Running Total for 2008

DECEMBER

100. Fame, Glory and Other Things On My To Do List by Janette Rallison
99. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
98. Eggs by Jerry Spinelli
97. Dashing Through the Snow by Carol and Mary Higgins Clark
96. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Colllins
95. Sweethearts by Sara Zarr
94. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
93. Deep Down Popular by Phoebe Stone

NOVEMBER

92. The Uncommon Reader b y Alan Bennett
91. The People of Sparks by Jeanne DePrau
90. The Lace Reader by
89. Blink by Malcom Gladwell
88. Man and Wife by Wilkie Collins
87. Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale
86. Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr
85. Paper Towns by John Green

OCTOBER

84. Lavinia by Ursula K. LeGuin
83. Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson
82. The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
81. Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
80. Jamaica Inn by Daphne duMaurier

SEPTEMBER

79. Elephant Run by Roland Smith
78. The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
77. A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban
76. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
75. Schooled by Gordan Korman
74. Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn
73. Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix
72. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
71. The Losers Guide to Life and Love by A. E. Cannon
70. Revenge of the Cheerleaders by Janette Rallison
69. Magyk by Angie Sage

AUGUST

68. House and Home by Kathleen McCleary
67. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
66. The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
65. Dragon Flight by Jessica Day George
64. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

JULY

63. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
62. All's Fair in Love and War and High School
61. The Never War by D. J. MacHale
60. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
59. The Little Prince by Antoine de Sant Exupery
58. Amazing Gracie by A.E. Cannon
57. Isolde, Queen of the Western Isle by Rosalind Miles
56. It's a Mall World After All by Janette Rallison
55. Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult
54. Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

JUNE

53. Farworld Water Keep by J. Scott Savage
52. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
51. Relocating Mia by Rebecca Lerwill
50. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
49. Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George
48. Life, Love and the Pursuit of Free Throws by Janette Rallison
47. Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson
46. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
45. Mira, Mirror by Mette Ivie Harrison


MAY

44. The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson
43. Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
42. Messenger by Lois Lowry
41. Blessings by Anna Quindlen
40. The Host by Stephenie Meyer
39. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
38. No Talking by Andrew Clements
37. Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson


APRIL

36. Quentins by Maeve Binchy
35. Nicola and the Viscount by Meg Cabot
34. Pants on Fire by Meg Cabot
33. Maximum Ride: The Final Warning by James Patterson
32. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
31. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
30. Looking For Alaska byJohn Green
29. Devilish by Maureen Johnson
28. Magic's Child by Justine Larbalestier

MARCH

27. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
26. The 13th Reality: The Journal of Curious Letters by James Dashner
25. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
24. Jinx by Meg Cabot
23. Dairy of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules by Jeff Kinney
22. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
21. Magic Lessons by Justine Larbalestier
20. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
19. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
18. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
17. Moloka'i by Alan Brennert


FEBRUARY

16. Touching Darkness by Scott Westerfeld
15. The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
14. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
13. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
12. Ready or Not by Meg Cabot
11. Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier

JANUARY


10. The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld
9. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
8. True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff
7. Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolf
6. Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares
5. The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
4. The Writing Life by Annie Dillard
3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
2. The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
1. Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley

February Recap of Books Read

The reading thing seemed kinda slow for me this month. Here's a recap of everything I managed to get in:

Touching Darkness by Scott Westerfeld
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Ready or Not by Meg Cabot
Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier

And now to pick a favorite.... hmmmm..... probably The Story of My Life, with Magic or Madness coming in as a close second.

What was YOUR favorite book this month? :)

Oh, I almost forgot: War and Peace update: I'm up to page 287. Impressive, huh? I managed to read a whole 30 pages this month!!! Sheesh, at this rate, it may take me TWO years to read the thing. I like it just fine, but it gets pushed to the bottom of the pile.

Booking Through Thursday: Heroine

Booking Through Thursday



Who is your favorite female lead character? And why? (And yes, of course, you can name more than one . . . I always have trouble narrowing down these things to one name, why should I force you to?)

My problem? I like 'em all! But the ones that stand out:

• Elizabeth Bennett, of course!
• Jo March of Little Women
• Anne of Anne of Green Gables
• Laura Ingells of the Little House series
• Molly in Wives and Daughters
• Hermione from Harry Potter

So, there's a start of my many favorites!

Review: Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier

Book: Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: A

Oh, I loved this book. It was the perfect "treadmill" book for me this past week because I couldn't wait to get back to it. (You know, treadmill books STAY at the treadmill... that's the whole idea!) I "discovered" this author by reading Scott Westerfeld's (of Uglies fame) blog and he links to this author's blog a lot because... well... she's his wife! Cool, huh. She's great and cracks me up all the time, so I thought I'd finally pick up her book... the first in a series... of course.

It's about a girl named Reason, from Australia, who at first doesn't believe in magic. She comes to find out, though, that it is real. She also learns there's quite the catch. If you use your magic, you lose years from your life, but if you don't use it, then you go insane. Quite the quandry. There's lots of other quandries too, and a very magic door and some great characters. I'm anxious to find the next one!

Another Author Experience

Here we are with Brandon Mull, author of the Fablehaven series and The Candy Shop War.... after waiting in line for 2 1/2 hours on Friday night! Whew! At first, we wanted to leave, but Toto would not let us. Then, later, we couldn't leave because of all the time we'd invested. The line moved SOOO SLOOOWWWW.. .but that just meant that he was spending time with everyone and being a good author signer!

Well, it was an experience anyway!

Booking Through Thursday: Format

Booking Through Thursday

All other things (like price and storage space) being equal, given a choice in a perfect world, would you rather have paperbacks in your library? Or hardcovers? And why?

Well, when it comes to actually holding and reading a book, I'd rather have a paperback in my hands. Hardbacks are sometimes hard to handle, though they are pretty! But I do like the trade paperbacks much better than the mass market ones. And those are usually quite pretty too!

Non-Fiction Meme

I got tagged! This time the meme, started by Gautami, is about non-fiction reading habits:

a) What issues/topic interests you most–non-fiction, i.e, cooking, knitting, stitching, there are infinite topics that has nothing to do with novels? Non-fiction-wise, I like to read biographies, books about writing, books about books, memoirs, travel books, history books, quilt books, and other misc. random non-fiction books. However, I don't read non-fiction very often, and I need to step it up in this category!

b) Would you like to review books concerning those? Just on the blog here.

c) Would you like to be paid or do it as interest or hobby? Tell reasons for what ever you choose. I don't think I'd like to get paid... it would cause too much pressure. I'm a lousy reviewer anyway. I only give the bare minimum of details and just say if I liked it or not. I've I got paid, I'd probably have to figure out a real method!

d) Would you recommend those to your friends and how? I'm always recommending anything I like to friends. How? Here on the blog of course, and at the couple of book clubs I go to.

e) If you have already done something like this, link it to your post. I have no links to provide!

f) Please don’t forget to link back here to whoever tags you. I got tagged by Melissa at Book Nut.



I think I'm at the tail end of this meme, so everyone's been tagged! If not and you feel like it, please feel free to go for it!

The SF and F Writing Conference.... continued

On Saturday, I was able to go back to more of the Science Fiction and Fantasy conference. At first, it was just to hear Gail Carson Levin's main address lecture, but then I thought, hmmmm, there's no reason why I can't stay and hang out here a little longer!

So, we did. My 16 year old daughter and me. A little bonding time learning about science fiction and writing!

So, besides Gail (Mrs. Levine? GCL?) we saw Orson Scott Card lecture again on Science Fiction as a Literary Genre.... and we went to two panels, one called The Myth of Writer's Block and one about writing for the Young Adult market.

I don't really consider myself a writer... yet. But maybe there's potential? What does "being a writer" even really mean actually? One thing I know is that I'm fascinated with the process and I'm always wanting to take classes and to try to write stuff. But... it's scary. So I haven't really tried very hard. Anyway, being at this event this past weekend really made me want to try a little harder.

Here's some of the tidbits I gathered:

"Let your stupid ideas come out so your shy, good ideas will be brave enough to come out too!"

"Don't bad-mouth your writing while you're doing it, save the critiquing for later."

"If you don't try it, you'll never find out if you can do it in the first place."

"Ideas are the easy part. If you don't have any ideas, then why be a writer?"

"Don't feel shy about writing in public places."

"Everything is your business. Tell people you're a writer, and they'll answer all your questions."

"Don't worry about what others have already done."

"In fiction, the text is the blueprint the reader uses to create the story in their memory."

"The best NEW writers in science fiction and fantasy are from the YA market."

"In YA books, the writing has to actually be better than that of adult books."

"If you want to be a YA writer, you need to be reading YA books."

Well, I could go on and on. But I'll stop now! Anyway, it was very fun and I can't believe I haven't known about this event in years past. But next year... hopefully I'll be there again!

Three Reviews

Book: The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

Genre: NF Autobiography

Rating: A

I've wanted to read this book forever it seems. Finally, I picked up the large print edition at the library and had it be my treadmill book this past week. I've always been fascinated by Helen Keller so I was excited to read her story. She wrote this when she was only 22 years old, so she still had tons more to her story, but in the short time she had lived up to this point, she made amazing observations about life. It's hard to believe she actually couldn't see or hear anything. Her description and grasp for the world around her is much better than us normal people. Her appreciation for the ability to read and the power of words is also very apparrent. Anyway, I loved it and am glad to have finally picked it up! Very inspirational.

Book: Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Genre: Lit. Fiction

Rating: B

Whew! I made it through this one! I was beginning to wonder there about half way. But since this is for my book club this week, I had to push on through. Strange, strange little story. I can't say that I had much sympathing for our main character who shows in interesting way of staying true to his life's love. The other thing that bugged me was the lack of dialogue. It's interesting how much a bit of conversation can make a book flow and make you feel a little conneted to the characters. But anyhow, glad I made it through and can say, "I did it!"

Book: Touching Darkness (Midnighters book 2) by Scott Westerfeld

Genre: YA SF

Rating: B+

The second in this series about a group of kids for whom time stops for an hour at midnight. Strange and mysterious things happen then! I have to say I liked the first one better. This one wasn't near as faced-paced and there was a lot more history and background talked about, which made the story drag a little. But, there was also a lot of new and interesting twists, and I will continue on with the third, when I can get my hands on a copy. Oh, and find time too!

Meeting Mr. Card!

I got to meet Orson Scott Card yesterday! It was so cool! The first time I've met an author that I've loved for years and years and read tons and tons of his books! The other few author gigs I've been to have been for authors that are new to me or I've only read a couple of their books (or they only have written a couple of books.) So, this was very fun for me.

He was nice and chit-chatty and jokey, and didn't seem to mind spending a little time with everyone once it was their turn at the table. So that made us all happy. I stressed a little about what books to bring for him to sign. I ended up taking our nicest copy of Ender's Game, our newest book by him, Magic Street, and the only hardback book I have of his, Stone Tables.

He's here participating in a writers conference for science fiction and fantasy that our local university is sponsoring. It's even a free event, and I'd love to go to all the classes and workshops, even if I'm not a writer. But I just couldn't find time to make it happen. However, today I do plan on going back to hear him speak. Fun!

The other author is Gail Carson Levine, of Ella Enchanted fame. I don't know if I'm going to manage to make it to her book signing event today, which is very sad. But, oh, well. But I am going back tomorrow to hear her speak too.

There's also tons of local of authors participating, which I find very cool to learn who they are and what books they have out. Anyway, it's all very fun and maybe next year I can go to more stuff!

Calling All Stephenie Meyer Fans!

If you haven't heard already, all you Stephenie Meyer fans, there's an excerpt of The Host on her website. I really enjoyed it! Surprise, surprise! Can't wait to read a totally new story by her. This one sounds very intriguing.

Booking Through Thursday: After the Honeymoon

Booking Through Thursday

Here’s something for Valentine’s Day.

Have you ever fallen out of love with a favorite author? Was the last book you read by the author so bad, you broke up with them and haven’t read their work since? Could they ever lure you back?

Boring answer today because I can't think of any author I've fallen out of love with! If I loved 'em once, I still love 'em! Some of my favorites I haven't read for awhile... Anya Seton, M.M. Kaye, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins. But I still love them, they are just on the back burner making room for all the new favorites!

The Archive Meme

Another tag! From my friend The Green Cat! I like this one because it makes you look back in the archives and rememeber some of the things you've posted over the year(s).


And the instructions are:


Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you've written. ... but there is a catch:

Link 1 must be about family.

Link 2 must be about friends.

Link 3 must be about yourself, who you are... what you're all about.

Link 4 must be about something you love.

Link 5 can be anything you choose.



Post your five links and then tag five other people. At least TWO of the people you tag must be *newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better....and don't forget to read the archive posts and leave comments!



I'm going to stick to the stuff I've posted here in this particular blog which is, as you know... All About Books! So, some of those link categories may be a bit of a stretch, but I think I can do it!



Link 1: Family..... This is the time I posted about a funny conversation I had with the kids last summer. Man, am I OLD or what????



Link 2: Friends..... I don't post a lot about friends, but the one I just did yesterday is all about my blogging friends. So here it is if you didn't just barely read it already!



Link 3: All about me.... Way back when I first started here I did the "8 Things About Me" Meme.



Link 4: Something I love.... besides books? I blogged about my other obsession here... back last summer when I was just about to go see him in concert! Oh, to go back in time and do that all over again!



Link 5: Anything.... I had fun doing this post about What's Cool and What's Not. Yeah, I could have gone on and on with that one!



Usually I don't tag... but this time I think I will and they're ALL bloggers that are "new" to me! (Probably some of them don't even know I exist! Surprise!) So have fun guys! But no worries if you aren't in the "meme mood" for this one.



Margo at Margo's Entertainment Shelf

Kristina at Kristina's Favorites

Karlene at Inksplasher

Jaimie at Bell Literary Reflections

Maree at Just Add Books

Passing On the "You Make My Day" Award

Last week I got my first blogging award,(twice even) given to me by Amy at The Sleepy Reader and Kristina from Kristina's Favorites. Thanks guys! I was quite surprised because when I see these award things going around, I truly never expect that anyone would be thinking of me and my humble little blog, so... wow... thanks. It makes me want to keep on bloggin'!



So, even though this award has pretty much been given to every blog I read I'm going to pretend I don't know that and list a few of the bloggers that Make My Day....




Kookiejar at A Fraternity of Dreamers... of course! Everyone loves Kookiejar! Not just because of her fun Wednesday Links, or because she's fanatical about Jemaine, and Lost, and Oil, but because she's simply an amazing writer all across the board and I look forward to each and every post.


Melissa at Book Nut.... she writes fabulous reviews and makes me laugh a lot and I love to hear her opinion on things.

Serena at Savvy Verse and Wit.... I like reading about what she's been reading. I feel like we've become great bloggin' buddies!

Meg Cabot and her Diary.... she doesn't know I exist, but still, her blog makes my day and I get so excited when she posts, which is quite often actually. I know she'll have something to make me smile, or laugh, or even cry like it did the other day.

1morechapter by 3M.... one of these years I'm going to be able to keep up with her reading pace and all the challenges she does! I love to see what she's up to next.

Ditto that for Becky, who reads so much it boggles my mind! I can't even keep up with her Becky's Reviews page, but I know if I want to learn about a book, it's going to be there, especially if it has anything to do with Orson Scott Card!


I also look forward to posts from Bybee over at Naked Without Books. She's always got a great story or two to tell.

Stephanie's Confessions of a Bookaholic always has lots going on too! Her blog is so COOL looking and she's just... cool.... too!

Another amazing blog is put out by Literary Feline at Musings of a Bookish Kitty. Wow, she puts a TON of work into blogging and it shows. I love reading her stuff.

And last, but not least.... Lisa at Books.Lists.Life makes my day. Another great book blogger on my list of many!


There's so many many more! Thanks to you all for the great book discussions! I never knew blogging about books could be so fun!

Meme: Book 123

Hey! What d'ya know! I got tagged! This comes to me from Margo.

It's a familiar meme and most of you have probably seen it before.

The rules of this particular meme are:
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages)
2. Open the book to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence
4. Post the next three sentences
5. Tag five people

This book has been sitting here by the computer forever. I have no idea why since I don't think anyone has been reading it.

The book: Guardians of Ga'hoole book three: The Rescue by Kathryn Lasky.

"Do you think that his disappearance has
something to do with his past-- with someone who wants to get
even?"

Octavia coiled up and extended her head
directly toward Soren. He had that same feeling again as if her gaze were
penetrating his deepest thoughts.

As for that 5th rule. I always break it. I know. Call me party pooper. But please, if you're in the mood, feel free to try this!

Book Fair Wrap Up!

Today I'm wrapping up the book fair. Yeah! It's been a crazy week.

Here's what's been popular this time around... books we haven't been able to keep in stock:

Swindle by Gordon Korman

Diary of a Wimpy Kid... books 1 and 2 by Jeff Kinney

No Talking by Andrew Clements

The Lightning Thief and The Sea of Monsters... books 1 and 2 of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan

Books I'll be buying today for my kids (and couple I already bought for a birthday):

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules by Jeff Kinney

The Fall of the Templar (#3 in the Grey Griffens series) by Derek Benz and J. S. Lewis

Oggie Cooder by Sarah Weeks

The Talented Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park

and a Hannah Montanta book.... yuck.

Booking Through Thursday: But, Enough About Books.....

Booking Through Thursday

Okay, even I can’t read ALL the time, so I’m guessing that you folks might voluntarily shut the covers from time to time as well… What else do you do with your leisure to pass the time? Walk the dog? Knit? Run marathons? Construct grandfather clocks? Collect eggshells?

My problem is this: I like to do so many different things that I end up not doing any of them very well, or finding time to really get into doing them. Some of them are:

Quilting. I go in spurts on this one. I'm in a non-spurt right now, but I have many projects that are calling me to come finish them. I have been taking a little block of the month class, and that's about to wrap up, and that's been fun. But then I'll have to put those blocks together and finish them too!

Family History. To me this not only includes actual researching ones ansestors, which I'd like to do more of but don't, but also the scrapbooking hobby that so many like to do. I do this to some extent and I keep up books for all the kids, but I don't do the over-the-top extremely cool pages that "real" scrapbookers do! Besides scrapbooking, I play with home videos and try to make fun movie compilations with them. I've also compiled my grandparents histories and hope to do my parents some day too. I also keep up huge photo albums with all our family pictures.

Traveling. A few years ago we bought a travel trailer, so we love to get out in that and go camping, or just find some out of the way location and see something new. We are also finding a new love of cruising and that may become a big part of our future. I love road trips and want to see the whole country some day by driving all the back roads. Then, there's the dream of seeing all of Europe!

TV and Movies. Like many of you (I've been reading several answers already and it's amazing how much we all have in common!) I love to hang out in front of the TV. This "hobby" has intensified with the invention of Tivo... or in our case the computer set-up that can record shows. My favorite TV shows currently: Heroes, Lost, Amazing Race, Survivor, American Idol, Pushing Daisies, Moonlight, Friday Night Lights, Masterpiece Theater.... and various others here and there. I also love movies, especially when we get a chance to go to the big screen and see a movie when it first comes out.

Music. I love music as much as books. I got an Ipod for Christmas (finally!) and have been spending lots of time trying to get all my music on it. That's a project! And my love for anything and everything Josh Groban could be considered its own hobby in and of itself! I love going to concerts (I think last summer there were about 12 or so... including Josh!) and to Broadway shows. Love, love, love it!

Kids. Much of my time is spent keeping kids going here and there. With three teenagers now and one pre-teen (is a nearly nine year old considered preteen these days?) life is quite busy with them!

Jane Austen Fever

Have not you all been seriously enthralled with the Complete Jane Austen on PBS this past fortnight or two? Indeed, upon my word, I have been duly enamored! All the wonderful heroes.... have not they been exeedingly fine? They have all captured my most ardant affections... indeed they have!

Peruse for yourself and see:

January Recap of Books Read

Here's what I managed for this month:

The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff
Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolf
Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
The Writing Life by Annie Dillard
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley

My favorite? Not counting The Book Thief, a re-read of one of my top tens of last year, next in line would be Speak. I also really enjoyed The Secret Hour. It appears I'm still on my YA kick, huh? Wow, my brain just seems to be rebelling against "real" books! :)

War and Peace update: Yes, I'm still reading this, plugging along slowly. I'm on page 254, which puts me just starting Part 3 of Book One. Hmmm. Behind already with the Yahoo group, but there's always a chance that I may catch up!

Review: The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld

Book: The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld (first in the series The Midnighters)

Genre: YA SF

Rating: A

Ever since reading the Uglies series, I've been anxious to try some more books by this author. So I finally picked this one up and totally enjoyed it! Wow, it's just one adventure after another in this book. It's about a group of kids for whom time stands still for one hour at midnight. And there's some pretty creepy stuff that goes on during that hour! I can't wait to get to the 2nd book!

Review: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Book: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Genre: YA

Rating: A

I've been hearing a lot about this book lately, so I nabbed it one day at the library when I happened upon it and read it last week in just a day or so.

It's yet again a story about a girl struggling through high school. Struggling with her friends, her self-esteem, her grades, her parents... every thing. This girl also has a secret, one that we don't learn about until towards the end, but also, one that's quite easy to guess at. This secret has caused the world to fall out from under her and she deals with it mainly by not talking to anyone, the complete opposite of what kids should really do.

I totally enjoyed this book, the style, the characters and the lessons taught.