Become Someone Else

{Photos by Love}

I love this campaign. It's by the Lithuanian Agency called Love for the Mint Vinetu Bookstore. It's pretty clever and promotes reading.  Who's your hero?

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My current book list on my bedside table. I've already read The Mastery of Love, but it's still one of my favs.

Little Ones & Books

I love reading, and I have my dad to thank for that. He taught me how to read with a newspaper. Definitely not your typical reading material for a child. One very clear memory I have with my dad is of me as a little girl, maybe even around 3 yrs. old, sitting on the floor of the living room next to the TV with the newspaper sprawled out in front of us. He was teaching me how to sound out big words. I loved every minute of it. This is probably why I love when I see little children into reading.

At our home, we bought a bookshelf for the living room to display our books. Well, mainly mine. It just makes me feel more at home. I was pleasantly surprised when my husbands 2 yr. old niece began to pick out some of the books from the shelf tonight. I have a fascination with some of the old childrens books I grew up with and have a few in our shelf. I pull out the Little Miss Sunshine book, which leads to me and her flipping the pages and telling our own stories about each page. After going through a few books, I end up having the cutest conversation with her. It went something like this:

Little One: Auntie Kafffffyyyy....I want to go to the library.
Me: Yea, that would be fun. Then you can borrow all the elephant books you like. (She was recently pointing out all the cute elephants in the books.)
Little One: But I need a library card.
Me: (trying to hide my surprise) Well, when you ask your mom to take you to the library, she can help you get one of your own. But you have to keep it and not lose it.
Little One: Yea. (She looks down at her skirt and realizes she has no pockets) I know! I can keep it in my hand. So I can hold it and it won't drop. Auntie Kafffyyy...I want to go to the library to get a library card.
Me: Yea, we'll definitely take you there so you can borrow all the books you like.

Creative Inc

I got to see Meg Mateo Ilasco and Joy Cho at the Creative Inc. launch party in San Francisco. They held it at Candystore Collective, a very cute clothing store with even cuter cards and paper. They even had this whole wall dedicated to plants in canvas bags filled with dirt. Loved it.

Both their websites and design work really inspire me. Their book, Creative Inc, is a great book for anyone thinking about starting up their own freelancing business. It goes through what you should expect as you begin your business, and tips on how to succeed. There are various interviews with different freelancers on what their business is like, why they decided to go down that path, and much more. This book now has a spot in my purse all the time.

 They had champagne and mini cupcakes from Mission Minis. They had some fabulous cupcakes too. The Cinnamon Horchata was pretty good.

I'm very glad I got to meet them.

Book Tour - Creative, Inc.

I'm so excited. I just went to Borders and ordered the book Creative, Inc. by Meg Ilasco and Joy Cho. I'm very sad it wasn't at Borders. In fact, they told me it's not in any Borders store. So the guy just helped me order it to be shipped to my house.

I follow Joy's blog Oh Joy! and Oh Joy Eats blog, as well as follow her on Twitter, and I must say, I am quite addicted to everything she posts. She has such colorful and creative items. Even food! Her Oh Joy Eats tweets are great. She's going to be in San Francisco for a mini book tour and I really want to go. It's going to be about a block and a half away from a BART stop, so that's even better. (I try and avoid going to the city unless it's easily accessible.)

I can't wait for the book to arrive. Please Mr. Postman, hurry up!

Book Review Update: The Ugly Stepsister

This really isn't an update of the book review, but more an update on the Ugly Stepsister movie. As with all the other book-based-movies, this one did not stick to the book very much. To me, it changed the parts that really made the book great. It seemed to cater a little more towards the fairy tale version of Cinderella instead of Maguire's version. It made his version seem like everything had a happy ending. Then again, they probably didn't want to make Cinderella so unhappy...

Book Review: The Ugly Stepsister

Author: Gregory Maguire
Rating: 4 out of 5 book pages

Gregory Maguire is a great writer. He turns the typical children fairytale books upside down. I've always wondered why writers make the children's stories completely unrealistic. The female character always gets what she wishes and meets her true love. Plus, they never draw her realistically. Are all females tall, big breasts, long legs, long flowy hair, etc? Ugh, I digress.

The book was fabulous. This was a book about Cinderella's story, in the eyes of the older "ugly" stepsister. He shows all the secrets that were behind Cinderella's story. He paints a picture of what the lifestyle was like in Cinderella's time so vividly, that I could imagine exactly what the scene would look like.

It was not always sisters and stepmother against Cinderella. There was more love and loyalty with the sisters than was brought on. Cinderella did not always have a perfect life. Maguire's story tells the true tragedies that she had to go through growing up that lead her to the Prince's arms. The ending of the book had an unusual twist in my eyes. It's always appealing to me to see things from another point of view.

I actually found some YouTube videos about the book. It's not exactly like the book, but what book-turned-movie ever really is? I think Maguire should make a play out of this book next. I thought a real movie may have been made of the book, but I can't find it on Netflix. I'll have to research more.

Book Reviews

I just finished the most recent book I'm reading, and my husband gave me a great idea. He said I should blog my reviews and comments about the books I read. This way I can remember all the books and have it be just a blog of notes about books. I think I just might. I'm not a good reviewer, but I really do like that idea. Hopefully I'll get better after a few reviews. =)

Book Covers

For those that love books, and love art, this website is awesome. The site basically appreciates book covers. One of my favorite covers is from one of my favorite authors.
P.S. Invisible Monsters is a good book too.