July Recap

So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson
Sixpence House by Paul Collins
I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Possession, A Romance by A.S. Byatt
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
The Prism Moon and The Taker’s Key by Martine Bates Leavitt
Teen Idol and All American Girl by Meg Cabot
If You Can Talk, You Can Write by Joel Saltzman
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

...oh yeah... and one DNF.... Restoration by Rose Tremain. Giving up I am. Back to the library it goes!


Speaking of the library, I just got back with an armload of books, just in case I didn't have enough sitting here at home to last me through August! :)

A Week and a Day Left!

Just over a week left! I think I'm just about as excited about this book as I was about Harry. Just about!

Not A Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: A

If you've read it then you KNOW! If you haven't, than either you plan on reading soon and you don't want me to say ANYTHING about it, or you don't care about Harry and wouldn't read anything I have to say about it!

I read this one last weekend, got the book on Saturday morning (no midnight excursion for me!) and read some that day, some Sunday, but mostly on Monday and finished Monday night. Let me just say, I'm both happy and sad! And that I think JK did a great job! Wow, what a ride it's been.

Review: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

BOOK: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating: A, bordering on A+

This is my first official book read for the Something About Me Challenge. I know it's not quite August, when the challenge is supposed to start, but this book is due at the library this week, so I read it this weekend.... mostly all day Sunday and then dreamed about it all night last night!

Wow! What a painful, painful story! I knew it would be, but still, it's so hard to read about this stuff happening to the people in Afganistan. What great, strong women these characters were! I just want to cheer for them. This author sure knows how to write emotion. Great book!

Review: Possession, A Romance by A.S. Byatt

BOOK: Possession, A Romance by A.S. Byatt

Genre: Literary Fiction

Rating: B+

This is my first book completed for the Awards Challenge. It won the Man Booker Prize Award in 1990. I've looked forward to reading it for awhile and I'm happy to have finally done it. However, I was just a little bit disappointed. I thought it would be more.... hmmm... more.... I don't know.... page-turning, or quickly moving or something. It was actually quite slow. I liked the story, about two scholars each with a particular poet as their speciallty. One of them discovers that there may have been a link in the past with the lives of these two poets. So together, they investigate and unravel the mystery. All of it is done with journal entries, letters and poems from the these poets and people in their lives. I loved how she did this, except the poetry. I must admit...shhhhh.... that I skipped the really long poems! But other than that, it was really quite good. Amazing that stories this complicated can come out of someone's head! Amazing!

Blogging Tips Meme

Hey! Wow! I got tagged by Amy over at The Sleepy Reader. Now I have to come up with a blogging tip. Hmmmm...

-Start Copy-

It’s very simple. When this is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.)

Add the next number (1. 2. 3. 4. 5., etc.) and write your own blogging tip for other bloggers. Try to make your tip general.

After that, tag 10 other people. Link love some friends!

Just think - if 10 people start this and the 10 people pass it on to another 10 people, you have 100 links already!

1. Look, read, and learn. *** http://www.neonscent.com/
2. Be EXCELLENT to each other. ** http://www.bushmackel.com/
3. Don’t let money change ya! * http://www.therandomforest.info/
4. Always reply to your comments. ****** http://chattiekat.com/
5. Link liberally — it keeps you and your friends afloat in the Sea of Technorati. ** http://chipsquips.com/
6. Don’t give up - persistence is fertile. ** http://www.velcro-city.co.uk/
7. Give link credit where credit is due. *** http://www.sfsignal.com/
8. Pictures say a thousand words and can usually add to any post. *** http://scifichick.com/
9. Visit all the bloggers that leave comments for you - it’s nice to know who is reading! *** http://stephaniesbooks.blogspot.com/
10. Thrown in something humorous occasionally, to keep things fun.** http://bonniesbooks.blogspot.com/
11. Make it easy for your readers - use tags and labels and keep it simple!* http://caribousmom.blogharbor.com
12. Memes are fun and a great way to get to know other bloggers! * http://thesleepyreader.wordpress.com
13. Don't be afraid to show your personality! http://sueysbooks.blogspot.com/

-End Copy-

Now the hardest part.... tagging more people to do this!

Ok, I give up! Everyone I read has already been tagged! Well, it least everyone I flipped to just now really fast to see, and so, I'm running away from the tagging part. If you are reaidng this and haven't done it yet but you'd like to then, consider yourself tagged!

Review: Sixpence House by Paul Collins

Book: Sixpence House by Paul Collins
Genre: Non-fiction... a book about books!
Rating: A

Another book recently read that I loved! It had everything. Fun little book loving stories, writer thoughts and experiences, and tons of great glimpses of living in Britain.

The author, his wife, and their little boy decided to move to this small town on the border of Wales and England. The town has 1500 people, and 40 bookstores! Cool! They join life there while looking for a house, hoping to stay permanently, maybe even buying the Sixpence House. (Don't you love how all the houses have names here?)

Anyway, fun stories and observations that I totally devoured. Great stuff.

(This one read as part of my pre-Something About Me Challenge, and in memory of Nattie.)