A laugh and a fragfest

If you are a gamer or you know a gamer, you probably read Tim Buckley's comic Ctrl+Alt+Del online. Buckley knows the gamer culture. His characters Ethan, Lucas and their friends are so dead on. I like his feisty women too!

He has recently released a book also called Ctrl+Alt+Del not suprisingly. You might say why should I buy the book, when I can read the recent article and the archives online. Buckley has taken the time to put in sidebars, comments, etc.

So grab your X-Box or PC control and fragg away.

Daffodils

The daffodils are coming up in my yard. While they always tell me spring is on the way, they also remind me of a poignant children's book.

"One Yellow Daffodil" by David Adler is the story of Morris Kaplan. He runs a flower shop and brother and sister, Jonathan and Ilana, come to his shop for flowers every Friday for the Sabbath. As the three become friends, the children invite him to spend Hanukkah with their family.

The invitiation stirs up difficult memories for Morris Kaplan as he is a holocaust survivor. The daffodil refers to a single daffodil that bloomed in the concentration camp and somehow inspired him to survive.

Besides being a holiday book, this book would be useful in holocaust discussions with grade school children. The picture book is nicely illustrated and the story well told without being maudlin.

Time to read

With a sixteen month old, it is harder to find time to read. So today I thought I'd talk about a couple of magzines you might enjoy.

Ireland of the Welcomes
This magazine is from the Irish Tourist Board. It has a variety of articles each month. Normally several travel articles, an arts article, a history piece, a book review section, news and a column entitled "Byways not the Highways". It is a fun magazine and the articles are well written.
http://www.irelandofthewelcomes.com/

Scottish Life
This title is published in the US for people interested in Scotland. It does have travel articles, but it is not the exclusive focus. It has several regular columns that are wonderful. One is about life out on the Hebrides Islands. I wish she would gather them as a book. They have regular music columns as well as one called Parish of the Peats about Scotch whiskey. :D
http://www.scottishlife.org/