Book Club Book for October

Happy October everyone! It is the first of the month so it is time for a new book selection! What is this month's book you may ask? Well I will cut right to the chase and tell you to end the suspense (provided you even bothered to read this text bit at the beginning and didn't just skip right to the bolded colored words)


The selection for October is.......

Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys

Happy Reading!

An Abundance of Katherines Response

It's been a month!
You know what that means?
The first book in the Family Writer Wars book club has been finished!

The book for the month of September was An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

So what did everyone think of the book?
Do you find yourself anagramming things now?
Did you like the characters?
Would you ever think to apply a mathematical formula to relationships?
How did you like the fact that Colin thought to apply math to relationships?

So basically what did you like, and what didn't you like?

Respond below in the comments!

Today's Thought: Orange Frogs

It's fall, but we had a little visitor to remind us of spring (though this year they are munging into one long rainy season..).  Also, nature has decided to become quite bright and colorful recently... I guess the frogs and fungi are attempting to one up the foliage.  This Spring Peeper decided to say hello by sitting on the cover of our grill.  I'm not sure why he thought that was a good place, but there you have it!

Spring Peepers are New Hampshire's smallest frog (there are only 10 frog species native to NH).  If you go to the NH Fish and Game page, you will learn that the X on the back is a feature of the Spring Peeper, poor guys!  And you will also learn, that this frog is brown and not orange.  Hmmm...  I think they need to review colors.  A friend of mine went to get a fishing license from them, and Bald was listed as a hair color... sigh... 

Today's Thought: How to Increase Blog Activity? Also, Purple Mushrooms.

Okay PEOPLE, it is very noticeable that the activity on the blog has decreased, despite the fact that the available activities have increased.  I have a few theories as to why this might be:

• Sammy and I are boring
• The content is not interesting.
  
  Clearly we can scratch the first two theories.  Why (you dare to ask)? Well, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that Sammy and Rachel were endowed by their creator with certain unalienable qualities, that among these are happiness, charm, intelligence and humility.   That to secure these qualities, Blogs are instituted among Men, deriving their content from the Contributors.  That whenever any Form of Blogging becomes unused, it is the Right of the Contributors to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Blog, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its content as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Happiness.
  
  Please Note: Sammy and Rachel were NOT endowed by their creator with the ability to spell.  Of course, technology has helped bridge the gap, but even with technology's assistance you can probably find several grammatical and/or spelling errors. Bully for you! (1)
  
  
• Infrequent Blog Updates (which were intended to be non-stress inducing) are actually leading to you guys forgetting to come back.
  
  This theory is much more plausible, as it suggests that you, the readers, have some short term memory or attention deficit issues.  For the bullet itself, I found a much nicer way of saying it.  I feel we can be more insulting here because those with attention deficit issues won't make it this far, and those with short term memory issues will forget they did. 

So, I figure it's time to ask for some feedback.  Are there things you would like to see on the blog?  What do you like? What don't you like?  Do you forget to check back? What can we do to make the blog more interesting, so that you want to stop by?

Since my personal theory is that there are not enough updates, I thought maybe we should start a new segment: Today's Thought aka TT (2).  This post can happen as many times as Once a Day.  The first Contributor (let us know if you want to be a Contributor) who makes it to the blog, can post the official Thought.  It can be on any topic. And folks can comment if they want!   FUN! FUN! FUN!  So, let's give it a try:

Purple Mushrooms: Yea or Nay?

While walking in the woods, which have been very damp of late, I noticed these purple mushrooms growing. That's right, purple.  So, the question is, do we approve of purple mushrooms?  I will tell them, when we have a verdict.  Also, if you happen to know anything about these mushrooms, feel free to share!

Also check out the LINKS IN THE UPPER RIGHT HAND CORNER!!  Use those links if you want to read our book club book, watch our movie club movies or participate in the writing contest!

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(1) Interesting fact (or maybe not so interesting for those of you have read an Abundance of Kathrines) Bully in a noun and in 1530, it originally meant "sweetheart" and was applied to either males or females.  It may have originated from the Dutch word "broeder" meaning "brother".  Then the meaning slowly became more negative (maybe because of the noun "bull").  So, it went from "sweetheart" to " fine fellow" to "blusterer" to "harasser of the week".  The U.S. slang "Bully for you!", dates to around 1864 and is referring back to the earlier, positive, definition (Thanks Online Etymology Dictionary). Though my use of "Bully for you!" was purely sarcastic and therefor not positive at all.  It is, in fact, referring back to the modern meaning of Bully and the spelling/grammar bullying that is so trendy on the interwebs.

(2) Definitely interesting fact:  TT reminds me of one of my mom's favorite phrases: "Tough TTs", as in, "You want dessert? Well Tough TTs, you have to eat your dinner first."  For our younger readers, this is a very old phrase that actually stands for "Tough Tough Tigers" - it's just like when folks say ATM Machine (Automated Teller Machine Machine), they could just say Tough Tigers, but you know how old people are, weird.

The New Book Club!

Hello everyone! I am pleased to announce the arrival of the all new book club! About once a month there will be a new book that everyone can read. Here is how the commenting will work:

1. When you get the book comment that you have it so we all know who is participating.
2. As you are reading the book comment about your thoughts on the book.
3.I will post questions about the book throughout the month that everyone who is reading can answer.
4. When you finish the book comment your thoughts on the book.

We will start out with a fun book.

An Abundance of Katherines

By John Green

You can find this book at local bookstores or your local library. It is not very long so it shouldn't take up too much of your time.

The next book will be announced on October 1st so try to have the book done or close to done by then.

Happy Reading!

FMN Sept Movie: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

The un-official theme this month is movies with titles containing the word 'Kid'.  As always the movies are randomly selected, so we will rely on you, the viewers to find a uniting theme..

For September, the Family Movie Night Official Movie is: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

This western was added (and randomly selected) by Joe.  According to Wikipedia, William Goldman won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for this film.  Also, in 2003 it was added to the National Film Registry.  So fancy.

You can find this film on Netflix (both streaming and via DVD), and on Amazon.

We will be watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid on September 24th at 6:30pm ET.

I will try to post the official Summary-ish as soon as possible after our viewing and as always, if you have any comments or want to participate in a discussion, click back to this post!

NOTE: We now have fancy links on the right hand side of the blog so you can quickly find all the current family participation content.

FMN Sept Alt Movie: The Kid

For September, the Family Movie Night Alternate Movie is:

Charlie Chaplin's The Kid

A silent film!! From 1921 this is the first full length comedy.  I first watched this at Silent Sunday at the Wilton Town Hall Theater in Wilton, NH.  It's really good. I hope you folks like it!

You can find this on Amazon and Hulu (you need hulu plus to view it), it's also available on Netflix, but they will only mail it to you, they will not stream it.

We will be watching The Kid on September 13th at 6:30pm ET
Check back here then and we will be attempting to live blog comments/discussion!

I will try to post the official Summary-ish as soon as possible after our viewing and as always, if you have any comments or want to participate in a discussion, click back to this post!

NOTE: We now have fancy links on the right hand side of the blog so you can quickly find all the current family participation content.