New Blog and BookTube Vlog Links

Hello to the followers on this blog. As you might know I've been posting my bookish thoughts as well as other things on another blog for a few years now. I have also started a book related YouTube channel. Recently my blog's link has changed and I thought while I was updating the new info on my blog I would post the link to my YouTube channel as well. Here are the links. Keep it shiny!

My blog link for Dancing, Dreams, and Shiny Things: http://ddst7.blogspot.com/

My YouTube Channel: ShinyThingsReviews

Today's Book Post Link

Hello all. Here is the link to today's book related post. Five tips on how to read more than one book at the same time. Keep it shiny!

Dancing, Dreams, and Shiny Things @ ddst7.com

The Book Nook Link 1/16/2014

Hey guys. As promised here is the link to this weeks book related post. It's about how reading helps build empathy and it also contains a short review of the Fraggle Rock comic. While you're over there feel free to check of Must See Movie Monday, Tune Tuesday, and Weekly Obsession Wednesday. Link to the blog is below. Please follow over at the other blog if you can.

Dancing, Dreams, and Shiny Things @ ddst7.com

Please Check Out My Other Blog and Reading Posts

Hey readers. It's a new year and I'm really taking my transition to my afore mentioned blog change over. I will from now on be posting my book reviews and other bookish things on there, so if you want to keep getting updates on what I'm reading you might want to pop over there and follow. To ease the transition I'm going to be posting links to my reading related blogs over here every Thursday for the the next couple months. This week I wrote about my reading challenges so check it out. Also while you're over there you can check out my Weekly Obsession Wednesday post and other info. Hope to see you over there. The links will be below. Keep it shiny!

The Reading Corner - 2014 Reading Challenge Post

Dancing, Dreams, and Shiny Things Blog @ ddst7.com

New Blog is Officially Public

Hello Guys and Girls. The new blog is officially online. So if you want to follow me over there the link is below. Keep shiny!


Dancing,Dreams,and Shiny Things @ www.ddst7.com

Out with the Old and In with the New

Hello Everybody. Long time no see. I had what I can only call a blogging breakdown. I just didn't feel like blogging. Instead of boring you all with a rant about it, I  decided to take a break to figure out why I didn't feel like writing.

After several months I finally understood my reasons. Reason one was that I simply didn't have the time or the energy to keep up with both my song blog and book blog. Reason two was that I didn't only want to write about books and music. I wanted to write about books, music, and my other interests. Many times over these months I've had a great idea for something I'd like to share with the world, but I didn't because it didn't fit with the book or music blog concept. Once I figured out what I wanted out of my blogging I had to brainstorm to figure out what to do about it. Over my trip to New York this summer an idea smacked me in the head. I thought the best thing to do was merge both my blogs together into one blog. Not only that but I could add all the other things I've been wanting I to talk about such as: movies, TV, crafts, dance (I am a dance teacher after all), and whatever else I feeling like reviewing or sharing. As my mother said I'm basically making a blog that is more like a ...well...blog. Haha!

The idea is still in it's early stages so bare with me as I put everything together. I have to figure how exactly how to transition from my two current blogs. I don't want to lose all the book reviews on this blog. I will leave this one up for awhile and eventually make a page with all my previous reviews on the new blog. As for the the song blog I might keep that up for a few months. I'm thinking I might transfer my playlists but that is about it. I still have a lot of things to sort out, but right now I have the two most import things set in stone. What I want the layout to look like and of course a name for my new writing adventures. The new blog will be entitled Dancing, Dreams, and Shiny Things. I will post another post as soon as the new site goes public so you can find me again. I hope you all will still follow me on the new blog. I have always appreciated you support. Keep it shiny!

Jazz R.J.

Short Story and Children's Book Combo Pack (Weekend and Ballet)

Hello all. It's getting close to the end of the week so I just thought I'd review this week's short story and children's book all in one post. I might have to do the post like this through the month of May, because of work.  Let's start with the short story shall we.

Short Story of The Week

Story Title: Weekend

From: The Doll

Author: Daphne du Maurier

Summary 

A couple starts their weekend away thinking that they are perfect for each other. A misguided boat trip soon makes them see their relationship isn't a perfect as they thought. 

My Thoughts

Weekend was just an okay story for me. I didn't think it was bad, but something about it annoyed me a little. I don't know if it was the dialogue, the characters, or the ending. Maybe it was a little bit of all three. I just didn't effect me like some of the other stories in this book. Weekend does get points for at least being an entertaining read. I may have had to roll my eyes at certain sections, but I was not bored. Ha ha!

Children's Book of The Week

Book Title: Ballet

Author: Kate Castle

Age Level: 8 and up

Summary 

Kate Castle, former member of The Royal Ballet company, teaches you about the art of ballet dancing.

My Thoughts

My life is obviously all about dance. Especially right now when my students are so close to doing their end of the school year dance performance. I thought why not pick a book that is about dancing since that is what is on my mind. I personally think that this one of the best book about ballet. Not only for children but for adults as well. This book tells the reader all the elements of ballet dancing: history, training, what to wear, performance, ballet stories, etc. What I like about it is that it does it in such and accessible way. The book has short sections in bold that give an overview of what the page is about. This is great for younger kids that just want to gain the smaller concepts of this dance style. However, each page also has sections in smaller writing that go more in depth in case you want to know more about the subject which is great for older kids and adults. I like that Ballet doesn't just talk about the dance style but other elements such as famous dancers and technical work of performance (light, set design, costumes). It also gives great advice on how to watch a ballet by explaining the difference between contemporary ballet and classical ballet. I highly recommend this to everyone interested in learning to dance or even people that just enjoy watching dance.