Weeeeeeeee this book was so fun! Like, I’m really excited to buy it for myself AND for my nephew Josh. I kind of stumbled across this book on accident. I was at the library looking in the kid’s section for the A Series of Unfortunate Events books and this one caught my eye on the shelf. It’s about the universe, and it’s a kid’s story, and it’s written by Stephen Hawking and his daughter! Obviously I had to check it out.

George’s Secret Key to the Universe is about George, a young kid who is fascinated by the stars in the sky and wants nothing more than a computer, which his technology-resistant parents refuse to buy him. One day chasing his pet pig, he discovers that the long-abandoned house next door has people living in it! A young girl with a penchant for playing dress-up named Annie lives there with her dad Eric, who is a scientist, have moved in. Eric and Annie let George in on a secret and show him their super-special computer, Cosmos. Cosmos is the most advanced computer there is and can show them the wonders of the universe – literally. George has plenty of adventures travelling in space ahead of him – but someone else has more evil plans for Cosmos, and it’s up to George to save the day.

Okay so even without the super-nerdy stuff that I enjoyed, like explanations of how stars are born, what asteroids are made out of, and so on – this is a really fun kids book. There was a creepy, maniacal bad guy and bullies and a science contest and a growing friendship between George and Annie and a wonder computer and it was actually really exciting and action-packed! PLUS there are cool little inserts throughout the book that explain some of the science terms and there are several sections of color photos!

A peak inside the book…

After finishing the book, I was really happy and realized that I definitely have to buy this for my nephew – he’s 8 and really into space, and I think that this will be a interesting book for him; some of it might be a little over his head, but plenty of Amazon reviewers said their 9-year olds enjoyed it, so it should be fine. He’ll enjoy the story, even if he can’t wrap his head around the idea of a black hole just yet.

I was thinking “Man, I hope that the Hawkings write a sequel…”  Well, it turns out there are two sequels already! I’m planning to buy all three books for myself to read and keep, and I think I’m going to buy the first book for my nephew for next Christmas Too bad his birthday just passed! And I’m hoping that when my other niece and nephew get older, they’ll enjoy these books too.

Anyways, this is a really cute, fun story that has the added bonus of sneaking some learning in. I HIGHLY recommend it! Seriously, if you have kids around 9-12 who like to read, get this for them even if you think that they aren’t into space. They just might be after they travel around the universe with George for a bit.

Sarah Says: 5 stars

I meant to post this 2 weeks ago, but I forgot, so here we go – Dumbledore vs. Gandalf Epic Rap Battle of History. It’s actually not one of the better ERB’s, but I had to do it anyways:

Speaking of Dumbledore, I’m kind of excited to re-read this one because it’s the one I’ve read the fewest times and I only barely remember the whole Dumble-family drama. But this book also brings SO MUCH SAD and I’ve already teared up several times. Soooo yeah. Bullet points!

• Awww, the slight making-up scene between Dudley and Harry.
• Hehehe, 7 Harry Potters. This makes me want to re-watch the movies really bad. I can’t believe I don’t own them yet.

• And then this not-brilliant plan goes into action and just…. sigh.

For Hedwig and Mad-Eye Moody and George’s ear…

• George getting his ear blasted off made me cry the most The twins, I just want to hug them.
• And poor Hermione, having to erase her parent’s memories so that they’re in less danger. Shit got real.
• Good for Ron, finally reading a book on how to deal with girls.
• Hey, Rowling re-named the Light-Putter-Outer! Good job.
• If Scrimgeour wanted Harry on the Ministry’s side so badly, you’d think he’d do something like fire Umbridge to appease Harry and try to make up for all the crap he had to put up with…
• Krum makes another appearance! I missed him. And he’s all angry about that weird symbol that Luna’s dad is wearing, I wonder if that’s important… HMMMMM….
• EVERY PURSE should come with an Undetectable Extension Charm on it. Just sayin.
• Why does Harry have to have a freaking crisis all the time about the adults he looks up to? It’s so annoying. Was his affection and faith in Dumbledore that weak that after hearing the tiniest rumors he has to spin into a anxious fit over it?

• Hey, we know who R.A.B. is! That was fast.
• Hmph. Still don’t like Kreacher…

And that’s all I got! Short and sweet this week, apparently. Seriously though, can someone get on inventing an extension charm thingy for purses? Cause I would pay like a million dollars for that. If I had a million dollars.

~Sarah

Ooooo criminally-insane, murder-mystery, literary non-fiction goodness. You could seriously pour chocolate on this and gobble it up.

I’m feeling lazy (I might be getting sick, yuck), so I’m just gonna go ahead and post the description of the book here from the back of the book:

The Professor and the Madman, masterfully researched and eloquently written, is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary — and literary history. The compilation of the OED, begun in 1857, was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, discovered that one man, Dr. W.C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand. When the committee insisted on honoring him, a shocking truth came to light: Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.

That sums it up so well! Way better than I could have. But yeah, so basically the HUGE project of creating the Oxford English Dictionary involved asking volunteers to send in quotes for words both common and rare, in order to best be able to trace the history and all meanings of each word. I guess I never really thought about what an impressive project that would be, especially back then. Seriously, we live in a world today when we can look everything up on the Internet. Everything. And I knew few people even own paper dictionaries anymore because most of us can just type a word we need a definition for into our phones and get it. I can’t imagine living in a time before dictionaries when you would think “Hmmm I wonder what the word means” and NOT have a way to look it up! I finally understand why Shakespeare’s crazy ass never makes any sense to me – he didn’t have a way to check if a word was a word already invented, if he was using it correctly, or if it was even spelled correctly.

So yeah, back to the book. This one guy, W.C. Minor, had a whole lot of time on his hands since he was locked away for being criminally insane and ended up contributing a TON of quotes to use in the OED. So many so that James Murray realized it and eventually went to meet Minor, and the two kind of became friends.

Well clearly I’m not going to tell you why Minor was locked away – how crazy he was or what crime he committed. That would ruin the fun! But this is a lovely, nerdy book if you care at all about literary history or lexicography. I learned way more about the making of the OED than I never thought I would, and I enjoyed the tale of crazy that surrounds Minor, and the lovely hint of bromance between him and Murray.

Sarah Says: 4 stars

]]> http://sarahsaysread.com/2013/05/16/the-professor-and-the-madman-by-simon-winchester/feed/ 6 sarahsaysread the professor and the madman http://sarahsaysread.com/2013/05/15/lies-that-chelsea-handler-told-me-by-chelseas-family-friends-and-other-victims/ http://sarahsaysread.com/2013/05/15/lies-that-chelsea-handler-told-me-by-chelseas-family-friends-and-other-victims/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 17:00:44 +0000 Sarah Says Read https://sarahsaysreadbooks.wordpress.com/?p=4303 Continue reading →]]>

I find Chelsea Handler hilarious. She has that perfect amount of meanness about her that I find endlessly amusing. I wish I could watch Chelsea Lately more, but dude it comes on late and I am a bum that likes to go to sleep earlier than that. This review probably won’t be very long, which is why it’s beefed up with Chelsea Handler GIF’s.

So this, as you can probably guess, is a book compiled of stories from various people in Chelsea’s life about the lies and pranks that she pulled on them. OBVIOUSLY you’re in for a good treat there. Since each chapter is by a different person, there were some chapters that just didn’t work for me because I didn’t like the person’s style or tone, but those were just a couple. There were several chuckle-worth moments and one part in particular that actually had me laughing hysterically (at work, so it’s a good thing I work alone).

Damn… I should’ve read this book while drinking…

What I liked in particular though is that all of these people, after ALL of the crap that Chelsea has pulled on them, still totally love her. Almost every story mentioned that if she’s screwing with you, it’s because she likes you, and that no matter what she’s an awesome, loyal person. Sure they could just be saying that to suck up to her, but I don’t necessarily think that’s the case. One story in particular about how she tricked her friend into stashing Excedrin into her lady parts (she told her friend it was Ecstasy) to get through the airport security actually revealed that lengths that she would go to help snap her friends back to reality when they’re going down a bad path.

Soooo other than that – a funny book that makes me laugh and also makes me wish that I knew Chelsea Handler in real life – what else am I supposed to say? It’s funny and amusing, read it when you need something a quick book that’s light and fluffy. I bet it’d be a GREAT beach read.

Sarah Says: 3.5 stars

You have a sick mind, John Connolly. But somehow you totally made it work.

David is a young boy in WWII England who slowly, painfully watches his mother die (of what I’m thinking is cancer). Very obviously distraught by her death, things get worse for David when his father remarries and announces that David has a sibling on the way. David has always taken refuge in reading books, but now those books are speaking to him and as his family life becomes more stressful, the lines between reality and imagination start to blend. Suddenly David finds himself in a strange, dangerous world and has to find his way home again. His only hope is to make it to the King, an old, dying man whose legendary “Book of Lost Things” might be the key to David’s return to his world.

I really liked this book when I started it. The writing is simple but also kind of lyrical and I was a bit enchanted by it. Also, David was a weird kid that I totally felt for. He’s a book lover so obviously I connected on that level with him instantly, but he does start to go a little crazy with grief. It’s SO RARE that I connect with a 12-year old character, but I instantly felt for David.

Once he crosses over into that weird realm, things took a definitely darker twist. He’s in danger, and there are hints of fairy tales in this land but they’ve been warped from the stories he knew. Honestly, some things were so twisted and disturbing and gruesome that I was a little put off by it. It was weird. And then by page 200, I felt like the book was slowing down a bit and wasn’t convinced that I’d end up liking it as a whole. When I posted on Instagram that I was reading The Book of Lost Things, I got a lot of “That’s a great book!” type of comments, and I was starting to worry that I would have to disagree.

BUT THEN THE ENDING HAPPENED. By page 250 things had picked back up and some huge things were revealed. Well, they were huge to me because I never see these things coming. But yeah, I was in for a total shock in some aspects and things were happening and I was biting my nails and yeah… I finished the book surprised but glad. And a little blind-sided. I went online immediately to look up more info and about the book and whatnot, and Wikipedia described this as a “coming-of-age” novel. I’ve come to mistrust and hate books labeled “coming-of-age” (I’m looking at you, A Visit From the Goon Squad) and usually avoid them, but I think that I’ve finally found a book deserving of that label. David grows a whole lot as a kid and as a character, through the trials and obstacles that he has to overcome.

The Book of Lost Things examined a whole lot of issues in one book – OCD, death, grief, maturity, bravery, the after life, etc. My mind feels shaken up with it all, and I feel like I’ll be thinking about this book for a good long while. And when I’m done musing on this book, I’ll probably seek out some of John Connolly’s other novels.

Sarah Says: 4.5 stars (with .5 star missing because the middle dragged just a bit)

So this here is my goal and updates post. I’m going to make it a sticky post so it’ll be at the top of my blog all week. I don’t like over-running your readers with daily posts like this (especially since reviews and whatnot will still go up), so just check back here for my updates So, let’s move on to the goals!

Obviously I probably won’t be finishing all of these, but I like to have options.

THE BOOKS

• Lord of the Flies by William Golding
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (read 1st section for HP readalong)
• Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
• The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
• The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
• Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me by Chelsea’s family, friends, and other victims
• George’s Secret Key to the Universe by Lucy and Stephen Hawking

THE GOALS

• Read at least 200 pages per day, hopefully getting up to 1500 pages read by the end.
• Finish The Professor and the Madman, which I’m about 1/4 of the way through.
• Cross at least 4 books off of my list.
• Visit and comment on other blogs, new-to-me and not, at least once a day.
• Join in on at least one Twitter chat (@SarahSaysRead if you wanna talk to me!)
• HAVE FUN OF COURSE!

MY UPDATES – (I’m using a slightly modified version of the Bout of Books template)

Monday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 133
Total number of books I’ve read: 0
Books I read from: The Professor and the Madman, Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me
#todayinsixwords: Could have been worse, I guess.

Monday.

Tuesday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 278
Total number of books I’ve read: 1
Books I read from: The Professor and the Madman, Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me
#todayinsixwords: Had to work, read decent amount

Tuesday.

Wednesday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 263
Total number of books I’ve read: 2
Books I read from: The Professor and the Madman, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
#todayinsixwords: Felt sick, did nothing all day

Wednesday.

Thursday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 205 – barely made my page goal for the day!
Total number of books I’ve read: 2
Books I read from: George’s Secret Key to the Universe
#todayinsixwords: Was weird, sleepy, somewhat busy day.

Thursday.

Friday
Number of pages I’ve read today: 159 – missed my daily page goal.
Total number of books I’ve read: 3!
Books I read from: George’s Secret Key to the Universe, Lord of the Flies
#todayinsixwords: Distractions! Work, internet, The Office finale…

Friday.

Saturday
Number of pages I’ve read today:
Total number of books I’ve read:
Books I read from:
#todayinsixwords:

Sunday
Number of pages I’ve read today:
Total number of books I’ve read:
Books I read from:
#todayinsixwords:

Okay, I’m off to visit some of you before I start reading! READATHONNNNNNNN!!!!

~Sarah

L, Gabby, Gabby, and quote from Space Chronicles

Good morning peoples! And Happy Mother’s Day!

It wasn’t a very exciting week for me – I didn’t have many days off, and the ones I did have off were kind of busy. I went to visit my dad yesterday, and we chatted about books for a while which was nice. It’s SO funny to see people who aren’t usually readers suddenly get so into books. What else…

I’ve changed my treadmill intervals. I lowered the speed I usually run at, and I can apparently run for MUCH longer at that speed. The pace is about a 12-minute mile which is super slow, but I don’t even care. If I can just get used to running 3 miles (so 36 minutes) without stopping, I’ll be happy. I still haven’t started running outside yet, which I want to do but keep procrastinating on until I get new shoes (and because I like the gym). Also, for anyone that cares, I’m still maintaining my current weight. Surprising, as I sometimes feel like I’m eating SO MUCH, but there we have it. In August it’ll be a whole year since I started working out and that’s just super cool. Never thought I had it in me.

OH! We saw Iron Man 3 last week and it was good! Really good, except for the ending. Obviously I’m not going to go into spoilers, but man I don’t really like Pepper Potts. I also finally watched the Reese Witherspoon version of Vanity Fair and ehhh it wasn’t my favorite. Aaaand the honeyman and I started watching a new SyFy show called Defiance and we’re totally hooked. It’s about Earth being accidentally terraformed by this group of aliens and it takes place years later and the alien species (of which there are apparently 7) and the humans are trying to co-exist. And the main characters are Nolan and his adopted (Irathient alien) daughter Irisa, and it’s just so interesting and fun! I may do a whole Defiance post sometime later this week, cause there’s a lot to talk about there. But hey, look at me actually watching stuff! I don’t even remember the last time I watched two movies in one week.

So yeah, it’s Mother’s Day! My mom is currently in Florida and won’t be home for like a week, but Mom if you’re reading this – Happy Mother’s Day and you’re the best and I love you!!!

Mommy! With baby L.

Also Happy Mother’s Day to my sisters Heather and Amanda

And hell, Happy Not-A-Mother’s Day to myself (and all the other ladies without kiddos), cause I totally love that I can go home and have date night with the honeyman tonight and hang out and relax without kids crawling all over me.

The main reason I don’t have or want kids…

Bookish update: Ummmm I think I read 2 books this week – Space Chronicles by Neil deGrasse Tyson, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling (which let’s be honest, should hardly count since it’s a very short 100 pages). I’m almost done with The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly, hopefully I’ll finish that before I leave work today. A lot of people have mentioned how much they love this book – I’m still undecided. I liked it a lot at the beginning, but all this time in this weird forest place has been VERY strange… I have no idea how it’s going to end, and I think that’ll be the deciding factor in how much I end up liking it.

YOU GUYS, Bout of Books starts tomorrow! I have four days off this week, so I should be able to TOTALLY ROCK this readathon. My goal post will go up tomorrow morning.

Okay, I gotta go finish this book now. I’ll talk to all your lovely faces (blogs?) later. Have a great week!

~Sarah

This is only the second time I read The Tales of Beedle the Bard (I first read it in 2011 after re-reading the series yet again).

So let’s be honest – this a cute little book, but most of the stories are like “Oh, that’s cute. Whatevs.” EXCEPT for The Warlock’s Hairy Heart, which… geezus. Chill, JK Rowling. Way to give kids nightmares. Who the hell would read that to a small kid? I wouldn’t, and I don’t even like kids.

Most of these are pretty pro-Muggle and be nice and don’t lock your heart away because it will get hairy and gross. But of course the best story is The Tale of the Three Brothers, and not only because it’s the story that has the most significance in the last book. It was the only one that I think really shows JK’s awesome writing skills. It reads beautifully, the moral of the story was pretty damn obvious, etc. Clearly Voldy never heard this story as a child – maybe if his mother had stayed alive and read it to him, he wouldn’t have been all crazy “I’ll never die not ever ever”. MAYBE. He was a creepy kid.

Also, for those of you that have seen the movies – how awesome was this part?

“But though Death searched for the third brother for many years, he was never able to find him.”

Clearly awesome. I LOVED this animation.

This book would be basically nothing without Dumbledore’s notes for each story.

“A simple and heartwarming fable, one might think – in which case, one would reveal oneself to be an innocent nincompoop.”

It’s almost like he’s still alive… sad face. 

Oh, and how hilarious is Deathstick? Clearly a creepy euphemism for a dude’s junk. Gross, JK. Although let’s face it, Lil’ Kim and 50 Cent ruined the possibility of ever referring to a wand as some sort of stick without it seeming sexual.

 Anyways… yeah. That’s about all I got. I do really like this book – I think it’s a really nice addition to the series, much cooler than those Harry Potter “schoolbooks” you can buy.

 Whatchya’ll think?

~Sarah

 I think it sucks that being smart isn’t considered cool. (I’m not talking about you book bloggers – obviously you think being smart or bookish is cool.) I think it sucks that science as a whole isn’t more appreciated these days. You’d think that given all the super impressive technology that we have these days, science would be held in the highest esteem. That parents would be urging their kids to get into any kind of science – astronomy, engineering, physics, chemistry… ANYTHING besides more doctors and lawyers and sports stars. But nope. This book was kind of a relief because Neil deGrasse Tyson feels pretty much the same way.

Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier is a collection of articles, interviews, and essays by Tyson about pretty much one subject – the importance of NASA and space exploration. It’s separated into three sections: WHY, HOW, and WHY NOT. Tyson’s enthusiasm for space is infectious. You can’t help but be excited about it. Tyson calls out the NASA skeptics, goes over some of the technology we have today thanks to NASA, talks about why it’s so important that we continue to explore space with humans and with robots, and just so much more.

In all honesty, the format for this book - that it’s a collection of articles and such written over the past fifteen years instead of just a plainly written book – was not my favorite. It led to a lot of repetition on some points, and no sources are cited besides where each article or interview was originally featured.  I ended up looking into a few of the things he mentioned myself. For example, did you know that NASA’s budget per tax dollar is one half of one penny? Tyson mentioned that several times, and I did a bit of looking around online and it appears to be accurate. That means that only about $20 of all the federal income tax I paid last year went to NASA’s budget. Their budget is less than 1% of the entire federal budget. That is insanely low.

Tyson goes on to point out that space exploration (and in fact, scientific research in general) is never well-funded by the government until there is a clear military or monetary need.  He talks about why space exploration is still so important – for the sake of research, innovation, the economy, and more. He laments that America is falling behind in technology and science now when we were so clearly ahead decades earlier. He discusses the current idiocracy* trend happening now (also called anti-intellectualism), and I nodded along the whole time. And during all of this, he is absolutely brimming with excitement for space, and for those of us who are scientifically curious even if we’re not working in a science-related field.

Let’s face it – I was all for space exploration before I read Tyson’s book. He didn’t need to convince me there. I did however learn more about the history of NASA and why it’s so underfunded right now, and a few other things along the way. So, if any of you are NASA skeptics or don’t have an opinion as of yet, maybe read it and let me know if it swayed you in any way? Either way, read it and we can chat about it!

I feel like this review has been all over the place, and that’s because I basically want to share every little awesome factoid or quote with you and I’m restraining myself, because really- just read it! It’s only about 260 pages. The chapters were relatively short and held my attention, and I enjoyed the “Space Tweets” from his Twitter account sprinkled throughout the book. I highly recommend reading this – there isn’t any scientific lingo or anything that you’ll have to struggle through, I promise. It’s just a really passionate plea from an astrophysicist who wants to see America become a great leader in space exploration again.

Sarah Says: 4.5 stars

*Have any of you seen the movie Idiocracy? It’s awesome.

Happy Tuesday book lovers! It’s time for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the lovely gals over at The Broke and The Bookish. This topic is so spring-appropriate: Top Ten Books When You Need Something Light and Fun. In other words, brain candy reads! Or fluffy reads! (Yes, admire my cool bookish slang…)

1. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell - This is such a great book. Adorable big hunk of a guy Lincoln has a job monitoring employee email usage at the local newspaper office, and he ends up falling in love with Beth while reading the emails of her and her friend Jennifer. There are email conversations, and they are hysterical.

2. Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie – This is basically the best romance novel ever. There’s misunderstandings, snarky characters, real friendships, real conversations, delicious food, carbs, great shoes, and a grumpy cat. I read this book probably at least once a year.

3. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen – If you’re more of a classics lover, then I think Northanger Abbey is a good pick. It kind of mocks the whole Gothic novel craze of the times, and Austen is still young and trying to figure out this whole writing thing. It’s a lot of fun.

4. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling – Famous for her role as Kelly Kapoor on The Office, Mindy talks about her love of comedy and her various musings on life. This was really funny, and Mindy is totally that girl that everyone would love to be friends with. There have been a lot of female comedian books out lately, and I think this one is my favorite.

5. Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores by Jen Campbell – This is really a short, hilarious book that is just amusing tidbits from booksellers and librarians. Good for a laugh.

6. The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey – This is actually the first book of the Tales of the 500 Kingdoms series, and they’re really fun books. Lackey takes a known fairy tale and turns it on it’s head, usually with an element of romance involved. I think there are six out in the series, and I can’t wait till another one comes out.

7. Tales of the Ketty Jay series by Chris Wooding – Okay, technically these aren’t exactly fluff or brain candy books, but I love them. There’s a lot of action and witty, sarcastic banter that just makes these books so darn fun to read.

8. The Pirates! series by Gideon DeFoe – These goofy, tiny little books can straight crack me up. (Can you tell yet that I really value humor in the books I read?) The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists was the inspiration for the movie Pirates! Band of Misfits. The books are WAY funnier.

9. The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy – Feel like reading something intended for 11-year olds? Here you go! This book shows the side of the fairy tales that you don’t see – the Princes’ points of view. There’s a lot of silliness, and it’s a quick read.

10. Wishcraft series by Heather Blake – Are cozy mysteries your jam? Well this series is adorable! Some inhabitants of this little town tend to have a special “craft” or magical power, and the series focuses on one witch who can grant wishes. Of course, murders pop up in town because that’s how these kind of books work, but the stories themselves are so damn cute and sappy.

Now don’t you want to grab one of these and go lay in the sunshine and read? I do. What are your light-hearted book recommendations?

~Sarah