It's Softball Time...

We signed our daughter up for softball last week, and that got me thinking about softball in books.  I've never read nor heard of a "softball book", so I decided to go looking.

Here's some of what I found...

Source:  Goodreads

From Goodreads...
Set in a small Oregon town just after WWII, this is the powerful tale of a community shattered by its reaction to two young newcomers, Aki and Shazam.  Told from 21 different points of view, Bat 6 explores the subject of Japanese-American racial prejudice after the war.

Source:  Goodreads

From Goodreads...
The Story of two sisters and one softball-playing summer.

Source:  Goodreads

From Goodreads...
Everyone thinks being a fourteen-year-old fast pitch softball player is nothing but fun and games.  But ask Rachel Adams, and you'll learn otherwise.  There are millions of problems to deal with, including demanding dads, grumpy coaches, and umpires that make terrible calls.  But Rachel really complicates things for herself when she sneaks out with her teammates, meets some boys, and drinks alcohol...

Source:  Goodreads

From Goodreads...
Brooke Conrad is on top of the world.  She is the star shortstop for her high school's softball team, and it is one of the best teams in the state.  But everything changes overnight when the shortstop for the school's baseball team gets kicked out of school , and the baseball coach asks Brooke to take his place for the season.  Brooke has never heard of anything more ridiculous...

Source:  Goodreads

From Amazon...
Fifteen-year-old Angel Williams has wanted a puppy all of her life, so she is ecstatic when her dad finally agrees he can get one-but on one condition.  She has to hit a home run in her softball game later in the day.  Much to Angel's delight, she does, and she is rewarded with an adorable chocolate Labrador named Homer.  Homer becomes her team's mascot, and he leads them on their quest to win the state championship.  But when Homer is injured in a freak accident, can Angel and the rest of the team continue without him?




Let me know if you've read a good book about softball !

Book or Movie...There's Still A Woman In Black

I woke up this morning to my eight year old daughter (*S*) jumping on my bed and saying "breakfast will be on the table in 3 minutes".  She and my husband cooked breakfast this morning...eggs, bacon, biscuits, gravy, and my daughter made the pancakes and coffee all by herself.  She was very proud and even took a picture of the table all laid out with the food.  It was really good and I'm extremely full  (:  It's gray and rainy outside, and I feel a day of reading, movies, and a game of Monopoly coming on.

Photo Credit:  *S* (8)

Last night was date night at our house, so my husband (being the great husband he is) agreed to go see The Woman in Black, so we went out for dinner and a movie.  My sister (aka fellow book lover) kept *S* for us.  She had big plans for the night...playing outside, pizza, video games, and movies.   My seven year old nephew (*C*) knows how much his cousin loves Goosebumps.  He and my sister were picking out movies before they picked  *S* up for the night, and he spotted the Goosebumps movies.  He offered to put the movies he picked out back if they could just get *S* a Goosebumps movie.  Of course my sister told him he didn't have to put his back and they could still get a Goosebumps movie, but I think it's so sweet that he offered.  It just so happens that he picked out the movie for the book that *S* had just finished and returned to her school library earlier that day.  Needless to say *S* was super excited!

Source:  cd universe

Now as for the movie version of The Woman in Black...

First of all we were in the movie with A LOT of teenagers, therefore it was loud in the theater.  I was a bit surprised by this, and I thought maybe they all came because it was a "scary" movie.  Then my husband suggested maybe they were all Harry Potter fans and there for Daniel Radcliffe.  I hadn't thought of that, but it makes good sense.  Whatever the reason, the theater was full of kids.

I thought the movie was visually stunning.  The village, the marsh, and Eel House were exactly as I had imagined them in the book, very dark but beautiful at the same time.  I loved Daniel Radcliffe as Arthur Kipps.  I thought he did a very good job.  So much of the movie was him reacting to things...no words...just the expression on his face, and I thought he was great.

As I expected, the movie was very little like the book.  The names of the characters, the woman in black, and the circumstances that made her are all that remain of the book.  The movie did have those "boo" gotcha scary parts...you know those parts in a movie that you know are coming but you still jump when they do.  It might not have been so bad if the little girl next to me (I'd say she was 14) didn't scream like like a banshee at every scary part.  My husband and I did a lot of laughing at the kids.  You could tell they were bored at the first half of the movie, but when the action started they were into it.

Over all I liked the movie, but I think it's more of a mystery than a scary movie.  And my husband, who knew nothing about it going into the movie agrees.  He said it was a decent mystery movie for him and an appropriate scary movie for young teens...nothing to heavy....just a good ghost story.

So if you like historical movies with a great setting, if you like mysteries, if you like light ghost stories, or even if you just like Daniel Radcliffe, go see it.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.


Next month's date night...The Hunger Games!!!  They showed a preview for it before the movie last night, and my husband says he's interested in seeing it.  Excited!!!!