065746423?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/935407413065746423/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/centuries-reading-challenge.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/935407413065746423'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/935407413065746423'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/centuries-reading-challenge.html' title='Centuries Reading Challenge'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SUv9TuFx7eI/AAAAAAAAAXM/GYqlMohlYIs/s72-c/centurieschallengemostpleased02.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-7422883592732004933</id><published>2008-12-19T12:36:00.009-07:00</published><updated>2009-01-11T21:59:05.838-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Challenges'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Dangerous Reads'/><title type='text'>My Year of Reading Dangerously - A Challenge</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SUv36T0ATCI/AAAAAAAAAXE/Y8HZr97YTrQ/s1600-h/dangerously_big.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SUv36T0ATCI/AAAAAAAAAXE/Y8HZr97YTrQ/s320/dangerously_big.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;My Year of Reading Dangerously &lt;a href="http://dangerouslychallenge.blogspot.com/"&gt;Challenge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;From the contest site: &lt;i&gt;"Read 12 books you deem "dangerous." between January 1st and December 31st 2009. They may be banned or challenged books, new-to-you genres, books that seem to inhabit a permanent space on your stacks, or authors you're afraid of. The possibilities are endless! If it's dangerous to you, it's challenge-worthy to us!" &lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Here are the books I plan to read, and why:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;2. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (Re-read, and Crossover)&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; It's dangerously addictive!&lt;br /&gt;3. The Arabian Nights by Anonymous&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;4. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;5. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; I hear it's a hard read, therefore it's dangerous! &lt;br /&gt;6. The Poisonwod Bible (Crossover)&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; People keep telling me to read this book, but it's never appealed to me. Time to read it.&lt;br /&gt;7. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; So many people say this is Jane Austen's worst book, so I figure I'll see for myself. &lt;br /&gt;8. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (Crossover)&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I started reading this once, but couldn't finish. It's time to finish it.&lt;br /&gt;9. Blonde by Joyce carol Oates&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; Marilyn Monroe's life was tragic, making the perfect dangerous read! &lt;br /&gt;10. Beasts by Joyce Carol Oates&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; Dangerous; Tantalizing; Dark. I have to read it. &lt;br /&gt;11. Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; I don't usually read book that have to do with subjects such as abuse, drugs, abduction, ect... &lt;br /&gt;12.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-7422883592732004933?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/7422883592732004933/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-year-of-reading-dangerously.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/7422883592732004933'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/7422883592732004933'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-year-of-reading-dangerously.html' title='My Year of Reading Dangerously - A Challenge'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SUv36T0ATCI/AAAAAAAAAXE/Y8HZr97YTrQ/s72-c/dangerously_big.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-503969498577879297</id><published>2008-12-14T15:04:00.013-07:00</published><updated>2009-06-01T17:05:13.811-06:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Romance Reading Challenge'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Challenges'/><title type='text'>Romance Reading Challenge 2009</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SUWDMDv2mZI/AAAAAAAAAT0/vX0b5YP7z6o/s1600-h/rrc09small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SUWDMDv2mZI/AAAAAAAAAT0/vX0b5YP7z6o/s320/rrc09small.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Yet another amazing challenge! When I came across this one, I just &lt;i&gt;had&lt;/i&gt; to enter because I LOVE love stories! This challenge is hosted by The Bookworm, and you can find the challenge page &lt;a href="http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/2008/11/romance-reading-challenge-2009.html"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;So here's the gist:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Choose at least 5 romance novels to read during 2009. Read them at the pace of my choosing, and then add the link to my reviews as I write them at the designated challenge page.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And, in case your wondering, here's a lovely description from the challenge host's blog, of just exactly what a romance novel is:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;i&gt;Now, "Romance" isn't limited to steamy Harlequin novels. There is a huge selection of books in this category such as contemporary romance, historical romance, romantic suspense and paranormal romance to name a few. As long as the story has romantic love between the two main characters your selection will fit this challenge. The novels do not need to have a happy ending either, there can also be unrequited love.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;I'm not sure what exactly I'll read, yet. I was thinking of reading Gone With the Wind a third time, because it's soooo good. Or, I might decide to choose books I haven't read before. Either way, I'll be posting my picks when I pick 'em, and I'll post my reviews after I've read 'em! :)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="color: black;"&gt;1. &lt;strike&gt;City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments series, book 1) by Cassandra Clare&lt;/strike&gt; &lt;a href="http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/06/mortal-instruments-series-by-cassandra.html"&gt;My Review&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="color: black;"&gt;2. Princess of the Sword (The Nine Kingdoms series, book 3) by Lynn Kurland&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="color: black;"&gt;3. &lt;strike&gt;Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen&lt;/strike&gt;  &lt;a href="http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/sugar-queen.html"&gt;My Review&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="color: black;"&gt;4. &lt;strike&gt;Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (Crossover)&lt;/strike&gt; - &lt;a href="http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/outlander.html"&gt;My Review&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="color:black;"&gt;5. &lt;/span&gt;Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (Re-Read)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-503969498577879297?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/503969498577879297/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/romance-reading-challenge-2009.html#comment-form' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/503969498577879297'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/503969498577879297'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/romance-reading-challenge-2009.html' title='Romance Reading Challenge 2009'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SUWDMDv2mZI/AAAAAAAAAT0/vX0b5YP7z6o/s72-c/rrc09small.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-2023351389255771242</id><published>2008-12-10T13:30:00.027-07:00</published><updated>2009-06-01T17:03:08.597-06:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Challenges'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Read Your Name Challenge'/><title type='text'>P-E-N-E-L-O-P-E</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;Another interesting challenge for 2009:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278262061160624114" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SUAnYRLmb_I/AAAAAAAAASE/nRZ-WkGvR2w/s200/rync1.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;See the Read Your Name Challenge website &lt;a href="http://namereading.blogspot.com/"&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This one should be fun! Participants are to read books that start with each of the letters of their name. Here are some of my tentative picks:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1:  &lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;P&lt;/b&gt;oisonwood Bible, The by Barbara Kingsolver (Crossover)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2:  &lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;E&lt;/b&gt;nter Three Witches by Caroline Cooney&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3:  &lt;b&gt;N&lt;/b&gt;&lt;i&gt;obody's Princess by Esther Friesner&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4:  &lt;b&gt;E&lt;/b&gt;&lt;i&gt;nna Burning by Shannon Hale&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;5:  &lt;b&gt;L&lt;/b&gt;&lt;i&gt;iving Dead in Dallas (Southern Vampire Mysteries, book 2) by Charlaine Harris&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;6:  &lt;strike&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;O&lt;/b&gt;utlander by Diana Gabaldon&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;i&gt; &lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt; &lt;a href="http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/outlander.html"&gt;My Review&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;7:  &lt;strike&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;P&lt;/b&gt;endragon&lt;/i&gt;, book 1: The Merchant of Death, by D.J. MacHale&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;br /&gt;8: &lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;E&lt;/b&gt;mma by Jane Austen&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;*Reviews to come as I finish the books!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-2023351389255771242?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/2023351389255771242/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/p-e-n-e-l-o-p-e.html#comment-form' title='7 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/2023351389255771242'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/2023351389255771242'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/p-e-n-e-l-o-p-e.html' title='P-E-N-E-L-O-P-E'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SUAnYRLmb_I/AAAAAAAAASE/nRZ-WkGvR2w/s72-c/rync1.png' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>7</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-5865510168465785079</id><published>2008-12-10T12:40:00.018-07:00</published><updated>2009-06-01T17:20:12.382-06:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='What&apos;s in a Name?'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Challenges'/><title type='text'>A Rose By Any Other Name...</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;My first challenge for 2009! I love this one because it is so smart and unique! I give you the &lt;a href="http://whatsinaname-2.blogspot.com/"&gt;&lt;i&gt;What's in a Name? Reading Challenge&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;...&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SUAdzybUW6I/AAAAAAAAAR8/3BvASbF2jpg/s1600-h/what%27s+in+a+name+1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SUAdzybUW6I/AAAAAAAAAR8/3BvASbF2jpg/s320/what%27s+in+a+name+1.gif" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The objective is to read one book from each of the six given categories. The categories are the things that you need to have in the titles of each book (it's explained better in the challenge website). These are the categories:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1. A book with a "profession" in it's title.&lt;br /&gt;2. A book with a "time of day" in it's title.&lt;br /&gt;3. A book with a "relative" in it's title.&lt;br /&gt;4. A book with a "body part" in it's title.&lt;br /&gt;5. A book with a "building" in it's title.&lt;br /&gt;6. A book with a "medical condition" in it's title.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I haven't decided on all of the books I will read yet, but here are some &lt;i&gt;possibilites&lt;/i&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1. Profession: &lt;i&gt;The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (Crossover)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2. Time of day: &lt;strike&gt;&lt;i&gt;Dead Until Dark: Southern Vampire Mysteries volume 1, by Charlaine Harris &lt;/i&gt;&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3. Relative: &lt;i&gt;Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4. Body part: &lt;strike&gt;City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments series) by Cassandra Clare&lt;/strike&gt; - &lt;a href="http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2009/06/mortal-instruments-series-by-cassandra.html"&gt;My Review&lt;/a&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;5. Building: &lt;i&gt;Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;6. Medical condition: &lt;strike&gt;&lt;i&gt;Faefever (Fever series, book 3) by Karen Marie Moning &lt;/i&gt;&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;*Updates to come as I finish the books!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-5865510168465785079?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/5865510168465785079/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/rose-by-any-other-name.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/5865510168465785079'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/5865510168465785079'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/rose-by-any-other-name.html' title='A Rose By Any Other Name...'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SUAdzybUW6I/AAAAAAAAAR8/3BvASbF2jpg/s72-c/what%27s+in+a+name+1.gif' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306941678056242138.post-6504692421222160270</id><published>2008-12-10T11:59:00.002-07:00</published><updated>2008-12-10T12:31:10.973-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Messages'/><title type='text'>First Post!</title><content type='html'>Welcome to my new book blog! I am so excited to get started. I enjoy reading, and have many books waiting to be read.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;I've decided to start 2009 off by participating in a couple of challenges. For the most part, that is what this blog will be about; the books I read for these challenges. I'm kind of new at book blogging, so if you feel I could improve in anything (reviews, thoughts, etc...) please feel free to let me know!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;This is a companion blog to my home blog: &lt;a href="http://www.lifessweetpassions.blogspot.com/"&gt;Life's Sweet Passions&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6306941678056242138-6504692421222160270?l=mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/feeds/6504692421222160270/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/first-post.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/6504692421222160270'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6306941678056242138/posts/default/6504692421222160270'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mypassionforbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/first-post.html' title='First Post!'/><author><name>Penelope</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01839588124708882856</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='23' src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BTTVoz3sMME/SnMfQod_yqI/AAAAAAAAA1I/5cAYNgHRpl0/S220/me4.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry></feed>
