Family History

I wanted to share a little bit about myself, because I felt like I needed to blog about something.

The other night I attended an event called "A Celebration of Family History". It was at the LDS Conference Center in SLC. I am LDS, as I am sure some of you know. Anyway, the main speaker at the event was David McCullough, author of 1776 and other historical nonfiction. Now I have never read any of his books, but let me tell you, he was a very riveting speaker. He talked of people in our American history that had incredible stories, and how these people are now mostly forgotten. He emphasized the importance of getting to know our history and how we can be inspired by people from the past.

As part of the program, there was also a very funny and touching movie clip about a boy who wanted to learn the bagpipes, and how his family got very interested in their Scottish heritage. The even more amazing part was that very man was there and played his bagpipes in a musical number with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra.

It was a very amazing night, and it just reiterated to me the importance of family history.

Now the tie in for today: I was reading my mom's blog where she has been sharing letters written by my Grandpa. A letter I read today relayed how much my Grandpa loved to read. I thought to myself, that is obviously a trait I inherited from him and my Grandma, who I remembered as always reading a book in the hot tub where we had a family cabin. It has been very interesting learning things about my Grandpa in his younger life. My Grandpa was a proficient letter writer, and even wrote letters to me when I was young.

Well, I have to get off now, because my hubby needs his computer. I am glad I was able to share a little about me, and I hope everyone is inspired to take some time to discover something about your heritage.

Book Ratings

Shannon Hale wrote a post on her Squeetus blog that got me thinking about rating books.

I know this was awhile ago, but I haven't spent the time to really think about it. I admit I did rate books by the 5 star rating that Goodreads has on their site. Theirs is basically 1 if you didn't like it, 2 if you thought it was o.k., 3 if you liked it, 4 if you really liked it, 5 if you thought it was amazing. I thought it was an o.k. system, but every now and again I would look at the books that had the same rating and I thought to myself that some of those books I liked more than others. So I guess it wasn't really a true interpretation of how well I liked some books as opposed to others. I just sort of gave up on rating books anyway.

For one thing, everyone has different tastes. So matching up perfectly with another person's tastes is going to be impossible. For another thing, I would look at a book rating I had given months later and rethink my decision. A book that I thought was completely amazing at the time I read it had somehow evolved to "maybe it wasn't as great as I thought." I have to admit that in a way other people's opinions can tend to sway me. I am more of a follow the crowd type person. Believe me, I am fully aware of the shortcomings of that personality trait, but that is a totally different topic.

For awhile now I haven't been giving the 5 star ratings on this site. I think I will keep it up on Goodreads, just because that site is more for me to keep track of books I have read and want to read. However, I do need some sort of system to evaluate the books I review. I liked what one person commented on Shannon's blog.

Leslie commented:
"How did this book change my outlook on a specific topic?

Did I see myself in any of the characters? Did I see someone else I know?

How will what I do today or tomorrow be influenced by what I read?

Can I identify with the motivations of the characters?

Good, bad, liked it, didn't like it. It doesn't really matter for me. What does matter is amid a busy life or work, family and the hundred other commitments I have this week, will I remember this book? Will I remember it when a situation arises that is similar to that in the book? Will I be able to talk intelligently about it at the next book club meeting--even if it wasn't the scheduled reading.

And if I will remember it--if it made me think--that is when I believe the book and the reader have both done their job."

Now I don't know if I am going to examine books that deeply, but I like some of those thoughts. Can I identify with any of the characters, is the book memorable, is it worth talking about or is it merely escapism?

So my basic idea for reviewing books is talking about what things I did or didn't like. Along those lines I like to include how much swearing or sexual garbage is in the book. Don't get me wrong, I like romantic stuff, but sometimes the lines are crossed as to what I want to be reading. I know that doesn't hold true for everyone, but I appreciate clean books. You know who else has this format down to perfection? Melissa of One Librarian's Book Reviews. She has one of my favorite book blogs.

I know many book bloggers have posted discussions similar to this, so I'm not going to ask if you do or don't like rating systems. Instead I am going to ask, what kinds of things do you look for or would like to see in a book review?

I know my blog has a long way to go as far as book reviews are concerned, but I am still glad to belong to the book blogging community. I have read and heard about many more books, so many that I can't keep up, but I am still amazed at the power of book bloggers. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with the world.

For the Love of Reading

Repeat post from my family blog.

You all should know I love reading. What's not to love? I get to snuggle in bed, or on the couch, or relax in the tub with a good book and escape into a fantasy world. Then I get to imagine myself in that fantasy world. That is just the best.

What is not cool? When people "kill the buzz" as Bella says in Stephenie Meyer's "Breaking Dawn". Second known fact: I am a Twilight enthusiast. Some would call me obsessed, but I would say, "Not to an unhealthy degree, which is o.k. by me." So when some unknown person posted the whole of an unfinished manuscript of "Midnight Sun" (Twilight from Edward's perspective) on the internet without the permission of the author, I was determined not to actively seek the spoiler. What happened instead? Stephenie Meyer was so upset that she decided to indefinitely put "Midnight Sun" on hold. This means we may not ever get to see the book in completion. Ms. Meyer also offered up the unfinished story on her website. I am still determined that I won't read it, with hopes that Stephenie will one day decide to finish the story.

I have to admit that as a fan I felt robbed and even betrayed. Not by Stephenie, but by the thoughtless person who decided to leak the story. I feel nothing but sorrow for S.M. right now. As an author it must be bad enough to give your finished work to the public to be scrutinized, but to have something that is in it's rawest form be given over without your permission, it must be equally terrifying to know the world is judging you. I mean just look at what happened with "Breaking Dawn". I would say about half (or more) of readers didn't like it, and blamed Stephenie for "ruining the book" and even going so far as calling it bad fan fiction. How cruel can people be? I enjoyed the book, and can accept Stephenie's vision for HER story.

That brings me to this point. I was reading over on Shannon Hale's blog (author of "Princess Academy" and "Goose Girl"), and she wrote an amazing post on liking or disliking books. She made some good points. Overall message? Find books that you enjoy reading. It is not fair to blame an author if you don't like a book. If you don't like a book, put it down and figure out why you didn't. Then proceed to find one you will like. Please go check out the article here, and let me know what you think.

You may have noticed a banner I am displaying on my blog. It is in support of Stephenie Meyer after what happened with "Midnight Sun". As fans, it is our duty to let Stephenie know we still care about her writing and show our support. Please show your support by refusing to read the unfinished manuscript of "Midnight Sun". Stephenie deserves that respect. Don't you think?