Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Family Matters and WoW 100

Just a quick note to let you know to add your WoW 100 Weekly Words blog post URL to last week's WoW 100 post, entitled "Going to Yale". I assure you, I will make time to visit your additions as soon as possible.

For now -- family matters most...

I will be at the hospital visiting my Aunt Martha Bell after work today, as I did yesterday. Aunt Martha has congestive heart failure and pneumonia and, well, I'm worried, to say the least, as her health has been going downhill for the past year or so. Here's my Aunt Matha Bell and me this past Thanksgiving...




Please whisper a prayer and/or hold my Momma's last living sister in a warm place of peace. Thank you.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Summer Reading Lists

I just published a short Sipping On Summer Reading List and think you might want to stop by for a sip of liquid sunshine!



If you've a summer reading list to share, I'd love to take a peek, so do share the link!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Going to Yale

     "Mama, I'm going to Yale and that's that!" Chad said, sitting across the table from her. "Now will you please stop making this a bigger deal than it has to be?"
     She stared at him, not blinking one time. "Chad, that's a Yankee school! We are Southerners!"
     "Mama, the war between the States ended almost a hundred years ago. I've been accepted with a full scholarship to Yale, and I'm not turnin' it down because you think we're still at war."
     "Don't you talk to me that way!" Fiona scolded him.
     "I apologize if you think I'm showin' you disrespect..."

***

Of course, you now realize I was not making an announcement that I am going to Yale. Instead, this is a 100 word excerpt from the book I am currently reading: Disrupted Lives by author Brenda Youngerman. The excerpt was taken from page 49, chapter SIX.

***
I invite you to share the book(s) you are currently reading by hopping along in my book blog hop, WoW Weekly 100 Words. Although this is a Wednesday hop, you are welcome to hop in at any time throughout the week. Just grab the button and link for your blog post where you share exactly 100 words from your current read(s) and add your post URL to the linky list provided at the end of this post. Feel free to share anything else you'd like on your post, especially book-related items. And be sure to visit and/or introduce yourself to others on the WoW lists each week.

I use The Word Count Tool to count my book excerpts. I type in the box provided, then once I have 100 words, I copy and paste it right into my blog post.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Welcome Disruption

With the receipt of a new book to read and review, I've had my reading of The Book of Ruth disrupted! Never fear, I shall return to the book and continue sharing excerpts as soon as possible.

 WoW Weekly 100 Words:
Although this is a Wednesday book blog hop, you are welcome to hop in at any time throughout the week. Just grab the button and link for your blog post where you share exactly 100 words from your current read(s) and add your post URL to the linky list provided at the end of this post. Feel free to share anything else you'd like on your post, especially book-related items. And be sure to visit and/or introduce yourself to others on the WoW list during the week.

I use The Word Count Tool to count my book excerpts. I type in the box provided, then once I have 100 words, I copy and paste it right into my blog post.

Now, on to the sharing of the welcome distraction: Disrupted Lives by author Brenda Youngerman. Since I do not care for prologues in fiction work and generally do not even bother to read them, I decided to read and share an excerpt from the PROLOGUE of Disrupted Lives. Why? Because Brenda made me read it and it is worthy of sharing! (smiles..:-)

     Darren gently pulled her down to him and stroked her back as she placed her head on his chest. "Amelia, I know. But we were just kids and it wasn't like your parents gave you any choice." He felt her tears fall onto his chest. "We have to be fair to Emily and Nate. What do you think would happen if all of a sudden we sprang on them that they had an older brother?"
     Amelia didn't answer. She never had the answer. She just knew that her heart broke every time she went back to the rainy night that she gave away her baby.

Note: That was actually 105 words, as I just didn't have the heart to not share those last five words of that last paragraph.



Monday, June 13, 2011

Mail Call a Delightful Disruption

Generally, I don't get too excited about the postman and his mail delivery. However, every now and again the mailman brings something other than bills and that is a welcome disruption to my day.

Today, the postman brought me a new book to read! I received Disrupted Lives by author Brenda Youngerman. I'm truly excited to read and review Brenda's latest book title.

Stay tuned for the Disrupted Lives Blog Tour which takes place on July 17, 2011! You can read all about the tour by visiting Fiction With A Purpose. Introduce yourself to author Brenda Youngerman, if you've not yet met her. You can tell her Ruthi sent you!

I've previously read and reviewed two of Youngerman's novels: Private Scars and Public Lies.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

WoW 100 Words Over the Hill

While reading the passage I'll share with you in a bit, a phrase jumped up and gave me a chuckle ... I just had to look up the definition to be sure if my thinking I'm over-the-hill is correct.

As defined by TheFreeDictionary: over-the-hill:

adj. Informal
1. Past the peak of one's youthful vigor and freshness.
2. Far along in life; old.
Adj. 1. over-the-hill - too old to be useful

Okay, so I can pretty much agree with 1 and 2 Informal. However, I most certainly do not agree with Adj. 1 definition. I am most certainly quite useful, still, no matter my age; in fact, maybe moreso because of my age.

So, am I over-the-hill? Absolutely not and will never think so again! How about you? Do you consider yourself over-the-hill?

Sharing a 100 word excerpt from Chapter Four, page 45, of The Book of Ruth by author Jane Hamilton:

"May was thirty-eight years old when I was born. She probably thought I was going to be retarded since she was over the hill. I wonder if she enjoyed carrying me. I wonder if she ate liver and spinach and drank a quart of milk a day, like they tell you you must. Sometimes, the way I get so tired, I suspect May never ate the right food. I feel like I don't have all the ingredients a person is supposed to have.

I've already described most of the main events that happened to me when we were a family
..."



I hope you've enjoyed the WoW Weekly 100 Words I've just shared with you. I also hope you'll blog hop along by sharing your current read, too.


Wednesday, June 1, 2011

WoW 100 Words from The Book of Ruth

Have you ever run across a book you feel you should have read years ago but you've never even heard of the book until now? That's exactly how I felt when I first read the book title and a 100 Word excerpt on a blog post of The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton.

Of course, the title, which bears my name but has no connection to me at all, intrigued me and I felt as though I must have this title in my collection on my bookshelf. I jotted it down on my To Be Read list, but didn't think about it again until a couple of months later as I was creating my online wish list. Before putting the book on the list, I decided to investigate it further. I discovered it's quite a controversial book, in that it has received mixed reviews. Some think it a literary piece; others, they think its pages filled with nonsensical word jumbles.

In the end, intrigued by the controversy, I took The Book of Ruth off my wish list as quickly as I added it, by purchasing it before the list was even complete. It arrived this past week and although I've read only the first chapter, I am glad I made the decision to Buy Now as opposed to later.

I hope you'll enjoy the WoW Weekly 100 Words I share with you as I read this book title. I also hope you'll blog hop along by sharing your current read, too.





Reading from Chapter One, page 10, of The Book of Ruth (Oprah's Book Club):

"I wished then, while it was happening, that we could have stayed there at the kitchen table for about five centuries. I could have stood it that long. I wanted to preserve the scene, just as fossils do, keeping rare animals so still in stone. It took me several years to figure out that on that July night we were actually experiencing the gladness some people feel every day, not just once in a summer. I saw how it was with other people, because I watched the children in church, running to their mothers after Sunday school. I saw it..."