Music Through the Pages Schedule

Welcome to 'Music Through The Pages', a 'Summer Special' August event!

Throughout August, I'll be bringing you a series of posts linked to all things music and book-related. I'd love it if you'd join in through your own blogs, facebook, twitter, or comments on my posts.

There will be a giveaway running throughout the event, entry entries for which can be gained for each daily topic you post about.

To help you find these topic posts (which will be spread over all my blogs) and to allow you to schedule your posts wheree possible, here's a schedule of where posts will be hosted each day:


Wednesday 1st August- Introduce Yourself
Thursday 2nd August- Music To Our Ears (Giveaways launch date)
Friday 3rd August- Music That Makes My World Go Round
Saturday 4th August- Favourite Authors
Sunday 5th August- Music Book Review

Monday 6th August- Music That Inspires Writing
Tuesday 7th August- Stories That Inspire Music
Wednesday 8th August- Music That We Listen To Whilst Reading
Thursday 9th August- Writing Music
Friday 10th August- Music In Writing
Saturday 11th August- Writing in Music
Sunday 12th August- Journalling a Personal History of Music

Monday 13th August- Book Soundtrack
Tuesday 14th August- Story of a Song
Wednesday 15th August- Hymn Books
Thursday 16th August- Bookish Music Parodies
Friday 17th August- Music in Writing
Saturday 18th August- Writing in Music
Sunday 19th August- Character Interview: The Music Edition

Monday 20th August- Setting the Scene
Tuesday 21st August- Books, Music & Craft
Wednesday 22nd August-  Matching Music To Reading
Thursday 23rd August- A Culture of Music & Literature
Friday 24th August- Music in Writing
Saturday 25th August- Writing in Music
Sunday 26th August- Marking the Ocassion

Monday 27th August- A Musical Argument
Tuesday 28th August- Music of the Moment
Wednesday 29th August- Characterising an Attitude to Music
Thursday 30th August-  The Final Party
Friday 31st August- Wrap-Up Post


As yet we have no banner or button for this event. If you (or anyone you know) is able and willing to create one I'd much appreciate it. Plus, as a thankyou, I'd like to offer you the chance to win a book. Click here for details.

The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey (A Review)

Blurb:

Never had thre been as close a bonding as the one that existed between the daring and adventurous young Lord Jaxom and his extraordinary white dragon, Ruth. Pure white and incredibly agile, Ruth was a dragon of many talents, though almost everyone on Pern thought he was a runt that would never amount to anything.

My review:

I love the way this story develops out of the previous book, and yet could be taken as a tale of its own. Ruth and Jaxom have a great relationship, which really comes across in the words used to describe it. This is a coming of age tale set in a world sometimes unlike our own. And yet there are hints at something more going on here, something that deffinatly makes me want to read more of the series. Its hard not to become hooked into this wonderful place.

Action Reader's Action: Talk to the young people around you or (if you are a young person) take the time to consider advice from an elder.

Did you ever do anything against the advice of others older than you? What happened?

Pre-event Giveaway (International)

I'm the first to admit that I'm not particularly artist, so I need yor help to create banners and buttons for my summer event.
As a thankyou all who provide a banner/button for use during 'Music Through The Pages' will be entered to win a copy of 'What A Performance' by Reginald Frary, as well as getting an extra entry into the main event giveaway.
One banner and one button will be chosen for use during the event, and I'll select one of these to receive the book prize.

To enter, simply design a banner or button, post it somewhere where I can see it, and then fill in the rafflecopter below:


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Music Through The Pages: Giveaways Sign-Up List

I'll be hosting a giveaway here next month as part of my 'Music Through The Pages' event.

But I'd also like to be able to link up to any relevant giveaways you're having as a thankyou for joining in.
If you'd like your giveaway to be featured then leave a link below to your blog/twitter/facebook etc. (I'm also happy to host your giveaway here if you don't have anywhere to host it yourself- just leave your e-mail address and I'll get back to you).

Any giveaways featured must meet the following criteria:

• Take place during August
• Do not require any purchases to be made
• Should be linked to books and music, e.g. a book featuring music, a music book, bookmarks with music on them, music inspired by a book, a book and music linked to it

Stay tuned for more information on my own giveaway towards the end of the week. 

Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett (A Review)

Blurb:

The fairies are back- but this time they don't just want your teeth...

Grannt Weatherwax and her tiny coven are up against real elves.

It;s Midsummer Night. No time for dreaming...

With full supporting cast of dwarves, wizards, trolls, Morris dancers and one orang-utan. And lots of hey-nonny-nonny and blood all over the place.

Review:

Imagine Midsummer Nights Dream set in a world inhabited by wizards, dwarves and trolls, as well as the traditional fairy-folk. Set it at stonehenge and you get the most normal part of this story. This is one for those less used to fantasy, a great start into reading about other worlds. However, for those used to fantasy, its not one of the best discworld novels- somehow it just seems too normal somehow! That aside its still a good book, mainly due to the humour portayed through the classic discworld-corrupted witches as they try to put the world back to normal (whatever normal really is). 

 Action Reader's Action: Donate time or money towards a project to get children interested in classic literature.

Which Discworld race is your favourite and why?

What's your favourite Shakespeare play? Do you like Shakespeare at all?

Last week's happenings

Firstly, apologies again for the lack of updates and unexpected blogging break. Not entirely sure why this happened, but I do know that work has been exceptionally busy recently.
Anyway, enough of that, what's been happening to me this past week?

• My attempt to do a readathon go rather stalled when I temporarily lost my interest in reading. Result? Instead of increasing my reading from 30minutes per day, I only did 45 minutes over 3 days. I also didn't manage to do any challenges. Epic fail!
• I've continued to think about what I'm going to do for my Summer Readathon. So far, no-one has agreed to do an interview or guest post, but I'm still going to go ahead with a series of topic discussions based around books and music. There'll be sign up lists from next week for those who want to be entered into my giveaway or host a related giveaway of their own. Schedule will be up at the end of the month.
• We've had another Messy Church. My bookcrossing shelf seems to be going down increasingly well and I've had several offers of books, as well as some interest in it being there other than when Messy Church is on- stay tuned for more on this.
• I'm slowly making my way through a backlog of rings and rays, but now have a review request to add for them. Just as well I'll have plenty of time to read over the summer!
• I hope to be back to normal daily posting this week but, if not, it will resume next week. I'll just have to see how busy life is this week. In the meantime your patience is appreciated. 

What have you been up to over the last week?

Apologies

Apologies for the lack of updates over the last few days- life has beome unexpecedly busy.  This blog should return to normal service soon. Thanks for your patience in the meantime.

Once Upon A Readathon Goal Post

Hosted by Candace

As usual, my goal is simply to do more reading than normal. This means more than 30 minutes per day of the readathon, or 1h30mins in total over the 3 days. I also want to take part in one challenge.

Are you doing the readathon? If so, what are your goals?

Repost: I is for Independent Bookstores

Why I Feel Guilty for Not Always Buying Independent

I love my local bookshops. My town is lucky enough to have two of them: Abingdon Bookstore and Mostly Books. Abingdon Bookstore looks very professional, has a good range of gifts, and is a World Book Night distributor. Mostly Books is a great place for kids, have some brilliant events, and are really good at giving reading advice. Both stores have very friendly staff.

Whenever I walk through the main precinct I pop into Abingdon Bookstore. Whenever I'm shopping for children I go to Mostly Books. And yet, a large proportion of my book buying is done in Waterstones. Why is this? Well, its simple- because I have a loyalty card!

Isn't it so easy to get into buying somewhere just because you have some sort of store card! When I was at university Waterstones was my local store and so I, sort of, had an excuse. But now its a 30 minute drive (or bus ride), it costs at least £4 to get there, and I have independents a lot closer. I don't really have a reason except to save money!

I feel like I should support my local bookstores more. They're at the heart of our community, helping to preserve the joy of reading and promoting it to new generations. Sure, I attend their events and browse there, but I only really buy my favourite authors (and only then when I can't get them cheaper elsewhere). In the end it simply comes down to money- but I think that only if people like me are a bit more generous with theirs will the bookshops have enough to survive.

Do you have an independent bookshop near you? I'd love to hear about it!

Our Favourite Authors

Today's Topic:
Answer one of the following question (or take the title in  your own unique way) and add the link to our giveaway rafflecopter for an extra entry. Don't forget to also put something in the comments so that we all know to check it out.

• Tell us about your favourite author and why you like them
• If you could interview your faourite author what would you ask them?
• What music reminds you of your favourite author and why?

A musical take on Terry Pratchett- 5 song titles that remind me of him/his work

1. Rockin' All Over The World by Terry Pratchett Terry Pratchett is surely taking over the world with the number of books that he has written. Now it just time to make certain that he's known all over our own planet
2. Mad World by Tears for Fears Surely this title must refer to the magical and slightly bizarre discworld
3. Magical Mystery Tour by The Beatles Every Pratchett book is a new experience and you never know where the words wil take you
4. Stay With Me 'Till Dawn by Judie Tzuke What I want to do when I pick up a discworld novel
5. It's a Kind of Magic by Queen The Discworld is full of magic and strange goings on, a bit like this song by Queen

Can you do any better? If so, I'd love to know. 

Reannouncing winners

Unfortunatly, I have not received e-mails from either the '50+ Twitter Followers Giveaway' now the '10+ Networked Blog Followers Giveaway' winners. This means that I have had to pick two new winners.


a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

The new winners have been sent e-mails. They now have 1 week to respond, otherwise I will pick new winners.

Featured Independent Bookseller: Mostly Books

Location: 36 Stert Street, Abingdon-on-Thames, OX14 3JP, England

Opening Hours: 9-5 Monday-Saturday


Best features: friendly staff who are always willing to give personal book recommendations. They are especially good for children's books, but have quite a wide range for such a small shop.



What independent bookshop would you recommend?