A Race to the Finish......



As I race to finish the last of the books for the Maine Readers' Choice Award I'm beginning to feel like my furry avatar to the left...well, at least my eyes are looking like his.  I've completed six of the ten books and have pretty much enjoyed all of them.  I have my favorites and my not-so-favorite.  With only one of them in the "I-really-don't-care-for-this-book" category, it's going to be hard to order them.  The first three are pretty well set and those are the votes that matter.  I may be switching the order a bit, but these were the outstanding books to me.  Congratulations to all the semi-finalists.  Looking foward to announcing the winner at the end of next week.  Stay tuned..............................................



2013 Maine Readers' Choice Award

Yeah!  Finally we're on the Net!  Thanks to my brother-in-law, Bill Oleszczuk (http://www.williamo.com/) for designing our logo and to Holly Valero (http://hollyworks.com/) for getting our website up and running.  Thanks also to Valerie Osborne, Maine State Library Consultant, Northeastern District, for spearheading this effort and being the inaugural chair. This has all been very exciting and I hope that you'll share that excitement with us as we work toward our final list.  Our finalists will be posted in early May.  You'll then have the summer to read the books and vote for your favorite in September.  We have tentative plans to present the award at the Bangor Book Festival in October.

In the meantime, you can see our shortlist of books at http://mainereaderschoiceaward.org/the-2013-shortlist/.  I've made great progress.  I've completed three of the books (Canada, Harold Fry's Unlikely Pilgrimage, and Gone Girl.)  I am just about finished with Beautiful Ruins.  I'm well into The Lifeboat and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.  I've started Yellow Birds.  To say that I'm enjoying this is an understatement.  How do I like the books?  Well, it's hard to say.  Each book, so far, has something to recommend it being on our shortlist. But, overall, nothing has really jumped out at me.  I'll begin posting reviews shortly. 

Why don't you read along with me?

 



Ya gotta love this......

Everyone who knows me knows that I love hockey. I'm always arguing that it is a great sport that requires the most athletic players of all. Yeah, there are times when the fighting can get to be a bit much. I wish the refs would step in sooner than they usually do. However, when it's all said and done, there's a nice

camaraderie in the sport.

Well, speaking of camaraderie, here's a video that will showcase the best of sportsmanship. I believe this is from a "special" hockey program in Kitchener. The little guy is getting a helping hand in scoring a goal. The video will just leave you cheering and maybe wiping a tear or two from your eyes. The music's not too shabby either and was composed and performed for this hockey program. Enjoy!!!

 

 

Video: Helping Out a Friend

 

Lyrics: Yes I Can!