Challenge: Something About Me Challenge

I don't think I ever posted about this challenge on my blog, since Lisa made a blog specifically for the Challenge. We are having lots of fun over there, listing our books and the reason why these books represent us. The lists are getting very long, and the books being suggested are fantastic. So much so, that I don't know how I'll ever pick a few to read for the length of the challenge, August 1 until December 31st. That's only five months, and there are 24 people, already, each listing 4 - 5 books. The math boggles the mind. (Not really, I love math) But the pile of books is boggling. It is so fun getting to know everyone.
I've decided to make lists - of books I have read, and books I want to read, and the ones I can commit to read for the challenge. Caribousmom has been making the same type of lists over at her blog.

Books I've read before the starting date of this challenge:
The Hotel New Hampshire (wendy) - I read this a long time ago. I remember it was weird, but I liked it.
Heidi (heidijane) - This is a childhood favorite. I still want to go to Switzerland.
In the Shadow of the Wind (christina) - I read this last year, after I was in Barcelona, and I really enjoyed it
Fall on Your Knees (christina) - read this years ago, Oprah pick
The Talisman (think pink dana) - number two favorite Stephen King book
Charlotte's Web (3m) - classic. I read this to my daughter last year.
Pride and Prejudice (patti) - I read this just last year. My first Austen
Diary of Anne Frank (patti) - read this in grade nine English class. wonderful and moving
No Coins Please (ellen) - Gordon Korman at his funny, funny self.
A Girl Named Zippy (nattie) - This so reminded me of my daughter. A delightful memoir and I can't wait to read the sequel
Wuthering Heights (suey, trish) - I think high school was too young to appreciate the Brontes
To Kill a Mockingbird (stephanie, janet) - one of my favorites
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (maryanne) - read out loud to my son last year
Like Water for Chocolate (maryanne) - I know I read this ages ago and liked the recipe aspect
The Polysyllabic Spree (athena) - loved this. I can't wait to read the next one
The Stand (a.book.in.the.life.) - number one favorite Stephen King novel
Bridget Jones' Diary (tiny librarian, trish) - Anne and Bridget are my two most favorite heroines
Anne of Green Gables (tiny librarian, ennavic, trish) - Anne!
The Time-Traveller's Wife (dewey) - I read this last year; fabulous
The Poisonwood Bible (bookworm) - loved the palindrome sister
HP and the Sorcerer's Stone (bookworm) - read aloud to son
HP and the Goblet of Fire (Kathrin) - read aloud. They started getting really good in this book
High Fidelity (Rhinoa) - I went on a big Hornby reading kick last year.
The Other Boleyn Girl ( Margo) - loved it, read for Chunkster Challenge
Flowers in the Attic (Margo) - read in high school. awesome
The Undomestic Goddess (Margo) - apparently, Margo and I like the same books!
Me Talk Pretty One Day (MyUtopia) - I read this in the past few years
These Happy Golden Years (Becky) - Little House books, yeah
Anne of the Island (Becky) - another favorite!
The Lovely Bones (chasida) - very good story
The Little Prince (soleil) - read this year for Once Upon a Time , in English
The Red Tent (sarah miller) - read a few years ago. very good
The Giver (sarah miller) - read this year for the dystopian challenge, and banned book
To Kill a Mockingbird (janet) - one of my favourites
Fahrenheit 451 (faith) - just read this year for dystopian challenge
Little Women (alyson) - I still have my copy from when I was young
My Sister's Keeper (trish) - I read this for the Chunkster Challenge this year

Now, I've read before the challenge officially begins:
A Man Without a Country (kookiejar) - I just read this in the last month. see review
So Many Books, So Little Time (sally, a.book.in.the.life,vasilly,) - I had to read this it was mentioned so often. see review
The Echo Maker (3M) - also a NYT Notable book of 2006 see review
Uglies (faith) - dystopian challenge see review

Now the harder part: books I want to read. I plan to pick 5 books for the challenge, highlighted. I am finding if I have a challenge with one book per month, I don't feel too much pressure. Then, it leaves me the option of reading more if time allows. If I'm feeling rushed, I don't enjoy the books as much. Having said that, I do plan to read more than four of these books. (shhh I've actually started reading some already. Don't tell anyone. Thanks.) I'm trying to pick at least one book from each participant that I'd like to read, and everyone has at least one that looks fabulous.
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (Kathrin)
I Am the Messenger - Markus Zasuk (jill mrsteme)
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card (Becky, karlene)
Inkheart - Cornelia Funkle (becky shereads)
Number the Stars - Lois Lowry (booklogged)
We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver (dewey)
The Thirteenth Tale - Dianne Setterfield (kristin)
Tale of Despereaux - Kate diCamillo (booklogged)
Lolita - Vladimir Nobokov (heather)

Booked to Die - John Dunning (bonnie)
The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde (heidijane, valentina)
The Awakening - Kate Chopin (patti)
The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova (maryanne)
Twilight - Stephanie Myers (suey)
Angry Housewives Eating Bonbons - Lorna Landvic (tiny librarian)
The Remains of the Day - Ishiguro (lucca)
The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd (ennavic, Karlene)
Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf (trish)
84 Charing Cross Road - Helen Hanff (Historia)
Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson (heatherbird, Holly)
Island of the Blue Dolphin - Scott O'Dell (Juli)
The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things - Carolyn Macklar (Julie)
Zel - Donna Jo Napoli (Sarah Miller)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith (Becky)

Lying on the Couch - Irving Yalom (lisa)
The Happy Room - Cathering Palmer (twiga)
A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson (wendy)
Johnny Got His Gun - Dalton Trumbo (kookiejar)
The Seven Daughters of Eve - Bryon Sykes (christina)
The Essays of EB White (think pink dana)
Harvesting the Heart - Jodi Picoult (heather)
The Robber Bride - Margaret Atwood (ellen
This Side of Paradise - F Scott Fitzgerald (ellen)
The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards (3m)
Luncheon of the Boating Party - Susan Vreeland (3m)
The Amateur Marriage - Anne Tyler (nattie)
Nothing But the Truth - Avi (megan)
Oh My Goth - Gena Showater (stephanie)
Generation Next Parenting - Tricia Goyer (kristin)
A Cook's Tour - Anthony Bourdain (athena)
The Tortilla Curtain - TC Boyle (dewey)
The Princess Diaries - Meg Cabot (Kathrin)
Can You Keep a Secret? - Sophie Kinsella (Kathrin)
Just Ella - Margaret Peterson Haddix (allisonwonderland)
Stargirl - Jerry Spinelli (allisonwonderland)
Chocolat - Joanne Harris (margo, becky)
Because it is Bitter & Because it is My Heart - Joyce Carol Oates (judith)
Seeing - Jose Saramago (MyUtopia)
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khalid Houseini (becky)
Persuasion - Jane Austen (Becky)
The World According to Garp - John Irving (Chasida)
Beach Music - Pat Conroy (jmc)
Weetzie Bat - Francesca Lia Block (soleil)
The View From Saturday - EL Konisburg (sarah miller)
The Art of Mending - Elizabeth Berg (librarylady)
Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote (lucca)
Where the Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls (janet)
Great Books - David Denby (alyson)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See (Juli)
Dune - Frank Herbert (karlene)


If I happen to read one of these before the challenge starts, I'll move it up. I'll probably eventually try to get to many of these - I'll use them to pick books for other challenges I might participate in.

MEME: Favorite Books

I've seen this meme at a few blogs, so I don't know who I properly gakked it from. And even though I copied it from someone, it's taken me so long to come up with the perfect books, and I know I've forgotten a ton of books that I'm sure I meant to pick.

A book that made you cry: I cry really easily in books. I bawl and bawl, so absorbed in the novel. The most recent book was "the perks of being a wallflower", but Anne of Green Gables gets me every time Matthew's name is mentioned.
A book that scared you: Misery by Stepehn King, or The Deep End of the Ocean
A book that made you laugh: Bridget Jones cracks me up, especially when she is on the phone with her 'smug married' friends.
A book that disgusted you: On South Mountain, a true story about a Maritime family, the Golers, who were charged with horrifying cases of incest and abuse. Everyone in the community knew them, and about them, but did nothing for years.

A book you loved in elementary school: I read a lot in elementary, but Gordon Korman's This Can't Be Happening at MacDonald Hall with Bruno and Boots would be right up there.
A book you loved in middle school: I remember loving Cue for Treason, a novel we studied in grade nine. Much like Shakespeare in Love; there was a mystery, and a girl pretending to be a boy to be able to act as the female roles in the plays.
A book you loved in high school: I can't remember what all I read during high school and university, they blend together. I'm guessing Stepehn King's Different Seasons
A book you hated in high school: The Lord of the Flies. Horrid, horrid book.
A book you loved in college: I went through a big Stephen King phase in university, so probably The Stand
A book that challenged your identity: I don't know if I've ever really read a book like this, or if I noticed. But A Fine Balance made me think about life, and my attitude to dealing with what life hands you.

A series that you love: There are many. Anne of Green Gables is a great series. I read this every few years, the whole 8 books.
Your favorite horror book: Stephen King's It
Your favorite science fiction book: This isn't a genre I tend to read much of. I guess it would be Hitchhiker's Guide, but I've only read that in the last two months.
Your favorite fantasy: Is this where Harry Potter would go? I've enjoyed this series.
Your favorite mystery: I have to pick one? There are so many series. I've been rereading some Agatha Christie, so I'll pick her. I hope Brother Cadfael, Inspector Lynley, Thomas Pitt, and the 87th precinct don't get mad at me.
I could break this down:
Best historical mystery: Brother Cadfael by Ellis Peters
Best police procedural: the 87th precinct by Ed McBain

Your favorite biography: The Story of Helen Keller
Your favorite "coming of age" book: perks of being a wallflower was the most recent I can think of; it was excellent
Your favorite classic: The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde
Your favorite romance book: Bridget Jones' Diary Oh, Mark Darcy, I won't make fun of your reindeer jumper.
Your favorite historical fiction: Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Your favorite cookbook: The Best of the Best by the Best of the Bridge girls.
Your favorite book not on this list: The Life of Pi

OTHER: keeping track with bookmarks and lists and things

Hey! thanks to bookfool, I have a brand spanking new, handmade bookmark to keep track of my reading. You know what a wonderful photographer she is, and the bookmark is one of her photos of a bird. It is amazing. And another bookmark, which my son nabbed, of a riverboat on the Mississippi River. It is so much fun to get mail, with an AIR MAIL stamp. See what fun things can happen when you participate in challenges. My name was drawn from the Chunkster Challenge check in post.


In other news, I need to see an update on my challenge situation, and where I'm going.
Spring Reading Thing: just finished, yeah :)
Once Upon a Time: Good Omens - reading
A Midsummer's Night Dream - I found an annoted copy at school. Then done
Chunkster Challenge: My Sister's Keeper - by the end of June. Then done.
Nonfiction5: read one; planning to start another one the first of June and then the first of each month: Assassination Vacation is checked out and ready to go. I also have Devil in White City on hand
15books/15decades: the summer classics challenge will take care of this
Dystopian : this goes til November. If I can do one a month - June: Never Let Me Go. 3 more
Southern Reading Challenge : starts June 1st: Miss Julia is ready to go. 3 in total
Classics Challenge: starts July. 4 in total
Summer Mystery : Miss Julia again! or Princess of Burundi. 6 in total

And I think I'm late to the party, but I am loving librarything ! So much fun, to catalogue, to list, to label, and reorganize. And then, look at other groups and lists and find even more books to read. I can't wait for school to be done - 3 more weeks of classes, then exams- and then I can read without guilt of knowing that I am not correcting the little darlings lab reports.

BOOK: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

Finishing The Amber Spyglass completes the Spring Reading Thing 2007 Challenge for me. What was I thinking, chosing a trilogy for a challenge? This third book was hard to get through for some reason. Partly because it was over 500 pages (I think I'm counting it as a Chunkster Challenge too!) and partly because it just didn't grab me to get started, and yet I knew I really wanted to finish it. I couldn't leave a trilogy unfinished, but I was tempted at times to put it down. I was bargaining with myself - finish 150 pages, read another book - see The Little Prince, finish 150 pages, read another book. I was gritting my teeth and getting to it. And then, all of a sudden, I couldn't put the book down. I stayed up waaay too late last night to finish the book that I couldn't read two days before.

And I think that is why people rave about this series. Each of the three books have been difficult to get into, at least 150 pages before I was hooked. But the ultimate ending was worth it. It is a children's series to some degree, but with the amount of killing it seems a little intense for preteens. As a children's book, much of it was predictable and that may have led to my disinterest for a while. But the payoff was worth it in the end.

The characters of Lyra and Will were terrific and the allusions to Adam and Eve and temptation, make this book very broad. Religion and science are huge themes and as Armageddon comes, and the angels come down to fight and worlds are literally torn apart with our heroes at the center, poised to save all the worlds.

From the cover:

As war rages and Dust drains from the sky, the fate of the living and the dead - finally comes to depend on two children and the simple truth of one simple story.

There were parts of the story I enjoyed more than others - Mary Malone and the mulefa were my favorite. The mulefa were a people who evolved with a diamond skeleton instead of backbone and lived symbiotically with the pod trees. Other creatures from other worlds like the brave little spies, the Gallivespians, still the idea of daemons and souls, angels and ghosts, the imagination of Pullman and his take on the world were incredible.

So, I thought I wouldn't give this a very good rating, but the ending did it for me and I will be thinking of how he tied things up, and the consequenses and sacrifices made for a long time.

BOOK: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery

Cute little fairy tale from the top 50_books list and part of my Once Upon a Time Reading Challenge. I looked up the SparkNotes because there was certainly more to the story. I see that it is cute, I liked the moral, and after I looked up the notes it more made sense, but I don't think I would ever remember to list it as one of my favorite books.

The Little Prince leaves his tiny planet and travels through space, landing on other tiny planets, meeting caricatures of adults and all the bad qualities adults can have with all their silly rules. Eventually he lands on Earth and meets the narrator, a pilot whose plane has crashed. The Prince has a profound effect on the pilot, but the Prince also learns some lessons about love from a fox and life from a snake.

Some notes from Sparks that I liked:

The Little Prince can be read as a metaphor of the process of introspection itself, wherein two halves of the same person meet and learn from each other.

Saint-Exupéry urges his readers to participate actively in the reading process, using their imaginations to assign deeper meaning to deceptively simple prose and poetry

His constant questioning also indicates that one’s search for answers can be more important than the answers themselves.

I read this in about an hour or so, and I might read it again with the Sparks notes in mind.

MEME: Booking Through Thursday

Bookless

Booking Through Thursday
It happens even to the best readers from time to time… you close the cover on the book you’re reading and discover, to your horror, that there’s nothing else to read. Either there’s nothing in the house, or nothing you’re in the mood for. Just, nothing that “clicks.” What do you do?? How do you get the reading wheels turning again?

Since I've started participating in reading challenges, I haven't had a problem with finding something to read at all. I remember that this used to happen though; all of a sudden I'd finish a book and have nothing on my bedside table. The panic! A trip to the library, or a call out to some reading friends would usually quickly fill the gap. Or I might go through a spell of magazines or maybe an old standby like Anne of Green Gables or Bridget Jones or Maeve Binchy.
But I don't see this being an issue for the next little while, 2 or 3 years :)

MEME: 8 Random Facts About Me

I was tagged by Chris at book-a-rama for the "8 Random Things About Me" Meme. It has taken my a while to come up with my list. Whenever I read other people's lists, I think uh uh, yep, me too, and now I try to do my own? Much harder than it looks.
Here are the rules:
1: Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2: People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
3: At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
4: Don't forget to leave them a comment and tell them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I have monocular vision - I can't see, other than very blurry images, with my left eye. My right eye isn't great, but it was so much stronger when I was a child that it took over all seeing duties. I only need one contact for my right eye. This means that I cannot see three dimensionally.

2. I love shoes. I love buying new shoes, I notice other people's shoes, and I like my shoes to be perfect for my outfit. I've bought outfits to match a cute pair of shoes.

3. I love to eat raw cookie dough. My husband won't let me in the kitchen if he's making cookies, because I like to nibble too much.

4. I drink my coffee black because I want it to taste like it smells.

5. I hate the feel of sand under my fingernails or between my toes. HATE.

6. I play on Webkinz more than my kids do.

7. I don't have my ears pierced - I only wear clip on earrings.

8. When I eat my Smarties, I don't eat the red ones last.

I'm supposed to tag 8 other people, but if you read this and think it looks like fun - do it!

CHALLENGE: Summer Mystery Reading Challenge

The Challenge:

Read six mysteries of any type by authors whose works you haven’t read before between June 1st and August 31st and you will have completed the challenge, hosted at reviewed by Liz

How awesome is this? I haven't been reading mysteries much lately. I found a new series with Inspector Montalbano by Camilleri, an Italian detective that I want to read more of, but this challenge says new to you authors. My first thought was, great. Now I'll have six new series I'll want to read, and I don't need more to read. But since I read most of Anne Perry's mysteries, I haven't really found new mystery authors, and I think I've been wanting to. I've been rereading some Agatha Christie books, and I've discovered some old time detective stories by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett that I want to read.

I don't have to make a list, just read six new authors. I know I will start with some books I'm reading for the Southern Reading Challenge, such as:

1. Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B Ross not really a mystery after all. I'll have to find another for this

2. Murder on a Girl's Night Out by Anne George

Then I'll investigate:

3. The Princess of Burundi by Swedish author, Kjell Eriksson. I ordered this from amazon as part of my Reading Across Borders Challenge and haven't got to it yet

4. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich I've never read Stephanie Plum mysteries by Janet Evanovich, so I imagine that'll be one

5. And them I think I'll browse the library, looking for the little mystery symbol, and be adventurous for the last two. That sounds like a lot of fun.

So, here are the other books I've found for this challenge, with reviews linked:

1. Restless by William Boyd

5. Shakespeare's Landlord by Charlaine Harris

6. Killer Swell by Jeff Shelby

BOOK: The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra

I picked this little book up at the library. It was very depressing, but nicely written. The setting of Kabul, Afghanistan during the Taliban reign which is not a nice time or place to be. The story is slight, following two couples as they struggle to survive and deal with their life, especially the women. This is a city where the Taliban have a woman stoned to death in the street for being a prostitute. The story is really about Kabul, and its character and ruin dominate the novel. This was once a beautiful city, full of life and now it is a pile of rubble. The characters were often describing how dishelveled the city had become, and this mirrored their descents into depression as well.

The more I read about Afghanistan and how the Taliban changed life there, the easier it is to understand why our Canadian soldiers are over there, fighting for the Afghan people. The misogyny under the guise of Islam extremists scares me. The female character in this book had been university educated and working before, and then could not leave the house except in a burqa, could not touch her husband on the street, and had absolutely no rights. Sad story, but moving and enlightening.

CHALLENGE: Southern Reading Challenge

I said I wasn't going to do this challenge, but I've been going over to Maggie Reads and checking out all her great suggestions and she is full of ideas. I was resisting until she started posting about mysteries. Fun, humorous little mystery series. So I'm in now. I plan to read, during the sweltering southern days of June, July and August, although we never quite get to sweltering here in the Maritimes:

1. Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind: Ann B. Ross
2. Murder on a Girl's Night Out: Anne George
3.A Confederacy of Dunces: John Kennedy Toule

and for extra credit, because it got really hot here:
4. Quite a Year for Plums: Bailey White
5. Shakespeare's Landlord: Charlaine Harris

This looks like fun and quite managable.Thanks for all the suggestions Maggie.

BOOK: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Last summer, my sister and I watched "Capote" starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. I thought the movie would be Capote's biography, but it really only focused on his time investigating the Kansas murders of the Clutter family in 1959. Interesting fact - Harper Lee was his friend and assistant who accompanied him. So when the Nonfiction 5 challenge was announced, I decided to read In Cold Blood to have some more background to the movie. It's the first Capote book I've read.

What a detailed book! Capote includes so much detail and description of the town and the family, which was rather gruesome when he was describing the murders, but his story -and it feels like fiction at times because how could this really happen? is told in a detached, balanced manner. Actually, the movie gave the impression that Capote got quite involved with the murderers, especially Perry Smith. His life is told in more detail and he is the more sympathetic, if you could say that, of the suspects. Except that he was the cold blooded murderer. It was a very difficult book to come to terms with.

I can see why this book is considered a masterpiece because the details, the pacing, the characters, the objective view made this a terrific read. It is like a Dateline expose, or 48 Hours mystery, but without the sensationalism added in. Except that this was a sensational story.

LIST: Used book sale finds

• Our local newspaper held a used book sale with proceeds to a literacy group in the province. they filled a whole store at the mall with used books. I limited myself to one hour and $20 and here is what I found:
  
• The Wizard of Oz (the local high school just put on this musical, I thought the kids might like)
  
• Kidnapped - RLS
  
• Madame Bovary - Flaubert (a classic I've been wanting to read; I started on dailylit, but never finished)
  
• The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz - Mordecai Richler
  
• Silas Marner - George Eliot (katrina just gave this a good review)
  
• Oryx and Crake - Atwood (a dystopian novel, if it's here I might read it, although Chris didn't give it a rave)
  
• Lie Down with Lions - Ken Follett (I love his Pillars of the Earth novel)
  
• The Little Prince - (I was planning to read for Once Upon a Time)
  
• The Incredible Journey (for the kids)
  
• Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie
  
• The Picture of Dorian Gray (I'm reading for the classics challenge)
  
• A Tale of Two Cities (might be my first Dickens read)
  
• The Dog Who Woulnd't Be - Farley Mowatt ( I really wanted Owls in the Family, but this is funny too: for the kids)
  
• A Red Death and A Little Yellow Dog - Easy Rawlins Mysteries (for the hubby, and me too)
  
• Chronicles of Avonlea - LM Montgomery (her short stories; I like to reread these)
  
• A Lesson Before Dying - Gaines (somebody? reviewed this recently)
  
• Never Have Your Dog Stuffed -Alan Alda (kaliana gave this a great review)
  
• It's Fine to be Nine (Jack is nine, and we have the collection already for Six and Seven)
  
• Goosebumps: My Hairiest Adventure - RL Stine (kids)
  
• My Teacher is an Alien - Bruce Colville (kids)

MEME: Booking through Thursday

Ask not where, but where not?

Booking Through Thursday


So, judging by last week’s answers, apparently the question I should have been asking was:
Where DON’T you read??

I don't read at work, for pleasure, even though there is a whole LIBRARY just sitting there. It's so hard to not read.
I peeked at some other people's lists, and I can't say, like they do, that I don't read in the bathroom, because I do, or at people's houses, because I do. (My inlaws got me a Reader's Digest subscription for Christmas because I always read the magazine at their house.)
I don't read in the car, or the shower, or in the morning. I'm not a morning person, so every minute counts and except for the cereal box and the newspaper and, oh. I guess I do read in the morning, just not novels. I guess I read all the time.

BOOK: A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut

I confess, this was my first Vonnegut, and certainly his recent death brought his name to the forefront of my consciousness. As well, kookiejar listed it as one of her books at the Something About Me Challenge. And it is nonfiction 5 month, but I don't think I'm counting it as one of my reads, unless I get desperate in August!
This is a series of essays Vonnegut wrote in the early 2000s. From the jacket:

A Man Without a Country is Kurt Vonnegut's hilariously funny and razor-sharp look at life, art, politics, himself, and the condition of the soul of America today.
Written over the last five years with the examples of Mark Twain, Jesus Christ, Abraham Lincoln, and a saintly doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis powerfully illustrated with artwork by the author. A Man Without a Country is an intimate and tender communication from one individual to his fellow Americans, sometimes joking, at other times despairing, always searching.

This was a very quick read, only 147 pages or so. I saw Vonnegut on The Daily Show highlights after he died, so his viewpoints weren't a shock. He is an interesting man, a humanist, with a great if somewhat discourageing look on life and planet Earth. Vonnegut once asked his neighbour, a painter Syd Solomon, how to tell a good picture for a bad one. Solomon answered "Look at a million pictures, and you can never be mistaken." Exactly. This was a good book ( but not if you think Bush walks on water or is smart, or if you have any good opinion of Bush or Cheney) and I can just tell. I liked how he discussed the big picture of planet earth, and the little bits about family and being a good person. Or maybe being the good person is the big picture.
Thanks for the recommendation kookiejar.

BOOK: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I read several reviews over at NYT Notable Books for this book and it did not disappoint. This book has been short listed for the Orange Prize and I am very glad to see that, unlike other award winning literature I've tried to read, this book was extremely readable. Adichie has created characters and a setting that was very easy to be immersed in. And that isn't necessarily a good thing, as Nigeria circa 1967 was involved in a bloody civil war and that is never good for anybody.

To witness the descent that Olanna, her twin Kainene, Olanna's husband Odenigbo, the houseboy Ugwe and Kainene's partner Richard fall into is scary and disturbing. From a comfortable middle class, university life to barely surviving in refuge camps, this novel shows how devastating and quickly war can change everybody's lives. People have to do whatever they can to survive. It was a great reminder that when we see refuge camps on television, each person there had a home, a life, a job before they were displaced. I was thinking about Nigeria while I read this, but also Dar fur, Rwanda, Somalia, Afghanistan and these places we see from a distance. And it is so upsetting.
This novel reminded me of several other books: the opening part of the book, before the war started was much like Reef, with the houseboy fitting into a middle class household, with an academic life; and the spirit of the characters reminded me of A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, a novel somewhat about attitude and dealing with what life throws at you. And you can never believe how awful things get for the characters and how they keep surviving.

To summarize, Half of a Yellow Sun was an excellent book, although the material was disturbing since it details the atrocities civilians and soldiers have to deal with during a civil war. The writing and the characters were enjoyable and I'd like to read the other book by Adichie, Purple Hibiscus.

MEME: Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

No, not THAT kind of R.I.P.
Reading. In. Public.
Do you do it? Why or why not?

Why not? I don't usually have a book with me, but I am getting better at being prepared for waiting situations. I always read a magazine in the doctor's office, so why not a book? Swimming lessons are a great spot as well.
I use my time the best I can when waiting for my kids to finish whatever they are doing: whether that means correcting tests, or going for a run ,or reading a book. With the reading challenges I've been signing up for, lately the book has been the option chosen most.

BOOK: Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Well, this wasn't on my May reading list. I was at the library yesterday to get a school physics video, under strick self-imposed rules not to browse for books. Then my nine year old son wanted to go look for a book. This doesn't happen too often, so of course we go. There I spotted this Neil Gaiman book on a display. I hadn't realized that Coraline was a children's book. I gobbled it up tonight: swimming lessons meant a solid three quarters of an hour of uninterupted reading, and the book isn't terribly long anyway.

This was really creepy. It almost scary, because books don't really scare me - I've read all Stephen King, but this would be a super scary movie. I was picturing a Tim Burton type computer animated scare-fest while I was reading it. Spiders, rats, slugs, possessed hands, unknown things! This book has every creepy thing you can imagine.

Here's the book jacket summary:

In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close.The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.
Only it's different.
At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, books whose pictures writhe and crawl and shimmer, little dinosaur skulls that chatter their teeth. But there's another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to
change her and never let her go.
Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself.
Critically acclaimed and award-winning author Neil Gaiman will delight readers with his first novel for all ages

The main character Coraline was such a great character, such a kid. The black cat was an excellent supporting character. It was many of the details I really enjoyed - Coraline hates recipe food, the parents were somewhat distracted, and Coraline faced some fears and was brave - doing something even when you are afraid. This is a great story for kids, and now I have to try to convince my son to read it. However, the book he picked out was "The Day My Butt Went Crazy" or something like that. Could be a tough sell.

UPDATE: April Books

April was a good month with ten books read. If I keep reading like this, I'll read over one hundred books this year. Crazy! I really liked most of them, and made some progress on some challenges, completing the Banned Book Challenge, and getting the 15books/15decades to the point where I have 9 books/9decades done. I started the Dystopian Challenge and am quite enjoying this genre. I got two books out of three done on His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman which just about completes the Spring Reading Thing. Since some books overlap, the numbers don't add up below.

Total Books Read: 10
Books Read for Banned Book Challenge: 3
Books Read for Spring Reading Thing: 4
Books Read for Reading Across Borders: 0
Books Read for the Dystopian Challenge: 2
Books Read for Chunkster Challenge: 1
Books Read for 15books/15decades: 2
Books Read for top 50_books challenge: 1.5

New Authors that I want to read again: Gregory, Pullman, Barnes
Best books: The Other Boleyn Girl, perks of being a wallflower, The Giver
Best Reread: The Indian in the Cupboard
Meh: The Virgin Suicides, Fahrenheit 451

The List:
The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman
The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
the perks of being a wallflower - stephen chbosky
The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides
The Giver - Lois Lowry
The Maltese Falcon - Dashiell Hammett
A History of the World in 10.5 Chapters - Julian Barnes
The Indian in the Cupboard - Lynne Reid Banks

BOOK: The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

Book 2 : His Dark Materials Trilogy

Well I didn't plan to read this right away, but something made me pick it up and then I read it all day. Lyra and Will are travelling back and forth between worlds, dealing with new things, like a knife, Spectors, and mean kids. This series is fantastic, I love the physics in it, the dark matter or Dust and just confirms my view that physics and philosophy and religion are all tied up, just like this series. Great adventure, great characters and what an imaginiation to view our world like this, as part of a bigger universe. I hope to take a break before I finish this series, with The Amber Spyglass. But it may draw me to it, like the characters are drawn to their fate in these books.

CHALLENGE: Classics Challenge Kathrin

The Winter Classics Challenge got me started. There are so many classic books I have never read, that the chance to join another challenge and read a few more was too good to pass up. Kathrin missed the first and decided to host her own classic challenge, and it sounds perfect: read 3 - 5 books between July 1 and November 30. I'm in, definately. Additionally, I have some early decades for the 15books/15decades challenge (from 1890s - 1910s) that I want to read. They are classics. My book choices are:

• Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte I am possibly the last reader on earth who has not read this.
• The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde Along with Jane Eyre, this is on the list of top 20 50_books list. And I love Wilde's play 'The Importance of Being Earnest' (1890s)
• O'Pioneers! - Willa Cather (1910s)
• Hound of the Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle (1900s) I always enjoy mysteries and Sherlock Holmes? A classic.

I am combining this challenge with the 15books/15decades challenge, and my own personal list of books I am trying to read: 50_books , from live journal, top 20 reads

CHALLENGE: Once upon a Time

I really didn't think I would do this challenge hosted by Carl over at Stainless Steel Droppings. Fantasy, folklore, and fairy tales are not the type of books I look for or read very often. Of course I've read all the Harry Potters, but fantasy isn't usually what I've read. But I loved the idea of the challenge, especially the option to read one book from each of four subgenres. But when the challenge came out, I didn't feel I'd be able to pick enough books that I would read, even though I had just finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman, an amazing book.
Last week however, I started reading His Dark Materials trilogy and realized I may as well join up, because that series puts me half way done of the Once Upon a Time 2007 reading challenge. There are four or five quests you can choose from:

Quest One: Read at least 5 books from any of the 4 genres. This is set up more along the lines of the R.I.P. Challenge. Given the time frame it may not seem to be a big deal to commit to 5 books, but we all know how time, and reading, can get away from us.
Quest Two: Read at least one book from each of the four genres of story-Mythology, Folklore, Fairytale, and Fantasy.
Quest Three: Read at least one book from each of the four genres of story, and finish up the challenge with a June reading of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
or
Quest Four: Read at least one book from the four genres. This is for those who don’t read much, or those who feel that this type of story is so far out of the realm of what they normally read that committing to anything beyond one story is asking too much. (In other words, this is only a one book commitment)
I'm picking quest number 1, a big sister version to quest number four. The books I plan to read between March 22 and June 21st would be:

1. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
2. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
3. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
4. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchert
5. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
6. Great. I just found Coraline by Neil Gaiman at the library. It looks short, so I'll probably try to read it. It looks really good. *I really didn't need another book*

I've actually got a few extra that I might read as well, depending on how my other challenges go. Maybe do The Midsummer's Night Dream on the last night; Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley a fairy tale telling of Beauty and the Beast which I just saw as the musical: excellent!; and I found a collection of fairy tales from around the world in the children's section of the library that I might take out to read as a selection. I also want to read Inkheart and The Eyre Affair, but I fear that won't happen before June 21st.

OTHER: My Daemon

The site is very slow where I got this, but this was neat. I love the idea of a personal daemon. And, apparently, this book is being made into a movie, being released December 2007. I like to read a book before I see the movie.

MEME: Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

1. Does what you read vary by the season? For instance, Do you read different kinds of books in the summer than the winter? Not really for bedtime books, but if I am going to the beach I would want a, how to describe it? less thought required book. But mostly not much difference. Any book that I can get engrossed in is a good book.


2. If so, do you break it down by genre, length of book, or...? There is a reason books are called beach reads - fast, fluffy and fun. I think paperback and short would be the biggest requirement.

BOOK: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

Book 1 of His Dark Materials trilogy

Trilogies are tricky things, because there is a lot to do. The first book has to set up the plot that will last through three whole books. It can take a while to introduce all the characters and understand their motives and establish conflict. This book took a little while to get going. Also, I haven't read a lot of fantasy, and it takes a while to set up the parameters of the world the characters inhabit. I really liked the blend of our world and the slight changes that make Lyra's world different. The idea of daemons for each person, creatures that reflect their character and soul was my favorite part of this book.

Once I got to around page 100, the story picked up steam and I quite enjoyed it. I wasn't completely happy with the ending, because it didn't make me want to follow Lyra onto her next world. Again, this is a trilogy problem because this book has to feel complete, but it also has to make you want to keep going. Tying up enough loose ends, but leaving a few strings to start the next tale with. I will continue reading the series because 1) I bought them and 2) it is for the Spring Reading Thing and 3) it is recommended by the 50_books challenge readers and because 4) I am sure I will enjoy the rest of the series.

BOOK: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Another book for the Dystopian challenge and the eponymous named banned book challenge. I guess I really needed to read this since it is the original book banning book. My husband said he read this in high school and really liked it. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it in a class with the analysis and discussion. To read it on my own was okay. I can't say I loved it but I recognize that it is an important book. I really liked the rant by Captain Beatty about the future and how freakily true it is to today's society. The way that information had to be shortened and shortened and dumbed down and how quickly information had to be taken in sounds like the twenty first century. I liked the hopeful end, and the way that a little thought was all that was needed to outwit the Hound.

I liked Fahrenheit 451 like I like broccoli: I know it's good for me, and I do like it, but I'd pick chocolate over broccoli any day. There are better options, but it is a nice change every now and then.

CHALLENGE: Chunkster Update

This challenge is quite a challenge for me for a few reasons. The biggest reason is all the other crazy challenges that have come up, which makes picking up a big book all the more intimidating, because it will be a time investment that might affect the other challenges. My original goal was to read a minimum of two from a list of four books :

1. American Gods by Neil Gaiman


2. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory


3. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult


4. With No One as My Witness by Elizabeth George

I have managed to finish the first two, woo hoo! (reviews at the links) My Sister's Keeper is barely a chunkster, but it is over 400 pages, and I hope to read that very soon. I also have another entry that should fit into this challenge, somewhat. I am reading His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman for the Spring Reading Thing. Each book is about 400 pages, so if when I finish them, by June, they could be considered as a large chunkster? Either way, I have met my minimum goal for this challenge, with the possibility of completing four, by the end of June.

I can't even pick up the Elizabeth George book. I was putting off reading it before all these other challenges began. Now? Scares the bejeeses out of me. I love her books, but they are so dense, they take forever.

My reading and blogging have changed so much since I found this challenge way back in December. I only used livejournal then, and have since developed this book blog. I added American Gods to some other challenges because I knew I would read it for this one. I've met some really interesting readers, and have got caught up in this whirlwind of great books, challenges, reviewing and blogging. I can also see how my reading has changed over since December, both quality and quantity. I'll check back in at Bookfoolery and Babble closer to June and see what's happening there. It's been a good challenge, because it has been more of a struggle to pick these books up. Both books were beyond excellent and I loved them. So it has been a very successful challenge all around.

MEME: Booking Through Thursday

'Fess Up!

Booking Through Thursday
Okay, there must be something you read that's a guilty pleasure . . . a Harlequin romance stashed under the mattress. A cheesy sci-fi book tucked in the back of the freezer. A celebrity biography, a phoned-in Western . . . something that you'd really rather not be spotted reading. Even just a novel if you're a die-hard non-fiction fan. Come on, confess. We won't hold it against you!

I would have to say that reading children's novels would be my "I can't believe I admit I read that " books. I still go back and reread the Little House books, Gordon Korman's Bruno and Boots books, and the occasional Judy Blume. Maybe that is why I jumped on the Banned Book challenge so quickly: to be able to read and review some great children's books.
But to restate what many other people already have, there are no guilty pleasures. Just read what you like, and enjoy. It's the reading that's important, that transports you to another place and another time and fills the need you as a reader have, whether to be entertained, amused, or to learn and see the world from a new point of view.

BOOK: The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

I was glad to get another Chunkster finished, and the sign of a good chunkster is that it takes less time to read than a regular 250 page book - I'm looking at you Virgin Suicides. It takes less time because you read it at every spare moment, enveloped in the world created by the author.

So, I spent my weekend at Henry VIII's court, amidst the intrigue and treachery and decadent lifestyle of sixteenth century England. I haven't read much historical fiction lately, all caught up with classics and challenges, and I had forgotten how much I love a good epic tale. I love how with historical fiction, you can know the outcome - Anne Boleyn isn't going to survive- and yet you want to keep reading to find out what will happen to the characters and how the author will get to the outcome. The characters of Anne Boleyn, her sister Mary, the narrator, and their brother George, were the center of this tale and their closeness and friendship and stick togetherness was my favorite part of the story. Through all the double crossing and treachery, these three stuck together and helped and supported each other to the very end.
Philippa Greogory's interview at the back of the book states she wants readers to :

• take away a terrific reading experience which has absorbed them and moved them and excited them. check



• have a new vision of the Tudor period and some interesting information about the role of women and the inequalities of English society check



• understand that while the Tudor court was glamorous there was deep poverty and that was a normal way of life check



• get a sense of the Tudor landscape, the courts and the city of London and the countryside check



• get an insight into the psychology of the characters check

And the best part about this book: two more books! The Constant Princess, about Katherine of Aragon the first wife of Henry VIII, and The Boleyn Inheritance, which looks at the next three or four wives after Anne Boleyn as Henry continues his quest to have a male to inherit the throne. And we all know how that turns out. Yet, I'll read the book to see how Gregory imagines it all played out.

BOOK: the perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

What a wonderful coming of age story. I devoured this last night, staying up too late in order to finish. Charlie, the narrator, has taken to writing letters of his life to an unknown friend as he goes through one year of his life at sixteen. Charlie is an intelligent, sensitive boy, trying to fit in and make friends, deal with his family and girls and school, and lots of 'home problems'. I really enjoyed this story; Charlie's voice was wonderful, and I kept hoping for him to make it through the angsty teenage years. I've seen the following quote before, but didn't realize it was from this book:

I walk around the school hallways and look at the people. I look at the teachers and wonder why they're here. If they like their jobs. Or us. And I wonder how smart they were when they were fifteen. Not in a mean way. In a curious way. It's like looking at all the students and wondering who's had their heart broken that day, and how they are able to cope with having three quizzes and a book report on top of that.

This was a book I picked because it made the top 20 books of the 50_books list and I can see why it did. I will hopefully go back and read about Charlie again. A poignant, sweet read.

BOOK:The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

Meh, this book was OK. I read it, slowly, because I couldn't get completely into it. I have read Eugenides' Middlesex and I couldn't read it fast enough, tearing through the pages, and I think it was twice as long. So, I don't know if I'd recommend The Virgin Suicides to anyone. It was well written, with many descriptions and the details were wonderful. There just wasn't enough plot or story for me. We know from the first sentence that all the sisters will commit suicide,(I dont' think I'm giving anything away here) so there is no suspense. I was somewhat bewildered by the narrative, told from the point of view of some neighbour boys, but many years after the deaths. The narrators compile this story somewhat like a court investigation, with interviews from family and witnesses, and exhibits mentioned as they try to make sense of the suicides.

I looked up the Sparks notes on this story, but in the end, the novel didn't intrigue me enough to even read through it all. Maybe I was too tired when I read this, but I kept falling asleep. I don't blame this completely on the book, but I kept losing my spot as I was thinking what I might write about the book. I could never get immersed enough to be a part of the story. I much preferred Middlesex.

BOOK: The Giver

Finishing The Giver puts to rest my Banned Book Challenge, although I plan to read another couple before the end of June, but I feel like I met my committment. Phew.
It also starts my Dystopian Challenge, and wow, what a way to start. This book was amazing. I couldn't put it down once I started it. I haven't read a lot of this type of book. From the back:

Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns twelve he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now it's time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

I am never too sure how much I want to disclose about a book and its plot or characters when I write these reviews. I knew very little about this book, so I went into it with no ideas, other than I'd read of people who loved the book so I don't want to say very much. I can understand why this book would be a favorite. Watching Jonas grow, at that magical age twelve, when children first begin to see beyond their safe little world, and as he begins to gain an understanding of his community and his bewilderment with the society that he lives in , was so well written and you hope he can come to some decision about sharing his feelings and memories.
This was an excellent story. I'm glad I purchased my copy so I can revisit it again. It is banned and challenged because of the euthanasia and birth decisions in the community, and "partially because some critics believe that Lowry is promoting the community Jonas lives in as an exemplary place to live."

MEME: Booking Through Thursday

Where does the time go?

Booking Through Thursday

Have you ever missed an important appointment because you have become so engrossed in a book you forgot the time or were up so late reading that you didn't wake up in time? Been late to work because you couldn't resist the temptation and left the house too late?

I've certainly become engrossed in books - anyone else read The Stand in one sitting? I was getting bedsores that night. I've stayed up too late, much too late, on a work night to finish a book and I couldn't let myself read while I was in university many years ago, because I would have missed classes, BUT, I've never missed anything or been late. I've been bleary eyed and cranky, and I once burned a pot of carrots dry that I was cooking to make baby food, but that's my worst disaster.

CHALLENGE: Southern Reading Challenge

Hmm, what to do? Because I hate to miss out on anything. However, there are no books in my pile that even remotely connect to this lovely idea by maggie at maggie reads - read three books set in the south, written by southern authors. But there is the problem: there is a genre of books I've been ignoring. There are suggestions posted here, generously compiled and posted by Lisa at Books.Lists.Life.

So, I will think on this. Appropriately it will be held in the summer months of June, July and August. I must peruse the list to see if anything catches my eye and then check my lists to see how crazy and ambitious I feel. And ambitious is not usually an adjective that gets thrown around with my name very often. I think I'll have to pass, but see me being sneaky, and getting to put the cute button on my blog anyway. Score.

QUIZ: Novel First Lines, books and movies, Harry Potter

I found this quiz based on opening lines of novels on another blog at livejournal. I didn't do very well,*hangs head in shame* 6/13

I did better on the books into movie quiz. Figures. 7/10

And Harry Potter quiz? 11/12 I can't wait for the last book to come out.

CHALLENGE: Dystopian Challenge

Lisa at Books. Lists. Life is hosting a Dystopian Challenge

The rules were as follows:
1. Pick any number of books you wish to read that fall into the Utopia/Dystopia genre.
2. They do not have to be books you've never read, but hopefully they aren't books you read last week.
3. Challenge is open now, and will last until November 6th.

Well, I confess I didn't know there was a genre of books called dystopian/utopian until very recently. (utopian for the optimists? dystopian for the pessimists?) This certainly isn't a category of books I've read many of, but I enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood many years ago, and I've read 1984 by Orwell a long time ago. I had a few books I was planning to read, not realizing they fit into this genre. So, I can commit to two books, and may be able to read a few more by November, depending on what other challenges come up.

Books I plan to read:
1. The Giver by Lois Lowry (banned book challenge as well)
2. Never Let Me Go by Kazou Ishiguro
3. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
4. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
5. either The Road by Cormac McCarthy or Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (recced by laura)

maybes: Children of Men PD James;
Uglies, Pretties, etc, by Scott Westerfield;
something by Margaret Atwood

And I found this list on wikipedia. Wow, who knew there were this many dystopian books. I didn't look up utopian either.

These challenges are fun because you get to read new books, meet new people, and make a list and cross stuff off the list. List people know what I mean by this.

BOOK: The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

This is my entry for the 1930s in the 15books/15decades challenge and it screams the 1930s. In a good way. Hammett is described as the creator of the modern suspense story and it was very good. It probably helps if you loved the movie, which I haven't seen, or heard the radio recording, which I remember hearing once twenty years ago and becoming totally enthralled, but I couldn't finish listening for some reason. Also, I am developing a crush on Humphrey Bogart and he is so tied up with this role of Sam Spade that he really has become Spade.

The story takes a while to get going but sets the mood of the hard-boiled detective story, with dames and guns and double-crossing. Our hero is not the greatest guy, but you know he's the smartest one there and will come out on top. I loved the way things were alluded to between Spade and Brigid without any descriptions; even when Spade got told off, it was done in a way that no words starting with f had to be used, but it was very clear. Subtle.

I read this and The Big Sleep this year and I think I preferred The Big Sleep and Rick Diamond to Sam Spade, because I was more confused in The Maltese Falcon during the reading, but I often find intrigue and suspense confusing, because those red herrings get me everytime. Both are very good reads; I find myself slipping into this genre of story along with Agatha Christie's this year. These old mysteries are classics for a reason. The library has collections of stories by Chandler and Hammett that I plan to investigate further.

OTHER: BAFABW and Thinking

What a great week-end I had!

First, I was nominated by Chris at book-a-rama for a Thinking Blogger Award. Doesn't this look nice:

Thank you to Chris. I'm supposed to nominate five other bloggers who make me think when I read their blog. My problem is I'm very new at this and most of the blogs I read have already, very deservedly, been nominated. And I am so impressed with the blogs I've been finding, the reviews they do, the books they read, and just the overall friendly, generous nature of this book-blog-osphere. I think I may hold on to this, and wait a while before I can pick five new people. I hope this isn't like those chain mail emails you get, that say if you don't send this in ten minutes to five more people, you will have bad luck. I confess, I'm a deleter of those emails and my luck hasn't run out yet.

On the contrary, my luck is quite good this weekend. I was so pleased and surprised to find that I won one of booklogged books she was giving away at her site for BuyGive a Friend a Book Week: Flowers for Algernon. After her review of the book, I was quite anxious to read it, and now I get it as a gift, and in the mail? How great is that. I love getting mail, and books. (I think that is www.amazon.ca 's best selling point - books, in the mail.)

There are so many great nouns in that phrase Give a Friend a Book Week. And it isn't easy to do, because I went shopping last week to do just that: buy a book for a real life friend. But how do you pick? Partially the problem was my friend and I often do not agree on books. We've had a few in common that we love, but we miss more often than not. So, do I pick a book I've read and think she might like? Or just get a book I haven't read abut think she might like? Here's a question for people out there: Would you buy a friend a book from a second hand book store if you found a good book there? I know I would not mind getting a used book, but what about others? I query that at Christmas sometimes too.

So thank you out there to Chris and booklogged, who happen to be some of the first people I met here in blogspot. Have a great week to everybody out there who stops by. I'm off to finish The Maltese Falcon before The Amazing Race starts.

UPDATE: March books

I see other people doing a monthly update and that seems like a great idea. I wish I had started earlier in the year, just as I wish I had started doing reviews of my reading earlier. Oh well. March was a great reading month for me, and all the children's books from the banned book challenge helped, as did having a March break week. I am not doing well in the Chunkster Challenge at all, and I need to pick up a big book and sacrifice the numbers. I feel like there have been a lot of classic books that I missed in my reading over the years, and I am trying to read some of these famous books and get myself caught up. Of course, seeing lists like "the 1001 books you need to read" certainly ups the ante and makes any goals you set seem rather meaningless.

Total Books Read: 18
Books Read for Banned Book Challenge: 5
Books Read for Spring Reading Thing: 3
Books Read for Reading Across Borders: 6
Books Read for Chunkster Challenge: 1
Books Read for 15books/15decades: 4
Books Read for top 50_books challenge: 2

New Authors that I want to read again: Kundera, Adams, Gaiman, Gunesekera, Camus, Calvino, (I even have books picked out for each of them I would like to read, eventually)

Best books: The Gun Seller, American Gods, Ordinary People, The Big Sleep
Blah: Elizabeth Costello, On the Water
Great Mysteries: The Shape of Water, Partners in Crime

BOOK: A History of the World in 10.5 Chapters by Julian Barnes

This book was not what I thought it would be, but I still liked it. I thought it would be like the title said- a history of the world, and when the first chapter was about a stowaway on Noah's Ark it made sense. But the book then veered off and the rest of the chapters related somehow back to Noah's Ark and wormwood, the bugs. I was dazzled by Barnes ambition and ability to connect some very disparate stories, but they weren't really different in theme. Boats and religion were all there in each chapter in someway. I liked the chapters about the dream of heaven, the art criticism, the court record of sixteenth century France against wormwood. It reminded me about a Colin Firth movie I saw, set in the same time in France, where a pig was charged with murder. Several chapters were based on true accounts including one about a boat full of Jewish refugees as the second world war is getting started. And how Barnes was able to tie all the chapters together somehow was fun to watch for. I like short story collections and ones with a theme or connection are even better. I liked this book a lot.
heidijane wrote a great review of this book for the 15books/15decades challenge that sums up this book very nicely.
I'm sure I read another book like this, with one object passing through many generations or hands and told in a series of seemingly unconnected short stories, but I can't remember the name. There was a movie called The Red Violin somewhat like this as well.

BOOK: The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks

I remember reading this to a grade five class, maybe during student teaching, and I remembered that it was sweet. I picked it up at the second hand book store for my son, and then when the Banned Book Challenge started, I decided to reread it. What a great book!

I forgot the details of the story except that Omri recieves a plastic Indian for his birthday, and a cupboard that magically brings the Indian to life. From there, complications ensue. It was so well written, with wonderful characters and a great theme of the value of human life and the responsibilities of looking after a real person. Omri can't resist showing Little Bear, his Indian, to his friend, who then wants his own little person. Things start getting out of hand. This book was as good as I remembered and I'm glad I revisisted it. I would think the stereotypes of the Indian and his language were reason for banning. Now I need to get my son to read this.

LIST: Books to read

I went on a little spell recently, book buying. It's such a bad habit and I've been trying to use the library a lot more. But when I want to read a book, I want it RIGHT NOW, and some of the books in the library have to come throught interlibrary loan, so they take a week or two. I know, I have enough books that I should be able to read another one instead, but I get impulsive. My school library is great to borrow books from, because teachers can take out books and they never get overdue. Additionally, our librarian is wonderful as most librarians are, and she orders books for the teachers too, or she lets the teachers get the new great books first. She's fabulous!

So, what have I indulged in lately, added to the ever growing books to be read list?
1. In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant
I needed another book on an Amazon order of gameboy games to get the free shipping, and this fit the bill. I loved her Birth of Venus book and have been waiting to get my hands on this one.
2. The Giver by Lois Lowry Finished
Second hand book store, and I got this because I saw it on some lists of favorite books, and it's on the banned book list.
3. Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam
Another amazon order from a while ago; I've had good luck reading Giller prize winners.
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
At an Indigo visit, I found this for 4.99, a reissue of classic stories. I plan to read this for the first time, as it is on so many best books list and I hate to feel I'm missing out on something.
5. Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
Second hand book store find. The NYT Notable book list challengers are reading this
6. The Plague by Albert Camus
I read The Stranger recently and quite enjoyed it. I'm not sure why I enjoyed it, but I just did. This will fit as a Reading Across Borders book; it's set in Algeria
7. Gods and Monsters by Christopher Bram
Another sale book at amazon, used to fill in an order.
8. The Princess of Burundi
9. The Translator
10. The Other Boleyn Girl Finished
The last three are arriving from amazon very soon. I had the Boleyn book from the library, but I didn't get to it in time and they wouldn't let me renew it because someone requested it. So I ordered in instead. Sometimes the pressure of the due date makes it hard to read.
I'll fit these in between library reads.

MEME: Booking Through Thursday

Truly Biblical

Booking Through Thursday

1. Just out of curiosity, as we enter into Passover and Easter season... have you ever read the Bible? Just the odd chapter or Psalm? The whole thing? (Or, almost the whole thing? It's some heavy reading, of course, and those "begats" get kind of tedious.) Haven't read very much, at all. I received a new testament in grade four catechism, and other than passages read in church, I don't read it.
2. If so, was it from religious motivation or from a literary perspective? Stuck with nothing else to read in a hotel room the Gideon's have visited? Any combination? Any reading at all would be from a religious perspective. I was in Esphesus, Turkey this summer, and I did look up Paul's letters to them when I got home, because that was kind of cool.
3. If not, why not? Against your religious principles? Too boring? Just not interested? Something you're planning on taking care of when you get marooned on a desert island? Just not interested, and a little boring. There is so much boring stuff to get around to find the good stuff. I don't take things literally in the bible, and it always concerns me that people take everything as the gospel, so to speak, in the bible. It was written by men and their perspectives and alterations and biases are all present.
4. And while we're on the subject... what about the other great religious works out there? Are they more to your liking? I would find it interesting to study how the bible was written, where the passages came from. And I enjoyed reading The Red Tent, and Pope Joan, historical fiction that takes a small item and builds a whole story around them.

LIST: Favorite Young Children's Books

The books you start reading to your young children are some of the best books in the world. They have to be visually appealing, and not just tasty boardbook but that does seem to have an appeal for some, melodic, with rhythms and poetic patterns that rival the best poetry. These books below have been read to all three of our children, and the last little one is just four last week, and getting near the end of some of these books. She was actually trying to read Go, Dog. Go! today, by looking for words she recognizes - go, one, three, red, up. My dear!
These would be my favorite books to read to my young kids, night after night after repetitive night; the ones I could read even without having the book in my hand. Sadly, after three children, some of these books are showing their love. Short books are usually my favourite, but these are the quality ones:

1. Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
I made the mistake of reading this to my first born the morning I went back to work for the fist time. Mascara disaster. Three baby owls wake up and find their mother not home. They worry, and fret, and when she comes "soft and silent, she swoops through the trees" back to their home, she admonishes them " You knew I'd come back", I nearly lose it every time. It also has some fun repetitive phrases for the children, and identifiable babies. I give this book as baby presents too.

2. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
I knew this was considered a classic, but we had never read it when I was a child. I bought it for the first one, and we have loved it. All three have enjoyed it and even the very old illustrations, quiet and charming, keep their attention. Such a calm quiet way to get the little one ready for sleep.

3. The Monster at the End of the Book by Sesame Street
I do remember this one from my childhood, and Grover was always my favourite muppet, after Bert of course. Poor Bert. I found this for 1.99 somewhere, and all three again have enjoyed being so strong, turning the page, getting to the end of the book. Imagining what will happen is always worse than the actual thing. A great lesson for silly, lovable old Grover.

4. Will's Mammoth by Rafe Martin and Stephen Gammell
I think part of the appeal of this book was that I found it just after I finished reading the Clan of the Cave Bear books, and all the illustrations would have fit into those stories. This book is nearly all illustrations, and part of what I liked about it. I could make up a new story each night. Will loves mammoths and he has one in his backyard that he rides around the prehistoric neighbourhood. Delightful watercolours tell the story themselves. Count the mammoths in Will's room!

5. Go Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman ( a Dr Seuss book)
There are so many wonderful Dr Seuss books and the rhymes in this one take the cake. "Do you like my hat?"

6. Hand, Hand Fingers Thumb by Al Perkins (a Dr Seuss book)
This little board book has the best rhythms. It builds and builds, and who doesn't love monkeys. My little monkeys certainly did.

7. little, big!
The third child got this for her first Christmas and we all loved reading this. Big car, (turn page) little car; all spoken with corresponding volume. She loved this book so much and would throw it at people to get them to read it to her.

8. Peepo! by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
This wonderful little British board book was set in the, hmm, forties? They give baths in a wash tub beside the fire, carry in coal for the stove, and then each page has a hole cut out, to show a little bit of the next page. What does baby see? Peepo! The baby follows his day from morning to nighttime. Delightful rhymes.

9. Mabel Murple by Sheree Fitch
I love Sheree Fitch and especially some of her older books: Monkeys in the Kitchen, Sleeping Dragons, and the poem collection Toes in my Nose, reminiscent of Dennis Lee, the wonderful Canadian poet as is Fitch. This poem grew out of a Toes in my Nose selection. We all recite Mabel Murple when we drive by the purple house because:

Mabel Murple's house was purple,
So was Mabel's hair
Mabel Murple's dog was purple
A purple poodle named Pierre

I'm probably paraphrasing, but the poem has evolved in our car.

10. Red is Best by Kathy Stinson
This book had such an effect, I completely brainwashed the second child. She believed in all her heart that red was best.
What do you want for Christmas? asks me. My two year old child says: a red chair.
What kind of chair? Red. What kind of birthday cake do you want? red. And it went on and on.
Daughter had everything red for several years.
And this is a wonderful book to help parents realize why a child might need the red cup - juice tastes better or why the too small red shoes - she jumps higher. The illustrations capture the pudgy little legs and hands. And why is red best? Because red is best.

Oh, the memeories that writing this brought back. And I'm sure I missed a few favorite books, but each of these went through a phase and truly stood the test of time. I left out all the licensed characters: Blue's Clues books, Maisy, Franklin, and tons and tons of number books and alphabet books (the Dr Seuess ABC book is the best in my opinion. "Many mummbling mice...") I'm sure I could have kept going for another ten.

So, what memories have been dredged up? What books have you already bought for children possibly yet to come? What were your favourite children's books?