Riding With No Hands

Delightful Books (& a giveaway!)

Books are always a welcome gift!

For the kids:

I love giving my girls a holiday-themed book every year. We pack them up with all the Christmas decorations, so pulling out the collection and reading in front of the fireplace is something really special that we look forward to. Usborne Books offers some really great books for any season. I hosted a party about a year ago or so, and got an entire library of wonderful books out of it. Kristie, a wonderful Usborne Books consultant, has a great blog with lots of gift ideas and promotions. Check it out or click here to shop the online catalog. Two of our favorite Usborne holiday books:

For Mom:

One of my favorite books of the recent months is The One Hundred, by Project Runway judge and fashion magazine editor Nina Garcia. It’s meant to be “A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own” and I think it really accomplishes that.

Nina provides a list of her favorite items, most classic pieces that I agree with. Her writing style is enjoyable, and the illustrations are fantastic. I usually don’t judge a book by its cover, but the cover of this one is beautiful! It would be a great gift for just about any woman in your life!

The One Hundred inspired me to take a look at what I have in my closet. I only own a handful of the articles on her list, so I still have a lot to work on ;) . If you’re in need of a little fashion inspiration, pick it up on Amazon.com or at your local bookstore!

For Dad:

For years Americans have turned to LIFE Magazine to provide us with an inside look at some of the most important events and people of our time. In The American Journey of Barack Obama, the editors of LIFE focus on our now President-Elect, Barack Obama. You get a glimpse of his entire life in beautiful photos, from his boyhood, to his years in Chicago and Washington, up until as recently as August of this year. Included is a narrative biography with a lovely foreword by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and essays by some of LIFE’s finest writers.

The American Journey of Barack Obama wouldn’t only make a great gift for Dad, it would be a wonderful book for just about anyone. You can find it on Amazon.com or at your favorite bookstore… or try your luck at WINNING a copy right here! Just leave a comment telling me what one of your favorite books is at the moment.

For extra entries:

  • Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post.
  • Grab my button and link to me in your sidebar or blog roll.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry. If you don’t have a blog, don’t fret - you can also get an extra entry by sharing this post. Just email it to three of your friends and CC me in the email: mariana[at]ridingwithnohands.com

US entries only. Please leave a valid email address or blog URL in your comment. This contests ends at 11:59 pm EST on December 12th, 2008. Winner will be chosen via random.org, and has 48 hours to claim their prize.

December 2, 2008 | Book Review, Books & Music, Giveaway, Holiday Gift Guide '08, Holiday Giveaways | 6 Comments 

The Faith of Barack Obama


I read The Faith of Barack Obama, by Stephen Mansfield, last month, but completely forgot to post a review. I was busy with the sale of my house, and all that… but I digress.

At this time next week, we’re (hopefully) going to know who our next President will be. Whether you’re still undecided or already have your heart set on who you’re voting for, it seems especially important at this moment to learn as much about the Presidential candidates as we possibly can.

The Faith of Barack Obama is a short book, at only 140-or-so pages, and an easy read. Stephen Mansfield has been open about not voting for Obama, but you can’t tell this from his writing. I found it to be unbiased, very well-researched, and not overly political at all. He provides the reader with a concise, yet informative introduction to Obama, and the position that faith holds in his life.

Starting with the chronology on the first page, this book is full of facts about Obama’s life - everything from his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia, to his years at Trinity United Church, and his work as a community organizer in Chicago. All factors that influenced his faith and shape his current political views.

My favorite part of the book is Chapter 5 - Four Faces of Faith - where Mansfield compares the religious beliefs of John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and George Bush, with what he’s said in previous chapters about Barack Obama. The comparisons are quite perceptive, yet fair-minded, with a unique outlook on these important political figures that I’ve never encountered anywhere else.

Regardless of who you’re voting for next Tuesday, The Faith of Barack Obama is a must-read book to understand the background of the man who may be our next President.

You can find it for sale on Amazon.com.

October 29, 2008 | Book Review | 4 Comments 

The verdict is in…


This giveaway is CLOSED!

The Brass Verdict, that is - and I’m hooked! Michael Connelly’s latest work is the kind of book that you start reading and can’t put down. This is his 20th novel, and I’m ashamed to say the first I’ve read by him. It’s a combination of my two favorite genres - a legal thriller and a mystery all in one.

Connelly brings together, for the first time, his two most popular characters from previous novels  - detective Harry Bosch and attorney Mickey Haller - which in itself is a risky act, but he does it flawlessly. Haller narrates, and is story really is captivating. You can sense the fear in his voice when he realizes there may be a possible hit out on him, and you sympathize with him when he’s feeling alienated after his recent divorce. What I regret is not reading The Lincoln Lawyer first to learn more about his character.

I still have about a quarter of the book left to read so I couldn’t give away the ending even if I tried, but I hear there’s a surprising twist - and now you have a chance to read it along with me!

The publisher, Little, Brown and Company, is giving three of my readers a copy of The Brass Verdict. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post. You MUST include an email address!

There are a few ways to get some extra entries:

  • Sign up for my feed (or let me know if you already do).
  • Blog about the contest and link back to this post.
  • Grab my button and link to me in your sidebar or blog roll.
  • Stumble my homepage and leave your Stumble Upon name in the comment.
  • Add my blog to your Technorati favorites.

If you don’t have a blog, don’t fret - you can also get an extra entry by sharing this post. Just email it to three of your friends and CC me in the email: mariana[at]ridingwithnohands.com

Please submit a separate comment for each task that you complete. I’ll announce the winners at 10pm (EST) next Saturday night  - October 25th. All books will be sent directly from the publisher. If you just can’t wait to see if you won to read the book, you can find it at your local bookstore or Amazon.com. It just came out this week.

Good luck! Be sure to check out Michael Connelly’s official website to see if he’ll be doing a reading in your area anytime soon.

October 19, 2008 | Book Review, Giveaway | 30 Comments 

Note to Self: On Keeping a Journal and Other Dangerous Pursuits

Dangerous pursuits… hmm. Doesn’t that pique your curiosity? It did mine.

In Note to Self: : On Keeping a Journal and Other Dangerous Pursuits, Samara O’Shea takes on the topic of journal-writing. Judging from its title, I knew it wouldn’t just be a typical how-to guide, and I was right. Through sharing her own journal entries and experiences, Samara presents the reader with ideas to help create an effective journal that ultimately can turn into something life-changing.

To put it simply, writing in a journal is a means of expressing yourself. Many people think that you have to be a good writer to do this, but in the first chapter Samara declares, “If you’re a thinker, then you’re a writer, for writing is simply thoughts making their way to paper.” She makes it sound so easy, doesn’t she? Samara presents a different method of expression in each chapter. A few of her suggestions follow:

Express yourself

  • in other people’s words, by copying poetry, song lyrics, and/or quotes into your journal.
  • in an unsent letter.
  • in a stream of consciousness; choose a word, an emotion, or ask yourself a question and just write, uninterruptedly.
  • in a specialty journal - travel, book, dream, restaurant, weightloss - the possibilities are endless!
  • with goals and lists.
  • online, through blogging.

One of my favorite elements of the book is how she incorporates not only her own journal entries, but also those of famous historic figures, such as John Wilkes Booth, Tennessee Williams, Lewis Carroll, and Anne Frank, just to name a few. I remember flipping through the Diary of Anne Frank in school, but never delved deep into it. It’s now on my “must read” list.

I remember having multiple diaries when I was a little girl. You know - the ones with the cheap little lock and the key that I hid so well I could never find it. I’m sure those diaries are lost at this point, and I doubt I wrote anything of much importance, but I would love to go back to them and see what that girl was like. I also kept a journal during the time I was living in New York, and right after I dropped out of NYU and moved to the DC area. I found solace through writing. As Samara says in the introduction to the book - “It’s like crying - you don’t know why, but you feel so much better afterwards.” That particular journal was undeniably personal, so rather than bending over backwards to hide it, I chose to tear out most of the pages. Destroying it seemed so much easier than dealing with the consequences of it falling into anyone else’s hands. Samara shares a story of what happened when her boyfriend read her journal… I won’t give it away, but I’m sure you can surmise that it involves heartbreak. Now that I have two daughters, though, I do regret not saving my journals and diaries to share with them in the future.

Samara writes in a no-nonsense, yet completely charming style that makes Note to Self so easy to read. I felt like I was having a conversation with the older sister I never had. Even the journal entries from her younger years are a pleasure to read. You can tell this girl was meant to be a writer! This book would be the perfect gift for a college student, along with a new journal. One chapter is particularly explicit however, so I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone younger.

Note to Self has provided me with so much to think about, though I’m not sure if I’m inspired enough to start writing in a private journal again. Having said that, I’ll definitely use Samara’s suggestions in my blog and look forward to answering some of the questions she poses in future posts. I can easily see myself going back to this book again and again!

Do you write in a journal?

Samara O’Shea writes for the Huffington Post and has her own letter-writing business. Her first book, For the Love of Letters: A 21st-Century Guide to the Art of Letter Writing, stemmed from that. You can find her at http://www.letterlover.net.

August 22, 2008 | Book Review, Nostalgia | Comments? 

I say, hello my chile friends!

I should’ve posted this in the previous entry about Cinco de Mayo, but I forgot. I forget oh-so-many things these days!

books

In any case, it’s never too late to recommend a good book. The following are two of my daughter’s favorites, and just happen to be Latin-themed.

Mañana Iguana, by Ann Whitford Paul and illustrated by Ethan Long

This book is what inspired us to have our own “fiesta” last week. It’s like “The Little Red Hen,” but in the desert. The illustrations are great; so descriptive that Marsy can practically tell the story herself, just by looking at the pictures. It’s one of the select bedtime books that we read almost every night.

Hola Jalapeño, by Amy Wilson Sanger

Hola Jalapeño
I say, hello my chile friend.
Señorita Quesadilla,
cheese is melting out your end…

The artwork in this book is beautiful and I love the rhythm of it. Being Mexican-American, it’s nice to be able to introduce my daughters to vocabulary that we definitely must know but don’t encounter that often.

My only complaint is that it’s too short! This is a small, but sturdy, board-book; I would love to see something similar geared more towards preschoolers on up. Maybe it’s out there, just haven’t found it yet.

Sanger has written an entire series of “World Snack” books. The next one on our to-buy list is the First Book of Sushi! I’ll let you know what I think of that one when the time comes.

*** A big THANK YOU to aunt Margaret for introducing us to “Hola Jalapeño.”

Lastly, this is not a book, but a big hit in baby’s toy box:

LeapFrog Learn & Groove Counting Maracas

Sing, dance, count, and learn your colors, all in one small toy! Of the pair of maracas, one is a basic maraca that just rattles, the other is battery-powered and has 3 modes - numbers, colors, and music. Depending on the mode, each shake of the maraca leads to counting up from 1 to 10 in English or Spanish, or introduces 6 colors, also in both languages. It even lights up, which is absolutely spellbinding to baby in her dim bedroom.

I do warn against leaving these in baby’s crib - I awoke several mornings to loud banging before I was finally smart enough to remove them at night.

I love the volume control option because the music and counting can get annoying after a while. The lowest setting is quiet tolerable. I do tend to tune this kind of “noise” out, but It turns itself off after a few minutes, so no worries. We’ve had it since Christmas and have yet to replace the batteries.

Right now, the only problem we have is that older sis likes the electronic maraca, too. For now I just give baby the other maraca and that appeases her, but I don’t know how much longer she can be fooled!

May 15, 2008 | Book Review, Kids, Product Review | 1 Comment