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100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart
Robert J. Morgan
The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
Alderson, Martha Alderson
Fuzzy Navel (Jacqueline)
J. A. Konrath
Progress: 70 %
City of Bones
Michael Connelly
Progress: 144/408 pages
Walden, or Life in the Woods
Henry David Thoreau
Winesburg, Ohio
Sherwood Anderson
Progress: 45/232 pages
My Life
Bill Clinton
The Art of the Short Story
R.S. Gwynn, Dana Gioia
The Book of American Negro Poetry
James Weldon Johnson

The Good Lord Bird

The Good Lord Bird - James McBride

Written by:  James McBride, Copyrighted in 2013

 

Published By:   Riverhead Books, (Hardback)

“I was born a colored man and don’t you forget it.  But I lived as a colored woman for seventeen years.”

 

The Good Lord Bird is written in three parts Free Deeds (Kansas), Slave Deeds (Missouri), and Legend (Virginia).

 

Henry was a slave who along with his father (Pa) belonged to the owner (Dutch Henry Sherman) of Dutch Henry’s Tavern, in southern Kansas.  Henry’s father worked as a barber at the tavern.  An old man took the barber chair who Henry describes as “a stooped, skinny feller, fresh off the prairie, smelling like buffalo dung, with a nervous twitch in his jaw and a chin full of ragged whiskers.”  The old man talked to Henry’s Pa about the Bible which was Pa’s favorite subject since he thought preaching the Gospel was his main job.  Soon the subject of slavery came up and the old man made it clear he stood against slavery.  The old man thought Henry was a girl, him having curly hair and being clothed in a potato sack.  Pa tried to tell him, “Massa, my Henry ain’t a …,” when the old man interrupted him.  That’s how Henry became Henrietta.  Dutch Henry did not like the way this conversation was going and soon became aware that the old man who had identified himself as Shubel Isaac was in fact John Brown, the abolitionist.   A shootout ensued and Henry’s Pa was killed.  John Brown rode off with Henry.

 

Henry considered himself kidnapped by the old man and his thoughts were geared to getting back to the tavern, ASAP.  Plus, he had not forgotten the old man had gotten his Pa killed.    The old man talked to Henry as if he should be happy to be free.  He handed Henry his good luck charm which Henry did not know what it was but assume he had be handed food took a bite out of the small onion.  That when Henry/Henrietta got the nick name Onion.  They soon caught up with the old man’s army (about fifteen (15) men) which consisted of mostly of his sons.  He introduced Onion as a girl and Henry did not speak up otherwise.  Onion was put under the care of Fred who was considered slow minded.  Fred soon found out the Onion was not a girl, but did not tell.

 

Henry has many adventures, comparable to a Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn; during his time with the old man in Kansas, but soon finds himself in Pikesville, Missouri.  In Pikesville he meets Pie a mulatto prostitute at the Pikesville Hotel.  Henry falls for Pie and is ready to take off the nice dress the old man had given him, but, he kept up the charade and remained a girl.  The time span from leaving the old man in Kansas until he sees him again in Pikesville is about two (2) years.  However, McBride covers this time in six short chapters.

 

The last part of the story is titled Virginia; however, the old man and Henry do quite a bit of traveling during the next sixteen (16) chapters.  They meet Harriett Tubman in Canada and Frederick Douglas in New York.  We all know the story ends in Harpers Ferry.  Harpers Ferry was then part of the state of Virginia.  There is historical evidence that John Brown did actually meet with Tubman and Douglas, though we know Henry was not with him.

 

The story was humorous with Henry escaping trouble many times.  Henry had one time to be responsible and missed this when he failed to give John Brown and important message concerning a password and response.  This off course may have changed history.  I noted that while Henry says he “lived as a colored woman for seventeen years,” the story only covers him from age ten (10) to fourteen (14).    

 

I recommend this book to anyone interested in John Brown or a good story.  The book was well written and the author received the 2013 National Book Award for fiction. 

 

 

 

 

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Girl With a Pearl Earring - Tracy Chevalier

Girl with a Pearl Earring

 

Tracy Chevalier

 

Plume, 2001

 

The “Girl with a Pearl Earring” is a painting done by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, around 1665.  Not much is known about Vermeer which gives Chevalier creative license to develop what I believe is an interesting story.  The painting is currently on exhibition in New York, at the Frick Collection. The exhibition is scheduled to be there until January 19, 2014.

 

The story told in first person by Griet the protagonist starts in Delft (South Holland), in 1664, when she was sixteen (16).  Griet is the daughter of a tile painter who has recently lost his sight.  Griet parents hired her out as a maid to the Vermeer family.  Griet was expected to help out her family by bringing home the fruits of her labor.  In the first few pages of the book there is considerable change in this family.  The father has lost his sight, her brother Frans (thirteen (13)) has left home to start an apprenticeship, now Griet is leaving home to work.  Her younger sister Agnes is upset because she will be without both siblings.  Griet is concerned because her family is Protestant and while the Vermeer’s are Catholic. 

 

When the Vermeers visits Griet’s house to determine her suitability for the job as maid they each looked at her differently.  Catharina, Vermeer’s wife was concerned about Griet’s physical ability to perform the job while Vermeer noted how she had laid out the vegetable she was cutting up for a stew separating them by color, in a circular pattern.

 

The Vermeers have five (5) children with one on the way.  Vermeer’s mother-in-law, Maria Thins, also lives in the house.  There are a couple of other servants who assisted in running the household, which gave room for more conflicts in the story.  Griet’s main job is doing the laundry and cleaning Vermeer’s studio, but, she also helps with the kitchen and taking care of the children.  Griet was challenged by many conflicts primarily with Catharina, Cornelia (one of the children), and Tanneke (a long term servant).  She also has to fight off Vermeer’s patron, van Ruijven.  He is married but has a reputation for chasing young maids.

 

Griet later took on more responsibility which included purchasing food for the family.  She noted that the Vermeer family use Pieter for their butcher.  She was to shop for the family daily and purchase the meat for the day.  Pieter had a son who showed interest in Griet, which was at first not returned.

 

Griet showed interest in Vermeer’s painting and asked him questions which he seemed to encourage.  He later showed her how he made his colors for his paintings.  Griet later became the subject of a portrait which he was commissioned by van Ruijven to paint.

 

I think the author struggled at times to write as a sixteen (16) year old would think.  However, I enjoyed the book.

 

Scrivener For Dummies

Scrivener For Dummies - Gwen Hernandez

What is Scrivener?  Scrivener is a word processing package that keeps your projects organized.  It is basically setup like other packages with a menu bar, toolbar, etc.

 

“Scrivener’s core purpose is to help you write.  It’s not intended to tell you how to write or force you to get the work done.  Instead, Scrivener provides an environment in which you can keep your writing, character sketches, synopses, outlines, and images in one project file.”

 

Scrivener For Dummies

 

Many of us are familiar with the “…….For Dummies” format, with its “Tip,” “Remember,” Technical Stuff,” and Warning!,” icons, no difference here.

 

The book is divided into seven (7) parts:

 

Part 1 - Getting to know Scrivener – Creating a project and Scrivener Interface

Part 2 - Meeting the Inspector – Understanding the synopsis, metadata, and notes

Part 3 - Starting to write – Editor function, corkboard, and outliner

Part 4 - Getting your manuscript out there – Compiling, exporting to eBook or Kindle, etc.

Part 5 - Customizing your Scrivener experience – Word count, custom layouts, templates, etc.

Part 6 - Getting the most out of Scrivener – Searching, snapshots, etc.

Part 7- The part of tens – Advanced features and accessing more help

 

The book provides a step-by-step approach that takes one from writing and collecting information for your projects to compiling a manuscript ready for the publisher, eBook, or Kindle.   Also, this is a great reference book.  I have used it when I need to resolve a Scrivener problem. 

 

The author also teaches an on-line Scrivener class at:  http://www.wiziq.com/

There is a class for Mac and for Windows. 

 

 

 

Links to various Booklikes tutorials around the site. Thanks to all the hardworking BL members and team who contributed. This is a work in progress. More links will be added as I find them.

 

Official Booklikes stuff:

http://blog.booklikes.com/post/198757/booklikes-community-guidelines

http://blog.booklikes.com/post/9074/dashboard-a-place-where-all-bookish-things-happen

http://blog.booklikes.com/post/64881/add-books-manually-add-missing-book-covers 

http://blog.booklikes.com/post/344083/make-your-wish-on-booklikes

http://blog.booklikes.com/post/100003/booklikes-goodreads-synchronization

http://blog.booklikes.com/post/107813/new-booklikes-giveaways

http://blog.booklikes.com/post/78484/batch-edit-on-your-shelf

http://blog.booklikes.com/post/63815/feature-for-authors-and-twitter-timeline-widget

http://blog.booklikes.com/post/551754/post (exclusive status for your books)

 

The Booklikes blog (new features added every week):

http://blog.booklikes.com/

 

The Goodreads Booklikes group:

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/115105-everything-booklikes

 

Tutorials created by Booklike members:

 

Easy tips for customising your Booklikes blog:

http://litchick.booklikes.com/post/185420/post

 

How to customise your BL blog:

http://j4n3m3.booklikes.com/post/222397/post

 

Customising Booklikes Tutorials - parts 1 - 4:

http://silverthistle.booklikes.com/post/460791/customizing-booklikes-tutorial-part-1-back-to-basics-how-to-get-started-

http://silverthistle.booklikes.com/post/461046/customizing-booklikes-tutorial-part-2-back-to-basics-adding-a-new-header

http://silverthistle.booklikes.com/post/462371/customizing-booklikes-tutorial-part-3-back-to-basics-main-background-change

http://silverthistle.booklikes.com/post/469207/customizing-booklikes-tutorial-part-4-back-to-basics-moving-follower-buttons-

http://silverthistle.booklikes.com/post/544745/customizing-booklikes-tutorial-part-5-back-to-basics-changing-the-look-of-your-follower-buttons-

 

'Reactive' links (round links on a 'shelf' page)

http://anhec.booklikes.com/post/461024/-reactive-links-round-links-on-your-shelf-page-different-look-for-different-state-of-link-

 

Adding the Booklikes Reading Challenge to your blog:

http://silverthistle.booklikes.com/post/537457/booklikes-reading-challenge-ready-get-set-read-

 

How to change colour of text on your banner :

http://anhec.booklikes.com/post/423482/how-to-change-colour-of-text-on-your-banner

  

Added pages - I can't read it! My background is dark and font is black! And I want to have a comment section!

http://anhec.booklikes.com/post/367393/added-pages-i-can-t-read-it-my-background-is-dark-and-font-is-black-and-i-wan-t-to-have-a-comment-section-

 

How to make your comments icons a link:

http://j4n3m3.booklikes.com/post/542312/how-to-make-your-comments-icon-a-link

 

Customising shelf sort order:

http://smckinney.booklikes.com/post/537880/post

 

Changing appearance of followers/following counters and repositioning them:

http://anhec.booklikes.com/post/221446/omg-i-really-want-to-move-change-my-followers-following-counters-because-they-re-on-my-banner-and-that-s-not-pretty-

 

Adding a scrolling quotes marquee to your blog:

http://themisathena.booklikes.com/post/504828/adding-a-scrolling-quotes-marquee-to-your-blog

 

How to block followers on Booklikes:

http://brandi.booklikes.com/post/540817/-reblog-how-to-block-followers-on-booklikes

 

Setting up google analytics on your BL blog:

http://karlynp.booklikes.com/post/547843/blog-tutorial-setting-up-google-analytics

 

Changing font colour (text, links, comment section):

http://anhec.booklikes.com/post/227311/ffffff-get-it-no-nvm-pun-intended-how-to-change-font-colour-text-links-comment-section-the-whole-shebang-

 

Customising Booklikes tutorial - Adding bells and Whistles - blockquotes

blockquoteshttp://silverthistle.booklikes.com/post/495396/customizing-booklikes-tutorial-adding-bells-and-whistles-blockquotes

 

How to easily embed a font:

http://lyndi.booklikes.com/post/541633/post

 

A simple tip - everything is too big - zoom out: 

http://anhec.booklikes.com/post/538084/a-simple-tip-everything-is-too-big-zoom-out-

 

Background for a search bar (what to do when it's invisible on a dark background):

http://anhec.booklikes.com/post/227951/background-for-a-search-bar-what-to-do-when-your-background-is-dark-and-search-bar-in-your-menu-have-dissapeared-

 

Let's clean our designated comments pages regularly - no more notification floods:

http://anhec.booklikes.com/post/542208/a-tip-let-s-clean-our-designated-comments-pages-regurarly-no-more-notification-floods-

 

Reading Challenge - how to post it on your site and a few simple customization options:

http://anhec.booklikes.com/post/250271/-reading-challenge-widget-how-to-make-it-appeare-on-your-site-and-some-crude-customization-options-i-m-not-a-miracle-worker-don-t-judge-me-

 

Your book counter - make it fun and pretty:

http://anhec.booklikes.com/post/481197/your-book-counter-make-it-fun-and-pretty-

 

How to avoid losing the original source of a post:

http://aoife.booklikes.com/post/245008/post-how-to

 

Notifications:

http://anhec.booklikes.com/post/424188/not-a-tutorial-just-a-tip-about-notifications-

 

 

Source: http://mandym.booklikes.com/post/470414/booklikes-tutorials

Exclusive Status For Your Books On BookLikes

Reblogged from BookLikes:

It's time for Thursday Release and it's a feature many of you requested :-) Now when a given book doesn't fit any default status on your Shelf (Read, Planning to read, Currently reading) you can create your own exclusive book status.

 

How? You can create and organize your books with new statuses in several ways.

 

Go to your Shelf Page and create your new status with your name, e.g. Not finished. New status will be added and visible at once on your Shelf.

 

 

You can also create exclusive status directly in book pop up, select it and Save for a given title. The book will receive new status immediately. 

 

 

If you want to reset previously given status (Read, Planning to read, Currently reading), click on it and Save. It should go white (inactive) and notion "On Shelf" will appear instead. 

 

You can also create exclusive status on Table view of your shelf (the entrance is on Shelf page). It is also a place where you can re-arrange your books one by one:

 

or move several books at once:

 

You can still create thematic shelves which will be added to your Shelf on the left and organize them the same way in table view. 

Customizing BookLikes

Reblogged from Kaethe:

There are quite a few tutorials on how to change the layout of your BookLikes blog. I figured it's good to have them all in one post, and I'd like to thank all who put a lot of work into making them so others can enjoy BookLikes. 

 

Let's start with the customization blogs posted by BookLikes: 

 

 

 

Tutorials made by BookLikers for BookLikers: 

 

 

Note: All links open in a new window and take you to the original posts and their creators. Leave comments, likes and reblog the hell out of them so others can see it too :) 

 

Source: http://j4n3m3.booklikes.com/post/351682/-masterpost-customizing-booklikes

How Do We Import Your Books

Reblogged from Books Over TV:

We would like to calm down all book lovers who are impatiently waiting for their content to arrive. We promise to bring all your books, reviews, ratings and shelves to your BookLikes profile and not to lose anything during the transfer. 

 

We're happy to see so many new book lovers, reviewers and authors on BookLikes. And as we mentioned in our previous post about import we're doing our best to bring your content to your BookLikes pages as soon as possible. So here's how we do it.

 

First we import your books and the ratings, then the shelves will appear (so you don't need to create them if you have those in your csv file) and then reviews will come with books attached. Gradually all your books will pop up on your Shelf and reviews on your Blog, so don't worry if you can see book piles but not reviews. This means we're working on imports and they are in progress. 

 

All details concerning import is visible on Import Page (entrance is in Settings/Import) where you're given detailed information of total number of books, shelved books and number of books with reviews being imported.

 

We're using heavy equipment to complete your book import and we won't miss any of your book and review. And we promise to make this action successful and complete. 

 

 

We know it takes some time and we're grateful for your support, understanding and patience. Thank you. And one more time Welcome :-)

 

Have you already explored BookLikes? You can do it while import is proceeding :)

The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett “I’ve discovered what I am. I am an opsimath.”

Lincoln's Labels: America's Best Known Brands and the Civil War

Lincoln's Labels: America's Best Known Brands and the Civil War - James M. Schmidt Lincoln’s Labels

Written By: James M. Schmidt

Published By: Edinborough Press (Amazon) Kindle Edition, 2009.

This is a historical account of some of the businesses that provided goods and services to the military during the civil war. Many of these businesses still exist today.

By all accounts, neither the North nor South was well prepared for this conflict. Early in the war state militias accounted for most of the troops used and their preparedness was dependent on the various states. They had different and sometimes no uniforms, little food, or other supplies.

Some of the vendors were:

Brooks Brothers – uniforms
Borden – condensed milk
Tiffany & Company – flags, swords, medals, etc.
Scientific America – magazine that was an advocate for various inventors and mechanics
du Pont – gun powder
P & G (Proctor and Gamble) – Soap, candles, etc.
Squibb – medical supplies and equipment
American Express – express mail and shipping

Schmidt has written a scholarly account of the history of these companies and their dealings with the military and the other entities during this era.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in the American Civil War.




Murder in the White House - Margaret Truman Big surprise, no Mac or Annabel.
The Plot Whisperer: A Groundbreaking Approach to Story Structure That Any Writer Can Master - Martha Alderson The Plot Whisperer

Written By: Martha Alderson

Published By: Adams Media, Avon, Massachusetts, 2011

ISBN: 978-1-4405-2588-9

Alderson writes how she teaches using “The Universal Story,” the plot planner, and the scene tracker. An in-depth explanation of “The Universal Story” is covered in Chapter 2. Diagrams of the plot planner and scene tracker are included in the book.

Alderson covers how to get started and identifies barriers to writing fiction including procrastination, writing ability, discipline and structure, and failure to move forward. Also, the basics of plotting and developing of themes are explained.

Several chapters cover creating characters and settings. Finally, putting these basics into fruition which she calls “The Journey,” are discussed.

Each chapter has sections, “The Writer’s Way,” and “PLOT Whisper,” designed to highlight import tips on writing plots.

This is one of the best books on writing fiction that I have read. I think it provides many ideas that can be used to get past stumbling blocks in writing. I plan to use this book as a reference tool for future writing projects.

Murder at Ford's Theatre (Capital Crimes)

Murder at Ford's Theatre (Capital Crimes, #19) - Margaret Truman Murder at Ford’s Theatre

Written By: Margaret Truman

Published by: Ballantine Books

Murder at Ford’s Theatre

This is a story about the murder of a young female intern of U.S. Senator, Bruce Lerner. The intern, Nadia Zarinski, was found in the alley behind the Ford’s Theatre. “Cause? Subdural and subarachnoid hemorrhages. Manner or death? Blow to the head with blunt, broad object.”

Ms. Zarinski has been rumored to be having an affair with the senator. The senator is ex-husband of Clarise Emerson, the theatre’s producing director. The case is assigned to Rick Klayman and Mo Johnson, detectives from the Crimes Against Persons Unit, of the MPD.

The senator and his ex-wife are both career oriented, him wanting to run for president and her currently under consideration for the director of the NEA. It does not help when their son, Jeremiah, who had a sexual relationship with the intern, is charged with the murder.

The book was well researched as far as history of the Ford’s Theatre and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. There were a couple of mistakes in the author’s police procedural knowledge and a couple of streets were incorrectly names. Otherwise, I enjoyed to mystery.

This book is part of the Capital Crimes series written by the author, the daughter of President Harry Truman.


Holy Bible: New International Version - Anonymous I have studied and read parts of the Bible throughout my life. However, I was never able to read the Bible from beginning to end. I failed each time I tried. I had even tried various Bible reading plans. I think what I lacked at that time was commitment.

Well last year about this time I tried again. This time I set time aside for devotion and Bible reading, each morning. I placed my Bible and computer on my nightstand. I used the Our Daily Bread webpage for devotion. It is a very short read with Bible passages. The site also had a Bible reading plan which I followed.

I found that using the Bible Gateway webpage for Bible reading helpful. One can also listen to an audio Bible as you read, the New International Version.

I intend to keep using this plan, since I don’t believe one reading was enough for me to have a spiritual understanding of all that I read. I feel blessed to have had an opportunity to accomplish this goal.
The End of the Party - Graham Greene The End of the Party

Written by: Graham Greene

The End of the Party

Major Characters:

Peter Morton
Francis Morton
Mrs. Henne-Falcon
Joyce
Mabel Warren

Peter and Francis are identical twins. Peter woke early in anticipation of the party they would attend later that day. He watched his brother sleep noting that it was like looking in a mirror. Later, he had to wake Francis out of a bad dream. Peter seems to know exactly what Francis was dreaming. This is how close they were.

Unlike Peter, Francis was not looking forward to attending the birthday party that would be hosted by Mrs. Henne-Falcon, for Colin Henne-Falcon. Francis remembered his bad experience with Joyce… and Mabel Warren, last year. Joyce was eleven and Mabel was thirteen, both older than him. He was not comfortable with girls. Mabel had made him scream last year when she suddenly touched him during a game, in the darkened house. Francis is afraid of the dark.

Francis thought of ways to keep from going to the party. Peter being a compassionate brother tried to help by coming up with some schemes of his own. Nothing seem to work and Francis decides to go to the party hoping that he can avoid playing hide and seek, in the dark. This seemed to be a favorite game of everyone, except Francis.

In the end, the game can not be avoided and Francis finds a place to hide. Being a concerned brother Peter tries to think of where Francis would hide so that he can go to him. He was able to find where Francis was hiding and went there to comfort him. There in the dark Peter clinched fingers with Francis to quell his fear. With his brother there Francis no long felt any fear.

I enjoyed this short story which I read as a result of reading the review of a "Goodreads" member.

The Story of an Hour (Tale Blazers) - Kate Chopin The Story of an Hour

Written by: Kate Chopin

The Story of an Hour

Characters:

Mrs. Louise Mallard
Josephine (Louise’s sister)
Brently Mallard (Louise’s husband)
Richards (Brently’s friend)

A lot can happen in an hour!

Louise Mallard has heart trouble. Her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards use caution when informing her that Brently had been killed in a railroad disaster. Richards had used care to verify the incident. A second telegram had confirmed the sad communications, originally received in the newspaper office with Brently Mallard’s name at the top of the list.

Louise immediately started to weep and flailed in the arms of her sister. After a while she went off to herself, and did not let anyone accompany her.

As she looked out of the window reflecting on the enormity of the situation she observed the environment; a spring day, abundant with life: a peddler hawking his wares, someone singing, birds tweeting, etc.

Louise looked into the sky, at patches of blue sky in the clouds. She sat serenely on a chair with only an occasional sob breaking the quiet. Her thoughts turned to the future. She realized she was not powerless without her husband. These thoughts revived her. She now began to say over and over, under her breath: “Free, free, free!” Her pulse quickened and her body felt alive.

Louise now realized that her future belonged to her and her alone. “Free! Body and soul free,” she kept whispering.

Her sister Josephine was now kneeling at the door of Louise’s room, asking her to come out and not to make herself sick. Louise told her to go away, that she was not making herself sick. Louise was now cognizant of the fact that she once wondered how long she would have to live with her husband. Now she was wondering how much more time she might have and praying for more time.

Soon she came out and wrapped her arms around Josephine’s waist and they walked down the steps to join Richards, again.

Soon, someone was opening the front door with a key. In walked Brently, her husband, casually. He was unaware of the accident. Richards tried to shield him from Louise, but was too late.

Later, when the doctor came he said Louise had died of heart disease.
Der Sturm - Kate Chopin Der Sturm

Written by: Kate Chopin

Der Sturm

Characters:

Bibi
Bobinot
Calixta
Alcee

Bibi und Bobinot erwischt in einen Sturm und entscheiden, in ein Geschäft zu bleiben, anstatt zu versuchen, nach Hause gehen.

Calixta war allein zu Hause. Alcee ein alter Liebhaber kamen in für Schutz vor dem Sturm. Alcee und Calixta beschlossen, Vorteil aus der Situation zu nehmen und hatten Sex.

Nach dem Sturm endet Alcee geht nach Hause. Er schreibt seiner Frau einen Brief, ihr zu sagen, gibt es keine Notwendigkeit, nach Hause zu eilen, alles wird in Ordnung sein.

Bibi und Bobinot nach Hause gekommen. Sie ist froh, sie zu sehen. Calixta hat das Abendessen vorbereitet, und sie essen, wie normal.