Getting to know you

Part of the VAASL conference this year has been a celebration of Virginia authors. There was an authors reception on Thursday night where various local authors were spread around the exhibit hall, signing books and meeting fans. On Friday night, the annual banquet was held and Maggie Stiefvater, who lives in the Shenandoah Valley, spoke.

To date, I have only read one book by Maggie Stiefvater, Shiver, and I ultimately did not care much for it. I'm even more wary of paranormal teenage romance trilogies than I am about dystopian trilogies. I really liked her talk though, and I am willing to give another book or series by her another chance.

After the dinner, Maggie was going to sign books and there was line practically out the door for it. So, Margaret, my keynote speaking conference buddy who has read even less Maggie Stiefvater than I have, jumped in line with a book to have signed for a friend, and I went to the restroom. Margaret was pretty close to the front when I got back, so I went up to stand next to her and a few other librarian friends and said, "It's not cutting if I'm not having anything signed, right?"

Everyone agreed, but then the conference planner/new VAASL president handed me The Raven Boys, the first book in The Raven Cycle.

"Do you want me to have this signed for someone?"

"No, it's yours now. I ended up with an extra copy."

"Well, okay then! Thanks!"

And about a minute later, I was at the signing table, having Maggie sign a book I received just moments earlier and have never read.

"To Amanda." *flashes name badge for spelling* "So far I've only read Shiver, and I didn't care for it much."

"That's okay. I think my books have gotten better since then."

"That's cool. I just got this one and I've heard good things, so I'm looking forward to reading it."

It was a bit awkward. But what DO you say to an author whose only book you didn't really like and you were not planning on meeting until literally a minute earlier?

The Virginian author/illustrator at today's lunch, Henry Cole, was also interesting to listen to. I'll be honest though - I dozed off a little during his talk. I was getting the sleepies after lunch and I knew I had a 2.5 hour drive coming up after, so I rested my chin on my hand and closed my eyes for a few minutes to take the edge off. I don't think anyone noticed, thank goodness. I did wake up in time to watch him illustrate this super cute drawing to the music (and even rhythm) of a Peggy Lee song.

The World Turned Upside Down

Since most of the books I read lately are from my library's collection, I read a lot of middle grade and young adult fiction, and I enjoy it. A parent (who is also a teacher) came in this morning to ask about a book her daughter just checked out. She named it and asked if I had read it. I did and I liked it and I was able to assuage her concerns that there was anything inappropriate in the book. Difficult situations (a single, working class father who doesn't know how to relate to his autistic daughter and vice versa), yes, but that's it.

What it also means is that a lot of dystopian fiction makes its way across my desk.

The good news is that I like dystopian fiction. The Giver is still my favorite book ever. However, I am well aware of dystopian fiction's oversaturation of the market right now and I am not going to waste my time on something that isn't good. So, when I decided to start reading The Testing series by Joelle Charbonneau, my guard was up.

It had all the hallmarks of a popular dystopian series - female protagonist, trilogy, disturbing rites of passage into adulthood. However, the first book is a Virginia Reader's Choice for High level grades this year, so I figured someone had decided it wasn't terrible. I'd ordered it for the library, so I picked it up off the shelves and started reading.

I have decided that I have made the right choice. Yes, it contains some tropes, but others are refreshingly absent. I'm quite pleased by the fact there is a love interest, but no triangle, and the love our main character, Malencia, has for the boy from her hometown is not really a driving force in the story. It affects certain choices, of course, but does not drive her to action in general.

I also appreciated the lack of moping or whining. Is she sad at times? Yes. But she doesn't go on and on about it for pages on end. Cia is a very decisive character, and this is another way she shows it.

One person I talked to about it said that The Testing is The Hunger Games for people who don't want to think. I don't necessarily agree with that. Yes, Cia explains everything she's doing and why, but that's okay with me. This is her story after all. I still managed to have things to think about.

Overall, having read the entire trilogy, I liked it and would recommend it to others who enjoy dystopian fiction.

Another dystopian fiction trilogy I like is the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie. It's a world in which there is very little personal choice. Everything is decided for you by the system, based on algorithms and calculations. It reminded me a lot of what I understand as Satan's plan for the children of God - don't give them the choice to do anything other than follow Heavenly Father and everyone will return home to heaven.

Turns out that Ally Condie is Mormon, so this might have been exactly what she was going for. As such, I engaged with this series in a different way than someone else might who is not Mormon, but I've recommended it to some of my students and they enjoyed it anyway.

What are you reading lately? Anything I should read? It doesn't have to be dystopian!

I'm looking for a mind at work

I certainly never expected to become a school librarian and especially not in a private Islamic school, but it really has proven to be the right job at the right time. There are definitely stressful days and things I would change if I could (my kingdom for an assistant!), but most of the time, I really enjoy this job. I am learning new things constantly and trying to make the most of this unexpected adventure.

Things I love about my job:

• Being told by the homeroom teacher the lesson I'm giving that day is perfect for what they're working on in class.
• Collaborating with teachers to find that perfect lesson topic
• Connecting the right book with the right student. 
• Discussing books that a student loved that I also loved.
• Especially when I recommended that book in the first place
• Making students laugh
• My students making me laugh
• Making changes that work
• Learning from changes that didn't work
• Reading from the library collection
• Helping students become self-sufficient library users

Yesterday was especially fun. It was a half day for the kids, so the Girls Elementary held a book and breakfast readathon. Most of their school day was centered around various reading activities, including the first 90 minutes just being reading and breakfast. And we all got to wear our pajamas. I enjoyed visiting most of the classes and having some time to just model reading for pleasure by reading my own book of choice while the students read theirs. 

What I wore to pajama day, with added Malcolm, since it's his favorite chair too. He didn't get up from this snuggle easily.

It didn't hurt that the school then provided lunch for the staff and let us go home two hours early ourselves. After a day like that, I honestly felt a little more refreshed to return to school today.

What are your favorite things about your job right now?

Hi! My name is Melville Dewey!

WAY back in 2009, I made my reading goal for that year to read 26 non-fiction books, in alphabetical order by subject. Eilonwy did the same.

Well, in May of 2015, I finally finished that challenge.

Non-fiction can be hard, yo.

Truth be told, I could have picked some better books. Some of my books were fast reads. Some were enjoyable reads. Many were both! Some of them, however, were neither, so I'd slog through them slowly, getting distracted by other, more enjoyable books during and in between.

It's also really hard sometimes to figure out what to read for a certain letter, especially when you can't skip it. K gave me trouble, for example. I had no topic in mind, so even me, the librarian, couldn't find anything. Eventually, I settled on a book about Kristallnacht. I remember it being really challenging to follow and read, and it took me awhile and then I definitely needed something lighter and less serious to follow. My L book was that, but I'm sure I read some fiction in there too to break it up.

Y also took me forever. It was actually enjoyable, but it was NOT a fast read. I finally just powered through it on a plane ride in March of this year, because I just needed to be done.

I don't think I understood anything in my Q book.

Also, life happened. I finished grad school the first time in 2009 and returned again from 2011-2013. Plenty of non-fiction reading happening in there, and you can't always break up all that reading for homework with non-fiction.

I changed jobs - a few times. I got married, for heaven's sake.

But I finished and it doesn't really matter how long it took me. So there.

Here's what I read:

26 BOOKS FROM A-Z

• A (Anthropology) - Death's Acre
• B (Buddhism) - Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha
• C (Confucius) - Analects of Confucius
• D (Dating) - A Single Voice
• E (English) - Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts, ... With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory
• F (Freemasonry) - The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry
• G (Grammar) - Eats Shoots and Leaves
• H (Heaven) - Odds Are You're Going to Be Exalted
• I (Introversion) - The Introvert's Advantage
• J (Judaism) - The Year of Living Biblically
• K (Kristallnacht) - Kristallnacht-Prelude to Destruction
• L (Life/Philosophy) - The Fat Girl's Guide to Life
• M (Marriage) - The Beloved Bridegroom
• N (Neurology) - The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat
• O (Ovulation) - Taking Care of Your Fertility
• P (Philosophy) - Pooh and the Philosophers
• Q (Quantum Computing) - A Shortcut Through Time
• R (Rock Music) - Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock and Roll
• S (Spies) - The Spy Who Spent The War in Bed
• T (Temple) - The House of the Lord
• U (United States) - The Mental_Floss History of the United States of America
• V (Vietnam) - Carried to the Wall
• W (Wedding) - A Practical Wedding
• X (Xenon) - Obsessive Genius
• Y (Year) - 1776
• Z (Zion) - We Walked to Zion

What's next?

Not sure. Right now, I mostly get my daily reading in at lunch, and I'm reading from the collection of my school library so that I know what we have. It's given me good things to talk about with my students when they're checking out or looking for something. It's very satisfying to have a student love something you loved too.

I'm trying to read as many books as I read last year (48), or more. But, I'm on book 33, and there are only two months left. We'll see how it goes.

There are also a number of books I own, or married into, that I haven't read yet, but would like to. So, I think that my next challenge, if any, should go back to being a numbers challenge and not a content challenge.

Who's up for Reading Challenge 2016? What should it be?

I leave you with the Dewey Decimal Rap, which I show to my elementary students every year.  Enjoy!

Meet me in St. Louis, Louis!

Saturday morning, we had to leave town bright and early. Fortunately, a local custard shop owner opened early just for us to have breakfast. Belgian waffle with lemon custard and strawberries? Yes, please and thank you.

There had been some major flooding in Illinois and Iowa that week (even some of the sites in Nauvoo were in danger), so our journey had to be rerouted a little. We also ran into major road construction and baseball game day foot traffic. This made our next stop, the St. Louis Gateway Arch, a little tricky.

When I was thirteen, we went to the arch as a family, but I was in a cast and dealing with either a wheelchair or crutches and the arch is not accessible. My family refused to go without me, so I was thrilled when Blake suggested we go on this trip. However, we had timed tickets and with all the detours and travel difficulties, we were late. The lines were long and all seemed lost, until we made some phone calls and found some very understanding people who were able to get us up with the next group. It was a journey 17 years in the making and totally worth it!

The door to the pod that took us up the Arch

Finally made it!

Our final touristy location was the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory in Kentucky. We met my uncle there and caught the last tour of the day. They take you on the actual factory floor! It was cool to learn how they make their bats and get a mini-bat of our own.

That night, we stayed with my aunt and uncle in Indiana and enjoyed visiting with them. Sunday morning we headed out and made our final push to home. When we weren't stopping and touring, we enjoyed a good 40-50 hours of drive time together. As promised, I napped, but we also had lots of time to talk, listen to (maybe even sing along with) the satellite radio the rental car provided, and listened to an audiobook together (House Rules by Jodi Picoult). It was an amazing time and I'm so glad I got to spend it with my wonderful Blake!

I said what'cha what'cha what'cha want what'cha want

It should come as no surprise that I have finished  the Shadow Children series. They are written for a somewhat younger audience than myself and are rather short books to begin with, so of course I read them quickly. They were also rather compelling and well written, so I definitely enjoyed getting caught up in a new to me series for awhile. 

What might be a surprise is that two weeks ago I bought a new Neil Gaiman book (Fortunately, The Milk) that I haven't read yet. Even I'm not sure why I haven't yet. Just been doing other things I suppose. 

I really don't have a rhyme or reason to what I tackle next on my to be read list. It just depends on my mood or reading energy level (young adult or middle grade fiction is much easier to read than much adult non-fiction, for example) or what's available when I'm looking for something new. If I'm just reading for fun, it's going to be something I want to read and that changes based on all sorts of factors. 

It's not like I'm trying to prove myself to anyone, so I'll read what I like when I like, thank you very much. If it fits into some sort of reading challenge parameters, like the A-Z challenge I am so close to finishing? Awesome. 

I've had to read so much prescribed material for school with three college degrees and my K-12 education that I balk against doing it in my reading for pleasure. I'll take recommendations of course, but if I read something another person has suggested, I'll do it when I want to, much like Eilonwy suggesting Shadow Children several years ago and me just reading it now. I'll read what I read as it strikes my fancy, and that's okay! 

How do you decide what to read when?

What I bought two weeks ago when I finally spent a gift card my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas last year. Score!

Feed me, Seymour

I started The Hunger Games trilogy when I was home for Christmas in 2010. Even though I really could have used the sleep, I stayed up until 4 AM one morning reading the first one. I don't remember if that's when I finished it, but I was hooked either way. Best books or series ever? Probably not, but I definitely liked them a lot.

Even though I didn't know it at the time, these books were kind of a life changer. Because we both liked the books, Blake took me to see the first movie on our first date. As such, the story and the movie holds a special place in our hearts. We didn't go so far as to have a Hunger Games themed wedding, but we both carried mockingjay pins, me in my bouquet and him on his boutonnière. 

We knew that when the second movie came out it would make sense for us to see it. Fortunately, Miss Apple included us in a group invitation to see it tonight at a theatre in downtown DC. We happily accepted!

A fun thing Blake and I do is save all our spare change in a small mason jar. When the jar is full, we each guess how much might be in if before we count it out. Whoever is closest decides what we do with the money. The first time, Blake won and we went to a delicious Thai food restaurant in Old Town Alexandria. This time, I won and after several weeks (we've been busy) decided that this outing would be financed by the coin jar collection. 

The plan was to meet up in Chinatown after work, have dinner by ourselves, and then join up with the group for the movie. Yestersay, I got a Buy One Get One coupon from Noodles & Co in my email. Bam! Dinner location chosen and I suggested we use the saved dinner money to make a rare splurge on popcorn and a drink at the movie theater. 

Unsurprisingly, we had a great time. Dinner was tasty, the movie really good, and we enjoyed seeing our friend. It was also nice to have an evening out in DC. We don't do that particularly often. 

I'm quite glad we spent our jar money this way. We're already looking forward to the next film! 

It goes on and on and on and on

Earlier today I finished the fourth book in the Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix. They are really fast reads with compelling stories, so I'm not surprised.

 I like series like that. When I was fourteen, I read the entire Work and the Glory series within a few weeks. It helped that we had a twelve hour road trip (each way) to my grandparents' house. I flew through those. 

There are other series I need to read or read again. For example, it's been awhile since I read the Little House on the Prairie series, but I recently bought it at a book sale, so I should get on that. I also have the Anne of Green Gables books, but I've never read more than the first one. 

Other series I love: Lemony Snicket, Harry Potter, The Babysitters Club, Goosebumps, Animorphs, The Chronicles of Narnia, and I'm sure others I just can't think if right now. I just getting invested in an engaging story with interesting characters for a good while. 

Whet about you? What are your favorite series?

Everything you own in a box to the left

I met Eilonwy in early summer 2003. Sometime during those early few years of our friendship, she recommended the Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix.

Last week, I finally got around to wanting to read it. No idea why it took me this long. It wasn't in my library, so I reserved a copy of the first book, Among the Hidden, at my local public library.

I picked it up Tuesday afternoon. I finished it Wednesday night. Thursday afternoon, at work, I was unpacking the eight boxes of books that need to be cataloged and added to my library. These boxes have been in my office for approximately a month. Being a solo librarian is no easy task, y'all.

In the third box, I found a copy of Among the Hidden and the fourth book. I immediately emailed Eilonwy to tell her of this irony and then went back to unpacking the boxes. Turns out, my library has the third book and the rest of the series has been sitting in my office for weeks now.

I may have brought the second and third books home with me over the weekend. Being a librarian has its perks!

Don't you ever interrupt me while I'm reading a book

It's November and you know what that means! It's NaBloPoMo! AKA National Blog Posting Month

I know I haven't been around much this year, but Eilonwy talked me into getting back in the game. I've certainly been wanting to, so this a perfect excuse.

The reality for blogging for me is that it's just meant to be a fun writing outlet. I don't care about how many readers I have or getting a certain number of posts out in a certain number of time (November being the exception). I just want to write about what I want to write about when I want to write about it. And have some way of letting some people know what's going in my life.

The biggest reason I haven't been around as much the last 18 months or so is because my life has changed in a LOT of ways. I don't mean just Blake, though he is certainly a wonderful part of that. I've also changed jobs a number of times (compared to having just one main job for six years), finished another graduate degree, moved to a new apartment, and so on. These things can really mess with your routines and daily life and some things, like blogging, take a bit of a back seat.

And that's okay.

But that's not what I'm here to talk about today.

As per usual, Eilonwy and I have a picked a writing prompt challenge to help us through November. This time, each day of the week has a particular topic and Friday's is reading and books.

I love to read. You probably know this already. And I spend a great deal of my day thinking about reading. I'm a librarian, so that makes sense. In my current job, I spend most of my day either directly helping or teaching young people find things to read or maintaining the library to make that first part easier. I'm also surrounded by books that I myself want to read, which makes my lunch breaks quite enjoyable.

One thing I've thought a lot about is how we might judge people for what they choose to read. Reading good, interesting, and, hopefully, challenging or thought provoking literature is important, but what makes a book good, interesting, challenging, or thought provoking is ultimately up to the individual reader.

To help those whose reading choices I can influence choose books that are a good fit  for them, I encourage them to think of the acronym PICK.

P - Purpose - Why do I want to read this/a book?
I - Interest - What genre/topic interests me?
C - Comprehend - Will I be able to understand the contents of the book?
K - Know - Do I know enough words to comprehend the book? Is too hard (or too easy)?

If someone knows enough words to comprehend a book, and it's something that is interesting to them, then it will fulfill the purpose for their reading.

If, using their own best judgment, a given book fits those criteria - who am I to say anything about their choice? I'm not into graphic novels, or Tom Clancy, or books about math, but someone else might be and that's okay. If someone were to read all fiction all the time, that's okay too. I also don't think there are "boy" books or "girl" books. Sometimes I like to read about dragons or swords or futuristic civil wars too.

Additionally, I am aware of some librarians who refuse to let children check out books that are above their grade/reading level. You're in fourth grade? You can only check out fourth grade level books. Personally, ain't nobody got time for that. I can't police the levels of the books patrons are checking out. I can teach them about PICKing good books, label books to reflect the level they best fit, and then let them figure it out for themselves.

In other words, I can teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves. Each reader knows their own reading level better than I do. I know a 6 year old who is plowing through Harry Potter, but there are others who are still working on The Cat In The Hat. A lot of patrons I help speak English as a second language, and barely at that, so they aren't going to be reading, in English at least, at their grade level. Yet.

Now, parents and teachers can get to know their children/students on a more individual level, and should have even more conversations about what they should be reading. But I see hundreds of kids and people a week, and I'm not going to waste my time saying "No" any more than I have to.

(The above comic is from today's Unshelved, which I stopped reading a few months ago because it wasn't consistently interesting enough. I am grateful to Jessica for sharing it on Facebook. For this topic, start with Monday's.)

I have always been an advanced reader who was interested in reading a wide variety of things (I remember checking out ALL of the paranormal books in the children's room at our library as a kid, but I also read all the Babysitter's Club books, and did research on Shakespeare), and, since no one told me I couldn't do that, I still love reading to this day. I want to encourage that in others. My goal is to help students and patrons discover their own love of reading within themselves and know how to find the things that will keep them coming back to the library and loving it.

And if all they want to read are cozy mysteries, awesome.

And if I've done all they can and still don't want to read?

That's okay too.

For my fellow book lovers, here's an amusing video/song about constantly reading.
What I'm (actively) reading: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, 1776 by David McCullough, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, Holes by Louis Sachar, and The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards.

You can't take the sky from me

NPR published a list of the top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy books.  It was based on 60,000 votes from NPR users. 


How many have you read?


1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert

5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin

6. 1984, by George Orwell

7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore

16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov

17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss

19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick

22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King

24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke

25. The Stand, by Stephen King

26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson

27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury

28. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut

29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman

30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess

31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams

33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey

34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller

36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne

38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys

39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells

40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny

41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings

42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley

43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson

44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven

45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin

46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien

47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White

48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman

49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke

50. Contact, by Carl Sagan

51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons

52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman

53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson

54. World War Z, by Max Brooks

55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle

56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman

57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett

58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson

59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold

60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett

61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind

63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson

66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist

67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks

68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard

69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb

70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger

71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson

72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne

73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore

74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi

75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson

76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke

77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey

78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin

79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire

81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson

82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde

83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks

84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart

85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson

86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher

87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe

88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn

89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan

90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock

91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury

92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley

93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge

94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov

95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson

96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis

98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville

99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony

100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

17 out of 100 isn't . . . terrible.  I'm sad that the Redwall series by Brian Jacques didn't even make the list, and I'm not sure that sci-fi and fantasy, while very closely related, should even be on one list. Oh well.

Your turn!

Here's Theater Geek's list.

The Song of Purple Summer

One of my favorite books as a kid was the Lois Lowry novel Attaboy Sam! A chapter book about a 4 year old boy seems an unlikely favorite for a pre-teen girl, but there you have it. At one point in the story, Sam's mother gives herself a buzz cut, for no other reason than to do something a little crazy. She suggests that to get oneself out of a sadness or a funk, they should do something a little out of the ordinary to shake things up and help them feel better.

For the last week or so, I've been in such a mood. Now, I didn't buzz my head (I have to be SERIOUSLY sad to consider that), but I did color it purple.

 And I'm in love, and I even feel a little better because of it. Purple victory rolls? Yes, please!

 What do you do to pick yourself up?

Because I Have Been Given Much

I wrote a guest blog! Check me out at Erin Ann's blog, where I talk about volunteering for Reach Out and Read as part of her October 31 Days of Service project!

We're S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G, we're shopping

We interrupt our Egypt tales for a story of my latest library adventure.

It started off as an innocent enough trip to the library. I had to go inside to hand return my ILL book (which was amazing, by the way - The Savior and The Serpent). Since this particular branch has the weirdest hours I've ever seen, I had to do it in the middle of my own work day, so I combined the library trip with my food run.

But then I saw that they were having a book sale.

I'm a sucker for book sales.

I'm apparently even more of a sucker for children's books.

Especially fairy tales and fantasies.

Barely 10 minutes after returning my book and browsing the children's book sale room, I had collected 21 books.

I just couldn't pass them up! I remember loving the artwork of Animalia as a kid. Who wouldn't want to read Winnie the Pooh to their future children, and Anne of Green Gables to their future daughters? Or to themselves? These are books I anticipate reading again and again, so I didn't even second guess my choices.

The Chronicles of Narnia books I picked up were because they were from that specific set. I had received the set when I turned 9, but I didn't get into them right away and eventually let my grandfather borrow them. Sadly, by the time I finally got them back as an adult, there were three books missing. I'd replaced them with newer editions, but my set was tragically mismatched, and the order had changed. I bought all four books they had at the sale, since I couldn't remember which ones I was mismatched, hoping they might complete my set. Luckily, two of them did, and all I'm missing is The Horse and His Boy.

Here's what I scored at this sale:

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
All 7 Anne of Green Gables
All 4 Winnie the Pooh
The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales (1980 Random House)
Scottish Fairy Tales retold by Philip Wilson
Peter & The Starcatchers
Around the World Fairy Tales
Animalia by Graeme Base

All 21 books = $13

WIN!

Sing from a book you're reading in bed

1. What are at least 2 of your favorite genres?

• Urban fantasy (or, as I like to call it, alt-reality fiction) I like fantasy in general, but I just love fantasies with realistic settings running simultaneously with our own world
  
• Historical fiction
  

2. What is your least favorite genre?

• Fanfiction- I just can't get into it. I prefer to leave my characters and stories as the author intended.
  

3. What is your all-time favorite book?

• The Giver - I can't give you a number 2 or 3, or even a top 5, other than this book, but this is definitely my all-time fave.
  

4. What is the first book you remember reading?

• Either The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear or a Berenstain Bears book.
  

5. Do you prefer books or audio books?

• Definitely paper books, but audiobooks are handy when I'm cataloging.
  

6. Who are your favorite authors?

• Neil Gaiman first, but also Lois Lowry, J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, Jodi Picoult, Ray Bradbury. My guilty pleasure authors are Meg Cabot and Nicholas Sparks.
  

7. How many books do you read in a year?

• Well, there was the year I read 54 (2008), and my Goodreads says I read 23 (just 1st reads) last year. I'd say that between 1st reads and re-reads, it's probably at least 30 or so a year, even during grad school and book challenges.
  

8. Do you buy books or borrow them from the library?

• Yes. Both. If I need a specific book, like for my book challenge, I'll check the library, but I'm not usually hesitant to buy it if it's not there. Otherwise, it just depends. I love owning books (I sold back one textbook ever, and sometimes I still wish I could reference it), but I'm also a librarian.
  

9. How many books do you own?

• I count 9 within arm's reach, plus two bookcases nearing full in the hall. Not to mention all the books that I still have in my old closet in my parents' house. Ah heck. I just counted the books on my shelves, and that number is 201, not counting music books and counting compilations as one. This also does not include any books I have loaned out or that are in my car.
  

10. What is your most prized book?

• Probably my very well-loved copy of The Giver, the scriptures I've been using since my seminary days, or the Harry Potter books I'm collecting.
  

11. What are the worst books you have ever read (or tried to read)?

• There was this awful book about The Rapture and a cult in Utah Valley and this woman who was somehow tied to all of it and was trying to save everyone, and the cars had autopilot, and somehow I still read the whole thing. It was bad.
  

12. Have you read any modern day sequels you liked?

• Um, no. I think this falls in the area of fanfiction.
  

13. What is your favorite quote from a book?

• Hmm. I really don't know. I have a hard time remembering quotes anyway. I have starting marking them, but I should also write them down.
  

14. Who is your all-time favorite male character?

• Jonas, from The Giver
  

15. Who is your all-time favorite female character?

• This changes sometimes, but Door from Neverwhere and Novalee Nation from Where The Heart Is are on the list.
  

16. What highly recommended book have you not liked?

• I really didn't like Gone With the Wind and The Great Gatsby, the latter because it was over-analyzed in a Junior English class.
  

17. Name a character you love to hate?

• I actually hit the book when I was reading about Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind she was driving me so crazy.
  

18. Do you belong to a book club?

• A friend wanted to start one. We even picked a book. Haven't met yet.
  

19. What was the last book you purchased?

• Looks like I ordered both The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World and Odds Are, You're Going to Be Exalted last month. I've already finished the latter and should finish the former soon.
  

20. What are you reading now?

• The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World and The Miracle of Forgiveness and I know I've started a few others that I'll finish eventually.
  

21. What book made you cry the hardest?

• Nineteen Minutes made me cry for reasons associated with the content, not the content itself. I don't cry easily over fiction, but that's one I remember.
  

22. What book made you laugh the most?

• I giggled over a short story in Smoke and Mirrors. Otherwise, I'm not sure. Much like crying, I don't usually do more than chuckle if I'm reading something to myself.
  

23. What is your favorite children's book (one you would choose to read to your kids)?

• There is more than one I will be reading to my kids. I love storytelling, so this is something I look forward to often.
  

24. If you were to choose a book to give as a gift, what would it be?

• Like Eilonwy said, it really depends on the person, but books are great gifts.
  

25. List 5 books you have read more than once?

• The Giver
• Where the Heart Is
• The scriptures
• Neverwhere
• Harry Potter books
  

26. What is your favorite book made into a movie?

• Probably The Notebook, or any other Nicholas Sparks books/movies, see #27 for reasons
  

27. Did you like the book or movie better?

• I almost always like the books better. If it was a good book, the movie just can't completely capture the whole story (e.g. Harry Potter, The Time Traveler's Wife, The Memory Keeper's Daughter). There are details and nuances and plot points that you just can't fit into a movie. Now, if it was a mediocre book, the movie can actually be enough on its own, like the Nicholas Sparks books/movies. This doesn't mean I don't like the movies, just that they aren't the same. I should flesh this out into a whole post someday, but that's basically it. There are, of course, exceptions to these rules.
  

28. What book would you like to see made into a movie?

• No idea.
  

29. Do you prefer hardcover or soft copy?

• Softcover, but hardcover does look so nice.
  

30. Do you leave the dustcover on while you are reading a book?

• Yes. They are handy bookmarks.
  

31. Where do you usually read?

• Bed. Couch. On the metro. On the floor. Standing on line. You know, wherever.
  

32. When do you usually read?

• At night, before bed, but also whenever.
  

33. Do you keep a TBR (to-be-read) list?

• I have a list on Goodreads, in my head, and a stack, at the very least. My Amazon wishlist also serves as such a list.
  

34. Do you usually have more than one book that you are reading at a time?

• Always.
  

35. Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?

• I am a Bibliophibian (don't forget hover over the comic for the alt-text), having grown up in a house with many bookshelves, weekly trips to the library, and a mother who loves to read. (My dad enjoys reading, but not nearly as much as Mom and I.) I don't remember not reading or being read to. I hope my children will be Bibliophibians too.
  

Reading time with pickle

According to a magazine Eilonwy and I were making fun of while waiting for her new tires three days before her wedding, 25% of Americans didn't read a single book last year.




That means for every four adults you know, chances are that one of them didn't even read one book.

How tragic is that? I can't even comprehend how that's possible. Yes, there are other things to read - online articles, magazines, this blog - but books are, of course, my favorite. If it's a children's book, it doesn't even take long. A few months ago, I was shelving my personal bookcases and sitting on the floor. I finished, but wasn't ready to get up yet.

So I read a book. Neil Gaiman's Wolves in the Walls, which I hadn't actually read yet, and then I was ready to get up and get moving again.

It's that simple.

The good news is that I'm preaching to the choir here, as I'm fairly confident that most of you are readers. Thank heavens for that!

Also, today is my half-golden birthday! I'm 25.5 now!

So many books, so little time

I am almost completely out of bookcase space. Actually, if I put away the books that are currently floating around my apartment, I probably AM out of bookcase space. On both bookcases.

What can I say? I like books.

The reason I'm suddenly out of space is my recent trip home. Between the yearbooks, a trip to the distribution center, and raiding my old closet and its stacks of books, I brought 23 books back to DC with me. My carry-on was HEAVY.

It's actually kind of nice to have more books on my shelves, since it fills out my book rainbow a little more, even if I have to stash my pen caddy in my under-bed cave now. I just don't know what I'm going to do when the inevitable happens - I acquire more books. I could just get a new bookcase, but I don't know where to put that either, not in this apartment anyway.

One day, I'll have a room just for my books. Shelves of books everywhere and a big chair to read them in. Something like Neil Gaiman's basement library would be perfect. Or Belle's library!

One day . . .

Tell me where's the challenge if you never try

One my goals this year was to read 52 books in 52 weeks, a challenge proposed by Eilonwy.

As of 2:42 AM, this morning, I accomplished that goal by finishing She Went All the Way by Meg Cabot. I finished listening to book 53 (Notes from a Liar and Her Dog) as I was packing just now.

Yes!

I made this challenge even harder for myself by choosing not to read books I'd already read. I'm a re-reader, and love reading certain books multiple times, so to not pick up one of my comfortable standbys was quite the challenge sometimes.

Instead of re-reading what was already on my shelves, I made use of the new library branch very close to my house, as well as downloading audiobooks to listen to at work. I discovered new authors and lots of new stories. Some of them were pure brain candy - books without any substance but entertainment. Much like Twinkies. But I also read a couple non-fiction titles, something I said I wasn't going to do because my brain was already so overloaded with school work. Of course, I also read everything in between.

One of the reasons I accepted this challenge was because of school. I've always been a voracious reader, thanks to my mom's weekly trips to the library. We were allowed to check out six books every week, and I almost always finished them by the time we went back. I can't tell you how many books I bought at book fairs or through book orders.

However, during high school and undergrad, I slowed down, at least a little. Especially in undergrad, I had so much other reading I had to do, that my reading for pleasure fell by the wayside. I didn't stop reading completely, but if I had countd my books those years, the number was significantly lower.

Then I was burned out. After hundreds of plays and articles and essays, I couldn't read anymore. I hardly remember where I even put my bookcase in my first post-college apartment, and I rarely had books strewn about. When I moved to DC, I started getting back into it more, and was just picking up reading steam when I started school all over again.

So, when Eilonwy proposed this challenge, I figured it would be a great way to not get burned out again, as well as have a way to escape from all the madness.

I was right. Some weeks I read 4 books and I'm sure there was at least once I didn't read a thing for 4 weeks. Still, it all averaged out, and by the end of next week, I'll probably have finished at least two or three more.

I love reading.

As for my other goals, I mostly triumphed as well.

I did buy that book, and I played tourist a few times, particularly when I had visitors.

I took a dance class, but realized it was too far away to make it a habit. So, I took piano instead.

I ran not one, but three 5K races, until I was told not to anymore.

I didn't quite maintain my 4.0, but my current 3.87 is nothing to be sad about.

I also didn't really add to my official personal history, but I did journal every night (except one, as I recall).

Not too shabby!

Me and Neil'll be hangin' out

And here's video of Neil reading from his new book. It didn't want to post in the other one, but here it is now!

Neil says hi by the way

I have two favorite authors, Lois Lowry and Neil Gaiman. (My favorite book ever is The Giver by Lois Lowry. ) So, when I found out, about two months ago, that Nei Gaiman was going to be at this year's National Book Festival, September 27 was booked for me. I repeatedly told the roommates that if he was the only author I saw that day, then I'd be a happy girl.

Well, he was, and I am.

After a super tasty breakfast at Eastern Market, it was off the Mall. I bought a copy of The Graveyard Book, which isn't even for sale until Tuesday, for anyone except those at the festival.

First, I heard him speak. He talked about his inspiration for this book, and writing in general, and then read an excerpt from the book.





Then, with all the other geeky Neil Gaiman fans, we lined up. And waited. For three hours. In the sun (I got a little burnt) AND the rain.


But I met him. And had a two sentence conversation. He signed two of my books ("Sweet dreams" in my copy of Smoke and Mirrors and my name on a tombstone in The Graveyard Book). I apologize for my goofy, goofy smile, but I was having one of the bigger geek moments of my life, so can you blame me?



Then the rain came down even harder, but I couldn't care a bit. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a new book to read.