Books I've Read 2010

Books in bold are ones I've especially liked:

1. The Penelopiad, Margaret Atwood
2. Futurama: The Time Bender Trilogy, Matt Groening
3. Interview With a Vampire, Anne Rice
4. Her Fearful Symmetry, Audrey Niffennegger
5. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
6. Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days, Joss Whedon
7. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
8. Shades of Grey, Jasper Fforde
9. Heat Wave, Richard Castle
10. The Help, Kathryn Stockett
11. Confections of a Closet Master Baker, Gesine Bullock-Prado
12. A Widow For One Year, John Irving
13. If You Come Softly, Jacqueline Woodson
14. Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater
15. If I Stay, Gayle Forman
16. Scarlett Fever, Maureen Johnson
17. Marcelo In The Real World, Francisco X. Stork
18. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
    
19. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World, Tracy Kidder
20. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
21. The Clock Without a Face, Eli Horowitz
22. Day After Night, Anita Diamant
23. The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx
24. Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver
25. Little Bee, Chris Cleave
26. The Red Pyramid, Rick Riordan
    
27. Wizard's First Rule, Terry Goodkind
28. Stone of Tears, Terry Goodkind
29. When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead
30. The Swan Thieves, Elizabeth Kostova
31. Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking, Book 3), Patrick Ness
32. Blood of the Fold, Terry Goodkind
33. Will Grayson, Will Grayson, John Green & David Levithan
34. Beautiful Creatures, Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
35. The Necromancer (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel: Book 4), Michael Scott
36. This is Where I Leave You, Jonathan Tropper
37. Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex (Book 7), Eoin Colfer
38. Superior Saturday (Keys to the Kingdom), Garth Nix
39. The God of Animals, Aryn Kyle
40. She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb
41. Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
42. Only the Good Spy Young, Ally Carter
43. The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee, Sarah Silverman
44. The Maze Runner, James Dashner
45. The Mockingbirds, Daisy Whitney (ARC)
46. Incarceron, Catherine Fisher (ARC)
47. Reckless, Cornelia Funke
48. How to Talk To a Widower, Jonathan Tropper
49. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
50. The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
51. It Is Right to Draw Their Fur, Dave Eggers
52. Knives at Dawn: America's Quest for Culinary Glory at the Legendary Bocuse d'Or Competition, Andrew Friedman
53. Serenity: The Shepard's Tale, Zack Whedon
54. The Scorch Trials, James Dashner
55. Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
56. The Color of Magic, Terry Pratchett
57. Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout

To Be Read

I usually post about the books I've already read, but I have such a back log of unread books on my shelf, I'm going to post about the books I want to read during the remainder of the year. There is no rhyme, reason or theme to these books other than they have been sitting on my shelf unread for months or even years. Books 1-6 were borrowed from friends, and as such will be the first I tackle. I'll update this post as I make my way through the list. Forty-one books in ten months...Should be do-able!

1. A Widow for One Year, John Irving
2. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
   
3. What She Saw, Lucinda Rosenfeld
4. Capote: A Biography, Gerald Clarke
5. Veronica, Nicholas Christopher
6. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World, Tracy Kidder
7. Zeitoun, Dave Eggers
8. Peter and the Sword of Mercy, Dave Barry
9. The God of Animals, Aryn Kyle
10. Day After Night, Anita Diamant
11. The Nazi Officer's Wife, Edith Beer
12. Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris
13. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, Azar Nafisi
14. A Million Little Pieces, James Frey
15. The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession, Susan Orlean
16. A Spot of Bother, Mark Haddon
17. Animal Farm, George Orwell
18. Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
    
19. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
20. A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
21. Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling
22. The Castle, Franz Kafka
23. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
24. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
25. Anne of Ingelside, L. M. Montgomery
26. Rainbow Valley, L. M. Montgomery
27. Rilla of Ingleside, L. M. Montgomery
28. She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb
29. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
30. The Tombs of Atuan, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. The Farthest Shore, Ursula K. Le Guin
32. Tehanu, Ursula K. Le Guin
33. Underworld, Don DeLillo
34. Last Chance to See, Douglas Adams
35. The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga
36. Arkansas, John Brandon
37. Fever Chart, Bill Cotter
38. The Wild Things, Dave Eggers
39. Winter Wood, Steve Augarde
40. The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx
41. The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd

Judging a book by its cover II

I'm not generally a fan of merchandise tie-ins to movies or television series, but I am going to make an exception for a book published by Hyperion in 2009, Heat Wave by Richard Castle. Richard Castle is a fictional bestselling mystery writer in the eponymous ABC show Castle. The show is fantastic. Richard Castle is played by Joss Whedon alumnus Nathan Fillion of Firefly and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog fame. This would likely be enough to endear me to Castle, but the writing is funny and clever, and it's a real pleasure being entertained by Fillion
for an hour each week.

Back to the book. I'm sure it is not the first of its kind, but it really tickled me to be able to hold the book published in the television series in my hands. The details are perfect, from the back cover picture of Fillion and the mini-biography on the back flap, to the dedication. It all just makes me happy.

I haven't gotten around to reading it yet and honestly am not expecting great things. For me, the actual substance of the book doesn't matter much since the execution of the idea is just so much fun.

In which I display my geekiness

I present Figure 1, an homage to my geeky tendencies, where I plot data on the books I've read since I started keeping track four years ago. This is actually two plots, the first of which is a bar graph showing the total number of books read by year, and the second a line graph showing the percentage of those books that were written for adults.

Figure 1. The books I've read.

The first thing you will notice is that there is a sharp drop-off in books read from 2007 to 2008. This is easily explained if you know that I met my husband in the first half of 2008, and I suddenly found myself happily distracted. The second is that a very large percentage (>=60%) of the books I have been reading these past four years were not written for adults, but rather teens, young adults and middle readers.

Now there is nothing wrong with this; I count a number of those books among my favorite of all time. However, for the past couple of months I've found myself wanting to reverse this trend and get caught up again in the world of adult literature. I feel there are a great number of fantastic books I've missed out on along the way. So, if you wouldn't mind, please help me by leaving a comment on your favorite books that have been published since 2006 (OK, they can be books published before 2006 as well. Go crazy!).

Books I've read: 2009

Books in bold are ones I've especially liked:

1. Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman
2. Owl in Love, Patrice Kindl
3. Lock and Key, Sarah Dessen
4. The Two Princesses of Bamarre, Gail Carson Levine
5. Vegan Virgin Valentine, Carolyn Mackler
6. The Singing, Alison Croggon
7. Inferno, Robin Stevenson
   
8. Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Marisha Pessl
9. City of Glass, Cassandra Clare
10. The Last Days, Scott Westerfeld
11. Guyaholic, Carolyn Mackler
12. Alanna, Tamora Pierce
13. In the Hand of the Goddess, Tamora Pierce
14. The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, Tamora Pierce
15. Lioness Rampant, Tamora Pierce
16. Trickster's Choice, Tamora Pierce
17. Trickster's Queen, Tamora Pierce
18. The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians), Rick Riordan
19. Impossible, Nancy Werlin
20. Brisingr, Christopher Paolini
21. The Sorceress (The Secrets of Nicholas Flamel: Book 3), Michael Scott
22. Revelations, Melissa de la Cruz
23. The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Carrie Ryan
24. Watchman, Alan Moore
25. The Arrival, Shaun Tan
26. Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson
27. A Homemade Life, Molly Wizenberg
28. Pretty Monsters, Kelly Link
29. Good Girls, Laura Ruby
30. Queste (Septimus Heap, Book 4), Angie Sage
31. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
32. The Knife of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness
33. The Secret of Lost Things, Sheridan Hay
34. Kiki Strike: The Empress's Tomb, Kirsten Miller
35. Along for the Ride, Sarah Dessen
36. Heroes of the Valley, Jonathan Stroud
37. Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins
38. People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks
39. Light on Snow, Anita Shreve
40. Three Junes, Julia Glass
41. Nation, Terry Pratchett
42. Secrets of My Hollywood Life: On Location, Jen Calonita
43. The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown
44. Commencement, J. Courtney Sullivan
    
45. Secrets of My Hollywood Life: Family Affairs, Jen Calonita
46. Secrets of My Hollywood Life: Paparazzi Princess, Jen Calonita
47. The Boy Book, E. Lockhart
48. The Treasure Map of Boys, E. Lockhart
49. The Van Alen Legacy, Melissa de la Cruz
50. Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover, Ally Carter
51. Liar, Justine Larbalestier
52. Forest Born, Shannon Hale
53. Interworld, Neil Gaiman
54. Fire, Kristin Cashore
55. Vendetta, Chris Humphreys
56. The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking, Book 2), Patrick Ness
57. Front and Center, Catherine Murdock
    
58. Sacred Scars (A Resurrection of Magic, Book 2), Kathleen Duey
59. The Overlord Protocol (H.I.V.E.), Mark Walden
    

"Support your local libraries and the crazy people who work there"

From the ALA conference in Chicago, we have dancing librarians!

Books I've read: 2008

Books in bold are ones I've especially liked:

1. The Book of Lost Things, John Connolly
2. Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde
3. Bastard of Istanbul, Elif Shafak
4. Audrey, Wait!, Robin Benway (ARC)
5. Then We Came to the End, Joshua Ferris
6. An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England, Brock Clarke
7. How to Be Bad, e. lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski and Lauren Myracle (ARC)
8. Bewitching Season, Marissa Doyle (ARC)
9. The Last of the High Kings, Kate Thompson (ARC)
10. Thursday Next: First Among Sequels, Jasper Fforde
11. The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, Barry Lyga
12. Garlic and Sapphires, Ruth Reichl
13. In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan
14. The Memory of Running, Ron McLarty
15. What the Dickens, Gregory Maguire
16. The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
17. How Reading Changed My Life, Anna Quindlen
18. Secrets of My Hollywood Life, Jen Calonita
19. The Singer of All Songs, Kate Constable
20. The Queen of Cool, Cecil Castellucci
21. Rash, Pete Hautman
22. The Waterless Sea, Kate Constable
23. The Tenth Power, Kate Constable
24. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie
25. City of Bones, Cassandra Clare
26. Twisted, Laurie Halse Anderson
27. Peeps, Scott Westerfeld
28. The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick
29. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, E. Lockhart
30. The Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Lee Stewart
31. Things I've Learned From Women Who've Dumped Me, Ben Karlin
32. The Contract with God Trilogy, Will Eisner
33. Lady Friday, Garth Nix
34. Once Upon a Time in the North, Philip Pullman
35. The Time Machine, H. G. Wells
36. My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult
37. Odd and the Frost Giants, Neil Gaiman
38. Ever, Gail Carson Levine
39. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert
40. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
41. City of Ashes, Cassandra Clare
42. Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri
43. Rapunzel's Revenge, Shannon and Dean Hale
44. Squids Will Be Squids, John Scieszka
45. Y: The Last Man: Girl on Girl, Brian K. Vaughan
46. Y: The Last Man: Paper Dolls, Brian K. Vaughan
47. Y: The Last Man: Kimono Dragons, Brian K. Vaughan
48. Y: The Last Man: Motherland, Brian K. Vaughan
49. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Ann Brashares
50. The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Ann Brashares
    
51. The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson & the Olympians Book 4), Rick Riordan
52. Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood, Ann Brashares
53. Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood, Ann Brashares
54. The Plain Janes, Cecil Castellucci
55. Outlander, Diana Gabaldon
56. The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Mary E. Pearson
57. Suite Scarlett, Maureen Johnson
58. Y: The Last Man: Whys and Wherefores, Brian K. Vaughan
59. The Magician: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, Michael Scott
60. Kitty Kitty, Michele Jaffe
61. Girl at Sea, Maureen Johnson
62. Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer
63. The Time Paradox (Artemis Fowl, Book 6), Eoin Colfer
64. Just Listen, Sarah Dessen
65. Breaking Up, Aimee Friedman and Christine Norrie
66. A Conspiracy of Paper, David Liaa
67. The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory
68. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
69. The Virgin Suicides, Jeffrey Eugenides
70. Something Rotten, Alan Gratz
71. The Power of One, Bryce Courtenay
72. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, Maggie O'Farrell
73. Physik (Septimus Heap: Book Three), Angie Sage
74. Paper Towns, John Green
75. How to Ditch Your Fairy, Justine Larbalestier
76. The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
77. Physik, Angie Sage
78. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
79. Graceling, Kristin Cashore
80. Ironside, Holly Black
81. The Book of the Unknown, Jonathon Keats

A new genre?

Ok, friends. How many books can you think of that take place in WWII-era Britain where the protag is whisked off to some sort of fantastical alternate reality while there is chaos, death and destruction back home (or at least the threat of it)? The two I have in mind right now are:

But I know in my bones that there must be more examples. Please, help!

The coming year, 2008 edition

Goodbye 2007, hello 2008.

This is me being ready to start a new year. Don't get me wrong, 2007 wasn't all bad; there was the great, two week vacation to Bar Harbor and the Maritimes; the promotion; many reminders of how wonderful my friends are. And on the flips side, the ending of an almost five year relationship.

What does 2008 have in store for me? Who knows! My life is definitely a clean slate at the moment. I have a great, steady job that will continue to give me the flexibility, both in time and money, to pursue whatever I decide to pursue this year. I have supportive friends and family, a great place to live, health insurance -- there's a lot to be thankful for. I wouldn't mind finding a new hobby this year, or maybe a great place to volunteer some of my free time and meet even more great people. Maybe a little romance?

I'm looking forward to the following books coming out:

• Into the Dark, Peter Abrahams (March 25, 2008)
• Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri (April 1, 2008)
• Inkdeath, Cornelia Funke (April 7, 2008)
• Suite Scarlett, Maureen Johnson (May 1, 2008)
  
• The Battle of the Labyrinth, Rick Riordan (May 6, 2008)
• The Magician, Michael Scott (June 24, 2008)
• Superior Saturday, Garth Nix (July 1, 2008)
• Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox, Eoin Colfer (July 15, 2008)
• The Singing, Alison Croggon (September 2008)
• Paper Towns, John Green (September 2008)

What are you all looking forward to this coming year? And what future publications are miss ing from my list (I'm talking to you, C!)?

Books I've Read: 2007

Books in bold are ones I've especially enjoyed.

1. The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million, Daniel Mendelsohn
2. The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith
3. Digging to America, Anne Tyler
4. Fighting Ruben Wolfe, Markus Zusak
5. Looking For Alaska, John Green
6. The Rules of Survival, Nancy Werlin
7. The Case of the Missing Books: A Mobile Library Mystery, Ian Sansom
8. Suite Française, Irene Nemirovsky
9. Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, Patricia C. Wrede
10. Valiant, Holly Black
11. An Abundance of Katherines, John Green
12. The Peterkin Papers, Lucretia P. Hale
13. The Tale of Despereaux, Kate Dicamillo
14. The Dark Hills Divide, Patrick Carman
15. Mr. Popper's Penguins, Richard Atwater
16. Tithe, Holly Black
17. Victory, Susan Cooper
18. Bad Kitty, Michele Jaffe
19. A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life, Dana Reinhardt
20. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
21. The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan
22. This Is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn, Aidan Chambers
23. The Book of Story Beginnings, Kristin Kladstrup
24. The Blood Stone, Jamila Gavin
25. Behind the Curtain, Peter Abrahams
26. Y: The Last Man Vol. 4: Safeword, Brian K. Vaughan
27. Y: The Last Man Vol. 5: Ring of Truth, Brian K. Vaughan
28. Beyond The Valley Of Thorns, Patrick Carman
29. Sir Thursday, Garth Nix
30. A Certain Slant of Light, Laura Whitcomb
31. Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, Julie Powell
32. Tenth City, Patrick Carman
33. Dairy Queen, Catherine Murdock
34. King Dork, Frank Portman
35. How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff
36. The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
37. Golden , Jennifer Lynn Barnes
38. If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince?, Melissa Kantor
39. The Boyfriend List, E. Lockhart
40. Fairest, Gail Carson Levine
41. The Book as Art: Artists' Books from the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Krystyna Wasserman
42. Bras & Broomsticks, Sarah Mlynowski
43. The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime, Jasper Fforde
44. Fly on the Wall: How One Girl Saw Everything, E. Lockhart
45. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, Ally Carter
46. Criss Cross, Lynne Rae Perkins
47. Incantation, Alice Hoffman
48. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, Carolyn Mackler
49. Magic or Madness, Justine Larbalestier
50. Magic Lessons, Justine Larbalestier
51. Flyte, Angie Sage
52. The White Darkness, Geraldine McCaughrean
53. Peter and the Starcatchers, Dave Barry
54. Peter and the Shadow Thieves, Dave Barry
55. Magic's Child, Justine Larbalestier
56. The Ruins, Scott Smith
57. 13 Little Blue Envelopes, Maureen Johnson
58. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Jean-Dominique Bauby
59. The New Policeman, Kate Thompson
60. Fat Kid Rules the World, K. L. Going
61. Snow, Orhan Pamuk
62. The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After, Patricia C. Wrede
63. The Naming, Alison Croggon
64. The Riddle, Alison Croggon
65. The Grand Tour, Patricia C. Wrede
66. They Call Me Naughty Lola
67. Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine
68. Feed, M.T. Anderson
69. The Brief History of the Dead, Kevin Brockmeier
70. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
71. Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood
72. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, Gary D. Schmidt
73. Night Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
74. Lost in a Good Book, Jasper Fforde
75. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
76. Weaveworld, Clive Barker
77. The Well of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde
78. Austenland, Shannon Hale
79. Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You, Dorian Cirrone
80. Snow Apples, Mary Razzell
81. Blue Bloods, Melissa De La Cruz
82. Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie, Jordan Sonnenblick
83. The World to Come, Dara Horn
84. Shadow and Claw, Gene Wolfe
85. Charlotte Sometimes, Penelope Farmer
86. Einstein: His Life and Universe, Walter Isaacson
87. Stardust, Neil Gaiman
88. A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
89. Emma, Vol. 1-4, Kaoru Mori
90. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst
91. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J. K. Rowling
92. Skellig, David Almond
93. The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner
94. The Queen of Attolia, Megan Whalen Turner
95. The King of Attolia, Megan Whalen Turner
96. Wicked Lovely, Melissa Marr
97. Clay, David Almond
98. Masquerade, Melissa De La Cruz
99. Devilish, Maureen Johnson
100. Children of the Lamp: The Akhenaten Adventure, P. B. Kerr
101. American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang
102. Soon I Will Be Invincible, Austin Grossman
103. The Uses of Enchantment, Heidi Julavits
104. Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer
105. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson & the Olympians Book 1), Rick Riordan
106. Death Note, Volume 1, Tsugumi Ohba
107. The Fetch, Chris Humphreys
108. The Alchemyst, Michael Scott
109. Gifts, Ursula K. Le Guin
110. Voices, Ursula K. Le Guin
111. Russian Fairy Tales, Gillian Avery
112. Intuition, Allegra Goodman
113. The Foretelling, Alice Hoffman
114. The Norse Myths, Kevin Crossley-Holland
115. What Happened to Cass McBride?, Gail Giles
116. Peony in Love, Lisa See
117. Gertrude and Claudius, John Updike
118. The Headmaster, Taylor Antrim
119. The World According to Mimi Smartypants, Mimi Smartypants
120. Book of A Thousand Days, Shannon Hale
121. Three Bags Full, Leonie Swann
122. The Crimson Petal and the White, Michel Faber
123. The Last Summer (of You & Me), Ann Brashares
124. Platinum, Jennifer Lynn Barnes
125. The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson & the Olympians Book 2), Rick Riordan
126. The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson & the Olympians Book 3), Rick Riordan
127. Kabul Beauty School, Deborah Rodriguez and Kristin Ohlson
128. The Crow, Alison Croggon
129. Service Included, Phoebe Damrosch
130. Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City, Kirsten Miller
131. Peter and the Secret of Randoon, Dave Barry
132. Darkness at Pemberley, T. H. White
133. Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin the Martyr
134. On Pascha, Melito of Sardis
135. The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman (REREAD)
136. Here on Earth, Alice Hoffman
137. Extras, Scott Westerfeld
138. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, Ally Carter
139. I Am America (And So Can You), Stephen Colbert
140. Jesus in the Talmud, Peter Schafer
141. The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story, Lemoney Snicket
142. The Book of Air and Shadows, Michael Gruber
143. Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel, Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin
144. The Off Season, Catherine Murdock
145. Skin Hunger, Kathleen Duey
146. Story of a Girl, Sara Zarr
147. Emma, Vol. 5, Kaoru Mori
148. Emma, Vol. 6, Kaoru Mori
149. H.I.V.E, Mark Walden
150. Bloom, Elizabeth Scott
151. The Bermudez Triangle, Maureen Johnson
152. The Pull of the Ocean, Jean-Claude Mourlevat
153. Black Dossier, Alan Moore
154. The Sweet Far Thing, Libba Bray
155. Dramarama, E. Lockhart
156. Infinite Variety: Exploring the Folger Shakespeare Library, Ester Ferington
     

Part trois

My next two gift ideas for your beloved bibliophile are ones that I can neither condemn nor condone. They need to be labeled:

WARNING: Some books were harmed during the making of this gift

If that's something you can stomach, look no farther than here and here. If you cannot, please, for the love of god, avert your eyes.

The holiday season is upon us, part deux

Second in my series of holiday gifts for that special bibliophile in your life.

The holiday season is upon us

Here's "the perfect gift" for the bibliophile who has everything:
And since the label is pretty much illegible in this picture, it's a perfume called "In the Library" and is described on its website as "English novel taken from a Signed First Edition of one of my very favorite novels, Russion & Moroccan leather bindings, worn cloth and a hint of wood polish."

Judging a book by its cover

Have you guys seen the new Penguin Classics covers? They're absolutely *gorgeous*, and I want to snatch up every last one of them (you can read more about the new "graphic classics" covers here). Here are just a couple of examples:












I'm thrilled that Penguin is putting so much energy into designing these new book covers. In fact, I was just as thrilled when Knopf put put a new edition of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series:
The content of a book is clearly most important, but the reading experience is really enhanced for me when the book is printed on nice paper and the cover's attractive as well. Am I alone in this?

In other news, I just found out that the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair was this weekend. How much of a nerd am I that I'm bummed I didn't get a chance to go?!

I'm back, baby!

I think it's safe to say that the Great Reading Funk of 2007 is officially over. I'm back, baby! It's about time, too, because this great big stack of books in front of me isn't going to read itself. If truth be told, my average has slipped from 0.47 to 0.43 books/day (due entirely to The Funk). What is the world coming to?

Am I particularly excited by any of the eight books I've read since The Abolishment of the Funk? (Am I starting to sound like Donald Rumsfeld with all these self-directed questions?) Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series continues to amuse, and Ann Brashare's latest book for grown-ups (B won't let me call them "adult" books anymore, can't imagine why) was sap-alicious. But the book pictured at left was fabulous, and if you're the sort who enjoys fantasy (and this is book does fall into the "young adult" genre), please, go to your library and borrow the Pellinor Series by Alison Croggon. It continues to be one of my current book obsessions.

In any case, tonight I'm baking Friendiversary cookies for B (maybe if she brings her camera over tomorrow night I can post pictures of them for you all. HINT HINT, B), and hiding in my apartment with all the lights off because I'm that scrooge on your block who can't bring herself to buy candy for the kids.

Fresh from the "Hallelujah" department

Shannon Hale has been posting a three-part interview she did with Megan Whalen Turner over at her blog. Part three was posted today, including two extremely exciting pieces of news:

1. MWT is working on a fourth book in her Thief/Queen/King series! Yipee!!
2. SH is also writing a fourth Bayern book! Yipee again!

Granted, as neither of these books is apparently even close to being done, it'll be a while before they arrive on my front porch. But if this type of news doesn't get me out of my Reading Funk, I don't know what will!

Not-so-terrible twos

I went on the most fabulous dinner date tonight with The Tot (and his Mom, T, and about a gazillion of his wee classmates and their parents. It was total chaos!). I'm in love. For the first time in our two-and-a-half years together he kept reaching up for me to hold him (happy to oblige!). But don't worry, he's too rambunctious to stay in those arms for long! We also had a great time running and playing tag, and he told me who all the kids' parents' were like a good little host. And when I had him up in my arms he put his little hands on my neck and my heart grew three sizes. And then when I told him how sweet he was he turned to me, smiled, grabbed my face, and gave me a kiss. My heart is desperately trying to fit back into my body. I think it's unbelievable how wonderful spending time with a little Tot can make me feel. Ah, the beauty of Surrogate Auntyhood: all the fun, non of the tantrums.

On another note, a conversation with J this afternoon helped me realize exactly what I think is wrong with Three Bags Full: it's too long. That's right, folks, I think this would have made a fabulous 100-200 page book, but that's about it. There would have been plenty of room to enjoy everything that's fun and clever without feeling like you're reading the same thing over and over. Way to pin the problem down, J!

For those of you who care about these sorts of thing (I know only one of you who would from my regular readership, but please, let me know if I'm wrong!), go here to nominate your favorite 2007 Children's and YA books for a Cybils Award.

I'm still in my reading funk. I'm averaging one book a week. Maybe. I think it's that, while I've liked most of what I've read recently, none of it has really sparked a Reading Frenzy. Even Shannon Hale's Book of a Thousand Days, which I loved (and just knew I would love), didn't do this because I had cheated and picked it up before I had finished Three Bags Full, and I knew what I would be going back to. And I'm not particularly looking forward to anything else on my To Read pile (except for our book, B, of course!) either.

Three Bags Full is a murder mystery told from the perspective of the sheep whose shepherd has been killed. A "Sheep Detective Story," if you will. Interesting, right? How could you go wrong? While the book *is* good and entertaining, it just hasn't managed to capture my attention -- or my imagination -- in the way I had hoped. Yes, the sheep's perspective of the world is just what you would hope it to be: new and different and a little off-kilter, but not necessarily in the ways you would hope. This is especially sad given then adorable flip-book pictures next to every page number!

Book of a Thousand Days, on the other hand...I've said it before and I'll say it again: Shannon Hale is a great re-teller of fairy tales. My only complaint is that I have to wait until early 2008 to read her next book, Rapunzel's Revenge, a graphic novel she's written with her husband.

Now, if my other favorite authors could just go ahead and publish their new books as well....

Check under the cushions

You may not have noticed, but I have gone missing. Well, I was missing. I'm back now. Maybe. You see, I've been doing my best couch potato impersonation. Rather, I've been thoroughly documenting the most comfortable spots and positions on my new sofa. OK, I've gotten sucked into TV land. It's just that I needed to get caught up on Heroes before season 2 starts. And while I was waiting for Heroes season 1 to come out on DVD, I thought I would re-watch Alias season 3 for the first time since it was actually on (and boy, I hated that season at the time, but it's really, really good). And then I just had to re-watch season 4 because maybe it wasn't as much of a train wreck as I remembered (and if you skip the vampire episode -- don't ask -- it actually isn't. So far).

Insert assembling various meals, sleeping, shuffling off to the supermarket and seeing various friends, as appropriate. Oh, and work.

It's possible you now understand the nature of my fixations. Nothing -- nothing! -- can stop me. Except possibly the need to not get fired, which is why these "episodes" are spread out over multiple weeks, instead of concentrated into a few short days.

But really, it's quite problematic this time as I am very, very behind on my book reading. There's really quite a backlog. Literally, there's a stack 10 books high (4,421 pages worth) on my desk, three of which need to get back to the library, one of which I've been waiting and waiting for for ages, and one of which I'm supposed to be reading with B. Not to mention the one that I was supposed to have read for my book group in August. And I'm not counting the 30 other books I told myself I had to read before I was allowed to buy any new books. So there is actually pressure. I even have magazines and mail piling up as well. I'm trapped by paper!

That being said, I have three disks down and three more to go before I've made my final decision on A3, and I have two more H disks to get through as well.

Why no, my life hasn't suddenly taken a turn for the uninteresting, thank you.