Oooooo...a CHALLENGE!

I was going to wait at bit before joining any challenges, but this one caught my eye, so I just signed up. Whether or not I'll stick with it remains to be seen...








In this challenge, hosted by Find Your Next Book Here, I will attempt to go outside of my comfort zone in reading and writing. There are ten challenges, and I've selected my books for some of the challenges already.

1. Random Book Selection. Go to the library. Position yourself in a section such as Fiction, Non-Fiction, Mystery, Children (whatever section you want). Then write down random directions for yourself (for example, third row, second shelf, fifth book from right). Follow your directions and see what book you find. Check that book out of the library, read it and then write about it. (If you prefer, you can do the same at a bookstore and buy the book!)

I put myself in the fiction section and ended up with the book Puzzled to Death by Parnell Hall. It looks like a mystery-type book, so I'm super excited to read it.
2. Random Word. Go to this random word generator and generate a random word. Find a book with this word in the title. Read the book and write about it.

3. Birth Year Book. Find a book that was published or copyrighted in the year of your birth. Read the book and write about it.

4. Judge A Book By Its Cover. Pick out a book based SOLELY on the cover. First, write about what you expect the book to be about based on the cover art. Then read the book and write about how the book was different from and/or similar to what the cover art led you to expect.

The book I picked up was Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa by R.A. Scotti. Here's the cover, in case you're interested.

1. Phoning An Author. Pick a random last name out of the phone book. Find an author with the same last name and read a book by them. Write about it. (I'm flexible ... if the first random name you pick is Xprxyrsss, you can pick again!)
   
2. Public Spying. Find someone who is reading a book in public. Find out what book they are reading and then read the same book. Write about it.
3. Random Bestseller. Go to Random.org and, using the True Random Number Generator, enter the number 1950 for the min. and 2008 for the max. and then hit generate. Then go to this site and find the year that Random.org generated for you and click on it. Then find the bestseller list for the week that would contain your birthday for that year. Choose one of the bestsellers from the list that comes up, read it and write about it.
4. Lit Riff (inspired by the book Lit Riffs by Matthew Miele.) Choose a song and then write a brief story that is inspired by or further explains the lyrics of the song.
5. Poetic Review. Write a book review in three different forms of verse: haiku, limerick and free verse. (You can pick any book you want to write about.)
6. Movie/Book Comparison. Find a book that you haven't read that has a movie based on it that you haven't seen. Read the book and watch the movie within a few days of each other. Write about your reactions to both the book and the movie and compare the two.

The numbering got a bit screwed up...but oh well. I think this will be a lot of fun!

GENOME: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley

GENOME: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters
Matt Ridley

By picking one newly discovered gene from each of the twenty-three human chromosomes and telling its story, Matt Ridley recounts the history of our species and its ancestors from the dawn of life to the brink of future medicine. He finds genes that we share with bacteria, genes that distinguish us from chimpanzees, genes that can condemn us to cruel diseases, genes that may influence our intelligence, genes that enable us to use grammatical language, genes that guide the development of our bodies and our brains, genes that allow us to remember, genes that exhibit the strange alchemy of nature and nurture, genes that parasitise us for their own selfish ends, genes that battle with one another and genes that record the history of human migrations. From Huntington's disease to cancer, he explores the applications of genetics: the search for understanding and therapy, the horrors of eugenics and the philosophical implications for understanding the paradox of free will. (image and summary from barnesandnoble.com)

Don't make fun of me! Yes, I read science books for fun--quite often, actually. I find myself caught up in the trap of reading about something real, research that's going on right now. And for anyone else in that same boat as me, I'd definitely recommend this book.

The entire premise of the story, to select one gene from each chromosome to discuss, is very interesting in itself. But Matt Ridley took those genes and used them to weave a story not just about what that gene does, but about an entire concept of existence. He discusses eugenics, and whether or not people should find out if they have life-threatening diseases, and dozens of other topics that truly captivated me. Heavy material.

This is a great book for anyone just venturing into the genre of science nonfiction or for those who have been reading nonfiction for years. It's simple enough for anyone to understand yet complex enough that it is fascinating material. GENOME was an excellent book.

Grade: B+

Teaser Tusedays (June 2)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week I'm reading GENOME: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley. Yes, I am a geek.

"Far from us lying at the mercy of our omnipotent genes, it is often our genes that lie at the mercy of us. If you go bungee jumping or take a stressful job, or repeatedly imagine a terrible fear, you will raise your cortisol levels, and the cortisol will dash around the body busy switching on genes."
~page 153-154

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren.

This week I went to a used book sale, so I have lots of new books to read. I just can't keep myself from buying books when they're super cheap like that....

Lost in a Good Book
Jasper Fforde

This is the sequel to The Eyre Affair, which I loved, so I'm really looking forward to this book in the series.

Into Thin Air
Jon Krakauer

I've heard some great things about this book from people I know, and the "survival story" is bound to be exciting, at least.







The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood
This looks like an interesting view on a futuristic society, and has gotten a lot of good reviews.












The Blind Assasin
Margaret Atwood
I picked this one up because it won The Booker Prize, but the more I think about the premise of the interwoven stories, the more excited I am to read it.

And bunches more...but these are the ones I'm most excited about reading. How did you all do for books this week?

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

The Eyre Affair
Jasper Fforde

The word "unique" is overused and frequently misused. Here, however, is an instance where it truly applies. But to call The Eyre Affair a unique first novel featuring a fearless fictional adventurer barely begins to tell the story. When asked to summarize his creation is a single sentence, Jasper Fforde described it as "a literary detective thriller with romantic overtones, mad-inventor uncles, aunts trapped in Wordsworth poems, global multinationals, scheming evildoers, an excursion inside the novel Jane Eyre, dodos, knight-errant-time-traveling fathers, and the answer to the eternal question: Who really wrote Shakespeare's plays?"

Swindon, a traditionally tranquil English town, is the ironic setting for most of these oddball characters and peculiar goings-on; the year is 1985. Fforde spins his wildly imaginative crime caper in language every bit as ingenious as the madcap plot; his devilishly clever turns of phrase take the form of verbal puzzles, anagrams, and literary and cinematic in-jokes.

Long involved in the movie-making business, Fforde gives a starring role to Thursday Next, a captivating sleuth whose respect for literature matches that of her creator. The essence of Thursday's quest is the capture of Acheron Hades, a wily cad whose dastardly crime is murder of characters from the classics.

My Thoughts:

When I started reading The Eyre Affair, I wasn't sure how much I would like it. The ideas and concepts seemed a little strange to me, and I was confused with the alternate world painted out in the novel. I'm so glad I decided to stick with this book, though, because it was simply amazing.

As the story continued, I found myself falling in love with the quirky characters and plots. It was also fun to pick up on the references made to other novels, mostly classics. If you haven't read some of those classics, like Jane Eyre, you might not enderstand everything avout the novel, but I don't believe it would stop you from enjoying the book.

The writing style of Jasper Fforde was light and fun, and this book was a wonderful quick read. The Eyre Affair is perfect for anyone looking for a fun, but still intellegent, read. I have the second book in the Thrusday Next series, Lost in a Good Book, and I am very much looking forward to reading it.

Overall Grade: A-

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

The Other Boleyn Girl
Philippa Gregory

Two sisters competing for the greatest prize: the love of a king

When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen, she catches the eye of Henry VIII. Dazzled by the king, Mary falls in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as unofficial queen. However, she soon realizes just how much she is a pawn in her family’s ambitious plots as the kings interest begins to wane and she is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne. Then Mary knows that she must defy her family and her king, and take her fate into her own hands.

My thoughts:
I really enjoyed reading The Other Boleyn Girl. It swept me up from the very beginning and didn’t let go until the last page had been turned. I found myself very emotionally invested in the main character, Mary, and I was rooting for her the entire novel. That’s one of the wonderful things about this book, I think: I really, truly cared about the characters, or at least the likable ones, and part of the reason I kept reading was to see if those characters made it through to the happy ending I wanted for them.

Something else I really enjoyed about the book was the plot. It moved quickly enough that I was never bored, but not so quickly I couldn’t keep up. The writing was simple and enjoyable, so I wasn’t slogging through pages and pages of introduction or description.

One complaint I had was that some of the characters seemed a little one-sided, Anne Boleyn in particular. It’s impossible to have no redeeming qualities, but Anne had very few if any. She was mostly set up as the plotting snake who would do anything, including exploiting her own family, for power. That seems a bit unrealistic to me.

I’m a huge historical fiction fan, so I loved reading about real people following a real series of events. That said, I know next to nothing about Tudor England, so I can’t say for sure whether or not the facts in the book are accurate or not. I’ve heard several people say that for those knowledgeable about this time period, you have to be prepared to let all of that go and just enjoy the writing.

Overall, The Other Boleyn Girl is an enjoyable read that will leave you hanging on for more. I’d recommend it to anyone interested on learning a little more about the history during the Tudor period of England, but who wants to enjoy themselves while doing so.

Overall Grade: B

A Welcome of Sorts

Welcome to Swimming in a Sea of Books, my new blog for all things book-related. I've been a blog reader for a while now, but have never tried blogging myself. So, I hope I'll be able to provide interesting content, even with a sea (haha) of people doing the same thing. We'll see how that works out.

I like to describe my tastes as "eclectic" and "varied." My sister likes to describe my tastes as "crazy." It all amounts to the same thing in the end, though-no matter what types of books you enjoy, I'm likely to be reading those types of books. I'm very open to suggestions, also, so if there is a book you think is worth a read, send me an email. I'd love to hear your recommendations. I can be reached at swimminginbooks(at)yahoo(dot)com.

I think that's all for now, but be expecting more from me in the coming weeks!