Soon!

Between work, book clubs and hockey, I've been running around like a crazy woman. I intend on taking a few days over the holidays for me, so will finally finish up Pin it Do It. I just decided to extend it for the season because of work. I will also get back to books, too.

Pin it Do It :: October

I did this before, but I kinda forgot to do the actual write up for what I pinned and did. So going to try this again, since I'm working on a few Christmas projects. I'm going to do Timid Pinner: 1-3. My Boards are here, the Craftyness to Do and Things to Try are the ones I'll be using.

The things in progress are the Chevron Scarf, Scalloped Ribbed Socks, Mary Jane Slippers and Beloved Santa. Potential projects are the Santa Scarf and Apple Butter. I'll get some pictures of the in progress when I have better light.

Today in History :: The Battle of Antietam

The Cornfield

One hundred fifty-one years ago today, the battle at Antietam occurred near Sharpsburg, Maryland. In the days prior Confederate General Lee is leading his army out of Virginia through Maryland, after the second battle of Manassas/Bull Run, heading towards his supply lines. A Union soldier found Lee's Lost Order, which laid out General Lee's plans for the campaign. This told Union General McClelland key strategy, allowing the Union troops to attack the retreating confederate forces, ultimately leading to the Battle of Antietam.

Monument to the Philadelphia Brigade

The battle began near the Dunker Church, North Woods and the cornfield. Fierce fighting took place, starting in the early morning, with fighting around the church and confederate soldiers hidden by corn.

The Sunken Road, or Bloody Lane

As fighting moved to the south, a small group of Confederate troops held their ground against a much larger Union force, in a sunken farm road. Both sides faced heavy casulaties around the Bloody Lane.

Burnside Bridge

The decisive battle was when Union General Burnside's troops were able to take the now Burnside Bridge, and cross Antietam Creek. However, the union forces were unable to take full advantage of the gained ground, as both sides fought to a stand still by the end of the day. The following evening. General Lee withdrew his armies back into Virginia.

Antietam National Cemetery

Antietam was the bloodiest single day battle of the Civil War with an estimated 22,717 casulaties. More than both battles at Manassas, and a thousand shy of the battle of Shiloh. It provided Lincoln with a needed win to bolster the Emancipation Proclamation, announced the following year. This is also where Clara Barton earned her nickname "The Angel of the Battlefield."

If you find yourself near Maryland, go out and visit the battle field and remember the fallen. You get a three day pass, so you can tour the grounds at your own speed. You can hike trails, or just drive the auto tour, as I did.

Sources:
Photographs: Sarah Williams (Me!). Antietam National Battlefield
Antietam Battlefield

Top Ten Tuesday::Fall TBR List

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Broke and the Bookish. This week's subject are books on our Fall 2013 TBR list.

In no particular order,

1. Antigoddess by Kendare Blake :: I loved Anna Dressed in Blood. Antigoddess is a twist on Greek Mythology, and I'm a sucker for mythology retellings.

2. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey :: Our next book for the YA book club, and I'm looking forward for it.

3. Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein :: Code Name Verity was fantastic, and I've been hearing this is just as fantastic.

4. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas :: Loved Throne of Glass, so I ran to the launch party for this the day I got back from vacation. Unfortunately I haven't been able to read it yet.

5. Deception by C.J. Redwine :: Loved Defiance, so I can't wait to get into this as well.

6. Bones of the Lost by Kathy Reichs :: I'm a sucker for the Temperance Brennan series, so I usually try to read them soon after release.

7. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory :: I am in mood for fluffy historical fiction that might play a bit fast and loose with history. Do not judge me.

8. The Bat by Jo Nesbo :: I really enjoyed The Devil's Star when we read it for book club. This is the first book in the series.

9. The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England by Dan Jones :: Between the discovery of Richard III's grave, and the White Queen, seems like a good time to brush up on the history of the period.

10. A Feast for Crows by G.R.R. Martin :: I've been spreading these out because of reasons.

Mailbox Monday- Vacation Edition

I recently went on vacation to Gettysburg and Pennsylvania, so let me show you the bookish things that came home with me.

Widow's Weeds and Weeping Veils: Mourning Rituals in 19th Century America by Bernadette Loeffel-Atkins
Amazing Women of the Civil War by Webb Garrison
Now The Drum of War: Wal Whitman and his Brothers in the Civil War by Robert Roper
The Gettysburg Story: Battlefield Auto Tour by Gabor and Jake Boritt, performed by Stephen Lang

Pilgrim Places: Civil War Battlefields, Historic Preservation, and America's First National Military Parks, 1863-1900 by Richard West Sellars
The Red Queen Dies by Frankie Y. Bailey (won via Goodreads)

I can't wait for Amazing Women of the Civil War. The first chapter is about Sarah Edmunds, who is featured in A Soldier's Secret that I have from Arcycling, so I will pair those two together. And if you are planning on going to Gettysburg to tour the battlefields, I highly recommend this audio tour. It is the most expensive offered, but the narrator is great and the script does a good job on directing your attention around the stops. Plus it is made in the USA (A+++++). Therefore, I splurged. That Gabor Boritt helped creat the Lincoln Prize and is the battlefield tour guide of presidents doesn't hurt either. The booklet has photos, maps, blurbs and quotes in it. If there was a comparable one for Antietam, I would have gotten one, but there wasn't.

Since I had to watch the weight of my suitcase, I binged on bookmarks instead of books. Yay for each park selling bookmarks.

Trying to get back

I'm going to try to get back into regular posting here this month (regular as in, maybe once a week. Baby steps, ya know...). Here is my read shelf on Goodreads. If there is something you would like to see a review of (stick with things from this year), let me know.

Review: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Of Poseidon by Anna Banks
Hardcover published 2012
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Arc received through ARCycling/Purchased finished copy


Synopsis:

Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen—literally, ouch!—both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma's gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom...

Told from both Emma and Galen's points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

Thoughts:

I went to the local Fierce Reads tour stop when this book was being publicized, and being soon after the Festival of Books and a lack of reviews from trusted sources, I couldn't fit it into my budget. But everyone, Anna in particular were hilarious. She has this great, deadpan humor. So when I came across an arc on offer for ARCycling, I jumped at it.

Anna's humor most definitely comes through in Emma's character. Very funny, Emma's first encounter with Galen is quite memorable. From the description of the novel, I worried that it would be too much of a romance swing, but those fears were unfounded. As with nearly all YA, romance is a strong plot point, but Emma is not a sort to sit and moon over a boy, or forget about her life prior to meeting with some guy who pays attention to her. I found Emma to be a good, strong character, with lots of humor throughout the book. I ended up really enjoying the book, and had to check with the bookstore which hosted the event as to if they still had signed copies left (which they did) as soon as I finished. The worst thing I could say is, since it is a trilogy, it ends with a cliff hanger.

Verdict: Read It

Quick admin thing

Ok, so remember when some of you had trouble commenting on the new disqus format, and I had to revert to the older, more friendly version? Well, they've forced the new one onto everyone now. Have they fixed any of the issues for those of you who had trouble before? I'd been toying with switching to Wordpress, so I may move that up if they didn't fix anything.

Pin it- Do It May

Hey, 'sup there? If you hadn't noticed, I hadn't been here in a while. February was monitoring month (which is me watching construction teams dig holes), making for long days and not always much reading time. Add getting back into crafting, with a dash of not sure how to put bookish thoughts into review form and we come to today. Yup, pretty much sums it up for me. So I'm trying to slowly work my way back to my blog and reader (will probably have to purge subs there). But I digress.

Since I'm doing more crafty things, I'm going to try to do Pin It Do It with Trish of Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity. I'm going to do Timid Pinner 1-3 pins. I store pins for things I want to try in Things to Try and Craftiness to Do boards. I will try to post pictures on Ravelry too.

Jump Cut by Ted Staunton

Jump Cut by Ted Staunton
The Seven Series
Orca Book Publishers
Arc recieved from LibraryThing Early Reviewers giveaways
4 stars

Synopsis

Spencer loves movies, but real life is boring, right? When his late grandfather's will reveals the tasks he wants his grandsons to undertake, Spencer thinks he got screwed. He's not going to France or Spain or Africa. He's not even getting a cool tattoo, like his younger brother. No, he's going to Buffalo to get a kiss from an ancient movie star. Gross. And he's supposed to film it. Grosser. But Spencer hasn't bargained on Gloria Lorraine, star of the silver screen back in the day. Gloria has big plans--plans that involve her granddaughter AmberLea, a gun, a baker who might be a gangster, some real gangsters and a road trip to Nowheresville, Ontario. After being shot at, jumping into an icy lake and confronting some angry bikers, Spencer finally realizes that real life can be as exciting (and dangerous) as reel life.

Thoughts

First off, this doesn't seem like a series you need to read in any particular order. Each of the seven books tell the story through one of the grandsons, and the novels overlap each other in time. You'll get more if you read several, especially if you read ones about siblings. Spencer is Bunny's brother, so he gets quick messages about Bunny's task (Ink Me).

This was a very fast, middle grade read. The story is gender neutral, which is great. There are elements that will probably attract boys more, and some that will draw girls more. But it was the gangster part of the story line that really kept the story moving along. One thing I liked most was that Spencer seems to be more of an introverted character, and not the stereotypical boy who likes sports and showing off. If you are looking for a contemporary middle grade novel that is not romantic in nature, you should check this out.

Snapshot Saturday- Stitchery

Snapshot Saturday is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. You can head to her blog to check out the linky list to see what others are posting.

This year I am trying to do more of my needle work. I have countless patterns, kits and a few long suffering in progress pieces. So around New Years I pulled out one of the kits, intended as a possible generic Christmas gift, and got cracking. I've been working on this while I've watched tv in the evenings, so my reading progress is not so quick. I aim to get a couple reviews. Completely forgot that I needed one for Classic's Club book.

Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge 2013

So, sue me. Another one. But read and watch Austen is something I do regularly, so doesn't seem like a stretch.

The Thing
Austenprose is hosting The Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge 2013 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of this classic novel.

Details
It runs through December 31, 2013 and has three levels of participation.

I will do the Aficionada: 9-12 selections

You can read the full details at the Austenprose blog, linked above.

My list
Not sure on what order I'll take yet, but I'll start with a reread via the audiobook, and probably aim for one a month. Some might change, if something more interesting crosses my path.
Books:

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen ~ Audio narrated by Lindsey Duncan
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame Smith
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After by Steve Hockensmith
• Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star by Heather Rigaud
• Darcy and Fitzwilliam by Karen Wasylowski

Movies:

• Pride and Prejudice (2005)
• Pride and Prejudice (1940)
• Pride and Prejudice (2005)
• Bride and Prejudice (2004)
• Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2001 & 2004)
• Pride and Prejudice: A Latter Day Story (2003)