True Book Addict...Books, Cats, and More: March 2016

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Cat Thursday - Cats in Art (18)

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! (share your post in the Mr. Linky below)

Happy Spring! Another month gone. Wow.

Boy With A Cat by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Portrait of Julie Manet or Little Girl with Cat by Renoir

Girl and Cat by Renoir

Pierre August Renoir, Young Girl with a Cat

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Saturday, March 26, 2016

#Bloggiesta Update

I actually was able to cross off the two things I had on my original list...which allows me to add a couple more items I may be able to get to over this weekend. :-)

My original list:

~~create badge and sign up post for Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon~~
~~create badge and post for my planned read-a-long of Roots coming next month~~
Hoping to complete this weekend...
Start adding books to my library blog from my catalog of books from my home library
Update my books read pages on this blog and at Castle Macabre (my horror blog)

What I actually accomplished so far from original list...

created badge for Roots read-along.
created announcement/sign up post and posted.
posted about read-along in my Seasons of Reading Facebook group
sent request to Book Bloggers International to post on their calendar
sent request to Novel Challenge for them to post on their site
created badge for Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon
created sign up post and posted.
posted about read-a-thon in Seasons of Reading Facebook group
sent request to BBI to post on their calendar
sent request to Novel Challenge to post on their site

I'm not promising that I will complete the other two items, but I'm certainly going to try. I'm still very proud of what I've done so far.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Cat Thursday - The love affair with food

Welcome to the weekly feature that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite lolcat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! (share your post in the Mr. Linky below)

I'm a firm believer that cats are the foodies of domesticated animals. :-)

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Roots - The Read-Along...Won't you join me? #Roots

Coming up on Monday, May 30, the History Channel is airing a new mini-series of Roots. This is the iconic story based on the novel by Alex Haley. I remember the original television mini-series had a profound effect on me when I was a girl and I've always been meaning to read the book. So, in honor of the new mini-series, I thought I would host a read-along before it airs. Are you game?

The read-along will take place in April and May. The reading and discussion schedule is listed below. Please note: I am not a huge stickler for rules so you don't have to join in on every discussion. This is quite a tome so go easy on yourselves. To make things less hectic, I'm going to post discussions every two weeks, and at the end, we will have a final discussion.

Note on which edition I'm reading: Picador 1977 trade paperback edition, 639 pages

Reading/Discussion Schedule

April 1-7: Chapters 1-20, pp. 9 - 82
April 8-14: Chapters 21-37, pp. 82 - 165
April 15: Discussion - join me here at True Book Addict
April 15-21: Chapters 38-52, pp. 165 - 246
April 22-28: Chapters 53-69, pp. 247 - 325
April 29: Discussion - here at True Book Addict
April 29-May 5: Chapters 70-85, pp. 325 - 406
May 6-12: Chapters 86-97, pp. 406 - 486
May 13: Discussion - here at TBA
May 13-19: Chapters 98-107, pp. 486 - 563
May 20-26: Chapters 108-120, pp. 563 - end
May 27: Final Discussion - here at TBA

If you just can't resist (and I hope you can't), please sign up in the linky below. Looking forward to reading an excellent book, and to some great discussion with my fellow book lovers!

Monday, March 21, 2016

Bloggiesta Plans

It's here! Not sure how much time I'll have to devote to this through the week, but I'll do what I can.

In short, Bloggiesta is a blogging marathon revolving around ticking off those items on your to-do list and improving your blog while in the good company of other awesome bloggers doing the same thing. Our awesome mascot Pedro (Plan. Edit. Develop. Review. Organize) is ready to break out the nachos, enchiladas, drinks, mariachi music and whack a pinata or two! It’s nothing short of an awesome fiesta! (website)

My list is going to be short because I'm not sure what all I'm going to do, but I'll add to it as ideas come.

create badge and sign up post for Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon
create badge and post for my planned read-a-long of Roots coming next month
...
...
...

Are you joining in? If so, Good Luck!

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Cat Thursday - Cats are amazing

The many ways cats amaze...

What is it with following us in the bathroom though?

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Cat Thursday - Authors and Cats (51)

The second Cat Thursday of each month is Authors and Cats Thursday. Each time I will feature an author with their cat(s), or pictured with a cat(s).

This month's author is Ezra Jack Keats, whose birthday is March 11.

Ezra Jack Keats (March 11, 1916 - May 6, 1983)

Long before multicultural characters and themes were fashionable, Ezra Jack Keats crossed social boundaries by being the first American picture-book maker to give the black child a central place in children’s literature.

In the books that Keats wrote and illustrated, he used his special artistic techniques to portray his subjects in a unique manner. One of these was his blending of gouache with collage. Gouache is an opaque watercolor mixed with a gum that produces an oil-like glaze.

The characters in Keats’ books come from the community around him. Many of his stories illustrate family life, the simple pleasures and more complex problems, that a child often encounters in his daily routine. To create his books, Keats drew upon his own childhood experiences, from having to flee from bullies to taking a ribbing from his pals for liking girls. But these are also the experiences of almost all children growing up in neighborhoods and communities in many parts of the world. This commonality explains the continuing popularity of Keats’ books and characters.

By the time of Keats’ death following a heart attack in 1983, Keats had illustrated over eighty-five books for children, and written and illustrated twenty-four children’s classics.

It's obvious that Keats was an animal lover, as many of his books featured them. He was obviously a cat lover. Two of his books featuring cats are shown here.

I loved his books when I was a child. The Snowy Day was one of my favorites and it became a favorite of my younger son as well. Keats was a true treasure in children's literature.

Monday, March 7, 2016

The Classics Club Spin #12

Let's try this again, shall we? I have failed (or not participated in) every one of these spins except one (The Wide Sargasso Sea in 2014). As they say, never stop trying.

Details from the Classics Club site:

It’s easy. At your blog, by next Monday, March 7, list your choice of any twenty books you’ve left to read from your Classics Club list — in a separate post.

This is your Spin List. You have to read one of these twenty books in March & April. (Details follow.) So, try to challenge yourself. For example, you could list five Classics Club books you are dreading/hesitant to read, five you can’t WAIT to read, five you are neutral about, and five free choice (favorite author, rereads, ancients — whatever you choose.)

Next Monday, we’ll post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List, by May 2, 2016. We’ll have a check in here in May, to see who made it the whole way and finished the spin book.

I'm not going to choose overly challenging books so I won't set myself up for failure. I am going to choose randomly from my CC list though.

My list:

1. The Lambs of London, Peter Ackroyd

2. The Collector, John Fowles

3. The Sylph, Georgiana Cavendish

4. She, H. Rider Haggard

5. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

6. The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James

7. What Maisie Knew, Henry James

8. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx

9. Contact, Carl Sagan

10. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

11. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Patrick Suskind

12. The Magnificent Ambersons, Booth Tarkington

13. The Master, Colm Toibin

14. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut

15. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh

16. The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton

17. Orlando, Virgina Woolf

18. Fingersmith, Sarah Waters

19. The Secret History, Donna Tartt

20. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath

Wish me luck!

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Cat Thursday - What DO they do when we're not home?

Here are some possibilities...

What we wish they were doing...

#TuesBookTalk - Join us on Goodreads & we now chat on Slack!

TuesBookTalk Read-a-Longs's currently-reading b...

76 members
A group for the TuesBookTalk Readalongs on Twitter. We meet every Tuesday night at 9:30pm ET/8:3...

Books we're currently reading

Les Misérables: Volume One
by Victor Hugo
Start date: January 1, 2013

Les Misérables: Volume Two
by Victor Hugo
Start date: January 1, 2013

View this group on Goodreads »

Which literary heroine are you?

You are Josephine March from "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott. Opinionated and outspoken, your bold nature can sometimes get you into trouble. You must constantly make a conscious decision to seem gentler to people when you first meet them -- those who do not know you well can sometimes find your passion abrasive or overly aggressive. The happiness of others is your greatest source for happiness of your own -- you want nothing more than to provide for your family and friends, to make them happy.