Reminder of book giveaway April 8

This is a quick reminder of the book I am giving away to someone this month.

If you have not already read my book review of Snow Day by Billy Coffey – posted on March 22, or the interview I did with Billy – posted on March 25, then I urge you to read those. If you have not entered the draw for a copy of his book, what are you waiting for? At the end of the interview you have a chance to leave a comment to enter the contest, so please do so if you would like your name put into the running. I won’t be posting any further reminders. Then on Friday, April 8, my husband will be drawing a name out of the basket and I will contact the winner of a copy of Snow Day.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Book Review: Snow Day by Billy Coffey

HAPPY SPRING, EVERYONE!

It has been two weeks since I last posted to my blog, but ‘life’ happens and I just didn’t get anything written. Today I will make up for that with a book review and more to follow. Stay tuned! 🙂

As we are entering Spring in this part of our world, I would like to introduce to you a book that I think you would enjoy regardless of the season.

Book: Snow Day
Author: Billy Coffey
Genre: adult fiction; inspirational/Christian
Pages: 195 (hardcover)
Price: $18.99 US; $20.99 CDN
Released: October 2010
Publisher: Faith Words — Hachette Book Group
My rating: An easy book to read, enjoy, and think about long after ingesting the last word on the last page.

It was on Twitter that I learned of this novel and its author, Billy Coffey, around the time the book was being released. Having heard wonderful things about it, I had to purchase a copy for myself. I was not disappointed.

This fictional story of faith starts and ends (except for the epilogue) on one snowy December day in a small town in Virginia, USA. The reader gets to live that day through the eyes and life of one man, Peter Boyd. Peter is a family man and factory worker whose life has been going along as usual, except that when we meet him he has grave concerns for his future. Because of the unstable economic climate there is rumour of possible upcoming lay-offs, and he is worried about his job. The decision he makes to take the day off work on a stormy winter day just before Christmas is a decision that changes his life. Through Peter’s wanderings and ponderings, God subtly teaches him things that give him a fresh new outlook and a deeper understanding of his own faith.

I was drawn in as, chapter by chapter, Billy Coffey took me on a journey with his main character. Each chapter tells its own story from the comedic to the heart-wrenching. In Peter’s neighbourhood and the lives of the people he encounters in it, and through his interactions with his young family, God brings to his attention lessons he has to learn. We get to observe through Peter’s eyes other people’s struggles and conflicts, how they deal with them, and the impact they unknowingly have on Peter.

I am quite a visual person, so as I was reading I could see each scene as Billy creatively described it. He writes in a very descriptive manner, including natural conversations between the characters, making this a pleasant and thought-provoking read.

Snow Day is a first novel for Billy Coffey, but one can hope it will not be his last. I encourage you to look for this book and make it an addition to your personal library.

You can find Snow Day listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Watch for an upcoming interview with Billy Coffey.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Do you enjoy the quiet … or are you afraid of it?

Today has been very quiet here. Because my husband had to work all weekend – not his usual – and I had no way to church today, I sat at home and read my Bible for four hours in a quiet house. No radio, no TV, no music playing — only quiet. Delectable! 🙂

It is my habit to have the radio turned on most of the day – to listen to interviews and such once in a while, but mostly I listen to teachings and music on the Christian station. Once today I turned it on, but only for a few minutes while I cooked and ate my breakfast, then off it went again. And no TV at all today. Not even set on a music station for ‘background’. I didn’t even turn on my computer until the afternoon! Now that is a biggie!

Do you know how tempting it was to turn on the radio while I was doing the dishes? or later while having lunch or supper? I resisted. Why? You know, I’m not even sure why I did that today. It just was so peaceful here when I got up this morning, and since it is Sunday I decided to read for a few hours with no distractions. Well, none except the little dog needing to go outside a couple of times, and wind and hail beating on the windows – which is a wholly different distraction. Nothing major or constant, though. Then I was enjoying the tranquility so much I stuck with it. All day.
ALL DAY!

Have you ever done that? Have you ever lived in a day of ‘quiet’ by choice?

I wonder why we think we have to always have noise going on around us – music, or constant talking, or something mindless .. as if we can’t stand our own company. Are we afraid of the ‘aloneness’? Do we avoid the quiet? How does God get through to us when we aren’t allowing ourselves to listen? And what about our own thoughts? Do we even have any quality thinking time of our own?

Maybe reading is much the same thing except it is not coming at us in the form of noise from the outside. But reading expands our minds, doesn’t it? We do have to form our own images, they aren’t coming at us ready-made. Hopefully we’re choosing good things to store in our brains because I believe it all blends together in there and comes out somehow sometime. Maybe in the form of a bestseller! 😉

So, what do you think about all of the above? And do you enjoy the quiet … or are you afraid of it?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings. 🙂

PS – at the time of writing this it was still Sunday but it will be just past midnight, so into Monday at time of posting.

Book Review: Bitter, Sweet by Laura A. Best

Book Reviewed: Bitter, Sweet
Author: Laura A. Best
Genre: Young Adult; historical fiction
Pages: 144
Price: $10.95
Released: October 2009
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing, Halifax, NS
My rating: Great read for young adults and adults of all ages

In December 2009 I read Bitter, Sweet by Laura A. Best. Her book was released in October of that year and late in November I purchased a copy at a local bookstore the day Laura was doing a book signing. It was a pleasure to meet her in person. I urge you to take the opportunity to meet authors when they are putting themselves out there to meet the public at book signings.

This week I re-read Bitter, Sweet and I must say that I enjoyed it even more the second time through.

Laura based her story in Dalhousie Road, Nova Scotia, Canada, in the 1940’s after World War ll, and captured a glimpse of the history of rural Nova Scotia sixty years ago. The family she created comes alive with interesting authentic dialogue and cleverly written point of view that holds the reader’s attention. I was drawn in right from the first words in chapter one.

The Burbidge family of six moved around a lot, but then finally settled into an old house in a secluded area. They struggled to get by, especially when the father went away to work and soon stopped sending money home. With him not in the picture anymore, and their mother becoming very ill, the four children have to learn how to survive and stay together should they end up alone. Their mother teaches well her older daughter, Pru.

Laura wrote in a way that lures the reader emotionally into the lives of this family whose story is told mainly by Pru. I found I was dismayed by the actions of one child, annoyed by the attitude of a nosy overbearing neighbour and disappointed by a trusted adult who turned out to be untrustworthy in a time of need. I felt the desperation of the children and sided with them in their trying situations.

Without giving away the story – in case you haven’t yet read Bitter, Sweet – I will hint that the challenges of life touched by those who had gone before added an interesting dimension to the story. There are unexpected twists and the reader is left with unanswered questions to answer however one wishes, and not in a disappointing way.

I encourage you to add Bitter, Sweet – by Laura A. Best – to your library. It has received much attention since its debut and is a book well worth reading – twice!

You can find Bitter, Sweet listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Watch for an upcoming interview with Laura A. Best.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Did you make resolutions?

Wow! It is 2011 already! HAPPY NEW YEAR to you!

First, thank you for your support in reading my ramblings here. I appreciate you very much. 🙂

I had intended to post here for Christmas and the New Year, but I got overwhelmed with life and ‘stuff’ and couldn’t fit everything in. I was busy with all the usual things, but since this is the season I fight depression I had a bit of a struggle right around Christmas. Same as last year our two youngest daughters did not get home, and our two oldest daughters didn’t come out either but met us at my dad’s in early afternoon for our combined family dinner – only ten of us this year. It was very quiet here all morning with just my husband and our daughter’s little dog. Very unusual … the first time in all our years together that it has been just the two of us for Christmas. I missed our girls.

A sad time for us was that my aunt (Dad’s sister) was dying, and she passed away December 28, her funeral being January 1. That made for a rather rough end of 2010 and beginning of 2011 for my family. Not much unlike thirteen years ago when Mum passed away December 30, her funeral being January 2. Some years I get through the ‘anniversary’ just fine, but this year was not as easy. I think much of it was that I felt sorrow for my cousins, and it brought everything back more intensely for me.

How was the Christmas season for you? How did you celebrate the ‘holidays’?

On a lighter note … much to-do is made over New Year’s resolutions. Several years ago I gave up making them officially, but each new year I plan and hope to “do better”. This time I determined to ‘go through’ my house one room at a time to ‘fine tune’ things, and I have done one room so far. I also have business goals to achieve, writing aspirations to focus on, continued publishing of Christian newsletter Valley Sunshine and members’ correspondence to answer.

Last year I did resolve to read more, which you know by the page I set up here – My “have read” book list (Dec 1’09 – Dec 31’10) – where I kept track of my progress. Since that fun thing went quite well I set up a page for this year, too. I will finish reading the books of the Bible and add to my list as many more books as I possibly can. For some I will write reviews and I plan to interview authors as well.

All these are things that interest me that I want to do. But — I have to remember not to stress myself out when I can’t keep up. Right?

How is your reading coming along? Have you been inspired to read anything you have seen mentioned here? If so, I would love to know about it. 🙂

So, have you made any New Year’s resolutions/set any goals for 2011?

I wish for you a happy, healthy, accomplished 2011.

Thanks for reading, and .. Creative Musings! 🙂

Book reviews & author interviews

It has been almost two weeks since NaNoWriMo ended and I have not added to my story yet. It was so much writing jammed into that month that I lay my pen down and have not picked it up to continue. I do plan to do that, though, the story is still playing in my head. And the PiBiIdMo ideas are waiting to be filled out into complete stories, as well.

Although Christmas is two weeks away and I have TONS of things to do, now I am thinking about books and authors. I have MANY books to read, some older ones and now lots of newer ones (mostly YA) have been added to my waiting reading stash. But something that has been working around in my mind, besides writing book reviews of some of the books I read, is to attempt interviewing authors. I have a few authors in mind whom I would like to interview after I read their books. I think it is great promotion for them, assuming people actually come here to read our conversations. 🙂 And I do believe in helping with that promotion.

What do you think of these ideas? Would you like to read my book reviews and interviews of authors?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Anniversary & Holocaust book

My husband’s and my anniversary was October 30. Today (it’s still Saturday as I’m writing this) I was able to purchase for him the book he has been wanting. Millions of Souls – a Holocaust memoir by Philip Riteman, has recently been released. Stephen told me I could read it after he has, but I declined the offer. I read the two-page article in a September issue of the newspaper about Mr. Riteman, and his story and experiences are so heart wrenching I know I could not bear to read his book. It would bother me far too much. Yet, I am between that self-protecting opinion and the knowing that everyone should hear his story, everyone should know of the horrors.

Remembrance Day is coming up on Thursday, November 11. We will attend the memorial service as we have done for several years now, when we are given time to pause and think, and remember, and be grateful.

I believe it would make a difference in people if they could meet a War Vet or a Holocaust survivor, hear the too real stories, see the graphic images.

I believe we must never forget.

Do you?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings. 🙂