Writing CRAP

So I've decided to pretend to be a writer.
I have decided that I am going to write a lot of really shitty stories.
It kind of takes the pressure off of having to write good stories when I know that all I have to do is write shitty ones.
Eventually, like any writer, those shitty stories will get better and better and might even turn into something that other people might want to read.
The mind is a very sophisticated entity, but it can be tricked rather easily.
The pressure to write something good keeps me from wanting to write anything at all, but if all I expect is crap then I feel free to write anything I want.
I have to start somewhere and tricking my brain seems like a great place to start. I am not getting any younger and I'm getting sick of making excuses for myself.

Tomorrow I meet Anne Rice and hopefully she will inspire me to go for it and just start writing crap and get it over with already.

Immortality

Immortality.
It's a huge subject and I'm starting to dive in.
I've read 10 books this month and will write about them all here, but not today.
I'm listening to a new found gem.
"Whisper of a Thrill" by the City of Prague Philharmonic from the movie Meet Joe Black.

If you have never seen Meet Joe Black, take this week to search it out and see it. Yes it is 3 hours long and very slow, but it is beautiful in so many different ways. It will be worth your time.

Naked in a Pile of Books

Can I just please please please have a job where I am required to read all day?
Can I have one of those jobs where I get stacks of books mailed to me?

I want packages of books delivered to my house each and every day. I want to rush to read them all. I want to categorize and catalog them. I want to smell the pages and see the beautiful cover art work. I want to know everything about every book that is published. I want to basically know everything that was ever written.

Is that too much?

Should I be a publisher? Is it possible to be a publisher or work for a publisher in Arizona?
It is possible to be a freelance librarian? Can I read books for Junior Library Guild? Horn Book? PW? Can I sell packages of librarian approved books? Should I be a bookseller? Can I just roll around naked in piles of books?

Am I obsessive? Of course. There is no denying that. I take medication daily for my obsessiveness.

Is there anything more healthy to be obsessed with than books? Well,  maybe health.

Can I sit in a big private library pouring over old books while listening to Handel's Messiah?

Can I wear my hair in a bun for the rest of my life, wear sensible shoes, and surround myself with cats in that dream library? Can I dress myself in long velvet gowns and sit in front of a raging fire in that library?

I've really got to get out of the house today.

NaNoWriMo 13

This month I have been on a reading frenzy. I'm up to 7 already with 2 more almost done.

1. Fallen - Lauren Kate
2. Ajax Penumbra 1969 - Robin Sloan
3. Maxed Out - Katrina Alcorn
4. Ripped - Shelly Dickson Carr
5. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
6. Carter Beats the Devil - Glen David Gold
7. The Riddle of the Labyrinth - Margalit Fox

and almost done with
8. The Wolves of Midwinter - Anne Rice
9. The Good Lord Bird - James McBride

All of them have been awesome in their own particular way but I'm thinking I may need to take a break from such exhaustive reading. I love to read obviously, but sometimes it just feels overwhelming to keep up with my TBR pile. The pressure is enormous especially when there are library due dates to deal with. My Kindle is full. My desk is full, and I have several issues of PW and the Horn Book yet to go thru. It's hard to keep up with all the good stuff I read about and that are recommended to me.

Next year I have my Dickens list I will work on, but maybe that will be all I will read.

If I could just keep a running list of books (that are not in my Amazon shopping cart) that I need to read as I come across them instead of buying and reserving at the library everything that I think I need to read I would have that ever so necessary time I need to write.

TBR right now.

1. The rest of John Green
2. The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
3. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown - Holly Black
4. Dust and Shadow - Lyndsay Faye
5. A Spark Unseen - Sharon Cameron
6. Book of Ages- The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin - Jill Lepore

That doesn't even account for all the other books I have on hold at the library.

November will have to be a sort of reading break.

That leads me to NaNoWriMo: the perfect November reading break.
I tried it once before and did pretty well. I didn't finish since the end of November is a flurry with school and family stuff. Then I got busy with school and haven't tried again. This year I'm thinking would be a great time to try again. No pressure, no planning, just a word count that I need to meet every day.
It sound like fun. It might be less exhausting that reading.
I have 10 days to decide.

All of Dickens

In the next year I intend to read all of Dickens.

I keep a rather large bound composition notebook where I write down all the books that I have read. I really only started this in earnest in January 2008. I read before then, but didn't write it down. If only I had kept librarian like records before 2008.

In looking through my list recently I noticed that I have read all of Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen and the Brontes, but what about Dickens?

Since 2008 I've only read two Dickens novels: A Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield.
Great books, yes, but there are so many more.
I've never read Great Expectations. I've started it so many times and never finished. The movie with Ethan Hawke and Gweneth Paltrow really had a huge impact on me and yet still I have not read the book.

It will be number one on my list starting in January.

January: Great Expectations

February: Our Mutual Friend

March: Bleak House

April: Little Dorrit

May: Oliver Twist

June: Nicholas Nickleby

July: Dombey and Son

August: The Pickwick Papers

September: Hard Times

October: The Old Curiosity Shop

November: The Mystery of Edwin Drood

December: TBD Biography of Dickens

It will be difficult, but I will do it. The hardest part will be waiting to read all the other great new books that are coming out in 2014. After I've finished the Dickens novel for the month I'll try and squeeze in something new before the new month starts.

Any one want to join me?

The Fault in Our Stars

 

 

I know I am extremely late to the game on this book, but I had to put in my two cents.

This is the most perfect book I have ever read!

I had been putting off reading this for so long. I didn't want to read a cancer kids book. I didn't want to cry. I didn't think it would be any good.

I jumped on the hype bandwagon with Wonder and I couldnt' finish it. It was written horribly. I couldn't get past the first two chapters.

I found the Fault in Our Stars last week on Amazon with a Kindle sale price of only $3.99.
I bought it. My new thing was to just read the most recently purchased book at the top of the screen and this was it on Saturday.
I read it in one afternoon.

It is hilarious, existential, philosophical, sad, romantic, and realistic. There were big words used that even I had to look up for definitions. It was so different from most YA books that I pick up. They are usually just a story written by someone with a good idea. This is a story written by an artist. The plot is perfect. The timing is perfect. The dialog is perfect. The romance is perfect. The man knows how to turn a phrase.

I almost never say this, but, I am going to reread it. I will make all of my children read it when they are old enough, starting with my 13 year old right now.

This is how you write a book. Anything less is just a sorry attempt.

I will need an actual physical copy of this book and if I ever encounter John Green I will have it signed and put it in a glass box for posterity.

Maxed Out by Katrina Alcorn

Maxed Out by Katrina Alcorn
(photo not loading today- mountain Internet issues)


I loved this book. I'll read anything that speaks to the plight of professional mothers, so I've read a lot of crap, but loved this.
What I found most helpful was the info in the back of the book on how to help and how to fight: MomsRising, Emily's List and ROWE.
I felt validated reading Alcorn's story. It is similar to a lot of working mothers as well as to my own story. I've opted out of the male dominated world of architecture to be an elementary school librarian and be there everyday for my three kids.
If you have suffered from guilt, panic attacks and overwhelming exhaustion you will relate to this story.
Others have claimed the book "whines" too much. Whining is often misinterpreted. I see it as a healthy ability to ask for what you need, a skill that a lot of women lack. No one can help you if you don't ask for help.
Overall a good read, entertaining and educational.

That is my official Amazon Review. I stole it and posted it here. I hope that's okay with Amazon. I didn't read the terms and conditions of my review contract. I'm sure there is one out there somewhere.

I'm always on the bandwagon for working mothers. The few reviews that I saw of this book on Amazon that call the writer a "whiner" make me so mad. I want to punch those reviewers in the face.

Working full time and raising a family is not a job that everyone can or wants to take on.
For me it is too much. I cannot work full time and be sane. I've tried it and I sacrificed my health and my family for the sake of a few dollars. Unfortunately that is choice some of us have to make. You cannot judge unless you have been in a situation where your mind and body are about to snap under the pressure. Personal accountability is not a factor and neither is whining. It's just different strokes for different folks.
When I see books like this written I know I am not alone. I know it is okay for me to be at home with my kids. I know it is okay to work part time even though I am an architect and have a masters degree in library science. Sometimes I feel guilty that I am not working up to my full potential, but then I realize that I am doing the absolute best that I can in the jobs that I can handle. I am not giving 20% to anything. I am finally able to give 100% to the things that I have committed to; my part time job at a library, my job with the family businesses, my children, my husband and my home. It is a very empowering feeling to be in control and to be able to choose those things carefully. I have weeded out all the things that I cannot handle. Sure I still have bad days. Who doesn't? But everything is under control.
I have extra time for me as well. I have time to read and time to write. I have time to take a quiet lunch at Chipolte once a week. I have time to roam the shelves at my local library. What more can a gal ask for?

Scholastic Book Fair Fall 2013

My BookFair gets delivered tomorrow!!!
It's my favorite time of year.
I've been hyping it up for weeks. I'm gonna unpack books tomorrow! And erasers and posters and pencils and pointers and BOOKS!

Can you tell I'm excited.
Not only do I get to sell books, but I also get to buy new books with our profit. It's a win-win situation. If you don't attend your child's book fair then shame on you.
Buy your children all the books they want, even if they are Lego books or Adventure Time books. Just buy them! What ever they read, let them read it. Let them take it home and sleep with it. Let them read it at the table and in the bath tub.
That's the great thing about actually buying books: You can get them dirty. You can write in them. You can fold back the corners on your favorite pages. Heck you can even cut pictures out and pin them on the wall if you want to. Go crazy.
JUST BUY SOME BOOKS ALREADY!

September Good Reads

I actually read 3 brand new books this month.

Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by Bill Dedman released Sept. 10.

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink also released Sept 10.

The Returned by Jason Mott released August 27.

I don't think I've read that many uber-current books in a while. Usually I'm a little slow to discover the good stuff.

Empty Mansions

I loved this. It had all the elements of a great read: history, wealth, big houses, and a recluse.
The book starts with a history of Huguette's father and then morphs into descriptions of the amazing houses he built. That is followed by a social history of Huguette and how she turns into an eccentric old lady living in a hospital for 20 years while commissioning doll-houses to be built for her around the world.
The first half is the best since it is mostly history, but the book starts to bog down once Huguette is living in a hospital and dies causing an investigation into the people closest to her and her last two wills. It gets a little boring.
What ticked me off the most with this book that I loved was that it ended too soon. I was reading it on my Kindle, which means reading it blindly, with no idea how long a chapter would last or where the book would end. I got to 65% and that was it. I was expecting 35% more and all there was left was notes and bibliography. That is frustrating.

Five Days at Memorial

I loved this one too. It was a page turner. I felt guilty because I have not read much about Katrina and her aftermath. I am so far removed here in  Arizona, that it just wasn't on my radar. (I do not watch news). I picked this up to educate myself and I was not disappointed. Sheri Fink does a really great job of not taking sides on this hot-button topic of euthanasia. She presented the facts as she had investigated them and then followed the court rulings in the aftermath.
Of course the first half of the book was riveting. It gave an hour by hour and day by day account of what happened in the hospital. I couldn't stop reading. It was fascinating the way things disintegrated so quickly and the way that no one seemed to be in charge anywhere. I learned so much.
The second half of the book focuses on the legal case that was brought against one of the doctors and two nurses accused of hurrying along death for a few patients. I really didn't know which side to cheer for. Both sides had a real point. I have since been thinking  a lot about the choices that are made in extreme situations. Can one be help accountable for them? When is the end of life? That is always the sign of a good book if you are still thinking about it after you have put it down.

The Returned

I read a good review of this and put it on my library list. The premise is awesome. People that have been long dead are suddenly returned to the earth. I was totally on board. The story is told from a very emotional perspective with relationships examined and questions that are asked.
The whole time I was reading it I was waiting for that Stephen King moment, but it never came. There is nothing creepy or weird or supernatural about this story, but I wish there was. I want Stephen King to read the Stephen King version.
This was interesting, but not grabbing and memorable.
It will be turned into a TV series next year. Maybe the producers will be able to take an awesome idea and give it a little kick to spice things up a bit. It certainly needs it.

Oyster Review

So I've been trying to use Oyster for the past week to get a handle on this new app.

At first I was really excited. The books looked good, the app worked well. I was really impressed with the notes on the bottom of the screen that told me the number of pages (iphone pages) left until the next chapter. Often times with ebooks it's hard to know how much further to read. Where is the next chapter? Do I have to go all the way back to the table of contents to find out? With Oyster that is no longer a problem.
The up-swipe is different from other e-readers, but is easy to get used to.

What I realized that may not make me a constant user is that all of the books that are available on Oyster are also easily available at my local library. They are not new releases. The library won't have long hold lists any more that you would have to wait on to check out the book. It just seems like I will be paying $10/month for books that I won't own and can get at my library.

As a librarian I am of course an advocate for libraries and Oyster seems like a competitor, but only if I needed to pay to get library books.

Last week all the National Book Awards finalists were announced. I immediately looked up the synopsis of all the books and then put holds at my library on all the ones that looked like good reads to me. Friday morning I went and picked up about 8 books. It was free and they are fabulous books that are not available on Oyster.

The other problem I had was trying to squeeze in my Oyster reading between my Kindle reading and my library book reading. It was hard. Maybe that's because I have such a large to-be-read-pile, but still it felt like pressure to get my $10.00 worth for the month. There are so many reading apps and ways to read, that forcing my self to have to read on my iphone, felt just that, forced. Forced reading sucks. Just ask any middle schooler. If I own the book or if I borrowed it from the library I feel a pressure to read it, but not a monetary pressure.

I'll give it the month to see if I can't live without it, but I don't think I'll keep the app so far. I'll keep updated on which publishers are going to participate and then revisit my decision again later.

An Otis Christmas and PW

An Otis Christmas by Loren Long

I am an avid reader of Publisher's Weekly. I am always excited when one of my favorite books/series is reviewed. But then I am often times disappointed when the reviewer is not a fan like I am.

The Otis series of books are fantastic. They are a huge hit, not just in my house, but with my all my little people at school. I know I've got a group of kids hooked when I read Otis and the Tornado. You could give me the rowdiest, sugared up, just had PE group of 5 and 6 year olds and I will have them riveted with that book. They love it! A tornado? Animals in danger? They are totally on board.

I've been pumping up the Scholastic Book Fair for the past few weeks and pumping up the release of the newest Otis book, An Otis Christmas, which will be released on Oct. 22. So with all this hype and love for Otis at my school I was very disappointed to see the following review in PW.

"Otis the tractor returns in a grim holiday story with odd allusions to the Nativity Story."

Ouch! That hurts. I'll have to read it my self first to decide how "grim" the story is and to interpret for myself the "odd allusions" to the Nativity Story.
I understand the pressure that series authors are under to produce a holiday story, but do we have to end up with something crappy just to sell an extra book for the holidays? I've seen it happen with other beloved characters. Just look what has happened to Pinkalicious.
I'm still holding out hope that this will be a decent story and that I will be able to proudly read it to my kids in December and have them love it just like all the other Otis books.

Oyster Invite

I got my Oyster invitation.
As soon as I heard about it I put in my request for an invitation. I even entered a contest on Book Riot to win an invitation, but the powers that be determined that I needed more books and my invitation arrived today.
Needless to say I have now fully signed up and given over my credit card information for the monthly charge.
I haven't explored too much yet but I am impressed with the selection. There are not new releases, but that is okay. Who has time to keep up with all the new releases? There is a great selection of books that are at least 2 years old. You know, the ones you wanted to read, but missed when they were new.
So far I have chosen:

Detroit by Scott Martelle
The Crimson and the Petal by Michel Faber
America's Women by Gail Collins
To Marry an English Lord by Gail Maccoll
Serena by Ron Rash

As if my to-be-read pile isn't large enough, now my virtual pile is big too.

Currently I'm reading Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky.
Next is Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink
And if I like it Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold, a recommendation from Wil Wheaton's FB posts.

My new favorite library related quote:

You can't read all day... if you don't start in the morning.

Sister Carrie

In my attempt to read almost all of the classic books ever written, I have now finished Sister Carrie.
It's the story of Carrie a girl from a small town who moves to the big city of Chicago to try and start her life. She lives with her sister for a while before finding a handsome and affluent young man to take care of her. That man leads to another man, who takes her to New York where she gets work as an actress. There are ups and downs, scandals and poverty.
It was a little slow to start and I had to force myself to keep going. (I've had that problem a lot lately with books in general) After about 50% it started to pick up and I was interested in Carrie and what happened to her. It was a good read. It kind of had a Madame Bovary feel to it since it involved a woman and her scandal and issues with money. I can't say I"m a big fan of Drieser's writing. It wasn't enough. Enough of what I couldn't tell you, but I felt it lacked something for me. I think I needed more insights into Carrie's feelings internally instead of externally and I didnt' like the men in her life. There didn't seem to be much romance involved. He's no Jane Austen.

The next classic novel I'm attempting will be Silas Marner by George Eliot. I saw this on a list over at BookRiot showing the differences in books read by highschoolers. This used to be an important book in highschool English classes at the turn of the century. I figure I will suffer thru it as a 21st century adult.

I Wrote Something

I did. I really did!

It's a cute little children's story and it's perfect. I've read it out loud to test it for story time worthiness and it's good. My kids at school would like it. It's got love and hate and booger and fart jokes.
Now I just need to send it to some adults to read for a final evaluation.
If you are an adult and I know you and you like books, have several children, you write and or read a lot, you might just be in my group of first reviewers.
I'm excited.
I'm proud of my story.
I want to share it and I might need a little help.
I'm researching publishers right now to see who I want to send it to. Scholastic for sure because they are my peeps, but I need a few more to round out the options.
After doing some research I've learned that one-off children's stories are not agent worthy and that the best bet is to send it into publisher slush piles and hope for the best. I'm going to do that and keep my fingers crossed that somebody picks it up and reads it and likes it and sees the potential.
It's a step in the right direction.
This is what I'm supposed to be using my extra two days off a week for: writing and moving forward with what I want out of life.
I want to tell great stories. I want to make kids laugh and let them know that stories can make you feel better.

The Fountainhead

I finished it!
It took a whole month, but I finished it.
It was horrible. I didn't like it at all and I think it was stressing me out.
I liked Atlas Shrugged. The story was there and I believed it and I liked it.

Here I just didn't get it. I didn't understand why Roark and Dominique couldn't just be together. Why did they have to make it so difficult for themselves and everyone else? They both had to be ruined in order for them to be together? Whatever with that.

I get the selfishness thing. I understood Ayn Rand's point on that. It was the same thing in Atlas Shrugged, but here I felt like I was being beat over the head with it with long monologues and repetition. I also got the message about how the media manipulates information. What I learned is that this in not unique to my lifetime or with the Internet. Apparently it's been around for a while. That was the one redeeming idea I got from the book.

As it says on the book cover, "It's a novel of ideas". Yes, it is, but it's not a novel with a good story.

I always thought I had to read this book because I was an architect and it was important to my understanding of the profession. It's not. Being an architect really didn't add anything to my understanding of either this book or the architecture profession.

Am I glad I read it? Yes. It's one of those classic books I feel that I need to have knowledge of. Will I recommend it to others? Probably not unless, like me, they are just trying to add notches to their bed posts.

Writing instead of reading?

Even though this blog is titled reading AND writing at 7000 ft, I rarely if ever actually write. I am tortured daily by this lack of writing. I know I should be writing and I don't.
Frankly, I'm scared to.
It is a constant source of anxiety for me. And I am already overly anxious to begin with.
Ideas and stories come to me constantly. I write them down. I don't write them. I read a horrible novel and I am shamed by the fact that that author could do it and I can't.
I can't sit down and see what comes out of my fingers. I can do these few paragraphs, but nothing more. After writing this the guilt and anxiety will fade for a little while, but the next morning it will be there and then it becomes a circle of anxiety that I can't get out of.
I know I feel better when I write. I've done it in the past and been very satisfied with what I've written, but I can't put it out there to be read.
This is out there, but I dont' tell anyone about it and then I get upset when there are only 3 page views in a week and I feel like what is the point of writing if no one is out there to read it.
I can't have it both ways. I either want an audience or I don't.
I am trying so hard to break out of this circle. I want an audience. I want people to see what I write. I want people to read my stuff and feel something, even if it is hate and malice for my failed attempt at writing.
I've read all the writing books and advice columns that say in order to get over your fear of writing all you have to do is sit down and write, but there is nothing scarier.
And then after it's written... then what? Where should it go? Who should read it? Is it publishable?
It is just too overwhelming for me to even think about.
I'm safe here in my little unknown blog. There is no judgement and there are no readers.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The Ocean at the End of the Lane
By Neil Gaiman

The dang photo wouldn't load.

I've been reading a lot of Neil Gaiman. I love fantasy and fairy tales I have been trying desperately to fall in love with Gaiman's writing.

I just can't do it.

The stories are good, more or less. They are very imaginitve and eerie. I just don't feel totally immersed in his worlds. That is why I can't feel much love for his books. I think after reading 3 in the last couple of months I can accurately say that I am not a Neil Gaiman fan. I really wanted to be, but he just doesn't float my boat in the creepy fantasy genre.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane has some interesting ideas. I love the idea of an ageless family of women living at the end of the lane. They have some sort of mystical power but we are not sure quite what. The suicide in the first chapters sets up a very creepy opening. I wanted to know more and I kept turning pages. What shut me down was the worm creature that came back with the narrartor from his first adventure with the Hempstock girl. I love magical realism and the worm made it hard to believe.
A number of other people seem to love this book, so maybe it's just me and my silly rules and expectations for magical realism.

Overall it's worth the read if you want to stay in the know. Get it from the library. It's only 190 pages and I usually have to have over 300 in order to justify buying a book.

The Never List

The Never List by Koethi Zan

Overall a most amazing read. Sarah has been out of captivity for 10 years when she learns her captor may be released on parole. She decides she must find the body of her friend and fellow captive, Jennifer, in order to keep the evil man behind bars.

At first I thougth this was going to be too scary for me. I mean look at the cover. But it turned out to be perfectly readable even at night time before bed. I read it in one day. It was really good. What made it such a page turner were all the plot twists and turns and just the general subject matter.

Yes it was very unbelievable. Yes there were numerous plot holes. I even had some character issues. I couldn't for the life of me figure out who two characters were who kept popping up. I went back to look for their introduction into the story and couldn't find it. When in doubt, please remind readers who they are dealing with. I'm really suprised an editor didn't red flag that little issue.

But in general I would reccommend this just for the thrill factor. I had to tell my husband to shush while I read the last 20 pages. He hates it when I do that, but it is an indicator of a good book.

Don't buy it, but do grab a copy from the library. It's worth the day it will take you to read it.

Vacation Update

I am finally back from a very long vacation and a long back-to-school-week. I have really been slacking off in my reading. In July I read 12! books.
This month I'm only up to 3 and 2 of those I read yesterday.

August Books

Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Austenland by Shannon Hale

In addition to those completed titles I am also still working on The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand and Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser.

I'll discuss my newly finished books later this week. I am still catching up and just wanted to check in. I will say that during my travels I recommended and discussed Orange in the New Black several times. It was just that good.

Tampa by Alissa Nutting

Let me just start this off by saying that I  did not read this whole book. I read the first and the last chapters and was able to save myself some time by skipping the middle. I don't usually write about all the books that I start and don't finish here, but this one needed to be spoken about. This, like all my other posts, is not a book review. It's just me, talking to you, about a book that I read.

Obviously I didn't like the first chapter or I would have read more. I knew that the story was  controversial. I'm cool with that, but I was looking for a good story, not a listing of the ways this woman can get off in her middle school classroom. If there had been a good story with a good hook I would have been on board. If this had been a love story I would have been on board. If this had been a convincing profile of a psychopathic woman I would have been on board. This book is none of those stories.

It's the story of a 26 year old woman who starts her first year of teaching with the express purpose of getting it on with a 14 year old boy.

I'm not a prude. I like sexy books. I even liked 50 Shades of Gray since it had a great story regardless of the writing. But this book was not sexy it was just plain too much. I don't know if it's because I work in a public school or if it's the fact that I don't understand how anyone could be attracted to 14 year old boys except 14 year old girls. Even when I was 14 I wasn't attracted to 14 year olds. When you are an 8th or 9th grade girl you are always crushing on the 16 and 17 year old boys.

I just found it weird, and unbelievable, in a bad way. I like unbelievable, but make it believable or the story will be no good. This was no good.

I love writing and I love writers. It's a hard job. I feel for Alissa Nutting. It sucks to get bad press especially after everyone has tried so hard to pump up and talk about her book. I hope I'm wrong about this book. Maybe all the middle parts are redeeming... but I doubt it.

Orange is the New Black

I remember getting this book from the library when it first came out. It sounded interesting even though it was a hipster's account of jail. I didn't end up reading it then for what ever reason, but when I heard it was made into a Netflix series I found myself interested again.

We recently finished watching all 4 seasons of Arrested Development (including Netflix's not- so original series) and couldnt' find another new show that was as funny and entertaining until I stumbled upon this. I think I read about it in Entertainment Weekly and it jogged my memory so we started watching it.

We've only been through the first 4 episodes, but so far I love it. It's a little heavy on the lesbianism for me, but it is a women's prison after all, so I deal with it as best I can. The story is awesome. Piper is weird and so are all the other women in the prison. What I love about it are the stories that are told about why the different women are in prison. Their stories are shown through flashbacks as a way to explain their behavior in prison. Laura Prepon is amazing as Piper's ex-girlfriend and Natasha Lyonne is always a spicy quirky ingredient.

The show is an odd duck. I wouldn't call it a comedy or a drama. It's more like pure entertainment in a fish out of water kind of story. My husband isn't as big a fan as I am, but he couldnt' tell me why. I think there just isn't enough action or violence in it. He keeps looking for similarities between this and WEEDS since it is produced by Jenji Kohan as well. The only similarity that I can see it that they both tell the story of a strong women in a strange situation.

I highly recommend it. On Netflix streaming only.

PW 2013 Fall Children's Books

It's here! It's here!

I just started it last night. This issue will take a little time. It's one of my favorite issues becuase I actually create buying lists from this issue. I circle, cross out and star selections and put it in my desk for the day when I get my budget numbers from the school district in November.

So far I'm still in the articles. I loved the one about what indie booksellers do to stock their stores with kids and YA books. It made me think, " How do I become a children's book buyer?" Can I honestly be paid for that? I mean I get paid for it by the school district to buy books for the library, but I also have to read to 600 children a week too, and all for the awesome salary of $12/hour. I bet if I worked for a  book store I would get paid more than that and wouldn't have to apply bandaids and clean up bloody noses.

Oh, this magazine always make me think and drool.

5th Grade Reading List

I've got my son's reading list for 5th grade this fall.

I am not impressed.

Chocolate Touch
Chocolate Fever
Milton Hershey
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Witches
The Castle in the Attic
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
George Washington's Socks
Maniac Magee
Tangerine
BFG
The Cay
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM

I mean the choices are okay. They are all classics. A little bit of Roald Dahl never hurt anyone.
I think I was just expecting to see something more challenging. All the books seem more like 3rd or 4th grade reading level.

If I was going to choose:

Wonderstruck
Titanic: Voices from the Disaster
Tuck Everlasting
The Graveyard Book
Holes
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Hatchet
Walk Two Moons
Flipped
The Wright 3

It seems to me that the teachers are using the same books they used when they started out teaching. There is nothing new in that list. The newest book is Tangerine which was published in 1997. I know there have been a lot of great books written since then but why aren't teachers using them? Are they afraid to read new books? Are school districts afraid to approve something newer? I don't get it. If the idea is to get kids interested in books then lets give them books that make them think and that challenge them. Lets also give them books that were written in their lifetimes. Diary of a Wimpy Kid is great, but it's not a class lit set read.

It's frustrating for me both as a parent and as a librarian. Not every child has the benefit of a librarian mother to curate book choices for them. They rely on their teachers, but most teachers don't have time to read, or just plain don't make time to read. How can they teach a child to love reading if they don't themselves? My child's 5th grade reading list just shows a lack of effort on the part of the teachers and school district. I am sorely disappointed.

This is What Happy Looks Like

A 17 year old movie star accidently emails a girl in rural Maine and then likes her so much he moves his movie shoot to her town and surprises her. She has no idea he's a movie star and has to avoid him due to the paparazzi and her secret past scandal involving a rising politician.
To sum it up this book was super cute. It was well written and entertaining and I wasn't rolling my eyes at the way that teens speak to each other. I would highly recommend it as an easy cute summer read. I have to warn you though that the ending is a little bit disappointing. I love neatly tied up happy endings and this is not quite as neat as I would like. It's decent, but not perfect. I know she ended it like that on purpose because life does not always turn out neatly, but this is fiction and I like my happy endings.

I finished this yesterday morning and I am now knee deep in Celine by Brock Cole. Holy Crap is he an amazing writer. He writes like Diablo Cody in Juno. It's smart and sassy and witty and totally believable for smart aleck teen dialog. I can't tell where it's going yet, but I'm excited for the journey.

In throw back news I am also reading The Monk A Romance by Matthew Lewis. It was published in 1796. It is amazing. There is so much sex and scandal in this book it's a wonder it's not written by Jackie Collins. I love it. It has ghosts and gothic elements and monks being led astray and it  is also about true love. Is there anything better to write a story about? I think not. I can't wait to finish it.

Philippa Gregory and Women in History

I recently read The White Queen by Philippa Gregory. It was not my first foray into historical women's fiction. I can't seem to get enough of it recently. I chose The White Queen because it tells the tale of Elizabeth Woodville, the mother of the two boys who were supposedly murdered and killed in the Tower of London. It is one of the greatest historical mysteries. But I'm not wriitng here today to discuss this book.

I was at the library perusuing my favorite section, (942) English History, and I came across The Women of the Cousins War, by Philippa Gregory. She has a series of historical fiction that documents this 'Cousins War' and this is the non-fiction companion to those books. She gives great biographies of the three women who were instrumental in the War of the Roses.

Now even if you are not the least bit interested in this portion of English history, this book is worth picking up just to read her essays on Women in History and Women Excluded from History. It gave me goosebumps. She describes how women in history, if they are shown at all, are either portrayed as Eve the temptress or as Mary, mother of God. The examples are eye opening. She then goes on to give reasons as to why women were excluded from the historical record and how finally in the 20th and 21st centuries history is finally including women.

What I found so fascinating is that nowadays in order for a women to be included in history she usually has to do something that has never been done by a woman before; rule a country, travel in space, start a Fortune 500 Company. These are all very distinct jobs and trades.
In history if we know of women it is because they were the mothers, sisters, or wives of someone historical. They in essence could make history by doing what women traditioanlly do; get married and have children. No one is legendary anymore because of those things (unless of course you are a Kardashian).

What Philippa Gregory is trying to say is that these women, although hidden from history, made huge impacts in politics and history in general just by being wives and mothers. They looked out for their families by conniving and plotting. They took care of all the things behind the scenes. They educated thier children themselves and then looked out for the best education ouside of their homes. This is what made them great and gave them a lasting imprint on society.

What frustrates me is that women now, as then, are still looked down upon for taking care of their families. I am an educated woman. I am actually an engineer as well as a librarian. I worked for
years as an architect and even ran my own architectural firm. What I couldn't do was be a professional and take care of my home and my family in a way that was balanced and successful.

I am all about women's rights and I would say I am a feminist. I think women can do anything men can do, and usually better and with more compassion than men, but I'll be damned if I think it is possible to work professionally AND have a family. Something or someone suffers if you try to do both.

In the past a women was lauded just for taking great care of her family. Now you cannot get that unless you also work 40 hours a week in a profession. Since the doors have been opened to women, we are all expected to not only have a family, but also to work. You are looked down upon if you just stay home with your kids, and looked down upon even more if you stay home with your kids and don't have a college degree.

With all my expensive education (I made the first $450 payment on my Master's Degree yesterday. 119 more payments to go) I still work only part-time for $12/hour. It is my choice, yes, but it is not an adequate use or compensation of my talents. I have 3 children, 2 family businesses, 2 blogs, and a voracious reading appetite. Working full time is just not in the cards for me.

What reading those essays did for me is make me realize that even though I am a smart intelligent woman with degrees up the wazoo, I can make a difference just by being there for my children everyday and making sure that they make the right life choices. If I look out for my family's interests both in the business world and personally then I am doing things right. I don't have to walk on the moon, or write a best selling novel. History will change just because I am here and I am taking care of my family.

Thug Notes

Ohhhhh a double post today. I'm on a roll. Hopefully a ciabata roll.

Yo check this shit out.

THUG NOTES

I found this on BookRiot earlier today and I have been trying to pimp it out everwhere.

Thug Notes is ganster style Cliff Notes for classic literature. The site was just launched in May and it needs a little bit more support to go main stream.

The above link is to the website and from there you can go to YouTube and FaceBook for links and more information.

Watch the videos and laugh your ass off.

Then take a reluctant reader and have them watch a video and then put the actual book in their hands and see what happens.

I am down with whatever it takes to get people to read.

Inferno by Dan Brown

Yes if course I read it.
 I even pre-ordered it. It arrived the Tuesday before I left on my European vacation. I took it with me and carted it all over England and Paris and I didn't crack it open once. Some vacations are not made for reading.

I picked it up after I got back and read the whole thing in about 3 days. It's a Dan Brown novel. Even if it isn't the best story it does have great pacing and action making it a page turner.

I liked this one, but it's still no Da Vinci Code. This one investigates Dante's Inferno and how a madman has hidden clues over the city relating to the book and his horrible plague he is planning on realeasing into the public. It did seem a little bit forced. If he really is a madman why would he advertise what he is going to do and make everyone run around on a treasure hunt? It just seemed a little far fetched. Other than that it was very educational. I learned a lot about Italy and about Dante and art. We expect that from a Dan Brown novel and this one didn't disappoint on the educational front. The chases and close calls were very Jerry Bruckheimer and redundant.

What I loved most about this story was the end when the plague is actually released. (Sorry for the spoiler) The place that was chosen was perfect and it really made me think and want to visit the real location. What really blew my mind was the type of plague that was released. I never would have guessed and then that is what stuck with me after I had read the book. The aftermath of the plague would be way more fascinating than this book was. It needs a 900 page book along the lines of The Stand or The Passage.

So if the criteria of a good book is one that makes you think, than this is a winner. It was worth the reading of all the boring chase scenes to get to the juicy science fiction stuff at the end.

Down the Great Unknown

I live about 70 miles south of the Grand Canyon. It is a part of our lives. My kids take field trips up there every year. We all give directions to lost tourists on how to get to the Canyon. There are river runners among us, and guides and tourists and preservationists, and geologists. The Grand Canyon may as well be a part of Flagstaff, it's that intertwined with our daily lives.

Sure I've been there. It's cool the first time you go, but the more visits and the more relatives you schlep up there the more the place just starts to look like just a big hole. You go up there, you look over the edge, you drive home.

The last time I was up there in February I bought a couple of books that looked interesting. I figured if I am going to live so close to this natural wonder I should know something about it. I got this book shown above, Down the Great Unknown by Edward Dolnick and also the Penguin edition of John Wesley Powell's own biographical description of his trip. I tried the first hand account, but it was not for me. There was little set up and context to the journey and it was, as I learned later, a very one-sided somewhat fanciful account of the trip that Powell had not in fact written during the expedition, but written several years later from his memory. His journal at the time of the trip consisted mainly of one sentence summaries of the mileage for the day and the number of rapids crossed.

Edward Dolnick's summary of the expedition was more comprehensive. It took information and stories from the journals of 3 men on the trip, not just Powell's. It gave background history on white water rafting, debating the way the 10 men actually went down the entire river in boats that were not made for the task. There was lots of history and context but there was also danger and literal cliffhangers to liven up the dry history.
I loved the book and I wasn't expecting to at all. I needed to know more about the place where I live and I thought this would be a great source. What I got was a greater appreciation for the great big hole that I live near. It's scary. We all know that. I see the articles in the newspaper every week. People die up there all the time. It's almost boring to hear that another person died at the canyon. My dad's cousin even fell in in the 90's and died. It's a big hole, but it's also a force of nature to be reckoned with.
This book gave me some insight on why a man, Powell, or any man in fact would want  to try and explore the biggest hole in the earth.

I highly recommend this book. It's fascinating. It teaches the history of the old west, and the history of the Grand Canyon in a way that is very accessible and understandable. History really does come alive in this book.

Perhaps the coolest thing about this book is that it made me want to explore. Yesterday I took the whole family up to put our feet in the mighty Colorado River and see a part of  John Wesley Powell's journey ourselves. It made the book come full circle for me. I am truly enlightened.

See here for the details of my trip to Lee's Ferry and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

The 4th in Flagstaff

Photo Courtesy of AZ Daily Sun

 

 

Tomorrow is  my very favorite holiday. There are no presents involved, no familial obligations and no religious overtones. It's all about community and BBQ.

 

I love my town. We've almost lived here for 10 years in November and it is an awesome town for the 4th of July. The parade is huge. The whole community comes out and a lot of Phoenix people come up for the ability to sit outside for more than 10 minutes. Everybody who is anybody has a float in the parade. The entire town walks by in 2 hours. I love, love, love it. It's all about getting the best spot on the parade route and then waving to all the folks you know while dressed in your very best red, white, and blue. I live for this day.

 

Tomorrow my daughter will get to walk in the parade for the very first time with her gymnastics class. She is over the moon about it. Photos soon to follow. We'll probably pick up some donuts in the am and then hang out until the parade starts at 9:00 and then cheer everyone on as they walk the parade route. Ohh I'm getting goosebumps already.

 

 

Afterwards we will be heading to a light lunch and then a showing of The Lone Ranger with the whole family. Then we head to my parents house for an afternoon BBQ.

 

Finally we'll top the day off with some illegal fireworks smuggled in from last summer in Nebraska (don't worry they are only sparklers, we don't want to spark the forest on fire), followed by beer and champagne on the back porch.

 

That is some good all American livin. I love being an American. You can have all your politics and internation issues, but to me I celebrate America by simply celebrating community, parades, BBQ and beer.

 

Book Collectorz

So I re-bought and updated my book Collectorz software. I've used this stuff before to try and catalog my vast collection of books, but I just couldn't get my stuff together to do all the books.

Here's why: I didn't have a scanner or for that fact a reliable laptop.

I've had my MacBook for a couple of years now and don't think I could ever live without it. I also have a big HP desktop for all my business stuff, but for personal perusal of the interwebs the Mac is the bees knees. I can write anywhere and now I can catalog anywhere.

I bought some cheap $30 scanner from Amazon. The Collectors software doesn't officially recognize he scanner, but it works perfectly. I can single scan, or batch scan, but when batch searching there will be some titles that Collectorz does not recognize and then you have to stop and figure out book has a wack barcode. It's more  tedious to single scan, but more accurate.

So far I've only done about 250 titles in my office and those are just the loose ones not on shelves in my "ToBeRead" pile. I'm anxious to get it all done, but it is a lot of work. After I've scanned them in I have to go back and catagorize the books by genre. The software will select the subjects, but you have to choose the genre. It's actually more fun that way. I can split all my books into just 3 genres or 30 and it will still keep the subject headings regardless of what genre I choose.

 It will definitley take a while to get everything just as a want it, but hopefully this will keep me from buying books multiple times. It seems whenever I'm looking for a classic book I run out and buy a copy and then find I already have 2 copies in various parts of the house. It's a summer long project and I only have a couple of more weeks to go.

I'll spend a little bit more time exploring Book Collectorz and the ins-and-outs of the software and really get a great listing of my entire library. Ohhh it just gives me goosebumps to think about it... lists and lists of perfectly catagorized books that I already own! Oh the joys of being a librarian.

Here is the link to Book Collectorz .

July 1 2013 Aquisitions

Toady I took a little me time to visit the local used bookstore, Bookmans. I needed a break from the kids and the household chores (today I washed all the couch coushins) and the bookstore seemed like the perfect escape.
Whenever my Amazon cart gets a little too full I check out the library, of course, but then also Bookmans. I don't like the pressure of library books sometimes. I would rather keep the book forever and read at my leisure.

The Bonfire of the Vanities - Tom Wolfe  (1987)
I'm hoping this is the ultimate 80's period book. I want to be immersed in the excess that I missed out on since I was only a kid.

Harvard Yard - William Martin  (2003)
This was an impulse buy. I love Boston and this book promises to combine history, architecture, and libraries in the search for a lost Shakesperean play.

The Golden Notebook - Doris Lessing  (1962)
I recently read that this was one of the 100 best novels of all time and I had never heard of it, so of course it went into my Amazon cart. It seems like something I might like, combining something vaguely about women and mental illness. I could be wrong, but I'll have to read it to find out.

I was disappointed to find that there were no copies of American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis or Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne.

I headed over to the history section and picked up some awesome biographies. My recent trip to England has me reading up on English history, so:

The Wives of Henry VIII   by Antonia Fraser
The Life of Elizabeth I   by Alison Weir
Queen Victoria   by Christopher Hibbert

Will I have tiem to read these this summer? Probably not. I've got about 14 books ahead of these that are in my MUST read pile.

Theodore Boone: The Activist

This is the 4th in the series of Theodore Boone and I've read every one. Theo is a cool kid who gets involved in almost everything in his town. Every big event in town seems to involve Theo or his parents law firm is some way. In this story Theo gets involved in a real estate development situation that will take one of his best friend's family farm to build a bypass around their town. His parents want him to stay out of politics, but Theo wants to fight for what he feels is right. Overall Theo's a good kid, but he snoops and has squirrely was of finding out information that he needs that will help save a friend or advance his cause. There are a lot of moral issues involved, which makes these books great for kids. It helps them distinguish right from wrong and how to act in extraordinary circumstances. Sometimes they can seem a bit dry before all the bits of the story come together, but it's worth it in the end to stick with it.
They seem a bit much for most of my 5th graders. I have the first two in the series  at the library and they rarely get checked out even though I recommend them heavily. When I mention the word 'lawyer' kids seem to stop being interested. It could be they are just too young for the series yet. If I could just get one kid to finish one book in the series I think word of mouth will take over and make these popular some day. I just need to find the right kid.
All the books in the series have issues that are serious, but still understandable and age appropriate for kids. I think they will make kids think about issues that they might not be aware of. I will keep reading them as long as John Grisham keeps writing them.

Divergent and Insurgent

I'll read pretty much anything that seems like it might be turned into a movie. I think I bougth Divergent becasue it was only $4.99 for my Kindle and I thought, Hey, What the heck. It's cheap. I'll try it. The story is a good idea, but the writing is not fabulous. It's another post apocolyptic world teenager story. I know you've read one before. This started out good. I had no problem reading Divergent. It's once you get to Insurgent that things get funky. There are just too many characters and too many people fighting against too many people who seem to be constantly switching sides, dying and getting shot, only to not in fact be dead or to be saved at the last minute. I just didn't buy it in the second book. It's action packed and kids will probably love it, but it was lacking a lot of things for me to really get on the bandwagon. Scenes changed instantaneously and I was left lost many times. It just got too muddled and too repetitive and I was losing interest by the end.

 

As with many trilogies, after I read the second one I rarely want to read the third. I had this problem with Fifty Shades and the Hunger Games. The first was great enough to hook me and the second was horrible enough to disappoint me. Movies are often the same way. So, I will probably not be reading Allegiant when it comes out in October.

These books are my treadmill read. They are usually easy to read and follow along, and don't take too much concentration. The treadmill is where I read all of my YA books. For an easy beach read to keep up with what the kids are reading I would recommend Divergent, but then let it go. Move on to another book and save yourself the time. Nothing interesting happends in Insurgent, but reading Divergent will give you just enough background information to recommend the series to possible readers and will allow you to go see the movie version and still be able to claim that, "The book was so much better."

2013 ALA Conference

I'm missing it this year.

Last year it was in the OC which is close by and cheap for me to attend. Next year it will be in Las Vegas, another close cheap location. Chicago, though is hard for me to get to.

Last year I only had a couple of hours. My husband dropped me off and took the kids somewhere fun while I ran around the convention floor like a kid in a candy store. I filled bags and bags full of books, catalogs, and posters for my library. I had thought I would do anything to get to the 2013 conference since I had such an amazing time at the 2012 conference.

I registered myself with the free DEMCO pass, shopped flights for the past 3 months and even looked up flights today ($700), and I just couldn't get there. It was going to cost around $1500 and just don't have the cash right now. Plus there is the fact that I will be leaving in a few weeks to drive out to Illinois for some personal stuff at the end of July. I just couldn't  go.

I am devastated. I want to see all the authors. I want to get all the free galleys. I want to collect all the posters for the new books and the new series releases. I want free book marks, and free books to try out  in my library. It makes me drool just thinking of all that swag I will be missing out on.

I feel like I am less of a librarian for not attending.

Next year in Vegas I'm going to take that place by storm. I'll be at all the author events, get all the signed books, see all the awards ceremonies. Planning the next one is the only thing that is getting me through missing this one.

Catching Up

I've been reading a lot lately, but posting very little.

The Stand - Holy Crap I read the 1400 page version.

Around the World in 80 Days - My first foray into Jules Verne.

Napoleon's Pyramids - William Deitrich - Indiana Jones in the time of Napoleon.

Divergent - Veronica Roth - Another dystopian YA book.

I'm busy. I'm reading but feeling guilty for not writing. I will not feel complete until I write something, but there are so any good things to read it's hard to pull myself away long enough to sit and write. I'd rather be reading.

I'm still making my way through thick books on Paris and French history. This week I'm finishing up Eiffel's Tower: and the World's Fair Where Buffalo Bill Beguiled Paris, the Artists Quarreled and Thomas Edison Became A Count. It's Belle Epoque Paris mixed with Wild Bill Cody and Thomas Edison.

Four more weeks until my European Adventure. I think I will read Sense and Sensibility while I'm in Bath and absolutely nothing while I'm in Paris. I'll be too busy shopping for books to read at all.

Libraries Obsolete? Maybe

This was an awesome post on Book Riot today.

When Authors Attack Libraries:

As a librarian I am supposed to support libraries in every way... BUT this man makes a point.

Yes, the whole point of the Book Riot post was to make fun of the guy arguing against libraries, but still he does have a point. Entertainment is never free and it could very well be an out-dated way to look at books.
It really made me think. Should we support libraries at the expense of authors and publishers?

The Greater Journey

Continuing on my Paris reading blitz, I finally finished this book this week after recovering from my two week long sinus/ flu sickness.

I loved this book, but it was one of those that I had to make myself open and read. It started slowly, but then I got sucked into the stories of all the young Americans trying to make their way into the world. There were mostly profiles of artists - painters and sculptors to be exact, but there was an interesting chapter detailing young doctors training at the best medical schools in the world at the time. It was fascinating. I really learned more about French history reading this book vs. a dedicated French history book. It was French history through the eyes of Americans that were living there and writing back home about their circumstances.
The most riveting story was that of Elihu Washburne, the American Ambassador to France during the 1860's and 70's. His story about living during the siege on Paris during in 1870-1 was eye opening. I had never heard the story from that angle. The Franco-Prussian war was illuminated during that chapter.
What I found so different about out lives today is our treatment of sickness. So many Americans went to Europe "for their health". They had a chest problem, were depressed, recovering from nerves, etc. and were prescribed to head to France to better their health. Why is that not a prescription now? Is travel just no longer accepted as a way to heal the mind? Is the air in Europe not healthy any more? And why did it used to take months if not years to recover from illness? When I have a cold, or flu or bronchitis I am expected to miss maybe 1-2 days of work, and still shuffle my children all to school, gymnastics, make dinner and do laundry. In the 1800's any illness seemed to merit at least a two week rest in bed without getting up. Surely Tylenol and Penicillin aren't that good at curing maladies.
Reading that book really made me miss the way we treat sickness. Is the European vacation a treatment only for the rich? At the very least those heading to Europe to rest were middle class. It was a mind opening read on that front.
I would highly recommend reading this book. It teaches not just French history, but also American history. I never would have heard of Elihu Washburne if not for this book. I will be doing a lot more research on that guy.

Too Sick to Read

It doesn't happen often, but for reals I was too sick to read.

I like to be just sick enough to cozy up on the couch with old 80's movies and a good book, but this was not that sickness. I was even up in my bed, not even down on the couch in front of the TV, that's how sick I was. Maybe it was the flu, maybe just a bad cold with a fever. It was all the sweating and chattering teeth that made it difficult to read. I just couldn't hold a book and keep warm at the same time. So frustrating!

So now I'm back and I'm reading.

I should finish up The Greater Journey by David McCullough today or tomorrow thanks to Presidents Day.

I've got some new acquisitions to post up as well. I know it's so exciting.

The One and Only Ivan

So this is the 2013 Newbery Medal Winner. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.

I read it, but only because I forced myself to. Every year I feel it is my duty to read the winner just so that I know what everyone is talking about and so that I can tell my teachers if it's worth it for them to add it to their curriculum for next year.

I hated this one. It's about animal abuse. Really. Not . My. Cup. Of Tea. I'm not a big fan of animal books to begin with, but abused animals is even more of a turn off. Yes it turns out happy in the end, but come on, really? Who wants to read about that? At least in Water for Elephants there was some romance involved to distract the reader from the abuse, but in this book it's relentless. I really did not care for it at all.

I know I've discussed before about the weirdness of book award winners. Some times they are right on, but most of the time it seems as if the judges of these contests are looking for the saddest, most taboo subjects and giving the awards to those books. These are not books that kids want to read. These are the books that adults make kids read because they are good for them like vegetables. I don't want books to be like vegetables for kids. I want them to read what they want to read even if it is Captain Underpants of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

This book just didn't have anything special about it to me to merit the Newbery Award. Last year's winner, Dead End in Norvelt, was a good book, but still a vegetable book. 2011's Moon Over Manifest was brussel sprouts too. The last time I read a Newbery that I liked and that I still recommend to kids and teachers alike was 2010's When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. Now that is a timeless classic that deserved awards.

Of course we all have different opinions about what is a good book, but if I can't recommend it to anyone, it's not a good book. I will not be recommending this book except to my most fanatic animal book readers.

A Moveable Feast

I've read Hemingway before, and enjoyed it, but never this book. It seems like I'd been saving this one for last. I like adjectives and I miss them when they are gone. It's not as if he does't use any adjectives, he just makes you wait for them and crave them and then he uses ordinary adjectives like beautiful, great, or green. It's frustrating.
Then we all know that A Moveable Feast is supposed to be this great travelogue on Paris, but it wasn't at all. It was more of a list of people that he met and what he thought of them, than a great bit of writing about Paris. I learned new things about Getrude Stein and Scott Fitzgerald. I learned the other side of the story on Hemingway's threesome between Hadley and Pauline, that he truly was remorseful for the situation and was just caught loving two women.
Overall it's not something I would need to read again. It's Hemingway and I know what to expect from him, and I'm not sure I like it. I think he was a great man, and had a fascinating life, and has merit as a writer, but he's not my writer.
I can't stop writing about this book without pointing out an awesome term that made me laugh out loud. Hemingway is describing someone he met and doesn't like, and paints the perfect picture by referring to the man as "an unsuccessful rapist". Best insult ever in a description!

New York Women Writers

Why does it always seem that most non-fiction (non-history and non-political) books that are written by women are written by New York women?

This is really starting to bother me.

I've been reading a lot about Paris recently. Along with all the history and architecture and guide books I am also reading the lighter fluff travelogues, but all that I can find are written by white, middle aged women (in their forties) who are already writers of some sort in New York City. Isn't that a pretty narrow view of the city of Paris?  Their highfalutin ideas of what is interesting to the average Paris tourist is a little off.

Now I have nothing against well educated white women. I myself am one, but I do have something against women who live in New York. They really have no idea what goes on elsewhere in the country. I am also under the impression that they all live sorry lives like Carry Bradshaw, are extremely selfish, shallow and way to well funded.

I loved Eat, Pray, Love, but could not relate to her New York problems. She just seemed so self-centered. But then I realized that most well-educated New York women do not have kids until they are in their late thirties or early forties. They have spent so long thinking of only themselves that they don't know how to function otherwise. Having kids changes that.

Now I know you're not supposed to talk crap about the publishing industry if you ever want to get published, but I mean really, what is the deal with the New York centric writers. If the publishers want something new and fresh shouldn't they look outside of their own goldfish bowl?

I would love to see more non-fiction a-la Diablo Cody, or maybe even something more working class. What about a book about being a mom at 23? What about a travel book that isn't written by a woman going through a rough divorce and trying to start her life over?

I'm going to write what I want to read.

Oh Flavia! How I have missed you so!

This new Flavia de Luce mystery just came out on Tuesday. I have had it pre-ordered for months. Months I tell you. UPS and Amazon delivered it on time Tuesday evening and it has been tempting me all week. I was still finishing up Les Miserables and made myself wait until that was out of the way until I started this. I snuggled up last night to start it and finished it this afternoon. There is no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

If only the Flavia novels could last as long as Les Mis. The stories just go by way too fast. Flavia is lightning quick to solve the mysteries, put the local police inspector in his place, and still keep an eye on her family. This time around, as I get to know Flavia and her family more and more, it is their story that keeps me riveted more than what ever grisly crime has been committed in Bishop's Lacey. Dogger is right there with Flavia all the way, more of a father to her than her father is. His words of wisdom and tidbits of information are so well placed and played, that I know for a fact Flavia would be lost without him.

The crime this time was good. Not too overwhelming at all. That's what makes the mysteries so good. No one really important dies, just people who were passing through town but had connections to some of the long-standing local community. In the first few novels I was a little overwhelmed by the chemistry and Flavia's fascination with it (chemistry is not my thing), but now I expect it from her and learn from her. Without her vast knowledge of chemistry she would not be able to solve these crimes. It is such an amazing skill for an eleven year old to have.

In this fifth book I think there was a softer side of Flavia revealed. She was concerned about not only Feely and Daffy, but also Dogger. There were some very emotional scenes between them all which was new. They are all facing an unknown future and it brought them together. I'm worried about the family and desperately hope that they will be able to save their house in the next installment. That is what was surprisingly new in this book.... there was not just one, but two cliffhangers at the end, something we have not seen in the previous books.

What will happen to the De Luce family? I can hardly stand the wait.

Read it! Go back and read the previous books and fall in love with Flavia.

My Greater Jouney

So I was reading my favorite book related website - Book Riot - when I came across a Post titled "Do you want to Write for Book Riot?"  Well of course I do!

They wanted samples of writing and if you write a blog they wanted a link so as to prove that you could write consistently on topics and with moderate deadlines.

This is an opportunity that I am not prepared for. Nothing is more frustrating than an inopportune opportunity.

I want to write, but I am not committed to it. I need to be if I want to take advantage of opportunities.

I am always torn between the time I want to spend writing and all the things I want to read. There are piles everywhere and I don't want to neglect my reading with time spent writing, but I need to.

Currently my piles of books focus on Paris. I just finished Les Miserables, and now have moved on to David McCullough's The Greater Journey. I've read all the travel guides in preparation for my trip to Europe in May, but now I'm getting in even deeper to the history of Paris, not just the architecture and the politics, but the people too. It's fascinating. Since I am a reader and a planner I have to be prepared fully in order to take full advantage of the few days I have in Paris.

Besides Paris I will also be spending a few days in Bath, UK, another literary mecca. I am beyond excited as will be evidenced in the months ahead as I talk about nothing else in posts on both of my blogs.