Holiday Song & Book Want 3

Instead of an advent calendar, for the holiday season I will share some holiday music and books on my want list for the days before Christmas.

~*~

Baby It's Cold Outside
sung by Lady Gaga and Joseph Gordon-Levitt
lyrics

I really can't stay - Baby it's cold outside
I've got to go away - Baby it's cold outside
This evening has been - Been hoping that you'd drop in
So very nice - I'll hold your hands, they're just like ice

My mother will start to worry - Beautiful, what's your hurry?
Father will be pacing the floor - Listen to the fireplace roar
So really I'd better scurry - Beautiful, please don't hurry
Maybe just a half a drink more - Put some records on while I pour

The neighbors might think - Baby, it's bad out there
Say, what's in this drink? - No cabs to be had out there
I wish I knew how - Your eyes are like starlight now
To break this spell - I'll take your hat, your hair looks swell

I ought to say no, no, no - Mind if I move in closer?
At least I'm gonna say that I tried - What's the sense in hurting my pride?
I really can't stay - Baby don't hold out
Ah, but it's cold outside

I've got to get home - Oh, baby, you'll freeze out there
Say, lend me your coat - It's up to your knees out there
You've really been grand - Thrill when you touch my hand
Why don't you see - How can you do this thing to me?

There's bound to be talk tomorrow - Think of my life long sorrow
At least there will be plenty implied - If you caught pneumonia and died
I really can't stay - Get over that hold out
Ah, but it's cold outside
Oh, baby, it's cold outside
Oh, baby, it's cold outside

~*~
This would be a treat to see under the xmas tree...

Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances
by John Green, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle
Amazon | Goodreads
Sparkling white snowdrifts, beautiful presents wrapped in ribbons, and multicolored lights glittering in the night through the falling snow. A Christmas Eve snowstorm transforms one small town into a romantic haven, the kind you see only in movies. Well, kinda. After all, a cold and wet hike from a stranded train through the middle of nowhere would not normally end with a delicious kiss from a charming stranger. And no one would think that a trip to the Waffle House through four feet of snow would lead to love with an old friend. Or that the way back to true love begins with a painfully early morning shift at Starbucks.

Thanks to three of today’s bestselling teen authors—John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle—the magic of the holidays shines on these hilarious and charming interconnected tales of love, romance, and breathtaking kisses.

~*~
* image source: 1920s xmas card

Banned Books Week 2014

Banned Books Week
Celebrating the Freedom to Read
Sept. 21-27, 2014
CHECK out this cool trailer created by Books Inc. for Banned Books Week:



Top Ten Challenged Books Lists for 2013
Out of 307 challenges as reported by the Office for Intellectual Freedom

Captain Underpants (series)
by Dav Pilkey
Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group, violence

The Bluest Eye *
by Toni Morrison
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, violence

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

Fifty Shades of Grey *
by E.L. James
Reasons: Nudity, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

The Hunger Games *
by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group

A Bad Boy Can Be Good for A Girl
by Tanya Lee Stone
Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit

Looking for Alaska *
by John Green
Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

The Perks of Being a Wallflower
by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

Bless Me Ultima
by Rudolfo Anaya
Reasons: Occult/Satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit

Bone (series)
by Jeff Smith
Reasons: Political viewpoint, racism, violence

~*~
* books I read in the past

What's the difference between a challenge and a banning?

A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. Due to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens, most challenges are unsuccessful and most materials are retained in the school curriculum or library collection.

I plan to read a couple from the challenged books list above. One from the Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey and one from the Bone series by Jeff Smith for this event.

How about you?

~*~
AND, check out the 4th Annual Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop, September 21st to 27th, here

rrRoad Trip: Welcome

W E L C O M E

Join me on a virtual road trip along a virtual Route 66 (based on U.S. Route 66) in which I will share a few coming-of-age and YA books.

U.S. Route 66 (also known as the Will Rogers Highway after the humorist, and colloquially known as the "Main Street of America" or the "Mother Road") was a highway within the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926 -- with road signs erected the following year. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in America, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles, covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km). -per wikipedia


--~ Book Giveaway ~--
Paper Towns
by John Green - my review
Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life - dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge - he follows.

After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues - and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew.

Win a copy of this book!

Open to all.

Offer ends: July 31, 2011 -->extended to Aug 14

TO DO:
Music always brings cheer to a car ride.

Let's create a mixed tape for this rrRoad trip!

Tell me a must-have song that should be included that would be fun to hear and singalong with.

AND, leave your email (if I don't already have it)

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Contest has ended - winner is here

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~*~
* image source

~===~ rrRoad trip schedule ~===~

Winner - Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week giveaway - Winner

Thanks to all contestants!

Please note: The winner was selected with random.org. I shall be emailing the lucky winner for snail mail info. If you don't receive it, please feel free to send your info to vvb32 at yahoo.com

and the winner is...

( drrrrrrrrrrummmmrolllllllllllllll )

Misty 

of Book Rat

The prize:

 

In honor of Banned Books Week, September 26 to October 3, 2009 I read and will be giving away my copy of 2008 Challenged book, Looking for Alaska by John Green (my review) to Misty!

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Looking for Alaska
by John Green

Published:  2005

Genre:  Coming of Age, Mystery

Paperback:  221 pages

Rating:  5

Inspiration:  Banned Books Week (last week)

Challenged, but retained for the eleventh-grade Regents English classes in Depew, N.Y. (2008) despite concerns about graphic language and sexual content. The school sent parents a letter requesting permission to use the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature novel and only three students were denied permission to read the book. 

Description from amazon:
Miles "Pudge" Halter is abandoning his safe-okay, boring-life. Fascinated by the last words of famous people, Pudge leaves for boarding school to seek what a dying Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps."

Pudge becomes encircled by friends whose lives are everything but safe and boring. Their nucleus is razor-sharp, sexy, and self-destructive Alaska, who has perfected the arts of pranking and evading school rules. Pudge falls impossibly in love. When tragedy strikes the close-knit group, it is only in coming face-to-face with death that Pudge discovers the value of living and loving unconditionally.

My thoughts:

In-a-word:  labyrinth

Looking for Alaska is a thoughtful read. It tackles the meaning of life. Pudge, the main character, ponders the question and shares his thoughts on World Religions - Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism.

Friends and friendship bonding plays a big part in the book which I enjoyed. Slant rhyming and rapping conversations were fun to read.

  

Pranks are a part of life in the boarding school setting which was also entertaining to read. This is something new to me as I grew up in the public school system. Actually I first became aware of them from reading the school pranks post by Celia of adventures of cecelia bedelia (a must read for hilarious moments).

Extra tidbit:

In the book, Pudge, likes to memorize famous last words just like author, John Green. Below is John's latest vlog, reciting Presidential Last Words. 

*** Giveaway ***

Interested in reading this book?

for more details and to enter go here 

-offer ends October 10, 2009

Banned Books Week Giveaway

Banned Books Week
September 26−October 3, 2009



In honor of Banned Books Week, I'm interrupting my reading schedule and challenges to read a book from the Books Challenged and/or Banned 2008-2009 list.

I'm currently reading...

Looking for Alaska
by John Green

Challenged, but retained for the eleventh-grade Regents English classes in Depew, N.Y. (2008) despite concerns about graphic language and sexual content. The school sent parents a letter requesting permission to use the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature novel and only three students were denied permission to read the book.


Description from amazon:
Miles "Pudge" Halter is abandoning his safe-okay, boring-life. Fascinated by the last words of famous people, Pudge leaves for boarding school to seek what a dying Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps."

Pudge becomes encircled by friends whose lives are everything but safe and boring. Their nucleus is razor-sharp, sexy, and self-destructive Alaska, who has perfected the arts of pranking and evading school rules. Pudge falls impossibly in love. When tragedy strikes the close-knit group, it is only in coming face-to-face with death that Pudge discovers the value of living and loving unconditionally.


*** Giveaway ***

Open to all.

Offer ends: October 10, 2009

Prize:
My copy of Looking for Alaska by John Green.

Details:

Visit, read and comment on:
Misty's post on Perks of Being A Wallflower

Visit, read and comment on:
L.H.'s daily posts on BBW

Come back here and let me know you did the deed.

+5 if you're participating in Banned Books week, let me know how
+3 mention this giveaway on your blog
+1 tweet
+1 facebook
+1 any other social network service

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Contest has ended - winner is here

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Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week
September 26−October 3, 2009



Inspired by Misty's post on Perks of Being A Wallflower

Inspired by L.H.'s daily posts on BBW

I'm putting the zombie and vampire books aside this week to read a Challenged book in honor of Banned Books Week.

Excerpt (find out more here):

What's the difference between a challenge and a banning?

A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. Due to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens, most challenges are unsuccessful and most materials are retained in the school curriculum or library collection.

From the Books Challenged and/or Banned 2008-2009 list, I'll be reading and then giving away:

Looking for Alaska
by John Green


Challenged, but retained for the eleventh-grade Regents English classes in Depew, N.Y. (2008) despite concerns about graphic language and sexual content. The school sent parents a letter requesting permission to use the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature novel and only three students were denied permission to read the book. Source: May 2008, p. 117.

Paper Towns by John Green

Paper Towns by John Green
Genre: YA (boy coming-of-age)
Published: 2008
Hardback: 305 pages
Rating: 5

Inspiration: First off I should mention that I got turned on to this book by the folks as Pottercast. While listening to the podcast episode PotterCast 183: Accio Nerdfighters! I was introduced to the vlogbrothers, John and Hank Green. They were so fun to listen to with such a great attitude towards life that I was drawn to check out their youtube creation and works in general. They have this saying dbfta that is catching (don't forget to be awesome!). BTW, if you are a Twilight fan you may want to check out Hank's latest song, I'm not Edward Cullen: A Song. Good stuff!

Description from the author's site:
Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life--dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge--he follows.

After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues--and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew.

My thoughts:
In-a-couple-words: Road trip
A fun, hip and happening kind of book! What I liked about it is that the main character, Quentin, includes his friends during his journey to figure our the mystery that is Margo. As in life, problems can be solved with the help of others may they be acquaintances, friends, family and sometimes strangers. Definitely looking forward to the movie version which is scheduled for 2010.

Fun tidbit: It was interesting to learn about what paper towns are. If you look up Agloe, NY in Wikipedia there is an entry about this book!

dftba