SomeReads

I’ve had a crazy week, and I haven’t posted as much as I wanted to. In fact, I’m making myself post now to break the lull.

Here’s what I read/finished this month:

Princess Academy (children’s)
Dragonfly in Amber (audiobook)
Little Bitty Mousie (picture book)
American Gods
All Year Long (picture book)
Bark, George (picture book)
Look Out, Jack! The Giant Is Back! (picture book)
The Crocodile Blues (picture book, review to come)
Big Chickens Fly the Coop (picture book, review to come)
Love Marriage
Rules (children’s, audiobook, review to come)
Three Cups of Tea (audiobook, review to come)

Challenges:

Once Upon a Time – 4 of 5 books read
A-Z Challenge (this month) – A title, P titleso, G author
Chunkster – 3 of 4 books read
PB&J – 6 of 52 books read

In other news, Houston Public Library re-opened their Central Branch today after being closed for renovations for 2 years. Jimmy and I headed downtown to take a look, and it’s pretty nifty!

In addition to asking where we are in our reading this week, raidergirl3 asked where we get our books. I get books wherever I can find them! Currently, I’m on a book diet, which means I’m not buying any new books until I make a serious dent in my TBR stack (this does not apply to reference books or cookbooks, only to ones that I actually sit down to read cover to cover – I did buy a copy of Day Trips from Houston last week…). When I am buying books, I tend to pick them up at Borders or Half Price Books, occasionally Amazon. My workplace used to have quarterly used book sales (I work at a hospital, and they get lots of donated books), but they’ve stopped having them for the most part. I picked up a ton at those. And then, of course, there’s the Texas Library Association conference, where I pick up lots of free Advanced Reader Copies, this year coming home with 45 new books! This was not typical – most times I’ve come home with between 10-20, I think. I
also have been lucky with the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program, scoring about 6 books there, and I’ve gotten a few on Bookmooch.

EDITED TO ADD: I can’t believe I forgot to mention the library. I get an awful lot of books from the library, too. I am a huge supporter of libraries (being a librarian and all…)

As for where I am today. This morning I was in Maine being a preteen girl caught between worlds (in Rules by Cynthia Lord) and then I just started Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult and don’t actually know where I am yet! Later I will be in a creepy fairytale forest in The Book of Lost Things and on an island in the middle of nowhere in Peter and the Starcatchers. It’s awesome to be in new books this week!

Wanna play? Visit raidergirl3′s blog at http://raidergirl3-anadventureinreading.blogspot.com!

I received Love Marriage from the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program. The book started out strong, and I was sure I would give it at least 4 stars, even halfway through the book. But after finishing it, I think I have to give it 3.5 stars. Here’s why.

Ganeshananthan has a beautiful writing style, very mature for such a young writer (by my calculations, she’s about 28). But the story jumps around too much. First it was just that it would jump from the narrator’s present or recent past, to her family’s past (early 80s), telling a part of different family members’ histories. It was easy to tell who was being talked about, as most sections started with the name of the family member being discussed in that section, but sometimes it was hard to remember whose side of the family the particular family member was on (the inclusion of a family tree at the beginning was helpful in this aspect). But later on the narrator would literally switch from one paragraph to the next (this happened in a couple of spots where, I guess, Yalini would introduce a part of her uncle’s story, and the narration would continue as if he were telling the story). This caused confusion several times and made it hard for me to focus on the story.

What did I like about the book? I learned more about Sri Lanka than I have ever known. I knew nothing about the ethnic tensions there, and nothing about the Tamil Tigers. I learned a lot about the Hindu marriage and funeral rituals, which was very interesting. But overall, the story left me feeling unfulfilled. Would I recommend it? Yes, I would. I enjoyed the book and feel that it is a very good first book by Ganeshananthan.

Other reviews:
Aarti at Booklust

I’ve been woefully neglectful of the PB&J challenge, even though I’ve had 3 library books to read for 3 weeks now. I finally sat down to read them and review them before taking them back today. And, of course, I read them aloud, because, in my opinion, you can’t really review a picture book without taking into account its read-aloud-ability.

All Year Long by Kathleen W. Deady was my choice for my “A” title. The text of this book is simple, but nice when read aloud. It would be a good choice for a storytime for young preschoolers with a “seasons” theme. This book is also a “circular story” ending at the spot where it began: the first line is “I know it’s spring when robins sing, and tulips give a nod,” and the last little bit goes, “But mama’s cocoa keeps us warm from winter until spring; When, if I listen closely…I’ll hear a robin sing.” Very nice. But the best thing about this book is the illustrations. The illustrator, Linda Bronson, uses collages to illustrate the book, and they are just lovely.

Bark, George by Jules Feiffer was my choice for my “B” title. My intention was to choose newer books, but this one, published in 1999, jumped out at me. This book is ideal for very young preschoolers and older toddlers, especially ones who are very into learning animal sounds. George’s mom is concerned because instead of “arf”ing like a dog, he makes various other animal sounds. This book is cute and has simple, but colorful illustrations.

I chose Look Out, Jack! The Giant Is Back! by Tom Birdseye to represent my “B” author. This book is a great read-aloud! The refrain:

Wham blam hickity hack!
I’m gonna get that boy named Jack!
He now be living, but soon he’ll roast!
I’ll spread him with mustard and eat him on toast!

will delight young listeners and have them chanting along. This would be a great addition to a fractured fairy tale-themed storytime. After Jack (of the beanstalk fame) has killed his giant, he thinks he’s home free…until his brother comes to avenge his brother’s death! This book is great fun! The illustrations are great, too. Here’s the description from the book: “The artwork for this book was prepared on 100″ cotton vellum. The artist tinted both the front and back surfaces of the paper with a variety of media, including woodless pencils, inks, egg tempera, colored pencils, water-soluble crayon, and oils. The art was then drymounted on bristol board.”

Overall, these were 3 great selections. I’m not really sure how to go about choosing my picture books. Last time, I just browsed, but I like a little more structure than that. I’ll have to see if I can find some good recommended reading lists. I really want to focus on new (within the past 3 years or so) books.

Dewey’s instructions for this week:
Choose a political or social issue that matters to you. Find several books addressing that issue; they don’t have to books you’ve read, just books you might like to read. Using images (of the book covers or whatever you feel illustrates your topic) present these books in your blog.

I have been blessed with two beautiful, healthy children. We have taught them to question and not follow blindly. My daughter has always fit pretty well into that little box called public education. Well, until this year, anyway, when she was cursed with both a really bad teacher and a real jerk of a teacher – she has learned this year that her teacher isn’t always right and sometimes she needs to question what she is asked/told to do (and her teacher hasn’t appreciated this). My son has never fit into the public education box very well, and it caused much heartache early on.

All of these books reflect the idea that it is possible to raise well-adjusted children despite societal pressures and norms.

Oh, oh, oh! I'm so excited! I'm in (or will be in) two *new* places today!

I started out this morning somewhere on the East Coast, I'm guessing, but I'm not exactly sure where I was. I was explaining the "rules" to my autistic brother and eagerly anticipating meeting my new neighbor, a girl just my age. (Rules by Cynthia Lord – the newest (and last for a while) audiobook I'm listening to with Laura)

In Three Cups of Tea I'm in Pakistan less than 30 km from the Afghan border on September 11, 2001.

At lunchtime I will be in Toronto, learning family history from my uncle, who is a Tamil Tiger. (Love Marriage by V.V. Ganeshananthan)

And at bedtime, I will be learning to fly with Peter in Peter and the Starcatchers.

Want to play along? Visit Raidergirl3's blog at http://raidergirl3-anadventureinreading.blogspot.com/ and leave a comment telling where you are today!

I liked Stardust better. Ok. I’ve said it.

I feel like I was supposed to like American Gods more than I did. I did like it, but I don’t necessarily feel like I grokked it in the same way my husband, among others, did. I think this is probably one I should re-read someday to pick up all the things I inevitably missed.

I appreciate American Gods as A Very Good Book. But it’s not my preferred type of book. I don’t even think I could say what my “preferred” type of book is…

In a more “reviewish” vein, I felt like the book started out strong and then just sort of…continued (for lack of a better word) for a while…then it picked up again about 3/4 of the way through. I couldn’t put it down yesterday and was ticked that I fell asleep before finishing it last night. I liked the “aha” moments. There wasn’t anything I *didn’t* like about the book, but nothing that I *loved*, either.

What amazes me the most is just how versatile Neil Gaiman is as an author. He just blows me away, even with the books that aren’t my “style” (whatever that is).

Other reviews:
Amanda (the librarian)
Melissa at Book Nut

This counts toward three challenges!

My husband rocks! Here’s the link to the randomizer he wrote for me yesterday. I swear, I find it very romantic that he did this for me.

http://picavulpes.net/toberead/

Just type in (or copy and paste) the books you want to choose from, 1 book per line, and click “Random Book,” and it will choose one for you!

Everybody tell my husband what a great guy he is for enabling my book geekiness!

Someone said on another blog recently, as one of his blogging tips, that he dislikes those “I’m too busy to blog” posts. Why not take the time you’re using to say that to actually say something you’ve been meaning to blog about. This is a very good point!

So, instead of saying, “I’m just popping in to say I’m still alive,” I’ll find something interesting to say.

My great hubby is making me a cool tool so I can randomize my TBR list. I’m such a nerd and want to say, ok, I have all these books on my TBR pile – make a decision for me! So, my nerd partner is writing me a program to do it with. Anyone want me to share it once it’s done?

I’ve been reading the same books for weeks, which sort of explains my serious lack of posts. I just haven’t had anything “bookish” to say. I’m about 3/4 of the way through American Gods and will pick up my next LibraryThing Early Review book, Love Marriage, when I finish, hopefully in the next few days. Laura and I are minutes away from being done with The Amber Spyglass, and I think I have something short enough in my Audible.com queue to listen to before school is over 2 weeks from now. I am *seriously* going to miss listening to books with her in the morning when she starts riding the bus to middle school next fall (well, really it will stop when school ends this year).

I do still have to make my Weekly Geeks post for this week, but I think I’ll go read for now instead.

I laughed when I read raidergirl3's post this morning, because she said "I feel like I'm reading the same books this week that I was reading last week." Well, there's no *feeling* on my part. I am definitely still reading the same things as last week, just a bit further along.

This morning I was in Pakistan, trying to retrieve my building materials, so I could finally build the school in Korphe. (Three Cups of Tea)

And before that, I was with Lyra and Will in the Land of the Dead (yeah, I think I've been in the Land of the Dead for at least a week now! I guess that's what happens when you listen to 15-20 minutes per day). (The Amber Spyglass)

Later on today, I'll be in South Dakota with Shadow and Mr. Wednesday. (American Gods)

And tonight, I'll be aboard the Never Land learning about starcatchers, and the most unimagingative name for a substance I've ever read in a book, "starstuff." (Peter and the Starcatchers)
My husband hates this book, my daughter thinks it's stupid, and my son seems to like it, but I think he's afraid to admit it since his dad and sister are so vocal about their dislike. I, myself, am ambivalent, but as long as at least one child is enjoying it, I'll keep going. Especially, since the 1 child usually falls asleep before we finish reading anything, and this one has kept him awake.