Jonesing for Books

I'm book broke. There is no fundage in my coffers for new books and it's making me cranky. There are lonely books sitting in the Amazon warehouses just waiting to be adopted by me. My shopping cart is full. I feel the need, the need for new books.
What's a girl to do?
Also I'm on the outs with my local public library. They say I'm missing a book, THAT I NEVER CHECKED OUT. I'm a librarian, I know how the systems work. I also am very vigilant about any books that I check out. I've never heard nor seen this particular book, and will be forced to pay for it if I would like to continue using the library.
And there are holds waiting for me. ARGHHH!
The only hope on the horizon is the Scholastic Book Fair. I regularly run the whole shebang at my elementary school, and it's only a couple of weeks away.
Sure I'll buy a few books and maybe get a short term fix, but I'll also get my fix by selling all those books to the kids too.
I just love to unfasten those big metal book cases and swing them open and see all those fresh new Scholastic books. I'll set up all the Christmas books, the Junie B Jones multi-packs, and the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book display. There will be books for only $1 and maybe a few YA books for only $5.
I can't wait.
Until then I will keep filling my Amazon Shopping Cart and pretend that I'm just one-click away from the UPS man bringing me a giant heavy box filled with books.

I've changed my look

Ta Da!!
Wait don't go anywhere it's still me!
I've stepped out of the 2009 Blogger template.
I know. It's about damn time.

Movie vs. Book

It's good. It's really, really good. I'm at 25% on my Kindle and it's worth going on.
What it really deceptive about all the movie trailers and posters is that they seem to focus on the futuristic bits of the book, so I thought it was totally a sic-fi story, but I don't think the book it that way at all. I'm only up to the 1970's story, so I've still got all the future stuff ahead of me.
What is disappointing is that the movie has been officially been called a flop. This opening weekend it only made $10.3 million!
What a bummer. Sometimes being a complicated book, and advertising a movie as such, will damn a movie. I'll see the movie eventually, but I'm one of those silly people who HAVE to read a book before I even think of seeing the movie.

Could Atlas

I know it wasn't on my last list of books to read, but this book is so in my face I feel that I have to read it so I know what is going on.
So I am going to attempt to read Cloud Atlas.
I don't  think it's really my kind of book, but I'm gonna try.
Don't you just hate it when a book is everywhere and you can't escape it? I feel guilt and pressure to read it. Is that what the media outlets are trying to do? Am I falling victim to advertising?
Oh the horror!

November Reads

So there are a lot of books in my To-Be-Read pile, but sometimes if I make a list for the next month I am more likely to actually do the reading instead of just willy-nilly picking off the top of the pile.
So for November I would like to read:

Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl

The Complete Claudine by Colette

Winter of the World by Ken Follett

Click Millionaires by Scott Fox

Out of Our Minds by Ken Robinson

Big Breasts and Wide Hips by Mo Yan

The New Moon With the Old by Dodie Smith

I know some of those are HUGE books, but it's just a goal. I might start some and not be able to finish, but it's a list to begin from. I've got to dream big.

So many books, so little time.

Among Others - Jo Walton

OMG! I cannot even tell you how much I loved this book. It just hit that sweet spot with all the little things that make a book great to me. There was a crazy mother, an unknown father, boarding school, a mysterious death, and magic.
At first I was a little put off by reading the back cover and seeing that fairies were involved in the story. I am not a big fan of fairies, but it was done so well that the fairies were not even that big a part of the story. It's more like a faint tinge of fairies and magic.
I am a big believer in magic, but of the sort that is more mystical and realistic and twists in with fate and destiny vs. spells and potions.
The idea I got was that older, more used objects contain magic, which I agree with, while new things and places are devoid of magic. The older a thing is the more magical it can be.
There is a running theme of traveling while Mori goes back and forth to school, the library, her father's home and her aunt's home. She meets so many people and tries to figure out where she fits in without her twin sister.
Through out the whole book Mori devours books and keeps a running commentary on all the great and not so great ones. It's amazing to see a girl's love of reading intermingle with her life.
Loved it loved it loved. I will probably have to buy this one since I got it from the library.
READ THIS.

Ohhh A Kitten Reading!

It doesn't get any cuter than this.

Frustrated Reader

For a couple of weeks I was getting very frustrated with the books I was reading. It seemed like one after another I was throwing them down, unable to finish anything. I was disappointed with the author, the story, the characters, the tone, whatever and everything at once. When you desperately want to read something GOOD and can't find it, it can drive you crazy.
There is a strange ebb and flow to books. Sometimes my Amazon Cart is overflowing and sometimes desolate with crickets. I read all the blogs and nothing sounds appealing... nothing.
Then as if by magic I get the email that there are holds for me at the library. I get a lot of holds and not all of them are gems. I can tear through them too, but this week I have struck story gold.
Mr. Penumbra was amazing and now I'm onto Among Others and I am in heaven. The only problem is that once you find books like these they are gone and finished before you know it. They are warm and cozy and in reading them you find all the little nooks and crannies of your day into which to squeeze out a few minutes here and there.
Then you reluctantly and joyfully finish.
Then you're back in the bookstore and the library trying to find that next book, that next fix. Yes that is a drug reference because that is what it feels like.

Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

First of all let me say that the cover GLOWS-IN-THE-DARK!
Coolest thing ever and I didn't even notice until I turned off the light one night after reading in bed. All those little yellow books glow. For a book nerd this is beyond awesome, and it relates to the story. Whoever designed this cover is a genius and when I need cover art for my book they are the first person I will call.

Now to get to the nitty-gritty. This book has everything that a person who loves books needs in a riveting story. Not only does it have old books, old people, and a book store with ladders, but it has Google, complex data-visualization, and every type of new-fangled book technology. Ohh it gives me goose bumps.
Needless to say I loved it. I even read it slowly on purpose to savor it. Now that doesn't mean it's free of issues. The romance falls flat... really flat. If the relationship between Clat and Kat had been more, well romantic, this book would be unstoppable. But as written it will probably have a smaller audience of devoted book lovers only.
The climactic scene is good, but turns out to be anti-climactic which was a little disappointing. The story comes around in the end to a neat and tidy ending and I love a good epilogue where everyone's story is fully played out. It is a satisfying read and I recommend it highly.

Architecture on Books

Check this out!
Why didn't I think of this?.... combining my two favorite things.
Found on Travel Between the Pages.

Giving up on JK

So I can't do it. I can't finish Casual Vacancy. I was forcing myself to pick it up and then spending more than a minute on a page, getting easily distracted by House Hunters and any other show on TV. That's not a good sign.
That doesn't mean I'll never finish it, it just means I will have to come back to it later.
I went to the library on Friday and had 4 holds ready for pick-up.
After I started Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore,  the was no going back to The Casual Vacancy. 
It's really just that good of a book, but I'll post a full review when I finish later this week.
You know that feeling of pressure and guilt when you get a brand new book from the library and you just know someone else is waiting for you to finish it so that it can be their turn?  With 4 holds to get thru I had to put aside the book I own and start my library books.
So far they all look good.
I've got the 24 Hour Bookstore, I Hunt Killers, Among Others, and Drop Dead Healthy.

Book Mountain

Can I live here? There's plenty of space. Maybe in a few years you'll see this place on Extreme Homes when I turn it into my personal house.
Try out this website Travel Between the Pages. It combines my two favorite hobbies: travel and reading.

Lena Dunham Book Advance

Girls is an amazing show. I watched it religiously. Lena Dunham deserves all of her success.
I was very excited when I heard she had a book coming out and even more excited when I heard about her reported $3.5 million advance.
But...
Then I read this article on Book Riot.
And  I was like, damn, she's right.
That $3.5 million dollar advance will keep other authors from getting published since the money has been given to Ms. Dunham. There won't be room for their titles, or they will get low-ball advances.
I had never thought of it like that before. Money to one person comes out of the pocket of another.
It makes me depressed and frustrated.
Every time I think I want to go for it and submit things to publishers I read a story like this about how hard it can be to work with mainstream publishers if you don't have a platform in the form of an HBO show.
Good luck Lena. How ever your book sells (I willl def buy a copy) that money will already be in your bank account.

National Book Awards 2012

I thought I was a snooty reader, but apparently I'm not. I'm just one of those people who reads mainstream books that a lot of other people like.
I had no idea.
How I learned this was looking at the 2012 National Book Awards.
What a load of depressing junk. I mean I've heard of all these books. I get Publisher's Weekly.
I've read the synopsis of each and every one and politely said, "No thank you."
Who reads these books? Who's life is so boring that they would inflict these types of topics into their free time?
I thought maybe it was just this year's nominees, but nope. They are all that plain, boring and serious.

I don't read these types of books. There is no magic, not much imagination (I think), and no sex, drugs or rock-n-roll.
From now on I will not be impressed when I hear that a book won a National Book Award.
Even the children's book selections were bad. I don't know a single kid who has read those books. Those are books that adults write to win awards, not books that are written for kids.
Argh. It drives me crazy.
National Book Award my ass.

Casual Vacay

So I started The Casual Vacancy. I haven't gotten too far yet, but so far I like it. It's very British, which I love. Of course I'll read anything that comes from GB. I'm snobby like that. I prefer the old stuff, but new is good too. I'll devour some Ian McEwan. I loved Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.
I have read some early reviews of this book and they are not rave reviews. They are pretty tame.
It seems to be just a tale of a very small village and the social and political issues that come up when someone on the town council dies. I'm cool with that. I'm excited to finish it.

The only problem is time. Grad school is wrapping up soon for me, and the kids' school lives are in full swing, and my elem school is kicking my ass as well. I keep hoping that after Christmas I will have more time to keep up with all the new books. They always seem to come out faster than I can read them. And I still have all those classics on my shelves that need read too.

This book might take me all month to read. That is so frustrating. If it was a Harry Potter novel I would have probably finished it already by reading it on my lunch break, while sitting on the toilet, while making dinner, while my husband drives, while I'm watching TV, and while NOT doing my homework.

The Casual Vacancy will instead be relegated to my nightstand and that short 20 minutes it takes at night for my eyes to get heavy while watching Rick Steves.

On Writing Blogs

I've been doing a lot of research lately about blogging and what kind of blog I really want to write. I am not a serious person, nor do I have the time to peruse all the latest and greatest in education and book reviews.
 I am not here to educate, I am more here to entertain.
That is where I get confused.
If content is king do I HAVE to create content? Can I just spread links to other interesting content? Do I have to know exactly what I an talking about? I don't really want to.
I just want to write and hopefully make you smile.
I don't like blogs where people don't talk about themselves. I can find information myself, so I don't need anyone to just repost existing information.
I want to talk about books and point you to interesting things, but I don't want to be an expert, just a guide and an interpreter.
So keep coming here for tidbits of entertaining info. I will write all that I can to keep you coming back. Just stay with me.

Casual Vacancy and Winter of the World

When Oh when will I have the time? 

They are mocking me while sitting on the coffee table.

 I feel guilty watching the Amazing Race and Tuesday night on Fox.

I feel guilty reading anything else but these two.

Can't I just take a week off work and knock them out?

Main Street

Somewhere in the past few weeks I came across a list of books that should be read during an election year.
It was probably on BookRiot, one of my favorite new book blogs.
One on the list, that was on my to-be-read shelf was Main Street by Sinclair Lewis.
I had absolutely no idea what it was about when I picked it up.
A big city girl moves to the small town of Gopher Prairie after she weds the local doctor.
OMG it's awesome. It fits right into that category of book I love, the frustrated housewife. It's right up there with The Yellow Wallpaper and Madame Bovary, two of my favorite books.
While talking about how frustrated she is in her new life, Carol Kennicott touches on all the social problems of the day, problems that still resonate today.
Sometimes it's even more fun to read a book when you know nothing about the story, but you know it's going to be good.