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Smiling Shelves

Shiver Language in Their Eyes Were Watching God

1/14/2015

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Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is on my Classics Club list, as well as fulfilling my January requirement for the Birthday Month Reading Challenge. I had no idea what to expect when I picked up the book. I didn't read the summary on the back cover, and I skipped over the Forward. I definitely enjoyed this book. The dialect took quite a bit of getting used to, which meant I got off to a slow start. But eventually I got the hang of it and was able to enter into the story. Janie is a wonderful character, and I loved following her progress towards independence and becoming the woman she always wanted to be. It was even more powerful to hear it coming from her own mouth, rather than a third person narration. She learned how to tell her own story both figuratively and literally.

But the part I enjoyed most about this book was the writing. It was full of shiver language (for an explanation of shiver language, check out this post). I thought I would share some of my favorite quotes here.
"The sun was gone, but he had left his footprints in the sky."
"They passed nations through their mouths. They sat in judgment."
"Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches."
"There are years that ask questions and years that answer."
"Janie asked inside of herself and out."
"They sat on the boarding house porch and saw the sun plunge into the same crack in the earth from which the night emerged."
"Every morning the world flung itself over and exposed the town to the sun."
"When God had made The Man, he made him out of stuff that sung all the time and glittered all over. Then after that some angels got jealous and chopped him into millions of pieces, but still he glittered and hummed. So they beat him down to nothing but sparks but each little spark had a shine and a song."
"They made a lot of laughter out of nothing."
"He drifted off into sleep and Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place."
"Tea Cake came out throwin' laughter over his shoulder into the house."
"Several men collected at Tea Cake's house and sat around stuffing courage into each other's ears."
"The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall."
"She called in her soul to come and see."
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Signing Up For - Hard Core Re-Reading, What's in a Name?, Color Coded & Bloggiesta

1/13/2015

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Rereading is one of those things I love to do, but kind of feel guilty about. Join a reading challenge for it, and all guilt goes away! The Hard Core Re-Reading Challenge is hosted by You, Me, and a Cup of Tea. I'm signing up for Level 1, which means I need to reread 10-20 books. Twenty is a bit high, but ten is doable. Especially since I'm using this challenge as an excuse to reread the Chronicles of Narnia this year. I've already got my other rereads picked out, and I'm ready to begin!

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What's In a Name? is hosted by The Worm Hole, and is going strong for its eighth year. I had a harder time than I thought finding books to fit this challenge last year. I made it, though, and I'm ready to try it again. I'm also challenging myself to find books that fit the categories from my own shelves instead of the library. These are the categories for this year:

- A word including "ing" in it
- A color
- A familial relation
- A body of water
- A city
- An animal

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This is my third year participating in the Color Coded Challenge hosted by My Reader's Block. It's always a lot of fun to find titles with colors in them, although some colors are definitely more difficult than others (black, anyone?). I've already got a few picked out, and I'll be scouring my bookshelves for more. Here are the color categories:

- Blue
- Red
- Yellow
- Green
- Brown
- Black
- White
- Any other color
- An implied color

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The winter Bloggiesta is this coming weekend! I've been waiting to update a few things on my blog until the next Bloggiesta rolled around. I don't have tons of time this weekend, but I'm hoping to be able to get a few extra hours of bloggy time in on Sunday. Here's my overly ambitious to-do list:

- Catch up with posting reviews on Goodreads
- Clean up my email inbox
- Add my list of Newbery winners I've read
- Catch up on writing reviews (thus far, I have three to write)
- Prepare my blog posts for next week

It would be great if I could get more than this done, but I'm not holding my breath. Mostly, I'm just looking forward to participating in the fun!
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It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

1/12/2015

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This weekly chance to add to your reading list is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.
Now that it's January and we're back in school, it's the season of snow days! Unexpected days of sleeping in, getting stuff done around the house, and lots of reading. We had three days this past week where it was cold and/or snowy enough to get a snow day - except the superintendent of the school district apparently didn't think so. Sigh. So close. Ah, well. It will be winter in Michigan pretty much until April. Plenty of time for snow days still! :)

My Recent Posts

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand - Review
Pick a Shelf - Help, Please!
Signing Up For - Mount TBR, I Love Library Books, Birthday Month, & L.M. Montgomery Reading Challenges

What I Read Last Week

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The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (I will never, ever get tired of rereading this one.)
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (Loved the writing in this one! Review will be posted Wednesday, including some of my favorite quotes.)

What I'm Reading Now

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Pat of Silver Bush by L.M. Montgomery (for Reading to Know's L.M. Montgomery Reading Challenge)

What's Coming Up Next

This is where I need your help. In an effort to read more books off my own shelves, I created a post with pictures of one of my bookshelves. I'd love for you to check it out and vote on which shelf I should read from next! Thanks for your help!
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Signing Up For - Mount TBR, I Love Library Books, Birthday Month, & L.M. Montgomery Reading Challenges

1/10/2015

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It's January1! Time for new reading challenges!! I always sign up for a bunch of these, so I'm going to try consolidating my sign-up posts. That way you may only see a few of these posts instead of a dozen. :)
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This challenge is a must for me. I am terrible about buying books and never reading them. For the Mount TBR Challenge, hosted by My Reader's Block, you have to read books that you owned before January 1. Sometimes way before January 1 . . . This challenge is about the only way I keep myself focused on my own shelves instead of the library's shelves. I'm signing up for the Mt. Vancouver level, which means I need to read 36 books by the end of December. I did it last year, and I'm confident that I can do it again! (Or even beat it. Wouldn't that be nice?)

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The I Love Library Books Challenge is hosted by Book Dragon's Lair. As you probably guessed from the above description, my other main source of books is the library. I love libraries. And I very rarely step into one without leaving with an armful of books. So this challenge shouldn't be terribly difficult, and will probably be so easy to complete that it will get in the way of my Mount TBR Challenge. I'm signing up for the Adult level, which means I need to read 36 library books. I already have three sitting on my nightstand, ready to go!

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The Birthday Month Challenge is hosted by You, Me, and a Cup of Tea - and I am so excited about this one! First of all, it's an awesome idea. You are supposed to read a book each month, written by an author whose birthday is in that month. How fun is that? I'm planning to use this challenge to help me make great progress in my Classics Club list. I already have a spreadsheet showing when the authors on my list have their birthdays (yes, I'm being slightly geeky about this one). I'm already working on my book for January, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the months!

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This challenge, hosted by Reading to Know, just happens during January, but it's one of my absolute favorites. L.M. Montgomery is a favorite author of mine, and I have read many of her books again and again. And again. I love that this challenge provides an excuse to revisit them once more. I've already read Anne of the Island for this challenge (first book of the year!), and I plan on reading Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat before the end of the month. And maybe more, if I can sneak it in. :)
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Pick a Shelf - Help, Please!

1/8/2015

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I really want to do a better job of reading books I own this year. And I thought of a way that all of you out in the blogosphere can help me out. I took pictures of one of my bookcases, and I would like you to pick one of the shelves! My goal is to read all of the books from that shelf (that I haven't read before) by June 30. Then the fun will start all over again with a new shelf! Here are the pictures of the shelves. There is a list of the books on each shelf, as well as the place where you vote, at the bottom of the page. Check them out and help me choose, please!

Shelf # 1 (19 books to read)

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Shelf # 2 (14 books to read)

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Shelf # 3 (16 books to read)

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Shelf # 4 (18 books to read)

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Shelf # 5 (15 books to read)

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Shelf # 6 (18 books to read)

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List of Books on Each Shelf


Vote Here!

Voting will close January 15. The winning shelf will be announced January 16!

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Unbroken [Review]

1/6/2015

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This is an amazing story. It has all the makings of a great Hollywood-ized adventure. It's an epic story with events that sometimes seem unbelievable. This would be a great book if it were fiction.

But it's not. It's nonfiction. Which makes it much, much more than simply a "great book."

Unbroken tells the life story of Louis Zamperini - troublemaker, Olympic athlete, Japanese POW, and survivor. Above all, survivor. It follows him through a difficult childhood (he started smoking at age 5) to his discovery of a talent for running (could he have been the first person to run a four-minute mile?). And then World War II begins. Pearl Harbor happens, and Louis is off to war. From there, his adventures become even more unbelievable. It boggles the mind to think that anyone could survive what he survived.

Since I'm posting this review after the movie has come out, a lot of you may already be familiar with the events of Louie's life. I haven't seen the movie yet. I'm sure it's good, but either way, you should still read the book. Laura Hillenbrand is a phenomenal writer who brings Louie's story to nail-biting life. She also puts it in the greater historical context, adding details about the 1936 Olympics or the dangers of being an airman in WWII or how people were affected by being a prisoner of war.

As amazing and terrible as Louie's life was during the war, what really got me was the ending. This is a book about forgiveness. Forgiving those who have done you unspeakable harm. It's only through the power of God that such forgiveness is possible. Louis Zamperini is an incredible person, and Laura Hillenbrand is the perfect author to tell us his story.

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Meaning
Find it on: Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Better World Books
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It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

1/5/2015

10 Comments

 
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This weekly chance to add to your reading list is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.
Back to real life and routine again. I had a wonderful Christmas break, including a trip to Florida and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!! (I promise to post pictures soon.) 2015 is off to a great start so far, mostly because there is finally snow on the ground! So many things to look forward to and enjoy in this coming year. I hope your new year has been wonderful so far, as well!

My Recent Posts

2014 New Year's Resolution Complete! I started a book club!
My Year in Books - 2014 (Mostly. I actually finished two more books after I wrote this post.)
My Bloggy New Year's Resolution for 2015
Saturday Snapshot - Cathedral in Florence, Italy

What I Read Last Week

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Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Finally completed book # 10 on my Classics Club list!)
The Secret Life of the Seine by Mort Rosenblum (For all those who have wondered what it's like to live on a houseboat in the middle of a European city.)
Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery (Is there a better way to start a new year than with one of your favorite authors?)

What I'm Reading Now

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The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (I've been wanting to reread this one for awhile now, but I had to wait until there was snow on the ground!)

What's Coming Up Next

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Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
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Saturday Snapshot - Florence Cathedral

1/3/2015

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My husband and I took a trip to Italy this past summer, and eventually I'll show you all of our pictures. :) We spent the most time in Florence, so I have to split those pictures into several posts. I shared our pictures of the Ponte Vecchio a few weeks ago. These are our pictures of the Cathedral (Duomo in Italian), which is huge. The square surrounding it isn't big enough to allow you get a picture of the whole building.
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In the pictures we had seen of this building before our trip, the marble always looked black and white. Turns out it's actually Christmas colors! If you look closely, you can see the green and pinkish-red marble.
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This is the bell tower, which is attached to the cathedral.
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It's surprisingly light inside. The dome was beautifully painted. We also happened across a high school choir on tour that sang a song. The acoustics and echoes were unbelievable. What an awesome, worshipful moment!
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Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda at West Metro Mommy.
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My Bloggy New Year's Resolution

1/1/2015

2 Comments

 
So last year, I made a New Year's resolution, posted it on my blog, and actually ended up keeping it. It worked so well that I decided to try it again!

This year, my resolution is blog-related, not just book-related. And it involved that part of book blogging that is all-too-often guilt-inducing . . . commenting. Sometimes I'm really good about making my way around the blogosphere and commenting on others' blogs. And sometimes I'm, well, not.

So I'm putting it out there in hopes that that inspires me to comment and stick with it! I'm making a starting goal of 5 comments a week. If that goes well, I'm planning to increase it to 10 and eventually to 15 comments a week. Maybe more, if I really find a way to keep myself on track!

Here I come, to visit all of the amazing blogs out there!
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    My name is Julie, and I own a lot of books. As in, they are stacked on the floor because I've run out of room on the shelves. And those shelves? There are so many books on them that they smile -- not sag; smile. This blog will cover book reviews and all manner of other bookish things.

    You can contact me at julie@smilingshelves.com.

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