Armchair Bea (Friday) - Memory Lane and Wrap Up (technically Saturday)

Today's Armchair BEA prompt:

Middle Grade/Young Adult 
Our final genre of discussion is one that we know is a popular one these days: books for the younger crowd, from middle grade to young adult. If you do not normally talk about this genre on your site, maybe you want to feature books that you remember impacting you during this stage in your life. If this is where you tend to gravitate, maybe you want to list your favorites, make recommendations based on genres, or feature some titles that you are excited to read coming later this year. 

So basically I'm going to talk about little Wesley's favorite books. They are not in any real order.Ready? Ready.

This series totally made me want to run away from home and live in the woods. Even in the 90s that wouldn't have ended well.

A book about tub toys, I'm all in. Even though there's one kind of scary point. Look how cute the puppy is!

I read a lot of Jack London. Puppies and danger and a wild setting, yes please!

I still love this book. It still sits on my bookshelf and I read it once a year.

I loved this whole series. I'm pretty sure I read them all. 

I can't believe she's retired! Bums me out!

There was also a children's book I loved called "Underwear is Fun to Wear" and it was a zebra and some other animal and they wore like 15 pairs of underwear everyday and they loved it because it came in so many colors and was so great. Here's a helpful FYI, when searching that through amazon.com the things that come up will not be beloved children's books from your past. It will be like, men "elephant" underwear and other things that you are not expecting when looking for a kids book. So no cover for you on that one....

Do we share any childhood books?

I'm going to be off in the country for the rest of this weekend, so you're getting your Saturday wrap up a day early. I had so much fun this week, though I'm totally zoinked. I can't imagine how exhausted out organizers and coordinators are, I'm exhausted just posting and cheerleading! 

Thank you so much to the organizers for all the work they done. Thanks to the other bloggers, it was so fun to read new blogs and take part in all kinds of discussions with you. I loved whoever ran the contests where you had to share your middle name, and the other one where you had to write a haiku, that was hilarious!

 It was my first Armchair BEA and I'm already excited thinking about next year.

Also, if you're interested there's room for you to review our favorite women authored book, or talk about your favorite woman author for my blog for All Lady July!

Armchair BEA (Wednesday) - “A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.” - Edgar Allen Poe

Armchair BEA prompt for today:

Novellas/Short Stories
Now it is time to give a little love to those little stories in your life. Share your love for your favorite shorts of any form. What is a short story or novella that doesn’t get the attention that it deserves? Recommend to readers what shorts you would recommend they start with. How about listing some short story anthologies based upon genres or authors? 



You know who has a lot of short stories? Ray Bradbury. One ("I Sing the Body Electric") has even been made into a Twilight Zone episode. And if you're a Lana Del Ray fan, she also has a song of the same name. So I don't know if she's a Bradbury fan or she just heard the phrase somewhere and then wrote a random song.....

A more modern author of fantasy (and an Armchair BEA favorite judging from a lot of different blogs) Neil Gaiman also has a short story collection:

A fellow book blogger (Andi at Estella's Revenge if memory serves...) had a review for this book on her blog recently and I'm so intrigued by it! Also, such a fun cover!

Anyone else have any that they love?


Here's the other prompt:

Expanding Blogging Horizons 
What do you think about when you think about going beyond blogging or expanding your horizons? Is it a redesign of your blog? Have you branched out into freelance writing or even published a novel of your very own? Or, have you moved into a different venue like podcasts or vlogging? This is the day to tell us about how you have expanded on blogging in your own unique way. 

I was totally encourage by everyone's great author interaction stories yesterday. I'm going to try to expand my horizons by making more of an effort to talk to authors on twitter! I've had contact with Fr James Martin and Ben Winters and they were both great, hopefully I can add more to their number!

You will never see a vlog from this blog either. If you see one, assume that some kind of creature from Supernatural has taken over my body, find me and shoot me full of rock salt.

And on that note...

Armchair BEA (Tuesday) - Beyond Books

Here is the Armchair BEA prompt for today:

More Than Just Words 
There are so many mediums that feature more than just words and enhance a story in a multitude of ways. Examples may include graphic novels and comics, audiobooks, or even multimedia novels. On this day, we will be talking about those books and formats that move beyond just the words and use other ways to experience a story. Which books stand out to you in these different formats? 

I am not a really experimental reader when it comes to format. Frankly I'm not crazy about e-books sometimes. I've never even tried to listen to an audio book! I know I should try it at some point, but I get so distracted. I'm scared that I would put it on during a long road trip by myself and then realize I'd just spaced out and not listened for the last half hour or something. Maybe I just need the right narrator? Like, Patrick Stewart or James McAvoy or Michael Fassbender or Clive Owen......

Wait what?

Sorry I get distracted.....

What I read the most that is outside of the normal book format would be graphic novels.

I'm still slowly making my way through the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman and I've read Watchmen and The League of Extraordinary Gentleman by Alan Moore. However the GN that connect the most with me are the historical ones. 

Just a few days ago I finished Max Brook's (of World War Z fame) "Harlem Hellfighters" about black American soldiers during World War I that have to fight with the French because the Americans won't take them. There's a review coming up on the blog in a few weeks about it, so stay tuned!

My favorite (or the most impact-full) GN I've read is the Maus collection by Art Spiegelman. There is a reason that so many people think it's amazing and that it's won so many illustrious awards. The narrator tells the story of his father's survival during World War II. What makes the story so unusual is that there aren't any people. Instead of humans, the different groups of people are all different animals; cats, mice etc. It sounds strange or even a little disrespectful, but it really gives you an unusual perspective.

I'm on the lookout for more good historical GN, so if you know of any let me know in the comments and I'd be most grateful!

Armchair BEA (Monday) - "Getting to know you, getting to know all about youuuu" (Name the musical!)

By way of making introductions, Armchair BEA presented us with 10 questions, and participants were asked to answer 5 of them. So here are my 5!

1.What book would you love to see as a movie? 

One book that I really wanted to see become a movie is already happening! It's Serena by Ron Rash. AND it's made even more awesome by the fact it's starring JLaw and Bradley Cooper.Be still my heart! I really hope it doesn't suck. I hope so much.

2.Share your favorite book or reading related quote.

“I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room.” -Ray Bradbury. Everyone try and be shocked that I picked a Bradbury, haha.

3.What is your favorite blogging resource?

Easy-other bloggers! Any kind of how-to question I always figure I know someone who can help me, book people being the friendly lot that they are. Also Pinterest is always a good go-to as well.

4. What was your favorite book you read last year? What's your favorite book so far this year?

So hard to narrow down! I will say:

2013:Company of Liars by Karen Maitland

2014: Your House is on Fire All Your Children Are Gone by Stefan Kiesbye

(Those are both pretty creepy books, generally I'm not that creepy)

5.What does your favorite/ideal reading space look like?

When I read I like to be sitting, generally with my feet up or slung over something. So in a perfect world something like:

Crate and Barrel

Restoration Hardware

Man if that Restoration Hardware one came in like a peacock blueish green and wasn't multiple thousand dollars I'd be allllll over that.

Or maybe something more like:

Yep, I like that

Or perhaps:

Yep, good too