History of Rock and more Books: What I’ve been doing and What’s next

August 14, 2013August 19, 2013Leave a comment

I haven’t posted more book reviews during the last days because I had been busier than usual and one of the reasons is that I’m enrolled on an online course: History of Rock Part 2 by the University of Rochester (I finished History of Rock Part 1 weeks ago) and between watching the Video lectures, work on my notes and take a quiz (corresponding to two weeks of classes) is like being in College again (but I love it).

Now, back to things books related…. What’s next:

I’m working on a post about Audiobooks that I’ll be posting this week and
For my next reading, I’m trying to decide between:

The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle

and

From What I Remember by Stacy Kramer & Valerie Thomas

The two books are very different, but both have good reviews (and average rating of 4 in Goodreads).

And that’s it for now, I have to get ready to go to the Library (there are some DVDs ready for me to pick up), have a great day you all!

Book Review: The Great Scott by Adam Poe

May 29, 2013May 29, 2013Leave a comment

Book Description (from Goodreads):

As the greatest high school basketball player to ever come out of Davidson County, NJ, Taylor Scott is a living legend, a born superstar. While everyone—his mother, father, coaches and best friend—assume he can easily handle the weight of the world on his young shoulders; things aren’t always what they seem.

Throughout this intense and highly personal coming-of-age story, Taylor struggles to make the transition from high school basketball celebrity to unproven college freshman, fighting to understand who he is and where he’s going, while running head-on to his greatest fears.

A timeless story of basketball, friendship, family and most importantly, the passion that drives us to become who we are even when we aren’t sure ourselves; this story will capture the hearts and minds of anyone who has ever dreamed of accomplishing something bigger than themselves.

The lights shining inside the basketball arena are bright, but what happens off the court is what really counts.

Book Review:

I love books about sports, specially those with inspiring stories, those that leave you with “something to think about” after you finish with them and when I saw the synopsis from The Great Scott I knew this was a book I had to read.

This is the story of Taylor Scott (named by the media “The Great Scott”) the star of High School Basketball team from New Jersey, people admire him and many coaches are trying their best to convince him to be part of their College’s teams.

I liked the pace of the story, also the detailed and descriptive writing that made me feel like I was there watching the games, the training.. I was totally immersed in the story.

Something to point out about this book is that the characters seem real and is easy to relate to them (I think the author does a really good job at giving us enough of their background history).

I particularly enjoyed reading about Taylor’s relationship with his mom and with his best friend Jimmy (the last was one of my favorite characters) and also learn about how was Taylor’s transition from High School’s star to College’s freshman.

This is a great book with an engaging and emotional story about a young man who is growing up, trying to find his place, his identity. I truly enjoyed reading this book and I definitely recommend it.

Hobbies and E-learning: Acquiring new skills on Music and Cooking

May 8, 2013Leave a comment

A few months ago I found an excellent website where you can take different online courses, the site is http://www.cousera.org.

The first course I took (for free) and finished two months ago, was Fundamentals of Personal Financial Planning provided by the University of California, Irvine. In this course I learned some basic aspects of IRS, Insurance and Retirement.

The course format included video lectures, quizzes, readings, some peer asignments and you can also interact with your peers through discussion forums.

Like besides reading, other of my hobbies are cooking and music, I recently started other courses on the same website (also offered free of charge):

-Introduction to Guitar by Berklee College of Music
-Child Nutrition and Cooking by Stanford University

The first week of the guitar course was interesting (of course first I had to convince my husband to let me use one of his guitars to practice), the video lectures were entertaining, I learned to identify the different parts of the guitar and even though my fingers hurt at the end of the practice, I felt satisfied because I learned how to play the first two chords 🙂

This week began the course of Nutrition and Cooking, and I’m anxious to start my first assignment in the kitchen.

Books with romance and sports – Review for Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

April 15, 2013April 15, 2013Leave a comment

Book Description:

“Whoever said football and girls don’t mix hasn’t read Catching Jordan. I couldn’t put it down ” — Simone Elkeles, New York Times bestselling author of the Perfect Chemistry series

ONE OF THE BOYS

What girl doesn’t want to be surrounded by gorgeous jocks day in and day out? Jordan Woods isn’t just surrounded by hot guys, though-she leads them as the captain and quarterback of her high school football team. They all see her as one of the guys and that’s just fine. As long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university.

But everything she’s ever worked for is threatened when Ty Green moves to her school. Not only is he an amazing QB, but he’s also amazingly hot. And for the first time, Jordan’s feeling vulnerable. Can she keep her head in the game while her heart’s on the line?

Book review:

“Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love”
Charles M. Schulz, Charlie Brown in “Peanuts”

Jordan is a girl, but she’s also the quarterback of her High School Football team, she’s used to be focused 100% on the game, until Ty Green appears in the picture and suddenly things change…

This is a sweet story about dealing with your feelings while you are growing up and deciding what to do with your future. Is about love, friendship, dreams, and also about the importance of stand for what you really want and be open to different options in life.

Jordan is talented and strong and I liked her since the beginning. The rest of the characters were really fun to read and my favorites were Henry (Jordan’s best friend and one of her teammates) and Mike (Jordan’s brother, the older brother I would have loved to have).

One of the things that I liked about the story is the great relationship between Jordan and her teammates (all of them were very protective and supportive), also the evolution in the relationship between Jordan and her Dad.

This was an enjoyable book and I would love to see a continuation for Jordan’s story, but for now I look forward to reading the newer book from Miranda Kenneally, “Things I Can’t Forget” that takes place in a Summer Camp.