Top Ten Tuesday...2014 releases I'm anxiously awaiting

Hosted by Broke and Bookish

Top Ten Books I am look forward toward their releases in 2014:

1. Raven Cycle #3 by Maggie Stiefvater...at least I hope this book is coming out in 2014, it is as of yet unnamed on Amazon.com. I love the character development, the mystery, and the surprising plot twists in this series.

2. Cress (Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer...First Cinder (Cinderella), then Scarlet (Red Riding Hood), and then this book which will be a retelling of Rapunzel's story. Can't wait. (February 2014)

3. Illusion, the 4th book in the Chronicles of Nick series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I haven't read the books in this series but boys are just crazy for it in my library and are asking for the next book which is due out in April 2014.

4. Perfect Lies by Kiersten White, the second book in the Mind Games series. I haven't read the first book in this series either but everyone who has read Mind Games has commented on how much they like it and are anxious for the sequel. (February 2014)

5. City of Heavenly Fire by Casandra Clare...the fifth or sixth book in the Mortal Instruments series which is still wildly popular in the library. (May 2014)

6. Landline by Rainbow Rowell. I am a Rowell fan and look forward to reading an adult book by this favorite YA author. (July 2014)

7. Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor. The third book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series which will conclude the fight between angels and demons. (April 2014)

8. Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray, #2 in the Diviners series. I just Libba Bray and will read anything she writes. (August 2014)

9. Laurie Halse Anderson has a new book coming out in 2014.  Must investigate!
It is called The Impossible Knife of Memory and it is due out in January. Yipee!

It is so hard to keep track of all the series that my students are reading. I look forward to reading other lists on Top Ten Tuesday and may add some more titles as I do.

December 1, Sunday Salon

It has been a whole week since I last posted on this blog. It was a busy week with Thanksgiving festivities and a full few days at work. Perhaps this week I will finally have a minute to write reviews for the few books I've finished these past two weeks.

Cue the music, Little Drummer Boy, and have a listen while you read.


Weather: rainy and cold. We just got back from Seattle after returning our daughter to college. As we drove in to town I was shocked to see businesses open then noted that it was only 5:30 PM, it was so dark it seemed like midnight.

Thanksgiving day we spent with my family in Oregon. My eldest sister and her husband were the hosts. My folks, who are both in their 80s, live on the other side of town and supplied a goodly portion of the meal. My brother and his family drove up from California. We drove down from Washington State with our kids. Altogether there were sixteen of us that shared the meal. Right after the meal, mom got sick to her stomach and nearly fainted. We all got scared that it was food poisoning and within a few hours we would all fall victim to it. It was a strange ending to the event as we all scurried around to sanitize the house and refrigerate the food. As it turned out she thinks it was something she ate at home before they came over.

Food we contributed: Parker House rolls, Frog Eye Salad, Cranberry Wine.

The Civil War football game, UO v OSU. The next day a group of us (ten in all) tromped over to watch the big rivalry football game. My brother and his wife are Beavers, the rest of us are Ducks. The game was really close and only decided in the last few seconds, Ducks won by one point!

Today is the first day of advent. One of my favorite times on the church calendar is the four weeks of advent before Christmas. It is a time of preparation and anticipation. We haven't decorated out home yet but the church was all decked out in its finery for this time of year with the pulpit covered by poinsettias. Lovely.

Today's scripture lesson: Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

News from the library: as I reported last week, we heard the previous Friday that the library system was going to be brought back online on Monday and we were to wait until the trained person came to show us how to upload our remote files and to check for errors. No one came to help me until the very end of the day so I didn't have much chance to do more than to look at one day's data. My first day of data had 420 transactions with 155 errors. I knew things weren't good. Something was clearly wrong. The next day we figured it out. The data was recovered to a point in April, last school year. Almost every student has at least one error on their account. Some have fines back on their accounts that they paid last year, others have books on their account that they checked out and returned last school year, others have no textbooks at all checked out to them on their accounts even though they should have five or seven. It is a huge mess. The district has assured us that they are "looking in to it". We'll see if there is some solution other that going into every student account one by one and cleaning things up by hand. Sigh. Thankfully my daughter was subbing for my clerk who is still out sick so I had someone to help me.

Books read this week:

• And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini...this is a RHS book club selection and I really liked it. In a lot of ways it is more complex than his other books.
• The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender...another SOTH book club selection. This might be the most boring audiobook I've ever listened to, clearly the most boring this year. Ugh. My husband and daughter were champions listening with me as we drove to Oregon.

Currently reading:

• Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell...I am reading AND listening to this book. I am a fangirl of Rainbow Rowell's works.

Sunday Salon...a week of thanksgiving.

Quote and photo from JustHappyQuotes

This whole post shall be one where I focus on things for which I am thankful. Please share a comment of something you are thankful for now in your life.

I am thankful for music. Today I played a CD I bought at the library for two dollars Immortal Beloved which is the soundtrack from a movie about Beethoven. Below is one of my favorite Beethoven pieces from Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Opus 92, Movement II, Allegretto. Cue the music and play it as you read my blog.


I am grateful for friends, family, and caring associates. This week as we gather for a Thanksgiving meal with my parents, who are both in their mid-eighties, two of my siblings and their families, and my children, I am reminded how blessed I am.

The weather this week has been cold and clear, a rarity in the Pacific Northwest in the late Fall. Mt. Rainier is looking quite lovely and visible from just about everywhere one drives or goes (trees and hills notwithstanding.)

I am so thankful for people who know what they are doing with technology. We got word mid day on Friday that our library system has been restored fully and we will be back on-line with it early this coming week. We have been without a functioning OPAC system since October 16th.

I am so grateful for a husband who loves and supports me. Today we weren't able to sit next to each other at church. At one point the pastor said something in his sermon which pertained to us. When I looked over at Don, he winked at me. It made my heart swoon.

I am so thankful for books and for the authors who write them. I just finished Khaled Hosseini's latest book, And the Mountains Echoed. I kept thinking as I listened to this audiobook that Hosseini is a wordsmith, he puts words together so magically. Last week in church the youth pastor asked the children to come forward for a children's sermon and part of it was based on thankfulness. She asked kids to identify things they were thankful for and one kid yelled out "BOOKS." I agree.

I am grateful for a sense of humor and times we can laugh together. The photo below shows our "find" today when we were were looking for a twist-tie. I always save them and then can never find them. No wonder, they migrate to the back of the drawer. My husband found them when he was moving things around in the drawer. We shall never want for a twist-tie again. Ha!

Where twist-ties go to die, our  kitchen drawer.

This weekend we did a lot of shopping. I'm not really grateful for shopping but I am glad that we were able to get the majority of our Christmas shopping done before Black Friday. We even bought a new artificial tree. I am very grateful for that since our old artificial tree was so big and bedraggled looking.

I am grateful for my health. I ordered new glasses this week which should help me even feel grateful about my eyesight.

I am thankful to God and for His loving-kindness toward mankind. I am blessed to be a child of God.

I am thankful for you, dear reader of this blog. I hope that you have a blessed week.

Top ten books I'd recommend to x person

Top books I recommend when X person is looking for:

Romance:
- The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
- If I Stay by Gayle Forman
- Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Fairy Tale Retellings:
-The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
-Cinder by Marissa Meyer
-Far Far Away by Tom O'Neil

Adventure/Action:
- Runner by Carl Deuker
- Lockdown: Escape from Furnace by Alexander Gordon Smith
-Deathwatch by Robb White
-The Chronicles of Nick by Kenyan

Humor:
-Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach
-Swim the Fly by Don Calame
-Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman
-The Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Historical fiction:
-The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow
-Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
-The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
-Revolutions by Jennifer Donnelly

Nerds/Geeks:
-Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
-Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
-Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Older Teens:
-Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
-I am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak
-Couch by Benjamin Parzybok
-The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
-Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan

Cry-worthy:
-The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
-Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
-Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Mystery:
-Paper Towns by John Green
-The Boxer and the Spy by Robert Parker
-The Killer's Cousin by Nancy Werlin

Sci-Fi/Fantasy:
-Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
-Finnigan of the Rock by Melina Marchetta
-Sabriel by Garth Nix
-Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

LGBT and questioning:
-Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy by Bil Wright
-Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Saenz
-Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
-Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher
-The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George

Psychological aspects:
-Stolen by Lucy Christopher
-Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S.King
-Please Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick
-Looking for Alaska by John Green
-Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Magical/Paranormal: (Too many to list all. Here are a few of my favorites.)
-Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
-Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
-Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
-Blood Ninja by Nick Lake

Dystopian:
-Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
-Maze Runner by James Dashner
-Divergent by Veronica Roth

Sunday Salon, Nov. 17

The yard to looking pretty sad. An apple tree in the background has apples but no leaves.

Weather: we had a moment of sunshine today, otherwise I would describe the weather as blustery.

Yesterday: Our church hosted an early Thanksgiving potluck. My married daughter invited her in-laws. It was fun to reconnect with Nancy and Rick!

Football: The University of Oregon Ducks lost their football game to Stanford University last week. Yesterday the Ducks beat the University of Utah team that beat Stanford earlier in the season. Once that game was over all eyes shifted to the Stanford v USC game. If USC could beat Stanford then UO would get back in the driver's seat in the Pac-12 North. USC did it! They beat Stanford! It is the first time in my life that I have cheered for the USC Trojans.

This past week: a substitute clerk was hired to replace my library clerk. It was a relief to finally have some help in the library. At one point she turned to me and commented on how tired she was, how surprisingly demanding the job is. It sure is, and I've been doing it alone for seven weeks. Some days I wasn't sure if I could make it out to the parking at the end of the day to drive home. I was just so tired.

Also in the library: I have finally untangled the mess of circulation. We are still using a remote circulation system since the library system data still has not been recovered. It is really weird checking out books even though I can't look at the student accounts. I also got my Mock Printz team back to work after I had a chance to clean up my spreadsheet. I still have around 50 active students reading our Mock Printz titles. A few kids decided to stop, which is understandable since there has been so much confusion with the system being down for so long.

Movies: My daughter, her friend Nancy, and I went and saw Despicable Me, 2 last Sunday. There was hardly anyone in the theater which I think made me think it wasn't as funny as the first one. But I did like it. Friday my husband and I went and saw Twelve Years a Slave. Every American should see this film. The whole institution of slavery was so abominable. We both wept. The thought of one person treating another the way that Masters treated their slaves is beyond comprehension. And many of these masters said that it was scriptural for men to have slaves and to mistreat them. Ah, so awful.

From the kitchen: a lovely romaine salad with pears, dried cranberries, pecan pieces, feta cheese, and dressed with poppy seed dressing. I made it for the potluck and most of it wasn't eaten, so we had it for lunch today.

Books currently reading:

• The Golden Day by Ursala Dubosarsky...a short novel that has been getting quite a bit of attention as a Printz contender. 
• And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini...a book club selection, this is an audiobook.

Books finished this week:

• The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater. 2nd book in a trilogy. I can't wait until the third book comes out. Read my review here. (Click on the hyperlink.)
• A Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes...another book club selection, this one should give us tons to discuss.

 Up next:

• Out of Nowhere by Maria Padian and/or September Girls by Bennett Madison

Snapshot Saturday, Nov. 16

I'm just a Raggedy Anne in a Barbie Doll world!

This is part of my ragdoll collection. Since my name is Anne I've collected Raggedy Ann dolls since I was very young. I knew my husband was the right man for me when his mother gave me his Raggedy Andy doll he played with as a young child. His doll is a perfect match to my first doll, both shown in the carriage. My favorite is the doll in the rocking chair. She was handmade for me by my best friend.

Snapshot Saturday is hosted by West Metro Mommy

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater is the 2nd book in the Raven Cycle (Raven Boys.) Don't even think about reading this book before reading The Raven Boys. There are too many characters and a lot of back-story in the first book necessary for understanding what is happening in this one.

The action in The Dream Thieves begins the same summer and immediately after the ending of The Raven Boys. But in this book the majority of the action does not center around Blue Sargent, the girl who lives in a home of female psychics, though she is not psychic herself. In The Dream Thieves the majority of the action centers around Ronan as he struggles with the horrors of his dream life; Adam as he tries to find a place for himself among all the wealth of the Aglionby boys; and Gansey who is still obsessed with finding the Welsh king Glendower. In addition the reader is introduced to new characters: the Gray Man, Joseph Kazinski-another Aglionby boy, Greenmantle, and the concept of a Greywaren. It all sounds a little confusing, and is confusing until the story unfolds. By the end of the book a few things are wrapped up and new mysteries revealed. "The pace is electric, the prose marvelously sure-footed and strong, but it’s the complicated characters—particularly Ronan, violent, drunk, tender and tough—that meld magic and reality into an engrossing, believable whole." (Kirkus Reviews)

I listened to the audiobook which is narrated by Will Patton who has a very interesting, raspy voice. I wanted to devour the book whole, yet I also wanted to linger over it. I wanted to read fast so I could discover the answers to all my questions, yet I wanted to savor it at the same time. Stiefvater is one of my favorite YA authors right now. I haven't read anything by her that I haven't liked. In addition to her immense writing talents she is also an artist and a musician. In the YouTube clip below she is painting graffiti on a car, which plays into the storyline. In the background is the music that she wrote for The Dream Thieves. Suffice it to say, I am a huge fan. I can't wait for the third book in The Raven Cycle to come out.

Sunday Salon. November 10

Veterans Day: 11-11. Thank you to all our Nation's Vets who have and are serving our country so honorably. My husband, an Iraqi War Vet, will be out of town tomorrow on a business trip to Colorado. Thank you for all you do, Don.

The weather this past week: has been windy and wet. The skies seem to have turned permanently grey.

Dishwasher: We finally went shopping for a a new dishwasher to replace the one that caused all the leakage that led to the need for the full floor repair.

Football: The news is both good and bad. The University of Oregon Ducks lost their first game of the season to Stanford on Thursday night. Boo-hoo.  But the Graham-Kapowsin High School Eagles won their first playoff game yesterday. Yea! They are on their way to more football and possibly a state title.

Dreams: I think I've been reading too many paranormal books lately because my dreams are filled with magic, vampires, and scary things. Even the historical fiction book I just finished had a ghost in it. time for a strong dose of realistic fiction or, better yet, some nonfiction.

Library update: The OPAC system in the Bethel School District is still not functioning. We had a big meeting this past Tuesday with all the librarians and district big-wigs to explain the cause and how we are to proceed. Our system has been sent out to a Disaster Data Recovery organization so they are hopeful that we will have a full or nearly full data recovery. But they made no promises. In the meantime I have changed how I am checking in and out books which will allow me to quickly interface with the system once we are back up. One of my blogging friends reminded me that this problem is such a first-world issue. But since I don't have third world problems it feels like a disaster to me. On the good side of things, they have hired a substitute for my clerk who is still out ill. Finally I will have some help after being alone in the library for seven weeks! I'll be able to take a potty break without locking the library!

Books I'm currently reading:

• The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater...my audiobook selection, a contributor to my paranormal dreams.
• The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes...a book club selection.

Book finished this week:

• In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters. Set in SF in 1918 at the height of the flu epidemic and WWI. There were spiritualist and paranormal aspects to this book, too.

Up next:

• And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseni. Another book club selection, the audiobook just arrived in the nick of time.

Blogging issue: this blog is hosted by Blogger. One of the things I can do is look at the statistics of how many visits my pages have received and then that information is compiled into friendly charts. The only problem, the chart shows statistics from May 2007 to present. Oddly I didn't start blogging until July 2009. How can I have statistics for a period of time when I wasn't blogging? Blogger has been notified but there's been no reply. What's up with that? What's up with that?




From the kitchen: Carly and a friend are home for the week-end which means lots of home cooked food. So far we've made Pumpkin Waffles for breakfast and Eggplant Parmesan for dinner.

Quote: "How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes." -Maya Angelou

Snapshot Saturday, November 9

Snapshot Saturday is hosted by West Metro Mommy.

For those you you who have followed my blog you will know that my district had a huge server problem and they are slowly rebuilding all the programs. The library OPAC systems is STILL out after nearly four weeks. At one point this is how many books that were piled up waiting to be checked in before they could be shelved. Since taking this picture I've done a different type of off-line circulation which allows me to shelf the books. I am keeping my fingers crossed that my "fix" works when the system comes back on-line. Needless to say this has been a very frustrating time for me at work!

"When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school..."

Cue the music! Let it play as you read this blog post.

Today as I was brushing my hair and readying myself for work as a school librarian, the song Kodachrome by Paul Simon ran through my head, particularly the first two lines (When I think back to all the crap I learned in high school, it is a wonder I can think at all.) All the way to work I reflected on what a "crappy"  education I received in high school compared to what is expected of students today.

I graduated high school in the 1970s at the height of the experimental phase of  schooling where we had a sort of "build your own plan for graduation" going. I had to take a few classes but not the ones you would think. Here is a few things I remember:

• My last math class was sophomore year where I sat in the back of the class totally lost, doodling.
• I took four years of French and can barely speak a sentence.
• The only "classic" book I remember reading was The Great Gatsby, and I don't think I actually read it, just skimmed it.
• For one of my English credits I took The Bible as Literature. (Can you believe that?)
• I took judo for PE one semester, which was pretty cool. And in another PE class we had archery lessons.  Can you imagine that today?
• I didn't take US History, I took some current world problems class instead.
• In my Home Ec sewing class I made a blazer. It took me all semester to finish it. It was so ugly I never actually wore it. In the cooking portion of the class we learned to make cinnamon rolls from scratch. Yummy but not exactly a healthy life skill.
• I went to the school library ONCE and it wasn't to check out a book.
• I was in a student leadership class where we discussed important things like what we should do for the next assembly.
• I liked my Chemistry class but I was really bad at it since my math skills were so low. Sigh.
• I took pottery classes, as many as I could fit in. I don't think anything has survived from my 'pottery phase', however.
• Every day we had one period off to study or walk around the school. It is bizarre to think about that. I'm sure I should have used the time to improve my math skills but I just remember visiting with friends who had the same period off as me.
• I didn't smoke, but we had a smoking spot on campus where students could go when they needed a cigarette. Gasp!

When I think back on all the crap I learned (or didn't learn) in high school, it IS a wonder I can think at all!

When you feel like criticizing today's youth for something related to education, think back on your own high school experience and compare it to what we expect from kids today. I'm pretty sure I had more fun but learned much less.