Loving Literary

Check out the New York Times Page Mark Dictionary! It serves as a bookmark, a dictionary, history lessons, word saver, and more.

New York Times Page Mark Dictionary Features -

Large four line display

Word games

Vocabulary list for saving words to remember

Daily Historical events from The New York Times

Daily Birthdays from The New York Times

400,000 definitions in the dictionary

Calculator

Why I Like This Product -

I love to learn new words. If I am reading a book and come across an unknown word I like to stop and look it up. Usually, I would use a dictionary, but you can simply type the word in on this Page Mark Dictionary and get the definition. I also enjoy reading fun facts with the “On This Day” feature where you can read history tidbits and birthdays. The clock is very handy. The games are awesome. The games on the New York Times Page Mark Dictionary are hangman, anagrams, jumble, memory challenge, tic tac toe, word blaster, word deduction, word train, and word builder.

The best part of the New York Times Page Mark Dictionary is that my kids love it! They both want one of their own. They like to look up the words by typing them in and playing the word games. It’s really easy to use. It is a wonderful educational electronic dictionary for kids. It makes a great gift for kids and book lovers.

5 Stars from Loving Literary

Art for Kids: Drawing: The Only Drawing Book You’ll Ever Need to Be the Artist You’ve Always Wanted to Be is the perfect book for kids who truly enjoy drawing. Art is a fantastic thing for anyone. Kids love to doodle, color, and sketch. This book will help them learn how to draw by teaching them basic drawing skills and techniques. They will see how any drawing begins with rough shapes and designs and how it is turned into the desired final drawing. This book shows kids how to draw people, objects and animals with pencils. Kids learn how to use shading, perceptive, line drawing, light, proportion, scale, and how to use the imagination. This book focuses on the basics of drawing with pencil and should bring your kid’s drawing to the next level.

Personal Note: My daughter (7) is serious about drawing. She loves art and she is quite talented. She got this book from her school library a couple of months back and I witnessed her drawing skills improve dramatically. She won a drawing contest at her school and will have her art in an art show. It will then go on to compete regionally, and then possibly state wide and nationally!

What’s Your Red Rubber Ball?! by Kevin Carroll is one of the most interesting books I have seen in a long time. It is fun and exciting. I recommend What’s Your Red Rubber Ball?! to anyone who does not know what to do with their careers. If you need help finding the perfect career for you (one you will be happy in) then What’s Your Red Rubber Ball?! is for you. It will help you figure out your true passion and get it involved in your life. What’s Your Red Rubber Ball?! is colorful and interesting from the first page to the last. I highly recommend this book to preteens and teens who need a little help discovering their passions. The book is fully interactive. This is not a just read book. You will have to answer some pretty hard questions, such as “What makes you laugh or smile and is a source of joy for you?”. You will even be able to create your own box of magic. What’s Your Red Rubber Ball?! comes with everything you need to make the actual box yourself. You’ll decorate the box and use it as a source of inspiration and a reminder of what really brings you joy. The whole book is customizable so it will be yours to use to chase your dreams!
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A while back I wrote about Patrick Swayze writing a memoir when the news first broke. The post is here . There wasn’t much information about his plans then, but there are more now!

This fall, 2009, Patrick Swayze and his wife of more than thirty years, Lisa Niemi will release their personal memoir.  Patrick Swayze is a famous actor known for his roles in Dirty Dancing (Ultimate Edition), Ghost (Special Collector’s Edition), The Outsiders, Road House, Keeping Mum, Next of Kin, and Black Dog. Patrick Swayze is also the star of “The Beast” on A&E.

Patrick Swayze’s book is still untitled and will be published by Atria, a division of Simon & Schuster.  In a statement released by Atria, Patrick Swayze had this to say about his book:

“With everything I’ve been fortunate enough to do in my life, and covering such a wide range of diverse subject matters, I’m told that my story has been inspirational to people. I will write from my heart about these experiences and aside from the sheer pleasure of doing it, if people happen to garner inspiration from it, or incentive, or find a new way to love, it would be wonderful.”

Patrick Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year.

Today we will take a look at the history of libraries. A library, in definition, is a collection of literature. Libraries used to be called literary repositories, but the name was eventually changed to Library. Libraries have been founded and built in thousands of cities all over the world. Some have been destroyed. The library has persevered through some tough times. There are both public and private libraries. There are school, college and university colleges. One of the largest libraries is the Library of Congress.

Throughout history, libraries have shown off some gorgeous artchitectural buildings. Most still show off great architect and contain great works of art.

The Vatican Library in Rome (a destination I aspire to travel to) is one of the most beautiful libraries with the largest collection of literature. While most of the literature is in Latin or Greek there are more than 900,000 published works. That doesn’t include the 65,000 manuscripts.

The biggest university library in the United States is the Harvard Library, which began with just 250 volumes donated by John Harvard in 1638.

Do you know some facts on library history? Comment here!

The publishing world has changed dramatically with the convenience and versatility of the Internet. It is now easier and faster than ever to publish your own book. The publishing world is also much more confusing. Traditional publishing used to be one of the only choices for an author to be. Now there are many different opportunities for writers who want to publish their own book. One downfall might be that anyone (and I mean anyone) can publish their own book. This has its pros and cons just like everything else in life. On one hand a non-writer can publish her own book for her family or for a gift. On the other hand non-writers can publish their own book and lose their entire investment in publishing a book that does not sell. The heartache of publishing is available to anyone.

These are just a few of my thoughts on how the publishing world has changed. What do you think of the many different publishing opportunities?

Join me next time for a look at these different publishing opportunities!

President Barack Obama’s inaugural speech was censored by the Chinese Communist Party. President Obama’s speech was broadcast over China Central Television (CCTV) up until he mentioned communism. Although the translated broadcast continued, the audio was cut out. This was the line from President Obama’s inaugural speech that was censored:

“Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.”

Many Chinese translations of President Obama’s speech have censored that line. The Chinese government has allowed the full inaugural speech to be published.

What’s your take on this censorship? Comment your thoughts and opinions here.

I think I can rightly say that most of us who enjoy reading books do so in bed before going to sleep, or at least in poorly lit areas. That is why book lights are so cool. They are incredibly affordable and well worth the cost if you read in bed a lot. You won’t have to have your lights on in your bedroom to be turned off before you decide to put the book down and go to sleep. That saves energy. It makes it easier (for me at least) to just relax and read, and then put the book light away with my book on my nightstand before I fall asleep. There are a few book lights to choose from. Here are some options:

When I think of science fiction I remember the first science fiction book I read, 1984 (Signet Classics) by George Orwell. Before this I had no interest in science fiction. I had never opened a book that was science fiction. However,this book was one of my English teacher’s assigned banned books to read. “Hmmm…banned book you say? It must be good!” I thought as I grabbed my copy. Of course, back then it looked quite different than the new cover you’ll see at the link above. By the way - under $10 for 1984 is a true bargain!

Anyway, I opened the book right then and there and started reading…”It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen…” What a fantastic opening line for a novel. After the second page I was drawn into Winston’s world. He was I and I was he. I smelled what he smelled, saw what he saw… This book was amazing. There were no mention (thus far) of strange electronics I couldn’t even fathom in fiction. This was science fiction? No way. I loved it!

Since then I have read the book 1984 several times over. I have read it so many times now I have lost count. Just writing about it now makes me want to pick it up and read it again. It’s much like some movies I could watch over and over again and never be bored of it (Fight Club, Signs (Vista Series)). The inner party, the voice from the telescreen, Big Brother, totalitarianism, the Thought Police, the teen girl - everything drew me in as it still does today.

1984 is a timeless story that we can always relate to in so many different ways.  If you haven’t read it, get your copy now. If you have, read it again!