It’s Friday! Time for the Book Blogger Hop at Crazy For Books. Click HERE to discover loads of other great book blogs. Please make sure that you leave a comment on the blogs that you have visited to let them know that you “hopped” by.
Happy Hopping and I hope y’all have a great weekend! While you are here be sure to check out the following contests happening today.
Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson
I grew up with Anne of Green Gables. As a pre-teen I yearned for my own bosom friend like Diana, I wanted to taste raspberry cordial (although not get sick), I wanted to walk through a forest and quote poetry. I even wanted red hair, although Anne with an E would say that hers was the bane of her existence. More than once I would find myself in the depths of despair and I can remember thinking at those times that yes, my life was a perfect graveyard of buried hopes.
So to say that I was cautious as I approached this book would be an understatement. Honestly, it was the cover that tipped the scale for me, I couldn’t resist it. It’s a beautiful, fantastic cover and so tastefully done I decided to give the story a shot.
My first impression was.. how dreary. I mean, Anne’s life before Green Gables was not fun and games so I wasn’t surprised by how bleak the story is – on the surface. But then I started to pay attention. Budge Wilson did a fantastic job of bringing out the bright spots, a teacher here, the touch of a hand to Anne’s shoulder in encouragement there. There were reasonable explanations for the development of many of Anne’s quirks – how she learned to use Ipecac, where she came up with many of the long words she arrived at Green Gables with, her friend in the glass, etc. Although the circumstances Anne grew up in were dreary and bleak, the character that L.M. Montgomery created was so full of light, so bright and wonderful and beautiful, that even the bleak surroundings in this book couldn’t dull it. And Wilson did a fantastic job of portraying Anne as a young child as Montgomery’s Anne… with an E.
I highly recommend this book. It surprised me and I think it’s the first novel spin-off of a favorite classic that I can truly appreciate and love on its own merit.
Okay – so I have an hour this morning and I’ve decided I need to do this! (I’d been looking forward and I need to do it and before I head out the door I’m positive I can through something together).
You have arrived at Blog #41 out of 122 Blogs. We’ve done all the work for you. No hunting or surfing. Each blog will have a number and each new blog link will have a number. These numbers will allow you to keep track of which blogs you’ve visited and how many are left to visit. Why not take a moment to make a list of blog numbers 1-122 and check off the blogs as you go.
Here is my Giveaway:
How to enter:
You must leave a comment with your email address included. In addition, let me know what the best book you’ve read this year is. This is open internationally.
BLOGMANIA’S PARTICIPATING BLOGS:
Our blog owners live in different time zones, some will be posting very early on April 30th and some will post a few hours later. Please allow for this time difference. If a giveaway is not post when you visit, make a not to revisit that blog later.
Listed below you’ll find links for all our participating blogs. If you get stuck, kidnapped, bushwhacked, ambushed, or end up at a dead-end, check back here. After the dust settles and you’ve recuperated from this 24 hour blogging marathon, be sure to let us know if you enjoyed our ‘Loot Scoopin Mania’.
PLEASE have fun with Blogmania. And if for any reason one of our participating blogs has failed to post their Giveaway, please accept our apologies. Sometimes unforeseen circumstances can mess up the best laid plans.
You can find a full list of the participants at: http://betweenthelinesandmore.blogspot.com/
I haven’t done one of these in a while and I really need to get back on the ball regarding them. First, let me talk about what has been going on for the last two weeks and has my household all crazy.
My nephew who is 7 was diagnosed with HSP (Henoch-Schonlein purpura) 9 days ago. Since that time he’s been unable to eat, developed a nasty rash, had painful swelling of his joints and, as of two days ago, began vomiting liquids. For those of you unfamiliar with HSP the description is as follows:
Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP) is a form of blood vessel inflammation orvasculitis. There are many different conditions that feature vasculitis. Each of the forms of vasculitis tends to involve certain characteristic blood vessels. HSP affects the small vessels called capillaries in the skin and frequently the kidneys. HSP results in skin rash (most prominent over the buttocks and behind the lower extremities) associated with joint inflammation (arthritis) and sometimes cramping pain in the abdomen. Henoch-Schonlein purpura is also referred to as anaphylactoid purpura.
Yesterday afternoon my nephew was admitted to the hospital. He’s doing better today, keeping fluids and some food down and hopefully will be released this afternoon.
What does this mean for me? Well.. my nice tidy schedule has been all over the place these last few weeks. With my nephew being home all week and me occupied in keeping him company/sitting with him all my best laid plans for participating in the Blogathon this weekend (today) were dashed. So for those of you visiting today that expected to see something here, I do apologize, and plan on participating in September. I just simply did not have the time or resources to plan for today due to the unexpectedness of this sickness.
So aside from this, nothing much else has happened this week. I hope that your week has been less eventful! And here’s hoping that my nephew is on the mend and will be back to his normal, cheerful, talkative self very quickly.
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