A-Z Survey

Sponsored by Perpetual Page-Turner

Author you’ve read the most books from:

Barbara Kingsolver (7) and CS Lewis (9). And, of course, Dr. Seuss (24)

OK. Truth be told-Janet Evanovich (14); Sue Grafton (18)

Best Sequel Ever:

Don't know if this is the best sequel EVER, but I really like Scarlet by Marissa Meyer. I also thought that each Harry Potter sequel was exceptional.

Currently Reading:

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (Audiobook)

Drink of Choice While Reading:

Coffee with cream

E-reader or Physical Book?

Physical book

Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated In High School:

Karl Shoemaker in Tales of the Madman Underground. Karl is a real hero and the book is set in the 1970s when I was really in high school.

Glad You Gave This Book A Chance:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Hidden Gem Book:

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay

Important Moment in your Reading Life:

When I became a teen librarian, nine years ago, at a high school. That is when I started reading YA Lit.

Just Finished:

Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan

Kinds of Books You Won't Read:

I can't read terribly scary stories because they give me nightmares.

Longest Book You've Read:

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, I read the abridged version and it was still 1200 pages

Major book hangover because of:

 I don't know know what book hangover means?  Is it a book that gave me a headache because I was up all night reading it, or because it was so bad?

Number of Bookcases You Own:

Four but there are books in lots of other locations, too.

One Book You Have Read Multiple Times:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Actually, I listen to the audiobook over and over. Another book that I have read repeatedly is A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute. The last time, however, I decided I was done. No more rereads of that book.

Preferred Place To Read:

In a hammock or poolside, but I don't have a pool and the hammock is not set up this year so I have to settle for the couch.

Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you've read:

 "...even after fifty years it retains its aura of brimstone and taboo...what people remember isn't the book itself, so much as the furor. Ministers in church denounced it as obscene...the library was forced to remove it from the shelves...There's nothing like a shovelful of dirt to encourage literacy." ---The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

It always cracks me up when people get on their high horses about a book and it makes more people want to read it because of their actions!  Ha!

Reading Regret:

Not reading more classics when I was in high school and college.  I am so behind where I should be.

Series You Started And Need To Finish(all books are out in series):

The Mortal Instruments series.  I've only read City of Bones

Three of your All-Time Favorite Books:

To Kill a Mockingbird; Pride and Prejudice; Peace Like a River

Unapologetic Fangirl For:

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. This book didn't win as many awards as it deserved.

Very Excited For This Release More Than All The Others:

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick (the author of Silver Linings Playbook) but actually I don't have long to wait since it is coming out tomorrow!

Worst Bookish Habit:

Reading too many books at once.

X Marks The Spot: Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book:

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston 

Your latest book purchase:

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

ZZZ-snatcher book (last book that kept you up WAY late):

What We Saw at Night by Jacqueline Mitchard

If you'd like to participate, please make sure to let Jamie at Perpetual Page-Turner know, and give her credit for creating the survey. She'd like to see your answers, so be sure to link back to her page.

1001+ books to read before you die. The list.

As a librarian everyone is always asking me for lists of books they should read.  I am not very well read beyond the YA novels that I consume every year so I am always looking for lists of good books.  Here is one that is actually over 1300 books long.

1001 book You Should Read Before You Die

I actually have no idea who compiled this list.  Perhaps it is a conference of scholars or maybe just a few geeky college kids sitting around making lists of books.  I don't know.

Lest you think I am more well read than you, I've only read 90 books on this list. Many, many of them I do want to read.  Many I've never heard of.  :)

Happy reading!

Sunday Salon...Home again, Finnegan

South Sister (part of Cascade range) as viewed from Elk Lake in Central Oregon

Home again, Finnegan...we got home at 6 PM yesterday evening after a lovely vacation in Central Oregon with my whole family. As we pulled into the driveway I announced, "Home Again, Finnegan," a normal exclamation from us after returning from a trip.  Where did that saying come from? I have no idea.  My parents didn't say it when I was young. I did a little on-line searching and still can't figure it out.  Is it from a children's book we read to our girls when they were young? Does it come from Father Fox's Pennyrhymes by Clyde Watson? We loved that poetry book and read it often when the girls were little but I don't have a copy of it so I can't check. Does anyone know?

Cabin on Elk Lake

Family reunion/vacation...for the past several years my parents have very generously organized a family reunion at a resort and paid for our accommodations. This year my whole family gathered at Eagle Crest Resort outside of Redmond, Oregon. There is lots to do in the warm Central Oregon climes...golfing, biking, hiking, shopping, boating, swimming, and miniature golfing. One day we drove to Elk Lake, a family favorite gathering place, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of this part of the country. Fifteen years ago there was a forest fire that destroyed the old cabin and all the trees surrounding it. If you look at the photo above you will see the remains of those trees behind the cabin. The trees near the water didn't burn.

Sisters: Another day my sisters and I (and our husbands) went to Sisters, Oregon, which has a quaint old west feel. In the photo below you see us posing with Sisters t-shirts that we didn't buy. I also have a brother, but he and his family floated the Deschutes River that day. I learned a new thing about my sisters that day...neither of them like bananas.  How did I not know this before?

The photo is of the sisters in Sisters.

Vacation reading:

• Short nights of the Shadow Catcher: the Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis by Timothy Egan. We finished this audiobook en route to Central Oregon. For any American history buffs this is a must-read! Completed.
• Period.8 by Chris Crutcher...another provocative book by Crutcher. This one is a thriller/mystery. A quick read. Completed.
• The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis...the 7th and last book of the Chronicles of Narnia. This book ends on an exquisite note.  Completed.
• Wesley the Owl: the Remarkable Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O'Brien...a book club selection about a biologist and her rescued owl pet. Completed.
• Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan...a disturbing tale out of Africa about an albino boy who is hunted for his "magical qualities." 1/3rd done.
• A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. The audiobook selection for our return trip home. A very quirky book full of memorable characters. Barrett Whitener, the narrator of the audiobook, does an exceptional job. 1/3rd done.

From the kitchen: Each night of vacation one family unit was responsible for dinner feeding the 18-22 person horde. Our night was Friday.  Menu: Marinated BBQ salmon, steamed green beans, potato packets, watermelon, and cherry dump cake. All easy to make and so yummy. Hit!

Silly cousins

No internet service: Our unit at Eagle Crest did not have internet service. We had to go to the lodge if we wanted to work on-line. We used our smart phones to check email but I only made the trek to the lodge once during the week so was essentially off-line for a week. My husband pointed out that not having Internet helped force us to get out and do things together so it was a bonus.

Our peace shall stand as rocky mountains. -Wm. Shakespeare

Retrospective Wednesday: The Magician's Nephew

Retrospective Wednesday is a meme set aside to highlight books that were published in previous years but deserve a fresh read (or reread.)

Today I am highlighting The Magician's Nephew published in 1955 by C.S.Lewis, the 6th book in the Chronicles of Narnia series. This book is the prequel to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe so some people (and publishers) think it should be read first.  But that is not the case. The reader will delight with the information they discover in this volume after already being familiar with Narnia and Aslan. C.S. Lewis had this book published 6th.  That is good enough for me to keep it in the order he suggested as the author of the series.

My daughter and I are rereading through the series this summer. When we got to this volume we kept exclaiming "oh, that explains that..." or "I remember when they mentioned that is ___ book." The Magician's nephew and his friend Polly end up in Narnia on the day that it is created by the lion, Aslan. The Christian symbolism is beautiful throughout the series but very remarkable in this one.

We are not only a fan of the books but we are also fans of the movies of The Chronicles of Narnia. Two years ago this website announced The Magician's Nephew would be the next film released in the series...but that was two years ago.  IMDB has the film's status as "In development." So I have no idea if it is really being made or not.  I hope so. If anyone has any information on this, please let me know.

While doing all this not-very-reliable-research I did discover that The Magician's Nephew is the 2nd most popular book in the series.  It really is quite exciting and very different than the other books. I encourage you to give it a try.

30 books this Summer Reading Challenge

21 / 30 books. 70% done!

Review: Period 8 by Chris Crutcher

Last fall as I was delivering a book talk on good books to a class of high school juniors I held up a Chris Crutcher book and a boy asked, "Is that the author who writes the same book over and over again with different titles?" His comment stopped me in my tracks because lots of Chris Crutcher books are very similar or at least have very similar elements. Period 8, Crutcher's newest book, borrows some of those similar elements: swimming, cool teacher who runs a support group, parents who are troubled or abusive. But Period 8 is a very different story than his other books in an important aspect. It is a very exciting mystery/thriller which builds to a page-turning crescendo just one chapter from the end.

Paul "the Bomb" Baum tells the truth. No matter what. It was something he learned at Sunday School. But telling the truth can cause problems, and not minor ones. And as Paulie discovers, finding the truth can be even more problematic. Period 8 is supposed to be that one period in high school where the truth can shine, a safe haven. Only what Paulie and Hannah (his ex-girlfriend, unfortunately) and his other classmates don't know is that the ultimate bully, the ultimate liar, is in their midst. -Goodreads

Like other Chris Crutcher novels this book doesn't shy away from controversial topics and it tackles them in a thought-provoking way. This book adds the thriller element to it so the reader is left on the edge of his/her seat for the last 100 pages. I am currently on a family reunion vacation and had to excuse myself from everyone and go out to the porch to read the last few chapters. It was THAT exciting.

I'd like to encourage my readers to not only pick up and read Period 8 but consider reading all of Chris Crutcher's book.  I am host of a challenge to encourage reading this author. Chris Crutcher Challenge.

30 books this Summer Reading Challenge

20 / 30 books. 66.6% done!

Heading out for a week-long vacation. What books will I bring along?

Last week my husband and I toured the Canadian Rockies for a week long vacation of hiking, touring, and driving.  This coming week is a week-long vacation of relaxing and family gatherings. Last week I finished one book, Gone Girl, because we listened to the audiobook as we drove around. This week I will have some pool-side time and low key mornings. I hope to finish several books.

Here's the book packing list:

     Audiobooks: (Our trip is only 12 hours round-trip so we will not have time for all four but I'm afraid each of us will want to listen to a different book.)

• Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher by Timothy Egan...we listened to 70% of this book on the return trip from Banff. We will finish this audiobook for sure.
• Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. I've heard only wonderful stuff about this book and love the author after reading Seabiscuit. I think my husband will want to listen to this next.
• Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien...my daughter is listening to this trilogy this summer and she commutes to work. She is lobbying for this book even though my husband and I haven't listened to the first book in the series and would have to strain our brains back to high school to recall the details of the first book.
• A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole...this will get my vote since I am currently on disc two and enjoying the heck out of it. I'd even be willing to start over.

      Books:

• Teeth by Hannah Moskowiz...I am very ambivalent about this book so far, but I haven't determined  if I should abandon it yet so I'll pop it in the bag but don't know if I will finish it.
• Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan...it is the only book on my summer reading list that I own the book (the rest belong to the library) so I can take this one to the pool and not worry about it getting wet.
• Wesley the Owl: the remarkable love story of an owl and his girl by Stacey O'Brien...next month's book club selection. I just picked it up from the library today so I'll pop it in the bag in case I can get to it. 
• And...? I probably won't be able to read four books in one week but what if I DO finish all three and I'm without a book.  Guess I'll throw another book in the bag, just in case.  Should I include a mystery, a romance, an award winner, realistic YA, or fantasy? Hmm...I'm thinking it is time for a good romance.  Let's see what I have in my stack.

Books WILL save your life

Several months ago a friend gave me an article from a magazine, yes, an actual magazine, because she wanted me to read an article entitled "50 Books that Will Change Your Life" by Su Blackwell (Blackwell, Su. Real Simple. "50 Books that Will Change Your Life". Time Lifestyle Group. June 2013.)

I'm a real sucker for these kind of lists. I love book lists of all kinds and now here is one that will save my life. Hmm...only one problem. I've only read ten of the books on the list (among them One Fish, Two Fish, Read Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss) and have heard of only a few others. Certainly I should be dead by now if I haven't read or heard of 35 books on a list of 50 that will save my life. I was preparing the article for the round file when I glanced at the forward.  It was written by my favorite YA author, John Green. The caption reads: "Reading not only transports you---it transforms you. Writer John Green examines the magical relationship between reader and book..."

Now that IS something I am interested in. I settle down to read his forward and the points he makes about that magical relationship between reader and book is what I want to highlight here.

John says that great books "literally" changed his life when he was a teenager. (I put the word literally in quotes because John is very picky about how that word is used, usually incorrectly.  So I shall assume that great books really did change his life.) He said,

 "I devoured those books partly because they gave me perspective. They allowed me to zoom out and see a wider world...Books are meaningless scratches on a page until the reader translates them into a story. We make stories real by reading them, and that empowerment was very gratifying to me as a mostly powerless adolescent."

He goes on to say that reading is not lean-back entertainment. Readers become cocreators with the author. Children are obviously really good cocreators but so are teens.

"They are still connected to the childhood world of magic while being old enough to be interested in big ideas---what William Faulkner called the 'old verities...love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice.' Through books teens grapple with the old verities, and they do so thoughtfully, unironically, and without embarrassment."

I love that about books. I can hand a book to a student and that book can speak to him/her without judgement or malice. Books can evoke changes in us or offer help and advice.

As we age the "novel loses its novelty" but John Green reminds us that reading "can rip us free from the tyranny of adulthood." Right now I am rereading The Chronicles of Narnia with my daughter. For just a few minutes each night as I immerse myself in the magical land of Narnia and I am transformed and ripped free from all things adult. A good book does that if you are two or eighty-two! I am happy to report that the magic of stories is alive and well in my life and the lives of my family members. As John says about a special book in his life: "...the book tore me up and stitched me back together, different and better." See, a good book really can save your life.

Ah!

Here is a very limited list of a few books that have transformed my life:

• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle...my favorite book as a child. I read and reread it. It was sheer magic to me.
• Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns...this is the book that brought me back to books and opened up what to me what a good book should do.
• The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver...my parents were missionaries in Africa when I was young. They weren't like the missionaries in this book---my dad worked with college students and my mom ran a well-baby clinic and taught classes on how to use the available foods to make a healthy diet for children---but the whole idea of going somewhere else and holding up our lifestyle as better than the local one has always chaffed me. All of Kingsolver's books speak to the higher and better person in me and ask me to consider doing things differently.
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain...classics are classics for a reason. This book knocked my socks off and moved me from fearing the old classics to wanting to read them.

What books would you place on your list of books that "saved your life?"

You can find the list of 50 books here at Realsimple.

Review: A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

     This is a tale of missing persons. Madeleine and her mother have run away from their former life, under mysterious circumstances, and settled in a rainy corner of Cambridge (in our world).
     Elliot, on the other hand, is in search of his father, who disappeared on the night his uncle was found dead. The talk in the town of Bonfire (in the Kingdom of Cello) is that Elliot's dad may have killed his brother and run away with the Physics teacher. But Elliot refuses to believe it. And he is determined to find both his dad and the truth.
     As Madeleine and Elliot move closer to unraveling their mysteries, they begin to exchange messages across worlds -- through an accidental gap that hasn't appeared in centuries. But even greater mysteries are unfolding on both sides of the gap: dangerous weather phenomena called "color storms;" a strange fascination with Isaac Newton; the myth of the "Butterfly Child.- from the publisher

Do you remember the children's book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs? Well, A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty reminds me of that book. In a good way. Cloudy is such an inventive book with food raining down from the sky in its proper order and then everything goes wrong and the food comes in the wrong order or without condiments.  It always made me laugh when I read it to my children.  In A Corner of White we are introduced to two teens, Madeleine in Cambridge and Elliot in the land of Cello. In Cello goofy things happen with the weather, too.  Summer might only last for a day followed by one day of winter. Everyone is attuned to the city bells that warn them that a color attack is imminent causing people to dash indoors and shudder their windows.  Purple attacks are so bad they can actually kill a person.

Madeleine doesn't believe that Elliot really lives in another world but Elliot has figured out that they are actually communicating across a crack between the worlds. If anyone knew about it in his world, he would be executed, but he persists in sending notes to Madeleine nonetheless. As the story unfolds shared advice helps the other person in their world. This is a story of two kids helping each other live in their own worlds Just when you think that all is well for our co-protagonists a plot twist prepares us for a second volume in this trilogy.

I dare you to read this book identify just one genre...it could be realistic fiction until the yellows attack. Perhaps fantasy since the butterfly child is a lot like a fairy. There is a mystery going on in both worlds. And although I haven't described it, there is even a bit of romance. I liked the book a lot even though I am still scratching my head over it.  I'm not the only one who likes this book. Here are a few other reviews from commentators:

Moriarty is the queen of epistolary stories, and her fans will find the teens' letters a familiar entree into this highly unusual fantasy. Like Madeleine, readers will be initially baffled by, but will ultimately believe in, Elliot's world. Moriarty's story comes across as matter-of-fact yet curious, topped off with a strong dose of humor). As always, her irresistible characters help readers navigate a tantalizingly complex plot that will leave them eagerly awaiting the next book.--- Jennifer M. Brabander, Horn Book

 Moriarty's trademark wit and whimsy are on full display, with zingy dialogue that feels right if not entirely realistic and bizarre characters living unexpected lives that manage to be mundane and delightful at the same time. By the end, Madeleine's story feels somewhat resolved, but Elliot's has turned an unexpected corner that will bring their worlds much closer and bring readers more mystery and humor in the next volume. Quirky, charming, funny, sad: another winner from this always-surprising author.---Kirkus Reviews

Oh, I forgot to mention. A Corner of White won a 2013 Horn Book-Boston Globe Honor Award for YA fiction. More evidence why this book deserves your attention.

30 books this Summer Reading Challenge

19 / 30 books. 63% done!

Blogoversary Winner Announcement!

The winner of my blogoversary giveaway is: Liz at Lizzy's Dark Fiction.  Congratulations!

She is the winner of the $20 Amazon gift certificate.

Thanks for playing.

Review: What We Saw at Night by Jacquelyn Mitchard

In What We Saw at Night by Jacquelyn Mitchard, Allison Kim and her best friends, Rob and Juliet, are typical teenagers with one slight variation, they all have Xeroderma Pigmentosum which is a fatal allergy to sunlight. Their lives are turned upside down, sleeping during the day and only going out at night when it is safe to avoid the sun's rays. They prowl their small town like cat burglars in the night but the town is small and everyone knows them, plus Juliet's dad is the sheriff, so they are safe. But because they can't do normal teenage stuff like going to school and after-school sports, they try to find their kicks somewhere to feel more normal like the "daytimers." Juliet, the most daring of the three, starts doing Parkour, a stunt sport of scaling and jumping off tall buildings, and the other two go along with her. Soon all three are strong and capable of daring feats of courage, made even more daring because these feats are done in the dark.

One night, as the trio practice Parkour on a newly constructed condo building, they witness what looks to be a murder. Allie becomes obsessed with finding out the truth but this quest ultimately turns her life upside down and puts she and her family in real danger.

I listened to the audiobook of What We Saw at Night by Jacquelyn Mitchard and I "consumed" it faster than I usually can with audiobooks because it was so exciting. Rebecca Gibble, the narrator of the audiobook had a nice young-sounding voice lending credibility to the teen focus of the story. At first I was wrapped up in learning about XP and about Parkour and found both to be fascinating.  As the plot thickened I found some of the details too odd or out-there to be believable so it lost a bit of credibility with me. It is also clearly the 1st book in a series and the reader is left dangling, obviously setting us up for book number two. My daughter read the book before me and she too found it extremely exciting and also frustrating because of the ending.

That said, I think that this book has a place in a high school library where kids are always casting about for good mysteries and enjoy reading books that are part of series.  This book also has a shot of winning attention as an award book for the Schneider Family Book Award, given to books that highlight teens living with disabilities.  The information on Xeroderma Pigmentosum is so interesting. I want to learn more.

30 books this Summer Reading Challenge

18 / 30 books. 60% done!