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. 

Children's Book of The Week - Max and The Big Fat Lie

Book Title: Max and The Big Fat Lie: A Book About Telling The Truth

Author: Michael P. Waite

Age Level: 4 and up

Summary

Max lies to his mom in order to go see a scary movie. He soon discovers that one little fib can turn into a big fat lie.

My Thoughts

Yay! Children's story of the week is back. The segment was lost but not forgotten. I re-read Max and The Big Fat Lie earlier this week when I was attempting to download some software to my computer. I figured why not make the process go faster by reading a nice children's book. This book was a particular favorite of my mother's though I love it quite a bit as well. It teach the importance of telling the truth without getting too wordy about it. It's actually very humorous and it is written all in rhythm to boot. Like that the book has some elements that are fantastical to prove the point that it's trying to make, but that the situation that Max finds himself in is realistic. This makes the story easy to kids to relate to. Max and The Big Fat Lie made me smile as a child and it still does now.

Short Story of The Week - Rumpelstiltskin

Story Title: Rumpelstiltskin

Authors: The Brothers Grimm

Summary

A miller's daughter makes a trade with an imp in order to become the wife of a king.

My Thoughts

I am particularly interested in Grimm's fairy tales at the moment. I've kind of made in my plan to read as many of the stories as I can. Today I decided to start with Rumpelstiltskin simply because I haven't read it in some time. I actually started off the morning reading it and I have to say it was a fun way to start the day. There really isn't a lot to the story. Fairy tales often get right to the point with out using flowery language or a ton of character developement. However, the benefit of that is that it was a quick read that made me feel like I was using my brain cells. I totally forgot the Rumpelstiltskin gets ripped in half at the end of the tale. Gross! Ha ha! I guess I see why I might have blocked the ending out. Otherwise, it's an interesting story. It is also a fun one to study on Wikipedia. Actually most Grimm's tales are if you are into looking things like that up on the internet. 

An Update

Hello darlings. This is just a short update. Sorry I've been gone for almost a month. Time got away from me. In a nutshell work commitments, various allergies, and back problems have kept me from sitting at the computer. I just decided I should take a break. I realized yesterday that I could have written all this time if I had just used my voice recognition software more, but what can I say, your blog mistress is clueless at times. Since I came to that conclusion I will definitely plan some posts for this week. At least this weeks short story and children's book. I will also work on my reviews for The Girl Who Played With Fire and First Love. I intend to make a post reviewing some film adaptations I've watched recently as well. See guys tomorrow. Thanks for your patience. 

My Epic Reading Adventures - Reading On A Budget

Hello All. Lately I've been trying to budget my funds more effectively. I figure part of that is keeping my book purchasing addiction to a minimum for a little while. At first this was going to be the equivalent of going on a few strict diet, an experience also known as no fun. I started looking in my library of print and e-books and realized I have more than enough reading material already in my possession. A factor I probably would have noticed sooner if I had read some of the unread books in my library more often instead of buying a new book every time I finished reading something. The awesome news is that several of them apply to my current reading challenges. For the next few months I'm going to try not to buy any new books over the price of a dollar. I might make a small exception if I find a short story book that I really like. However, I realized that I had some short story books on my phone already. In addition, the Aldiko application has quite a few free books and short stories. I don't know why didn't think of that before. 

I'm a little behind on my reading schedule for reading 105 books this year. I'm not overly concerned, because I'm taking next week off for spring break. I know I'll have some extra reading time to catch up then. Plus, I finished The Girl Who Played With Fire, First Love, and Neverwhere in the last two weeks. Yay! Right now I'm listening to North and South on audio book. I just started reading Fear Nothing today. I'm making good progress on it already. I'm trying to pick my books to read over spring break early. I'm thinking I'm definitely going to re-read Jacob Have I Loved. I'm not sure what else. I've got way more choices than I thought. 

See you guys later. I'm off to read some more and write some more. Keep it shiny!

Short Story of The Week (64) - Why Mr. Cropper Changed His Mind

Story Title: Why Mr. Cropper Changed His Mind

Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery

Summary

Ester must find a clever way to prove to Mr. Cropper that is capable of being a school teacher for his two ill behaved sons. 

My Thoughts

I had completely forgotten that I had this collection of short stories by Lucy Maud Montgomery on the Kindle App. on my phone. I'm so glad I remembered because this story was both sweet and clever. I loved that it had a lot of snappy dialogue. This story also celebrates girl power in an underlying way. Sometimes we forget until we read something that was written in 1903 that women weren't always considered equal with men. The main character, Ester, really had to cook up a well meaning scheme to prove that she could teach a class of students just as well as anyone. Overall, I generally enjoyed this. It's a very quick read that made me smile. 

Short Story of the Week (63) - The Butterfly

Story Title: The Butterfly

Author: Hans Christian Andersen

Summary

A butterfly searches for a flower to be his bride.

My Thoughts

I'm still on the look out for a new short story book, but I figured until then Hans Christian Andersen will suffice. His stories are always at least entertaining. The Butterfly was an alright little tale. I felt like it didn't have much of a point. I thought the butterfly was really quite a silly character. However, the story amused me regardless, and the writing had a lyrical quality that I liked. This story was at least much happier than some of Andersen's works. In fact it's was much more joyful than any of the short stories I've read in the last few weeks. I need to find some funny short stories. 

About Books Blog 57 - The Looking Glass Wars Trilogy

Author: Frank Beddor

Genre: Fantasy/Young Adult

Favorite Lines

“Control and power aren’t everything. Allow yourself to be the agent by which a cause greater than any single individual triumphs.” - Looking Glass Wars

“The most important questions are always answered with yet more questions.” - Seeing Redd

Summary

I don’t usually use book trailers but since this one summarized the books so well I thought why not.

My Thoughts

 The Looking Glass Wars sounded too interesting for me to pass up. Which is why I picked up the book despite my previously stated issues with Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. The Looking Glass Wars Trilogy turned out to be awesome. Each book was just as good as the one before it. I literally could not put it down until I had read the whole series.

I loved Frank Beddor’s writing style. It was witty and imaginative. I also appreciated that he wrote his action scenes and descriptions in a way that was very easy for the reader to visualize. I thought it was brilliant that the author choose to combine his vision of Wonderland with historical events and people from Earth. He used real people such as Charles Dodgeson (a.k.a Lewis Carrol), Alice Liddell, and even Prince Leopold as an part of the story. In a very fictionalized way of course, but still it inspired me to want to look up the history of the real people themselves. The first book includes a timeline describing the parallels between what happens in Wonderland and what happened in reality on Earth. I thought it was a clever detail to add.

I absolutely adored the characters. Alyss was such a wonderfully developed protagonist, and she is surrounded by excellent supporting characters. I even enjoyed the villains, Redd and Arch, who kept the story interesting with their ability to scheme and destroy with the help of some very creative minions. What was great about the development of the characters was that the books shared the back-story of so many of them. This made the characters incredibly engaging for me as the reader.

The best thing about Looking Glass Wars, Seeing Redd, and Arch Enemy is that there is something in there for everybody. Action, drama, fantasy, steampunk, and a little romance. I think it is something both girls and guys would like. It is also something a variety of ages would enjoy. You don’t have to read Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass to have fun reading The Looking Glass Wars. However, it is more intriguing to see where Frank Beddor’s ideas come from if you read the source material and some history on Lewis Carrol. I highly suggest that everyone go to the book store and pick up The Looking Glass Wars. It is certainly going on my list of favorite book series. 

Interesting Facts

Frank Beddor claims that the story was inspired when he saw an incomplete set of ancient playing cards at the British Museum with images that resembled Wonderland characters.

There is a spin-off comic book series entitled Hatter M. The series centers around the character Hatter Madigan and his adventures searching for Princess Alyss.

The Movie

I would be overjoyed if this movie makes it to the screen. There is a movie in the works, but it has been on stand still for awhile due to other Alice themed movies that have been released in the past years. Hopefully it will be a fully developed project soon. This book deserves a really great movie. 

Music To Read By

I enjoyed listening to music with ethereal or mechanical type sounds while reading this. I liked listening to Confessionals by Florence and the Machine. I also liked listening to Speak For Yourself and Ellipse by Imogen Heap. In addition, I read a bulk of this series while movies were playing on the TV. It was particularly lovely to read this while Starwars, Van Helsing, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider were on the television. Hence I have included songs from the movie soundtracks on my playlist. I’m thinking this is a playlist I may add on to later, but I like what I have on it so far.

 The Looking Glass Wars Playlist 

Looking Glass Wars - Geek

Red Heart - Vicki Hanson

Heartlines - Florence and the Machine

Burn It Down - Alan Silvestri

Wait It Out - Imogen Heap

Equinox - Skrillex

Duel of The Fates - John Williams

Have You Got It In You? - Imogen Heap

Invincible - Muse

The Clock - Graeme Revell

We Can Make The World Stop - The Glitch Mob

 

 That's it darlings. See you tomorrow with the short story review. I would have posted it today, but the book review won out on the writing table today. Happy reading and keep it shiny!

Children's Book of The Week (4) - Very Worried Walrus

Author: Richard Hefter

Age Level: 3 and up

Short Summary

Walrus tells his friend Pig all his concerns about the bad things that could happen while riding a bike.

My Thoughts

I picked this because the kids at my dance school seem to like it so much. During dance breaks I often find them reading this with their parents. I have to say I like it quite a bit as well. The art is rather cute and the theme makes me giggle. Walrus really blows his fears about falling off his bike out of proportion. The creativity and lengths he takes it to are hilarious. It's is a good thing that he has a friend like Pig who reminds him that riding his bike can be fun, and it's really not the end of the world if you fall off. We should all have friends like that to remind us to focus on the positives of a new experience instead of the negatives.

My Epic Reading Adventures - Rebel Without A Short Story

Hello everyone. I've been surprised by having some actual free time this week. Thus, I finally finished the rough draft of my long awaited Looking Glass Wars review. Thank goodness. This means a book review by the end of the week. I still have some brain storming to do on the playlist for the book. The only problem this week is that I have no idea what to read for the short story this week. I usually post the review by Tuesday, but I wasn't interested in my usual short fiction books. I think I need a new short story book, but I don't know what to get. Any ideas?

I've been a bit of a rebel the last few weeks. I'm just so inclined to breaking my new year's resolutions. I must get back on track. That means I much tear myself away from my obsessions with Netflix, TV, Youtube, and Fanfiction. I also much learn to stop over analyzing my writing so much so that I don't get behind on my book reviews. I must remember that I just need to relax and get the ideas on paper first, then I can go back and fix them. The good news is that I've been a reading rebel. I finally hit the mid-point in The Girl Who Played With Fire, which means things are starting to get really interesting. I was also in the mood for what I like to call dance fiction. I decided to read a book about dancers called First Love. The book has been on my shelf for something like two years. It is high time that I read it. I desperately want to listen to an audio book, but I made a resolution to only read two books at a time this year. I refuse continue to break my own rules no matter how much I want to listen to North and South on audio book. Ha ha! 

Oh, by the way, I just want to thank the people who have commented on my posts lately. It means so much to me that you are enjoying the blog and reading. See you all later. Keep it shiny! 

Short Story of the Week (62) - The Highwayman

Story Title: The Highwayman

Author: Alfred Noyes

Summary 

The tragic tale of a Highwayman who is in love with an inn keeper's daughter.

Favorite Line

"And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to her love's refrain"

My Thoughts

Technically this is a poem but it's a longer story poem. I think it still counts as a short story. I was struck by a mood to read this in it's entirety for the first time. I've read and heard excerpts of it several times, but I have never read the whole thing. Luckily The Highwayman is one of those poems that is easily found on the internet. Shiny! I have to say that this poem is awesome. It's incredibly depressing and poignant, but definitely awesome. I love the rhythms and the imagery. The Highwayman  is completely worth reading.  

Children's Book of the Week (3) - Willy the Dreamer

Author: Anthony Brown

Age Level: 3 to 8

Short Summary 

A little monkey named Willy dreams about life and bananas. 

My Thoughts

Willy the Dreamers is a cute little tale. Perfect for a variety of ages because it is both simple and thoughtful at the same time. Each page contains very short phases which is excellent for introducing three-year-olds to reading. The illustrations are imaginative and lovely to look at. You can always have great fun with a child trying to point out where the bananas are incorporated into the pictures on each page. This book is part of the curriculum I use for my creative movement class (a dance class for 3-5 year olds). I read the book aloud to the kids. Then we stand up and act out some of Willy's dreams from the book. For example: I may tell them to act like a singer or a scuba diver. It's a fun activity with movement, and what the kids don't know is that they are getting a little acting and performance lesson as well. 

Short Story of the Week (61) - Ice

Story Title: Ice

From: The Rose and the Beast

Author: Francesca Lia Black

Summary

A woman is heartbroken when the man she loves is enchanted by an ice queen.

Favorite Line

"He is too perfect. Like an angel carved on a tomb. If you try to keep something so perfect, you get only silent stone."

My Thoughts

I'm not completely sure but I believe that Ice is a modern re-telling of Han Christian Anderson's fairy tale The Snow Queen. I've never read the original tale, but I enjoyed Francesca's interpretation of it. I just love how poetic her writing style is. This story is a little sad. However, I got a hint at the very end that maybe there was hope. The build of the story kept me interested all the way through. Overall, Ice was a intriguing and enjoyable way to spend part of my afternoon reading.  

Children's Book of The Week (2) - Dancing in the Wings

Author: Debbie Allen

Age Level: 5 and up

Short Summary

Sassy fears that her big mouth, big feet, too long legs will keep her from her dream of being a star ballerina. With the encouragement of her family and the idea to audition for a summer dance festival she discovers her dream might be closer than she thinks. 

My Thoughts

I realized last time I reviewed a children's book I forgot to post the picture of the book cover. Ha ha! Silly me. I remembered this week. 

I'm a dancer so I have to recognize my favorite dancing book, Dancing in the Wings. I love it not just because I talks about the art of ballet. There are tons of wonderful children's books that talk about ballet. This book is stands out because it teaches lesson that sometimes the qualities that you find negative about yourself can actually be positives in the long run. You just have to be patient and have support to overcome obstacles. I think that is a good message not just for children but for adults as well. This book has longer paragraphs on the pages. I've found that some really young children have trouble focusing on long paragraphs, so I would wait until they are at least in kindergarten to introduce them to this book. Kids could could probably start enjoying it on their own around 1st or 2nd grade.