Feature and Follow: 14 June 2013

Thanks to Parajunkee & Alison Can Read for this meme. If you like what you see on my blog, please feel free to follow by any means that works for you. I will return the favour.

So . . . to today's question: Q: Activity: Spine Poetry. Create a line of poetry with your book spines (take a picture). Not feeling creative? Tell us about your favorite poem.

And boy, it's a tough question. Given that all my books are packed in boxes pending my move to the UK, the picture route isn't going to work for me. So I will share a favourite childhood poem with you.

Relax, it's very short . . . And it comes from The Wind In The Willows (Goodreads) so how can that be bad?

`DUCKS' DITTY.'
All along the backwater,
Through the rushes tall,
Ducks are a-dabbling,
Up tails all!

Ducks' tails, drakes' tails,
Yellow feet a-quiver,
Yellow bills all out of sight
Busy in the river!

Slushy green undergrowth
Where the roach swim--
Here we keep our larder,
Cool and full and dim.

Everyone for what he likes!
WE like to be
Heads down, tails up,
Dabbling free!

High in the blue above
Swifts whirl and call--
WE are down a-dabbling
Up tails all!

That's my daily dose of craziness done. Enjoy the hop and I'll see you in cyberspace.

cheers

Gwynn

Feature and Follow Friday: 31 May 2013

I always check in to see what Parajunkee & Alison Can Read are up to with their FF, but because I don't always relate to the question, I don't always play. But today is an exception.

Q: What blogger would you most like to meet in real life? Tell us about him or her.

I know this sounds like a fan rave, but I do have a blogger I'd like to meet. Her name is Elisa and we have followed and commented on each others blogs for over a year now. You might know her as:
Lost Inside The Covers
 

 
Elisa and don't always read the same kind of books. She's into zombies and vampires in a big way and the more gory it gets, the better! But I can always be guaranteed of finding something interesting over at her blog. Her reviews are also fresh and interesting.

After following her for a year, I now know quite a bit about her. She hikes the southern Californian mountains with her dog Luke. (Something I intend to do more of when I get to the UK) Like me, she's loves wild flowers - and she's not scared to blog about them. Her stories about her family and her life told in her Frivolous Friday feature usually make me laugh.

She's the one I'd meet. I know if she reads this, she'll probably think I'm some kind of weird stalker-type, but I think I can live with that. :-) Anyway, I'd be in good company . . .  half the heroes and heroines we YA addicts read about are stalker-types!

So, that's my answer. What's yours? Leave a link and I'll visit. And, if you like the look of my blog and my wacky reviews, please feel free to follow. I will return the favour.

Cheers
Gwynn
P.S. Don't be shy to enter my Giveaway for Perception by Lee Strauss. You might just win. And you won't be sorry.

Feature and Follow: 29 March

Thanks to Parajunkee & Alison Can Read for this enlightening meme! I love making new cyber-friends, so please feel free to follow me anyway you choose and I will happily return the favour.

The question we're asked today is:

Q: Tell us about the most emotional scene you've ever read in a book - and how did you react?

 

I remember when I was a teenager how books manipulated my emotions. Some made me delirious with happiness, others filled me with fury, often shaping my beliefs on society. And then there were the ones that had me sobbing like a baby. Three really stick in my mind: The Outsiders by TE Hinton, Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks and The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks. I'm really aging myself here. 

 

As an adult, I can think of two book series that really grilled me emotionally. The first is Harry Potter. I still get tears in my eyes when I think of Dobby and Sirius dying. I think the final battle between Harry and Voldie as one of the best book triumphs I've read. I get goosebumps every time I think about it.

 

The other series is The Hunger Games. The concept behind the books fills me with disgust and rage because I can actually envisage a society doing just that to their kids. It's not beyond the realms of possibility - think of the Romans, part of Collins's inspiration for the series. They sent many children to die in their arenas.

 

That's me. What about you? Leave a link and I'll pop over and visit.

cheers

Gwynneth 

 

Feature and Follow: 22 March

Thanks to Parajunkee & Alison Can Read for this meme.

This is my opportunity to make new friends, so don't be shy. But, as usual, please only follow me if you like my blog and really want to come back. Don't forget to leave your link and I'll return the favour.

The question for today is: What is your guilty pleasure as far as reading? Is it a genre, or is it a certain type of book? 

To be honest, I don't have a 'guilty pleasure'. I know I sound boring, but reading is my pleasure so I avoid things that make me feel guilty. By that I mean steamy romance and erotica. I also don't go in for gratuitous violence. I'm actually very selective, which is why I read Young Adult. I get all thrills and spills I need without the guilt.

And you?

cheers
Gwynneth

Feature and Follow: 15 March

 

Welcome to my Feature and Follow hosted by Parajunkee & Alison Can Read. I will be doing this meme every Friday as well as my usual Frivolous Friday feature. Now that I've got some posts up and a bit of an identity going, it's time to grow this baby of mine :) I hope my new visitors like what they find.

So, the question this week is: Activity! Hopefully warm weather for most of us is here soon…so tell us about your favorite outdoor reading spot. Or take a picture.

Firstly, I  live in the southern hemisphere, so we've had about as much hot weather as I can stand. I'm a winter person and I can't wait for the lashing rain, driving wind and icy cold that will - hopefully - embrace us in May. Still, I have a favourite reading spot for all weathers . . . Enjoy the pic!

My bath: my favourite reading spot

Nothing thrills me more than lying in the bath reading. I've lost count of the number of times I've taken a new book to the bath, read through the night (lying in cold water because I've drained the geyser) and finally closed the last page in time to wake the kids for school. Nuts, I know. I even take my Kindle to the bath with me. I've never dropped a book into the bath, so why should I drop my Kindle? Posting that on the internet is probably tempting fate! 

I can't wait to visit you all and see what crazy things you do. Please feel free to comment and to follow me if you like my blog. I will return the favour.

cheeers

Gwynneth