Thursday Tunes – Stars
Thursday Tunes is hosted by S. Krishna’s Books, which spotlights a different band/artist each week. I’m going to join in once a month to highlight Canadian artists.
My December pick are Canadian indie rock darlings Stars. They released their first album, Nightsongs, in 2001, which started to build some buzz. But it’s Set Yourself On Fire, released in 2004, that is considered their breakout album. It’s chalked full of layered, soaring melodies that will alternately make you want to sway or tap your toes (sometimes both in the same song!). It’s the kind of music that sounds great on record, but you’re never sure will translate well to a live setting. I’ve been to two Stars shows, and both times I’ve been blown away with how great they are live. Given the chance, I would go see them again without a doubt.
Here for your listening pleasure is “Ageless Beauty”, still one of my favourites.
More 2010 Challenges!
I’m joining two more 2010 challenges, and then that will be it. Hopefully. Maybe.
A couple weeks ago Jennifer asked book bloggers to let her know what their top 5-10 books of all time were. 33 bloggers sent their lists in, and Jennifer carefully complied all the entries to create one massive list. She’s going to do a couple fun things with that list, the first being the 2010 Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge.
She’s set the challenge at 5 levels of participation. I’m going to jump in at level 3 (as I gnaw my fingernails away with trepidation), which is 15 books. Seriously, there are 234 books on the list, just narrowing it down to 15 was difficult enough (although that fact that rereads do no count made it a bit easier).
These are the books I’m hoping to read for this challenge (so thankful many of them will also count towards the YA challenge!):
1. Hush, Hush – Becca Fitzpatrick
2. Outlander – Diana Gabaldon
3. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
4. Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins
5. Shiver – Maggie Stiefvater
6. Bitter is the New Black – Jen Lancaster
7. Undead and Unwed – MaryJanice Davidson
8. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
9. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
10. Persuasion – Jane Austen
11. The Princess Diaries – Meg Cabot
12. The Help – Kathryn Stockett
13. Hate List – Jennifer Brown
14. The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom
15. Uglies – Scott Westerfeld
I’m also very excited about joining the 2010 Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge hosted by J. Kaye! There are four levels to this challenge, and I’m going to join aim for The Mini (25 books). For more info, or to join the challenge, head over here.
Throughout the year I will be updating my progress with these two challenges, as well as the others I’ve already joined, on my brand new Challenges page.
Wrapping up November
After the busyness of October (especially Blogtoberfest and Read-a-thon), I eased up on blogging a bit in November. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean I got more reading done. I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump for a couple weeks and didn’t finish as many books as I had wanted to.
On a positive note, November was my most successful month to date in terms of blog views. Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to pop on over here and shared their thoughts on my books, teasers, music, and whatever else I’ve felt like sharing!
Books finished:
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – final thoughts – Soundtrack Song
The Truth About Stacey by Ann M. Martin – final thoughts – Soundtrack Song
Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marian Keyes – final thoughts – Soundtrack Song
Ex-mas by Kate Brian – final thoughts – Soundtrack Song
According to Jane by Marilyn Brant – final thoughts coming soon – Soundtrack Song
Challenges:
Back to School Challenge: 2/4 complete
Holiday Reading Challenge: 1/2 complete
Outlander Challenge: 0/7 complete
YA Reading Challenge: starts January 2010
November Events:
* At the beginning of the month I signed up for the Book Blogger Holiday Swap. I was incredibly excited about some of the suggestions the blogger selected for me had on her Swap form, so I went with one of those, and had so much fun putting her gift together. The gift has quite a ways to travel, so I sent it out last week with the appropriate amount of postage and an extra dose of well-wishes. I hope she likes it!
* During the second week of November I was involved in the Baby-sitters Club Week, hosted by Amy. What a trip down memory lane it was! In addition to the many reviews, memory posts, and character profiles, I contributed a review on one of the earlier books in the series.
* I had a very special guest post, courtesy of my mom. I had chosen the book I gave her for her birthday solely based on reviews around the blogosphere, so it seemed fitting for her to share her thoughts with everyone on my blog. I’m hoping to have more reviews from her in the future (which I haven’t told her yet…).
Now on to December!
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly event hosted by MizB at Monday Round Up (11.30.09)
“What are you reading on Mondays” is a weekly event hosted by J. Kaye that lets you share books you’ve read over the past week and books you have coming up.
Last week, as planned, I read According to Jane by Marilyn Brant, which I really enjoyed (final thoughts to arrive on blog soon).
Now that I’ve finished a couple lighter reads, I’m tackling Watership Down by Richard Adams once again. I’m determined to finish it this time.
After that? Maybe finally There a Petal Silently Falls by Ch’oe Yun, which I borrowed from a friend and has been sitting on my shelf for way too long.
What are you reading this week?
Soundtrack Saturday – According to Jane
Soundtrack Saturdays is a little thing where I share a song with you that I think would fit on the soundtrack for the book I’m currently reading. Feel free to join in!
Current Read: According to Jane by Marilyn Brant
One Sentence Summary: Ellie navigates life and relationships with the voice of Jane Austen advising her.
Soundtrack Song: “Lovefool” by The Cardigans, from the album First Band on the Moon.
Why I chose this song: When it comes to men, Jane has lots of advice for Ellie. But sometimes Ellie just doesn’t want to listen. Sometimes she wants to ignore the warning signs and believe that the man in front of her is The One and that she is inches away from her Happily Ever After. Sometimes she just wants to be a lovefool.
Thursday Tunes – Ash Koley
Thursday Tunes is hosted by S. Krishna’s Books, which spotlights a different band/artist each week. I’m hoping to use these posts as a way to highlight Canadian artists.
This week I want to talk a little bit about Ash Koley, an artist I was introduced to through work, but has easily become on of my absolute favourites this year.
Ash Koley, the band, is a collaboration between Ash Koley and Phil Deschambault. Together they write such wonderfully catchy, quirky pop songs that even someone like me, who has shied away from anything remotely pop-ish for quite a while, has no choice but to embrace them.
Ash and Phil are currently working on an album, but instead of holding the songs to themselves, they have been releasing homemade music videos (which are fantastic!) as the songs take shape. I have so many favourites that I had a hard time picking which song to share with you. In the end I decided to go with their first single, “Don’t Let Your Feet Touch Ground.”
They have many more videos up on myspace and youtube. I so highly recommend checking them out, I don’t think I can say it enough.
Check them out!
