The Friday 56: Mom

I haven't done The Friday 56, hosted by Freda's Voice, in quite a long time.

Here are the rules:

• Grab a book, any book.
• Turn to page 56.
• Select a sentence or two to post.
• No linky this week, so just leave a comment or link on the host's blog.
  

I chose to highlight a few lines from the book Mom: A Celebration of Mothers from StoryCorps, introduced and edited by Dave Isay. When I received this book from TLC, I had no idea what StoryCorps was all about.

In the book's introduction, I learned that StoryCorps began in 2003 in Grand Central Terminal in NYC. StoryCorps has conducted nearly 30,000 interviews with more than 50,000 people across the United States. It's a collection of diverse voices who interview each other and tell their individual stories. I realized that I have another StoryCorps book on my shelf, not yet read, Listening Is An Act Of Love. Without further ado, here is my "56" from Mom: A Celebration of Mothers from StoryCorps:

Jennifer: I wasn't your shadow anymore. That was the beginning of my independence.

Diane: Hallelujah!

Please stay tuned for my review of this book, which will include a giveaway.

Really Random Tuesday #24: The Note Project Giveaway Winner, and a Question

Please congratulate Zibilee from Raging Bibliomania, the randomly selected winner of a Note Project Starter Kit, compliments of the O'Marys. Zibilee has a prolific book blog and posts thoughtful, detailed reviews on a wide variety of books, so be sure to visit her blog. I think she'll enjoy the kit, which includes a hardback edition of The Note by Mike O'Mary, a DVD video based on the book, and a set of three premium-quality thank you cards.

It's not too late to visit the Note Project and make a pledge to write a note of thanks. (I'm feeling kind of guilty. Although I made a pledge two weeks ago on the Note Project to write a thank you card to someone, I haven't done so yet. I've considered a few possibilities, but haven't made a decision. I am ruminating. I am vacillating. I am being indecisive, which is not really like me. Should I thank the Eagle Scout Troop who put bag dispensers for dog waste throughout a local park? Should I thank a teacher? Should I thank a relative? Should I thank a friend? Or should I go on a thank you binge and write several cards?) As I mentioned in my other post on this subject, the Note Project will donate to at least 12 literacy projects in 12 countries in 12 months, through GlobalGiving and GlobalGivingUK, so it has another important dimension to it.

********************

Followers

Is a book blog a social network? I raised this question recently, casually, in a follow-up comment to a post. As I've stated before, I was reluctant to put a Followers gadget on this blog, and didn't add one until after I'd been blogging for over a year (and had but a handful of followers). I felt that a book blog was not a social network, was not a test or measure of popularity, but I did eventually add the Followers gadget to my site because I saw it on numerous other blogs, and I thought it would give my blog a degree of credibility, at least in appearance. After all, if a blog has followers--who really should be called members or friends--it must have some value. I also felt that it might help build community and loyalty, evolving, difficult-to-define concepts in a virtual world. What are your thoughts about this? I'm very interested in hearing what you think about this topic, and welcome your comments.

********************

Really Random Tuesday is a way to post odds and ends--announcements, musings, quotes, photos--any blogging and book-related things you can think of. If you're inspired by this idea, feel free to copy the button and use it on your own blog. Please leave a link in the comments if you’re participating and I'll add it to this post.

Thanks for reading!