Best cake ever…

I had a marvelous birthday…thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. You all are the best!

So let’s continue the celebration by picking another winner in the Party Like It’s Your Birthday mini-challenge/giveaway. Remember, this giveaway continues throught the end of this month, so it’s not too late to join!

This week our lucky winner is…

Care

Yippee!! Congratulations Care! Will you email me with your address please?

If you lot are at all curious about what the presents are, well, you’ll just have to wait until the recipients have opened said presents. Because I’m in charge, and there will be no peeking!

**Formatting issues compliments of blogger.

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
— Elie Wiesel

Today marks the beginning of the Days of Remembrance, when the US commemorates the victims of the Holocaust. This year’s theme is Never Again: What You Do Matters.

Did you know that the word genocide did not exist before 1944? Raphael Lemkin formed the word to describe the Nazi policy of extermination of the Jews and other targeted groups. Genocide was formed by combining geno (Greek for race or tribe) and cide (from Latin for killing). For Lemkin, genocide meant “a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves.” In 1948 the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide which made genocide an international crime. In the Convention, genocide is defined as:

any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

• Killing members of the group;
• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
• Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

For more info on the Days of Remembrance and genocide, visit the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Although I finished the following book earlier in the month, I thought it appropriate for today’s post.

The Book Thief
Markus Zusak
2006
550 pages

“I am haunted by humans.” -Death

Why am I quoting Death? Because he is the narrator of The Book Thief. And I must say, he does a damn good job of narrating.

Liesel Meminger is being sent to foster care when Death first encounters her. In the course of her journey young Liesel steals a book. Later, as a foster child living with Rosa and Hans Hubermann, Liesel steals her second book from a pile of burning books (it’s Nazi Germany…do I need to say more?). From there, she moves on the library of the mayor’s house. Liesel is subtly abetted by her beloved foster father Hans, her best friend Rudy, and even the mayor’s wife. Since life in Molching Germany in the early 1940’s is harsh and scary, books provide Liesel with an escape and a purpose. As the war escalates, Liesel reads to others in bomb shelters, kitchens and basements.

The story of the book thief is told alongside the story of WWII and the Holocaust. However, the book does assume some knowledge of both events, as Death provides more biting asides than he does historical lessons.

At 550 pages, I did find the book a bit long. I think the book could have stood a bit of a heavier hand with the red pencil. Especially since Death is not shy about telling you what’s coming. And it’s also a bit odd that Death never divulges what happened to Liesel’s mom. Yeah, it’s pretty obvious, but still, you’d think he could fill in a few blanks. After all, he has to know.

Still, this is a book worth reading.

I should be writing up some reviews to post. Or thanking all of the bloggers who have given me some lovely awards over the past few weeks. Instead, I’m going to opt for a short post and choose another winner from the virtual birthday party…

Yay!! Eva is another April birthday baby (we’re everywhere), so random.org obviously knows what’s going on out there in the real world.

There’s still plenty of time to join in the fun (and the possibility of winning a birthday present), so head over to the original post to check out the details and sign up.

And congratulations to Eva…please email me your address!

Since 6 people have joined the birthday party, I thought it was time to hand out a present. I consulted with my guru, who had this to say:

There were 6 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

betty and boo’s mommy
lisa
florinda
chris
becky
sarah

Timestamp: 2009-04-08 03:30:09 UTC

That means Betty and Boo’s Mommy is the winner of the first present. Which is just perfect, because she turns 40 this month, too! You can read about her lovely birthday here. Congratulations!! Please email me with your address and I’ll pop your gift in the mail.

As for the rest of you, there’s still plenty of time to join the party, and I still have plenty of presents. Rumor has it there might even be a Poppet in someone’s future.

Don’t forget that I’m hosting a mini-challenge for the Dewey’s Books Reading Challenge this month! Details are here. And tomorrow I’m going to draw a random name from those who have signed Mr Linky…the winner gets their choice of a book from my book closet. Just a little incentive to get your butts in gear!

And if you’re not into lists, check back next week for a special contest hosted by two gentlemen (well, sort of) who will strike fear into your hearts.

“The next morning she had a little sniffle and, having no engagements, stayed in bed saying she felt she might be getting flu. This was uncharacteristic and also not true; it was actually so that she could get on with her book.”

I know many of you love this book. And I’ll admit that I found most of the observations about reading pretty darn accurate (I mean really, how many of us have pulled that call in sick trick?). But. There’s just something I can’t quite put my finger on. There’s a word to describe the book that I can’t think of (and that’s driving me mildly crazy). And the end! WTF was up with the end??

Here’s the synopsis, for those of you who haven’t read it:

From Publishers Weekly
Briskly original and subversively funny, this novella from popular British writer Bennett (Untold Stories; Tony-winning play The History Boys) sends Queen Elizabeth II into a mobile library van in pursuit of her runaway corgis and into the reflective, observant life of an avid reader. Guided by Norman, a former kitchen boy and enthusiast of gay authors, the queen gradually loses interest in her endless succession of official duties and learns the pleasure of such a common activity. With the dawn of her sensibility… mistaken for the onset of senility, plots are hatched by the prime minister and the queen’s staff to dispatch Norman and discourage the queen’s preoccupation with books. Ultimately, it is her own growing self-awareness that leads her away from reading and toward writing, with astonishing results. Bennett has fun with the proper behavior and protocol at the palace, and the few instances of mild coarseness seem almost scandalous. There are lessons packed in here, but Bennett doesn’t wallop readers with them. It’s a fun little book.

Okay, I’ll admit. It was fun (at times). But it kind of reminds me a bit of The Five People You Meet in Heaven, or The Alchemist. I’m not a big fan of little moral lessons in my books, especially if said book is short. It bothers me. I feel like I paid money for a sermon, and considering I don’t even do free sermons, that just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I think I read this for the Dewey’s Books Challenge. Yup, I did. Since I had to go look for my original list, now would be a good time to remind myself of what I pledged to read:

Looking for Alaska by John Green – finished
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi – finished
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett – finished
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Adichie