I've been really into the books for Young Adults lately, partly because of the Harry Potter phenomenon, I suppose (at which I was at the forefront, I was into Harry before Goblet of Fire came out), and partly because of my time working at the ol' B&N. Many of my coworkers were reading a lot of the YA stuff as well, so we would often be reading the same things.
It is because of them I got into the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan (and meeting him didn't hurt, he's an awesome guy and very friendly unlike some authors who are a bit full of themselves.)
It's also because of them that I got into the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. And I just finished the latest book in that series, which I think is actually the best of the entire series so far.
One book that they all raved about but that I never read despite their insistence was Twilight by Stephanie Meyer.
Until now.
I'm over 200 pages in now and I'm hooked. It's brilliantly well written, and despite the fact that it is pretty much a romance (which I'm not generally that into) I'm finding myself very intrigued by the story.
I wonder why I'm finding the best books that I've read lately are intended for a younger audience. Are all the best writers focusing on this market? Maybe I'm just not reading the right things for adults.
I don't know, but I definitely haven't been as impressed with the books I've read recently that are intended for adults as I have been with the ones that are intended for younger people. Maybe I'm still just young at heart.
Anyway, I heartily back the thirteen and fourteen year old girls when they tell you that Twilight is just amazing!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Reunited and It Feels So Good
Quote of the Day
So I thought I would share this story from CNN.com as I thought that it was quite heartwarming and since there is always so much negativity in the news, a story like this is a welcome change.
From www.cnn.com
DONETSK, Ukraine (CNN) -- A frail Irene Famulak clutched her brother on the airport tarmac, her arm wrapped around him in a tight embrace, tears streaming down their faces. It was the first time since 1942 they had seen each other, when she was 17 and he was just 7.
That was the night the invading Nazis came to take her away from her Ukrainian home.
"I remember it well because I kissed him good-bye, and he pushed me away," she said of her brother. "I asked, 'Why did you do that?' And he said that he doesn't like kisses."
"The Nazis told my mother that I was being taken to work in a German labor camp for six months. But it was, of course, much longer. I was there for years."
Both siblings survived the Holocaust and grew up on different sides of the Iron Curtain, not knowing the fate of the other.
But after 66 years apart, Famulak, 83, was reunited with her long lost 73-year-old brother, Wssewolod Galezkij. They held each other close this time, cherishing the moment.
"I don't believe anyone has ever known such happiness. Now, I truly believe I can die satisfied," Galezkij said.
Famulak made the long journey to Donetsk in eastern Ukraine from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after being contacted by the American Red Cross. The organization told her they had located her only surviving sibling.
Famulak said she spent World War II in a labor camp in Munich, Germany, working in the kitchens. She had been taken to the camp with her older sister. When it was liberated in 1945, Famulak stayed in Germany for several years, eventually emigrating to the United States in 1956.
She never saw her parents again after that day in 1942 when Nazis separated her from her family. She and her brother still have no idea what happened to their mother and father. Some of their siblings lived through the war, but later died; others, they never heard from again after being separated.
But her younger brother never gave up hope of tracking his sister down. He, too, was sent to a German labor camp, but after the war, he moved back to Ukraine, then a republic of the Soviet Union.
Under Soviet leader Josef Stalin, information on lost relatives was kept sealed, and Galezkij said it wasn't until reforms in the late 1980s, followed by the Soviet collapse, that he started making progress in finding his sister.
Even then, it took him more than 17 years to locate her in the United States. He broke down in tears as he spoke of his overwhelming happiness at finding her.
"When the Red Cross told me they had found her in America, it was such a joy," he said, sobbing.
In fact, he had to be taken to the hospital because he was so overcome when he first learned she was alive. At this week's reunion, there was a doctor on hand at the airport as a precaution.
Back in the United States, there were tears, too.
Linda Klein, the director of the American Red Cross Holocaust and War Victims Tracing Center, said the volunteer who helped the siblings find each other got caught up in the emotion herself.
"When I showed her the picture, she stood there and wept," Klein said. "She was beside herself."
Klein's group has reunited 1,500 families since it began work in 1990. She said the former Soviet Union released records in 1989 of concentration camps it liberated, greatly helping organizers find information on Holocaust victims.
The organization has 100 volunteers -- a third of them Holocaust survivors, Klein said. The group also helps families find information about their loved ones who died during the Holocaust. They have brought together more than 50 families this year. All of their work is free. She says it's often like "looking for a needle in a haystack."
"We're playing beat the clock right now," she said, adding, "It's about families that one day they were together and then they were apart."
"When a connection is made, there are just smiles all around."
That was the case for this family in Ukraine. Years of trauma, of separation, of not knowing what happened to loved ones, have been replaced by celebration.
In a picturesque orchard overlooking rolling fields, Galezkij, his wife and their neighbors laid out a feast for his American sister. As the vodka flowed, he told her how he had survived for a lifetime without her.
"He says he always thought he'd see me someday. He dreamt lots about me," Famulak said, as she sat next to her brother.
"And he wrote a song for me. When he went to sleep, he sang every night and cried."
With that, Galezkij, weakened by illness and age, burst into song. But this time, he sang the words with pure joy.
article by Matthew Chance, CNN
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."
-JRR Tolkien
(The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring)
So I thought I would share this story from CNN.com as I thought that it was quite heartwarming and since there is always so much negativity in the news, a story like this is a welcome change.
From www.cnn.com
DONETSK, Ukraine (CNN) -- A frail Irene Famulak clutched her brother on the airport tarmac, her arm wrapped around him in a tight embrace, tears streaming down their faces. It was the first time since 1942 they had seen each other, when she was 17 and he was just 7.
That was the night the invading Nazis came to take her away from her Ukrainian home.
"I remember it well because I kissed him good-bye, and he pushed me away," she said of her brother. "I asked, 'Why did you do that?' And he said that he doesn't like kisses."
"The Nazis told my mother that I was being taken to work in a German labor camp for six months. But it was, of course, much longer. I was there for years."
Both siblings survived the Holocaust and grew up on different sides of the Iron Curtain, not knowing the fate of the other.
But after 66 years apart, Famulak, 83, was reunited with her long lost 73-year-old brother, Wssewolod Galezkij. They held each other close this time, cherishing the moment.
"I don't believe anyone has ever known such happiness. Now, I truly believe I can die satisfied," Galezkij said.
Famulak made the long journey to Donetsk in eastern Ukraine from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after being contacted by the American Red Cross. The organization told her they had located her only surviving sibling.
Famulak said she spent World War II in a labor camp in Munich, Germany, working in the kitchens. She had been taken to the camp with her older sister. When it was liberated in 1945, Famulak stayed in Germany for several years, eventually emigrating to the United States in 1956.
She never saw her parents again after that day in 1942 when Nazis separated her from her family. She and her brother still have no idea what happened to their mother and father. Some of their siblings lived through the war, but later died; others, they never heard from again after being separated.
But her younger brother never gave up hope of tracking his sister down. He, too, was sent to a German labor camp, but after the war, he moved back to Ukraine, then a republic of the Soviet Union.
Under Soviet leader Josef Stalin, information on lost relatives was kept sealed, and Galezkij said it wasn't until reforms in the late 1980s, followed by the Soviet collapse, that he started making progress in finding his sister.
Even then, it took him more than 17 years to locate her in the United States. He broke down in tears as he spoke of his overwhelming happiness at finding her.
"When the Red Cross told me they had found her in America, it was such a joy," he said, sobbing.
In fact, he had to be taken to the hospital because he was so overcome when he first learned she was alive. At this week's reunion, there was a doctor on hand at the airport as a precaution.
Back in the United States, there were tears, too.
Linda Klein, the director of the American Red Cross Holocaust and War Victims Tracing Center, said the volunteer who helped the siblings find each other got caught up in the emotion herself.
"When I showed her the picture, she stood there and wept," Klein said. "She was beside herself."
Klein's group has reunited 1,500 families since it began work in 1990. She said the former Soviet Union released records in 1989 of concentration camps it liberated, greatly helping organizers find information on Holocaust victims.
The organization has 100 volunteers -- a third of them Holocaust survivors, Klein said. The group also helps families find information about their loved ones who died during the Holocaust. They have brought together more than 50 families this year. All of their work is free. She says it's often like "looking for a needle in a haystack."
"We're playing beat the clock right now," she said, adding, "It's about families that one day they were together and then they were apart."
"When a connection is made, there are just smiles all around."
That was the case for this family in Ukraine. Years of trauma, of separation, of not knowing what happened to loved ones, have been replaced by celebration.
In a picturesque orchard overlooking rolling fields, Galezkij, his wife and their neighbors laid out a feast for his American sister. As the vodka flowed, he told her how he had survived for a lifetime without her.
"He says he always thought he'd see me someday. He dreamt lots about me," Famulak said, as she sat next to her brother.
"And he wrote a song for me. When he went to sleep, he sang every night and cried."
With that, Galezkij, weakened by illness and age, burst into song. But this time, he sang the words with pure joy.
article by Matthew Chance, CNN
Thursday, July 10, 2008
The Times They Are A Changin'
I've been pretty busy recently and haven't been able to update as much as I would like on this here website, so I'll take a moment now and give a few updates.
My time as Interim Youth Minister has ended, and I already feel tons less stress. Last night was the first youth group meeting led by the new youth minister and she did a fantastic job. They are in good hands going forward.
July 4th was lots of fun, I went to two birthday parties (3 if you count America's birthday) one on Thursday night and one on Saturday night.
Friday (the 4th) and Sunday were spent on the lake.
So it was an awesome weekend, but I'm getting too old for such sustained partying, I'm just now recovering.
I shot (as in "on video") the fireworks from a boat on the lake and as soon as I get a new (editing only) computer, I will edit them and give them some background music (probably Explosions in the Sky, because that seems appropriate) and throw them up for the world to enjoy as much as I did.
I'll be gone next week at a church camp, so don't expect too many updates any time soon, but I promise to try and do better.
Namaste!
My time as Interim Youth Minister has ended, and I already feel tons less stress. Last night was the first youth group meeting led by the new youth minister and she did a fantastic job. They are in good hands going forward.
July 4th was lots of fun, I went to two birthday parties (3 if you count America's birthday) one on Thursday night and one on Saturday night.
Friday (the 4th) and Sunday were spent on the lake.
So it was an awesome weekend, but I'm getting too old for such sustained partying, I'm just now recovering.
I shot (as in "on video") the fireworks from a boat on the lake and as soon as I get a new (editing only) computer, I will edit them and give them some background music (probably Explosions in the Sky, because that seems appropriate) and throw them up for the world to enjoy as much as I did.
I'll be gone next week at a church camp, so don't expect too many updates any time soon, but I promise to try and do better.
Namaste!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
So, this is cool, Quote of the Day, and other stuff
Now I can blog from my iGoogle home page!
Theoretically that should make it more likely that I update more frequently.
However, I think we all know that that won't be the case, but I'm certainly going to try!
Anyway, here's today's Quote of the Day (also available on my iGoogle homepage!)
"Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better."
-Andre Gide
I like that, as I often feel that my best writing came from somewhere greater then myself.
Anyway, I bought John Adams, the HBO miniseries, on DVD a couple of weeks ago and started watching it this last weekend.
The second episode should be required viewing for July 4th, it was quite powerful stuff.
I consider myself a bit of a history buff (for a short period of time I was actually a history major, weird, I know) but I had no idea how instrumental John Adams was in the forming of this country.
If you didn't get a chance to see it on HBO, Netflix it or drop the 40 bucks to own it. It is definately worth it.
Have a Happy 4th if I don't get to talk to you again before then and please try and refrain from blowing yourself up with fireworks. That would suck.
Theoretically that should make it more likely that I update more frequently.
However, I think we all know that that won't be the case, but I'm certainly going to try!
Anyway, here's today's Quote of the Day (also available on my iGoogle homepage!)
"Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better."
-Andre Gide
I like that, as I often feel that my best writing came from somewhere greater then myself.
Anyway, I bought John Adams, the HBO miniseries, on DVD a couple of weeks ago and started watching it this last weekend.
The second episode should be required viewing for July 4th, it was quite powerful stuff.
I consider myself a bit of a history buff (for a short period of time I was actually a history major, weird, I know) but I had no idea how instrumental John Adams was in the forming of this country.
If you didn't get a chance to see it on HBO, Netflix it or drop the 40 bucks to own it. It is definately worth it.
Have a Happy 4th if I don't get to talk to you again before then and please try and refrain from blowing yourself up with fireworks. That would suck.
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