5 Exclusive Lanterns

VIA «Design kilometre»

What better bookish memory to talk about on Halloween than R.L. Stine?! Seriously. When I was a kid he was the big deal. In 5th and 6th grade, all the kids I knew were reading R.L. Stine. We were too 'old and mature' to read the silly old Goosebumps books, but those Fear Street stories were deliciously creepy and freaky, especially because really, for the most part, it was stuff that could actually happen. No creepy nasties under the bed. Oh no. We are talking psycho crazy best friends, stalkers, wannabees and more. Some of them did dabble a bit into the paranormal, but it was all much more subtle in the Fear Street series than in Goosebumps.

I remember reading his Seniors series. One of the girls in the Fear Street senior class has a vision, of all the seniors lying in coffins by graduation day. Some people believe her, because apparently (if I'm remembering right) her family has a history of eerily accurate visions, but a lot of people scoff. And then, one by one, the seniors do start dying. The beginning of each book includes a 'yearbook page' with all the senior pictures. And with each new book, more and more of their pictures are altered as the students die.

There were 12 books, and I read 10 of them. This is the only series to date that I remember knowingly reading out of order. The books were in such high demand by all the morbid 5th and 6th graders out there, just itching to get their hands on the books that if you waited to read them in order, you'd never get a chance to read them at all. But I did resist the last book in the series, wanting the conclusion to be the actual conclusion. But book 10 never came and never came, and then I moved and no one in Idaho seemed to be as consumed with the thrill of R.L. Stine the way the kids in Western Washington were and the library didn't carry the series and I couldn't find the books and so I just... never finished reading them. I still don't know if the whole senior class ended up dead. I have no idea how it ended. And ya. It bugs.

Any of you read R.L. Stine? What about the Seniors series? For how popular I remember them being as a kid, I have met very, very few people since then that have heard of them, let alone read them. Makes me wonder if I exaggerate their popularity in my mind, but somehow doubt I could be misrecollecting the annoyance when non of the books were on the shelves, or the only one you could find was the one you'd read three books ago or who incredibly exciting it was to find a new one sitting there, just waiting to be snatched, read and inhaled by you!! Don't ask my why, when I had my library card memorized by age 9 because I put so many book on hold, I didn't think to put these books on hold, because I couldn't tell you. But I can tell you that the searching, the looking and the finding was so exciting, almost as much fun as reading the books themselves. This is definitely a series I'm going to have to revisit. Maybe I'll actually read them in order this time. At the very least, now that I can't remember any of their names or stories, at least I'll know if someone manages to escape the vision.

About the author:

They had her at hello. From her first moments in Charleston and Savannah, and on the South Carolina and Georgia coasts, novelist Karen While was in love. Was it the history, the architecture, the sound of the sea, the light, the traditions, the people, the lore? Check all of the above. Add Karen’s storytelling talent, her endless curiosity about relationships and emotions, and her sensitivity to the rhythms of the south, and it seems inevitable that this mix of passions would find its way into her work.

Known for award winning novels such as Learning to Breathe, the recently announced Southern Independent Bookseller Association’s 2009 Book of the Year Award nomination for The House on Tradd Street, and for the highly praised The Memory of Water, Karen has already shared the coastal Lowcountry and Charleston with readers. Spanning eighty years, Karen’s new book, THE LOST HOURS, now takes them to Savannah and its environs. There a shared scrapbook and a necklace of charms unleash buried memories, opening the door to the secret lives of three women, their experiences, and the friendships that remain entwined even beyond the grave, and whose grandchildren are determined to solve the mysteries of their past.

Karen, so often inspired in her writing by architecture and history, has set much of THE LOST HOURS at Asphodel Meadows, a home and property inspired by the English Regency styled house at Hermitage Plantation along the Savannah River, and at her protagonist’s “Savannah gray brick” home in Monterey Square, one of the twenty-one squares that still exist in the city.
Italian and French by ancestry, a southerner and a storyteller by birth, Karen has lived in many different places. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, she has also lived in Texas, New Jersey, Louisiana, Georgia, Venezuela and England, where she attended the American School in London. She returned to the states for college and graduated from New Orleans’ Tulane University. Hailing from a family with roots firmly set in Mississippi (the Delta and Biloxi), Karen notes that “searching for home brings me to the south again and again.”

Always, Karen credits her maternal grandmother Grace Bianca, to whom she’s dedicated THE LOST HOURS, with inspiring and teaching her through the stories she shared for so many years. Karen also notes the amount of time she spent listening as adults visited in her grandmother’s Mississippi kitchen, telling stories and gossiping while she played under the table. She says it started her on the road to telling her own tales. The deal was sealed in the seventh grade when she skipped school and read Gone With The Wind. She knew—just knew—she was destined to grow up to be either Scarlet O’Hara or a writer.

Karen’s work has appeared on the South East Independent Booksellers best sellers list. Her novel The Memory of Water, was WXIA-TV’s Atlanta & Company Book Club Selection. Her work has been reviewed in Southern Living, Atlanta Magazine and by Fresh Fiction, among many others, and has been adopted by numerous independent booksellers for book club recommendations and as featured titles in their stores. This past year her 2007 novel Learning to Breathe received several honors, notably the National Readers’ Choice Award.

In addition to THE LOST HOURS, Karen White’s books include The House on Tradd Street, The Memory of Water, Learning to Breathe, Pieces of the Heart and The Color of Light. She lives in the Atlanta metro area with her family where she is putting the finishing touches on her next novel The Girl on Legare Street.

You can visit Karen White's website at http://www.karen-white.com/.

Pump Up Your Book Promotion
“We take books to the virtual level!”
http://www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.com/

My Review:

When Piper was six years old, she helped her grandfather bury a box given to her by her grandmother. This box is forgotten until, after her grandparents death, she seeks answers regarding her families history that no one is able to answer. Piper retrieves the box, and inside she finds aged scrapbook pages, a faded newspaper article about an infant that was found dead, and a gold charm neckace. In a search of her grandmother's home she also finds a secret room containing a baby crib. After reading several of the scrapbook pages, she becomes determined to track down a woman that was very close to her grandmother, mentioned as being one of her closest friends as a child. Yet, her grandmother has never mentioned her name. Her grandmother suffered from Alzheimers, and Piper experiences a great deal of remorse at not knowing or discovering more about her grandmother while she was still alive. He vows to stop at nothing to find out more about her grandmother's past. She soon discovers that there is a past that has remained hidden for some time, and individuals that want it to remain this way.

THE LOST HOURS takes the reader on a trip through several generations. It highlights the importance of family, and taking the time to know and maintain ties to older generations. It grabs and takes hold of your heart from the very beginning. You become a character in the book, you experience the things the characters experience. It takes hold of your emotions like very few books do. I treasure the time I spent reading this book, and regret the moment when I read the last few pages.

This book really hit home for me. My grandmother has been experiencing bouts of dementia for the past several years. Oftentimes she doesn't remember her husband and often has flashbacks of her childhood. She's not the Grandma I remember as a child, and I regret not taking the time to learn more about her life. I hope I still get the opportunity to do so, if not with my grandmother, then with the other members of my family.

Last weekend I was so busy with the Iowa City Book Festival I didn't get the chance to post a Sunday Salon. This weekend has been equally busy but I've managed to find a little more time. I've been in Madison, Wisconsin with my boyfriend this weekend. It's a cool city and I'm thinking about going to library school here in a couple of years so I wanted to check out the area to see if I might like living here. I think it's safe to say that I would really enjoy living in Madison. My boyfriend and I are all about biking, walking, canoeing, and "green" living I suppose you would say. It seems like Madison does really cater towards that. Plus it's only five hours away from my hometown and three hours away from where I go to school now.

The main street downtown is State Street. Yesterday we went to some places my old roommate (who is from Wisconsin) suggested like Dobra Tea and Maharani Indian Restaurant. The Indian food was superb and I have to agree with her now. The Indian food in Iowa City just does not measure up. Of course no vacation would be complete with a stop at a bookstore. There were four bookstores I saw on State Street but we only went to two and I think the first one was the best.

Bookworks and Avol's Bookstore are actually two bookstores I guess, connected by an open door. I really only checked out the Avol's said because by the time I was done in there I had already found plenty. I got Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris because I just finished Housekeeping Vs. The Dirt by Nick Hornby and he really enjoyed it, although judging by the writing the person who originally owned this book did he didn't have as high of an opinion. I also got Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, and a children's book called Mathilda and the Orange Balloon by Randall de Seve and illustrated by Jen Corace. It's very cute.

To finish off the day we went to watch the sunset over the lake. It was so pretty and relaxing. I don't remember the last time I sat to watch a sunset.

So the Got Books Event is over now, but contest is still open until midnight tonight. If you haven't checked out my giveaway yet please do so. I'm giving away two books, one to each winner. The first book is Notes From No Man's Land by Eula Biss and the second is The Moon, Come to Earth by Philip Graham. If you're interested in winning either book please enter!

Anne Marie Roche is a recent widow. Despite having several close friends and owning a successful bookstore, she feels alone. Anne Marie’s close friends also feel the loneliness of widowhood. Lillie Higgins lost her husband in a plane crash, the same crash that took the life of the husband of her daughter, Barbie Higgins. Elise Beaumont lost her husband to cancer. Anne Marie and her friends get together and celebrate their lives. They discuss their hopes and dreams. Each decides to create a list of twenty wishes, dreams that they’ve had all their lives but have never fulfilled. In subsequent months, all of the women start acting on their wishes. Anne Marie’s first wish: Find one good thing about life. To her, it seemed to be an admission of how depressed and low she really felt. She finds that Ellen is the key to her happiness, and together Anne Marie and Ellen quickly fulfill their twenty wishes. This was my first “Blossom Street” book and I absolutely loved it. Macomber’s characters come alive and I feel like they are a part of my life. Finishing the book, I felt a sense of loss, but I have plans to pick up the rest of the “Blossom Street” books and continue on with these truly amazing women!

Commercial Mailboxes for houses

Residential Mailboxes for cottages

VIA «Mailboxes for apartments and cottages»

A car load of white teens gets stranded in the middle of the Philadelphia ghetto after attending a concert. A few exit the car in an attempt to fix it, and they are approached by some local teens. They are fearful for their lives, and after shouting some racial expletives, they all take off running down the street. They search the neighborhood for some safe place to retreat while they wait for someone to rescue them.

They break into an old, abandoned run-down house at the end of the street. But it's not abandoned. Shortly after entering the house, they are attacked by a "mutant" man. One of the youths is killed instantly and the remaining teens fight for their lives. They quickly learn that the "man" that attacked them wasn't the only occupant of this dark, deserted home. The house is full of inhuman "creatures"at various stages of deformity.

Meanwhile, the neighborhood teens have noticed where the "outsiders" have run to. They know the reputation of this house: no one who enters has ever come out alive. They go to the house of a veteran of the neighborhood and seek his assistance. They call the police and await their response. While they wait, Perry, the veteran resident, reminisces about the neighborhood, and recalls a time when the neighbors knew and talked to one another, a time when the police responded when there was an issue. He discusses the sad state the neighborhood is in now, and then decides to take a stand. The group decides to break into the home and rescue the trapped teens.

Keene does another stellar job with this newest book. He consistently succeeds at horrifying his readers. The perseverance that each of the trapped teens exhibits is commendable. The initial stereotypes they each have eventually fades away as they attempt to survive this house of extreme horror. I recommend this to any fan of horror fiction, but due to the level of gore, I sincerely warn those with a weak stomach to avoid it!

Thank you to Dorchester Publishing for providing a copy of Urban Gothic

for review.

It's 1498 in Venice, Italy. Luciano is a homeless street beggar. He survives by pickpocketing and stealing food from street merchants. Until one day he is literally dragged from the streets by the Ferro, the top chef to the Doge. Luciano is brought into the Doge's palace as an apprentice to Ferro. He goes from begging for his meals to three hot meals a day and a warm, dry place to sleep.

Luciano witnesses a murder and immediately reports it to the Chef. The Chef doesn't seem to be very surprised. There has been discussion about a mysterious book of knowledge, a book that, among many things, reportedly has a spell for everlasting life. The doge, suffering from syphilis, becomes obsessed with finding the location of this book. The Catholic Church wants to obtain it because it's said to contain the missing books of the Bible, and if these land in the wrong hands, the Church will lose it's strength over the populace. And finally, Luciano himself is interested in the "love potion" the book purportedly contains, for he has fallen in love with Francesca, a young nun.

Luciano soon learns that book everyone is searching for is not some spell book, but one that is right under their noses.

The Book of Unholy Mischief

is a very descriptive and engaging story. It is evident that Newmark did her research, for the descriptions of Venice and of Rome are detailed and accurate. The descriptions of food are so vivid, I swear I could taste and smell the lavish meals.

Critiques of this book mentioned its similarities to The DaVinci Code. I don't believe this to be a fair comparison, for The Book of Unholy Mischief

has much more depth. The characters are more compelling and developed. It's not only a story about the hunt for a mysterious book, but also deals with the lives of the two main characters and how fate seemed to have brought them together.

Bottom line, this is a book I waited far to long to discover!

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of this book for me to review!

Copyright by Supremebeing
SUPREMEBEING ARE FEELING FESTIVE THIS DECEMBER WITH TWO GREAT REASONS TO CHECK OUT THEIR WEBSITE FOR SOME GREAT PIECES OF ART WORK.
With Supremebeing'sAutumn/Winter 2011/12 collection taking inspiration from Mountain Culture and with the snow finally making its presence this weekend, now seems the perfect time to release 8 Limited Edition (only 25 each) Art Prints, from the in house designers at Supremebeing.
Each print is an original design from one of eight of Supremebeing's most greatest T Shirts from A/W 2011/12 and include the Mont Bar Bear, Piste, Polar (Bear) and Vos Vader Wolf.
So if you you are looking for the perfect Christmas gift for an art loving street wear bod, then look no further - but be quick theres only 25 of each remember!
And if thats not enough, then to add to to the festive cheer the oh so generous guys at Supremebeing are giving you the chance to WIN a one off original piece of art work by Street Artist Bue the Warrior - taken from Supremebeing's White Canvas Project exhibition. the piece of artwork is an up-cycled fold out table painted by Bue and is a one off piece! To be in a chance to win all you have to do is go to Supremebeing’s Facebook page and like the competition image, followed by answering a simple question.
The competition will end on the 5th January 2012 and the winner will be announced on Facebook as well as receiving an email.

SUPREMEBEING LTD EDT ART PRINTS

VIA Limited Edition Art Prints

VIA Rachel Nichols 2America Beautiful Actress 2011 tops

Yesterday was the long awaited Twin Cities Book Festival. I got to Minneapolis on Friday night and was excited to see a Borders right across the street from my hotel. I went there right away of course, but didn't end up buying anything. That, of course, doesn't mean I didn't buy anything on Saturday.

This is the nice stack I came away with. To be fair four of these books are literary magazines (which were only $2 each, it's amazing I didn't just buy the entire table) and one of the magazines is for a friend. I got two issues of Creative Nonfiction, a magazine I love for obvious reasons but rarely get. I talk about Number 31 yesterday in my Awesome Essays post because the subject is publishing and writing in 2025, which seemed to be a huge theme in the panel discussions I went to. Check out that post to share your ideas! I also got Number 23, which is about Mexican-American writers, something I've recently become interested in. I got a little poetry magazine called Bateau and the Alaska Quarterly Review for my friend Michael.

As far as actual books, I got the first comic book in the Fables series, A Blue So Dark by Holly Schindler (the publicist, Courtney, did a great job selling the book to me), and If You Lived Here You'd Already Be Home by John Jodzio from Replacement Press. I'm super excited to read all of these!

Yesterday was a very long and exciting day. Right away in the morning I met Reagan from Miss Remmers Review, Sheila from Book Journey, Kim from Sophisticated Dorkiness, and Alea from Pop Culture Junkie. We all had a great chat about books and life before heading over to Sheila's panel discussion about the future of publishing. Her panel was awesome-- and Kim and I said that she answered all the blogger questions just how we would have answered them. After the panel we browsed some of the tables where publishers and authors were promoting their books.

It was a huge crowd! I was excited to see so many people interested in books all in one room. We all went to get lunch with Liz from Consumed By Books and Joanne from Jo Jo Loves to Read. We talked about books (more) and life (more) and then headed back to the festival because Kim, Alea, and I wanted to go to a panel about comic books and comics that Bill Willingham was speaking at. I never realized there was such a great comics scene in Minneapolis and I'll definitely be checking into the other speakers' work as well.

Later at night Sheila, Reagan, Kim, and I went to Borders for awhile and I found a bunch of books I wanted but didn't buy any, which I think deserves a round of applause. Then my boyfriend met up with us and we went to a Chinese place for dinner.

Take One: Reagan, Sheila, me, and Kim.

Take 423: Reagan, Sheila, me, and Kim.

So that was my fun exciting time at the Twin Cities Book Festival. Hopefully I'll get to go again next year and we can do another Midwest Book Blogger meet-up again soon!

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

VIA Rachel McAdams joins 2010 best

VIA Metal Summer Jam

The recent illegal construction of a residential building, which has partially blocked the view of Giza Pyramid “is a blatant encroachment of Egypt’s building laws which restrict urban housing in a five km radius from the Giza plateau,” Coordinator of the Popular Front to Defend Antiquities Osama Karar told Youm7 Saturday.

“If encroachments of building residential units in the area continue at the same rate witnessed since the January 25 Revolution, the Giza Pyramids won’t be seen from more than 30-meters away,” said Karar in response to photos published in Youm7 Friday.

The photos show an under-construction residential building located in Abu el-Houl street, walking distance from the foot of the Sphinx. The photos also show mobile network towers installed on rooftops, within the perimeter of the area where construction is restricted.

“Several residential buildings, with ranging from 5 to 11 stories tall, are being built in streets located less than 200 meters from the Giza Pyramids area. It is a blatant encroachment,” he added.

The Giza Plateau is part of a zone of 50 square kilometers that is protected by UNESCO, which stretches to the funerary complex at Saqqara, further south.

“The ancient ruins of the Memphis area , including the Pyramids of Giza , Saqqara , Dahshur , Abu Ruwaysh , and Abu Sir, were collectively designated a World Heritage site in 1979,” archaeologist Sherif el-Sabban told The Cairo Post Saturday.

Following the 2011 revolution and the lack of proper security, private construction companies demolished some of the area’s old villas and 4-story residential buildings and replaced them with tall, residential buildings that encroach on the neighborhood’s small alleyways.

Karar says that bureaucracy, a lax approach from the government in implementing building code along with corruption issues are common in Egypt’s official bodies issuing building permits, and represent a threat to Egypt’s cultural heritage.

“The Ministry of Antiquities seems unwilling to admit failure, but the Egyptian government should take action to ensure that archaeological sites do not end up in a disaster,” he said.

Author: Rany Mostafa | Source: The Cairo Post [April 12, 2015]

Today's Memory Monday guest is one of my favorite people to chat with! Katelyn is hilarious and fun and I always leave our conversations with a smile on my face. I'm so excited that she's my guest today, so let's show her lots of love!!

BIO

My name is Katelyn and I’m the crazy blogger behind Katelyn’s Blog (catchy title, huh?). When I’m not reading, my time is mostly taken up by my family (3 brother + 2 sisters + 3 dogs = LOTS of madness), college (hope to become a high school math/English teacher), and working (I’ve got to pay for my book/shoe/food addictions somehow).The only two things that keep sane during my crazy days are books and music. I love to read anything young adult but my heart beats a little stronger for contemporary fiction. I am a total fan-girl to Sarah Dessen, Melina Marchetta, Jennifer Echols, Simone Elkeles, We The Kings, Taylor Swift, and Augustana. You can always ask me for a book or music recommendations because I’m pretty awesome like that!

MEMORY POST

When Ashley first asked me if I wanted to do a Memory Monday post, I instantly said HECK YES! I love Ashley hard core so it was a no-brainer. However, when I got to thinking about what book-loving memory I would like to talk about, I drew a complete blank. My initial instinct was to make up a corny story of how my grandpa taught me to read (my grandpa teaching me to read is not made up but the books he used would have most likely been complete fibs because I can’t remember any of them! *insert sad Katelyn here*) but then my morals got the better of me and I decided to tell as much of a truthful memory as I could. I then proceeded to call up my best friend Kati. It was in the middle of dialing her number that I was struck with inspiration. Kati is my best friend. Kati loves to read much like myself. Kati and I have shared great memories with books. It was the biggest Ah-ha moment EVER!

Kati and I have been best friends since the sixth grade. That is nearly NINE years! Over the years we have shared a crazy amount of laughs, a few tears, and more than enough AWESOME memories to last a lifetime, and yes, many of those memories do stem around our book-loving nerdiness.

There have been many times where I’ve thrown books into Kati’s hands simply saying, “Read this now, you will love it,” and she has done the same for me. One book, or series in fact, is called The Secret Society Girl and it is written by an author I simply adore, Diana Peterfreund. Kati told me I would read the whole series within a few days, laugh my butt off, want to it be a movie, and then move to Hollywood because I’ll want to put my superb (HAHA!) acting skills to the test so I could play the main character, Amy. Well let me tell you, Kati couldn’t have been more right! This series is downright hilarious and I will recommend it time and time again to any person off the street.

In this series, we follow a young woman named Amy as she struggles through her last two years at a major university, Eli College. During the end of her senior year, Amy is “tapped” into a secret society that up until that point was an all male society. Throughout the course of the four book series, we see Amy as she tries to make it through her classes, her roles in the society, and her fair share of relationship issues. Amy’s outlook on life, her sense of humor, and the way she speaks her mind will have you rolling on the floor laughing. However, for Kati and I, this book has become so much more than just an enjoyable read, it has become a tradition for us!

Every year the two of us girls go on at least one trip together. A few years ago my family, along with Kati and I, went to Tennessee to stay in a log cabin. The year after that, Kati and I flew out to California to visit her aunt. Just this past spring, we took a trip to Myrtle Beach with Kati’s mom and her best friend. While all these trips were unique and special in their own way, there was one important constant between them and that is The Secret Society Girl series went wherever we went. Every time we would pack to leave for a trip we would make sure that Amy and all her society members were packed in the suitcase too. It always started off with Kati reading the first book while I read a different book I brought on the trip. After she was finished with the first book, she moved onto the second book while I started the first. By the end of our trip, we would both have the series read, and a whole slew of memories to remember years later.

Now when I re-read The Secret Society Girl series, I am reminded of all the fun times Kati and I shared on our trips together. I can think about the creepy caves we went to in Tennessee and our fun times at Dollywood. I remember nearly drowning TWICE in California and all of the great food we ate (yummmm!). And I can now look back on our trip to Myrtle Beach and think of the ducks we fed, the seagulls that tried to eat me, and the crazy sunburns we got in the most uncomfortable places.

During each trip, The Secret Society Girl series seemed almost like an afterthought but looking back now I can see that is not the case. By reading this book during each trip with Kati, I am able to easily recall all the awesome times we had together. Each time I read it I am reminded of something funny that happened, which with the two of us is quite frequent. I am reminded of just how lucky we are to be able to share so many amazing moments together. But most importantly I am also reminded of just how great my best friend is. (It is cheesy I know, but it is the truth!)

I’d like to thank Ashley for having me today! Let it be known that if Ashley were to live in Michigan with us, she would have no doubt been an exceedingly perfect addition to mine and Kati’s pack!

Katelyn, you are SO welcome! I loved this post and am once again reminded (that's what, 5 times now?) that I need to give this series a read! Thanks so much for sharing your crazy fun memories with us!:)

Most of the archaeological sites and features, which date back to prehistoric, classical, medieval and early modern periods, were discovered as a result of stringent planning permit monitoring procedures and field surveys carried out by MEPA and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage (SCH).

These newly unearthed archaeological sites include extensive areas characterised by a high density of prehistoric and classical pottery scatters, classical tombs, rural walls with long stretches of megaliths and ashlar stones, historic paths, ancient enclosures and water systems. Rural structures worthy of preservation such as giren (corbelled huts), apiaries and small vernacular buildings were also identified.

These archaeological sites and features are of local and national importance and contribute towards the understanding of the cultural landscape of the area.

A number of single chamber tombs and small catacombs have been recorded in Mġarr and Żebbiegħ. These tombs indicate a well established human presence in the classical period and could provide data for establishing the location of settlements and ancient roads in this period. The classical period features provide an archaeological landscape which is distinct from the prehistoric one, even if both overlap the same geographical space.

The undeveloped landscape in Mġarr and Żebbiegħ is characterized by the presence of extensive stretches of karstland, interspersed with small pockets of reclaimed agricultural areas. Within the surviving karstland, a large number of cart-rut systems and ancient quarries are recorded. An industrial site containing a kiln complete with water channels and a cistern has also been discovered. Some of these rock-cut archaeological features date as far back as the Bronze Age.

As expected, within such a primarily natural landscape characterized by active agricultural areas, one comes across a number of traditional rural structures in various degrees of conservation. These rural structures include old pathways, apiaries, giren, animal pens (some of which underground), cisterns, silos, post-holes, vine trenches and water channels which have a varying level of cultural or historic importance, but which collectively presents one of the most interesting agricultural and historically rural landscape in Malta.

A WWII shelter at Jubilee Square (Wesgħat il-Ġublew) and Fisher Street have also been scheduled by the Authority.

This area, with its substantial number of archaeological sites as well as rural and military heritage features is one of the most complete and complex rural and cultural landscapes in Malta with a history that spans over 7,000 years.

Source: Malta Today [December 23, 2014]

This week's Top Ten Tuesday at The Broke and Bookish is favorite book quotes. Luckily I have a lot of these! In no particular order:

1. "I had that terrible feeling you get when you realize that you're stuck with who you are, and there's nothing you can do about it. I mean, you can make characters up, like I did when I became like a Jane Austen-y person on New Year's Eve, and that gives you some time off. But it's impossible to keep it going for long." A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
2. "Sometimes, I look outside, and I think that a lot of other people have seen this snow before. Just like I think that a lot of other people have read those books before. And listened to those songs. I wonder how they feel tonight." The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you." Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
4. "Sometimes I think that knowledge--when it's knowledge for knowledge's sake, anyway--is the worst of all. The least excusable certainly." Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
5. "It is simply wrong to love music halfway." Perfect From Now On by John Sellers (I love this book! I've never mentioned this on her before because I forgot but I really, really love this book!)
6. "And so now, having been born, I'm going to rewind the film, so that my pink blanket flies off, my crib scoots across the floor as my umbilical cord reattaches, and I cry out as I'm sucked back between my mother's legs. She gets really fat again. Then back some more as a spoon stops swinging and a thermometer goes back into its velvet case. Sputnik chases its rocket trail back to the launching pad and polio stalks the land. There's a quick shot of my father as a twenty-year-old clarinetist, playing an Artie Shaw number into the phone, and then he's in church, age eight, being scandalized by the price of candles; and next my grandfather is untaping his first U.S. dollar bill over a cash register in 1931. Then we're out of American completely; we're in the middle of the ocean, the sound track sounding funny in reverse. A steamship appears, and up on a deck a lifeboat is curiously rocking; but then the boat docks, stern first, and we're up on dry land again, where the film unspoolls, back at the beginning..." Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
7. "Youth and death shed a halo through which it is difficult to see a real face--a face one might see today in the street or here in my studio." Moments of Being by Virginia Woolf
8. "Everything she said was like a secret voice speaking straight out of my own bones." The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
9. "If I broke down here, what would that mean/ Was I not as strong as my father had been?/ But I think I can fight this all on my own/ With a handful of happiness that never was shown/" The Doctor's Waiting Room by Joshua Partington, Part of the anthology Revolution on Canvas
10. "Buy why think about that when all the golden land's ahead of you and all kinds of unforeseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you're alive to see?" On the Road by Jack Kerouac

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

Lock of architectural hair

Contextual conformity

VIA «Figurative facade for a beauty salon»

Hello blogging world! I am officially back in my own house in Iowa City. I'm still not freshened up from my trip, there is laundry and unpacking to do, but I couldn't wait another day to write a blog post. I had every intention of posting more while I was absent, but if I'm being totally honest I loved the break from blogging. I think I really needed it. And now I'm back to bombard with you with pictures from my trip. Jason and I hit up four countries and five cities in seventeen days. It was crazy.

We landed in Amsterdam first, and that was the only place I blogged from. It was also my favorite place we visited. I loved biking around the city and how Amsterdam is a city yet really feels more like a small town.

Favorite Amsterdam moment: Absolutely everything was closed on New Year's Day, so we ended up renting bikes and just riding around all day. It was frustrating at the time because none of our plans worked out, but now that I know we got to do everything we wanted (pretty much) I look back on that day with a great fondness.

From Amsterdam we took a short day trip to Brussels where there is a comic strip museum. Count me excited! Brussels also has a ton of amazing food and was probably the best food we had over the course of our trip.

Favorite Brussels moment: My mouth is still watering over the mulled wine and scalloped potatoes with ham and cheese. What a delicious snack. The comic strip museum was a lot of fun as well, although their gift shop was a huge letdown. Their English selection was one shelf. So yeah, the food wins.

Our next stop was Berlin, which is must say is one of the strangest cities I have ever visited. There is so much street art and punk culture there, which I really loved, but I found that the people were very abrupt. Not rude, just a little harsh. The way Berlin exists today is also about as old as I am, which was weird. You can really see the history of WWII and Communism there, which only makes the city feel harsher.

Favorite Berlin moment: I really loved this particular section of the Berlin Wall, but it's not my favorite moment. I'd have to say the best thing we did in Berlin was visit this bar called Kaufbar. You could buy the vintage furniture in there and they played awesome music. It was a very relaxing environment and felt more like a normal coffeeshop in the United States than a bar.

We took a day trip to Prague from Berlin. All we really had time for was a tour of the city and then some time at bars that evening. This is where we met one thousand Australians because they are all on summer holiday right now. I've met one Australian my whole life and I go to Europe and meet all of them. Crazy.

Favorite Prague moment: We stayed a night in Prague and after having a crazy day where we tried to see everything it was really nice to wake up the next morning and just wander around. Prague is a really beautiful place and the train ride there was even more beautiful.

Our final stop was Munich. We were getting fairly tired at this point but we still did quite a bit. We visited Hofbrauhaus, Dachau, Neuschwanstein, and did some shopping. They love their beer in Munich, so it was a pretty fun place to turn 21 for an American.

Favorite Munich moment: Even though it's not in Munich, the best day we had was my birthday (at least I think it was the best day). I was super hungover but visiting Neuschwanstein was so much fun. Pictures really don't do justice to the beauty of the snow covered forest on the walk up to the castle. It was a fairy tale birthday.

So that's my trip in a tiny nutshell. I had an amazing time and got just the break I needed. Jason and I are already talking about where we want to visit next!

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

Today's Award Winning Wednesday post is the first that isn't being written about books I read during this challenge. I read two of Jim Murphy's award winners long before this challenge started. But, since the Newbery Non-fiction winners get a little overlooked (in my opinion) I wanted to talk about some of it today.

Jim Murphy wrote The Great Fire (the big Chicago fire) and An American Plague (about the yellow fever epidemic in 1793). He's written many, many other books, but these are his Newbery Honor winners that I've read. (He might have one or two more, but I can't remember off hand).

I believe Jim Murphy to be a pretty much perfect writer of non-fiction for children. His writing is very easy to follow, easy to understand but it isn't basic. He doesn't dumb the history down, or assume that his readers are going to be stupid. And, something I believe to be very important when writing history for young kids — he tells the history like a story. It makes it more interesting for kids (... for adults too, actually) and the storyline is easier to follow because it's not just a parade of facts.

And Jim includes 'characters'. He'll pull real life experiences and thoughts/writings from people who lived through the event and include their experiences, and when possible, he includes photographs of them. It gives people something to latch onto, something to focus and follow, and I think it works wonderfully.

Murphy's books also include a lot of pictures, maps and writings from the actual event, and most pages include at least a small image. It gives you something to focus on and it gives you a frame of reference. In The Great Fire, every so often there is a full two page sized map of Chicago, and it shows the spread of the fire as you read about it in the book. So the street names and locations that Murphy mentions are more meaningful, because you can see the fire overtake them on these maps.

These are really great books to give to kids interested in the history of a time period, or for kids needing to write a report and unsure how to research. (More on him later, but Russell Freedman is also a Newbery nonfiction author, although he does biographies and is great to keep in mind if you work with kids) I'm interested in reading more by Murphy, even some if his that aren't Newbery titles. These are great for kids, and great starting points for adults who are interested to learn more. I highly recommend Murphy.