Follow Friday

This week's Follow Friday question is:

Birthday Wishes — Blow out the candles and imagine what character could pop out of your cake…who is it and what book are they from??


A: I love this question... if only because it is my birthday this weekend! So, who to jump out of my birthday cake...

I would have to say Harry Potter. Harry Potter is my absolute favourite series and I grew up reading, and re-reading, the books with a passion. I was recently at the London Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour (which was amazing!). The thought of being able to meet Harry would just be the icing on the cake.

Written Impact

I recently finished a Jojo Moyes novel.  I cannot get enough of her writing!  I began a Google search of her work after I finished the final page of Me Before You (Moyes, 2012).  I had already read The Last Letter From Your Lover (which is high up on my favourite book list - check out my review here).  Moyes has a couple other books out which I know I will soon be reading.

My Google search was fruitful apart from finding Moyes' other novels.  It turns out Moyes, a journalist, has also written some interesting articles for The Telegraph.  In one from 2010, she explores how difficult it is to write a sex scene in a novel.  She also discusses literature's ability to help calm individuals (both readers and writers) under stress, anxiety, and depression.

One of my favourite Moyes' lines is: 

...writing really well about sex can be problematic in itself. If I write about war brides, Sixties society, or haute école dressage, everyone assumes I’ve read around my subject matter. Equally, on the few occasions I’ve written something even vaguely explicit I’ve had knowing looks – even the odd wink – at the school gates.

~ from: Writing a sex scene is an impossible task.

I love how Moyes, apart from producing amazingly powerful novels, is also able to explore the intricacies of writing in an engaging and entertaining way.  Thank you, Moyes!

Punctuate Me Up

My classmates recently brought my attention to this guest post by Leah Petersen at Bryan Thomas Schmidt.

Apparently how we write reflects our personality type.  Are you a guy/girl who uses lots of commas, periods, exclamation points, or colons? 

I'm somewhere between a "..." and "-" girl... which means I am creative, indecisive, and flighty (among other things).  Actually, I use parentheses a lot, too.  Perhaps I should add scatterbrained and mutli-tasking to my list?  I think I could find a few people who would attest that I hold all of these traits.  Especially indecisive... oh boy, am I indecisive.


.... I think it's time I stop analyzing.


What does your punctuation say about you?  Click here to find out.

Something From Tiffany's

Melissa Hill's Something From Tiffany's questions the decisions behind love, engagement, and ultimately finding one's happily ever after.  How do you know your partner is truly 'the one?'  Is 'the one' even a honest-to-goodness real concept or are people just settling under its pretenses?  Is the bling more important than the love that is shared?

To Read or Not to Read, That is the Question

In one of my prior posts I mentioned the fact that I planned, and tried reallllllly hard, not to buy any books in Europe. I did not succeed.  In fact, I failed the task so badly that I had to pay for an overweight bag at the airport. 

This has led some readers to ask what books I purchased and what is currently on my bookshelf and eReader TBR pile.  Well, here goes...

Kindle's Special : Dead End Deal

Just a quick little newsflash ---

I am currently reading Dead End Deal by Allen Wyler.  It is a medical thriller and it is really gripping .... but I haven't yet finished the book.  Stay tuned for a full review in the near future.

I did, however, want to point out to you all that Dead End Deal is listed as Amazon's Summer Reading Promo. 

I am a lover of both print and electronic books, and I can't help but point out to you all that if you are thinking of purchasing a book which reads really well (as far as I can tell thus far) then it might just be the right time.  From June 19th to June 27th you can purchase a Kindle edition of the book for $1.99.   Bargain!

If you do purchase a copy, through Kindle's special or some other means, I would love to hear your views on Wyler's work, too!

Can't Believe I Read It

I love my Sony eReader so much that  I decided to load it up full of books (purchases, author reviews, and library loans) prior to leaving Canada last month.  I had around six electronic novels waiting to be read and I thought I would be set.* 

One of the books I brought along, electronically speaking, was Twilight by Stephenie Meyers.  Twilight has such a bad reputation - before purchasing it on my Sony eReader account I ummed and awwed while wondering if I really wanted to bridge into the universe of Twilight.  I remembered reading one chapter after the first movie was released and deciding it just wasn't for me.  Was it time for me to revisit this book?

Love, Books, and Marriage

I stumbled upon a story of love, books, and marriage while surfing through Twitter earlier this afternoon. 

This article, featured at Quill & Quire, describes Naly and Ben's recent Toronto wedding (congrats!).  The couple, who met at Davenport Public Library, decided to hold their wedding vows at Ben McNally Books as the store's name is eerily similar to their own. 

This led me to ponder.... would I want to get married in a bookstore or library? 

While reading this article I immediately thought of Sex and the City and Carrie's use of the New York Public Library for her wedding venue.  She rationalized that the library was the perfect location for a wedding as it held all of the world's greatest love stories.  How romantic!

Me.... while, I've always wanted to get married in a castle.  Or someplace that looked vaguely like a castle.  I recently joked that I should just find a brick wall somewhere, considering the amount of castles Canada has to offer.  However, I can see potential if a really cool, old-fashioned, European style library popped up on my soil.



Would you combine love and books on your big day?

From the Land of E to Home

Over the past four weeks I have been in England.  I seem to have good timing for travel - last year I was able to see Will and Kate's royal wedding while the jubilee was in full swing this time around.  I swear I didn't plan it!  Actually, I didn't even know the true date of the jubilee until I landed and heard all of the British news coverage leading up to the big weekend celebrations.


So, how was the Land of E? ---- Great! 

I loved each and every minute... besides those dreadful final goodbyes.   E and I were able to visit awesome literary sites (the birthplace of Shakespeare and the Harry Potter studio tour in London). Partly my jet lag and partly my cold - I managed to be sick my entire stay and am currently propped up in bed - prevent me from further explaining these awesome sites.  That, and the fact that Potter and Shakespeare deserve far more than a few sentences.   Over the next little while I will upload both photos and stories from these very places.

PS - I may be a coffee addict but tea is another one of my weaknesses.  Stay tuned for a very British tea tasting review held from Nottingham!

Yes Means Yes!

Jessica Valenti and Jaclyn Friedman's collection of essays in Yes Means Yes!: Visions of Female Sexual Power & A World Without Rape is an engaging, fast-paced exploration of sexual assault in contemporary North America.  The work contains twenty-seven essays written by various authors which seek to understand issues central to sexual assault such as consent, virginity, the media, stereotypes, race, and sexual orientation.  Yes Means Yes! echoes the personal tales of many different lifestyles.