Game On! update, week 3

I’m still plugging way with the Game On! Challenge.  Me and all the other snack cakes:

The Ding-Dongs:
Julie from Booking Mama
Jill from Rhapsody in Books (who I blatantly stole this list from, by the way)
Amy from My Friend Amy
Ti from Book Chatter and Other Stuff
(I am also a Ding Dong)

The Twinkies:
Candace from Beth Fish Reads
Jenners from Find Your Next Book Here
Jenn of Jenn’s Bookshelf
Denise from M. Denise C.
Dawn from She is Too Fond of Books

The HoHos:
Kathy from The Brain Lair
Vasilly from 1330V
(other HoHos are blogless)

And here we are at the end of week 3.  This week many of us hit the doldrums, so to speak.  The scales went up, they went down, they went up, they went down.  Problem is, by the end of the week they didn’t quite go down far enough for many of us to get that coveted weigh-in bonus, including me.  Oh well, we still feel good.  Right???  And none of us have quit!

The official scores for this week aren’t in yet, so I’m not happy dancing.  Can the Ding-Dongs hold onto their (substantial) lead?  Will the Twinkies slink into first place?  Are the Ho-Hos staging a comeback?  Oh, the drama in snack cake land.

As we enter into our final week, I have to say I’m already obsessing over NEXT week.  Not because I’m planning what I want to eat, but because I’ll be at a family reunion for 7 full days and I won’t have any control over what I can eat.  Yes, I can control portions, but not content.  Communal cooking is part of the tradition, and it’s pretty frowned upon if you buy your own food.  So I think I’m just going to have to suck it up and hope that when I get home I can slip right back into the healthy eating that I’ve actually (gasp!) become quite fond of.

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Bound South

Bound South
Susan Rebecca White
February 2009
345 pages

Publisher Comments:

By turns hilarious and poignant, the lives of three vibrant and unique Southern women — a proper Atlanta matron, her rebellious teenage daughter, and their housekeeper's young daughter — intersect in unexpected and extraordinary ways in this richly compelling debut novel of family, friendship, and folly.

Folly.  Yeah, I can get behind that description.  Quite a bit of this book was over the top for me, including the characters.  This was an entertaining read, but I found myself shaking my head at the direction it went.  Not that I had a particular direction in mind, it just seemed so determined to contradict the stereotypical white Southern matron character that it went it a bit far.

Louise is the stereotypical white Southern matron.  She’s settled into the role society and her parents expected of her.  She’s got the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood and two kids, although one is not-so-perfect.  Her daughter Caroline is a bit rebellious, and Louise isn’t quite sure what to do with her.  Also popping in and out of the story is Missy, the housekeeper’s daughter.  Nobody seems to know quite what to do with poor Missy.

As I mentioned, there were things in the story that just didn’t work for me.  I felt that Louise ran hot and cold with her daughter.  I also felt that time moved too fast for the story.  It seemed rushed as we went from Caroline’s rebellious teenage years, through her independence in San Francisco, then on to her marriage and divorce and discovery phase.  And keep in mind that she was only one of three main characters.  Also, since I’m on the topic of our three alleged main characters, I felt Missy got a bit of the short end of the stick when it came to character development.  Although Louise is the primary focus of the novel, I think either too much or too little focus was given two the other two women.  Whichever way you look at it, I think it detracts from the overall story.  Especially since Louise has a pretty ambitious back-story going on at the same time.

Overall, I think this novel attempted too much.  Too many characters with too many stories in too short of a novel.

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BBAW is coming, BBAW is coming!

Thanks to the magnificent Amy, the 2nd annual Book Blogger Appreciation Week (BBAW) will be taking place in September.  What is BBAW, you ask?  Well, read on for all the details…

WHO Anyone who blogs about books is invited to participate.  In fact, we want everyone who blogs about books and reading to be a part of this week!
WHAT A week where we come together,  celebrate the contribution and hard work of book bloggers in promoting a culture of literacy, connecting readers to books and authors, and recognizing the best among us with the Second Annual BBAW Awards.  There will be special guest posts, daily blogging themes, and giveaways.
WHEN September 14-18, 2009
WHERE Over at the new Book Blogger Appreciation Week Blog!  (Please note that this year there are three separate blogs and feeds—one for the main event, one for giveaways, and one for awards.)
WHY Because books matter.  In a world full of options, the people talking about books pour hard work, time, energy, and money into creating a community around the written word.  Amy, the founder of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, loves this community of bloggers and wants to shower appreciation on you!

WANT TO PARTICIPATE?
Please help us spread the word about Book Blogger Appreciation Week by posting about it on your blog, twittering about it, and telling everyone you know that it’s time to have a party and celebrate book bloggers! Please register by filling out the registration form! Registering ensures your inclusion in the BBAW 09 Database of Book Bloggers and enters you into the drawing for the BBAW 09 Grand Prize! Come back often as there will be many updates!  And follow us on Twitter!

AWARDS
BBAW Award Nominations are now open on the BBAW Awards Blog.

Many, many, many thanks to Amy for all of her hard work and continuing this awesome tradition!!

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Girl Overboard

Girl Overboard
Justina Chen Headley
2008
339 pages

Publisher Comments:
The worst thing about having it all is having to deal with it all-the good, the bad, and the just plain weird. Like seeing more of my dad when he's on the cover of Business Week than I do in person. Like the surgeon whose schedule was too jammed with professional ballplayers to deal with my busted up knee...until he heard who my parents were and miraculously his calendar was wide open. Like the pseudo boyfriend who was more in love with my last name than with me.

Everybody thinks Syrah is the golden girl. After all, her father is Ethan Cheng, billionaire, and she has everything any kid could possibly desire, right down to a waterfront mansion, jet plane, and custom-designed snowboards. But most of what glitters in her life is fool's gold. Her half-siblings hate her, her best friend Adrian's girlfriend is ruining their friendship, and her own so-called boyfriend is after her for her father's name. When her broken heart results in a snowboarding accident that exiles her from the mountains--the one place where she feels free and accepted for who she is, not what she has--Syrah must rehab both her busted-up knee, and her broken heart, and learn that she's worth her weight in real gold.

I think the synopsis is a little misleading.  The entire book takes place after the snowboarding accident.  When I first read it, it seemed like the accident would occur in the course of the book.  Not that that really matters, it just is a little misleading.  Because after her accident, Syrah is forced to confront her life…her unhappiness with the relationship she has with her parents, her body, and her best friend. And that is what the book is all about.

This is by the same author as North of Beautiful.  And while it’s not a bad read, I prefer North of Beautiful.  Probably because I read it first, and as is the case when authors write books dealing with similar themes, the first one always seems more unique.

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Running with Scissors

Running with Scissors
Augusten Burroughs
2002
320 pages

I’m not entirely sure what to think about this book.  After James Frey, I’ll confess to being a little leery about memoirs, especially ones that are a bit…”My parents sucked!  OMG my guardians suck, too!  And their house is the most disgusting place in the world!  And I’m having sex at an inappropriate age and with inappropriate people!  And no one cares!”

Not that I’m doubting that he had a bad childhood, or that sucky things happened to him, but when you’re writing a memoir and everyone calls you Augusten in the memoir but then your reader discovers you didn’t change your name until later on, well, said reader loses a bit of faith.  And then when you describe how disgusting the house in which you lived in was, and how casual everyone was about it, and then you have one of those same people freak out when they see dried locust shells (or something like that), well, said reader loses even more faith.  And then, come to find out, it seems there was a lawsuit over the book, with allegations from the guardian’s family about defamation of character and other unpleasantness.  What the hell am I supposed to believe after that?!?

So, to summarize.  Augusten (aka the child formerly known as Christopher) lives with his mother and father.  Parents divorce.  Mom has issues, and ends up giving custody of Augusten/Christopher to her shrink.  Yes, her shrink. A/C goes to live with the shrink and his family in a house of dubious cleanliness.  A/C ends up in an unhealthy relationship with a pedophile (who was also the adopted son of aforementioned shrink).  Shrink gets weirder and weirder.  Mom has episodes of wellness and episodes of not so wellness.  A/C is undoubtedly scarred for life. 

This book contains sex, dubious medical practices and the eating of dog food.  Read at your own risk.

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Little Bee

Yes, I’m still working on the backlog of reviews and I’m still working on those questions people asked way back when.  Today, I’m going to cross Little Bee off the list.
 
Little Bee
Chris Cleave
February 2009
271 pages

Publisher Comments:

We don't want to tell you too much about this book!

It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it.

Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this:

It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific.

The story starts there, but the book doesn't.

And it's what happens afterward that is most important.

Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.

This is a powerful book, but they’re right…it would be a shame to give away the story.  I would add that it is set in both London and Nigeria.  And that Little Bee is the name of the main character and narrator.  And I will give you two brief passages from the book:

“Most days I wish I was a British pound coin instead of an African girl.” p. 1

”In your country, if you are not scared enough already, you can go to watch a horror film…Horror in your country is something that you take a dose of to remind yourself that you are not suffering from it.” p. 45

Heather J. asked me three questions: “Did you identify with Andrew or Sarah or neither? What did you think of Little Bee's decision to "think of scars as signs of life"? Did you feel that the book was ultimately depressing or hopeful?”  And Eva asked, “Do you think I’d like Little Bee?”

I didn’t really identify with either Andrew or Sarah…I thought they were both selfish.  I didn’t care for Sarah’s actions in England, before the trip to Nigeria, and I didn’t like Andrew’s responses to the situation in Nigeria.  Sarah does has some redeeming qualities at the end, though.  However, without all of their prior decisions, there wouldn’t have been much of a book, so I guess I can’t complain too much.

I did, however, love Little Bee’s resiliency, as evidenced by her statement that scars are signs of life.  Rather than focus on the bad, she moves on.  And as for Heather’s last question, I’m not sure.  I think the actions that the characters take at the end are hopeful, and by that I mean there willingness to take a stand.

Now for Eva and her whopper of a question.  I’m always hesitant to say that people will like a book, because there are so many different factors…the story, the writing, the setting, the characters, the tone, the ending.  But yes, I do think Eva would like this one, if only because it subtly deals with some big issues, and it alternates between London and Nigeria.  Plus, it’s relatively short, so if I’m wrong, it’s not like I just recommended a 500 plus page chunkster.  Not that that would stop Eva. :-)

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We are the Ding Dongs

Although it’s too early do be proclaiming any champions, I just had to take a few minutes to gloat revel in the Ding Dongs awesome team score of 838.8 points for week 2.  That’s out of a possible 850, in case you were wondering.  So I decided the occasion called for a little celebratory Queen, with the lyrics (of course) changed to fit the occasion:

We are the Ding Dongs

We ate our veggies 
Meal after meal
We got our exercise
And ate no F.L.A.B.B.y foods
No bad mistakes
We all held true
We’ve had our share of cheese sticks
And we've come through
We are the Ding Dongs - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end
We are the Ding Dongs
We are the Ding Dongs
No time for Twinkies
'Cause we are the Ding Dongs - of Game On!
We’ve lost some weight
Our clothes are loose
Game On! made us healthy and happy and everything that goes with that

We thank the Twinkies
And the Ho-Hos
Fellow snack cakes
We consider it a challenge before the whole human race
We ain't gonna lose
We are the Ding Dongs - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end
We are the Ding Dongs
We are the Ding Dongs
No time for snacking
'Cause we are the Ding Dongs - of Game On!

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Game On! Update

Here we are at the beginning of week 3 of our Game On! challenge and I was wondering what to blog about, since things are pretty much the same as last week.  Same good things, same bad things, except the hives that weren’t hives but an allergic reaction are gone.  Which is a Very. Good. Thing.  Oh, and I lost two more pounds. Also good.

Luckily, Jill (coolest name ever, by the way) at Rhapsody in Books awarded all of the Game On! ‘ers the Kreative Blogger Award. To accept this award, you are supposed to list seven of your favorite things and nominate seven blogs that deserve this award. Since Jill challenged herself to list 7 things that have nothing to do with food or health, I thought I would follow in her footsteps.  As we’ve all discovered in these last two weeks, food plays a huge role in our lives, whether it’s going out with friends for a meal, or going to birthday parties, or even just relaxing at night…with a bowl of ice cream.  Trying to explain to people why you suddenly aren’t up for a trip to Starbucks or a slice of birthday cake can be tough.  Even making a list of seven favorite things sans food is difficult! 

My food-less favorites:

1. Reading
2. Browsing through bookstores 
3. Travel and exploring new places
4. Hamburger (who is not a food) 
5. Mondays (since I am off work and have the house to myself)
6.  Mike Wazowski, my laptop
7. Supportive friends, both real life and via the internet, especially:

The rest of Team Ding-Dong:
Julie at Booking Mama
Jill at Rhapsody in Books
Amy at My Friend Amy
Ti at Book Chatter and Other Stuff

The Twinkies: 
Beth at Beth Fish Reads
Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here
Jenn at Jenn’s Bookshelf
Denise at M. Denise C.
Dawn at She is Too Fond of Books

The HoHos:
Kathy at The Brain Lair
Vasilly at 1330V
(and the rest of the blogless Ho-Hos who still send entertaining emails)

Thanks again to Jill for the inspiration for today’s post.  And good luck to everyone as we enter week 3!

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