March 31, 2011

Book Review: Unsinkable by Abby Sunderland and Lynn Vincent

At just sixteen years old, Abby Sunderland made the decision to attempt to get the record for the youngest to ever sail around the world. Unsinkable tells the story from 2 points of view for the majority of the book – hers and the narrators.  After her boat was de-masted in the middle of the Indian Ocean, a third point of view comes in to play: Those who helped rescue her from her boat Wild Eyes and take her back to safety.

More people have flown into outer space than have sailed solo around the globe. It is a challenge so immense that many have died trying, and all have been pushed beyond every physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual limit. In Unsinkable, readers follow Abby Sunderland into those depths. This biography delivers a gripping and evocative firsthand account that starts prior to her departure, travels through her daring (and sometimes near-death) encounters on the open sea, to her dramatic rescue in the remotest corner of the Indian Ocean, and the media explosion that happened upon her safe return to dry land.



Unsinakable is interesting in that it has 3 different people telling the story.  There are icons before new passages which alert the readers to who is telling that particular part of the story.  The boat icon represents Abby’s voice, the anchor represents the narrator’s voice and the flag represents those who took place in the rescue efforts to save Abby from the Indian Ocean.


From a very young age, Abby and her family had gone sailing.  Her brother, Zac, had said solo around the world as a teen.  Abby had decided that she also wanted to sail solo, and if she succeeded would be the youngest person to ever do so.  Her mother at first was hesitant, but said that if she could find a sponsor (something her brother Zac struggled with at first) then she could go.  Abby was quickly able to find a sponsor and then the hunt for the perfect boat was on.


Many critics were around saying that this was all orchestrated by her father.  It was not.  It was Abby’s dream to do this and her father simply encouraged her to follow her dreams. All the decisions she made were her own – whether it was to stop at a port to get her boat fixed or ultimately to send out a distress signal when her boat rolled in the middle of the Indian Ocean – which would end her trip.


I admire Abby for her strength to make it through several months out in he middle of the ocean all alone and because she followed her dreams.  I found her story to be very encouraging and I hope that if Abby does decide to try and sail around the world again, that she is successful in her next attempt.


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Idol Thoughts

Songs of Elton John was this week’s theme on Idol.  I think most of the performances were safe, mediocre, nothing really stood out to me as being amazing.  James tried to be amazing, but his running around made his vocals fall short.  I’m not sure anyone can sing and run around like he was (unless of course, they are lip syncing. Then it’s not so hard!)  I just don’t understand how if they have these producers backing them, they are not coming out swinging every week. (Yet other contestants who had to re-work songs on their own like David Cook and Kris Allen did it flawlessly. Ok, maybe I’m a little biased. But still)

I was incredibly disappointed in Pia. I really want her to go far in the competition but her song choice really bothered me!  First, she is singing another ballad.  Pia, we KNOW you can sing ballads! Mix it up a bit so we can see what else you are capable of!  Second, she chose probably THE most over done song in Idol History.  I swear it has been done nearly every season! Let’s just break down how many times this song has been done on Idol (thanks to whatnottosing.com, my new fave Idol database site!)
Season 1 – Justin Guarini
Season 2 – Clay Aiken
Season 3 – Jasmine Trias
Season 4 – Bo Bice
Season 7 – David Archuleta
Season 8 – Jorge Nunez
Season 10 – Pia!

Dial Idol has those in danger of being in the bottom 3 as James, Naima, Lauren, Thia, Paul and Stefano.  I have to say I think my bottom 3 would be Naima, Paul and Thia.  I love Thia’s voice, but she doesn’t wow me.  I don’t know if it is because she is young or because she is picking the wrong songs or what.  And once again the raw numbers tell a different story with Jacob on the bottom with Naima, Thia and Paul.  But again – I continue to look at DialIdol even though I know that the facebook votes are making it difficult to truly predict who has the most/least votes.

In a perfect world (for me) it would be Naima and James going home tonight.  Though James probably won’t be.  I just hope Stefano hangs around another week or so. (Although if he does go home it is all my fault because I could have voted and I didn’t!) I could see Thia going home with Naima.  But all my predictions this year have been WAY off the mark!


Scotty – I was giving Scotty crap earlier because he had tweeted that he had never heard this song before this week.  But then it turned out, I’ve never heard it either… Again, he was consistent. Again, I’m not a country fan. But I give him props.

Naima – It is nice that she is finally giving things her own twist – I didn’t think the mix was all that bad but.. it wasn’t all that good either.

Paul -This seemed like a safe choice for Paul. He did well with it, but I wasn’t blown away.

Pia – Another ballad? And a song that has been done SO. MANY. TIMES. on this show. I just dont know what she thought was doing with this. I am with Randy. Switch the gears!

Stefano – I thought he did a good performance and I like how he ended it grabbing Jennifer’s hand haha

Lauren – She did a great job with this song. Not sure what else there is to say about that.

James – I think his theatrics got the best of him with this one.  It was nice that he used the audience as his stage but I think that also hurt his vocals.

Thia – Good performance but not a show stopper.

Casey – I liked that we kind of got to see a softer side of Casey but I don’t know that I loooved the performance.

Jacob – Good performance. He didn’t go overboard, he had just the right amount of holding out notes.  Good job.

Haley – I don’t know if this was the best performance of the night, but I thought she did really well.  I could have done without a couple of her arm flails… but it’s not a movement competition so I can’t really hold that against her!

My wish came true!

I am a fan of Jon McLaughlin.  When his tour dates were first released, I didn’t see CT on the list.  He did have NYC and NJ, but NYC is a bit too difficult to get to alone so I was planning on going to NJ and then tweeted something like.. if he doesn’t add CT I guess I’ll go to NJ.  Well, I went back to his website a few minutes after that tweet and poof! Fairfield, CT was on the list!

And he is going to be at the Fairfield Theater which is one of my FAVORITE places to see a show! It only holds about 150 people and it is very intimate and seated and I just love it.

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