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?