Browsing through Amazon
I got Crafty Girl: Fun and Games: Things to Make and Do
I still haven’t put any of their ideas to work, but I’ve read through both of them and I love many of the ideas there – they are not things I would have thought of on my own (but then again, I’m not very “crafty”). My favorite idea, from the fun & games book, is to make your own board game. You make connected squares in a large piece of cardboard or poster paper and write funny instructions on each of them. For example, if you land on square 6, you have to wear a shower cup until you roll a 2. Or if you land in square 10, you have to wear socks on your hands until someone else rolls a 5. Other cool ideas is to make your own rocks and hide little things inside them and to fortune tell with tea leaves.
The slumber party book gives you several “theme” ideas. It’s geared to girls a little bit older than Mika (who is 7), but she loved the idea of having a “fashion” slumber party that will include the suggested games/crafts. We’ll be scheduling one soon.
In all, I’m quite happy with the books and I’m thinking of getting more š
Category: Books (Page 5 of 11)
If I ever was to believe in God, or more specifically in Jesus Christ, I would believe in the hypothesis that Borges so beautifully expounds in his story Three Versions of Judas. Indeed, this story with its exquisite logic may be one of the factors in losing my faith – something I do not regret at all.
If you haven’t read it, you owe it to yourself. Below is the English translation of the story that I found at http://www.yksi.org/tekst/ald/borges_3giuda-en.txt and the Spanish text.
I had previously read two or three of Laure Levine’s Jaine Austen mysteries and had enjoyed them. They constitute very light reading and they are pretty funny. Before writing these books, Levine was a comedy writer with several famous sitcoms under her belt. Her experience writing humor can be seen readily in Killer Cruise
This book is laugh out-loud funny. Laugh out-loud-disturb-your-neighbors funny. In the book, Jaine Austen (Jaine with an “i”), the heroine, goes in a cruise while her parents house-sit her apartment. They communicate via e-mails, and these e-mails are hilarious. She has the cookiest parents in the world (her mother, for example, moved to Florida to be closer to the Home Shopping Network, she thinks her packages will arrive quicker that way), and yet the characters are believable. The first e-mail that her mother sends to her is soooo funny that I had to read it to Mike, and then tell the story to other people. But it’s not the only laugh in the book – Jaine herself is hilarious with her self-deprecating humor.
The mysteries themselves, both in the story and the previous ones, are pretty weak. But most mysteries nowadays are very week – you follow the hero on her investigation of a murder, but are not provided with the “clues” to figure out who did it yourself. There is a reason why Agatha Christie is still considered the master of the who-done-it, nobody can equal her in setting up mysteries. Alas, it’s not easy to find her books anymore (plus I’ve read them all multiple times).
But after reading this book I’m planning to go to the library and read whatever Jaine Austen mystery I have skipped – I need the laughs.
I love reading mysteries, and in particular mysteries that are situated in places I am, have been or will visit. Those are not necessarily easy to find, unless the title is somewhat explicit or the author is very famous. Fortunately for me, Blood Sacrifice
Both books are from the early 90’s, so they don’t reflect the Yucatan (or the Cancun/Riviera Maya area, as it’s now called) as it is today. I traveled through the region in ’91, so they are pretty much contemporary to my image of the Yucatan. That doesn’t mean that I loved Blood Sacrifice, but it was entertaining enough. I liked that the detective was Maya and poor, and it was amusing that he was a travel guide. I skipped over the descriptions of Maya culture/history, as I’m reading about this in another book, but it was cool that it was included. In all, it’s a good book to read to help put you in a Yucatan mood. As a mystery, though, it’s pretty mediocre.
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