Winner Delayed

My birthday giveaway ended last night.  I am going for an out-of-town overnight trip and will not be back until late tomorrow (Thursday) night.  I'll have the winner posted on Friday.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  Anyone can playing along!  Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away!  You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

Her grandparents did not scold her for going to the stone wall.  They were all unusually silent as they ate lunch.
P. 115 An Acceptable Time (Time Quintet #5) by Madeleine L'Engle 

Blog Nation

My blog has recently been added to Book Review Blogs, which is part of one of the largest networks of blog directories on the Web. Please visit my blog's personal page to vote for my blog and comment to other blog users.

Book Review: The Lady is a Champ by Carol Polis

I am no longer implementing the MPAA rating system in my reviews.  For many books it is too hard to figure out exactly where it fits.  It all depends on the maturity of the reader, really.




It was never her goal in life, but it came to be.  Carol Polis was the first female judge in boxing history.  She grew up not caring for the sport.  Her dad and brothers watched it on TV, but she didn't really pay attention.  However, she ended up marrying, her second marriage I believe, a boxing referee.  Watching him he encouraged her to keep score.  It kept her interested in the matches.  Seeing her scorecard, they knew there was something special.  They were her husband Bob Polis and Zach Clayton, the Philadelphia State Athletic Commissioner at the time.

What helped Polis as a judge was that she wasn't a fan of boxing, so she wasn't distracted by getting to see so-and-so box.  Only once did she get swayed by a "crush" on a boxer.  She learned from her mistake and focused in between both boxers rather than on one in particular.

Through her career as a judge, which was not her full-time "day" job as there just wasn't enough money in it, Carol Polis got to do many things.  She met many famous boxers.  She traveled overseas and over hemispheres, her favorite place being Italy.  Sadly, it caused her to divorce Bob Polis.  She kept getting jobs and he didn't.  Though they, people in charge of boxing, I think it was the WBA, did not say it, they did not want the two working together.  She was a judge and he a referee, but the two positions were connected.  I think this caused anger in him which in turn caused their marriage to fail.

Nothing deterred Carol.  She did her job.  She loved her job.  Her entrance into the boxing world allowed other females to becomes boxing judges.  It was a step in the right direction for women.

A wonderful story has been told of the boxing world from the eyes of the first female judge.  We get to see the insides of a world full of corruption and mayhem.  We meet the shady characters attracted to this sport, but we also meet good guys along the way.

Not being a fan of boxing I found this to be a fabulous read.  Carol takes the reader into her life and on the sidelines of the boxing ring.  The only problem with her storytelling is sometimes she would go on a tangent and lose us, or well, me, in the timeline of events.

I read this book as a review request using the Kindle App on my laptop.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.

Happy Birthday Giveaway

My birthday's coming up, August 11 to be exact.  For my birthday I am hosting a special Happy Birthday Giveaway running from August 8 to August 14.  One winner will get to choose from this selection of books.  I hope there is one in here you will enjoy!

Winner will choose one of the following:
Selected Short Stories by D.H. Lawrence, Spring Break (Pacific Cascades University #4) by Wendy Nentwig, Married to Bhutan by Linda Leaming, Delicacy by David Foenkinos, A Hole in the Ground Owned by a Liar by Daniel Pyne, Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman, V. by Thomas Pynchon, Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, Here Today by Ann M. Martin, Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard, A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok, Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  Anyone can playing along!  Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away!  You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

Even now seven years later, with Thanksgiving dishes put away and another lonely December rushing up at her, Molly Allen knew the truth.  Her year, her life, her Christmas ... all of it might be different if only she'd said something.  
P. 2 The Bridge by Karen Kingsbury

Teaser Tuesday Delay

I've been so addicted to the Olympics that I forgot about Teaser Tuesday yesterday!  I'll get it up some time today.