1330V

I've moved!

2010-03-10T07:56:00.001-08:00

I've moved my blog over to Wordpress. Please update your readers:

http://classicvasilly.wordpress.com

Monday's Quote

2009-03-09T12:55:00.000-07:00

“My library

Was dukedom large enough.”

William Shakespeare, The Tempest (1611)

Notes to Self - Samara O'Shea

2009-03-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

Having an acute sense of self is about balance. You have to be kind to yourself, but not so lenient that you can’t be occasionally critical and enact self-discipline–and not so critical that you spend too much time degrading yourself . . . Knowing your physical and emotional strengths and weaknesses and being able to accept them is key to the well-lived life.

-Samara O’Shea, Sense of Self

I didn’t really know what to expect when I picked up Note To Self: On Keeping a Journal and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Samara O’Shea. At the time I was in a writing slump; overwhelmed and stressed out from my everyday life, I knew it was because it had been weeks since I last wrote in my journal. Enter O’Shea with her second book.

Note to Self is a guidebook for anyone interested in keeping a journal. With chapters like “Sense of Self,” which the above quote was taken from, “Romance on Record”, writing about the relationships that went right (or wrong), or “Intimate Details” about being honest with yourself when writing, O’ Shea did a great job in bringing almost every area of journal writing to readers. You also get the understanding for O’ Shea that journal writing isn’t just a hobby but a passion.

I’m a journal writer who paints, draws, and put photographs and other momentos in my journal. O’ Shea didn’t really address the creative side of using art in your journals like Keri Smith does in her books, Wreck this Journal or How To Be an Explorer of the World. If you’re a journal writer who not only documents their life with words, this journal might not help you with that aspect of journaling but it is a great read.

Some of the things O’ Shea discussed that I really agreed with were:

The use of quotes in your journal. Nothing brings you more inspiration and peace during hard times like other people’s words.
Pose a question. Asking yourself questions helps to get the ball going when you’re feeling stuck in your life.
Set literal goals. When you place your goals in your journals they are always there to remind you and keep you going.

Another great thing about the book is that O’ Shea also uses a ton of excerpts from her own journals and the journals of others like Anne Frank, Samuel Pepys, Thomas Paine, John Wilkes Booth, and many others. She even brings up the famous young protagonist from Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. I finished reading this book last month and still I refuse to take the post-its out until the day this book is due at the library. One more quote I would like to share:

This, more than anything, is what a journal leads to — finding your sense of self. . . You may think you’re living one way, but your writing says otherwise. Some of my math teachers were kind enough to give points for the work even if the answer ended up being wrong, so I say that’s how we go about doing this, too. Write out the work in the equation of yourself, and don’t worry about the definitive answer just yet. It’s a lifelong process, and herein lies the benefit of aging — knowing yourself all the more.

Read for The Year of Readers Challenge, A to Z Challenge, and A Novel Group Mini-Challenge #3

Sunday Salon: Reading Journal

2009-03-08T06:38:00.000-07:00

“It is life that shakes and rock us; it is literature which stabilizes and confirms.”

-Heathcote William Garrod, The Profession of Poetry and Other Lectures (1929)

Good morning! Right now it’s so early that the sun has not came up yet and most of my family is still asleep. I have a pot of coffee brewing and one of my current reads in front of me. For the past several days I’ve been taking advantage of early mornings and late nights to get some of my personal reading done. It’s been such a great experience to get lost again in a book without the interruptions of life.

I’m currently reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. The New York Times calls it “eloquent little essays in time, beauty, and the meaning of life” and I have to agree.

The narration of the novel goes back and forth between Paloma Josse, a 12 year-old genius and the concierge of the building she lives in, Rene Michel. Rene is a great character. Smart, charming, funny with a love for The Hunt for Red October, tea, movies, and books, Rene’s voice is full of life as she observes what goes on in the building and gives the reader her own philosophical commentary. I’m not as crazy about Paloma as I am about Rene but she too has a great voice.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog was a bestseller in France before being released in the States last year. I picked it up out of curiousity and the great reviews. It was also one of the last books that Dewey was reading when she passed. Dewey was ahead of the crowd. I wonder what she thought of it. I have many passages marked with post-its.

This Week’s Reading

I plan on finishing The Elegance in the next couple of days. The Scarlet Letter is required reading this week for my American Lit. class. My classmates and I are required to read it twice this week and then write an essay on it by this Saturday. This week will be busy. I hope you have a great Sunday!

What are you plans for this week?

Women's History Month Challenge

2009-03-08T05:00:00.000-07:00

Lu at Regular Rumination is hosting a Women’s History Month Challenge. I’m in and my goal will be to read at least five books written by women. The majority of the books I read are by women but this month it might be a problem. Next week I have to read The Scarlet Letter for one of my classes. Plus, I only have two weeks to read Atmospheric Disturbances and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. No matter what I plan on finishing this challenge though. Here are some of the books I plan on reading:

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. I’m currently reading this.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. After waiting weeks for this book, I only have three weeks to read it before I have to return it to my library. No holds are allowed since this book is the book right now.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. It’s been years since I read this, so I wanted to reread another strong and female voice.

First, Body by Melanie Rae Thon. I first read this collection of short stories years ago. I can’t wait to reread it.

Do you have any suggestions on great books I should read by women? I would love to hear them.

Weekly Geeks 3/7/09

2009-03-07T15:30:00.000-08:00

This week’s Weekly Geeks is to post a quote a day for a week. This is one of my favorite w.g. activities. My quotes for this week will be coming from a great book called Speaking of Books: The Best Things Ever Said About Books and Book Collecting by Rob Kaplan and Harold Rabinowitz.

Bibliomaniac: A victim of the obsessive-compulsive neurosis characterized by a congested library and an atrophied bank account.

-Maurice Dunbar, Hooked on Books (1997)

Hey Friends!

2009-03-07T07:31:00.000-08:00

1330v has a new home! So please update your feeders. Thanks!

http://classicvasilly.wordpress.com

Booking Through Thursday

2009-03-05T06:28:00.000-08:00

We’ve all seen the lists, we’ve all thought, “I should really read that someday,” but for all of us, there are still books on “The List” that we haven’t actually gotten around to reading. Even though we know they’re fabulous. Even though we know that we’ll like them. Or that we’ll learn from them. Or just that they’re supposed to be worthy. We just … haven’t gotten around to them yet. What’s the best book that YOU haven’t read yet?

I'm going to limit my books to the ones on my bookshelves.

The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck.
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Beloved - Toni Morrison
Sula - Toni Morrison
The Year of Fog - Michelle Richmond
The Gravedigger's Daughter - Joyce Carol Oates
Loving Frank - Nancy Horan
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
Nights at the Circus - Angela Carter
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

Have you read any of these books? What were your favorites? Which one should I read next?

Orbis Terrarum Challenge

2009-03-04T08:34:00.001-08:00

I'm in! No list though I am reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery from France.

Sick Week

2009-03-03T18:29:00.000-08:00

The past seven days have been very chaotic. Hours after coming home from school last Tuesday, I became very tired and went to sleep early, hoping that all I needed was some rest. Wrong! I ended up with a fever of 104 and unable to go to the doctor because I was too sick to get myself there. Soon everyone in the Vasillis household was sick. From Grandma to the baby, all of us except my oldest were coughing, feverish, miserable lumps.

Today is the first day I felt okay. Everyone else has felt better for days but every time I thought I was getting better I would later end up exhausted and in bed again. I couldn't even read while I was sick which is a first in my life. I want to thank everyone for their get-well wishes. I really appreciate it.

February Update
February turned out to be a horrible month for reading. I read a total of nine books:

1. Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile - Bill Willingham
2. Fables Vol. 6: Arabian Nights - Bill Willingham
3. The Poet Slave of Cuba - Margarita Engle
4. Daphne's Book - Mary Downing Hahn
5. Ziggy's Blue-Ribbon Day - Claudia Mills
6. Chicken Feathers - Joy Crowley
7. Potato Joe - Keith Baker
8. A Couple of Boys have the Best Week Ever - Marla Frazee
9. A Child's Day - Ida Pearle

I enjoyed every book but I can't believe that I only read two adult reads. Let's hope March will be a better reading month. Now I'm off to sleep. I'm exhausted still.

The Poet Slave of Cuba

2009-02-28T11:12:00.000-08:00

This week didn't turn out the way I imagined it to be. I had planned on turning in all assignments on time this week, get some reading in, and relax. Instead I caught a virus, maybe the flu, and ended up in bed for the last five days. I started feeling a little better yesterday. My youngest caught the virus last night and is miserable. Something tells me I won't be at school next week. . .

Poetry cools me, syllables calm me
I read the verses of others
the free men
and know
that I'm never alone. . .
-The Poet Slave of Cuba

While I was taking care of my son this morning, I picked up The Poet Slave of Cuba from my nightstand. Written in verse by Margarita Engle, it's the biography of Juan Francisco Manzano. Manzano was born a slave in Cuba. A favorite of his first master, Dona Beatriz, he had to follow her around like he was her own child, calling her Mama, and pretend he didn't know his real mother. As Manzano grows up, he shows a wonderful gift for words. He can memorize any song, opera, play, poem in any language after hearing it just once. Dona Beatriz uses him as a parrot, going to the parties of slave owners and having to recite works by request.

My first owner was sweet to me
I was her pet, a new kind of poodle
my pretty mother chosen
to be her personal handmaid . . .

As an act of twisted compassion, Dona Beatriz sets Manzano's mother free but not him, a child. She refuses to let him go until her death. But after her death instead of freedom, he is sent to be a slave of La Marquesta de Prado Ameno. Evil is not a strong enough word for her. A manipulative, sad, twisted person who finds nothing better in life but to focus on making Manzano's own life hell. I won't tell you the rest but there was one part that made me hold my breath.

It was the opening that made me check out the book.

My mind is a brush made of feathers

painting pictures of words

I remember
all that I see

every syllable

each word a twin of itself

telling two stories

at the same time

one of sorrow

the other hope

The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano
Margarita Engle (2006)
183 pages

Read for:
Young adult challenge
Year of Reading Dangerously - Feb.
Diversity Rocks
In Their Shoes
Year of Readers
2009 Mini-Challenge #3

Library Loot 2/18/09

2009-02-25T06:01:00.000-08:00

I made a promise to myself that from now on I will only go to the library once a week. With this batch from the last two weeks you can see why.

The Poet Slave of Cuba by Margarita Engle (Diversity Rocks & Y.A. challenges)
Don't Sleep, There are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle (World Citizen and In Their Shoes challenges)
Chains - Laurie False Anderson (Y.A. challenge)
Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (Y.A. challenge)

Sitting Bull - Bill Yenne (In Their Shoes challenge)
Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm - Bill Willingham (Graphic Novels challenge)
Life as we know it - Susan Pfeffer
Time is a River - Mary Alice Munroe

Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from The Middle East, Asia, and Beyond (Diversity Rocks and Lost in Translation challenges)
No one belongs here more than you: stories by Miranda July (100 shots of short)
A Raisin in the Sun -Lorraine Hanbery (Diversity Rocks challenge)
The Northern Clemency - Philip Hensher (Book Awards Challenge)

Annie on my mind - Nancy Garden (Childhood Favorites, Young Adult, and Banned Book challenges)
The Saturdays - Elizabeth Enright (Dewey Challenge)
Black Candle - Chitra Divakaruni (Diversity Rocks)

The Dark Hills Divide - Patrick Carman
Annie Allen - Gwendolyn Brooks (Diversity Rocks)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery (Lost in Translation challenge)

Ten Things That Start with "F"

2009-02-24T08:50:00.000-08:00

It's my turn! The lovely Cornflower gave me the letter "F" weeks ago. Surprising enough it took me less than ten minutes to come up with my ten.

French Vanilla Ice Cream. It's plain but tastes great with a waffle bowl.

French Vanilla CoffeeMate in my coffee. I've tried other flavors, but vanilla is the one for me.

Feist. Listening to her puts me in the best mood.

First, Body: stories by Melanie Rae Thon. I read this haunting collection of short stories many years ago and have not been able to get it out of my mind since. I have only one book left of Thon's to read.

Fridays. Not because there's no school for me, but because it's one of the few days I get my mother to myself for a couple of hours.

Family. That's not cheating. Their last name starts with "F" also.

Fables series by Bill Willingham. This series is so addictive.

Fresh Flowers. I try to buy fresh flowers just once a month. Even if I'm broke, I know I can buy some baby breath for two or three bucks.

Four weddings and a Funeral. I just love great movies.

Folgers Coffee. I'm a zombie until I get this stuff into my system.

Musing Mondays

2009-02-23T07:35:00.000-08:00

How often do you visit the library? Do you have a scheduled library day/time or do you go whenever? Do you go alone or take people with you?

I visit the library once a week. I used to go to the library any time I felt like it but that's not really efficient time-wise. So now I usually go on Fridays or Saturdays. That way my family and I have at least a week to read some of books from the huge pile we checked out. I want to return a book that's been read as soon as possible so there won't be any late fines later on, which is important when all seven of us have library cards and the checkout limit is 25 items.

If I go to the library on a Friday, I usually go by myself. That way I can browse in peace and find some good reads I may not have found otherwise. If I go on a Saturday I take the kids. We spend hours there. The girls like to walk around and browse while the boys usually find their books first and then play with puzzles the rest of the time we're there. It's a really peaceful day for us.

Mailbox Monday - 2/23/09

2009-02-23T01:46:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Paperbackswap and Dewey, my TBR pile is bigger than it was two weeks ago. Since I was on break last week I didn't write a Mailbox Monday post, so here's what I received in the last two weeks.

Angel of Forgetfulness - Steve Stern (Jewish Literature Challenge)
Because I said so: 33 mothers write about children, sex, men, aging, faith, race, and themselves (Dewey challenge)
What I talk about when I talk about running- Hariku Murakami (In their shoes challenge)
Flygirl - Sherri L. Smith (Y.A. challenge)
The World to Come - Dara Horn (Jewish Lit.)

The Victoria Vanishes - John Fowler (Just loved the cover of the title. I'll fit it into a challenge somewhere)
Jesus Swept -James Protzman (loved the synopsis)
Confessions of a Former Child - David Tomasulo (loved the synopsis)
The Maternal is Political - Shari MacDonald Strong (Dewey challenge)
Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson (Childhood Favourites challenge)

So that's it until tomorrow. I only have a handful of books coming this week. What did you receive last week?

Sunday Salon: Reading Journal

2009-02-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

Good morning! The sun is just starting to come up while the clouds are slowly moving in. Today's forecast calls for rain which is perfect for me. Later on I'm leaving to celebrate my grandmother's birthday but until then I plan on reading and relaxing.

My plan last week was to stay off the internet and get some homework done. It didn't happen. I love being online. There's so many things to read and learn about. Thanks to fellow bloggers, I found a ton of books to put on my TBR list and pile and ordered several books this week.

I've been dipping into Language for a New Century: Contemporary from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond all week. It's a massive anthology of poetry from more than 400 poets, from sixty different countries, translated from fifty languages. One of the goals of the book is to introduce readers to poets they would never hear about otherwise. The book has been receiving criticism because it can only give you one poem per poet. I say the book is an introduction. If you want to read more from a poet then go and find their books and help support translated works.

The foreword by Carolyn Forsche gave me goosebumps and made me read it aloud:

We know, from the mellifluous litany of poets' names, who wrote these poems, but we might also consider what wrote them: the urge to sing, pray, cry, announce, and whisper; to write cultures into visibility; to write not after events but in their aftermath, through collisions in time and space, exile within and without; to walk around in the ruins of wars, awake. What wrote them was a determination to revolt against silence with a bit of speaking. What wrote was an upwelling of poetic apprehension of world.

Forsche calls the book "a field guide to the human condition". I think it's a perfect description for all poetry.

Reading this book made me think of my relationship with poetry. As a teenager it was all I read. I checked out the Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson hundreds of times in eighth grade. "Because I could not stop for death/He kindly stopped for me. . ."

After Dickinson I read and reread the haikus of Richard Wright before moving on to Alice Walker's Her Blue Body Everything we Know. "Good night, Willie Lee, I'll see you in the morning" is a favorite poem from that collection. From there I arrived at Chitra Divakaruni's Black Candle. It stayed next to my bed for months as I read and reread it, raking up library fines.

I wonder what happened, what made me neglect poetry for years? Now Language for a New Century is leading me back to the collections I've loved. Right now Black Candle and the Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson are sitting at my nightstand once again, while Her Blue Body is on its way to me. This week poetry has become the first and last things of my day.

What do you think of poetry? Do you read it? If so, what are your favorite poems? Who are your favorite poets? If not, why?

Sunday Salon

2009-02-15T11:33:00.000-08:00

My reading this week has been scattered. Last Sunday I finished Daphne's Book by Mary Downing Hahn for The Inner Child Weekend and Childhood Favorites Challenge. I haven't finished a book since then. I've been swamped with homework, studying, kids, and being sick. I'm still a little tired but I'm feeling much better.

I'm almost up to date with homework and studying, so I plan on using today to finish The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. It's a reread for my online book club, The Well-Read Ladies. I'm loving the discussion we're having.

After The Thirteenth Tale I plan on starting a book of poetry called Language for a New Century. It's an anthology featuring contemporary poets from Asia and the Middle East. I also plan on finally dipping into Delicate Edible Birds by Lauren Groff. It's been killing me that I haven't been able to give it my attention.

With all the assignments and studying I need to accomplish this week, I think I'm going to take a week-long break from blogging. That way I can spend more time focusing on what I love, reading. I hope you have a good week and see you next Sunday.

Library Loot 2/10/09

2009-02-10T18:20:00.000-08:00

I just came back from one of my favorite places in the world! What is it about libraries and bookstores that give me butterflies?

My library already had issues one through five of Bill Willingham's masterpiece series Fables, but for some reason didn't have the rest. I asked my library to order the rest of the series and they said yes! Now volumes six through eleven are on their way. I also put the beginning of the series on hold so I can reread it. For some reason I received volumes one, seven, and eleven. Hopefully I'll receive the rest of the series before I have to return the books.

I'm an English/Anthropology major and I love fairy tales. So when I saw The Hungry Clothes and other Jewish Folktales, I had to check it out. Can you believe I've never read Peter Pan? My family loves the various movie versions of this book, so it's our newest family read. I'm reading Exit Wounds for the Graphic Novel Challenge. I'm also in a short story mood, so I had to check out Yiyun Li's A Thousand Years of Good Prayers before I read her latest Vagrants.

What have you checked out from the library lately?

Sunday Salon: The Peaceful Post

2009-02-08T07:10:00.000-08:00

Good morning! Right now there's no sun in sight and the air is nice and cool. I love these winter mornings. Since I'm in Southern California, snow is not a worry but we did have some rare thunderstorms yesterday. When you do hear thunder, you can't help but pay attention.

Last week I read only children's books again. Something tells me this might be how the rest of the year will be. This week I read:

Ziggy's Blue-Ribbon Day by Claudia Mills. Ziggy is not good at running, jumping, or throwing balls for track-and-field day. Though his teacher told him to try his best and Ziggy will, he knows he won't be receiving a blue-ribbon award. He's an artist, great at drawing. By chance things change and Ziggy might be receiving a blue ribbon after all.

Chicken Feathers by Joy Crowley. Chicken Feathers is the tale of Josh, an ordinary boy living on a farm and his pet chicken Semolina, who can talk. Not talk like a parrot does and repeat what you say, but actually talks. No one believes Josh when he says Semolina can talk, but he has bigger things to worry about. His mom is in the hospital pregnant with his little sister and he suspects a fox is taking eggs from one of the chicken houses.

Potato Joe is a counting book for small children by author and illustrator Keith Baker. The illustrations are simple yet beautiful though my youngest was not interested in it at all.

Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber. I can't believe I have never read this book until now. Ira is going to sleep over his best friend's house and tries to decide whether or not he should take his teddy bear with him. Full of repetition and funny scenes, Ira Sleeps Over is a new favorite in this house.

A Couple of Boys have the Best Week Ever is written by Marla Frazee and was nominated for a Cybils award last year. Frazee is also the illustrator for Sara Pennypacker's great series, Clementine. A Couple of Boys is about James and Eamon's week-long adventure with Eamon's grandparents Bill and Pam. The illustrations are beautiful and the story is great. I didn't want it to end.

This weekend I participated in the Inner Child Weekend loosely hosted by Dovegreyreader. The purpose of the weekend is to put aside your adult reads and read your childhood favorites.

Alexander and the terrible horrible no good very bad day by Judith Viorst has a special place in my heart. It was one of the first books I was able to read by myself. The title explains the story perfectly. When my kids are having a bad day this is the book I reach for.

My other read for this weekend is Daphne's Book by Mary Downing Hahn. I read this book when I was around eleven years old. I was browsing my local library and I remember I just happened to find it. The cover intrigued me. Daphne with her flowing hair and beautiful face sitting back-to-back with Jessica. I don't think I can do this book justice. Just read it. I promise you'll love it.

After Daphne's Book, I plan on reading Lauren Groff's short story collection, Delicate Edible Birds and Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale for The Well-Read Ladies book club.

What are some of your childhood favorites? What do you plan on reading this week?

Judge a book by its cover

2009-02-07T07:13:00.000-08:00

This week's Weekly Geeks assignment is to:

Pick a book--any book, really--and search out multiple book cover images for that book. They could span a decade or two (or more)...Or they could span several countries. Which cover is your favorite? Which one is your least favorite? Which one best 'captures' what the book is about?

I think this is a great assignment. I'm the type of person who loves looking at book covers. I would rather pay more for a hardcover edition of a book if the cover looks a lot better than the paperback version. Most of the time I buy a book primarily because of the cover and a few good reviews. I'm paying for that outlook now.

I picked Markus Zusak's The Book Thief because it's one of my favorite reads. This is the cover I have on my hardcover copy. I checked Amazon.ca and found the same cover for both hardcover and paperback.

I searched around and found this vastly different color at Amazon Denmark. It's creepy and I like it better, but it does misrepresents Death. He's not some creepy bloodthirsty creature. He's pretty sweet with a hard job and no vacation from it.

This cover I found at Amazon.uk. It does not fit the theme of the book at all. Liesel, the main character, is not just reading books in the novel. She's living her life and learning so much about loyalty and trust, the meaning of family, and how strong love is and how hard loss can be.

I've seen the French cover before but it's creepier than the Denmark version. Liesel dancing with Death? Not exactly.

So which one do you prefer? Do you judge a book harshly by its cover?

Winner of Mini-Challenge #1 is. . .

2009-02-07T05:02:00.000-08:00

Dawn at She is Too Fond of Books! Dawn is the winner of Away by Amy Bloom. Congrats, Dawn!

Care at Enjoy Life, Love the Journey is the winner of Keri Smith's How To be An Explorer of the World. Congrats!

Inner Child Weekend 2

2009-02-06T18:15:00.000-08:00

Dovegreyreader came up with a great idea to have an Inner Child Weekend every month. I plan on reading Daphne's Book by Mary Downing Hahn in the 1983 edition that I remember reading as a pre-teen. When the book came earlier this week in the mail, I examined every inch of it to make sure it was the same book. It is. I had the urge to smell the damn thing.

What books did you read as a child? Have you read any lately?

Mailbox Monday

2009-02-02T08:02:00.000-08:00

Marcia at the Printed Page hosts Mailbox Monday. My TBR pile is ridiculous. . The last row is coming today and the rest is already here:

Sunday Salon: January Wrap Up

2009-02-01T15:39:00.000-08:00

January has been a very surprising month. The beginning of it was filled with new resolutions, the promise of a better school semester, and a honest chance of tackling my TBR pile. Instead I added dozens of new books and watched as the pile grew. Unread books are now double the number of read books in my home. The school semester is going pretty well, though I do have a professor who is crazy enough to give my class several hundred pages of poetry and autobiographies from the 17th century for assigned reading every week.

Another surprise was how often I turned to children's books. Of the thirty books I've read this month, only four were adult reads: How to Be an Explorer, The Man in the Picture, Gods Behaving Badly, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. All four were great reads. Hopefully this month will be much better for adult fiction since I have a ton of books that are due at the library and I've run out of renewals.

I've only read five short stories this month for the 100 Shots of Short challenge:

"Farewell, Navigator" - Leni Zumas
"Dragons may be the way forward - Leni Zumas
"The Everything Hater" - Leni Zumas
"Heart Sockets" - Leni Zumas
"Lucky Chow Fun" -Lauren Groff

In December I joined The Year of Readers challenge. I pledged $1.50 of my own money for each book I read throughout 2009 to two great charities: 828National and FirstBook. Every month I'm alternating between the two charities. January was the month for First Book.org. With all my reading I earned $45! Next month I'm going to try to match that for 826National.

Currently I have four books going:

Tigerheart by Peter David
My One Hundred Adventures - Polly Horvath (middle school fiction)
Chicken Feathers - Joy Cowley (middle school fiction)
The Butcher and other erotica - Alina Reyes

Hopefully I can get all four read before next Sunday.

What are you reading this week?

January Favorites

2009-01-31T18:11:00.001-08:00

I've been pretty horrible this month about posting reviews of the books and short stories I've read. So instead of posting multiple reviews, I'll just tell you about my three of my favorites. The majority of the books I've read this month were children's books.

The Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin can be called nothing short of genius. How do you describe to a blind person the color yellow or blue? Cottin takes that question and describes each color: Thomas says that blue is the color of the sky when kites are flying and the sun is beating hot on his head. The layout of the book is very simple with every page black with white lettering. The raised illustrations are beautiful. Instead of just looking at the words and pictures, you can feel them The words are not only in English but also in Braille. I think this book is one everyone should read. My January pick for the Year of Reading Dangerously Challenge.

The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle by Jim Butcher. I read this for Laza's Graphic Novel Challenge. I just discovered Jim Butcher and his wonderful series, The Dresden Files, in December. Welcome to the Jungle is the first graphic novel in the series. There's a mauling in the zoo and wizard Harry Dresden is called in to solve the case. The police wants to call the mauling a "gorilla attack" but Harry knows that's not the truth. I read this in one setting. The one thing I didn't like is that after reading Storm Front and others in the series, I have in my mind my own version of how Harry looks.

Delicate Edible Birds by Lauren Groof came out this week. Already there are great blog reviews about this short story collection. Groff, if you don't know, is the author of The Monsters of Templeton. Curious I read one of the included stories, "Lucky Chow Fun". Readers who have read The Monster of Templeton will find the setting of the story, Templeton, familiar. This story about the consequences of apathy left me spellbound long after I finished reading it.

Dewey's Books February Mini-Challenge #1

2009-01-30T19:44:00.001-08:00

There's not much about Dewey that I can say that has not been said already. Dewey, with her eclectic taste in books, was the ultimate book blogger. Almost daily on her site there was a new post: a discussion about an article or book, a meme, or a funny video to watch. Dewey wrote about books who subjects range from politics to feminism. She read graphic novels and award-winning books, young adult reads and poetry. Reading The Hidden Side of a Leaf left the reader with an even larger TBR pile then before you clicked on to her site.

Just the other day I visited her site for a quick couple of books to read for her challenge and left with pages of book titles. Her posts were honest, funny, and made writing look so easy.

Dewey embodied the spirit of blogging and helped bring our community closer together. She started Weekly's Geeks, the 24-Hour Read-a-thon, and the Bookworms Carnival. She always had something nice to say. encouraging comments that helped many of us continue blogging.

Dewey wasn't one to hoard books. (Unlike myself.) Usually when she finished reading a book, if it didn't belong to someone or she wasn't going to read it again, she held a giveaway. The frequency of her giveaways amazed me. She was so generous and winning a book from her made my day several times.

In the spirit of Dewey's generosity I've decided to give away eight books throughout the month of February. Two books every weekend starting on the 7Th. To be eligible read a book that Dewey reviewed. After reading it and writing a post, leave a link at the challenge's review site and on my mini-challenge posts. Remember to let me know your first and second preferences. Every Saturday I will use random.org to pick the two winners and every Sunday I will let you know the winners and the next two books. Remember only books read in February count.

This week's books are:

How to Be an Explorer of the World by Keri Smith. You can read my review here. It's a pretty good book for journal writers, about how to find more ways to be present in your life and at the same time give you ideas to fill your journal up with. This book is a paperback that's been read only once.

Away by Amy Bloom. To be honest I haven't had the time to read this epic story but everywhere I've looked there has not been a bad or mediocre review to be found. I know many bloggers have read this book and loved it. So I would rather give this book to a blogger who can give it a chance then let it sit any longer on my bookshelves. Away is a hardcover that's gently used.

One Book Meme

2009-01-30T13:32:00.000-08:00

Taken from Eva.

One book you're currently reading: Farewell Navigator by Leni Zumas

One book that changed you life: What's Eating Gilbert Grape? by Peter Hedges. An honest portrayal of what depression looks like.

One book that you'll want on a deserted island: I'm going to have to think about this for a while

One book you've read more than once: East of Eden by John Steinbeck

One book you've never been able to finish: The World According to Garp by John Irving

One book that made you laugh: God Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips

One book that made you cry: The Geography of Love by Glenda Burgess. I have never cried so hard because of a book ever in my life.

One book you keep rereading: any book from the Harry Potter series

One book you've been meaning to read: A Language Older than Words by Derrick Jensen

One book you believe everyone should read: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Finally,
Grab the nearest book. Open it to page 56. Find the fifth sentence.

"Eleanor had run into the convent thinking to fetch help, but once there, an overwhelming urge to write down what had happened overtook her."

from Tales of Burning Love by Louise Erdrich

Not enough books

2009-01-29T19:36:00.000-08:00

"Wear the old coat and buy the new book."
-Austin Phelps, (1881)

What I'm lusting for right now:

A book for journal writers

2009-01-27T18:07:00.000-08:00

How to be an explorer of the world (2008)
Keri Smith
208 pages

When I was eleven years old my mother gave me a diary to write my thoughts in. It was small, white, and one of those diaries you're supposed to write in every day. I remember being in sixth grade and writing in that small book often about crushes, school, and family life. I don't know what made my mother give me a diary but I'm glad she did.

Since then I've kept diaries. Over the years those diaries have changed in size, shape, and purpose. Currently I write in large sketchbooks that can handle glue, paint, different kinds of pens, and whatever else I feel like using. My journal is more than just an account of my everyday life; it's a commonplace book filled with quotes, prayers, collages, blog entries, book reviews, lists, pictures, newspaper clippings, recipes. . . I've always thought of my journal as a field guide to my life. You can pick up any of the many journals I have and know who I was at that time.

So you can imagine my excitement when I found out about Keri Smith's latest book, How to Be An Explorer of the World. Keri, if you don't know, is the genius behind Wreck this Journal, a book that is suppose to help readers start or finish their journals with creative prompts. I bought How to be an explorer and decided to test it out. The goal of the book is to get you to notice your surroundings, savor the moment, and to focus on who you are.

Two of my favorite prompts were to describe in detail my favorite street and the library exploration prompt:

Choose a subject, theme, or item. Go to a library. Conduct research on your chosen item. Collect as many different materials as you can to display later, such as sketches, notes, drawings, and photos. . .

My problem with the book is that I didn't realize it's for beginners. A lot of the prompts are great but are things I've done many times before like the consumer prompt which asks for you to keep track of all the things you consume for a week. It's a great prompt for someone who hasn't used it before. Overall it's a great read and perfect for anyone who wishes to start journaling.

Sunday Salon: The Too Many Books Post

2009-01-25T07:10:00.000-08:00

Good morning! The sun is just starting to come up here in Southern California. While the rest of the country was expecting Arctic weather, in SoCal the weather was in the late 80s. Then last week the rain came and it felt so good! Now it's the right atmosphere for winter reading.

My week has been really hectic. My oldest son's asthma has been acting up so his father, my mother, and I have been going back and forth, staying at home to take care of him this week. I got very little studying done, but I got some great reading in.

I read:
1. The Shiniest Jewel -Marian Henley. In their shoes & Graphic Novel challenges
2. Tuesday - David Weisner. Young readers challenge
3. How to be an explorer of the world - Keri Smith
4. Don't let the pigeon stay up late - Mo Willems. Young readers
5. A River of words - Jen Bryant. Young readers
6. The Man in the Picture - Susan Hill. NaJuReMoNoMo
7. The Book That Changed my Life. Dewey and Essay Reading Challenge
8. The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle - Jim Butcher. Graphic Novels Challenge

My favorite reads were The Shiniest Jewel, the suspenseful The Man in the Picture, and Welcome to the Jungle. If you're participating in my memoir challenge, In Their Shoes, I'm giving away The Shiniest Jewel. So enter to win it.

This post is entitled "Too many books" because I received some great books this week and bought too many. One of my book-related resolutions this year was to only buy a certain amount of books. I already went way over that, so to compromise I gave a lot of my unread books to my local library and giving more away by hosting a mini-challenge all of February for everyone participating in the Dewey's Books challenge.

With school and a lot of homework to catch up on this week, I plan to read only short stories and poetry for the next two weeks.

What are you reading this week?

Weekly Geeks 2009-03: Classics

2009-01-24T18:35:00.000-08:00

It feels so good to be back participating in Dewey's Weekly Geeks! This week's assignment:

1) How do you feel about classic literature? Are you intimidated by it? Love it? Not sure because you never actually tried it? Don't get why anyone reads anything else? Which classics, if any, have you truly loved? Which would you recommend for someone who has very little experience reading older books? Go all out, sell us on it!

3) Let's say you're vacationing with your dear cousin Myrtle, and she forgot to bring a book. The two of you venture into the hip independent bookstore around the corner, where she primly announces that she only reads classic literature. If you don't find her a book, she'll never let you get any reading done! What contemporary book/s with classic appeal would you pull off the shelf for her?

I have to admit that it's rare for me to read a classic for fun. Being an English major I get assigned to read them often and I usually hate assigned reading. Not because of the material but because it's assigned, there's a deadline and a several-hundred word required essay involved. . .

There are classics I love like To Kill A Mockingbird, East of Eden, Of Mice and Men, The Bluest Eye, and The Tempest. I have little experience reading classics but being a blogger, you can't help but want to read them after reading the great reviews of your blogging friends. So I have books by Austen, Bronte, Wells, Steinbeck, Hemingway, Eliot, and others on my TBR list and shelves.

My cousin wouldn't be named Myrtle but probably something starting with a "T" because my mother and many aunts were going through a "T" phase in the 1970s and '80s, so all seven or eight of us girls have names that sound alike. . . That's another story I'll tell you guys one day. But if my cousin wanted me to find her a book that I think have classical appeal it would be The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I read it two years ago and it is still the only book that had me talking to myself about the plot and characters when I wasn't reading it.

Friday Fill-Ins

2009-01-23T06:23:00.000-08:00

This is my first time participating in Friday Fill-ins!

1. Oh, I am so behind in studying.

2. I need changes, big and little.

3. During today, I will try to squeeze in studying and homework with being a mom to a sick kid.

4. You poured out my coffee? Are you kidding me?

5. Right now I'll like to be invisible and on my couch, reading.

6. My coffee pot is my favorite gadget.

7. And as for this weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to doing my homework so I can have some free time. Tomorrow my plans include reading and homework, and Sunday I want to just read.

Booking Through Thursday

2009-01-22T06:15:00.000-08:00

Since “Inspiration” is (or should) the theme this week … what is your reading inspired by?

I think my reading is inspired by the need to know about the lives of others, about what is going on in the world, and about human nature. I'm also inspired by the need to become better in expressing myself through words. I take in so much of what I read but with more important needs to address, kids, school, and life, I don't have the time to reflect as well as I can. Though I want to know more about the world, I rarely read non-fiction. I don't have the time.

Some of my favorite authors have helped me to look at familiar things in a different way; Steinbeck's East of Eden on the issue of free will and his Of Mice and Men on the importance of dreaming, the works of Barbara Kingsolver and Anne Lamott on being a mother, and others when it comes to things sacred and divine.

Currently my reading is also inspired by the need to earn good grades. Being a college student and taking classes ranging from anthropology to literature, library science to human sexuality, my reading includes the works of classic poets, manuals on how to serve difficult people in library settings, and also various religions.

I'm also inspired by book challenges, book reviews, and the many unread books on my bursting shelves.

Being a Bookaholic

2009-01-21T18:33:00.000-08:00

Jessi at Casual Dread gave me another Premios Dardo award. I cannot say thank you enough. To receive it once is great, to receive the award twice in the same week is just awesome.This time instead of naming fifteen more blogs that I love, I want to just say thank you to everyone who visits this blog, whether you lurk or not.

****

I think the anxiety of school has caused me to drastically slow down my personal reading. So far this year I've read nineteen books, only one is an adult read. The rest are children's books, no young adult, no middle school books. *sigh* I have to learn how to better manage my time.

When I'm not studying for school or on twitter, I'm buying tons of books. So many that the only way I'm going to read all of them this year is if I don't check out any books from the library, receive any from Paperbackswap, and stop buying them. That's not going to happen. As of today I'm trying to read as many books as I can in time for my big giveaway starting Febuary 1st as part of my mini-challenge for the Dewey's Books Challenge. So if you haven't signed up already, I suggest you do so.

*****
Carrie's Essay Reading Challenge is the first challenge I finished this year. My goal was to read twenty essays this year and I surpassed that. Here are the first twenty essays that I read:

From Tin House Magazine
1. On Steinbeck's Travels with Charley - Tom Grimes
2. On Elain Dundy's The Dud Avocado - Elisa Albert
3. On Knut Hamusun's Hunger - Don Waters

From Powells Books Original Essays Feature
4. Mysteries in Plain Sight - Dara Horn
5. Still Knitting - Ann Hood
6. Taming the Wilderness - Ingrid Law

From The book that changed my life - Roxanne J. Cody
(I'm just giving you the name of the writer of the essay)

7. Dorothy Allison
8. Kate Atkinson
9. James Atlas
10. Robert Ballard
11. Gina Barreca
12 Nicholas A Bashanes
13. Graeme Base
14. Jeff Benedict
15. Elizabeth Berg
16. Amy Bloom
17. Harold Bloom
18. Lary Bloom
19. Chris Bohjalian
20. Da Chen

Thanks to Carrie for hosting this challenge.

Mailbox Monday

2009-01-19T07:49:00.000-08:00

I totally forgot today was Monday! Last week I didn't receive any reading materials in the mail but this week makes up for it thanks to Paperbackswap and Amazon.

The books are Geraldine Brooks's People of the Book; Lullabies for little Criminals, which I found out about from Kimbofo months ago and it was on the 2008 shortlist for the Orange Prize; Tigerheart by Peter David, a retelling of Peter Pan; the latest issue of Tin House; Gods Behaving Badly from BookThirty (thanks!); This Common Secret by Susan Wicklund; Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass, a young adult read that sounds very promising; How to Be an Explorer of the World by Keri Smith; and Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock, which is a collection of short stories that's been getting rave reviews.

Happy Readings!

Library Loot January 14-20

2009-01-16T17:32:00.000-08:00

How did I forget about Eva and Alessandra's great meme? After waiting a long five days I went to my local library and picked up all the books on hold for my middle baby and myself. Never mind that I still haven't cracked open even one book from last weeks' Library Loot.

Since school started this week and a required reading of at least 200 pages a week, my personal reading has slowed to almost a complete stop. I'm trying though. If I can get in one hour a day to myself, I will be a very happy girl.

Don't you just love the Trina Schart Hyman's cover for Little Red Riding Hood? I discovered this version of the fairy tale last year and fell in love with it. Little Red is beautiful. Happy readings!

Premio Darios Award

2009-01-08T17:12:00.000-08:00

The great J. Kaye awarded me the Primo Darios Award! How cool is that? The Primo Award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in their effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values every day.

The rules to follow are:

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2) Pass the award to other 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment. Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Here are a few of my favorites. If I could list all of the blogs I love (and stalk) this post would be pages long.

1. The Well-Read Child
2. In Search of Giants
3. Things Mean A Lot
4. People Reading
5. Christine Kane
6. A Feminist Wife
7. A Striped Armchair
8. Jackets and Covers
9. 37 Days
10. Sophisticated Dorkiness
11. Maggie Reads
12. Stuff as Dreams are Made On
13. Noses in Books
14. Book:Thirty
15. Becky's Book Reviews

Library Loot!

2009-01-07T19:42:00.000-08:00

Eva at A Striped Armchair came up with this great idea for bloggers to post what we checked out from the library every week. I think today's visit is the third one of the year and so far the best one.

After finishing The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy yesterday, I practically ran today back to the library to check out the second book in the series, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. I had several lovely surprises waiting for me on the holds shelf.

The Homeschooling Book of Lists (for my kids), The Dresden Files #1: Welcome to the Jungle graphic series (I'll find a challenge for it), One year to an organized life (part of my resolutions), Garden Spells (possible Well-Read Ladies February selection), Berlin: #1 City of Stones, Man's Search of Meaning (just in a weird mood), and plenty of books from the Babymouse series.

More Challenges!!!

2009-01-06T19:48:00.000-08:00

So you know that conversation we had a couple of days ago about me not joining any more challenges and if I did you would remind me? Well I just had to join one more challenge. It's just a small challenge really with not that many requirements. What? What's the challenge? Well, I joined Becky's year-long 42 Challenge.

The requirements? Here's what Becky said:

Your mission--if you choose to accept it--is to read, watch, listen, and review 42 sci-fi related items. (Items isn't the best word, but how else would you define all that this challenge could involve). What's acceptable? Practically everything: short stories, poetry (???), novellas, novels, episodes of TV shows, episodes of radio shows, movies, comic books, graphic novels, audio books, essays or articles about science fiction or science fiction writers, biographies of science fiction authors. This isn't quite as intimidating as it sounds. This is much more than a reading challenge. It would be intimidating (in all likelihood) to try to read that many books. But when you make each short story, each TV show episode count as individual items, then it is much more manageable I hope! (This challenge could be as easy as watching Season 1 and Season 2 of Stargate SG-1, for example.)

No lists are needed. Really. If you want to post about the challenge and talk about what you hope to get to that's fine, of course, but no one will hold you to it!

What's not to love about this challenge? I don't usually read science fiction but I still signed up. With kids, a full-time load starting in six days, and 23 other challenges, how hard can it be? I have the whole year and I just finished reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for my first read. I'll post my review later this week. Until then, wish me luck!

Books in 2009

2009-01-02T12:24:00.000-08:00

Books in blue are adult. Young adult is in green.The rest are children's, middle school, and young adult reads.

Oma's Quilt by Paulette Bourgeois
Babymouse #3: Beach Babe by Jennifer L. Holm
A Bit More Bert - Allan Ahlberg
Jessica - Kevin Henkes
Owl and the Pussycat - Edward Lear
Imaginary Menagerie - Julie Hoffstrand (Cybils)
Baby face - Cynthia Rylant (Cybils)
Big words for little people - Jamie Lee Curtis (Cybils)
A visitor for bear - Bonny Becker
Count with me - DK Publishing
Goose and Duck - Jean Craighead George
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Splat the Cat - Rob Scotton
There's a wolf at the door: five classic tales - Zoe B. Alley (Cybils)
Where the wild things are - Maurice Sendak
Ellington was not a street - Ntzake Shange
A River of Words - Jen Bryant (Cybils)
Don't let the pigeon stay up late - Mo Willems
The Man in the Picture - Susan Hill
How to be an explorer of the world - Keri Smith
Tuesday - David Weisner
The Shiniest - Marian Henley
Welcome to the Jungle: The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Babymouse #2 - Jennifer L. Holm
Babymouse #4: Rock Star - Jennifer L. Holm
The Black Book of Colors - Menena Cottin
Little Red Riding Hood - Trina Schart Hyman
Gods Behaving Badly - Marie Phillips
Babymouse #7: Skater Girl - Jennifer L. Holm
Stanley at the Sea - Linda Barry
The Book that changed my life - Roxanne J. Coady (essays)
Naked Mole Rat gets Dressed - Mo Willems
Chester - Melanie Watt
Chicken Feathers - Joy Crowley
Chester's Back - Melanie Watt (Cybils)
Fables 1: Legends in Exile - Bill Willingham
Notes to Self - Samara O'Shea
Fables Vol. 6 : Arabian Nights - Bill Willingham
The Poet Slave of Cuba - Margarita Engle
Daphne's Book - Mary Downing Hahn
Ziggy's Blue Ribbon Day - Claudia Mills (Cybils)
Potato Joe - Keith Baker
A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever - Marla Frazee (Cybils)
A Child's Day - Ida Pearle
Fables 2: Animal Farm - Bill Willingham
The Big Green Pocketbook - Candice Ransom
The Little Bit Scary People - Emily Jenkins
The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
My Friend, the Starfinder - George Ella Lyon
The House in the Night - Susan Marie Swanson
The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery
Bonsai - Alejandro Zambra
Fables Vol. 3: Storybook Love - Bill Willingham
The Rights of the Reader - Daniel Pennac
Dinosaur vs Bedtime - Bob Shea
Old Bear - Kevin Henkes
The Octupus - Denys Cazet
Bats at the Library- Brian Lies
Wake up, Sun! - David L. Harrison
Hansel and Gretel - Cynthia Rylant
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain - Peter Sis
John, Paul, George, and Ben - Lane Smith
How to heal a broken wing - Bob Graham
Fat Cat - Margaret Read MacDonald
A Good Day - Kevin Henkes
Fables Vol. 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers - Bill Willingham
Fables Vol. 6: Homelands - Bill Willingham
Fables Vol. 8: Wolves - Bill Willingham
Fables Vol. 9: Sons of Empire - Bill Willingham
Fables Vol. 10: The Good Prince - Bill Willingham
Fables Vol. 11: War and Pieces - Bill Willingham
Someday - Eileen Spinelli
Princess Peepers - Pam Calvert
Hooray for Reading Day! - Margarey Cuyler
Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai - Claire A. Nivola
Winter Trees - Carole Gerber
Peedie - Olivier Dunrea
The Book of the Unknown: Tales of the Thirty-Six: Jonathon Keats
New Socks - Bob Shea
Hi! Fly Guy - Tedd Arnold
The Gardener - Sarah Stewart
The Library - Sarah Stewart
Max and Ruby Play School - Rosemary Wells
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble - William Steig
Castle Waiting - Linda Medley
The Teashop Girls - Laura Schaefer
Mrs. McNosh Hangs up her Wash - Sarah Weeks
Doubt: a parable by John Patrick Shanley
Moxy Maxwell does not love Stuart Little - Peggy Gifford
Are you ready to play outside? - Mo Willems
Oscar and the Frog: A Book about Growing - Geoff Waring
Without Blood - Alessandro Baricco
The Plain Janes - Cecil Castellucci
Todog/Underdog - Suzan-Lori Parks
Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley
The Journey - Sarah Stewart
The Money Tree - Sarah Stewart
Houndsley and Catina by James Howe
Emily - Michael Bedard
Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken - Kate DiCamillo
Pajama Day - Lynn Plourde

2009 Challenges

2009-01-02T12:07:00.000-08:00

I have signed up for a crazy amount of challenges this year. My goal is to finish at least 60% of them by the end of the year. Books crossed out have been read. All challenges unless states otherwise are year-round. Wish me luck.

Personal Reading Challenges

I Suck at Challenges - post several updates a year on my progress with my challenges

To not buy another book until July. I can swap books as long as I don't buy the credits.

1. 100 Shots of Short. The goal is to read 100 short stories.

2. Essay Reading. 20 essays

3. A to Z (by author's last name)

A: Adams, Douglas
B: Becker, Bonnie
C: Crowley, Joy
D: Dickinson, Emily
E: Engle, Margarita
F: Frazee, Marla
G: Gifford, Peggy
H: Hyman, Trina Schmart
I
J
K
L: Leibovitz, Annie
M
N
O: O' Shea, Samara
P: Pearle, Ida
Q
R: Ransom, Candice
S: Smith, Keri
T
U
V
W: Weisner, David
X
Y
Z: Zambra, Alejandro

4. Young Adult (12 books)

Paper Towns - John Green
An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
Looking for Alaska - John Green
~~The Poet Slave of Cuba - Margarita Engle~~
Freak Show - James St. James
Eggs - Jerry Spinelli
Monster - Walter Dean Meyers
Tender Morsels - Margo Lanagan
Tigerheart - Peter David
~~The Teashop Girls - Laura Schaefer~~
~~The Plain Janes - Cecil Castellucci~~

5. Steinbeck Mini-Challenge

The Grapes of Wrath
Winter of Our Discontent

6. Dewey's Books (6 books)

Looking for Alaska - John Green
Kockroach -Tyler Knox
Exit Wounds - Rutu Moran
Ismael - Daniel Quinn
Monster - Walter Dean Myers
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
~~The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery~~
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
Gossamer - Lois Lowry
~~The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman~~
Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie
Glacial Period - Nicolas De Crecy
Thirteen Moons - Charles Frazier
Bonk - Mary Roach
Life as we knew it - Susan Beth Pfeffer
~~The Book that Changed my Life - Roxanne J. Coady~~
The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint Exupery
The Saturdays - Elizabeth Enright
Freak Show - James St. James
People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks
~~The Plain Janes - C. Castellucci~~
The Secret of Lost Things - Sheridan Hay
We Need to Talk about Kevin - Lionel Shriver

7. Year of Reading Dangerously

~~The Black Book of Colors~~ January
~~The Poet Slave of Cuba by Maragrita Engle~~ February
~~Topdog/Underdog - Suzan-Lori Parks~~ April
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
Her Blue Body Everything We Know - Alice Walker
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
This Blinding Absence of Light - Tahar Ben Jelloun

8. A Novel Group's Mini-Challenges

Collection of short stories- The Book of the Unknown: Tales of the Thirty-Six - Jonathon Keats (4/7/19)
Play: Topdog/Underdog - Suzan-Lori Parks (4/19/09)
Nonfiction book: The Shiniest Jewel - Marian Henley
Two essays:
Book event:
Library book: Notes to Self - Samara O' Shea
New to you author:
Donation: First Book.org in January
Promote literacy: donated Flygirl by Sherrie L. Smith to local library
Buddy read/Group discussion:
Book or genre outside comfort zone:
Classic:

9. Read Your Own Books (30 Books)

~~A River of Words - Jen Bryant~~
~~How to be an explorer of the world - Keri Smith~~
~~The Book that Changed my Life~~
~~The Shiniest Jewel - Marian Henley~~
~~Gods Behaving Badly- Marie Phillips~~
~~The Rights of the reader - Daniel Pennac~~
~~Without Blood - Alessandro Barrico~~

10. In Their Shoes

~~The Shiniest Jewel by Marian Henley~~
~~A River of Words - Jen Bryant~~
~~The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain - Peter Sis~~

11. Book Awards (10 award winners, from at least 5 different awards)

Looking for Alaska - John Green (Printz 2006)
~~The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman (Newbery 2009)~~
The Color Purple - Alice Walker (1983 Pulitzer and National Book Award)
Saturday - Ian McEwan (James Tait Black Memorial 2005)
Angels in America - Tony Kushner (1993 Pulitzer in Drama)
~~Castle Waiting - Linda Medley~~ (1998 Eisner Award)
~~Topdog/Underdog - Suzan-Lori Parks~~ (2002 Pultizer for Drama)
Beloved - Toni Morrison (1986 Pulitzer for Fiction)
Cockroach - Raw Hage (2008 Giller Prize)
This Blinding Absence of Light - Tahar Ben Jelloun (2004 Impac Dublin)
Out Stealing Horses - Per Petterson (2007 Impac Dublin)
various volumes from the Fables series - Bill Willingham (Eisner Award)
~~Doubt: a play by Patrick Shenely (Pulitzer for Drama)~~

12. Jewish Lit.

Angel of Forgetfulness - Steve Stern
The World to Come - Dara Horn
~~The Book of the Unknown: Tales of the Thirty-Six by Jonathon Keats~~
~~Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - Rachel Cohn~~

13. Unshelved Reading (Feb 1st - June 1st) 3 books req.

Mouseguard: Fall 1152 - David Peterson
~~The Lighting Thief - Rick Riordan~~
The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson
The Confessions of Max Tivoli - Andre Sean Greer
The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein

14. 9 Books for 2009

Free: The Shiniest Jewel -Marion Henley. Received it as an ARC.
Dusty
Used
Letter
Strange
Distance
Alive or Not
Cover

15. Year of Readers

Supporting 826National.org and First Book

16. Childhood Favourites

~~Daphne's Book - Mary Downing Hahn~~
~~Where the wild things are - Maurice Sendak~~
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

17. Graphic Novels (24 books required)

~~The Shiniest Jewel - Marian Henley~~
~~Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile - Bill Willingham~~
~~Fables Vol. 7: Arabian Nights - Bill Willingham~~
~~Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm - Bill Willingham~~
~~Fables Vol. 3: Storybook Love - Bill Willingham~~
~~Fables Vol. 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers - Bill Willingham~~
~~Fables Vol. 6: Homelands - Bill Willingham~~
~~Fables Vol. 8: Wolves - Bill Willingham~~
~~Fables Vol. 9: Sons of the Empire - Bill Willingham~~
~~Fables Vol. 10: The Good Prince - Bill Willingham~~
~~Faboles Vol. 11: War and Pieces - Bill Willingham~~
~~The Plain Janes - Cecil Castellucci~~

18. Lost in Translation (6 books)

The girl with the dragon tattoo - Steig Larson
Living to tell the tale - Garbriel Garcia Marquez
Death with Interruptions - Jose Saramago
Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafron
After the Quake - Haruki Murakami

40 Stories - Anton Chekhov
Perfume: The story of a murderer - Patrick Suskind
2666 - Roberto Bolano
~~The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery~~
The Little Prince - Antoine de Exupery

Out Stealing Horses - Per Petterson
Memory - Philippe Grimbert
Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett
The Lost Daughter - Elena Ferrante
~~Without Blood - Alessandro Barrico~~

~~The Black Book of Colors~~
The Butcher and Other Erotica - Alina Reyes
The Elementary Particles - Michael Houellebeccq
~~Bonsai - Alejandro Zambra~~
The Devil and Miss Prym - Paulo Coelho
The Savage Detectives - Roberto Bolano
~~The Rights of the Reader - Daniel Pennac~~

19. World Citizen

20. Dream King (Acolyte level: 3 works and 1 movie)

The Graveyard Book audio and book
Fragile Things
Neverwhere
Coraline the movie

21. Martel-Harper

22. 42 Challenge

~~The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams~~
~~Battleship Galactica Disc 1~~

23. Orbis Terrarum

~~The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery (France)~~
~~Bonsai - Alejandro Zambra (Chile)~~
~~The Rights of the Reader - Daniel Pennac (France)~~
~~Without Blood - Alessando Barrico~~

24. Classics Challenge (April 1- October 31, 2009) 4 Books

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie
?
Moby Dick - Herman Melville
New Classic: Hunger Games -Suzanne Collins

25. Banned Books Challenge Feb. 22nd - June 30th

Annie on My Mind - Nancy Garden
The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
The House of the Spirits - Isabel Allende
Forever - Judy Blume
Stones from the River - Ursula Hegi
It - Stephen King
A Day No Pigs Would Die - Robert Peck
Beloved - Toni Morrison
The Lorax - Dr. Seuss
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
The Color Purple- Alice Walker
Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

26. Spring Reading Challenge (ends March 20th - June 20th)

Sweet Hearts - Melanie Rae Thon
The Water Will Hold You: A Skeptic Learns to Pray - Lindsey Crittenden
Unearned Pleasures - Ursula Hegi
I am no one you know - Joyce Carol Oates
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
Tender Morsels - Margo Lanagan
Delicate Edible Birds - Lauren Groff
The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafron
Tales of Burning Love - Louise Erdrich
Repair - C.K. Williams
Sinners Welcome - Mary Karr
Heliopolis - James Scudamore
Nocturnes - John Conolly
Cries of the Spirit - Marilyn Sewell
The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter
Lullabies for Little Criminals - Heather O'Neil
Blue Highways - William Least Heat-Moon

27. Once Upon a Time Challenge (potential reads)

Tender Morsels - Margo Lanagan
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafron
A Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare
The Dark Hills Divide - Patrick Carman
~~The Book of the Unknown - Jonathon Keats~~
Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie
Tigerheart - Peter David
~~Fables series - Bill Willingham~~
The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter
Nights at the Circus - Angela Carter
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafron
Nocturnes - John Connolly
The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
A Curse Dark as Gold - Elizabeth C. Bunce
~~Hansel and Gretel - Cynthia Rylant~~
The War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells
Perfume - Patrick Suskind
~~Hansel and Gretel - Cynthia Rylant~~
~~East - Edith Pattou~~
Dandelion Wine - Ray Bardbury

28. Diversity Rocks

~~The Black Book of Colors - Menena Cottin (Latino author)~~
~~The Poet Slave of Cuba - Margarita Engle (Cuban author)~~
~~Ellington was not a street- Ntzake Shange (Black author)~~
~~The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery (French)~~
~~The Rights of the Reader - Daniel Pennac (French)~~
~~Bonsai - Alejandro Zambra (Chilean)~~
~~The Wall: Growing up behind the Iron Curtain - Peter Sis (Czech)~~
~~The Book of the Unknown: Tales of the Unknown - Jonathon Keats (Jewish)~~
~~Topdog/Underdog - Suzan-Lori Parks~~

29. Herding Cats Challenge April 1,2009 - December 31, 2009

Tender Morsels - Margo Lanagan (Nymeth)
The Secret of Lost Things - Sheridan Hay (3m & Puss Reboots)
Tortilla Flat - John Steinbeck (Becky)
The Housekeeper and the Professor - Yoko Ogawa (3m)
Beat the Reaper - (Raidergirl3)
We have always lived in the castle - Shirley Jackson (Mem)
Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami (Chris)
Life as we know it - (Raidergirl3)
Danny the Champion of the World - Roald Dahl (?)
This Blinding Absence of Light - Tahar Ben Jalloun (Raidergirl3)
The Library at Night - Alberto Manguel (Gavin)
The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate - Ted Chiang (Gavin)

"I Suck At Challenges" Challenge!

2009-01-02T07:40:00.000-08:00

I love this challenge already! As Chris stated,

I always wanted to host a reading challenge but never had a topic in mind. Of course, I realized that my track record with challenges is less than stellar. What a really need is a challenge to complete my challenges! So I invented The I Suck at Challenges Challenge. It's rather tongue in cheek but it might keep some of you challenges on the path to actually completing one or two. Lord knows there's enough challenges starting up now to tempt you all.

My category:

The 12 Steppers
(Aka "I can stop whenever I want.")

There's a challenge. You see it. Your palms start to sweat. Mr Linky mocks you. You try to stop yourself but it's too late. You've committed yourself to Books That Start With Q Challenge and you know you'll do it again when the next challenge comes along. The only thing is, how are you ever going to complete them all? Sound like you? Then you are a 12 Stepper. No program is going to help you though; you're addicted.

The rules are to list every challenge that you've signed up for. Chris will periodically call on participants to tell her their progress. She's also going to have giveaways.

My challenges:

1. The A to Z Challenge
2. A Novel Group's Mini-Challenge
3. Young Adult Challenge
4. Year of Reading Dangerously
5. Read Your Own Books
6. Book Awards
7. Diversity Rocks
8. In Their Shoes
9. Jewish Literature (I don't think I officially signed up for this.)
10. John Steinbeck Mini-Challenge
11. Lambda Challenge
12. Unshelved Reading Challenge
13. 9 Books for 2009
14 Childhood Favourites
15. Graphic Novel Challenge
16. Dewey's Books
17. Lost in Translation
18. World Citizen
19. Essay Reading
20. Year of Readers
21. 100 shots of short story reading
22. Dream King
23. Martel-Harper
24. 42 Challenge

Okay I think that's it but if you know I signed up for a challenge and it's not here, please let me know.

A-Z Challenge

2009-01-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is my last reading challenge I swear! If you even think I'm contemplating signing up for another one, I want you to twitter me or leave a comment reminding me "no more challenges." Please. It's your fault that I'm signing up for this challenge anyway. Yes, you. I can't see you but I know you're there. I've seen so many of my fellow bloggers sign up for the A-to-Z Challenge that I had to join! It was the wise J. Kaye who said "We only live once. Why not go out with a mess of book challenges?" The perfect advice.

So I signed up for the A to Z Challenge hosted by Becky. My plan is to do options A and E. Option A is to read authors A to Z while option E is to read 26 alphabet books. I'm going to be as flexible as possible with this challenge but below is my default list.

Auslander, Shaolam
Bondoux, Anne Laure
Carroll, Jonathon
Dickinson, Emily
Exupery, Antoine de
Ferrante, Elena
Green, John
Hill, Susan
Irving, John
July, Miranda
Knox, Elizabeth
Larsson, Steig
Monzo, Quin
Niffenegger, Audrey
Olafsson, Olaf
Packer, ZZ
Queen, Carol
Rushdie, Salman
Saramago, Jose
Tademy, Lalita
Umrigan, Thrity N.
Venneman, Kevin
Willingham, Bill
X, Malcolm
Yenne, Bill
Zambra, Alejandro

Booking Through Thursday - Happy New Year!!

2009-01-01T07:06:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!!

So . . . any Reading Resolutions? Say, specific books to read? A plan to read more _ _ _? Anything at all?

Yesterday afternoon I went to the library and found so many wonderful books waiting for me. This morning I plan on starting Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain. After that I have:

Tithe by Holly Black
The Man in the Picture by Susan Hill
Death with Interruptions - Jose Saramago
Looking for Alaska by John Green
An exact replica of a figment of my imagination by Elizabeth McCracken

My reading resolution is to read more books by minority authors and others from foreign countries. Happy New Year!

The Printz Project

2008-12-31T12:43:00.000-08:00

Michael L. Printz Winners & Honor Books

2009
Jellicoe Road, by Melina Marchetta

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves, by M.T. Anderson
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart
Nation, by Terry Pratchett
Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan

2008
The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean

Dreamquake: Book Two of the Dreamhunter Duet, by Elizabeth Knox
One Whole and Perfect Day, by Judith Clarke
Repossessed, by A.M. Jenkins
Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath, by Stephanie Hemphill

2007
American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; Volume I: The Pox Party, by M.T. Anderson
An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green
Surrender, by Sonya Hartnett
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

2006
Looking for Alaska, by John Green

Black Juice, by Margo Lanagan
I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak
John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth, a Photographic Biography, by Elizabeth Partridge
A Wreath for Emmett Till, by Marilyn Nelson

2005
how i live now, by Meg Rosoff

Airborn, by Kenneth Oppel
Chanda’s Secrets, by Allan Stratton
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, by Gary D. Schmidt

2004
The First Part Last, by Angela Johnson

A Northern Light, by Jennifer Donnelly
Keesha’s House, by Helen Frost
Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler

2003
Postcards from No Man’s Land, by Aidan Chambers

The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer
My Heartbeat, by Garret Freymann-Weyr
Hole in My Life, by Jack Gantos

2002
A Step From Heaven, by An Na

The Ropemaker, by Peter Dickinson
Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art, by Jan Greenberg
Abrams Freewill, by Chris Lynch
True Believer, by Virginia Euwer Wolff

2001
Kit’s Wilderness, by David Almond

Many Stones, by Carolyn Coman
The Body of Christopher Creed, by Carol Plum-Ucci
Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, by Louise Rennison
Stuck in Neutral, by Terry Trueman

2000
Monster, by Walter Dean Myers

Skellig, by David Almond
Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
Hard Love, by Ellen Wittlinger

Project Fill-in-the gaps

2008-12-31T12:39:00.000-08:00

I stole this idea from Aerin who stole it from Moonrat who stole it from Andromeda. According to Moonrat, Andromeda wanted to collect a list of 100 books to read to fill in the gaps she has when it comes to classics and contemporary fiction. She gave herself 5 years to read all 100 books. She also gave herself a 25% forgiveness rate so 75% completion rate is victorious.

We’re all giving ourselves the same rules Andromeda gave herself. So I should be completed with my list by March 29, 2014.

The criteria for the list:

snobby classics I’ve always wished I could tell people I’ve read, but would never read otherwise because I can’t imagine enjoying them (these will probably end up making up the 25)
Books that I’ve bought and owned for a long time, but haven’t read because they’re reeeeally long and I’m easily daunted by length at time of reading–choosing
Some books I’ve been curious about and keep forgetting to buy/read
The gaps filled in with some award-winning books

Agee, James - A Death in the Family (’58 Pulitzer Prize)
Allende, Isabel - The House of Spirits
Anderson, Laurie Halse - Speak
Austen, Jane - Sense and Sensibility

Beagle, Peter S. - A Fine and Private Place
Beagle, Peter S. - We never talk about my brother
Beowulf
Boyle, T.C. - The Tortilla Curtain
Bragg, Rick - All over but the shoutin’
Bronte, Charlotte - Jane Eyre

Carter, Angela - Nights at the Circus (’84 James Tait Black Memorial Prize)
Carter, Angela - The Bloody Chamber
Chandler, Raymond - The Big Sleep
Chaon, Dan - You remind me of me
Cheever, John - The Stories of John Cheever
Chekhov, Anton - The Cherry Orchard
Chekhov, Anton - 40 Stories
Cisneros, Sandra - Caramelo
Cleaver, Eldridge - Soul on Ice
Colwin, Laurie - Home Cooking
Conrad, Joseph - Heart of Darkness

Dante - The Inferno
Datlow, Ellen - Black Swan, White Raven
Didion, Joan - The White Album
Dillard, Annie - Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (’75 Pulitzer)
Dog, Mary Crow - Lakota Woman
Doyle, Arthur Conan - The Complete Sherlock Holmes Vol. 1

Eliot, George - Middlemarch
Ellison, Ralph - Invisible Man (’53 National Book Award)
Erdrich, Louise - Love Medicine (’84 National Book Critics Circle Award)
Erdrich, Louise - Tales of Burning Love
Eugenides, Jeffrey - The Virgin Suicides

Faulker, William
Fisher, M F K -
Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby
Friedan, Betty - The Feminine Mystique
Funke, Cornelia - Inkheart

Gaines, Ernest - A Lesson Before Dying (’93 NBCCA)
Green, John - Looking for Alaska (2006 Printz)
Greene, Graham - The End of the Affair

Hamilton, Edith - Mythology
Hansberry, Lorraine - A Raisin in the Sun
Harjo, Joy - She had Some Horses
Heat-Moon, William Least - Blue Highways
Hemingway, Ernest - Old Man and the Sea (’53 Pulitzer)
Hempel, Amy - Collected Stories
Hoffman, Alice - The Ice Queen
Hoffman, Nina Kiriki - A Fistful of Sky
Homer - The Odyssey (this time finish it)
Horn, Dara - The World to Come
Houston, Pam - Cowboys are my weakness

Ishiguro, Kazuo - Never Let Me Go

Jelloun, Tahar Ben - This Blinding Absence of Light (2004 Impac Dublin)
Jones, Edward - The Known World (’04 Pulitzer in Fiction)

Karr, Mary - Sinners Welcome
Kennedy, William J.- Ironweed (’84 Pulitzer in Fiction)
King, Laurie R. - The Beekeeper’s Apprentice
Kingston Maxine Hong - Woman Warrior (’76 NBCCA)
Kushner, Tony - Angels in America (’93 Pulitzer in Drama)

Lesser, Elizabeth - The Seeker’s Guide
Li, Yiyun - The Vagrants
Li, Yiyun - A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (’05 Pen/Hemingway)

Mansfield, Katherine - The Collected Stories
Mattiessen - Shadow Country (’08 National Book Award)
McCarthy, Cormac - Blood Meridan
McCarthy, Mary - The Group
Medley, Laura - Castle Waiting *completed 4/9/09
Melville, Herman - Moby Dick
Millay, Edna St. Vincent - Selected Poems (Pulitzer)
Momaday, N. Scott - House Made of Dawn (’69 Pulitzer)
Morrison, Toni - Beloved (’87 Pulitzer)
Munro, Alice - The View from Castle Rock
Murakami, Haruki - Norwegian Wood

Obama, Barack - Dreams from my father
O’Brien, Tim - The things they carried
O’Connor, Flannery - Collected Stories
Oliver, Mary - Red Bird

Paley, Grace- Collected Stories
Pattou, Edith - East *completed 3/30/09
Parks, Suzan-Lori - Topdog/Underdog (’02 Pulitzer in Drama) *completed 4/19/09
Porter, Katherine Anne - Collected Stories (’66 Pulitzer)
Pollock, Donald Ray - Knockemstiff
Potok, Chaim - The Chosen
Proulx, Annie

Robinson, Marilynne - Housekeeping (’81 Pen/Hemingway)
Russo, Richard - Empire Falls (’02 Pulitzer)
Rylant, Cynthia - Missing May (’93 Newbery Medal)

Said, Edward W. -Orientalism
Sexton, Anne
Shakespeare, William - Othello
Shakespeare, William - Hamlet
Smith, Zadie
Spiegelman, Art - The Complete Maus (’92 Pulitzer & ‘92 Eisner)
Stein, Steve - The Angel of Forgetfulness
Suskind, Patrick - Perfume: The story of a murderer

Tan, Amy - The Joy Luck Club
Taylor, Peter - A Summons To Memphis (’87 Pulitzer)
Teasdale, Sara - Love Poems (1918 Pulitzer for Poetry)
Tolstoy, Leo - War and Peace

Walker, Alice - The Color Purple (’83 Pulitzer)
Wallace, David Foster - Consider the Lobster
Wells, H. G. - War of the Worlds
Wells, H.G. - The Invisible Man
Welty, Eudora - 13 stories
Welty - The Optimist’s Daughter (’72 Pulitzer Prize)
White, T.H. - The Sword in the Stone
Whitman, Walt - Song of Myself
Williams, Tennesse - A Streetcar Named Desire (’48 Pulitzer in Drama)
Woolf, Virginia - A Room of One’s Own
Wright, Richard - Native Son

X, Malcolm - Autobiography of Malcolm X

Yezierska, Anzia - Bread Givers
Yolen, Jane - Briar Rose
Yolen, Jane - Favorite Folktales from Around the World

Zafron, Carlos Ruiz - The Shadow of the Wind

Is there a book you think I left off? Leave a comment!

What I read in 2008

2008-12-31T11:32:00.000-08:00

You don't have to read this. It's just for my records every book I read this year.

Mouse Tales - Arnold Lobel
Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel
Babymouse Vol. 1 - Jennifer Holm
The Retired Kid - James Agee (Cybils)
My letter to the world and other poems - Emily Dickinson (Cybils)
Flotsam - David Weisner
Life is a Verb - Patti Digh
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Savvy - Ingrid Law (Cybils)
Not a Stick - Antoinette Portis (Cybils)
The Tales of Beedle the Bard - J. K. Rowling
I know an old lady who swallowed fly guy - Tedd Arnold
The Pocket Muse - Monica Wood
It's not fair - Amy Krouse Rosenthal (Cybils)
Snoring Beauty - Bruce Hale (Cybils)
Me Hungry! - Jeremy Tankard (Cybils)
Duck Soup - Jackie Urbanovic (Cybils)
Big Bad Bunny - Franny Billingsley (Cybils)
The boy who wouldn't share - Mike Reiss (Cybils)
The Twin Giants - Dick King-Smith (Cybils)
Fletcher and the Falling Leaves - Julia Rawlinson
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson (Cybils)
Fool Moon- Jim Butcher
Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant - Jack Prelusky
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - F. Scott Fitzgerald (s.s.)
Paradise Lost - John Milton
Storm Front - Jim Butcher
Owl at Home - Arnold Lobel
Backup - Jim Butcher
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
Delilah D. at the library - Jeanne Willis
The Zoo - Suzy Lee
Grace for President - Kelly Dipucchio (Cybils)
Wolves - Emily Gravett
The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett
A broom of one's own - Nancy Peacock
The Bearskinner: A Tale of the Brothers Grimm - Laura Amy Schlitz
The girl in the castle inside the museum - Kate Bernheimer (Cybils)
Woolbur - Leslie Helakoski
The Boy who grew flowers - Jen Wojtowicz
The Sisters Grimm Vol. 1 - Michael Buckley
I ain't gonna paint no more - Karen Beaumont
The Way Back Home - Oliver Jeffers
LadyBug Girl - Jacky Davis (Cybils)
The Dangerous Alphabet - Neil Gaiman
Arthur's Halloween - Marc Brown
In a blue room - Jim Averbeck (Cybils)
The Willoughbys - Lois Lowry
The very brave witch - Alison McGee
Geography of Love - Glenda Burgess
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See
Wanted - Brian K.
Zami - Audre Lorde
Gloom Cookie - Serena Valentino
Art by Patrick McDonnell
The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
Just who will you be? Big Question. Little Book. Answer Within by Maria Shriver
Housekeeping vs. the Dirt - Nick Hornby
Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - The Pearl Poet
The Pull of the Moon - Elizabeth Berg
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling
Flight Vol. 2- ed. Kazu Kibuishi
Flight Vol. 1 - ed. Kazu Kibuishi
Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose
Robot Dreams - Sara Varon
A wrinkle in Time - Madeline L'Engle
The Book of Lost Things by John O'Connolly
We are on our own - Miriam Katin
The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch
Bone Vol. 9 -Jeff Smith
Bone Vol. 8 -Jeff Smith
Bone Vol. 7 - Jeff Smith
Bone Vol. 6 - Jeff Smith
Bone Vol. 5 - Jeff Smith
Bone Vol. 4: Jeff Smith
Bone Vol. 3: Jeff Smith
Bone Vol. 2: Jeff Smith
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic - Alison Bechdel
Understanding Comics- Scott McCloud
Bone Vol. 1: Out of Boneville - Jeff Smith
Comfort - Ann Hood
What now? - Ann Patchett
Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer
New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
Fables Vol. 5: The Mean Seasons
Fables 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers
Fables Vol. 3: Storybook Love
Fables Vol. 2 Animal Farm - Bill Willingham
The Well-Adjusted Child - Rachel Gathercole
Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
Dinner with Friends - Donald Margulies
The Flower - John Light
Steel Magnolias - Robert Harling
Fables: Legends in Exile - Bill Willingham
Time and Materials -Robert Hass
The Wild Braid - Stanley Kunitz
The Sandman Vol. 1 Preludes and Nocturnes - Neil Gaiman
Driving Miss Daisy - Alfred Uhry
Wit: a play - Margaret Edson
Minnie and Moo and the seven wonders of the world - Denys Cazet
The Book of Other People - Zadie Smith
The Resurrectionist - Jack O'Connell
The End of the Alphabet - CS Richardson
Monsters of Templeton - Lauren Groff
The Stolen Child - Keith Donohue
Love Walked in - Marisa De Los Santos
The Arrival - Shaun Tan
BooBoo - Olivier Dunrea
Peedie - Olivier Dunrea
American Born Chinese - Gene Luen Yang
The Happiness Code - Amy Herrick
Ollie - Olivier Dunrea
Purplicious - Victoria Kahn
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Alan Moore
How to be a Domestic Goddess - Nigella Lawson
Amulet: Book 1 The Stonekeeper - Kazu Kibuishi
Baby Bear, Baby Bear, what do you see? - Bill Martin Jr.
Penelope - Marilyn Kaye
Not quite what I was planning - Smith Magazine
Every monday matters - matthew emerzian
52 projects - Jeffrey Yamaguchi
Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician by Daniel Wallace
That rabbit belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell
The who who was raisied by librarians - Carla Morris
The nighteater by Ana Juan
Into the woods - Lyn Gardner
Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems
The Frog Prince continued by Jon Scieszka
Nate the Great and the Monster Mess by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
Nate the great and the mushy valentine by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
Time to pee by Mo Willems
Persepolis 2 -Marjane Satrapi
One of those days - Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Diary of a wimpy kid by Jeff Kinney
Horns and Wrinkles by Joseph Helgerson
Good-bye, Chunky Rice - Criag Thompson
Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi
Julia's Chocolates -Cathy Lamb
Riding the bus with my sister - Rachel Simon
Minnie and Moo and the haunted sweater - Denys Cazet
Minnie and Moo: The Case of the Missing Jelly Donut - Denys cazet
Baby Bear's Books - Jane Yolen
Stardust - Neil gaiman
The Library - Sarah Stewart

Another Challenge!!

2008-12-30T20:39:00.000-08:00

Wendy at Caribousmom is hosting the 2nd annual Mini-challenges again. I love this challenge. There are 12 mini-challenges that you can do in any order starting January 1st and ending December 31st. The only catch is that you have to either blog about the completed challenge or tell Wendy's Yahoo group A Novel Challenge about it. Here are the challenges cut and pasted:

1.Read a collection of short stories and either blog about it, OR tell the group about what you read

2. Read a play. Blog about it, OR tell the group about your experience.

3. Read a nonfiction book; write a review on your blog or post it to the group.

4. Read an 2 essays from the same collection; write a review on your blog or tell the group about what you read.

5. Go to a book event; blog about it or tell the group about it.

6. Borrow a library book, read it and review it on your blog (or tell the group about it).

7. Read a book by a new to you author. Do a little research on the author…do they have a blog? How many books have they written? Have they won any prizes? Where do they live? etc… Blog about the book you read and the author OR tell the group about them.

8. Make a donation. You can either donate to an organization that supports reading OR make a physical donation of a book (or books) to ANYONE. Blog about it or tell the group what you did.

9.Promote literacy. This is wide open - use your imagination. You could give a child a book, or read a book to someone who cannot read, or volunteer at an event which promotes literacy, or donate to your local library, or write something on your blog with a link to a group which promotes literacy, or anything in between. The only rule with this one is that you must PROMOTE literacy in some way…

10. Participate in a buddy read or Group discussion. This can be a face to face group, an on-line group or a one on one discussion with a friend who read the same book. Either way, blog about your experience or share with the group. Did the discussion give you greater appreciation or insight into what you read?

11. Read a book outside your comfort level or from a genre you don’t normally read. Blog about it, or tell the group about it.

12.Read a classic (defined as anything published before 1970). Tell us why it fits the category of being a classic. Write a review or tell the group about the book.

My Favorites of 2008

2008-12-30T07:32:00.000-08:00

2008 was not my best reading year but it was my best year when it comes to exploring the blogosphere. I've been blogging for a year and half now, discovering new books and genres while expanding my horizons and making new friends along the way. Thanks to Dewey and Nymeth, I've tried and fell in love with graphic novels. Because of Wendy, I know about every reading challenge on this side of the sphere. The great J.Kaye turned me back on to young adult books.

I've read so many great books this year, most of which were published years ago. So I can't honestly say what the best books of this year are, but I can tell you what my favorites are. I tried to come up with my top 20 but found that impossible.

Favorite young adult/high school
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - Rachel Cohn and David Leviathan

Favorite Middle School fiction
1. Savvy by Ingrid Law
2. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
3. Into the Woods -Lyn Gardner

Favorite Self-Help
Life is a Verb - Patti Digh

Favorite Adult Fiction
1. The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett
2. Wit: A Play - Margaret Edson
3. The Book of Other People: short stories edited by Zadie Smith
4. Love Walked In - Marisa de Los Santos
5. The End of the Alphabet - CS Richardson

Favorite graphic novels
1. We are own our own - Miriam Katin (also one of my favorite non-fiction reads)
2. Amulet Vol. 1: The Stonekeeper - Kazu Kibuishi
3. Goodbye, Chunky Rice - Craig Thompson
4. Babymouse Vol. 1 - Jennifer and Matthew Holm
5. Fables series -Bill Willingham

Favorite nonfiction
1. The Geography of Love - Glenda Burgess
2. The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch
3. Understanding Comics - Scott McCloud
4. Comfort - Ann Hood

Favorite Children's Books
1. The Flower -John Light
2. Flotsam - David Weisner
3. Minnie and Moo series - Denys Cazet
4. The Retired Kid - James Agee

Favorite Series
Fables by Bill Willingham

Favorite Challenges
1. Once Upon a Time hosted by Carl V.
2. R.I.P. (Readers Imbibing Peril) also hosted by Carl V.
3. 24 Hour Read-a-thon hosted by Dewey

Favorite bloggers
All of you who visit 1330v and leave comments. Thank you so much. I appreciate you and wish you happy readings and great times in 2009.

Sunday Salon: The Last Sunday

2008-12-28T09:47:00.000-08:00

It amazes me that 2009 is just a few days away. This year went by so fast! With my vacation from school lasting until the middle of January, I've been trying to read as many books as possible to make up for all those I couldn't read during the semester.

In the last week or so I read nine books and my favorites are:

Savvy by Ingrid Law
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - Rachel Cohn and David Leviathan
Life is a Verb - Patti Digh
My letter to the world and other poems - Emily Dickinson

Between reading and relaxing, I just had to sign up for some of next year's reading challenges. I promised myself that I would only sign up for six challenges next year, but at yesterday's count I signed up for nineteen! All are pretty flexible and I can make my list as I go. Most of the challenges are new to me, only three are challenges I've heard about or participated in before: Jewish Literature, Book Awards, and the challenge I'm hosting the In Their Shoes Challenge. The great thing about reading challenges is you have the opportunity to sign up to read books you normally would not have read on your own.

On December 31st, I will be posting my 20 favorite books of 2008. So far this year I've read 139 books, most of which were not published this year. It's going to be hard to come up with my top 20, but I'll try. Don't be surprise if you see my top 23 or 25!

Happy New Year!

Unshelved Reading Challenge

2008-12-27T19:25:00.001-08:00

I promise this will be my last challenge post for today. This challenge is being hosted by Becky at Becky's Book Reviews. It starts February 1st and ends June 1st 2009. The goal is to read at least three books reviewed by the Unshelved Book Club. My picks:

1. An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
2. The Confessions of Max Tivoli - Andrew Sean Greer
3. The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson
4. Mouse Guard Fall 1152 - David Peterson
5. Sharp Teeth - Toby Barlow

Lambda Challenge

2008-12-27T19:14:00.000-08:00

I really do need to keep up with all the challenges I'm signed up for. The Lambda Challenge is being hosted by Adventures in Reading. There's no time limit and the only rule is to read books that have won the Lambda Award. The award celebrates the best in LBGT literature. My list so far with books I've read in bold:

Call me by your name - Andre Aciman
The bill from my father - Bernard Cooper
Fun Home - Alison Bechdel
Me talk pretty one day - David Sedaris

Jewish Literature

2008-12-27T13:04:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I said I wasn't going to sign up for that many challenges next year, but I can't help it. I'm addicted.

The Jewish Literature Challenge is being hosted by Callista. The rules to read at least four books by Jewish authors or about Judaism. It started December 21st and ends April 27, 2008.

My picks:

1. Angel of Forgetfulness - Steve Stern
2. The World to Come - Dara Horn
3. People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks
4. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - Rachel Cohn and David Leviathan (finished)

Day Seven's Summary

2008-12-25T19:58:00.000-08:00

I finished reading Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan this morning. What a great read! It's marketed towards the high school crowd, but after several references to the sitcom My So-Called Life, I knew this book is really for my generation.

The book is about the "five-minute" relationship between two strangers that turns into an unforgettable first date complete with great music, drunk loyal friends, ex-girlfriends from hell, and the possibility of new love.

I also finished Patti Digh's Life is a Verb: 37 Days to wake up, be mindful, and live intentionallyy. It's a great self-help book with tons of stories, exercises, examples and laughs to get you going. The inspiration for the book come from Digh's father. Her father was diagnosed with lung cancer and died just thirty seven days later. This is not a book of sadness or grief, but one that celebrates life and the human potential fully. I cannot say enough about the book, but I can say this: go out and buy it now. Also go and check out Patti's blog: http://37days.typepad.com/37days/

Day Six Summary

2008-12-24T13:59:00.000-08:00

Right now I'm reading the young adult novel Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. I wanted to see the movie, which is currently out, but it's not playing in my area. The book is great so far! Don't you feel lucky when you read one great book after the other? Yesterday I didn't get much reading done, but maybe today will be better.

Happy Holidays!

Day four's summary, a library visit, and some books thrown in

2008-12-22T17:40:00.001-08:00

Instead of giving you a million posts in one day, I'll just make this one a little longer than usual. I ended up finishing Savvy by Ingrid Law hours after I wrote day two's summary. I took the book to bed with me and stayed up until the last page was read. With three kids I'm strict about getting every hour of sleep that I can get, so it's the ultimate compliment.

Savvy starts with Mississippi (Mibs) Beaumont two days away from her thirteenth birthday, wondering about what "savvy" she will receive. A savvy is the special powers Beaumonts receive on their thirteenth birthday. With an older brother who can almost instantly make hurricanes, a mother who is perfect at everything she do, and a grandfather who can cause earthquakes, Mibs knows her savvy will be special. But when her father is hospitalized after a car accident, Mibs knows that her savvy will help her heal him and bring him home. The problem is how to get to the hospital. She finally sneaks on the bus of a bible salesman's, going on a road trip that's filled with adventures. A great coming-of-age story.

Yesterday I didn't read anything. Instead I spent the day hunting through new and used bookstores for great finds. Unfortunately I didn't find even one book, something that rarely happens to me. Maybe next time . . .

Today I read Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. I'll review it later this week, but for now: it's a great read.

At my visit to the library in between readings of Stargirl, I picked up more books, ignoring what's already on my bookshelf.

Classics for Pleasure by Michael Dirda. A collection of essays about Dirda's favorite classics.

Rumi: The Book of Love.

Great Books by David Denby. A memoir about Denby's year at Columbia University as an adult, rediscovering the classics all over again. (See a theme here?)

An Exact Replica of a Figment of my Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken

Day Two Summary

2008-12-20T19:27:00.000-08:00

I'm 127 pages into Savvy by Ingrid Law, a great story about a girl who gets her "savvy" or special powers on her thirteenth birthday.

I'm only twelve pages into Abigail Thomas's memoir A Three Dog Life.

I'm too addicted to the internet. Tomorrow I'm spending less time on the computer.

Day one summary

2008-12-19T18:29:00.000-08:00

In total I read four books today: The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling, The Pocket Muse by Monica Wood, Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis, and I know an old lady who swallowed fly guy by Tedd Arnold.

The Pocket Muse: Ideas and Inspirations for Writing (2004)
Monica Wood
256 pages

I received this book just yesterday from paperbackswap. The Pocket Muse is filled with exercises, quotes, and advice on writing. I read this in almost one sitting. Before I started I had a new pack of post-its for pages I liked. When I finished the book I had went through all of my post-its tagging page after page. One of my favorite exercises was "Inventing an Opposite" (what's the opposite of a kiss?). Included also are black and white photos and fill in the blank sentences to inspire.

Not A Stick (2007)
Antoinette Portis
32 pages
2008 Cybil Nominee for Fiction Picture Book

I had to read this sequel to Not a Box. This time there's a little pig whose imagination takes a stick and makes it so much more like a paintbrush and sword among other things.

There was an old lady who swallowed Fly Guy (2007)
Tedd Arnold
2008 Cybil Nominee for Easy Reader

A funny read about Fly Guy being swallowed by an old lady along with several farm animals.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard (2008)
J.K. Rowling
112 pages

Part of the world of Harry Potter, this book is a great addition for any HP fan's library. My favorite stories were "The Warlock's Hairy Heart," "The Fountain of Fair Fortune," and "The Tale of The Three Brothers."

Now four down and nineteen to go.

Graphic Novels Challenge

2008-12-19T16:50:00.000-08:00

In the midst of reading as much as I could today, I also signed up for Laza's Graphic Novel Challenge. The challenge starts January 1st and ends December 31st. The challenge is really flexible with participants choosing their level of involvement:

Doctorate - read 24 books
Masters - read 18 books
Major - read 12 books
Minor - read 6 books

I'm going to participate on the Doctorate level. I already plan on reading as many graphic novels as I can next year, so I know this will be a great way to make more blogging friends. I probably won't make a list though I know at the very least the Fables series by Bill Willingham will be on my list.

23 Books in 23 Days Personal Challenge

2008-12-18T18:44:00.000-08:00

Starts: Tomorrow, December 20, 2008
Ends: January 11, 2009, Sunday

With the fall semester officially over for me as of this morning, I can finally relax and read without guilt until the start of spring semester next year. Every year I usually hit the 150 mark when it comes to books read, but since I became a full-time student this year, I am currently at 128 books. So I came up a personal challenge to read 23 books in the next 23 days. I'm starting the challenge tomorrow and will end it on Sunday, January 11th, the day before the semester starts. I'm not giving myself any restrictions on genre or book length, though I do plan on reading Roberto Bolano's masterpiece 2666 which clocks in at a whooping 894 pages. This might end up the 22 books in 23 days challenge. Any way, wish me luck!

Sunday Salon

2008-12-14T07:16:00.000-08:00

My reading week started out great with me reading the first two books in Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files series: Storm Front And Fool Moon. Harry Dresden is a young wizard living in present day Chicago, fighting demon-calling sorcerers, vampires, werewolves, fairy godmothers, and many more creatures of the Nevernever, a land just for special creatures. Everything was going okay, until someone started sending these creatures Harry's way. . .

These were great books, fast-paced with a great plot. In the first book, Storm Front, the only thing that turned me a bit off was all of Harry's sarcasm. You know the character is doing it so he won't be so serious, but a couple of times I wanted to just close the book because it started to become a cliche. Run-in with a strange creature, almost get killed, sarcasm. Fool Moon had less of the sarcasm and was just as well-written as Storm Front.

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson is a beautiful tribute to all the men who played Negro League Baseball and those who organized it. The book is a non-fiction picture book aimed at readers eight and up. The illustrations are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. I don't know anything about baseball now or then, but the conditions these great athletes played in for the love of the game was astonishing: because of segregation many times there was no place to sleep after a game so many players slept crammed in a car with other teammates, sometimes there was no place to get a meal or take a shower. . . Not to mention the sixty-year agreement by white major league owners to not allow any African-American to play in the major leagues. This is one of my favorite books of the year and I am so glad I read it. I don't normally buy hardcovers, but I will definitely be buying this book soon.

Have a great week and happy readings!

What book I am

2008-12-14T07:11:00.000-08:00

You're Loosely Based!
by Storey Clayton

While most people haven't heard of you, you're a really good and interesting person. Rather clever and witty, you crack a lot of jokes about the world around you. You do have a serious side, however, where your interest covers the homeless and the inequalities of society. You're good at bringing people together, but they keep asking you what your name means.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Booking Through Thursday

2008-12-11T06:50:00.000-08:00

1. Do you get to read as much as you WANT to read?

No, but I will be able to for Christmas vacation.

2. If you had (magically) more time to read–what would you read? Something educational? Classic? Comfort Reading? Escapism? Magazines?

I'll read whatever I wanted to read. I never read to escape. Nor do I read magazines unless it's Bookmarks. I would probably be reading contemporary fiction.

Dewey's Books

2008-12-08T17:49:00.000-08:00

Just yesterday I wrote the I wouldn't be joining that many challenges next year, but this one I could not resist. Chris and Robin are hosting the Dewey's Books challenge.

The rules are:

1. 1. Pick one book from each of the 6 years that Dewey has archives of. You can access her archives by clicking on the archive link in the sidebar of her website. It’s a dropdown menu. For instance, you would read one book that she reviewed in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 for a total of six books.

2. The other option is to read 5 books that Dewey reviewed. These can be from any year and I’m guessing that each of us has at least 5 books on our TBR list because of Dewey!

To join pick either option one or two. The challenge officially starts January 1st, but you can start now and ends December 31, 2009.

This is such a great idea. Dewey had great taste in books from award-winners to graphic novels to young adults. This is a challenge that has something for everybody. I'm going to do option one. I'm staying flexible, so I won't be making a list.

Sunday Salon: 2009 Personal Challenge

2008-12-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

As great as challenges are, there are many I won't be joining next year because of limited time. So instead I plan on having a personal challenge that includes no more than six challenges from the blogosphere. There are so many books I want to read and of course not enough time to read them.

I'm starting my personal challenge on Dec. 18, 2008 and it will run through Dec. 31, 2009. I know the dates are odd but the 18th is the last day of school for me and I plan on reading the second I walk out of class.

The plan: to read 150 books

6 in translation. (Lost in Translation challenge)
12 young adult novels (J. Kaye's Y.A. Challenge)
10 award winners (Book Award Challenge)
25 on my TBR bookshelf
100 short stories (100 shots of short story challenge)
The rest? Who cares?

I'm also participating in The Year of Readers Challenge that is hosted by Jodie. The challenge is a year-long read-a-thon in 2009 to raise money for literary charities through reading. Instead of asking people to donate money to me for my charities, First Book and 826 National, I'm going to personally donate $1.50 for each book I read. If I read 150 books I'll have donated a total of $225 by the end of the year. I plan on donating money at the end of each month instead of waiting until the end of the year. If you would like to join and help raise money, go over to the challenge. If not, why don't you support one of your fellow bloggers and donate money for a great cause?

Lost in Translation Challenge

2008-12-06T08:29:00.000-08:00

Lost in Translation Challenge
Jan. 1st - December 31, 2009

The goal is to read 6 books in translation.

My list:

The girl with the dragon tattoo - Steig Larsson (Swedish)
Living to tell the tale - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Spanish)
Death with interruptions - Jose Saramago (Portuguese)
Shadow of the wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Spanish)
After the Quake - Haruki Murakami (Japanese)

40 stories - Anton Chekhov (Russian)
Perfume: the story of a murderer - Patrick Suskind (French)
2666- Robert Bolano (Spanish)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery (French)
The Little Prince - Antoine de Exupery (French)

Out Stealing Horses - Per Petterson (Norwegian)
Memory - Philippe Grimbert (French)
Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett (French)
The Lost Daughter - Elena Ferrante (Italian)

Weekly Geeks #27: Thinking of Dewey

2008-12-04T16:39:00.000-08:00

Dear Dewey,

This week has been such a sad one with you gone. For there to be silence instead of words from you feels impossible. I miss you. I feel so sad for your family who I know is missing your presence. I have read so many great things about you and I hope that wherever you are, you hear it all and know how special you were to so many people.

One of my favorite posts from you is a book meme that was posted earlier this year. In it you answered the question that all lovers of books hear: Why do you read? I read your very funny story about shouting out the names of establishments as your parents drove you by. I read how reading gave you as much peace as sleep. I read how you felt like an anthropologist when you read, learning about the human race.

I think we read because it's as essential as breathing to us.

Thank you for being so caring and so kind. Thank you for sharing yourself and your life with us. You were a great friend. We all miss you. I love you, Dewey, and I'm glad you're no longer in pain.

N. Vasillis

Bedtime Stories

2008-12-02T06:22:00.000-08:00

More than a year has passed since the kids and I started a book club. The kids' ages range from three to nine. At the time only the oldest (the girls) were readers. The boys were just starting to learn their letters. I wanted to start something that would be fun for the kids and not feel like school: no lessons or homework, just listening to a good story.

We usually get together every day and read. On the weekends we visit our local library, checking out too many books. We also watch movies based on books like The Velveteen Rabbit, Stuart Little, Harry Potter, and many more. The kids enjoy themselves while unknowingly adding new words to their vocabularies and enriching their love of books.

This week we are reading some great finds from our library:

Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Carin Berger (2006)
Ages 4-6
40 pages

As a group we never read poetry. The kids, with very different interests, would rather not. But after reading some great reviews about this book, I checked it out for myself and ended up reading it to the group every night. The book is about imaginary creatures that are part inanimate object and part animal. So far the kids' favorite is the toadster, an animal that is part toad and part toaster who loves popping out toast from the top of its head.

Owl at Home written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel (1982)
Ages 4-8
64 pages

It's amazing how even as an adult you can rediscover your childhood by falling in love with children's books. This was published the year I was born but I've never encountered books by Lobel until now.

Owl at Home is a collection of five stories about the adventures of Owl in his home. The kids loved reading about the silly character as he welcomed winter into his warm and cozy home one night, walked home with the moon, and others.

Owl at Home has been such a good fit with my family, I am finding as many books as I can by Lobel.

Dewey

2008-12-01T13:27:00.000-08:00

Dear Dewey,

Without even knowing you were gone, I missed you. Every morning when I turn on my computer, I go straight to "The Hidden Side" to see what you have posted next. Every day there was something new to read: a comment on life, a book review, a contest, or event. . . What I loved most about you was your honesty, your sense of humor, and your ability to bring bloggers from all over together to know each other and celebrate our love of books. If it wasn't for you, so many of us would not know each other.

You have been a mentor to me, teaching me it is okay to write, to put down your thoughts, and let the world see. You made writing seem so effortless. I am sorry I waited until this sad day to tell you all of this. I know better now.

Thank you for making me feel so good by hosting the Read-a-thon. I only participated once but I felt great cheering others on while making new blogging friends and reading.

To know that now there is only silence instead of your words, your thoughts is almost unbelievable. Your role can never be replaced or diminished with time.

Missing you,
Vasilly

Sunday Salon: End of Novemebr and everything books

2008-11-30T07:30:00.000-08:00

After reading so many great reviews about Neil Gaiman's newest novel, The Graveyard Book, I did something I usually don't do: bought it in hardcover. As much as I love books I never buy a book in hardcover unless it's used. Books are so expensive that I rather check them out at my local library, receive them from paperbackswap, wait a year or more until they come out in paperback or buy them used. I am glad I bought The Graveyard Book.

The description from Amazon perfectly sums it up:

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy.

He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead.

There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy-an ancient Indigo Man beneath the hill, a gateway to a desert leading to an abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer.

But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family. . . .

I have so many obligations this week: studying for finals, essays, homework, and family that reading this book felt a little rushed so I plan on rereading it later on this week.

I started November out in a book funk. I could not finish any books I started. The cure: picture books. I read so many great picture books like Delilah D at the Library by Jeanne Willis about a young girl with a very big imagination, The Bearskinner by Laura Amy Schlitz which was a spin on a Grimm fairy tale, and Woolbur by Leslie Holakoski about being your own person. My kids loved all three books.

Even in a book funk and with Christmas approaching, I have madly been searching through thrift stores, libraries, paperbackswap, and used bookstores for great finds and have acquired so many great reads ranging from Joyce Carol Oates's The Gravedigger's Daughter, to Ami McKay's The Birth House to Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres. Now I just have to find the time to read!

Have a great week and happy reading!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T19:04:00.000-08:00

This year has been a pretty challenging one with me going back to college and learning through experience how to balance school, kids, and free time for myself. Right now as I look around, I see only blessings.

I am so thankful for my family who supports me as I deal with homework, tests, and late-night studying.

I am thankful for finally having the opportunity to go back to school.

For every book I get my hands on.

The four walls around us and the roof above our heads. There are so many who don't have that.

For decent health.

Our love for each other.

Now it's time to go back to cooking. How are you spending Thanksgiving and what are you thankful for?

For the love of books

2008-11-25T20:04:00.000-08:00

"The appeal of reading, she thought, lay in its indifference: there was something undefering about literature. Books did not care who was reading them or whether one read them or not. All readers were equal, herself included. Literature, she thought, is a commonwealth; letters a republic." -Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader

Not again.

2008-11-20T20:35:00.000-08:00

I have writer's block. I also have reader's block. The only thing I can read is the required reading assignment from my British Lit class, Paradise Lost. Sigh. I better start checking out some children's books. It's the best cure for reader's block. Maybe it'll help the writer's block also.

Sunday Salon

2008-11-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

For the past two weeks I have been boycotting my life: boycotting school and its endless assignments and readings, boycotting chores at home (unsuccessfully,) and boycotting life in general. I need a vacation and with a little bit more than a month until I can have one, like the teenager I once was, I am rebelling. I refuse to let my reading suffer a bit more.

Earlier last week I found out about 100 Shots of Short reading challenge hosted by Rob. The challenge has no time limit and no specific titles to read, it's the reader's pick. No one can argue that short stories can take any great amount of time away from one's day. Since I have family and school responsibilities my free time is very limited but my goal is to read one short story a day for the next 100 days.

Last Saturday I checked out The Best American Short Stories 2008. As much as I love short stories, I rarely read a collection of them. Salman Rushdie is this year's co-editor and has picked some great stories. Out of the six short stories I have read so far in this collection, five I have loved. After reading the first two stories, T.C. Boyle's Admiral and Kevin Brockmeier's wonderful The Year of Silence, I knew I had to have this book. Katie Chase, Nicole Krauss, Alice Munro, and Danielle Evans are among the many writers in this collection.

With several fires burning in Southern California, many Californians are stuck indoors because of bad air quality. I am grateful that I am nowhere near the fires and my family is safe. My prayers goes out to everyone in the areas. Have a good week and happy readings!

Saturday Quote

2008-11-15T18:05:00.000-08:00

"There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny."
-Steve Pressfield, The War of Art

I'm addicted to Wordle!

2008-11-14T21:19:00.000-08:00

Thanks, Jill! One more thing for me to do for hours at a time. Go and try it: www.wordle.net

Books for the Holidays Campaign

2008-11-10T18:30:00.000-08:00

I just found out about a great challenge for book bloggers organized by Amy. I'm Buying Books for the Holidays is a campaign challenging people to buy books as gifts for as many people on our holiday lists as possible. The challenge's blog will feature book reviews and try to raise awareness of literary charities. Amy promises to donate $100 to First Book if at least 100 people sign up for the challenge.

Sunday Salon: So many books, too little time

2008-11-09T17:51:00.000-08:00

As last Saturday's quote says, school is getting in the way of my education. Between assigned readings, field trips, essays, hours and hours of lectures, and my family I have very little time for myself, reading, or nanowrimo.

I'm like most people: a guerrilla learner. I learn whatever it is that interests me, for as long as it interests me before moving on to the next subject. In the last year my interests have included: graphic novels, comics, fairy tales, the perfect personal essay, journal writing, and more. Great for me, horrible for school. Or is it the other way around? Either way I've have had little time to do the things I've loved.

This past week has been a great week for books. Through the mail I've received:
Too Soon Old, Too Little Smart - Gordon Livingston
The Gift: Poems by Hafiz - Daniel Ladinsky
Good Poems for Hard Times
A Broom of One's Own - Nancy Peacock
Life is a Verb - Patti Digh
Forty Stories - Anton Chekhov

I went to the thrift store Friday and walked away with eleven great books including Perfume by Patrick Suskind and Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. Since I have the next two days off from school I plan on reading and writing until my heart is full. Wish me luck.

Friday's Quote

2008-11-07T16:32:00.000-08:00

"Loving a baby or child is a circular business, a kind of feedback loop. The more you give, the more you get, and the more you get, the more you feel like giving."
-Penelope Leach

Three of my favorite blogs

2008-11-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

Dewey is hosting a great contest by giving away five copies of five different books. One of her requests is for participants to tell us what are three of their favorite blogs are. I have more than fifty blogs bookmarked on my list, so I'm not going to give you my top three but just three random blogs.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. On her blog Gretchen shares with her readers all the happiness techniques that she spent a year learning about and testing driving out. One of my favorite posts by Gretchen is a recent one about trying to come to terms with who you are and all the things you want to do and be but can't.

37 Days. The generous, intelligent, and caring Patti Digh is the author of this blog. 37 Days comes from the title of her book, Life is a Verb: 37 days to wake up, be mindful, and live intentionally. Five years ago Patti's stepfather was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed only 37 days later. Patti's blog always makes my day so much brighter. Go and over and browse her archives. I found out about both the book and the blog through the blog Head Butler.

Head Butler is hosted by Jesse K. The purpose of this blog: to tell you about the great movies, music, and books that Jesse thinks you'll probably enjoy. I am forever thankful to Jesse for blogging about Ann Hood's eloquent memoir Comfort, about the death of Hood's daughter.

Wednesday's Quote

2008-11-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

“If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.” -Dorothy Law Nolte

Tuesday's quote

2008-11-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

I shall pass through
this world but once.
Any good therefore
that i can do or any
kindness that I can
show to any fellow
creature, let me do it now.
Let me not defer or
neglect it for I shall
not pass this way
again.

-Grellet

I think this will be my literary tattoo.

Monday's Quote

2008-11-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart…Try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books written in a very foreign tongue. Do not seek the answers which cannot be given to you because you would not be able to live them. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.

-MLK Jr.

Sunday Salon: This is what procrastination and not having enough sleep looks like

2008-11-02T19:38:00.000-08:00

I have been up since four o'clock this morning. Why? My body thought it was five and I could not go back to sleep. After being too tired to do almost anything today, I only have 358 words typed for my book. I did find a great new blog called 37 Days hosted by Patti. I also studied for an upcoming biology test and spent some much-needed time with one of my kid sisters. So I did accomplish something.

Total word count: 2165. Not bad.

Just need to think about my character more.

Sunday's quote

2008-11-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

Nanowrimo Day 1

2008-11-01T20:13:00.000-07:00

I finally hit my quota of 1,667 words. I wrote an amazing (for me) 1,707 words. I'm starting to get a feel for my character and her life. I know it's a novel with the supernatural mixed in. I'm just blown that I completed today's count. At 5k words I will buy myself a nanowrimo-young writers program t-shirt. But I have to write five thousand words and remember to buy the damn shirt.

I need everyone reading this to leave a comment Monday, reminding me about my five thousand words. Tuesday I need you guys to remind me to buy the shirt only if I have every single word written down.

Now I can go read and wash dishes. Good luck to everyone participating.

Weekly Geeks #23

2008-11-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

This week's Weekly Geeks assignment is to repeat a previous w.g. assignment. I chose #17, which is posting a quote every day. I really enjoyed looking for new and old quotes during this assignment. I found today's quote in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's memoir Living to Tell the Tale.

"From a very early age I've had to interrupt my education to go to school."-George Bernard Shaw

Now I'm off to complete my daily word count for Nanowrimo.

Nanowrimo and The Bloody Chamber

2008-10-31T19:08:00.001-07:00

I am not a writer.

I am a reader.

A lover of the real and the bizarre, great plots and even better sentences.

But since I think everyone should get step out of their comfort zone for a minute, I'm participating in this year's Nanowrimo, otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month. Nanowrimo starts every year on November 1st and for the whole month, thousands of people will write a novel, word by word, while trying to accomplishing their total word count. The prize: the ability to say honestly that you wrote a novel.

This will be the third year I've participated and I am determined to accomplish my word count of 50,000 words. What is my book about or its title, you ask? I have no idea. I barely have my protagonist's name.

But that will not stop me.

I will write word after word until I reach my goal despite tests, studying, family, and life in general. I will get to 50, 000 words by writing 1,667 words a day. I just have no idea what I'm going to reward myself with at the end. Maybe with a nice book.
_____________________

It's Halloween night and not one child has knocked on my door. I'm glad I'm not the one who bought the candy this year. But no worries; I have Angela Carter's fairy tale masterpiece The Bloody Chamber to keep me company on this spooky night.

I heard about Angela Carter through a review by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings. Then recently I read a great essay called "The Angela Carter Workshop" in Tin House. The essay's author, Ricky Moody, described what it was like to be a student in one of her workshops and to have an ongoing correspondence with her.

Carter went and retold old stories in a way that leaves the reader in awe. I know I held my breath several times while reading "The Company of Wolves," a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. Once I finished reading it, I had to read the story over again. Highly recommended.

Halloween and the R.I.P. Challenge

2008-10-30T19:21:00.000-07:00

All Hallows Eve is almost here and so is the end of the R.I.P. challenge hosted by Carl. This was my second time participating in the challenge and I had so much fun. I signed up for Peril the First, which was to read four books of any length, but I read a little more than that. My only regrets are that several of the books on my list I'm still waiting for my library to get in and that the weather is finally starting to feel like fall. Today started out so cold and foggy but then the sun came out late morning and a cool wind started to blow. A lot of Californians call it "earthquake weather" but I call it fall.

I read:

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - The Pearl Poet
The Halloween Tree - Ray Bradbury
Gloom Cookie - Serena Valentino
Wanted - Mark Millar
The Sisters Grimm Volume 1 - Michael Buckley
The Bearskinner: A Tale of the Brothers Grimm - Laura Amy Schiltz

I just received today The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter and Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago from the library. Both books go perfectly with this challenge. I'm spending the next week devouring both while studying for a test.

I'm still waiting for Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book and Y: The Last Man Volume 2. But until then, I will spend the rest of winter reading the books on my list.

The Martel-Harper Challenge

2008-10-28T18:02:00.001-07:00

My favorite blogger ever, Dewey, is hosting The Martel-Harper Challenge. The M-H challenge is a mini quarterly challenge that lasts three months and you only have to read two books. It's based on the books that author Yann Martel sends Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper every two weeks.

For the October-November-December quarter I plan on reading:

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

Rain

2008-10-27T06:37:00.000-07:00

Woke up this morning with
a terrific urge to lie in bed all day
and read. Fought against it for a minute.

Then looked out the window at the rain.
And gave over. Put myself entirely
in the keep of this rainy morning.

Would I live my live over again?
Make the same unforgivable mistakes?
Yes, given half a chance. Yes.

Raymond Carver, All of Us: The Collected Poems

Writer's Block

2008-10-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

Even though I should be writing an essay for my English class and studying for upcoming tests, instead I am reading all that I have not been able to read because of midterms. Studying for midterms gave me the worst case of reader's block; you know the inability to finish any book you read or to even try to muster up the desire to even look at a book.

Last weekend I took my siblings and kids to the main library to check out as many Halloween books as possible. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, second only to Thanksgiving. I love the feeling I get when I first walk into a bookstore or a library for the first time in a while. It's like going on a date with someone you really like and feeling butterflies.

So this week I sat and read. I read while waiting for the bus to take me to school or pick me up from it, I read while walking down the street (which is really dangerous considering that I could have walked into a pole,) read while the kids took naps and sleep. I even read when I should have been studying.

If you don't know, the cure to reader's block is reading children's picture books. The cure is guaranteed. I read so many children's books this week and felt so good doing so. I started with In A Blue Room by newcomer Jim Averbeck, the story of a young girl whose mother is putting her to sleep using her favorite things. I also read Neil Gaiman's The Dangerous Alphabet. Once you read one Neil Gaiman book you try to read as many as possible.

Oliver Jeffers is a favorite in this house, having wrote How To Catch a Star, The Incredible Book Eating Boy, Lost and Found, and his newest book The Way Back Home, about a boy from Earth and a boy who is a Martian being stuck far from home on the moon.

Because I am a voracious reader, I am trying to slow down and smell the pages. I can devour a book in a matter of hours. Though I can remember the plot, sometimes I read so fast that I can barely remember the character's names! So I started reading Francine Prose's Reading like a Writer. It's such a helpful book. I see how much I have probably skimmed over reading, so I'll probably spend Thanksgiving and winter breaks reading my favorites all over again. I already started re-reading The Best American Spiritual Writing 2004 edited by Philip Zaleski.

One of my favorite essays in the anthology is "Word Hoard" by B.K. Loren about the decade he spent being unable to comphrend words. It is a great story with Loren illustrating throughout the essay how important words are to convey our desires and needs.

Once, I was aphasic. The condition lasted, to some extent or another, nearly ten years. When I came back to words I came back like a lover who'd had a mistaken affair. Once the damage is done, it's done. But there's a carefulness that follows. You don't take things for granted. You speak from the soles of your feet, a current of meaning running through your body, each word carrying with it is history and the intimate mouths of your ancestors speaking it. Their lips touch yours as the word leaves you.

Weekly Geeks #19

2008-10-24T19:08:00.000-07:00

This week's Weekly Geeks we have to make a list of our favorite reads that were published in 2008. Sad to say, I didn't like most of the books I read that were published this year. But my favorites:

1. The Book of Other People: short stories edited by Zadie Smith

2. The Geography of Love - Glenda Burges (memoir)

3. The Way back Home - Oliver Jeffers (children's)

4. What now? - Ann Patchett

There are several 2008 books I expect to read this year:

1. Awesome - Jack Pendarvis

2. Just After Sunset - Stephen King

3. The Graveyard book - Neil Gaiman

4. Best American Short Stories 2008

5. A Broom of One's Own: Words on Writing,

Housecleaning, and Life - Nancy Peacock

6. Death with Interruptions - Jose Saramago

7. The Entropy of Aaron Rosclatt - James Sandham

8. Fables Vol. 11 - Bill Willingham

Did you see that? After giving up so many challenges this year, I went and made a list. It's a very flexible list but still, it's a list.

After a long break . . .

2008-10-22T17:46:00.001-07:00

I am finally back after taking weeks off to study for my midterms. I think I did pretty well. Now I can finally get back to reading.

The read-a-thon was a disaster for me; I was too busy worrying about tests to enjoy myself and read. But now I can.

I have several books on hold at the library including Alan Bennett's novella The Uncommon Reader. I'm #1 on the list for The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I'm trying not to buy it until my library finally gets it in. (Which can be forever.)

But until then, I will just relax and try to at least catch up on my magazine reading. Happy reading!

Read-a-thon picks

2008-10-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

Dewey's Read-a-thon is this Saturday, October 18th. For 24 consecutive hours, starting at 5 am pacific time, participants will read as much as they choose while cheerleaders and others cheer them on. There will be mini-challenges and great prizes to win.

For the last Read-a-thon I read short stories, children's books, poetry, plays, and graphic novels. This time will be no different. By reading short works I keep the fun going and the pressure off though I will not be online this time.

My reading picks are:

Sinners Welcome - Mary Karr (poetry)

6 short stories from The Best American Short Stories of the Century

A Midsummer's Night Dream - Shakespeare

Repair - C.K. Williams (poetry)

2 short stories from Alice Munro's Runaway

6 short stories from The Better of McSweeney's

3 short stories from The Best American Mystery Stories 2007

This year's batch of Tin House magazine that I had not read though I subscribe faithfully to it

the rest of The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

The Shiniest Jewel - Marian Henley (graphic novel)

I predict that I'll get halfway through this list.

Gone for a while

2008-09-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

Because my internet connection will be down for a while, I will be taking a mini blogging break. See you guys in October.

Sunday Salon: What a beautiful day!

2008-09-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

Right now the sun is behind clouds and it is gloomy and cold. I love these kind of days, perfect for reading a book at my kitchen table with a cup of coffee next to me.

Dewey has just made my day by posting the sign-up sheet for October's 24 Hour Read-a-thon. The Read-a-thon is a 24 hour challenge where readers read as much as they can while cheerleaders cheer them on, and there are prize giveaways and mini-challenges almost every hour. You also end up meeting great bloggers who share your passion for books. I'm already eyeing what books I'm going to give away. It's one of my favorite challenges.

This week's theme for Weekly Geeks is to "catch up." So I've decided to catch up on reducing my TBR pile and challenges list and to also catch up on my homework. I've missed a lot in my classes because I'm sick with the flu. I also want to catch up on my magazine reading and journal writing.

I reduced my challenges from 31 to only 4. The challenges I'm keeping are: The 24 Hour Read-a-thon and Kate's Short Story Challenge that has been going on since January and ends in December. I'm also keeping the Classics Challenge and R.I.P. since I only have one book left for both to read. I'm also going to have a personal challenge to read at least ten of the books on my TBR bookcase in the next five months.

This week has been pretty slow for reading. I've read Gloom Cookie by Serena Valentino and The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury, based on the movie by the same title. Both could have been better and both were read for R.I.P. I also read Just who will you be by Maria Shriver. It's a short book based on a commencement speech she gave about knowing who you are. I was expecting more, but . . .

Currently I'm reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. Both are great reads so far and I will post reviews on both later this week.

Have a happy Sunday.

Weekly Geeks #18

2008-09-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

I really should be studying but I have just too much energy. So I've been doing everything else: taking care of the kids, cleaning the house, daydreaming . . . I'll get to studying soon. I think the kids feel the same way because I asked them to take a nap hours ago and they're still up. I give up.

This week's Weekly Geeks is about catching up. Catch up on whatever it is you need to catch up on: book reviews, TBR pile, library books . . .

So this week I will be catching up on a number of things.

At last count I was signed up for about thirty challenges. Now with school and everything else in my life, I think I will cut my challenges down to about five total for the rest of the year. I have a challenges notebook that I use so I can remember what challenge deadlines are coming up and what books to read but it still feels like a chore. So I am going to go through my notebook and my five favorite ones I will keep.

I also need to update my TBR pile. I am so tired of looking at my TBR bookcase. I need to start reading the books now and give them away. I will definitely be giving some away for Dewey's 24-Hour Read-a-thon in October. If you haven't heard of this great challenge already, go on over to The Hidden Side of the Leaf and read all about it.

I also need to catch up on my homework. I have a ton of classes and for the last two weeks on and off I have been sick. It's crazy having the flu and it's about 80 degrees today in California. If I haven't been the sick one then it's been one of the kids. So "catch up" will be my new name for the next week.

Wish me luck.

Saturday's Quote

2008-09-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

"When you sell a man a book you don't sell just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue-you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night-there's all heaven and earth in a book, a real book."

-Christopher Morley

Friday's Quote

2008-09-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

"What is reading but silent conversation?"

-Walter Savage Landor, "Aristoleles and Callisthenes," Imaginary Conversations (1876)