...working title...

authors...

2011-02-26T08:51:00.000-08:00

i have lego pieces all over my house, probably because we all like to play with them!!

but here are some lego creations that we never thought of...

check out all of the other classic authors immortalized in plastic!

my top picks from last semester...

2011-02-23T20:51:00.000-08:00

before i fall - lauren oliver...

boy toy - barry lyga...

dash and lily's book of dares -

rachel cohn and david levithan

looking for alaska - john green

sloppy firsts - megan mccafferty

and if you want to read what i thought about a bunch of other young adult books, you can pop over to the blog that was written under the haze of hydrocodone...

*it was an assignment for my MLIS... supposed to be scholarly, but i kinda was foggy during much of the writing, so i tell you it's not great stuff... and i apologize in advance!

happy reading, my friends!

materials for young adults...

2010-09-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

that's the class for the semester... and i guess that's what i'll talking about for the next three months. and again, i'm amazed for the amount of good stuff that's out there for readers in this age group!

so far i've read the hunger games by suzanne collins... a book i totally resisted reading because who wants to read a book about kids killing each other?! and it was post-apocalyptic, another strike! but since i was forced, i picked it up... then i couldn't put it back down. katniss is one of those characters that you might not want to like, but can't help it. she's wise and strong and brave--oh my gosh, so brave as to tell the government of this dystopian country to piss off at the end of the book and break all of the rules of the hunger games. i recommend this one... and you might like shirley jackson's the lottery.

i love nick hornby... especially after i read his young adult novel slam. i got this book from the man himself back in 2007 (yes, i love my job!) but didn't read it immediately. i don't know why, but what a treat it was for me when i remembered it while searching my shelves for something to read. slam is about sam...

sam is a skater... not on ice, but on a board

sam lives with his mom--his parents are divorced

sam was in love with alicia... but now not so much anymore

oh, and sam talks to his poster of tony hawk for advice... especially now since alicia {his ex-girlfriend} is pregnant

the back cover of this book says, "nick hornby usually writes about men who behave like boys, and now he's writing about a boy who behaves like a man." after reading juliet, naked, i couldn't agree more. sam is more of a man than tucker, or duncan, or rob in high fidelity, or will in about a boy... while those others are self-indulgent and so egocentric, and somehow sam isn't. he has the right to be, but i suppose that's what makes us readers so drawn into his story... every single little moment.

more good (and not so good) young adult titles to come!

happy reading, my friends

couldn't finish it...

2010-08-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

i'm beginning to wonder if it's my status as an only child that makes me crave books about friends and big families... mayhaps. but i picked up the girls from ames by jeffrey zaslow and just couldn't read it. it depressed me, do people, especially women stay friends? for forty years? when each takes a different path? some school and careers... some marriage and families right out of college... and some doing it all at once? where does the petty competition come to play?

i'm so jaded. part of the problem for me probably came from the fact that i picked it up during the weekends between my class reunions. reunions? yep, i went to two highschools--public school for 3 semesters, and private school for 3 semesters and that's where i graduated from. when you change schools in the middle of your junior year, it makes for a weird limbo.

when i looked {on facebook, of course} of pictures from the highschool days, i wasn't in any... not one. it's then i started to fall into this chasm of feeling like i was non-existent for 3 years of my life. looking back 20 years later, it's one of those things that would/could tend to push one into making sure one's children don't look back with regret...

what?! what am i rambling on about? certainly, i'm not talking about books and that's what this little thing is all about. so let's move onward and upward and talk about an audio book that came highly recommended by the author author! because she and i are friends... at least on facebook... heh heh!

one day, rebecca wells posted that she was really proud of the fact that she recorded an audio version of the divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood. you know, i just ranted about how often author's ruin their books by trying to read them... and i hate abridgements... quelle surprise!! {read that in a creole french accent, dah-lin'} it was great! rebecca wells did a perfect job reading the book and abridging the book to keep the mother-daughter relationship neatly intertwined with the ya-yas. but did i expect any less? mais non!

if you are looking for a good listen, you should go over to audible.com and give it a try...

happy reading/listening!

btw: i don't work for audible or anything, but i do have a membership with them, and i'm not sure if this download is available other places

as seen on facebook: cap'n bloodsnatch

2010-08-22T22:18:00.000-07:00

go ahead... be grossed out...

but why?

this is my new-found freedom I've found from reading flow: the cultural history of menstruation by elissa stein. occasionally, I read non-fiction, and this book was recommended by one of my more “interesting” patrons. this patron handed me this book, and in a voice heavy in conspiracy said, “you’ve been lied to.” a little weird yeah.

but this book was so interesting in the fact that MEN have made us embarrassed by this thing our body does for no specific reason that anyone knows… a thing that has been understudied, misunderstood and corrupted by the femcare industry and pharmaceutical companies.

stop! I love men. I’m not a man hater… but this book is one of those books that makes you rethink everything you’ve ever thought about your period because it’s men who have convinced us that we’re crazy, depressed, practically abnormal and should be shunned.

shunned? sequestered? hmm… a little red tent time? I could handle that far better than charlotte perkins gilman’s story the yellow wallpaper. the story stemmed from her seeking help for mild depression from a doctor renown for sending men with depression west to journal their experiences. however, for women, the good doctor recommended rest… read the story. Go back to are you there God, it's me margaret... and dig out that memory of nervous excitement of being caught in between being first and being last to get it..

flow is an easy read… maybe not so much for the people in your life who are a bit squeamish, because it’s one of those books where you are compelled to read parts out loud in disgust, anger or in laughter.

happy reading!

oh, hello... have we met?

2010-07-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

again, i apologize for my lapse in posting... because i know you all wait with held breath for my book thoughts, right?! maybe i should change my blog's title to

don't hold your breath!

i've been reading a bunch, even if i haven't been posting. first of all, i want to continue the last post because at first i was disappointed with how the help ended. i expected great earth-shattering changes for aibileen and minny and the rest of the help. and when the book ended, i didn't feel that. in my mind, i was thought, "really? that's it?"

but two months later, and after reading sit-in: how four friends stood up by sitting down with my guys... i had one of those slap yourself up-side the head moment!! the whole movement was based on the tiny and patient steps by people who saw that any gain is a gain--no matter the size. and what skeeter, aibileen and minny did was earth-shattering because it made people stop and think. so now i recommend the help whole-heartedly versus my eeh review in may. sometimes, I wonder about myself…

and now, I’m slogging thru the girl with the dragon tattoo… and so far my {previously mentioned} feeble brain isn’t as impressed as the rest of the world. what am i missing?

happy reading, my friends!

chatty-cathy

2010-05-24T19:05:00.000-07:00

i'm a talker, and I like "talking" books...

i don't care for books that have very little dialog.

for example, nabokov's lolita or bernhard schlink's the readerare both are fabulous books, and are worthwhile reads. but they are too one-sided to me. i'm aware that's a literary device, and creative license, and lalalalalaaaa...

but give me somethin' that i can sink my teeth in and hear a fuller version of the story.

the help by kathryn stockett is a talking book!

there are three different voices talking about what happens when the color lines get blurred in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962. the world is on the verge of change, and it's starting to trickle south, as it were.

one thing i love about southern books, is everyone's got a nickname. think about the ya-ya sisterhood... and the help is no different. eugenia "skeeter" phelan has come home from ole miss with a degree and not an MRS like her all of her friends. she has aspirations different from the junior leaguers... skeeter wants to be a writer! sadly the only journalism job available in jackson is as the housekeeping advice columnist.

yep, there's a bit of irony there, as she's never done anything for herself because she was raised by "the help" too. but thru a series of events finds herself turning to aiblieen and minny, house maids, for help on the housekeeping column, and the column turns into a book about what it's like to be a black maid in mississippi.

in 2010, the civil rights movement is a moment in history that invokes a wide range of emotions for everyone, i'd suppose. for me, it was breaking out in goosebumps in the nashville public library's civil rights room with a lunch counter replica and ugly visions of peaceful demonstrations...

or being on the lincoln memorial with hot tears escaping down my cheeks with thoughts of dr. martin luther king having a dream for a better future while standing on the very same stepl...

or the anger, shame and disgust i feel by reading this book! these friends of skeeter's are steeped in a sweet tea of ignorance! and i know this is how the world was then, and how they were raised, but an initiative for every home having a separate bathroom for the help because they carry diseases that the whites can catch? really...!?!

the fear i feel for the help who are working with skeeter on her book, i can't help wonder what will happen when the book is completed. and what will skeeter do? will she continue to say thank you--and actually mean it--to the black women who wait on her? will what they're doing make any difference in the world in which they live?

i don't know...

obviously, i'm not done with the book yet... my ipod battery died this morning! i'm dying to finish it!!

however, here are a couple of other books I loved with good talk:

almost paradise by susan isaacs--certainly not high literature, but a good story told from two sides of a courtship, marriage, and betrayal.

the divine secrets if the ya-ya sisterhood by rebecca wells

joy luck club by amy tan

the other boleyn girl by philippa gregory

snuff by chuck palahniuk

and most of fannie flagg's books

happy reading, my friends!!

disappointed...

2010-04-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

now, you know i really try to be positive about reading, authors and books... but i was so disappointed yesterday with listening to a new book and i feel like i need to tell you.

i love, love, love garden spells and all things sarah addison allen. this isn't new to you, i know. yesterday, i decided that i would listen to it because i had just finished listening to winter solstice by rosamunde pilcher in my office...

... the reader for winter solstice was wonderful. she carried the story beautifully. i was in scotland. i was in rosamunde pilcher's world--which you also know is another of my favorite places!

that's one of the things i love about listening to novels, is getting the dialect of the region to make it even more real in my head. i'm also listening to pat conroy's south of broad... and that reader makes me melt with gentle lilt of the carolina accent, even when talking about the vilest of vile situations. it makes me feel like i'm there, and sometimes that's what i want--an audio escape!

but this reader and her interpretation of garden spells is all wrong! she's too clipped, too abrupt, with too much emphasis in spots--making me feel not what i felt when i first read this book... i want to be awash with the gentle magic that is this book.

i understand, that it must seem that i live in this little naive book world. but i listen to a lot of books and there has only been one other book that i've felt this way about... okay maybe three books:

the birthing house by chris ransom

the girls guide to hunting and fishing by melissa banks

and fahrenheit 451 by ray brandbury

and sadly, both of the girls guide to hunting and fishing and fahrenheit 451 were read by the authors! oh, now i feel bad karma* coming my way...

quick! did i tell you

how much i loved the privileges by jonathan dee?
or that i'm half-way thru the fiery cross by diana gabaldon, and obviously enjoying it
and i just finished reading the immensely cute the inn at lake devine by ellinor lipman

what is your favorite audio book?!

*or as much karma this little lutheran girl can feel... maybe some residual catholic guilt

confessions...

2010-04-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

today, i stumbled across a new blog... a novel ideaa

sometimes it's about books,

sometimes about life, husbands and babies

and sometimes about being a feminist.

but what this blog really is about--if you ask me--is a young woman finding her place in the world. i have hoped for this for her for quite awhile, and glad to see her coming into her own. however, i have to confess that her idea of a role model kinda blew me away...

thanks alice... but if you don't reach out, no one else will either!

* * * * *

another confession... i despised "confessions of a shopaholic"

ridiculous drivel.

and i was totally not interested in another book by sophie kinsella until my beautiful and wonderfully, pushy italian friend LORI put this one in my hand... and now i have to say that i loved loved loved

can you keep a secret!

i was hooked with 5 little words:

my g-string is hurting me

how many times have you been sitting or standing somewhere, and thought that very thought? or have you wondered why you are even wearing the said item... are you wearing because someone you adore bought it for you? and are you wearing it so you don't hurt that adored person's feelers? wouldn't it be nice not to have to have these little fibs?

wouldn't it be amazing to have a relationship {any relationship} with all of your secrets out in the open...

in can you keep a secret, emma confessed all of those hidden, deep, dark secrets to the stranger next to her on the plane when she thought she was going to crash and die... and then that stranger turns out to be something more... something far more!

simple concept... does honesty on all levels makes for a better relationship? would you rather have total honesty, or have your feelers spared with little lies?

i don't know... hard call...

happy reading, my friends!

book whore

2010-03-26T17:40:00.001-07:00

OH MY... did she really just say that?!

yes, i did...

i'm in portland, oregon and i've been to powell's books not once, not twice, but 3 times, i have had to eat divine desserts in cafes that idaho falls has never seen the likes of, and of course, i've had to have the house cocktails* and actually have enjoyed being in the rain.

but why am i here--senza famiglia?!

i'm here for work... i know, poor me!! i've been working really hard too... having to sleep in a lovely hotel room since monday... have had to attend some thought provoking and educational conference sessions about telling people what to read as well as learning more about what is out there that is worth reading... had to visit with vendors and listen to their presentations, thus getting crazy-good swag... and sadly i'll have to lug home some of my very favorite swag in the world: advanced readers copies!

these are uncorrected proofs the publishers send to conferences and to lucky readers to drum up business for the authors. that's how i came into having "the girl who chased the moon"!!

but now, i've amassed 21 new books! yes, TWENTY-ONE NEW BOOKS! of, course i'll give some to my staff who covered for me while i was slaving away here in portland; some are gifts, but many are just for me... it even says so in the front cover--yeah, they are signed by the author too : )

where will i start? well, i'm still on the diana gabaldon journey with meghan... and i very rudely dropped the ball there--sorry meghan!! but after that...

maybe the ask by sam lipsyte

or backseat saints by joshilyn jackson

the next effort by cornelia read, invisible boy

perhaps my first ivan doig book, work song

the mapping of love and death by jacqueline winspear

or mayhaps the house of tomorrow by peter bognanni...

the thing is, after my haul... i started to feel a little guilty as well as a little nervous about all of the books! nervous, because i hope i can get them home without paying an arm and a leg... and guilty because, i'm just out here on a complete pleasure trip--yeah, it's work, but i have about the best job in the world and not only do i love reading for a living, but i love that i get to go on conference to become even better at reading for a living!

whore? maybe that's a bit strong... but it's far more attention grabbing than the typical librarian's tag: bibliophile...

happy reading, my friends!

*i highly recommend tom's sidecar at jake's famous crawfish... best cocktail i've had thus far!!!

BTW: i added a poll to the bottom... i'm on a fact finding mission to see if i'm a freak because of the way i shelve my personal books at home

i hate long posts...

2010-02-18T11:41:00.001-08:00

... so i apologize. jh

slacker... i know!

2010-02-18T09:17:00.000-08:00

a few weeks ago, i arrived home to the usual mound of mail. there were the usual bills {which i ignore... thank God for the bill-paying husband!}, the magazines, the catalogs that are full of swim suits and spring clothes {glorious spring!} and a flat mailing envelope. nothing outstanding... so after my first glance, i walked away without another thought.

a few days later, after darling husband had paid the bills, cleared away some of the magz and catalogs, that flat envelope remained on the counter. you have to understand, i'm a "piler" and have piles of this stuff here and there, so i'm trying to keep this specific counter clutter-free, and at this point i was so irritated that there were still lego pieces, many school papers and this big envelope on my counter. in my irritation, i start huckin' lego pieces down the hall to the boys' room, and then see that MY NAME is on the said envelope. and then i see that the envelope was from random house... random house!? OH GOLLY!! did i buy another book? did i buy another book and forget that i bought it?! does the said darling husband know...

i ripped that envelope open and dumped out the most wonderfulest of wonderful surprises...

sarah addison allen's

the girl who chased the moon!

well, i can tell you that right then i gave up with clearing the counters of the legos... i clicked on the kettle, made a cup of tea, grabbed a blanket and plopped down in my sunny reading chair and jumped right in.

in true SAA fashion, we head to north carolina, and i'm a goner. hang up the "do not disturb" sign, make your own dinner... mom is reading!

so, emily returns to the north carolina town where her mother grew up to find a giant for a grandpa, a bedroom with "mood" wall paper that changes all by itself, new friends with old stories about her mother that contradict with the woman emily knew as her mother, and... a boy.

i love the magic that bubbles up from all of her books, like the bubbles from a muscato d'asti... sweet, ticklish to your insides and makes you drunk on the pure pleasure of drinking it... or reading it, in this case.

and then there's the baking... always with the cooks in these books. SAA brings in a subplot of emily's baking neighboor that weaves in and out of emily's story seamlessly, yet makes you crave (yes, the pun is intended) more of the sweet stuff.

have you read garden spells yet? what about the sugar queen?

garden spells is SAA's debut and i just loved it--so much, i recommended it to everyone who came into the library for about a month! again set in NC, a magical house with a magical garden and a group of ladies you wish you were friends with--especially claire who bakes the most wonderful yummies with the things from her garden... and cousin evanelle, who gives random {yet immensely useful} gifts...

and then speaking of random gifts, in the sugar queen chloe finds books everywhere--just when she needs them. and josie has a closet where she hides her sweet stash, her romance novels and just recently a new friend, della lee. then they all whip up some magic to change josie and chloe's lives... and what happens to della? hmm...

now that i've disected these books {like i know anything}, i think the thing i like as much as the food is the ties of female friendships. emily and julia, josie, chloe and della, and even the friendship that sneaks up on sisters like claire and syndey. and you know how i like that idea of friendship!!

and next to friendship, i like to bake... sooooo, i think that SAA's next book should be a cookbook!! what do you think?!

__________ updates & news __________

*megs and i are still reading drums of autumn, but by the way i've been sneaking it to work, we should be done soon! how can diana gabaldon still keep writing this story? and why can't i put it down?!

*i'm also listening to charlaine harris' book dead until dark... it's the sookie stackhouse series, the inspiration for the HBO series 'true blood.' my first foray in to vampire literature...

*i haven't read the percy jackson series myself, but the big kid did... and altho the movie is different from the book, he liked the movie "almost" as much as the book--and that's saying a lot from him! give the series a try!

happy reading, my friends!

more of the same...

2010-01-19T08:50:00.000-08:00

... and i mean that in a good way!

i just was ordering books this morning, and came across this one:

a fortunate age by joanna smith rakoff.

powells.com said, "Like The Group, Mary McCarthy's classic tale about coming of age in New York, Joanna Smith Rakoff 's richly drawn and immensely satisfying first novel details the lives of a group of Oberlin graduates whose ambitions and friendships threaten to unravel as they chase their dreams, shed their youth, and build their lives in Brooklyn during the late 1990s and the turn of the twenty-first century."

i'm excited to get into this one... and all of the sudden, this apres college genre is making me think of st elmo's fire. the person you were in college doesn't always translate into the "real world." and what a slap in the face that is... but you're lucky to have friends to help you thru.

and again, speaking of friends,i just finsihed a year on ladybug farm by donna bell. three friends buy a house and promise to spend at least a year there...which challenges their preconceived ideas, their bodies--but never their friendship.

they are older (than me), they are a widow, divorcee and single gal, who left the comfortable life in baltimore to fulfill their dreams. and just like life out of college never seems to be what one would hope, these gals realize that they didn't lose their dreams, but the dreams they brought with them to ladybug farm, changed and grew with them during the year.

life has a way of doing that. i think my buddy mick said it best when he said, "you can't always get what you want... you get what you need"

happy reading, my friends

*there is a sequel to a year on ladybug farm, called at home on ladybug farm...but it's on the back burner because my reading buddy (can i say your name?) and i are about to jump into drums of autumn!

friends... what a lovely idea

2010-01-11T17:35:00.001-08:00

ok, there is just something about cornwall that calls to me...

and while the way we were was a great read about families, friends, secrets and cornwall, it was not quite pilcher's duplicate... but then can anyone really fill those shoes? i think not. it may even be a debilitating curse, if you thought about it...

so about a third of the way thru the book, i decided to stop comparing and to enjoy it for what it is-- another book by a lovely english woman who also writes equally lovely books about cornwall. if you can separate the two, you will enjoy this book.

i'm hopeless with female friendships, and so i read about them! julia and tiggy have one of those envious friendships that surpasses their school days and went into their adult lives. it happens that tiggy finds herself pregnant and very alone in 1976, and she turns to julia--who, with her three children, is also a bit alone with her naval husband at sea. over the summer, the family pulls tiggy in tight... along with all of her secrets! then 30 years later, those same secrets become dangerous to all of them!

* * * * *

speaking of female friendships, i also just finished beach trip by cathy holton. this one was set in another favorite place--north carolina coast. four friends reunite after 20 years! i can't even imagine! so much drama, and yet they all agree to meet at one of the four's beach "cottage"... is everyone in the carolinas fabulously wealthy?! it seems like every book i read, there is a lot of money and these beach "cottages" that are coastal mansions. hmm... i was just wondering...

so, this one is also told in the "then and now" flashback approach. things start out so confusing with pieces of the puzzle missing, and then the story progresses with the flashbacks mingling with the present and things start to make sense... it's one of those books that you have to speed thru just so you know the whole story!!! but this concept of friends reminds me of anne rivers siddons outer banks (also set in north carolina with wealthy people), mary mccarthy's the group and beth gutcheon's the new girls (both new england old school money).

in the beach trip, there is so much pain among the friends that is just swept under the rug. there are betrayals that they just overlook. and there is so much unhappiness... WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS? but they do. they make the plan, spend a week together and in the end {teensy spoiler alert} they come out as better friends than they were when they were in college... it's baffling to me and yet i want it!! so then i start thinking about who i'd like to spend time with after a 20 year separation... or if i'm friends with that many people for that many years?! i can think of only one person i've been friends with for that long... weird. and then to dredge up the nastiness of youth... i'm not sure there's enough firefly to make me want to do this! hmm...

so i ask you...

what's your favorite "friend" book?

would you take a "beach trip" with people you haven't seen in 20 years... or is keeping up on facebook good enough?!?

happy reading, my friends!

the jacket says...

2009-12-29T21:26:00.000-08:00

"marcia willett captured the hearts of rosamunde pilcher and maeve binchy fans..." any other thought and/or opinions out there about marcia willett?

i was shelving today and grabbed the way we were... actually just based on the title--oh, hubble gardner, you make me swoon!

but knowing it's author has been compared to the great ladies of the genre, i'm a little excited to see what is in store for me here...

* * * * *

a prayer for owen meany took me forever to listen to, but what an amazing book... this maybe one of my new favorite books... maybe.

what happens when your best friend thinks he's God's instrument... from the time he was 11... and after he accidentally killed your mom... your mom, whom he declared had the "best bosom" of all of the moms...

or how do you continue to be friends with him when he knows that as God's instrument, his life has a point and a mission and that all of it leads up to the day he dies? everything in his life has a reason behind it, and he knows it...

the thing i think most struck me about this book is the fact that john and owen stayed friends thru thick and thin... there was a trust there that is rare in friendships, i fear. they worked as a team, not one better than the other. they accepted (loved?) one another as the brothers they didn't have...

i highly recommend this book. i haven't read anything else by john irving, but have loved the world according to garp before i even was old enough to understand all of the humor. this one will get you hooked on john irving and you'll want to read them all! (and he's got a new one just out--last night in twisted river)

happy reading

a conscious is worth a thousand witnesses...

2009-11-12T20:28:00.000-08:00

i love the way beth gutcheon writes. it’s clean and simple, and subtly knocks your sox right off... but in a wholly satisfying way.

i grabbed more than you know off of a display because of the cover, checked it out because of it being set in maine, and loved it so much that i went to half.com and bought all of her books that i could get my hands on. she is gem that has maybe yet to be noticed and appreciated! now, if i could get my hands on the one i lent out…

saying grace is centered around a private day school in california. it’s a progressive school, as you might have guessed, and the head of the school is rue. she’s open-minded, she’s fair, and she’s kind to those around her—and she expects the same from those she leads, works for, and teaches. and of course, few people often play by those rules. one memoriable passage is where rue is trying to teach a class about the golden rule and the meaning of the maxim: a conscious is worth a thousand witnesses...

how many people actually live by that rule? or how many rather live by: it’s only bad if you get caught! the real punishment comes from failing to squeak under the radar, not from the crime. it's an interesting thought, because how do you teach your kids to be decent people when the people--the world--around them doesn’t play by the same rules as you’re teaching?

well, you hope there are people like rue in the world. her ways may not be the popular way, but when rue is pushed into a corner, and everything starts to crumble—her school, her marriage and her family—she scrambles and claws for the “top,” hoping to rise above and keep everyone afloat with her. and then her buoy, her closest confidante, her love walks away—to his new confidante, a new love? she gracefully bows out. but in doing so, she doesn't then turn her back on her beliefs because it feels better, nor does she throw barbs to hurt those who hurt her.

this a nice reminder to be good people. because try as we might we don’t always treat each other as we would like to be treated. we get caught up in what makes us feel good at the moment, not considering other people in the process. i don’t know if that makes us bad, misguided mayhaps. at some point, we all turn to the wrong person, put faith in the wrong people and eventually get hurt... and then wish things could change back to how they used to be. and yet, saying grace shows us that things do turn around with enough patience. i’m not sure in real life that’s the case… but maybe.

happy reading!

life imitating art...

2009-11-10T14:22:00.000-08:00

is the truth stranger than fiction, really?!

*does fiction dictate our realities?

*does fiction come from the realities of life?

*interesting stuff to contemplate...

happy reading!

not a reader?! what?!

2009-10-30T18:22:00.000-07:00

on fridays, i have a ritual.

i take the boys to school, walk around the river, go to weight watchers and then go to great harvest for my cinnamon-chip scone and tea. yes, i do see the irony.

but more importantly; as i was enjoying my scone, i was reading madhur jaffery’s climbing the mango trees. this is a beautiful memoir about this woman growing up in india, and the food memories she has. it’s a universal theme—this idea of food invoking memories. everyone has these memories from their childhood or travels…

{ring ring}

and i’m pulled out the of the heat and sepia images of picnics in india, to the wet, dreary morning in idaho falls by the guy next to me. he’s sitting alone, making calls and answering them in the effort (i surmise) to not be alone. and so i go back to india and the picnics.

"you in school?"

my eyes slide across the page to the guy, who then again asks me, “are you in school?”

“um… yeah… kinda…”

“is that why you’re reading that book?”

“um… no…”

“you’re reading for fun?”

“yes”

“that’s crazy. i can’t imagine reading for fun…”

“hmmm…” and then i though that was the saddest thing. if you’re reading this silly little blog, you read for fun… and you can understand what i’m talking about. can you imagine your life devoid of the joy you have from reading? so as the librarian i am, i say, “you haven’t met the right book.”

“what?!” now he’s startled.

“people need to meet the right book to help them enjoy reading… and i don’t think you’ve read the right book.”

“i never liked reading…”

“maybe you didn’t have anyone to show you that reading can be fun"

“i’ve never been married, either… you think i haven’t met the right woman either?”

“that’s not my area of expertise, but maybe…” and in light of other weirdness in my life, i stuck my nose back into my book, deeply.

and i was again transported back to new dehli, to family-joint homes full of aunts and uncles and cousins, the smells of cardamom, cumin, and cinnamon, the lush gardens blowing cooling breezes thru the house… and then came thoughts of what if no one had ever given me the gift of reading.

where would i be today?

i’d be sitting alone in great harvest on a dreary, wet october morning. luckily for me, i was in india this morning...

happy reading

2009-10-21T19:32:00.000-07:00

when I was in college getting my minor in creative writing—yes, i fancied myself as a writer—i began to write this murder mystery set in denver, more specifically in the area of cherry creek. i plugged in all kinds of things i loved about the area and tried to give it a feeling of the times with clothes and music and pop-culture references… and then this girl, (yes, petty me remembers her name—jenny ashby) critiqued my progress with, “no one cares about what brand name of clothes the characters are wearing, or what restaurants they went to. using these references will date your book.”

date my book? did she think i was writing silas marner? um… have i read silas marner? i was doing what the professor asked us to do: write about what you know. i know about girls, purses, shoes, music and local denver restaurants. but i was easily detoured, and kinda let that fiction writer in me die… except when every now and then, when i read a book full of pop-culture, and that snarky little writer in me comes hissing back to life to mutter not-so-nice things about miss ashby’s comments—which is probably why i can remember her name—on a story that i started to write in 1993!

so that leads me to robert rave’s book SPIN, which i just read… and lauren weisberger’s everyone worth knowing (EWK) that i read about 3 years ago. the two books are about the “beautiful” life of being seen, about two fairly nice people who fall into the world of PR firms and get caught up in the glamour, the parties, the celebs, the gossip and the complete loss of morals to get ahead of the rest of the pack… and these books are chock full of references to current celebrities, haute-est fashion, cutting edge music and pop-culture.

SPIN is told from a man’s point of view, and is more about taylor regaining the balance of power with a “nasty” boss… when she {pretty much} neuters him. EWK is told from with a feminine protagonist. bette’s story is softer in they way that she just wants her life (and privacy) back after the tables are turned. EWK is not too far from the devil wears prada nor chasing harry winston--look! the references are right there in the title. weisenberger gives us a taste of the life that looks so much better on the surface, and then a smack of reality to put all of the bling back into proportion…

and to my fellow-student’s credit, my college efforts may not have been anywhere good enough to carry a string of pop-culture references, so i don't fault her for those comments. and these other books probably aren’t high literature now and probably never will be. but then again, look at the valley of the dolls or sidney sheldon’s novels—pure pleasure reading and saturated in references from the time they were written, but does that make them any less fun to read? no, and SPIN and EWK were just that—fun reads. i was sucked in and enjoyed being there.

by the way, both books mentioned bungalow 8. i thought it was part of weisberger’s creative license for her book, but it appears it’s to be a real nyc place, a real place to be seen. and it seems it’s as hot of a spot in 2009 as it was in 2006—maybe some cultural references are a good thing… although, i don’t think i could still get in!

happy reading!

ps: jenny ashby, a very sincere thank you for giving me something to write about!

some peoples' mothers...

2009-10-20T11:33:00.000-07:00

you may have read my previous posting about not being able to see a certain author in denver when she was visiting the tattered cover bookstore. i was disappointed, to say the least.

so, a few weeks after that post, i'm chatting my mom up on a saturday morning...

me: so what are your plans today
she: well, i have to go do somethings at church
me: all day?
she: nooo...
me: well, what else are you doing?
she: daddy's going to a car show
me: and you...
she: i don't know if i want to tell you
me: why? {my eyes narrow in that way that only children can do so well when they are being left out of something...}
she: i'm going to tucson with daddy...
me: but you're not going to the car show
she: no... i'm going to barnes and nobel...
me: {seething silence}
she: i need to be there at two
me: {more seething silence}
she: jen?
me: is she there?
she: {holding back her sardonic giggles} yes!!

needless to say, "she" would be diana gabaldon.

i know there's at least one person out there saying something like, a year ago i couldn't get you to read the books. and now you're a groupie?

no, that's not quite how it is. my new BFF, jamie larue (librarian-extraordinaire) nailed it on the head when he said something like this: when you are in the real-life space of an author, you create a personal connection to the work. because you get a glimpse in their head... and like i've already said--i want to meet/see/ listen to the woman behind these books. i'm facinated with how she spins these tales...

my mom summed it up in the text i received that saturday afternoon:

she is DELIGHTFUL!

as if there were any doubt!

happy reading...

random literary memoirs of d-town

2009-09-22T20:38:00.000-07:00

ok, at home i used to buy all, most, of my books at the tattered cover --

its one of those great independent bookstores that you want to support so that they stay around to keep the bookstore tyrants on their toes. i used to go all the way to the cherry creek store because it had at least 4 floors of twists-and-turns, and nooks-and-crannies to find all kinds of literary treasures... not only on the shelves were there treasures to find, but the TC always has the best authors come for readings.

my best-home-town-friend, crystal and i saw amy tan (in the LoDo TC after a very fine meal at the wynkoop brewery) when she was touring with the bonesetter's daughter. it was 2001, and it was remarkably memorable night for some reason... i remember that i had a thai cobb salad (say it out loud, it's funny) and crystal and i talked about her baby that was coming soon. i think it was the last time she and i hung out sans bebes... but anyway, amy talked about being a daughter and watching her mother grow old, and the parallel relationship between the mother and daughter in the book. i don't know how to say this without sounding like a cheeseball, but hearing her talk about drawing on her real life to create a novel, made it so much more personal... so much better!

oh, yeah... so much better... maybe because meeting the author creates a spark between the writer and book-reader, it makes the book come to life in the author's voice. when i met maeve binchy, my mom and i were in the old cherry creek TC store. it was the lent season of 1999, when i was expecting ryan and trying to give up chocolate for 6 weeks... did i mention that the TC had a wonderful coffee bar? it did, and i was able to enjoy maeve talk (with her lovely irish lilt) about her life, writing tara road and then read chapter three (the one where ria and annie are shopping) over delicious hot carmelly cocoa. in itself, it was great... but the best part of being at the TC with maeve was that we were last in line to have our book signed! what?! how is that good?! she took just 30 seconds beyond writing her name in the book said to me (me being 6 months pregnant) and say that mothers are wonderful people in world with very important jobs and SHE RUBBED MY TUMMY!

(i'm sitting here verklempt, just thinking about it!)

over the years, my "status" has offered me many opportunities to meet other authors and hear them speak, but there is nothing like the intimacy between authors and fans that is offered at the tattered cover.

with this said, and again you are asking "what's your point?" well, my point is that diana gabaldon is going to be at the highland's ranch TC tonight!!!!! i want to meet this woman who writes these HUGE and all-absorbing books, i want to hear her speak about her craft and i want to know if she writes these books to continue her (and ours) love affair with jamie fraser!!

i also just finished reading voyager, so visions of jamie and claire are fresh in my mind... so many twists and turns! i know i'm not giving too much away when i say, we are once again led to believe that jamie has died. from dragonfly in amber, claire goes back to her time, has jamie's child, stays married to frank, becomes a doctor... and yet {not unsurprising to me} during those 20 years, she still yearns for jamie. after getting some news on jamie, claire gives up everything for voyages {again} thru the stones, scotland, paris and into jamaica... and setting us up for book four--in the states!

yep, i'd love to hear diana talk about the new (7th in the series) book, an echo in the bone.

here's my question... which author have you heard and loved! the one who really made an impact on you? never met an author... how about the one you'd really like to meet? or how about this, if you could have lunch with one author, who would you invite?!

happy reading!

i couldn't help myself, part two...

2009-08-13T10:58:00.001-07:00

i gobbled up perfect fifths like a person starved! i'm not kidding...

let me tell you about jessica darling and i... she and i met on a trip i was making from nashville back to idaho falls a few years ago. you see, flying into idaho falls isn't very easy because there are just a few flights a day that come into our little airport. so in addition to all of the plane changes from tennessee, i had a 5 hour layover in my least favorite city in the WORLD--salt lake!! luckily, i had thought ahead and packed several books. i saved sloppy firsts for last because i wasn't sure about it. on a last minute whim, i plucked off of the shelving cart as i was walking out of the library the week prior. it had a bright cover, and i thought what the hell... how bad can it be?! all it had to do was distract me from all that is SLC.

um... distract? how about absorb, fascinate, grip, bewitch, captivate, charm, enchant, hypnotize, mesmerize; monopolize... (yes, i can use a thesaurus) whatever, megan mccafferty had me--i was lost in new jersey with jessica. jessica... my kindred literary spirit. i think there are books where people can identify with characters--i'm not an elizabeth bennet, scout finch, or even the female equivalent of holden caulfield. sometimes i feel like anna karenina... and that's another story. jessica is snarky. and we all know that's one of my favorite traits in a person, as long as it's not directed to me!

needless to say, i finished sloppy firsts in the wee hours of that monday morning. i had to. i needed to get to work to get second helpings and charmed thirds... who cares about my real life? i was lost in the teen-angst of jessica as she maneuvered thru high school in new jersey and into college in the city, her family, her friends, her lusts and, whatever it was with marcus. oh, marcus... ever yearn for something that is so so so bad?!

ok, that's marcus!

then i had to WAIT! me, yes, me, wait 6 long months for the release of fourth comings {actually, my least favorite of the series} and maybe because i was let down, i fell off the jessica darling radar! and here i am in the in the local bookstore this summer when i saw this cover taunting me because i had no idea it was coming out! i had to buy it for my very own, then and there--as i actually own the whole of the series.

but you might be asking at this point, so what?!

although, i never, ever want to be in high school again, being with jessica wa kind of like being with me.. we both seemed to feel the pressure of friends, the ridiculous heavy weight of virginity, the want to feel that electrified shock from being in the full rush of first love/lust, of parents and looming future of graduation, college, and then what?! toss in the ins and outs, sometimes silence, cryptic communication of the said object of love/lust... it creates a very confused girl. a very confused girl i think almost any woman can relate to, on some level. and as we "grown ups" have survived our teens, we... i... want to see jessica out of the limbo and at peace, happy with {or without} marcus. in perfect fifths (don't you love these titles?!) jessica has been off marcus for almost 2 years and then she runs into him at the newark airport--literally runs into him as she is about to miss her plane. then in her ever-sharp wit, gut-wrenching reality of the situation and on-top-of-it popular culture ways, mccafferty ends the series...

read this series--you will be disappointed, and then not, and then again and then...

i'm not the only one who thinks this series is a gem:

“Judy Blume meets Dorothy Parker.”—The Wall Street Journal (this one is my favorite!!)
“Jessica offers brilliant and cutting insights into the world of the adolescent about-to-be-a-woman.”—Chicago Sun-Times
“Megan McCafferty’s hilarious coming-of-age novels are getting better as Jess gets older. . . . Acidly funny, imaginatively profane and, above all, a sharp reflection of the what-do-I-do-now, postcollege dilemma.”—Miami Herald

oh, and don't ever forget about the greatest showman of the generation... the soundtrack to the books!

i couldn't help myself!

2009-08-10T18:37:00.000-07:00

okay, so i didn't put the castaways aside like i said... i just couldn't!

so here is the thing:

four sets of couples that are friends.
one set dies.
affairs arise.
infatuations arise.
hurt and anger arise.
guilty feelings arise.
and yet, the six remaining survive... friendships intact.

i didn't want to read this book any further than the point where the affair was revealved because we have these 3 couples that we pal around with, and i didn't want to think about what creepiness is lying, laying (whatever) underneath the drunken flirting and innuendos we throw at each other when we're together. there is room for wandering, fighting, jealousy, judgements and hurt because:

none of our marriages are perfect, there are comparisons among husbands--and wives, if i should/could venture a guess...
we raise our kids all differently, and we're all critical about each others skill of this to a fault...
some of us are more secure financially, some are constantly struggling...

but what this book did to me, is show that i'm so blessed with this family of friends that are so entrenched with me, and i with them, that together we can weather any storm that comes our way. it sounds corny, but don't we all want friends like that?!

so thanks, elin, for writing a book that made me uncomfortable, that sucked me in, and showed me that friends are indeed the family we get to choose! oh, and for making nantucket sound even better than i'd ever imagined...

___________________

something else--because i'm feeling extra chatty tonight... as i was over at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'? today, and she got me thinking too! this just pisses me off: why don't people think the books i read/recommend are as good as i said they were... they didn't love them as much as i did! i mean, come on, i am a book peddler. i think i know my stuff... so to answer her questions:

Is there a book you don’t understand why others haven’t liked it? yes-- the english patient ... okay, i read this question wrong!! I LOVE THE ENGLISH PATIENT, book and movie... but i can't seem to get into the ever popular harry potters, the lord of the rings trilogy, or the twilight series no matter how people love to tell me i'm wrong!!
Have you ever tried to convince others about why they should have like a book? no--because i can't begin to understand what's wrong with this person who disagrees... with ME?!
Has someone ever tried to convince you of a book’s merits? yes-- and i have a few things to say about that. (1) i don't like required reading--don't hound me. (2) i don't like fantasy or sci-fi... sorry, i can't wrap my head around it. maybe i'm not as smart as i thought, but please don't hound me about vampires and house gobblins. (3) diana gabaldon... i'm so sorry i resisted you for so long!

and... i've just cracked into the last in the series of Jessica Darling by megan mccafferty--perfect fifths. and marcus flutie still does it for me : )

happy reading!

ooooky...

2009-07-31T11:08:00.000-07:00

i'm sorry...

i have to put the castaways aside for a bit...

elin hilderbrand has cooked up this story about four couples who are the "best" of friends... on the surface. you know, they do a bunch of stuff together: eat, raise their kids, vacation, whatnot... but now that i've read enough to dip bit below the surface, ugly things are coming into light.

so, what's the drama?! the drama for me is i have this same scenario, and all of the sudden, going to have a beer at the {new} idaho brewing company after work with my friend-- who happens to be a guy--makes me feel more than a little oooky. not because there is a reason to feel that way--no guilty feelings, but because ... oh, i don't know... it's weird how these "things" can slowly evolve... eeww...

don't get me wrong--i'm loving the book... but i need to step back and take a refreshing deep breath. have you read this book? am i being as ridiculous as always? most likely...

happy reading!

can you expand on that please...

2009-07-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

oh, dear, miss rebecca... i'm afraid that you may have forgotten to add somethings to your new book, the crowing glory of calla lily ponder because altho i finished the book, i'm definitely not finished with this story! i did take liberal "reading breaks" this weekend because i couldn't put this book down--i escaped to "water" a friend's garden for an hour and a half, and locked myself in the tub for two hours. but never-you-mind about that.

now i'm sure you want to know what i think about the book, and of course, i loved it... i loved it so much that i want MORE! i'm going to give you a list of the things i'd like to see more of:

i'm dying to know the romantic history of calla's parents, and where did m'dear come from rather than mama...
i want to have a whole, entire book about sweet and calla, from beginning to end and their life in the big N.O... if i had a better glimpse of that, maybe i'd have been more ready to let him, oh, you know...
i want to know more about sukey and her mom, and what shaped her to be who she was. and i need more information about the whole bunny lifestyle, especially in new orleans...
i'd also like to get more background about the tuckers, their daughter and and that whole thing...
what happened to tuck in california...
and i were to ask for more about calla, sukey and renee (oh, man, i've kinda forgotten the other friend's name) growing up, are we then crossing into ya-ya territory. probably, so i won't ask.

now don't for a minute think that i'm going to pull a teddy duchamp {again}, and want to know what happens after the story ends. i'm actually okay with the ending... it's the fact that i had to leave la luna, louisanna when i turned the last page that makes me melancholy. there is something about the south that is so intoxicating to this rocky mountain girl, and the town of la luna has got to have many more stories to sate my selfish reading wants!

okay, miss rebecca, you now know what i want... but because i eat up everything you write, i guess i'll let you write what you want and be satisfied with that. the crowning glory of calla lily ponder is a great story, mayhaps a skeleton to flesh out with more books? maybe? i will be patient...

warmly- jh

PS: but maybe because i'll be recommending this to everyone at the library, maybe you could help me out and give me a little something more about la luna. thanks!

watch miss rebecca talk about the new book...

walking away...

2009-07-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

the richest season has similiarities to anne tyler's ladder of years...

on the spur of the moment, almost as a fleeting thought, these women leave their homes and families because they just can't do it anymore...

um, hello...

who hasn't wanted to run-away for a while every now and then?

it sounds like such a freedom to leave behind everything that wasn't working in your life...

starting your life over as someone entirely different, leaving the past and embarking on a better future...

doing things that you weren't able to try because of limits--self-imposed or otherwise...

is it okay to react to the selfishness with more selfishness?

is it the only way to be heard? is it punishment for those left at home?

i don't know.

i chose this book because it was about pawley's island in south carolina, because i love books about the south. it was about the beach, and i love books about the beach... little did i know it would be an cautionary epistle about what happens when there is a loss of communication breaking down relationships.

it's easy to look back in hindsight and see how it happens... but is it as easy to identify the grind when it's gradually eroding everything important around you? when do the important things that we once held so close drift away? are we really so busy that we don't notice when we get caught up in work, in kids' activities, my friends versus your friends...? it's scary.

but then again, do we escape only to save our loved ones from the pain we will unavoidingly inflict? this is one of those books with two characters running away for two different reasons...

happy reading!

(is unavoidingly a word? i need a proofreader)

(photograph of pawley's island was shamelessly swiped from blue sky gallery)

i love the ocean...

2009-07-06T18:39:00.000-07:00

that's why i chose the richest season by maryann mcfadden... am i the only one who chooses books by their covers?

or what about books about the ocean... beach music, body surfing, colony, shell seekers, barefoot, the ocean within, an ocean apart, off-season, comig home, summer sisters. the beach house, the sound of waves...

any other good beach books?

shameless plug...

2009-06-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

i have been reading other the book blogs in the world, and seeing that they kinda talk about the books, and what the books are about, and have this really nice review about the book... and then i looked here and saw that you all are privy to my deepest, darkest thoughts about what i'm reading! is it a blessing or a curse?! it could be why no one is sending me free books to review!!well, whatever, i'll let you chew on that... (as well as my obvious addiction to ellipsisesssss...)

anyway, about this shameless plug... do you know about NextReads? this is a very cool tool that libraries offer their patrons to help them decide what they want to... um... read next. it's a newsletter thingy that is sent to you via your email--but wait before you think SPAM... it only sends you lists of new and older books that INTEREST YOU!!! fabulous idea, right?! unfortunately, your library has to subscribe to the service... so get on your librarians and tell them this is a great thing and YOU WANT IT!! if you want to see a trial newsletter, let me know and i'll email you a link.

another very cool thing i just learned in library school (only 9 more semesters to go, in case you were wondering!) is randomhouse.com... yeah, these are the publisher/distributor people, but their website has a lot of great tools, like author alerts, book lists for almost everything you can think of and newsletters too! of course, i have signed up for a bunch of author alerts because i don't want my patrons to know about these before i do, because they get their name on the list and i have to WAIT! wait? no. i don't do that.

so here is my question: rosamunde pilcher is almost 86... do you think we'll see another book? in light of all of these deaths, i'm really hating mortality.

the rush of the "hook-up"

2009-06-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

nick and norah's infinite playlist

by rachel cohn and david levithan made me all squishy with the memories of those times with that heady rush of emotion/lust* when you first meet the boy, and when the boy finally kisses you and you feel like you will implode if he stops kissing you...

but then your mind wanders into the mire of uncertainty and self-doubt... does he really like me, he's way too nice--he can't be trusted, what will i do if he doesn't call me tomorrow, or the next day, or the next...

why do we do that?!

or am i being too encompassing in thinking that this is a common thing, and this is just my deal!? i mean, now i do the same thing with grown-up women i meet and want to be friends with. i think things are going great, until i start rethinking all of my words and thoughts...

really? i said THAT?

seriously?!

i didn't see this movie before i read the book, but i wonder if a movie can do the book any justice whatsoever. the book is written with rachel cohn writing norah's thoughts and feelings and david levithan giving us insight to nick and what's going on in his head. i don't know how the movie could explain the rush of emotions driving these two together, apart and together all night in the club scene of manhattan. the feelings are raw, sweet and a little sad, but they are real feelings.

this book won the ALA Best Books for Young Adults 2007 and the ALA Quick Pick for Young Adult Reluctant Readers 2007. it reads super fast and is a full of music references. and if you're looking for a more "mature" yet no-less gut-wrenching book with lots of music in it, try love is a mixed tape by rob scheffield

off to bed with anita shreve's the last time they met...

happy reading!

(*remember what it was like to see jake ryan waiting on his red porche for molly ringwald at the end of sixteen candles... that goosebumpy feeling)

then what?!

2009-06-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

ok, this morning, i feel like corey feldman in stand by me when he says. "then what happened" at the end of the barf-o-rama story... and not because i do giggle at the most inane things like a pre-pubescent boy. but because upon finishing swapping lives, i want to know what happened next!

it's not because i can't see the value of an open-ended story, but because jane green wrote this story that you can't help to get meshed into! and so by the end, your emotionally tied to these women and are hoping that they do go on to better people because of the swap.

well, i don't feel that way completely... i didn't like amber. total social climber. i've witnessed the keeping up with the jones' east coast style personally, and those chicks kinda freak me out. but i did feel for her losing herself in mommy/wife-dom. and maybe her whole character was too close to real life for me... and that's why i loved vicki. single. londoner. great job. funny. what's there not to love and covet? and then there's bill-the chicken man with a sexy bum and hugh janas {say it out loud} both wooing for her attentions... oh, to be woo'd again... and by some guy with an english accent... hmm...

now that it's over, i want more...

needs a tweak...

2009-06-10T08:17:00.000-07:00

while i was working on the new look, i lost some stuff. i'm working on getting it all back...

while i do that... have you read

English Patient

by Michael Ondaatje

my friend at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin' just reviewed it, and gave it an 85%... what did you think?

last night...

2009-06-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

... i was awake thinking about blogging!!

and if it's keeping me awake at nights, i think it's a sure sign that i better blog... so here i am, blogging rather than working!

i'm almost done with The New Girls by Beth Gutcheon... it's not that i don't like it, but there are so many books that distract my unfocused mind! i think it's really slow going because i'm reading/listening to too many others...

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton ... a true gothic novel with the whole thing unraveling in the last 5 pages of the book... i liked the book, but i wanted more. it made me think of other books that i really liked, but was frustrated at the end because i wasn't DONE even tho the author was. if you like this kind of sadistic insanity, try The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield or The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell... go ahead, drive yourself crazy, don't do laundry or feed your kids because that's what going to happen when you get yourself caught in these webs... good stuff though

i'm also listening to Swapping Lives by Jane Green... last summer i read her Beach House and loved, loved, loved it! so when i was going to montana in april i grabbed Swapping Lives to lisen to, but we of course listened to Away by Amy Bloom (see post for May 1, 2009), so i have finally gotten around to listening to it... and i'm not quite done, but this book is full of twists, turns and completely unexpected twirls. i keep expecting the usual events as this isn't a new idea, but i'm pleasantly surprised! premise is this--an english journalist, who is very much single at 35 (but has the wonderful luxury of the neighborhood shag) who swaps her life with that of a married, east coast, very wealthy SaHM and her "McMansion". neither is especially happy, and when the magazine pushes for this "experiement," they both jump at the chance. but what i find to be so interesting about this book are things i think we all struggle with at one point or another...

*why is it that we're all so eager to hop over the fence to dance on the greener grass?

* why do we all play the "keeping up with the jones'" when we're sick of doing it?

*and why do we search for things to make us happy--when if we slowed down, we'd see that we have everything we need?

it's one of those annoying hazards about reading... you get convicted by these "fictious" characters living these "fictious" lives, and all of the this "fiction" causes you to start specuating about your very real life. but the real rub is what are we doing to our kids? what are we teaching them? ugh...

(jane green is coming out with "dune road" this month... without reading it, i recommend it)

and of course, i have Voyager sitting on the table beckoning me back to scotland and claire... um... jamie!!

happy reading!

OH MY! OH MY! OH MY!

2009-05-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

this is the problem with blogging about the books you read...

you want to talk about the whole book, especially the end!!!

needless to say, i've finished dragonfly in amber... and diana gabaldon kind of amazes me with the way she brings all of this history and weaves it into a great story around two people who have this love that is timeless and endless. there are so many points in this book that made me break out in goose bumps, but one specific is near the end when jamie comes to claire claiming her for his own and demanding that she never utters frank's name again... never, never another... {big sigh}

i would have liked to read these books as they were printed, naive to the fact that there was another one down the pike. i think when i know that there are several more books, my mind wanders on how can it continue if...

where will the story turn if 'this' happens...

how will i survive, oh, man, i mean claire--not me, how will claire survive...

and what's to become of brianna?

i do have voyager taunting me... it's sitting there in it's hideous green B&N bag. i hear it's just as wonderful as the first two. and so again, i'm amazed that she can take all of this stuff and write these massive books that make this massive series!! amazing, i say!

so i finished my final... an A+, just in case i haven't already proudly told you personally... and i am grateful for my friend LORI who read it and helped me finish it on time last thursday night! and now that i'm done, i'm reading up a storm and trying to get caught up with the blogging...

and now to fill the gap between the semesters, and because i'm feeling the occupational requirement and obligation to read something that people are raving about... i picked up kate morton's the house at riverton. it's gloomy, and dark and mysterious and a more than a little gothic in it's ambiguous vagueness. we're looking at an 90-something year old woman who is asked to remember what happened at this house, because she served as a house maid at the english manor in the years before world war one. she's tried to forget, but someone is making a movie of the eerie events, causing her to remember... this is the perfect book to read now. no school and no husband to distract me : ) i'm getting pulled deeper and deeper into grace's story... who needs to sleep when there are great books to read!?

also on the bedside table is the new girls by beth gutcheon. i've been reading this book while reading others... so it's taking longer than usual. this is set up like other books i've read, several classmates reunite later in life to find that one has mysteriously died. yet, i know that beth gutcheon has got something up her sleeve to make this one stand out.

one more, away by amy bloom... wow! i listened to this on my way up to and home from kalispell, montana for a work thing. if you are looking for a strong female character, lillian leyb is for you. after she finds her family murdered in a pogrom, she immigrates to america. in america, she knows that she's got one major asset--her femaleness. and she exploits it as much as those who think they are exploiting lillian. if that wasn't enough, it comes to her that her daughter did survive the attack and is currently living in siberia. and off she goes in search of her daughter... alone... from new york city to seattle and up north to get to siberia. several things caught me about the book, but the author's device of showing how lillian affected the lives of those she met along the way. at times, you hate that lillian is allowing herself to be treated like she is, but then you have to admire her for the selfless acts she performs just to reach her child. who wouldn't do whatever it took to get back to a child whom you thought was dead?! imagine being an immigrant who can't fully speak the language, is a woman, is alone and is oft taken advantage of for the three prior conditions. it's a great read, just maddening!

happy reading!

i was wrong...

2009-04-03T21:10:00.000-07:00

... i can see that now. i started dragonfly in amber by diana gabaldon, and i can now see why the publisher said the thing about claire leading a "double life." at the beginning of DinA, it's 1968 and she's with her daughter (!?) and her husband, frank randall, has recently died! so i read quickly, flipping pages in a panic... wondering...

WHERE IS JAMIE?!

i was so excited to pick this book up to be back with jamie... well, and, um, you know, claire, the history and stuff... but where is my kilted scotsman?! i'm withholding judgement until i'm further in the book--but if there is no jamie, hell will have to be paid!

_______________________________________

when i got back to work this week---yes, arizona was great, warm and way too short!--there were a bunch of books on the hold shelf for me! it's kind of a feast of famine kind of thing... and now i have about 6 books in my queue. luckily, i have the kind of job where i'm expected to read. on the top of my stack is the new maeve binchy book, heart and soul. you know, i actually was chatted up by her at a book signing at the tattered cover book store in denver. let me preface this story by staying i'm not a name dropper, and i don't feel like she and i are BFFs. i was pregnant with ryan, and i was about last in the line to have my copy of tara road signed. she was very kind, and put a hand on my tummy and asked me about my family. then a sad look swept her face as she said something about what great jobs moms have. and of course, me being me and being pregnant, i started crying. and it's something that i hold very dear. so anyway, i'm going to be double-fisting, along with the text books, for the next few days... life is good!

happy reading!

new favorite

2009-03-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

when you find an author that you like, you know you can pick up any book and not be disappointed, right? my list of that ilk includes :

maeve binchy w i l l a c a t h e r fannie flagg nick hornby rosamunde pilcher anita shreve anne rivers siddons amy tan even my buddy, uncle stevie

and now i've added sarah addison allen to my list.

i, of course, loved the debut of garden spells and recommended it to everyone in the library--whether they asked for help or not. it was so magical... and i loved that the garden had a life of it's own, and the whole thing with the secret powers of the herbs and plants... okay, it's just another that i loved!!

yet, you never know if a debut novel is going to be a flicker that quickly fades, or the first of many great books. but now that i have finished the sugar queen, i know that garden spells wasn't a charming drop in the pan, and neither is the author.

the sugar queen is just as magical and enchanting as i hoped. there are a few things going on here, josey is controlled by her bitter mother, is in love with her mailman, and has a strange woman living in her closet--the closet that holds josey's stash of sweets, romance novels and travel magazines (that's not a sign of repression, is it?); and then there is chloe and the books that appear to her. not like the books she finds on the shelf at the store, but like the books, that follow her from work to home and back again!! oh, man how would that be? i 'spose it could be annoying when you don't want to listen to the books... chloe is like that and the finding forgiveness book that's hounding her.

when josey and chloe team up (with the pushing of the lady in the closet) wonderful things happen for both of them... i don't want to say too much because this book unfolds slowly like a flower in spring... and before you know it, you're stuck and you never want to leave. and don't worry, it's not as sugary sweet as the title may lead you to believe... enjoy!

happy reading!

it's like meth!

2009-03-17T09:42:00.001-07:00

this cursed facebook is as addictive as meth... i'm sure of it!

despite facebook, i finally finished Outlander by Diana Gabaldon... and i have to say that it was rough going for the first 300 pages. but then, time came to a screeching stop. all i wanted was to be in scotland... and i wanted to be curled up in a ball on my couch reading to see what would happen next!

why? what happened to change my mind? i was blown away with how well-written this book was, and then again how can you not love a book that has romance, time travel, highland lore and history, danger, suspense... and, i hate to gush over a beautifully rugged (and funny, oh so funny) scotsman-- i dare you not to fall in love with jamie.

one of the things i love about this book is that we get to read about a strong female character!claire is a modern 1945 woman, she's been a field nurse for 6 years, she has ideas and opinions and she stands her ground... even with her new husband. and sometimes she pays for her strong-willed nature, and other times this independence is what saves men's lives... mainly, jamie's.

in spite of both of their stubborn natures, jamie and claire have so much passion for each other... it's intoxicating. you want whatever they have to flow out of the book and wash over you. the publisher says that she's leading a double life because "she has a husband in one century, and a lover in another"... that confused me. i kept waiting for her to go back to 1945--spoiler alert--but given the chance, she doesn't go. frank is a distant memory, so to me there is no double life. she chose the life she wanted... jamie.

i love this book, against all preconceived notions about it. i was reluctant because of the "paranormal" tag and the heft of the book, lame, lame excuses! and now i can't imagine not reading this book, or the 6 following! in fact, i have already bought Dragon Fly in Amber from half.com, and claire and jamie will be traveling with me to arizona!
____________________________________________

this is totally a side note, claire is also the name of the character in the Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger... which is a pretty good "paranormal" book too! i'm not sure why i shy away from these. when i read them, i really like them... for example, i loved the TTW so much, i painted my kitchen so i could look "busy" while finishing listening to it!

public in the public libraries...

2009-02-23T12:26:00.000-08:00

why?

why am i so snarky?

2009-02-10T10:57:00.000-08:00

the mood comes and goes, and i apologize...

but i still don't think i'm going to read Twilight

anyway, let's talk about the Sweet In-Between by Sheri Reynolds. i hate to say that this is an odd book... but it's an odd book.

an odd book that i couldn't put down.
an odd book that reassured me that families are families, and those binds are strong no matter how warped and twisted.
an odd book with a cover that looks sweeter than it's contents.

here's kenny... she lives with her aunt glo--who isn't an aunt, just the last "respectable" person in her life--and all of her family. she's there because her dad is sent to prison for drugs, and it's actully a pretty good set up because when aunt glo isn't oxytocin'ed out, she is kind and loving and is forgiving about the fact that kenny is doing whatever she can to look less like the girl she is and more like a boy, a boy that no body will take notice of. i never for a second think she wants to be a boy and all of that. i think she wants to be no where-- lost in the sweet in-between of needing a family, but fearing the knowledge that she's not really a member of the family, and when she turns eighteen, no one will want her.

i think we all do this thing where we want to just sink into the background and not make a fuss. we want to be meshed into something comfortable and safe; and fear if we come from the shadows, we will be set free from what we love. maybe that comes from betrayals, lack of trust and faith in people... i don't know, and maybe this is just how i feel sometimes.

in the end, you want to pick kenny up, brush off the "dirt" of her life, give her a push and send her out the real life that is waiting for her. you want better for her, and yet know what she has is all she really needs.

Entertainment Weekly said, "[A] sweet coming-of-age story, thanks to its young, wise-beyond-her-years, Scout Finch-esque heroine." I'm not sure i agree with that, because i don't see scout as fragile as kenny... read it and you tell me what you think about that!

as for Sheri Reynolds, the author, i read the The Rapture of Canaan way back when Oprah was reading it. the characters seem similar, and i remember that i felt the same way... sad, but hopeful.

happy reading

since i'm not an published author...

2009-02-04T15:07:00.000-08:00

... i don't feel like i can critize another author's work.

however, i agree strongly with this published author's thoughts about the Twilight series...

"The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn," he said. "She's not very good."

so i have read neither the Harry Potter series nor the Twilight series. but i haven't read them for several different reasons:

i have a hard time wrapping my head around fantasy books... i fall asleep during LotR

i wanted to read harry with my boys... boy bonding time

after hearing gal after gal from 13 to 63 tell me that Twilight was the best book she ever read, it kind of (totally) soured me

i like erotica in my vampire stories, not whiny drivel... and again, uncle stevie and i agree on this:

"People are attracted by the stories, by the pace and in the case of Stephenie Meyer, it's very clear that she's writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It's very exciting and it's thrilling and it's not particularly threatening because they're not overtly sexual.

"A lot of the physical side of it is conveyed in things like the vampire will touch her forearm or run a hand over skin, and she just flushes all hot and cold. And for girls, that's a shorthand for all the feelings that they're not ready to deal with yet."

everyone is entitled to their opinion, and i love having people agree my opinions!

new book to my favorites list

2009-01-25T14:40:00.000-08:00

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

this is easily one of the most beautiful books i have ever read.

of course, it's set in my favorite time period and place, so it was easy to get lost in this series of letters that unfolded into a gorgeous story about books, the German Occupation of the Channel Islands (Guernsey), the powerful binds of friends and a unexpected romance.

i may be slightly ignorant of history, but i had no idea that the germans occupied these islands, and that the people living there were cut off from the world. did you? actually don’t say if you did, it would just make me feel bad.

i think that one of the things i really loved about this book is that people who weren’t necessarily book people, but they became book-lovers out of necessity of precarious situations. a community is built because of one person has a pig and tells a fib to a german officer…

it’s preposterous to even contemplate a situation that would be similar for today—the world was such a different place. we’re sometimes over-scheduled, we often don’t know our neighbors, and we may not be comfortable into a group of strangers. and what are the odds of being cut off from the rest of the world (although, I sometimes feel that way in Idaho) when we have many more devices for communication than letters and telegrams? and why don't we write more letters? i love the thought of getting something other than dish bill in my mail box!

i suppose, it’s a romantic time to think about… the end of war, rebuilding and freedoms won. such a hopeful time. this is probably why I love books from this point in history. and i know that i’ve idealized the times, but it’s nice to look back and see how a world ravaged by war turned itself around. i suppose it also gives me hope for the future.

if you also like this slice of history, have I told you how much I love Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher? it’s my all-time favorite book! it's about a girl who is left to attend school in england, while her family (mom, dad and sister) live in singapore right before the war. judith is one of my favorite characters because she wasn't a milquetoasty girl who wallowed in self-pity about being left behind, nor did she sap on and on about needing a man. she pulled herself together and relied on herself to get her thru. she inspires me to be a stronger woman!

so that's my favorite book … what’s yours?

off of the soapbox

2009-01-17T21:58:00.000-08:00

okay, so now we know i'm passionate about my profession... let's talk about books again.

i'm going to backtrack a little, because i think i built up this thing about the book The Shack. i finished it awhile ago, but didn't comment because of two main reasons:

i don't want to sound forced, preachy or self-righteous. the thing is, this book made me reconsider how i think about God in my life. more specifically, the way i sometimes feel distanced from Him. however, that it's my sin and my hostile, dissatisfaction with stuff that made me feel distanced. it's not that He has forsaken me since i've moved to idaho, but i made my idaho existence my own prison away from Him. my anger, disappointment and melancholy comes from how i have dealt with situations, and those are my walls--not His, or anyone else's, for that matter.

it convicted me in my sins--and who wants to hear about that? i certainly don't. it's those sins that isolate me from God and a lot of people in my life. it's the judgments i offhandedly make, when i'm actually not worthy of making of them. i mean, is it really necessary for me to snarkily comment about the woman at mall today who was far too old to be wearing the pink knock-off uggs with the pom-poms? or am i any better of a mother than the woman who is pregnant with yet another brat to add to her ill-behaving and poor-parented brood... just because they are buggin' me at every turn in the grocery store! in the wide scheme of things, let's take a look at the child has been heard to drop the f-bomb?! yeah, that would be my nine year old.

{big sigh} it's a good book--i love the imagery and imagination. i recommend it with caution--prepare yourself for serious introspection rather than a great literature experience.

happy reading!

just a thought...

2009-01-13T10:24:00.000-08:00

"Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries."

not only am i a librarian, but i am a library user... i love libraries and what they have to offer. i can remember being at my library in Arvada, on snowy sunday afternoons doing homework--really i was there not out kissing boys like my parents {might have} thought. i can remember begging them to hire me--which they never did. i can remember the snarky librarians who never seemed to remove themselves from their chairs at the reference desk...

but more recently, i can't tell you the value of storytime for a poor, poor SaHM! forget about the importance of early literacy, blah, blah, blah... what about the time where someone else was entertaining my children... for free?! (that is when we weren't being kicked out of storytimes, thank you librarians of Stanley Lake)...

and altho the snarky librarians are retiring (i hope) bringing in a whole new crop of library and information specialists (thank you SJSU), libraries are becoming endangered. they are closing at alarming numbers--don't let this happen to yours!

please use your local library!

great books of 2008

2009-01-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

sadly, i'm so behind!

i haven't read all of them, so it looks like i'll be very busy reading!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Shaffer, Mary Ann

(i can't tell you how mcuh i'm loving this book right now! i'm savoring it, making it last.)

The Art of Racing in the Rain
Stein, Garth

People of the Book
Brooks, Geraldine

The Story of Edgar Sawtell
Wroblewski, David

Beginner's Greek
Collins, James

The Brass Verdict
Connelly, Michael

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Diaz, Junot

The 19th Wife
Ebershoff, David

The Mistress of the Art of Death
Franklin, Ariana

The Cellist of Sarajevo
Galloway, Steven

Mudbound
Jordon, Hillary

Unaccustomed Earth
Lahiri, Juhumpa

Run
Patchett, Ann

Olive Kitteridge
Strout, Elizabeth

this list came from the collective brain of the Fiction-L listserv librarians, and my personal opinions on what sounded good! enjoy!

tis the season...

2008-12-27T07:26:00.001-08:00

i hope this finds you happy and still revelling in the joy of your Christmas, Chanukah or even just a few days off!

my friend, Dr. Curtis Smith has won the prize for the interim title--notice it's gone back to working title... which is still the also the name of the film company who brought us Four Weddings and a Funeral and more recently Burn After Reading, and you know how much we love that good stuff! Dr. Smith didn't get the promised free book, but he did get a much coveted TIKI! TIKI! TIKI! t-shirt from the IFPL reading program... it will complete his collection. it's so interesting how a person without a library card can have a t-shirt from every program?

well, anyway, as you can see from the previous post, The Shack is quite a book. it's taking me a long time to read, because i feel the need to reread full chapters, make little notes, journal the parts that pierce my soul, and sometimes, i just have to set it aside. i'm not ready to discuss this one just yet...

however, at the last swim meet i read Lorna Landvik's new book, 'Tis the Season... this is one of those books that you can read at a swim meet because the story is told through emails and letters, so it's easy to follow even when you have to put the book down occasionally.

we have a celebutante who needs to battle her alcoholism and the demons of paparazzi to become her own person--not the one who everyone sees on the cover of the Star magazine while waiting in line at the market. or maybe i'm the only person in the world who finds the longest line at the wal-mart (sorry, guys, it's the only game in town) so i can read the magazines while i wait.

anyway, while i think that this book was a push for the holiday book market sales by Landvik's publisher and nowhere near her best work, it made me think about when i was in Washington DC two summers ago, watching Paris Hilton's release from prison. as i sat on my king-sized bed alone, i said to my self, "Self, why are you watching this? do you even care about this?" and yet i was drawn to the drama... as if my life doesn't have enough drama?

so then i waiver between pity and disgust. perhaps, i do feel like these girls are treated unfairly by the media--i mean, should my life be constantly photographed and criticized, i'd be a whackjob too! but then again, i usually wear underwear when wearing skirts, i try very hard not so sound stupid when i speak with people, and... well... this whole supposition is so ridiculous.

if you want to read something by Lorna Landvik, try Angry Housewives Eating Bonbons... and if you've read that, here is a list of her other stuff--it's all good!

oh, speaking of Christmas reading, i also started Christmas Letters by Debbie Macomber... anyone have any thoughts this one? i have never read anything by Macomber, but i know the gals at the library are crazy about her.

one more thing... can i tell you how irritating B&N is to me? since we are reading the Outlander for my book club, i went to the bookseller to buy the book and they don't have any of the books in the series! they have the newest books by Diana Gabaldon, the Lord John series... and according to fantasticfiction, there will be a new book in the Outlander series in 2009. maybe because i did my time in the slavery of the retail book hell, i'm hypersensitive to the fact that they rarely have the things i'm looking for! ugh!

enough ranting, it's the holiday season... so happy reading until next time!

three in one...

2008-11-30T19:27:00.000-08:00

what would you do if you received a cryptic note from God asking you to meet him in the shack where your youngest child was brutally murdered?

and what if you went to the said shack, and met a large african-american woman, a small asian woman, and a middle eastern man dressed as a carpenter...

and when you asked them, "which one of you is God?" all three of them said in unison, "i am."

this is where i am in this book by william paul young. he's not the narrator, but a outside friend to mack who has just met God. the description of his first meeting of the three was one of those things that bring tears to the eyes and goosebumps all over.

of course, i'm sure there are sticklers out there questioning the doctrine of the whole personified trinity, but i can't imagine anything would be better than being enveloped in a warm and welcoming hug from a big woman who will hold me when i hurt, knows all of my sins and still loves me without judgement... unconditionally.

to me that is God.

how much hot water does it take to finish a book?

2008-11-25T18:32:00.000-08:00

i simply had to finish this book.

i sent my kids away(thank you, jacquie and curtis), and i went into the tub until i was pruny; and luckily, i didn't run out of hot water while finishing Testimony.

i know i said that it was bugging me, but "bugging" isn't the right word. it was like a foreboding feeling that was lingering constantly in the back of my mind. in this book we are looking at 5 families that are forever altered, if not completely destroyed. a reader has to step back and ask:

how would i respond?

is there something that a parent could do to let a child know that there is nothing they could do that would make the parent not love them? how do you ease the guilt off their shoulders when they realize that one decision has forever changed their own future, as well as that of the parent?

on the other hand, is there something a child might do that a parent couldn't forgive? and altho that seems like conditional love--is it possible to be so disgusted with your kids that your love is shadowed in that disgust? God, i hope not.

then, how can you let these "young immortals" know that every choice has a consequence--whether it be good or bad? and no matter the consequence, the path veers one way or another. as adults, it's easy to see the path you've taken to get you to today; teenagers don't necessarily see that... it's almost like they are looking at the horizon of their future, without remembering the course that brought them to the cusp of tomorrow. i've been on that precipice, and maybe that's why i'm always walking around with a safety net for my boys.

at powells.com, there is a video of anita shreve talking about the book. it's always interesting to see what the authors have to say about their work...

i'm wondering if i should again request a little help on this title... at this point i kind of like working title--but i'm still open to suggestions, and i really will send you a book. really!

also i'm sitting at the library typing away--what a great job i have--thinking about doing a rating system... but i think not. i'm not really a reviewer, and i think that books strike people in different ways on different days. i would hate to dissuade a book from being read just because i didn't like it. i mean, really, that would wipe out most of the world's great fantasy and sci-fi novels. the last thing i want is a bunch of readers freaking out on me because i gave a bad rating for newest Mercedes Lackey book... which i wouldn't even read in the first place... all of this rambling over a moot point. so, no ratings.

i did like Testimony tho... it's new and by Anita Shreve... maybe your local library has a copy...

i hated that title...

2008-11-18T17:34:00.000-08:00

if anyone has a brilliant title for my self-indulgent blog, leave me a comment. if i like your suggestion, i'll rename the blog and i'll send you a book as a boobie prize.

okay, so i'm about half way thru Testimony, and i have to be honest... it's kind of making me feel creepy. Anita Shreve is weaving this story around these basketball players at a private school who are caught on tape with a fourteen year old girl.

two things are bugging me:

shreve is bringing everyone involved in the situation into the story--including the boys' moms. i can't imagine how they feel knowing their sons are involved with this kind of a thing. as a mom of little boys, i will always see them as naked babies running around fresh out of the tub... the last thing i ever want to see is them on a sex tape. i don't even want to face that reality. i'll live in that delusional world that my grandbabies were immaculate conceptions, like i was.
shreve is writing this from all points of view, and i'm not sure who is to blame. on the onset, you know the girl is no angel, and is said to have had "prior practice" by the show of skill on the tape. but as i get to know the boys and the girl, and their families; my judgement is becoming blurred. thus, making this another book, i can't put down!

so while dave is away, in wyoming this time, i spend my nights wrapped up with the electric blanket and my books--unfortunately, not my text books!

holy cow...

2008-11-15T14:37:00.000-08:00

cow?

okay, so it's not my normal expletive, but i think my mom and grandma might read this blog. and even tho they know i unfortunately use said expletive, they don't need to read it, right? plus, it appears i've passed the f-torch to son-number-two.

so anyway, i was reading the other blog today, and i saw that the author of the book i was reading left me a comment!

how cool is that?

i just had to blow the whole 'books on the family blog' thing, and concentrate on yet another blog about books...blog. so here it is! and i'm adding this disclaimer: i'm a professional reader, not a professional book critic. i love talking about books, and sharing titles... feel free to share with me--just be nice.

let's talk about the fact that Cornelia Read, author of The Crazy School stopped by and thanked me for reading her book! read my bio, and you'll see i hardly have the time to read a novel in 3 days... but i couldn't stop myself on this book. not only did i love the mystery looming the in the background that BOOM came to the forefront unexpectedly; i loved the characters who reminded me of people i hung out with in high school! but i went to finish high school--contrary to the book--at a private school to away from my troubled friends. i thought we were all perfectly normal and just bored with arvada suburbia...

anyway, this is what powells.com says about the book:

Madeline Dare has finally escaped rust-belt Syracuse, New York, for the lush Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts. After her husband's job offer falls through, Maddie signs on as a teacher at the Santangelo Academy, a boarding school for disturbed teenagers. Behind the academy's ornate gates, she discovers a disturbing realm where students and teachers alike must submit to the founder's bizarre therapeutic regimen. From day one, Maddie feels uneasy about smooth-talking Dr. Santangelo but when she questions his methods, she's appalled to find that her fellow teachers would rather turn on each other than stand up for themselves, much less protect the students in their care. A chilling event confirms Maddie's worst suspicions, then hints at an even darker secret history, one that twines through the academy's very heart. Cut off from the outside world, Maddie must join forces with a small band of the school's most violently rebellious students — kids whose troubled grip on reality may well prove to be her only chance of salvation.
and library journal said: "Read's novel is fast-paced; once the action starts, don't even think about putting it down. The motives behind the murders are complex, and the ultimate heroes and bad guys are a total surprise. Strongly recommended."
give this book a shot-- you'll be sucked in!