A List of SOME Favorites: A to Z

Awhile back, a few of us did the list of favorite authors A to Z meme. Then 3M did a variation of that and did a list of favorite books, A to Z. So... loving lists like I do, I wanted to try that one and I'm finally getting around to that today:

A: Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
B: The Book Thief
C: A Crack in the Line by Michael Lawrence
D: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
E: Eldest by Christopher Paolini, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
F: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
G: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
H: Harry Potter by JK Rowling
I: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
J: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
K: Katherine by Anya Seton, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
L: Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein
M: Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
N: Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
O: The Outsiders by SE Hinton
P: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Q: The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory
R: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
S: Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
T: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
U: Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
V: The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier
W: Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
X: Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman (sounds like X... close enough right?)
Y: A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
Z: Zorro by Isabel Allende


Hmmmm.... interesting.

Booking Through Thursday: Books vs. Movies

Booking Through Thursday

Books and films both tell stories, but what we want from a book can be different from what we want from a movie. Is this true for you? If so, what’s the difference between a book and a movie?

Yes, I would say that's true. Here's some differences between the two, for me anyway:

Books use your imagination much much more. In movies, it's all done for you.

Books are quiet. Movies are loud.

Books go much deeper into the characters and situations. Movies only scratch the suface with what's really going on.

Books are an "alone" experience. Movies are a social experience.

Books stimulate the brain. Movies stimulate the senses.

Books are more fulfilling, like you've actually accomplished something. Movies are more of a time filler, something you can fit in between everything else.

However, both are very entertaining. Both are great ways to escape the real world. Both are fun and enjoyable.

Books and movies? Yeah... I love 'em both!

Speaking of Classics

Another classics discussion, snagged from Julie:


Classics I Have Never Read and Don't Even Feel Guilty About
Lolita by Nabokov
Lord Jim by Conrad
Ulysses by Joyce
(There's got to be more to this list... but it's not coming to me right now!)


Classic I Have Never Read and Feel a Tad Guilty About
Walden by Thoreau
Pilgrim's Progress by Bunyan
(I've got them, so I'll probably read them some day)


Classics I Want to Read but Haven't Yet
Bleak House by Dickens
Vanity Fair by Thackeray
A Passage to India by Forster
War and Peace by Tolstoy (still working on it!)
Don Quixote by Cervantes
The Little Prince by Saint Exupéry
The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger
(This is just a small list of my hope-to-reads)

Classics I Have Read (or Mostly Read) and Sorta Regret (Julie said Deeply, but I changed it!)
The Good Soldier by Ford (I tried)
The Wings of the Dove by James (I tried)
Moby-Dick by Melville (I tried)
The Idiot by Dostoevsky (I tried)
(I still plan on getting through most of these some day ... I hope)

So... how about you?

Pre-Challenge Fun: A Classics Meme

Trish, who's hosting the Classics Challenge, has come up with this meme to get us exited for her challenge. And even though I'm lousy at challenges, I think I'll try this one and get some classics read since I've been really neglecting them lately!


1. My favorite classic is: sheesh there's so many and I can't list just one! Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice, A Woman in White, The Count of Monte Cristo....

2. The classic I had the toughest time finishing is Crime and Punishment... one I read back in high school. It was a tough one. But then, I ended up using it for all the essays I wrote that year. You can use that book to answer any question!

3. I would recommend A Woman in White by Wilkie Collins to someone who doesn't read a lot of classics or who doesn't generally like classics because it's different, it's funny, it's suspenseful, it's witty... and it would introduce them to one of my favorites but less well-known classic authors: Wilkie Collins.

4. To me, a classic book is a book that stands the test of time. A book that is just as good now as it was then... maybe even better now. A book that people will never get sick of.

5. The type of relationship I have with classics is I love them! I find it easy to get into the rhythm of the older style language. They are some of my favorite books. I miss them. I need to read more of them.

Book Signings....Old Books and New!

We found ourselves (me and a couple kids) at yet another book festival this past weekend. This one held at the local library, a free event geared toward the kids. There were a ton of local authors and illustrators there, so of course, I had to be there!

First, we listened to a reading by the three authors I was most interested in... James Dashner, Brandon Sanderson, and Brandon Mull. They each read from their latest kids fantasy books. That was lots of fun. Then, we went to a Q and A panel that they, along with Mette Ivie Harrison, did where we learned more about them, their background, interests and style. While there, they did a raffle and gave away a bunch of books and t-shirts. JJ won The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull! Cool.

After that, it was book signings. I took along five old books (well some old, some sort of new... but books I already had anyway) to be signed. Four of them (the Jimmy Fincher series and the 13th Reality) by James Dashner, and one (Enna Burning) by Shannon Hale. Plus now we had another Brandon Mull book to get signed. (We'd already taken our other Mull books to be signed a few months ago... remember?)

But first, I had to buy some new books to be signed. Of course. That's the whole point, right? So, I bought two Brandon Sanderson books, Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians (that I just recently read) and Elantris, which I've heard is just as good or better than Mistborn, which I also just recently read. Then, of course, I decided I better try one of Mette Harrison's books, having just listened to her on the panel... so I bought Mirror, Mirror.

Armed with all those books, we tracked down all the authors! We were first in line for James Dashner. He was very cool and made my son promise to email him once he finished the book and tell him what he thought. (Now he feels pressure... silly kid!) Then we got our two new Brandon Sanderson books signed. Then, waited just for a bit for Brandon Mull to sign the book that JJ just won. Shannon Hale's line was long and she wasn't even quite there yet since she was stuck in traffic, so we gave up on that one. Then, we met and talked to Mette Ivie Harrison and got that one signed. Fun, fun!!

I wish we'd had more time to talk to all the illustrators too. They were drawing fun little pictures for all the kids that stopped by their tables. They also had fun crafts and things going on that we didn't have time for. Anyway, a very fun event that I hope the library continues doing in the future.

Two things I decided you must have to be an author:

1. You must have a great sense of humor and be witty and funny.
2. You must have perfected the completely illegible signature! Something that's even worse a scribble than a doctor's!

Both of these must come with the creative brain territory I'm thinking.

Review: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Book: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Genre: SF

Rating: A

Okay, she's done it again! I loved it, and yet to me, it was completely and totally different from Twilight and company. (Not that I was expecting it to be the same) And I know some people dislike Stephenie's style (though tons love it too obviously) but I found myself just as much wrapped up in these characters and their crazy world as I was in the Twilight books. She has a way, simple though it is, of managing to completely immerse the reader. Our dinner was burned last night because of it and we were late getting out the door to various evening activities, but life goes on! I love it!

So, The Host is about how our world has been taken over by an alien race. They live by taking over other life forms, being parasites in the bodies of all different kinds of species.... Earth just being one of them. Sometimes, things don't work quite right and the host body doesn't cooperate as they are meant to. This is therefore the story of how the alien life form (I'm realizing I don't even know what their official name is.... hmmm... I don't think she ever said.... Souls maybe? I think that's it!) deals with that scenario.

I loved all that the story implies on what it means to be human and what it means to love. Do we love the body or the soul? What makes us human? Emotions? Good and bad?

Another wonderful story by Stephenie Meyer. Loved it! Who else out there is reading it? Let me know if you review it and I'll add a link here! Can't wait to hear what you all thought!

Other reviews:

Becky's Review

Michelle's Review

Booking Through Thursday: Manual Labor Redux

Booking Through Thursday

Following up last week’s question about reading writing/grammar guides, this week, we’re expanding the question….

Scenario: You’ve just bought some complicated gadget home . . . do you read the accompanying documentation? Or not?

Do you ever read manuals?

How-to books?

Self-help guides?

Anything at all?

Yes, I do browse through manuals of complicated gadgets. I feel a need to know all the stuff I can do with it! But usually I forget it as soon as I read it. I'm still trying to learn how to work my new car stereo... and I know there's tons more I can do with all the cameras and phones we have.

I read some how to books. As others have mentioned, I like craft books, and cook books.. things like that. Very fun.

But self-help stuff? Not so much any more. It seems like I browsed through in them past, but I haven't now for a long time.