Weekly Word Wednesdays

sophronize
v.
to instill with well-grounded moral principles

Strangely, the Paris Hilton book How to Sophronize Your Child never found a publisher.



Visit Save the Words to adopt this word.

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays (started on Should Be Reading) asks you to:

Grab your current read (or a book on your shelf that you've read or been wanting to read). Let the book fall open to a random page. Share two teaser sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. Don't forget to share the title and author of the book in case someone is teased into reading. Please avoid spoilers!

I've posted my teaser below. Post yours in the comment section if you'd like to share as well!


She is underdressed for the party in a sleeveless white blouse and a pair of navy shorts. Avoiding eye contact with Ben is even more difficult than she would have thought, even perched as she is on the stairs, there being an insufficient number of chairs for the thirteen celebrants of this spectacular August evening.

p. 69 of Body Surfing by Anita Shreve

Movie Mondays

Kiss the Girls

Book, 1995 by James Patterson

From the James Patterson site:

First came the stunning number-one bestseller Along Came a Spider. Now comes the scariest, most unforgettable novel in several years. In Los Angeles, a reporter investigating a series of murders is killed. In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a beautiful medical intern suddenly disappears. Washington D.C.'s Alex Cross is back to solve the most baffling and terrifying murder case ever. Two clever pattern killers are collaborating, cooperating, competing- and they are working coast to coast.

Movie, 1997 directed by Gary Fleder

Features: Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd

Tagline: A detective is searching for a deadly collector. His only hope is the woman who got away.

Kiss the Girls was the second James Patterson novel to feature forensic psychologist, Dr. Alex Cross, but it was made into a movie before the first one, Along Came a Spider (book, 1993; movie, 2001).

There are 12 other Alex Cross books by James Patterson: Jack & Jill; Cat & Mouse; Pop Goes the Weasel; Roses are Red; Violets are Blue; Four Blind Mice; The Big, Bad Wolf; London Bridges; Mary, Mary; Cross; Double Cross; and Cross Country.

Have you read any of them? Do you recommend any particular one? Do you generally read these types of novels?

Sunday Survey

Have you started reading Water for Elephants? How do you like it? Share your rating in the comment section.

5= I love it.
4= I really like it.
3= I like it.
2= It's just okay.
1= I don't like it.

Saturday Spotlight

In the spotlight today is Mitch Albom.

Quick Facts:

1. He was born on May 23, 1958 in Passaic, New Jersey.
2. He is an American best-selling author, journalist, screenwriter, playwright, radio and television broadcaster and musician.
3. He achieved national recognition for his sports writing for the Detroit Free Press, being named best sports columnist in the nation a record 13 times by the Associated Press Sports Editors.
4. He has founded three charities in Detroit, Michigan.
5. He has two Master's Degrees from Columbia University, one from the School of Journalism and one from the School of Business.

Albom's breakthrough book is a memoir, Tuesdays with Morrie (1997). Here's what he says about it:

"The last class of my old professor's life took place once a week in his house, by a window in the study where he could watch a small hibiscus plant shed its pink leaves. The class met on Tuesdays. It began after breakfast. The subject was The Meaning of Life. It was taught from experience... Although no final exam was given, you were expected to produce one long paper on what was learned. That paper is presented here. The last class of my old professor's life had only one student. I was the student."


His follow-up work is a fictional book entitled The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003). Here's what he says about it:

"This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun. It might be strange to start a story with an ending. But all ending are beginnings. We just don't know it at the time..."


Albom's next novel, For One More Day (2006), is another best-seller. Here's what he says about it:

“This is a story about a family and, as there is a ghost involved, you might call it a ghost story. But every family is a ghost story. The dead sit at our tables long after they have gone.”


He has also written two sports books, Bo and Fab Five.




In addition, his most memorable columns from the Detroit Free Press are featured in four editions of Live Albom.

Have you read any of Albom's books? Which one is your favorite? Did you know he was a sportswriter?