I love hearing from authors and publicists who’d like me to read and review their books. If you have a title you think I’d be interested in, please feel free to contact me at ibetnoonehasthisdamnid@yahoo.com .
For more information about what books I like and how I choose which books to review, check out Mt. TBR's review policy.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Yeah, I’ve seen a few of you expressing this same thing. Just a general sense of blah and a disinterest in anything. Maybe it’s the heat, it’s baking our brains -though, it’s been unseasonably mild here, so I can’t use that as an excuse! I just can’t seem to focus or concentrate on reading. I just can’t seem to bring myself to caring about anything. I turn on the tv and fall asleep. I start reading a book and space out. The house looks like a tornado went through, but I just step over the messes.
Here’s the thing. I was feeling a bit blah-like before I got the computer, but since then, I’ve been 10 times worse. I suddenly realized yesterday when I forgot to get up and wake up my daughter for her summer club that maybe I’ve been on Facebook playing the games a little too much. Yeah, okay… so I didn’t go to bed for three days playing online stuff, is that a bad thing? LOL…
Well, at least it didn’t take five or six months to realize maybe I was spending too much time online, you know.. like it did with SecondLife. And we all need a break from the everyday, right? Okay, so break’s over. Time to get back in gear. First up, cleaning the house before FEMA steps in. I did mow yesterday, so that’s good, right? Or was it the day before yesterday…
I did manage to finish reading Fruits Basket volume 1yesterday. I was trying hard to wait until I wrote the review before going on to volume two, but… halfway into the second book now, and I think I’ll give up that plan… LOL. Maggie made me read it!
Speaking of Maggie, she has a friend spending the night tomorrow, and she’s been involved in a play with the summer reading program at the library for which her performance is tomorrow evening. She’s excited, of course, and is happier that her best friend will be there than she is about my going. And Maggie starts summer school on Tuesday, which will set me back into a schedule again. Yay for routines!
Maggie showing off her long Airhead tongue
Coming soon, I promise… a review of Fruits Basket volume 1 with Maggie’s guest review, too. She made me read it, I swear! She may look sweet, but you should see her claws!
Bored and clicking around, clicking on bookmarks I haven’t checked in awhile, I came across this viral video clip. I wanted to share it with everyone, and was afraid that if I saved it for an “official” VVW post, I’d forget (Like a LOT of bookmarked vids). Check it:
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Now, the person who made this video clip has boldly named it 100 BEST MOVIE LINES” but, as I watched it, I could think of better lines for the movies shown than the ones they featured, and other movies or lines that are completely neglected. It reminds me of the arguments over the 1001 books list.
Okay, of all the Wayne’s World quotes they coulda gone with, “Spew into this?” Really? Not “Ass sphincter says what?” “What?” “Exactly.” or “She will be mine. Oh, yes! She WILL be mine.” “Spew into this” just doesn’t even rank on the top 10 of that movie.
And “Royale with cheese” was the best they could do for Pulp Fiction? Honestly, it doesn’t even rank in the memorable lines category. “Le Big Mac” is better than that. Jules’s line, “Say ‘what’ again. Say ‘what’ again, I dare you, I double dare you” was really cool. So is “Mmm-mmmm. That is a tasty burger.” and “You mind if I have some of your tasty beverage to wash this down?” And Butch’s line, “Zed is dead, baby.” just said it all.
And of course Mia’s line “Don’t you just love it when you come back from the bathroom and find your food waiting for you?” comes to mind whenever we eat out.
Ash saying “Groovy” in Army of Darkness is acceptable, then again… most of Ash’s lines make great sound clips. It was a cool movie. And “My Precious” is definitely priceless. Everything HAL said was creepy and makes great clips, and “Heeeeeeeere’s JOHNNY!” from Jack Nicholson in The Shining will outlive the man himself, just like “No Wire HANGERS!” and “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn!” have outlived their original speakers.
I totally agree “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take it anymore!” is one of the best movie lines ever, and I recently watched There Will Be Blood, not surprisingly based on an Upton Sinclair book, and the whole milkshake bit sold Plainview as a demented baddie… Sanity done left the mansion.
But now, where are the best quotes EVER? like, where’s Gunny Sgt Hartman’s lines? Granted, they are a bit… ooh, vulgar? But it WAS Marine boot camp, after all. Really, drop “Love means not having to say you’re sorry” (the most annoying and BS line in history) and give me “Sound off like you got a pair!” Or I could live without “I get older, they stay the same age.” (#24, I don’t even know the movie) and gimme Gunny saying “I didn’t know they could stack shit that high!”
And what about BOONDOCK SAINTS? Really! Murphy’s line “We’re sorta like 7-Eleven. We’re not always doing business, but we’re always open.” is one of the best lines. I’ll allow that the prayer couldn’t be included as it’s 100 best lines in 200 seconds. I really need to buy the DVD… then I won’t have to keep making Netflix send it to me.
So which movie lines in this vid are your favorite? Which lines should have been included? Which ones should’ve been left out?
In Baltimore there lived a boy.
He wasn’t anybody’s joy.
Although his name was Jabez Dawes,
His character was full of flaws.
In school he never led his classes,
He hid old ladies’ reading glasses,
His mouth was open when he chewed,
And elbows to the table glued.
He stole the milk of hungry kittens,
And walked through doors marked NO ADMITTANCE.
He said he acted thus because
There wasn’t any Santa Claus.
Another trick that tickled Jabez
Was crying ‘Boo’ at little babies.
He brushed his teeth, they said in town,
Sideways instead of up and down.
Yet people pardoned every sin,
And viewed his antics with a grin,
Till they were told by Jabez Dawes,
‘There isn’t any Santa Claus!’
Deploring how he did behave,
His parents swiftly sought their grave.
They hurried through the portals pearly,
And Jabez left the funeral early.
Like whooping cough, from child to child,
He sped to spread the rumor wild:
‘Sure as my name is Jabez Dawes
There isn’t any Santa Claus!’
Slunk like a weasel of a marten
Through nursery and kindergarten,
Whispering low to every tot,
‘There isn’t any, no there’s not!’
The children wept all Christmas eve
And Jabez chortled up his sleeve.
No infant dared hang up his stocking
For fear of Jabez’ ribald mocking.
He sprawled on his untidy bed,
Fresh malice dancing in his head,
When presently with scalp-a-tingling,
Jabez heard a distant jingling;
He heard the crunch of sleigh and hoof
Crisply alighting on the roof.
What good to rise and bar the door?
A shower of soot was on the floor.
What was beheld by Jabez Dawes?
The fireplace full of Santa Claus!
Then Jabez fell upon his knees
With cries of ‘Don’t,’ and ‘Pretty Please.’
He howled, ‘I don’t know where you read it,
But anyhow, I never said it!’
‘Jabez’ replied the angry saint,
‘It isn’t I, it’s you that ain’t.
Although there is a Santa Claus,
There isn’t any Jabez Dawes!’
Said Jabez then with impudent vim,
‘Oh, yes there is, and I am him!
Your magic don’t scare me, it doesn’t’
And suddenly he found he wasn’t!
From grimy feet to grimy locks,
Jabez became a Jack-in-the-box,
An ugly toy with springs unsprung,
Forever sticking out his tongue.
The neighbors heard his mournful squeal;
They searched for him, but not with zeal.
No trace was found of Jabez Dawes,
Which led to thunderous applause,
And people drank a loving cup
And went and hung their stockings up.
All you who sneer at Santa Claus,
Beware the fate of Jabez Dawes,
The saucy boy who mocked the saint.
Donner and Blitzen licked off his paint.
–Custard and Company by Ogden Nash, pages 50-54
Ogden Nash, a popular American poet, was known for his droll humor and unconventional rhymes. Most of us have heard his poetry, through we may not know him as the author, as he’s often used in everyday conversations. A great example of this is Nash’s quick verse, “Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker,” from his book Reflections on Ice-Breaking.
Custard and Company by Ogden Nash is a collection of Nash’s poems and include “The Tale of Custard the Dragon” and “Custard the Dragon and the Wicked Knight,” two of Nash’s most beloved works. The book is also illustrated by Quentin Blake, who is best known for his collaboration with writer Roald Dahl.
Most of the poems in this book have a quality that appeals to children, both young and old, many of them mythical characters and animals as their focus. A few of the poems have children as the main characters, such as Jabez Dawes in the one quoted above, Belinda in the Custard poems and Isabel, an adventurous young girl who never screams or scurries, instead standing in the face of danger and winning.
Isabel met an enormous bear,
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t care;
The bear was hungry, the bear was ravenous,
The bear’s big mouth was cruel and cavernous.
The bear said, Isabel, glad to meet you,
How do, Isabel, now I’ll eat you!
Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry,
Isabel didn’t scream or scurry,
She washed her hands and she straightened her hair up,
Then Isabel quietly ate the bear up.
-from “The Adventures of Isabel,” Custard and Company by Ogden Nash, page 88
Something surprising I found with many of these poems is that they are often clunky and terrible when read silently to yourself, but become playfully fun when read out loud, and even more so when read out loud to a child. I read a number of these to my oldest daughter, Sammi, age 16, who is a big Shel Silverstein fan. She was actually the one who picked up the similarity of the illustrations to those in Roald Dahl’s books. She will be very excited to find out she was right 😉
Wonderfully fun and a book for the whole family, Custard and Company by Ogden Nash is a treasure of American Literary history. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
The video I’ve selected to accompany Custard and Company is a bit longer than usual. It is a 10 minute, mini-movie of “The Tale of Custard the Dragon” and makes use of HALO characters. It’s quite funny, but is a little slow to get started. It started out as a school project, for which I hope the creator received an A+ 😀 Enjoy!
Since we’re past the Fourth of July and the summer season has officially started, what are your plans for the summer? Vacations, trips? Trips that involve reading? Reading plans? If you’re going somewhere, do you do any reading to prepare? Do you read local literature as part of your trip? Have you thought about using the LT Local feature to help plan your book-buying?
My plans for this summer are simple: READ. Read whatever isn’t nailed shut, read whatever is in English (not up for translating German, French, Spanish or Vietnamese… though I have books in those languages in my library.), read all the ARCs on the desk, finish the Jane-a-thon, and making a dent in Mt. TBR by Christmas. READ.
and review, yes, that’s it…. My plans for this summer are simple: READ and REVIEW. Review all the books I read that aren’t nailed shut, in English, ARCs, Janes and on Mt. TBR. READ and REVIEW.
and blog? Well, yes.. of course BLOG… that goes without saying. My plans for this summer are simple: READ and REVIEW and BLOG. Blog my reviews of the books I read that aren’t nailed shut, not in German, French, Spanish or Vietnamese, that are ARCs and on Mt. TBR.plus blog the memes? Yes, and blog the memes.
Why don’t you join any blog challenges? Well I did join Fyrefly’s Ye Olde TBR(e) Challenge, what more do you want? I just started blogging! Well you don’t have to get snippy about it, I was only trying to help! I wasn’t trying to be “snippy”, I was just trying to get this blog written. Well you hurt my feelings… you should say you’re sorry for that. Alright! I’m sorry. That’s right, you are sorry. Can we get on with this Tuesday Thingers now? before it’s Booking Through Thursday? a’right. Where was I? Right, plans for the summer… don’t forget about the giveaway!
My plans for this summer are simple: READ, REVIEW, BLOG and GIVEAWAY! I’m having My First Ever Giveaway!! for a $20 Borders gift card. It’s been open for about a week, and I have about 300 entries. When I get 400 I’ll add a $10 gift card, and at 500 I’ll add a $5. Click the pic for details!.
This is my first blog giveaway, and I’m excited to be doing it! I want to say thanks to everyone who reads and comments on my blog, and to share the love I went to Waldenbooks today and got a $20 Gift Card. The one I’ve got has the Lorax on it and he says “I speak for the trees”. They didn’t have a picture of it at the BordersOnline store… bummer. But anyway, I want to GIVE a lucky reader FREE BOOK MONEY!!
So, to the rules:
1. Leave a comment on this post as your official entry. If you don’t leave a comment here, then I won’t know you’ve entered.
2. You will get an extra entry per comment anywhere else on my blog. Remember to comment here first, though!
3. Post a link to the contest on your blog and get 5 extra entries. Make sure to let me know you’ve posted the link so I can credit you.
4. Open to anyone, anywhere, so long as you have a way to get mail. I will mail the card to the winner, so you have to be able to get it. 😀
5. All entries must be received by July 31st. I will draw the winning name August 1st and post it.
6. If I have a large enough response for this, I will choose a second or third winner and award $10 and $5 gift cards accordingly.
UPDATE: The contest has ended and the winners have been posted… Check them out!
Tainted by Brooke Morgan
The Triumph of Deborah by Eva Etzioni-Halevy
Strange But True America: Weird Tales from All 50 States by John Hafnor
Red Letters by Tom Davis
Dragon House by John Shors
Book reviews, entertaining and humorous posts, as well as memes and giveaways, In the Shadow of Mt. TBR is a fun and informative place to relax in the shade!
So, to the rules: 
In the Shadow of Mt. TBR 