Judging a Book by Its Cover

www.kelownanow.com

Sometimes we find it easier to just judge someone based on what we see than to find out the truth. We judge people based on what they wear, how they speak and even what they read. And we also tend to be very close-minded about new things. This post by guest blogger, Leigh-Ann Brodber speaks about why we should be more open-minded about what we read, because we never know what we may learn and how it may help us or others. She also touches on why we should not judge others' reading preferences. Enjoy!

I’m pretty sure you’ve all heard the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” so why do we continue to judge people by what they read?

I am a chronic reader of all sorts of books. I don’t like to discriminate – too much. Sure, I might turn a book down by how it looks but I’d have my reasons. For instance: if there seems to be a lack of creativity in the cover and it looks like it was designed using Paint or if I just want a taste of what the writing is like and turn to a random page just to find that the logic of a character is that of a five year-old, I wouldn’t even give the book a second glance. Other than that, I read anything I could get my hands on; romance, adventure, dystopian, sci-fi, erotica, historical fiction, self-help, comic, mystery, new adult, suspense/thriller, horror, biographies, young adult, pulp fiction, religious fiction, and the list goes on.

The thing is people assume that because you’re reading a book about a girl who’s been abused that you’ve been hurt yourself or are going through some kind of difficult situation. What if you just want to broaden your horizon? What if you were inspired to read the book so that you can be more aware of what the signs of abuse look like? What if you want to approach a friend who’s going through a tough situation and that book comes in handy? You never know why someone is reading what they’re reading and it’s ridiculous to judge someone’s personality on what they read.

Just the other day I was reading “Rock Star” by Jackie Collins. Now, if you’ve ever read a Jackie Collins novel you’d know that it’s filled with a sick and well thought out plot, characters you’d DIE to be friends, slightly explicit sex scenes and a twist at the end. Her books also centre on the lives of fictional Hollywood stars that always have enough skeletons in the closet to fill a hardware store. I binge read all her books and I’m going cold turkey waiting for her to release new books. Anyways, I was sitting in my school library reading “Rock Star” when a lady passed by, looked at the cover (a half-naked girl in sparkling silver Jimmy Choos stooping by a half closed door), sneered and muttered under her breath “youths these days”. As if to say all young people only think and read about sex to continue fuelling their unstable libido. If I wasn’t so occupied with what the antagonist was going to do to the famous blind musician, I would’ve thrown the book right at her upturned nose! (I’m not usually this violent but people with that kind of mentality really get under my skin). What if she caught me reading “Get Well Soon” by Julie Halpern or “Boy Meets Boy” by David Levithan? Would she have thought that I was gay or fighting some mental issues?

It’s time we stop being so closed minded and judgemental. People have a right to read whatever they want. Books take us on journeys far beyond our imagination. Who are we to hold someone back from that awesome adventure? Who are we to make someone ashamed or embarrassed to read a book?

The next time you see someone reading a book with a curious title or cover, don’t hate. Instead, go up to them and ask them what the book is about. Ask them if it’s worth the read or even why they decided to read it. Who knows, maybe you’ll find yourself on an adventure of your own.

You can visit Leigh-Ann's blog at  http://leeleebro.wix.com/disturbing-the-norms

Things Only a Bookworm Would Understand

www.giphy.com

Your books are your own precious possessions

When I was packing to move into my apartment, I remember carefully packing my collection of books for the move…everything else was secondary.

You always keep a book in your bag

I’m never bored when I’m waiting on someone or have to take a number and wait. I just whip up my book and get lost in my book until it’s time.

You’re not that excited about e-readers

There are no pages to turn, no new book smell – it’s just not the same.

No one understands why you smell books

Each time I purchase a book, I can’t wait to get home to sniff it. That new book smell is just awesome!

www.giphy.com

You don’t have a favourite

You simply can’t decide on one, instead you have many favourites. They all have a special place in your heart.

You are in love with a fictional character

A non-bookworm won’t understand this but I’m in love with Rhett Butler from Gone with the Wind.

You hate people who make ‘art’ from books

Why would you bend and tear the pages? That should be a crime.

Fifty Shades of Grey is NOT a classic

I get fifty shades of angry when people try to class this with books such as Wuthering Heights?

You don’t understand when people say they don’t enjoy reading

When someone says this, I stare at them as though they’re speaking a different language because they are.

You get terribly angry when people treat books like crap

Why on earth would you use a book as a doorstop? (mentally shakes the living daylights out of the culprit)

You treat your library card with the same careful consideration as your ATM or credit card

After all, it’s just as precious.

Reaching Out

Courtesy http://sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk

For our collaborative class project, I reached out to two fellow bloggers recently; namely Leigh-Ann Brodber of Disturbing the Normies blog and Olivia Andrews of How do you manage with your duties as a single parent along with school and work blog.

We had loads of fun collaborating and did guest posts for each other's blogs. There were even some funny moments, for example, while chatting with Leigh-Ann via Facebook Messenger, her status kept saying she was in Sierra Leone...she wasn't of course - she was in Trinidad. We had a good laugh about it - apparently she was travelling the world while sitting at her computer.

Although our blog topics weren't similar, we realised we each had something of importance to share with each other. In the end, I contributed an article to Leigh-Ann on why people go so far as to ban certain books...I wanted to know what do they insist on curbing a reader's choice of reading material. Leigh-Ann in turn contributed an article to my blog where she discussed why people should feel free to read what they want without the fear of being judged for their choices. It was an awesome, fun and smooth collaboration and we both helped drive traffic to each other's blogs by sharing our guest posts.

Olivia also contributed to my blog by giving her insight as a mother as to must-read books for kids and I spoke about my experience as a single parent juggling a career and tertiary studies on her blog. The collaborative efforts showed me to think outside the box - that we all have something to offer to each other from our experiences in life, never mind that our blog ideas may be different - WE ARE NOT POLES APART. Olivia and I also helped drive traffic to each other's blogs by sharing our guest posts with others.

This collaboration taught me:
- that we all have something to offer each other
- that we are all experts in different fields, based on our experiences in life
- that we can help each other - (driving traffic to each other's blogs)
- to think outside the box

Here are the links to our guest posts:

Olivia's post on my blog:  http://lilbookish.blogspot.com/2014/10/a-kids-collection.html
My post on her blog:  http://soneeitha.blogspot.com/2014/10/navigating-single-parenthood.html
Leigh-Ann's post on my blog: http://lilbookish.blogspot.com/2014/10/judging-book-by-its-cover.html
My post on Leigh-Ann's blog: http://leeleebro.wix.com/disturbing-the-norms#!book-slavery/c7i6

A Fun Collaboration

 Gayle Simmons and I (left to right)

For our class assignment, we had to collaborate with a fellow blogger on...anything. At first, I thought about collaborating with someone whose blog was similar to mine - a love of literature. However, I decided to think outside the box and collaborated instead with Gayle Simmons of Let's Learn Mandarin blog. And boy, it was fun!
I reached out to Gayle via Facebook in a private message and told her of my idea to do a Welcome message in Mandarin to my blog readers. She thought it was an awesome idea and she set out researching the words in Mandarin that I wanted to use and I had to learn how to pronounce the words.

We decided to do a video blog to show our efforts and results and to bring the message to my readers. We originally planned to shoot the video outdoors in Woodford Square, however the weather did not permit. Instead we shot the video at my workplace and one of my coworkers was our videographer.

Kaelanne Jordan, our videographer

We laughed, we had fun and we did it! Here is the video of our collaboration:

The War of Books vs. Video Games

www.cloudcomputingcell.com

For a long time, there has been an ongoing dispute between bookworms and gamers about which hobby makes more sense.  Traditional bookworms cannot seem to wrap their minds around how video games can help creativity and just label it as ‘pure nonsense’. And hardly likely do you see a person who is both a bookworm and a gamer, possibly because of the clearly defined line drawn between the two hobbies by some narrow minded individuals.

However, to criticize something, you must try it, get involved in it, experience it, and then, and only then, should you make a decision. I have done just that – and I must confess I love books and video games!

As a child, I was drawn to books because of a love for adventure, action and climax. I fell in love with the characters and was always sad when the story ended. Even now, after a book ends, I imagine continued lives for these beloved characters. At times, I disagreed with the decisions the author made for the characters and would imagine the storyline happening a different way – my way. Video games have given me the freedom to experience all these same feelings.

www.book-clipart.com

My six year old son introduced me to gaming. My first experience was Mortal Combat. At first, I was hesitant and didn’t expect much. But from the moment I held that controller, I was drawn into this world, full of action and adventure…just like a good book. I was in control of the fate of my characters, so I didn’t have to sulk at the author’s choice of ending and if my character died, I could always press ‘replay’ to avenge him/her. It was awesome!

The controller is dual shock, so everything my character experienced, I felt it. It was like I was the character, I was in the story, I was the author and I loved it! I started wondering, why do some people hate video games? They’re awesome, it’s got everything a book has, well except the pages, and the cover and the comforting ‘book smell’.  

Suddenly, the storyline could happen how I imagined it and that was an awesome feeling.  I was excited to discover new games and realised that there were games where I could customize my characters or their ‘ride’ as well. No longer did I have to imagine my characters the way an author wanted me to. And man, did I like that idea or what.

I was worried then that reading a book would not be the same experience it had been before, now that I had discovered an avenue to visually create my own story. But when I next picked up a book, I still had the same ‘bookworm’ feelings I had before gaming. I still enjoyed the new book smell, I was still excited to drown myself in the story, I still cried when the characters experienced tragedy and I still enjoyed turning the crisp pages.

And that was when I realised, I could be a bookworm and a gamer too. Gaming allowed me to do things I could not do with a book, but there were feelings only a book could evoke. These were not two hobbies that threatened each other, but instead they were two hobbies that could co-exist, if allowed to.

And then after I realised all those things, a British playwright called Lucy Prebble realised it too and spoke out about it. She said “video games require the user to make decisions, giving them the chance to influence the story and even in part design the world in which the game is played out.” She explained that she has been a gamer since she was a child, and it had not discouraged her from literature; today she is a renowned playwright.

So the Lucy Prebbles of the world and I, have discovered a world in which gaming and literature can live together in harmony. However, there are still some bookworms who continue to be against it. In my opinion, these people have not evolved and are still stuck on one page. I say it’s time to turn the page.

To read an article on Lucy Prebble’s observations on video games and reading (which I referred to in my article), go to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/video-game-news/9077458/Video-games-more-creative-than-reading.html

And if you are a bookworm and a gaming enthusiast, here’s a blog worth checking out - http://gamersdestiny.tumblr.com/post/98100249186/countdown-to-tournament

You may want to check out video games that are based on books too - 

http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-video-games-based-on-books.php 

& 

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/32827.Books_That_Became_Video_Games

A Bookworm's Dream Home

Here are six things that belong in a true bookworm’s home…Leave your feedback and let me know what else you'll add to a bookworm's dream home.

An Awesome Bookcase

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A Shower Curtain You can Read

www.outofprintclothing.com

A Comfy Reading Chair

www.cr3at.com

This Cool Rug

www.brit.co

A Book Staircase

www.deviantart.net

 A Cozy Book Nook

musings.moretimemoms.com

A Kid's Collection

Taken from www.motherdaughterbookreviews.com

By Olivia Andrews, Guest Blogger

A passion for reading starts as a child. There are many amazing books that fall under Children’s Fiction that have awakened a love to read within a person that only gets stronger with age. Here are some ideas of awesome books for kids from guest blogger and mom Olivia Andrews from her daughter’s collection:

New York Times best seller: Philadelphia Chickens, Written Illustrated and Directed by Sandra Boynton

This book is one of her favorites because it is a sing along she loves the songs and the poem that go along with it she sits with the book and follows as the music plays. Her favorite of them are The Philadelphia Chicken song and Be Like a Duck.

Please and Thank you, Written and illustrated by Disney

She is fascinated by princess books so in order to get her to learn manners I bought her a princess book that has music that goes along with it that talk about manners.

The Potty book for Girls and Elmo potty time, Written and illustrated by Disney

When she turned 12 months, I decided it was potty time those were the books that I used to assist me with her transition. Each time she had to go if she did not say you would always know because she would have either one in hand. She used the Elmo book when she wanted a little music to do her dodo and Hanna when it would take a bit longer she was so excited to get her big girl underpants like Elmo and Hanna.

Dear God Thanks for making me Special: Flying Frog Publishing and Thank You God: Twin Sisters Production

On Sundays when she as getting ready to go to church she would take one of the with her, she would sit and read them or look them over in her case wile mass took place.

Leaping Leapfrogs: by Wendy Mc Lean illustrated by Dee Texidor

On days when she feels like counting she gets this one.

Eyes & Nose, Fingers & Toes: Brendon Publishing International

Sesame Street books are a favorite of hers this book has a number of the characters pointing to their body parts as you read along, this is how I got her to learn her body parts.

My heart Purse: Written and Illustrated by Chris Shea

This is her favorite book of all it is all worn because she loves it so much. It is shapes like a heart and it is a book about a little girl and her mother who tells her a story about how much she loves her and that she carries her in her heart everywhere she goes. Every time I am finished she says love you.

She loves book and has a number of them many more most of her books however are from Disney or Sesame Street because these are the Characters that she is most fund off. She is now going through the Princess faze so  she loves all things princess.

Readers, you can visit Olivia’s blog at http://soneeitha.blogspot.com/

We Thing...West Indian Authors

Courtesy www.wookmark.com

Neil Bissoondath – This Trinidad-born author has a unique way of becoming his characters and bringing them to life in an exceptional way. His book Doing the Heart Good tells the story of Alistair, a seventy-year-old widower, father, grandfather and retired professor. After his house burns down, circumstances cause him to have to move in with his daughter and her family. Alistair has to come to terms with the fact that his prior independence is now gone and this new journey leads to a new future with his daughter and grandson. It is a story that is relatable to all of us as we grow older and have to adapt to a new life, as we now have to depend on others and realise how much we need our loved ones.

Dionne Brand – is a Trinidadian author. Her book At the Full and Change of the Moon is a Caribbean neo-slave narrative. It tells the story of a Trinidadian slave, Marie Ursule and encapsulates the African Diaspora of the nineteenth and twentieth century. The plot involves a mass suicide of plantation slaves in 1824, led by Marie. Her daughter Bola is entrusted to the sole survivor. Bola experiences two world wars and has to come to terms with a horrible legacy of oppression. 

Will Chen – his book, Chutney Power tells both the good and bad of East Indian life in the form of short, witty stories. The stories focus on the simple lives of the rural East Indian community in Trinidad – the joys, tragedies, passions and quarrels. 

Rosyln Carrington – Candy Don’t Come in Gray is a story by this Trinidadian author that addresses the issue of race and identity. Mattie is the product of her African mother’s love affair with a white man. Mattie’s father never acknowledges her as his daughter. When he dies, he does not even mention her in his will. While she does not want anything, she has to deal with the hurt of seeing her half-sister, her father’s legitimate child, enjoy so much. 

Other authors and book titles to read:

• Michelle Cliff – Abeng
• Edqidge Danticat – Breath, Eyes, Memory
• David DAbaydeen – Molly and the Muslim Stick

Phelie Sookhan - this list is especially for you...

Quiz: Are You a True Bookworm?

Courtesy www.http://smellyann.typepad.com

So you read...a lot...or maybe not so much. You haven't decided if you're a bookworm yet. Let me help you. Take this fun quiz and find out if you're a true bookworm.

1) When you go into a bookstore:

a) You lose track of time...need an entire army to pull you away
b) Ehhh...maybe I'll browse a little
c) Twenty minutes tops
d) Leave after two minutes

2) Your favourite character in a book dies, you:

a) Noooooo, this cannot be happening! Why, oh why? (cries hysterically)
b) No, I didn't expect that. (stunned)
c) Are kinda sad but you'll get over it
d) Don't have a favourite character. Oh, they died? Wait, I'm reading a book?

3) You read a book that is part of a series:

a) You start hunting for the other books in the series..."must find book...now!" Feel incomplete until you read the entire series.
b) You keep an eye out for it.
c) Well, maybe if I come across the others, I'll read them sometime
d) What do you mean there's more? Jeez when will it end?

4) You're reading a book. It's night time and you have to go to work in the morning. You:

a) Reassure yourself you'll just read a few more pages. Hours later, you're still sitting there...reading.
b) Make sure you read two more chapters and then go to bed.
c) Read two more pages, then close the book. You’ll read more tomorrow.
d) Would never be caught dead reading when you could be sleeping

Results
Mostly A’s – You’re definitely an A-class, true, die-hard bookworm
Mostly B’s - You’re on your way to becoming a bookworm addict…
Mostly C’s – You like to read, it’s a hobby. But it’s not your life
Mostly D’s – You are the furthest thing from bookworm