Showing posts with label Green Books Campaign. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green Books Campaign. Show all posts
Green Books Campaign: For the Love of Strangers by Jacqueline Horsfall
Melody
This review is part of the Green Books campaign. Today 200 bloggers take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of 200 books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using eco- friendly paper, we hope to raise the awareness of book buyers and encourage everyone to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.

The campaign is organized for the second time by Eco-Libris, a green company working to make reading more sustainable. We invite you to join the discussion on "green" books and support books printed in an eco-friendly manner! A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.

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ISBN-13: 9781616030032
Publisher: Leap Books
Published: 2010
Illustrated by: Mary B. Kelly
280 pgs
Source: Leap Books
(For the Love of Strangers is printed on FSC-certified paper.)



Ten years ago, Darya and her younger brother Nikolai live their life in a Russian orphanage. Six years later, they are now living with an elderly woman who called Tee-tee (whose real name is actually Teresa Tomasio and she is an American) whereby she works as a director of the Helpline Crisis Referral Center by day, and undercover shelter director by night. You see, she runs a safe house for battered women and their kids, and she named it Philoxenia (Greek for "love of strangers" and that's where this title comes about.)

When Darya first steps onto America's land and into Tee-tee's life, she is full of doubts. After all, Tee-tee saw Nikolai at the orphanage first. However her doubts and her insecurities slowly fade away after getting to know more about her adoptive mother and knowing that she has a soft spot for women who need to get away but have nowhere to go. Because the county is so large and it is so rural and poor, they can't possibly support for every woman who needs safety thus Philoxenia is part of a network of houses scattered in residential neighbourhoods.

However, it seems like there are also other strangers - nonhumans - who want to seek protection too. When Darya thought she could hear the voices and pleas from the deers roaming about the forest around their area, she thought she was imagining things but she could sense the fear and pain in their eyes and she knew that their life are threatened considering her community hunt for them. She wants to help them, but would she be able to get the support from her adoptive mother and most of all, would she be able to take all the taunts and wraths of her community?

For the Love of Strangers is a haunting yet a compassionate account of a young girl's mission of protecting not only the battered women and their children but also more on the deers which face the cruelty fact of extermination. Although some scenes of this story take on a mystical tone at some point (Darya being able to understand the pleas of the deers and so forth), the message behind about protecting the animals and the emphasis on the beauty of nature come off strong and clear. Though For the Love of Strangers is a fiction, the sad truth is how those deers suffered in the story indeed happen in reality and everytime I see those videos on skinning animals for their furs or killing them for any benefits just makes my heart breaks.

But of course this book isn't entirely focused on protecting the deers only (though I loved the premise and fully support the cause), this story is also about 16-year-old Darya and her insecurities even after she was being adopted. She often wonders if her adoptive mother truly loves her and whether or not would she be sent back to Russia one day. I think Darya is a strong character, yet there is also a vulnerable side of her that makes me want to hug and comfort her. I suppose this is how a child might feel towards her adoptive parents at some point regardless of anything.

Poignant and lyrical, For the Love of Strangers will appeal not only to the YA readers but to the adults as well.

(Many thanks to Raz and team of Eco-Libris for hosting this great campaign, and also to Leap Books for sending this book to me for review.)
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Random Thoughts
Melody
Today is the day where NaNoWriMo begins. And as indicated on their site, NaNo is about thirty days and nights of literary abandon (the goal is to write 50,000 words in the month of November!). I remember I first participated in NaNo in 2005, and then another in 2007 (or was it 2008?) and I had had so much fun doing them. Although I won't be doing so again this year (too many things going on at the moment), still I'd like to wish all my friends who are participating: Good luck and happy writing!

Apart from NaNo, today is also my husband's birthday! I gave him a dinner treat last Friday evening and we also had a simple celebration at home over the weekend - a Premium D24 eggless durian cake. Unfortunately I'm not able to post the picture here since we haven't downloaded them but I can show you the picture taken from the bakery. What can I say? It was scrumptious (even our 2-year-old daughter loved it)!

(Photo credit)

On the reading front, I'm still reading Falling Home by Karen White. I'm enjoying reading it and Karen White is one of my favourite authors. I think the reason for my slow progress is that there are too many things happening in my life lately. My eldest daughter will be graduating from her kindergarten class soon and their school will be having a graduation ceremony in another two weeks' time; and she was being informed by her teachers that she would act as an emcee so for the past week my husband and I became her audience as she go through her 'script' again and again, LOL. And then, there is our office relocation end of this month and I have to get all my things organised and packed before the move. Frankly speaking, I am so not ready for the move in spite that my new workplace is nearer to my house and it takes about half the journey time as compared to my current one. The reason? Because I will miss the bookstore (just a 5-minute walk away) and a few of my favourite eating outlets but most importantly, I will miss these staff who have now became my friends! *sniff*

Back to my reading, I will start reading For the Love of Strangers by Jacqueline Horsfall tomorrow. This is for the Green Books Campaign hosted by Eco-Libris and I want to get it done so that my post will be ready on November 10th (considering I'm a slow reader, ha). After this, I will be reading The Art of Disappearing by Ivy Pochoda which I bought last week. This is a story about a woman named Mel Snow and a magician she met and married two days later. Is their love real or just an illusion? I can't wait to find out what happens.

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead!

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The Patterns of Paper Monsters by Emma Rathbone
Melody
ISBN-13: 9780316077507
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Published: August 2010
206 pgs
Source: Personal Library




The Patterns of Paper Monsters. I liked the title; it intrigues me and it somewhat reminds me of all the angst and drama one would experience during adolescence. As it turns out, this is actually a coming-of-age story of a seventeen-year-old boy's life spent in a juvenile detention center after he was being caught for a failed armed robbery.

Three months into his sentence, Jacob Higgins lives his days in the JDC with an attitude (being indifferent and acts indifferent towards any beneficial programs). In short, he is simply obstinate and full of angst until the day he met Andrea, a fellow resident who shares the same bleak outlook on life as him. Well it didn't come as a surprise to me when I find their blossoming friendship turned to love and just while I started to hope that things would get better for Jacob, a huge obstacle gets in his way, in the form of another inmate named David. Jacob hardly speak with David; in fact no one speak much with him since he is always portrayed as mysterious and a loner. No one knew what he had convicted either, and no one asked anyway. So when David made an attempt to talk with Jacob, he was a little taken aback and of course at this point we all suspected that there is something fishy going about David's intention.

As the story progress, we soon find out that Jacob is unlike some of the troubled youths we have read from other books. Sure he can be obstinate and full of angst, but beneath those attributes there is actually a sense of vulnerability and sentimental values in him, and I liked it that he can be a bit funny at times and does not make up excuses for anything. In short, he actually knew what he wants, though he might get impulsive anything concerning his mother's alcoholic boyfriend. Of course there would be some struggles down the road for Jacob (which I am not going to spoil for you), what I find this story a little different from the others is the writing style and Jacob's voice. It is through his straightforward demeanour (and at times mixed with a sense of sardonic humor) that made him such an interesting character to read (I haven't mention that this is written from his point of view, in which I think the author has done a great job in capturing the overall essence of Jacob as a troubled youth and as a person) and also I liked it that there is a balance between the seriousness and some humour parts to this story. I am sure this debut novel by Emma Rathbone will appeal to young adults and adults alike.


Phew! It seems as if I've been on a roll reading books about troubled teens but I just want to say it wasn't intentional. I read Confession by Kanae Minato on a whim after seeing it during my visit to the bookstore two days ago, and honestly speaking I didn't have the intention of reading it on that same day as I tend to have this habit of chucking newly acquired books to my TBR pile but I just couldn't seem to put down the manga after reading the blurb so there you go.

Next onto my reading list would be a book by Jacqueline Horsfall titled For the Love of Strangers (actually it's in a PDF format since the publisher couldn't send the book to me on time due to a printing delay). This is for the Green Books Campaign hosted by Eco-Libris and all participants will publish their reviews on the same day - November 10th.

Upon writing this, I've no idea what book I should read besides For the Love of Strangers. Meanwhile, I'm waiting for my copy of Nightshade by Andrea R. Cremer to arrive from The Book Depository so who knows I might dive into that if it does arrive today! I tend to be fickle-minded when it comes to my reading and what I've decided to read might change the next. So what're you reading now? I'd love to hear your suggestions!
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Go Green and Help Others!
Melody
Last year, I participated in the Green Books Campaign hosted by Eco-Libris and I am glad to say that I will be participating again this year (a green company working to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices in the industry, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books). I will be reviewing For the Love of Strangers by Jacqueline Horsfall so be sure to check out my review on November 10th.


I read about FreeRice.com from a magazine and would like to share this great site with you. This is a non-profit website run by the UN World Food Programme and their goals are to provide education to everyone as well as to help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free, and this is made possible by the generosity of the sponsors who advertise on this site.

And how do we help and make a difference? Playing the vocabulary game (there are other subjects as well) at FreeRice not only allows us in learning new vocabulary but most importantly FreeRice will donate 10 grains of rice for each correct answer. FreeRice also has a custom database containing knowledge questions at varying levels of difficulty so this can be played by everyone! (Read more.)

So what are we waiting for? Go green and help others now!

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Green Books Campaign: Fishing for Bacon by Michael Davie
Melody
(Logo designed by Susan Newman, a participating blogger)

This review is part of the Green Books campaign. Today 100 bloggers are reviewing 100 great books printed in an environmentally friendly way. Our goal is to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books. This campaign is organized by Eco-Libris, a a green company working to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books. A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.

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The text paper used for printing Fishing for Bacon is acid-free, 100% old growth forest-free (100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine-free, and printed with vegetable based, low VOC inks.


ISBN-13: 9781897126370
Publisher: NeWest Press
Published: 2009
234 pgs



Let me start off by saying that Fishing for Bacon is neither a story about smoked meat nor cooking but is a coming-of-age story of a boy called Bacon Sobelowski who has a passion for fishing. When he was ten, his father walked out of their life and it was at that time his mother bought him a fishing rod at a garage sale. He spent much of his time fishing then, thinking it is the only thing that is worth spending his time on though he is not really good in it. He thinks timing is essential in all the things he does but it seems he has no such luck when it comes to that.

So he led an easy, carefree life living with his mother and Grandma Magic Can all the way till high school, when he met a new girl in class whom he thinks might be his special "someone". It all started after he heard Kenny Roger sings a song about there is a someone for everyone, and he intends to seek that someone based on that belief.

However, Sara Mulligan is not the special someone whom he thinks she is, but he went searching for her anyway after she has left him in Bellevue to big city Calgary. And this begins the plot where Bacon will meet a few others that made him wonder if they are his special "someone" and left him wondering if bad timing is the cause for all the disappointment or even some unexpected outcome.

I have to say I loved the characterization in this story. Bacon is an interesting character, and I could simply connect him to most of the teenaged boys today, who are usually full of angst and plagued by their hormonal urges. Secondary characters like Laszlo Maximilian Mursky reminds me of a pimp but not fully a heartless one; and Grandma Magic Can is an extraordinary woman who has some moxie in her despite her age. There are a few more but I will stop here. This story mainly focus on characters and relationships which allow the readers to get to know more about Bacon through various situations or circumstances as the story moves along. Though I have to admit I did not really care for Bacon in the beginning (and it does not help much that he has a passive attitude), my opinion of him gradually changes after following his journey and knowing that he has learned something out of everything towards the end.

There were times I chuckled reading this book but funny aside, I also felt it is poignant at some point which I think it works for this story. Bacon's relationship with 'Woodrat', a laundry girl he knew at work is the most emotional one I read following his journey, and I find it difficult to express my thoughts into words here the way it evoke my feelings while reading it. All I can say is their connections with each other is simple, bittersweet yet a beautiful one.

I want to thank Raz Godelnik of Eco-Libris and the publisher for sending this book to me for review.


GIVEAWAY: In honour of the Green Books Campaign, I am giving away my gently used copy to one lucky reader. Please leave a comment on this post to say you would like to win this book along with your email address. Closing date will be November 15th and the winner will be announced on the following day. Good luck!
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