Another Great Book Cover

Awhile back I posted Can You Judge A Book By It's Cover? about some great book covers.
Today while doing some collection development I found one that made me laugh out loud!
I Don't: A Contrarian History of Marriage by Susan Squire.

Talk about a cover that makes you want to pick up the book!
I can't even share what went through my mind when I saw it, it's NSFW.

Have You Met The Sandman?

I have posted previously about my enjoyment of the graphic novel genre. I am happily reading the entire Sandman series thanks to my boss who loaned me his collection (a series I started back in the early 90's in college but never completed).
Penned but not inked by the amazing Neil Gaiman, The Sandman changed the face of graphic novels and reintroduced a legendary cult figure. The stories of Morpheus the Lord of Dreams are frightening, fantastic and absolutely wickedly fun. I am currently reading #21-28 in Season of Mists and enjoying every dark and thrilling page. The characters are unforgettable like Calliope the Muse, Death, Unity Kinkaid and Hob Gadling. The stories range from the seriously disturbing to the truly moving.
I've heard rumours of a movie since the 90's and read that the project has bounced around for years with bad scripts and multiple names attached. I don't know how I feel about seeing the Sandman in a film, I can't imagine anyone playing him outside of the pages of the graphic novels and my mind.

Showing My Years

Took my kid back to school shopping this morning at the huge mall in my area. They should just hand out clothes and school supplies at my bank it would say me the time and gas.
My son will be a sophomore in 1 week and is already almost 6'2 and growing non stop. So paying $60 for jeans with holes and stains really sucked. Thank god I don't have a girl who wants jeans with names like "Boyfriend Jeans" and "Low Rise". My response to that request would be:
"Get yourself a boyfriend, steal his jeans, cut off the waist and there ya go"
It was much easier when I was in high school, I actually did steal my boyfriends favorite holey stained jeans and wore them until they became rags.

Big Green Purse

I am reading the most fascinating and helpful book,
Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World by Diane MacEachern.
Packed full of shocking information on the effects over consumption has on our bodies AND our planet, the author has excellent suggestions on how consumers can change their lives and change the world.
As a vegetarian, I support less consumption (or none at all) of read meat and dairy and was distraught at the statistics included in the book like:
"Farm animals in the US are fed or injected with 24.6 million pounds of antibiotics a year. The Union of Concerned Scientists notes that about 70 percent of all antibiotics made in the US is used to fatten up livestock" (page 150)
Help yourself and the enviornment by replacing at least 1 meal a week with a vegetarian option. By reducing your intake of meat by half, you will save 1.4 tons of greenhouse gases every year! (page 152)
Also included in the book are excellent websites and easy to follow tips, just making a small change will make a BIG impact.
For the website of Big Green Purse visit:
http://www.biggreenpurse.com/

We still have the books...

In my shared disbelief and anger over the movie studios decision to delay the release of the next Harry Potter movie 8 months so they can make more money, I have decided to reread each of the books. With almost a year to wait now until the release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince I will be able to re-read all 7 books and re-watch each of the previous 5 films.
So my movie release party that was scheduled for November 21 will be rescheduled for July 17. My only consolation besides the books and previous films is that I can host 3 more Harry Potter parties since the final movie will be made into 2 films. After 7 years of book and movie parties I'm not ready to say goodbye to my inner child fantasy geek party planner persona.

Make Your Own READ Poster

Check out this link where you can create you own READ poster at the ALA website. Just like writers, celebrities and other famous literature lovers.
http://www.ala.org/ala/productsandpublications/READ_Mini_Posters.cfm
And check out mine below.

Highs and lows

I watched all coverage of the Olympics last night from the highs in swimming to the lows in gymnastics, some parts of the competition were like a train wreck and I couldn't look away. Michael Phelps making history by becoming the most decorated Olympian in history was amazing while the women's gymnastics team taking silver was heartbreaking but not surprising after their lousy performances. (With the exception of Nastia Liukin's spectacular uneven parallel bar routine)
Thanks to a lull with men's volleyball I decided to hop on my bike and take a nice long ride, something I don't think I have done for years but inspired by my friend Carey in California. Check out his blog at http://careyschock.blogspot.com/
I had forgotten how fun it is just to ride through your neighborhood and watch the world go by. Do you remember when your only mode of transportation was your bike and you were on it for hours each day?
After a late night of Olympic watching I had a hard time falling asleep thinking about the gymnast Alicia Sacramone the women's team leader. Alicia first fell off the balance beam on a rather basic mount and then again when making her first pass on the floor exercise, she appeared to over rotate and landed short falling backwards and rolling onto her back. Not good, those 2 major errors combined with Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson each stepping out of bounds on their floor exercises (a MAJOR no no and large deduction) lost the chance to overtake the Chinese team.
I think watching Alicia try and find her composure while crouched down on the floor in almost a prayer position was one of the saddest things I have seen in this Olympics. Highs with winning a silver medal and the lowest low with knowing you have to live with your mistakes in front of billions of people.