{a thought for Thursday} Confusion

"I wondered how it could be that people could love God and hate one another."
— Julie Orringer (How to Breathe Underwater)

Julie will be at Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee at 7 p.m. tomorrow (April 29) for her new book, The Invisible Bridge. (Read the Journal Sentinel's interview with Orringer.)

{wordless wednesday}

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

{read: fiction} Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

An alligator-wrestling tourist trap in Florida, a dead mother, a sister who's dating ghosts, and a grandfather who was exiled to a retirement home after biting a man - what's not to love about this coming-of-age story?

Ava Bigtree wants to follow in the footsteps of her famous alligator-wrestling mother, Hilola Bigtree. She wants to swim among the Seths (their name for the alligators, who are all named Seth), but her family and Swamplandia!, their tourist trap, are both in decline. After Hilola dies from ovarian cancer and the World of Darkness steals all the tourists, things aren't looking good for the Bigtrees. Her brother Kiwi escapes to the mainland, her sister begins to date ghosts, and her father leaves to raise money to fund his plans to upgrade and save Swamplandia!

Russell has a way with language and crafts some sweet sentences. Although I felt stuck in the swamp in the last third of the book, she wound up the story in a way that seemed believable and not too pat.

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell (Knopf, 2011)
My rating: 3.5 stars

{crafts} peeps

Do you have a lot of left over Easter candy? Why not make a diorama out of it! Check out this year's 2011 Washington Post Peeps Diorama Contest.

{a thought for Thursday} Celebrate National Poetry Month!

National Poetry Month -- April -- is almost over. Check out www.poets.org for a list of easy ways to add poetry to your life.

Here's a poem from Issue 105 of Verse Wisconsin.

snowman 

on the warm sidewalk

child pose

—Jari Thymian, Aurora, CO

{wordless wednesday} waterfall

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

{read: fiction} When the Killing's Done by T.C. Boyle

If you've never given a thought to what happens to the steaks, chicken legs, and pork roasts before they end up neatly trussed and packaged in your supermarket, I'd encourage you to pick up When the Killing's Done. This novel explores what rights animals have and whether humans should interfere with nature to protect native species and the environment, even when it means the mass murder of another species.

The two main characters who butt heads over this last issue (Alma Takesue, a National Park Service biologist who wants to preserve the environment at any cost, and Dave LaJoy, an animal rights activist opposed to the murder of animals) bring to life the tough choices that people face once they start to think about these kinds of issues. Once you know, you can't not know.

In the end, Dave comes up with a creative solution to thwart Alma's plans. Without giving the ending away, I think that it creates a sense of balance with a hint of irony. Although the history and descriptions were a little long-winded in the beginning, the plot picked up speed as the book went along. I enjoyed the story and the way it brought to life the issue of animal rights.

When the Killing's Done by T.C. Boyle (Viking, 2011)
My rating: 3 stars

{crafts} what we are loving

We called for spring once, and it only came in spots. Lets call again and hope it comes for good! Here is what we are loving:

Turquoise Blue Metal Dragonfly Magnets by Merritthyde

Handpainted Swarovski Crystal Jeweled Drawer KNOBS Pink and Green SET of 8 by LisaEverettDesigns

Japanese Magnolia 13x19 fine art photography print by TheFadingDaisey

{a thought for Thursday} Travel light

"Slippery slope. I carry a spare shirt, pretty soon I'm carrying spare pants. Then I'd need a suitcase. Next thing I know, I've got a house and a car and a savings plan and I'm filling out all kinds of forms."
— Lee Child (Bad Luck And Trouble)

Author event tomorrow!
Valerie Laken will be doing a book release reading for her collection of short stories, Separate Kingdoms, at 7 p.m. at Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee. (You may remember her as the author of the novel Dream House.) Other stops on Laken's tour are here.

{wordless wednesday} kitty

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

{read: bestselling memoir} Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

This book is a classic and my favorite memoir about writing and life. Every time I pick it up, it is even better than I had remembered - and that’s saying something. I’m writing about it today because I’m going to see Anne Lamott tonight at Alverno College in Milwaukee (tickets still available for $16 +$5 fee, call 414-382-6044 between noon and 6 p.m.) . She’s on tour for the paperback release of Imperfect Birds (other tour dates here).

You may think that you wouldn’t like this book because you’re not a writer, but if you’ve ever faced a huge project that you’ve put off until the last possible minute, worried that all your friends were conspiring against you, eaten school lunches, or had your tonsils taken out, you’ll find something to relate to in this book.

Here’s one of my favorite parts. (Some background first: Pammy is Anne’s best friend, and she’s dying of cancer.)

We had gone shopping for a dress for me to wear that night to a nightclub with the man I was seeing at the time. Pammy was in a wheelchair, wearing her Queen Mum wig, the Easy Rider look in her eyes. I tried on a lavender minidress, which is not my usual style. I tend to wear big, baggy clothes. People used to tell me that I dressed like John Goodman. Anyway, the dress fit perfectly, and I came out to model it for her. I stood there feeling very shy and self-conscious and pleased. Then I said, “Do you think it makes my hips look too big?” and she said to me slowly, “Annie? I really don’t think you have that kind of time.” ( p. 170)

Anne Lamott is the kind of person who tucks an index card in her back pocket when she takes her dog for a walk in case she sees something that she wants to write down, but she folds it lengthwise so she doesn’t look bulky. Who wouldn’t love her?


Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (Anchor Books Doubleday, 1995)
My rating: 5 stars

{crafts} Origami Bunnies

Wouldn't it be fun to leave a little paper bunny waiting in the Easter basket of someone you love? Here are simple instructions from fold this on how to create origami bunnies:



Enjoy! Please send us photos of your paper bunnies at bookreviewsandcrafts@gmail.com.

{a thought for Thursday} Time is short!

First, don't miss this weekend's read-a-thon: http://www.24hourreadathon.com.

Here's today's thought:

"If you're 50 years old or younger, give every book about 50 pages before you decide to commit yourself to reading it, or give it up.

"If you're over 50, which is when time gets shorter, subtract your age from 100 - the result is the number of pages you should read before deciding whether or not to quit. If you're 100 or over you get to judge the book by its cover, despite the dangers in doing so." -- Nancy Pearl

If you don't know Nancy, she is perhaps the world's most famous librarian and author of the Book Lust books. Don't know what to read? Pick up a Book Lust book to find some great suggestions!

{wordless wednesday} Adirondacks

Wordless Wednesday... This photo was taken on a hike in the Adirondacks. A very beautiful place, worth a trip to visit.





Check out Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon

Don’t miss Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon this weekend, beginning at noon GMT April 9! From the official event website at http://24hourreadathon.com, here’s an event description in a nutshell: “For 24 hours, we read books, post to our blogs about our reading, and visit other readers’ blogs. We also participate in mini-challenges throughout the day. It happens twice a year, in April and in October.”



If you don’t want to read (or think you don’t have time), you can also host a mini-challenge or be a cheerleader. Check out the website to see how you can join readers worldwide in this fun event, and tell us about your plans (and later your experience) and the comments for this post! We can’t wait to hear from you.

{giveaway winner} Congratulations, rosalindraasch!

The winner of {th}ink’s first giveaway is rosalindraasch! She will receive a personalized, signed copy of You Know When the Men are Gone by Siobhan Fallon. {th}ink would like to thank Siobhan for donating the book for our giveaway, and we hope that those of you have become followers during this contest stay tuned for more fun crafts, succinct book reviews, great photos, thought-provoking quotes, and future giveaways! 



Upcoming author events


Don’t miss Hannah Pittard, on tour for The Fates Will Find Their Way. She’ll be at Next Chapter Bookshop in Mequon, Wis., tomorrow (April 6) at 7 p.m. Other events across the U.S. are here. To whet your appetite, here’s a quote from the book:
 "Words like lucky and advantages we knew, even at our young age, were upscale euphemisms for not poor, not the son of a drunk and, later, not the son of a suicidal mother."



More reading fun

Don’t miss Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon this weekend, beginning at noon GMT April 9! From the official event website at http://24hourreadathon.com, here’s an event description in a nutshell: “For 24 hours, we read books, post to our blogs about our reading, and visit other readers’ blogs. We also participate in mini-challenges throughout the day. It happens twice a year, in April and in October.”



If you don’t want to read (or think you don’t have time), you can also host a mini-challenge or be a cheerleader. Check out the website to see how you can join readers worldwide in this fun event, and tell us about your plans (and later your experience) and the comments for this post! We can’t wait to hear from you.

{craft along} spring greeting cards

With this beautiful spring weather finally here I think it would be nice to send out some friendly greetings. This is a simple way to add some cheer to life.


First take some paint and smear it on a large sheet of paper. If you have a little helper around, like a one year old, this could be a fun way to include them in the project. If not, find your inner child and get creative. This project is fun because the less perfect it is, the better!


After your paint has dried, go ahead and draw some flower shapes in a dark marker. The outlines are fun to see on the final piece so a darker marker works best. Again, these flowers should be abstract and not perfect! Create leaf shapes as well.

Cut out the flowers, leaves and a few small strips that will act as the stems.


Fold a blank sheet of paper into a card, you can use whatever size you would like. I used white paper that had some of my sons markings on it for texture. You could use white paper, a colored paper or a pattern paper. Try different things to see what works best for you.


Use a glue stick to glue the flowers on first. Then add the small stems coming out of the of the flowers. Finally, glue the leaves on to anchor the stems to the bottom of the page.

That is it! You have some simple spring greetings to send out. If you would like a spring greeting sent to you from {th}ink, message us at bookreviewsandcrafts@gmail.com. We would love to send some cheer your way! Happy spring.

{party} 2011 Ultimate Blog Party

Happy Friday! We are joining the party!

What's {think} all about anyway?

{th}ink is a breath of fresh air to help you move beyond your usual work/family/life routines. We offer a fun, easy approach to craft projects that you can actually finish in your spare time, as well as candid reviews of a wide array of fiction, mysteries, and memoirs. Come {th}ink with us! Learn more about us here.

What will you be reading about?

Every week on Mondays, you can expect to read about a craft we are working on, or our favorite crafting inspirations. On Tuesdays check in for a book review. This will sometimes include tips on where to meet the authors. On Wednesdays we will post a relaxing photo or illustration in celebration of Wordless Wednesday. Thursdays we post a Thought for Thursday. The blog features giveaways, so check back often for your chance to enter. We are a fairly new blog, but we have started with great success and we are looking forward to evolving and growing it.

So be sure not to miss {th}ink's first giveaway! You could win a signed, personalized copy of You Know When the Men are Gone by Siobhan Fallon. Siobhan Fallon has been so great to us. She has really supported our blog and has provided great inspiration.

Please browse around!