Top Ten Tuesday: Spring TBR

Hi Guys! It's my very first TOP TEN TUESDAY. Today's topic is "Top 10 Books on your Spring Reading List"

Like I could narrow it down to 10! So, I have 20, or rather, 2 Top 10 lists. 1 is for sequels/series books, one is stand alone (or first in a series).

Top Ten Books That Aren't a Sequel That I Want to Read This Spring

The Princesses of Iowa M. Molly Backes

I'll be straight up and tell you that Molly and I go waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back (we were both in high school when we first met) and I have read many versions of this book (including the final one) AND SOON IT WILL BE A REAL BOOK AND OMG YOU GUYS IT IS AWESOME.

Last spring, Paige and her friends were in a car accident. This fall, after being sent away for the summer so her mother could do damage control, Paige sees her friends and her life in a new light and realizes there's more than the Homecoming Court and her "perfect" boyfriend. Molly says it's a reverse Cinderella.

This is how good of a writer Molly is-- after over a decade of struggling with it, she taught me to use eyeliner. OVER EMAIL. With no visual aids. TRUE STORY.

One for the Murphys Lynda Mullaly Hunt

This is only on my radar because Hunt contacted me to be on her blog tour. I'm not accepting a lot of ARCs right now because I have so much to read, but something about this one grabbed me. Then, when I got it, I was flipping through and started reading in the middle right away before I realized I should probably, oh, I don't know, start at the beginning? I haven't finished it yet, but it's looking very promising right now.

Carley ends up in foster care and gets assigned to the Murphys, who show her a stable family life she thought only existed in fantasies. First up, can we just say "yay" to a positive foster environment? I know the system has serious problems, but I've known so many dedicated and wonderful foster parents and families over the years, I'm happy to see them shown in a book. (I really hope they don't end up being secretly evil.)

The Difference Between You and Me Madeleine George

Amazon says "Jesse cuts her own hair with a Swiss Army knife. She wears big green fisherman's boots. She's the founding (and only) member of NOLAW, the National Organization to Liberate All Weirdos. Emily wears sweaters with faux pearl buttons. She's vice president of the student council. She has a boyfriend.

These two girls have nothing in common, except the passionate "private time" they share every Tuesday afternoon. Jesse wishes their relationship could be out in the open, but Emily feels she has too much to lose. When they find themselves on opposite sides of a heated school conflict, they each have to decide what's more important: what you believe in, or the one you love?"

But it's more about Jesse's coming to terms than Emily coming to terms. Can't wait.

Happy Families Tanita S. Davis

Ysabel and Justin are twins with a good life and a perfect family. Until their world is rocked by the fact that Dad has started to live as woman.

Tanita S. Davis tackling such a heady topic? YES PLEASE!

Wonder Show Hannah Barnaby

Portia is trying to outrun her past and ends up as the only normal girl in a traveling freak show. As the back says:

"Oh, it's not for the faint-of-hear folks. If you're prone to nightmares of you've got a weak ticker, you'd best move on. Within these pages lies a tale of abandonment, loss, misfortune for the rich, and glory for the poor (and a little murder doesn't hurt). It's a story for the ages, but be warned: Once you enter the Wonder Show, you will never be the same."

Code Name Verity Elizabeth Wein

Verity is a secret agent, behind enemy lines and arrested by the Gestapo. And so she unwinds the tale of how she became a spy and her friendship with her pilot, Maddie, whom she left behind in the wrecked plane.

Lady spies that have been caught? Tell me more. I admit, I'm hoping for another Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal. I know it won't be, but hopefully it will blow me away in the same way.

The Book of Blood and Shadow Robin Wasserman

Nora's best friend is dead and his girlfriend is in a coma. Her boyfriend is missing and presumed responsible. Nora's desperate to clear his name. She ends up in Prague where she finds secret societies, ancient conspiracies, and clues hidden in a centuries old manuscript.

I'm sorry, how do you NOT want to read this?

And now we've come to the segment of the list that is historical fiction court intrigue:

Cross My Heart Sasha Gould

Venice, 1700s. Laura's sister has drownded and Laura's ripped from her convent to marry her sister's repulsive fiance. She joins the Segreta, a "shadowy society of women who deal in only one currency--secrets." And, as it turns out, may have been responsible for Laura's sister's death. This one promises "clandestine romance, political intrigue, and deadly secrets." I say, oh yes.

Ladies in Waiting Laura L. Sullivan

Three girls named Elizabeth who all end up as ladies-in-waiting on Queen Catherine as the court of Charles II.

Scandal? Treachery? British court? What more does a girl want? Well...


Gilt Katherine Longshore

What about a book about Catherine Howard's best friend? And following her to Henry VIII's court? And trying to keep your head?

This is the one ARC I got super-rabid about at ALA. Yes.

OH! And Extra One!

Enchanted Alethea Kontis

From Amazon:

"It isn’t easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.
When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.
The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past—and hers?"

I've never heard of this, but it caught my eye when I was linking to Happy Families as apparently they're often bought together? Anyway, it sounds awesome. Glad I stumbled across it.

AND NOW! My Top Ten List of Sequels!





Froi of the Exiles: The Lumatere Chronicles Melina Marchetta

Out of Sight, Out of Time (Gallagher Girls) Ally Carter

The Agency 3: The Traitor in the Tunnel Y. S. Lee

Dead Is a Battlefield Marlene Perez

Spell Bound (A Hex Hall Novel) Rachel Hawkins

The Last Apprentice: Grimalkin the Witch Assassin (Book 9) Joseph Delaney

Caddy's World (Casson Family) Hilary McKay

The Popularity Papers: Book Four: The Rocky Road Trip of Lydia Goldblatt & Julie Graham-Chang Amy Ignatow

Thumped Megan McCafferty

Ruby Redfort Look Into My Eyes Lauren Child

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Booking Through Thursday

Today's Booking Through Thursday question asks:

Name a book (or books) from a country other than your own that you love. Or aren’t there any?

There are a million! Off the top of my head, here are a few favorites:

Harry Potter bu JK Rowling (from England)

Feeling Sorry for Celia: A Novel by Jaclyn Moriarty (from Australia-- I love all of her books)

The Garlic Ballads: A Novel by Mo Yan (from China-- Mo Yan is one of my favorite authors)

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (from Japan-- I like her other books, too)

Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow by Faiza Guene (from France)

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Booking Through Thursday

Today's Booking Through Thursday question asks...

God* comes to you and tells you that, from this day forward, you may only read ONE type of book–one genre–period, but you get to choose what it is. Classics, Science-Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Cookbooks, History, Business … you can choose, but you only get ONE.

What genre do you pick, and why?

*Whether you believe in God or not, pretend for the purposes of this discussion that He is real.

Classics, because there are so many genres within classics. Romance, sci-fi, horror, fantasy, literary fiction, realistic fiction, adventure, humor... it's all there.

100 Best Children's Novels

Woo-Hoo! Meme time! So, Betsy finished her countdown of the top 100 children's novels yesterday, so now it's time to go through the list and see what you've read! Thanks to TeacherNinja for the idea and Abby (the) Librarian for the link!

(Title's I've read are bolded)

100. The Egypt Game - Snyder (1967)
99. The Indian in the Cupboard - Banks (1980)
98. Children of Green Knowe - Boston (1954)
97. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane - DiCamillo (2006)
96. The Witches - Dahl (1983)
95. Pippi Longstocking - Lindgren (1950)
94. Swallows and Amazons - Ransome (1930)
93. Caddie Woodlawn - Brink (1935)
92. Ella Enchanted - Levine (1997)
91. Sideways Stories from Wayside School - Sachar (1978)
90. Sarah, Plain and Tall - MacLachlan (1985)
89. Ramona and Her Father - Cleary (1977)
88. The High King - Alexander (1968)
87. The View from Saturday - Konigsburg (1996)
86. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Rowling (1999)
85. On the Banks of Plum Creek - Wilder (1937)
84. The Little White Horse - Goudge (1946)
83. The Thief - Turner (1997)
82. The Book of Three - Alexander (1964)
81. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - Lin (2009)
80. The Graveyard Book - Gaiman (2008)
79. All-of-a-Kind-Family - Taylor (1951)
78. Johnny Tremain - Forbes (1943)
77. The City of Ember - DuPrau (2003)
76. Out of the Dust - Hesse (1997)
75. Love That Dog - Creech (2001)
74. The Borrowers - Norton (1953)
73. My Side of the Mountain - George (1959)
72. My Father's Dragon - Gannett (1948)
71. The Bad Beginning - Snicket (1999)
70. Betsy-Tacy - Lovelae (1940)
69. The Mysterious Benedict Society - Stewart (2007)
68. Walk Two Moons - Creech (1994)
67. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher - Coville (1991)
66. Henry Huggins - Cleary (1950)
65. Ballet Shoes - Stratfeild (1936)
64. A Long Way from Chicago - Peck (1998)
63. Gone-Away Lake - Enright (1957)
62. The Secret of the Old Clock - Keene (1959)
61. Stargirl - Spinelli (2000)
60. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle - Avi (1990)
59. Inkheart - Funke (2003)
58. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Aiken (1962)
57. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 - Cleary (1981)
56. Number the Stars - Lowry (1989)
55. The Great Gilly Hopkins - Paterson (1978)
54. The BFG - Dahl (1982)
53. Wind in the Willows - Grahame (1908)
52. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007)
51. The Saturdays - Enright (1941)
50. Island of the Blue Dolphins - O'Dell (1960)
49. Frindle - Clements (1996)
48. The Penderwicks - Birdsall (2005)
47. Bud, Not Buddy - Curtis (1999)
46. Where the Red Fern Grows - Rawls (1961)
45. The Golden Compass - Pullman (1995)
44. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing - Blume (1972)
43. Ramona the Pest - Cleary (1968)
42. Little House on the Prairie - Wilder (1935)
41. The Witch of Blackbird Pond - Speare (1958)
40. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Baum (1900)
39. When You Reach Me - Stead (2009)
38. HP and the Order of the Phoenix - Rowling (2003)
37. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Taylor (1976)
36. Are You there, God? It's Me, Margaret - Blume (1970)
35. HP and the Goblet of Fire - Rowling (2000)
34. The Watson's Go to Birmingham - Curtis (1995)
33. James and the Giant Peach - Dahl (1961)
32. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH - O'Brian (1971)
31. Half Magic - Eager (1954)
30. Winnie-the-Pooh - Milne (1926)
29. The Dark Is Rising - Cooper (1973)
28. A Little Princess - Burnett (1905)
27. Alice I and II - Carroll (1865/72)
26. Hatchet - Paulsen (1989)
25. Little Women - Alcott (1868/9)
24. HP and the Deathly Hallows - Rowling (2007)
23. Little House in the Big Woods - Wilder (1932)
22. The Tale of Despereaux - DiCamillo (2003)
21. The Lightening Thief - Riordan (2005)
20. Tuck Everlasting - Babbitt (1975)
19. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Dahl (1964)
18. Matilda - Dahl (1988)
17. Maniac Magee - Spinelli (1990)
16. Harriet the Spy - Fitzhugh (1964)
15. Because of Winn-Dixie - DiCamillo (2000)
14. HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Rowling (1999)
13. Bridge to Terabithia - Paterson (1977)
12. The Hobbit - Tolkien (1938)
11. The Westing Game - Raskin (1978)
10. The Phantom Tollbooth - Juster (1961)
9. Anne of Green Gables - Montgomery (1908)
8. The Secret Garden - Burnett (1911)
7. The Giver -Lowry (1993)
6. Holes - Sachar (1998)
5. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - Koningsburg (1967)
4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - Lewis (1950)
3. Harry Potter #1 - Rowling (1997)
2. A Wrinkle in Time - L'Engle (1962)
1. Charlotte's Web - White (1952)

So, 73 out of 100, not counting the books I started and just couldn't get into an never finished as a kid (Little Women and The Borrowers)

Booking Through Thursday

Today's Booking Through Thursday asks:

What is the saddest book you've read recently?

This was a harder one for me. The last book that made me cry was Intensely Alice, but it wasn't an overly sad book, just one part of it was. While ultimately hopeful, Wanting Mor, was much sadder on a deeper level.

Booking Through Thursday

It's my first Booking Through Thursday! Hurrah!

This week's question--

hat’s the most enjoyable, most fun, most just-darn-entertaining book you’ve read recently?

(Mind you, this doesn’t necessarily mean funny, since we covered that already. Just … GOOD.)

It's a toss up between Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? by Louise Rennison (which was laugh-out-loud funny) and anything from the slew of Meg Cabot I read a couple of weeks ago.

Mount TBR/ where I blog

So, Greg over at The Happy Accident wanted pictures of our TBR piles. It took me a few days to gather mine and move it up to the guest room bed (which was the only place in the house large enough that I could take over for a few days).

These books fit into the following categories:

1. Books I have purchased or otherwise acquired but haven't read yet.
2. Books Dan has purchased or otherwise acquired that I would also like to read.
3. Books that have been sent for review that I want to read and review.
4. Books I have checked out from the library.

There are about 400 books...



Here's a closer shot of my book headboard:



And here's a closer shot of the books along the wall:



Also, a few weeks ago, Abby (the) Librarian asked us for pictures of where we blog. Everyone has such nice blogging spaces! Technically, there is a desk in the guest room and that's where I should be blogging. But, then I'm away from the general action of the house, so most blogging takes place at my kitchen table:



To the left is my pile of books to review and my all-important cup of coffee. Then my lap top, a tube of aloe vera (because I stupidly forgot to wear sunscreen to the Nationals game yesterday and am now bright red) an empty bag of sugar snap peas (blogging requires nutritious snacks!) my currently-reading pile, my date book, and my reading logs and notes I made while reading the help the reviewing process. Also, random computer cords.

We'll get back to book reviews soon!

Page 56

• Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
• Turn to page 56.
• Find the fifth sentence. (or fifth line)
• Post that sentence in the comments below
• Don't dig for your favourite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Ok, so pages 56-57 were a pictorial spread--NO WORDS!

the 5th sentence of page 58 is...

"Remove the dried leaves and flower heads from the newspaper"

The book in question? A Greener Christmas ed. Sheherazade Goldsmith

Gipsy Tango (Music Meme)

I really liked this Music Meme that I read on Becky's blog. If you're reading, this, consider yourself tagged!

1. Put Your iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp, etc on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Put the artist after a dash following the song name.
5. Put any comments in brackets.
6. Tag some lucky people to spread the disease.

How would you describe yourself? Red Hair (Acoustic Mix)-- The Weasel King (So... am I Harry? Ginny? Or a supreme dork with lots of wizard rock?)

How do you feel today? Dirty Laundry--Bitter:Sweet (Hence tonight's lack of paper starting)

What is your life's purpose? Gembi - Diakité, Ramatou (Telling that this song is in a language I don't understand?)

What is your motto? El Digusto de la Runa--Celia Cruz

What do you think about very often? Here's That Rainy Day (Koop Remix)--Astrid G

What is your life story? Agua Pa Mi--Celia Cruz (it's not that I have a lot of Celia Cruz, it's just that one album ripped like, 15 times and I haven't deleted the duplicates yet)

What do you want to be when you grow up? Blood on the Coal--The Folksmen (ACK!)

What will you dance to at your wedding? Felino--Electrotutango (um, Dan would have vetoed this even if I had tried...)

What will they play at your funeral? It's Alright--Patti Rothberg

What is your hobby/interest? La Bruja--Conjunto Jardin

If you could do anything right now, what would it be? sands&stones&bricks&rocks--Aromabar

What do you want most of all? I hate MCI--The Nields

What is your greatest fear? Viola--Girlyman

What is your darkest secret? Touch and Go--Abra Moore

What is your favorite thing in the world? Love Me Like You--The Magic Numbers

If you could have one wish, what would you wish for? Kim--Lord Shorty

What is your theme song? I Can't Stand It--The Velvet Underground (now that's what I'm talking about!!!!)

The next time you hear this song (aside from now, that is), you must dance. India Song--Mariana Montalvo (not really a dancing song, but... um, ok.)

What will you post this as? Gipsy Tango Earth Wheel Sky Band

Music Meme

Radley's trying to start a meme that I love. He'll never tag me, so I'm just stealing it. I'm also changing it.

The original meme is... "So here’s my challenge: Name the five guiltiest, most embarrassing pleasures on your iPod–the songs you secretly, shamefully enjoy when no
one’s around. It should almost hurt revealing to the world that they’re in your collection."

The reasoning being that in the "Hit Shuffle and list the 10 songs that come up" memes, the list is oddly well balanced and shows a lot of street cred.

My meme is to Honestly do the hit shuffle and list 10 songs, and then also to list your 5 super-guilty songs.

My Honest List:

1. Belleville by Bireli Lagrene, from Gypsy Project

2. Waiting 4 U by Bai Kwong from Shanghai Lounge Divas (The original CD, not the remixes. The remixes suck.)

3. Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain by Willie Nelson from Vintage Country

4. Ektetina of the Prothesis from the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom by Sergei Rachmoaninov performed by Valery Polyansky and the National Academic Choir of Ukraine, from Rachmaninov: Vespers; Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

5. Lawyers, Guns, and Money by The Wallflowers from Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Songs of Warren Zevon

6. Les cles du Paradis by Jane Birkin from Arabesque

7. L'amour de Moi by Jane Birkin from Arabesque

8. Friend of the Devil by Counting Crows from Films About Ghosts: The Best Of...

9. The First Noel (Attaboy House Party Remix) by Bing Crosby from A Six Degrees Collection: Christmas Remixed - Holiday Classics Re-Grooved

10. Note Olvidire by Pistolera from Siempre Hay Salida

Some comments: I find it really annoying that 2 songs from the same album played right in a row. Especially because I don't really like that album and am not entirely sure why it's on my iPod in the first place. Also, probably 50% of my iPod is from Putumayo CDs. I find it really weird that NONE of the songs played in this 10 song selection.

Now, let the mocking commence.

My guilty pleasures...

1. My iPod has a lot of Wizard Rock. To illustrate, I'm going with Ode to Lav-Lav by Roonil Wazlib. I probably downloaded this from their MySpace page. But some good Wizard Rock Mixes that I have on my iPod are Wizards and Muggles Rock For Social Justice and Wizards and Muggles Rock For Social Justice: Volume Two. Both have their fair share of hits and misses, but... if you like Wrock, check 'em out. I chose this one because of the following lyrics: Oh baby, you know you're pretty fun to snog/But snogging's kinda boring/ And I'm sort of worried that you'll give me an STD... O Lavender Brown, you're going down/ You may be hot, but Hermione's hotter/ I'm the Gryffindor King, you can't share my crown/ Hermione's great and you're just not her... Stop giving me hickeys/ I'm sick of your face and I'm not taking the mickey

2. I Got Nerve by Hannah Montana. This is one of those horrible moments when you're listening to the radio (or, in this case, Pandora) and you hear a song you really like and you get into it and then you find out who sings it and you die a little inside. But the song is your new best friend, just you know, in absolute secret.

3. Rehab Amy Winehouse. I don't know why I'm guilty about this. Maybe because it's so passe. It's so LAST YEAR or something. I still really like it.

4. Girlfriend Avril Lavigne. See Hannah Montana, above on my justification. Amazingly, it took me FOREVER to find that song in English. Apparently Avril has recorded that song in every language imaginable.

5. What I Go To School For Busted. I just like it. We listened to it a lot in Manchester.

Anyway, steal this meme if you feel like admitting your musical shame to the world.

Meme-o-Rama

So, this is going to be an interesting 2 months. I'm taking YA lit right now, and the reading is going to be insane. In a good way, of course, but blogging might be sporadic. On the other hand, expect some more formal reviews as I'll probably just post my homework. Heh.

Anyway, last weekend, Becky tagged me for a meme.

Rules:
1. Link the person(s) who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

1. I have 80 bajillion books. Most librarians don't have many books at home. They work in a library, so their home doesn't need to be a library. Yeah. Not me.

2. I often pace while I read. I can walk for miles between my front and back doors while reading.

3. I put on my eye make up with both hands. Step by step, I'll start with the brush or implement in my left hand, do my left eye, and then pass it over to my right hand and do my right eye. Then, the next step starts with my left hand and eye again. This is one of the few things I do with my right hand.

4. I like old-fashioned cocktails. Dirty martinis, Manhattans, Gimlets, Apple Jackrabbits. But I will often replace the gin with vodka. In a related note-- there are only 4 types of martinis. Just because you serve it in a martini glass and add "tini" to the end of it does not make it a martini. It's a cocktail. (The 4 types are dry (gin and a little vermouth) wet (gin and more vermouth) vodka (vodka and vermouth) and dirty (martini+ olive brine) )

5. Macaroni and Cheese must be made by Kraft. Preferably with orange powder. A full 1/4 butter must be used. Slightly more than 1/4 milk should be used. The butter should NOT be premelted when making it. The heat of the noodles with melt the butter. When the butter's all gone, then it's as mixed as it's going to be. Also, it tastes better when eaten with a wooden spoon straight from the pot. (This is so true that in high school my sister and I would just carry the pot to the living room and sit and watch TV while both eating out of it.)

6. In pizza and coffee, and many other things, there is a category of "good" and "bad" And there can be bad-good, and good-bad. This is best explained in coffee. There is good coffee. It is high end and roasted in small batches and you know what I mean. There is bad coffee. It is sold at gas stations and diners. They are 2 separate category of beverages. There is good bad coffee (George Webb had the best good bad coffee in high school) There is bad good coffee (Starbucks sells "good" coffee, but when they brew it, it's crap). McDonald's used to have good bad coffee, but then they upgraded to good coffee, but it's bad good coffee. Good bad coffee is ALWAYS preferable to bad good coffee.

Anyway, Tombstone frozen pizza is the best of bad pizza. I think I could eat it for all my meals every day. I LOVE IT.

And now... I tag... Erin, Abby, Dana, Hilary, Molly, and Lauren.

100 Books Meme

So, I'm stealing this one from Sean (who, incidentally for those who don't know, is my cousin).

1) Bold: Books I have read.
2) Italics: Books I intend to read.
3) Underline: Books I love.
4) Strikethrough: Books I have no intention of ever reading or was forced to read at school and hated.
5) Reprint this list in your own blog.

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen I loves me some Jane Austen. Subtle wit and hot men. Whee! Even though, I will admit to hysterical giggles every time I pull my copy off the bookshelf, because Dan defiled it by sticked a prescription drug warning label on it, so the cover now reads "Warning! May cause drowsiness!"
2 The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien I really liked this, but due to the devoted following it has amongst hard-core fans, I hesitate to say I loved it. I mean, I haven't reread it since I read it the summer before 7th grade.
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte I never understood the love story here, but I did like Jane. Plus the crazy lady in the attic.
4 Harry Potter series – J.K. Rowling I am the ultimate fan girl. Test me.
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee I'm almost embarrassed to say I haven't read this yet.
6 The Bible hmmmm... I mean, I've read portions of this, but not the whole thing.
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte I don't love the book, but I LOVE the pro/anti-Cath factions in the Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde.
8 Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell=
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman Yeah, yeah, I know... it's on the list.
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens I loved this. I also read it of my own accord, which I think helped my appreciation.
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott I've probably read most of this in elementary school, but I never finished.
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles– Thomas Hardy It's on my bookshelf...
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller What ever happened to the Snowdens of yesterday? FANTASTIC.
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare Hmmm. I've read many of the works of Shakespeare, but I don't think I plan on reading ALL of them.
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier I feel I need to read this to fully understand the Daniver clones in Thursday Next.
16 The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien See my comments on Lord of the Rings.
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger I really liked this when I read it in high school. Now, Holden just annoys me.
19 The Time Traveler's Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell I liked it when I read it, but I think now I'd just want to smack Scarlet.
22 The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald One of my favorites. Plus, you know when reading it that the parties Gatsby throws are like the ones in Sabrina...
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy I have the new translation sitting on my bookshelf, waiting for me.
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh On my bookshelf!
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky I read this one in college. I like Karamazov better though.
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck East of Eden and Canary Row are better.
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame There are some really beautiful illustrations of this...
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy I think I would really love this now that I'm an adult. But I did really like it when I spent the summer before my junior year in high school reading it...
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens I liked Great Expectations so much, I feel I should read more Dickens.
33 Chronicles of Narnia – C.S. Lewis I was bereft when I finished this, because there were no more chronicles...
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis Ok, am I the only one wondering why this is on the list, as is the entire series?
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres I've never had any desire to read this. I don't know why.
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – A.A. Milne How could you not love Pooh?
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown Yes, I loved this. Not in that it changed my world view or is a great work of literature, but I loved in a guilty pleasure sort of way, the same way I turn up Avril Lavigne on the radio in the summer when my windows are down or that I know most of the words to "Baby I Got Your Money" by OBD. Or that fact that I've seen What a Girl Wants more times than I can count.
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez I'm a big fan of his work and have it on the shelf. I just have to read it.
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving I like Irving, so I might get around to this one at some point.
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – L.M. Montgomery Anne and I are bosom friends, and not just because my middle name is Anne, with an E.
47 Far From the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale – Margaret Atwood This book scared the ever-living crap out of me, so I can't say I love it. IT'S SCARY SCARY SCARY.
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding I HATE THIS BOOK. HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE. The only reason I forgave Mrs. Haack for making me read it is because everything else we read was awesome that year.
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons This has been calling to me from the bookshelf for a while now!
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen My first Austen. I read it on a train in China.
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafón
57 A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens I was a little "eh" on this, but I think it's because it took me 2 months to read, and I only ever got to read 2-5 pages at a atime.
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon LOVE. I shouted the praises of this from rooftops after I finished!
60 Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez Beautiful. I read this in the England.
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck Probably my least favorite Steinbeck.
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov Yes, it's about a dirty old man, but Nabokov's prose! It's poetry! That's a man who know how to make love to the English language...
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac Des Moines! That's almost to Denver! Also, Kerouac claims that Iowa has the prettiest girls. I read this on a high school train ride to San Fransisco. It changed my life.
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary – Helen Fielding V. good and V. awesome. Every thing wants to be the next Bridget Jones and every thing fails miserably.
69 Midnight's Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby-Dick – Herman Melville I mean... why?
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens Please sir, may I have some more? Already on the bookshelf...
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett I don't know how many times I've read this. It's AWESOME. I love it. And the musical is awesome.
74 Notes From a Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce This is something I'd want to do in a classroom setting, and I don't ever see myself being in that setting.
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – A.S. Byatt It's on the shelf...
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens Ok, I like all the movie versions better. Well, the fun movie versions.
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83The Color Purple – Alice Walker on the shelf!
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web – E.B. White Eh.
88 The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom SERIOUSLY?! This book seems like a load of poo. Schmaltzy poo.
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton I feel things would make more sense if I read some Blyton.
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad Any reason why I should?
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery I don't LOVE this because I read it in French. In French class. And it was hard.
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams My father has been trying to get me to read this since about 5th grade... and I always say "It's about rabbits" But one day, I'll read it, just for Dad.
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole Dan makes random references to this all the time.
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl Not my favorite Dahl, but still a good one.
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo I read half of this in 6th grade, after seeing the musical. It was too much for me at the time, and I really never see myself going back into it. Some other Hugo, sure, but not this.

I tag anyone who has had the tenacity to read this far and has the energy to put into completing this!

Oooo! I wanna play!

Saw this on Becky's Book Reviews and thought I'd play, too. It's a photo-meme!



1. It wasn't enough for Sheila to be taller., 2. Popcorn´s house, 3. Fox River, 4. teatime, 5. Colin Firth revisited, 6. "Just call me Bubbles darling, everyone does!", 7. The prayers, 8. creme brulee cocktail, 9. Ci sei dentro, 10. What's Left Of The Night, 11. Come on, 12. swallowtail shawl variation

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into flickr search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush/hero?

6. Favorite drink?

7. Dream vacation?

8. Favorite dessert?

9. What you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. One word to describe you.

12. Your flickr name.

Everyone should do this, so if you haven't, you're tagged! ha!

Still Sunny

Ok, so, Blogger time is about 3 hours previous to Jennie time. Often, I change the time in "post options" to reflect Jennie time. Once in awhile, Blogger decides that it's going to not post my post until it is that time in Blogger time. WTF?! I mean, this would make sense if it happened ON A REGULAR BASIS, but it's totally random! I don't get it! Little help?

Also, do you know how weird it is to be in your late 20s? IT'S WEIRD. Not in a bad way, but in the sense that Dan's birthday was on Wednesday and I couldn't decide if I should get him Grand Theft Auto IV or curtains. He wanted both equally. RockStar games made the decision for me when it decided our PlayStation2 is unworthy and so we don't have a way to play GTA. Oooo curtains...

Also, I'm going to pretend I was tagged for the 5 things about me meme. Enough people tagged "who ever wants to play" so, um, yeah.

The rules of the meme get posted at the beginning. Each person answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the blogger then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What were you doing five years ago?

Living in England, working as a marketing assistant at The Bridgewater Hall. Dan was in grad school. We lived with a bunch of his friends (who became my friends) in a house with 6 people, 5 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, and 1 phone line. By this time, I was preparing to move back home in June to live with my parents before heading out to Michigan in the fall for grad school. I miss Manchester every time I smell curry on a rainy day.

What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?

• Review a ton of books.
  
• Get ready for the Summer Reading promotional school visit on Tuesday morning.
  
• Add my new books to LibraryThing.
  
• Walk the puppy dog.
  
• Clean the guest room.
  

What are five snacks you enjoy?

• Popcorn
• any type of berry
  
• Cheese curds
  
• Goldfish crackers
  
• Gummy bears
  

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?

• Pay off my student loans. And Dan's. And my sister's.
• Pay off the mortgage.
  
• Make sure my retirement was covered. (And Dan's)
  
• Give my parents enough money that they could retire early.
  
• Spend the rest of my life exploring the book stores and coffee shops of the world.
  

What are five of your bad habits?

• I'm mean.
  
• I don't work out.
  
• I'm really messy.
  
• I have a hard time sticking to my budget.
  
• I do things at the last minute.

What are five places where you have lived?

• Appleton, WI
  
• Grinnell, IA
  
• Nanjing, China
  
• Manchester, England
  
• Ann Arbor, MI
  

What are five jobs you’ve had?

• Travel agent at a call center--night shift
  
• Air-show food stand manager (we sold tacos and hot dogs)
• Knitting teacher
• Theater Department costume shop stitcher
  
• Illegal English teacher (in that I taught illegally, not that my English was illegal)
  

What five people do you want to tag?

Has no one tagged you yet? Are you feeling totally left out like I was? Then this one is for you!!!

December!

In November I... did way too much, essentially. My November included:

1. 2 papers (including a term paper)
2. 1 midterm
3. More homework than I want to think about
4. New doggy
5. 33,000 words of my NaNoWriMo novel (well short of the 50,000 word goal. Ah well.)
6. Hosted Thanksgiving
7. Helped my mom make my sister's Save The Date cards
8. Read13 books.

In December, I'm attempting to do 2 major things:

1. Read the 25 books I have checked out from the library
2. Blog the 15 books that I read in 2006 and haven't blogged yet. (And make a dent in the 41 books that are unblogged from 2007.)

So, stay tuned for (hopefully, probably) multiple posts a day. Because I also have to

1. Do lots of homework
2. Take a final
3. Write a term paper
4. Stop Dog from destroying my kitchen
5. Do my Christmas shopping
6. Go home for Christmas

Speaking of Christmas shopping, here's a plea. There are a lot of links on this blog. A lot of them lead to Amazon. If you click on one, and order from Amazon? Even if you buy something that is different than what you clicked on? I get a wee kickback. How much depends on how much gets ordered (the more items ordered, the bigger the kickback.) And, let's face it. Librarian isn't really a big money career. Plus, I'm a grad student, plus, I have a nasty book habit that I'd really rather not kick... so... if you want to help out, that's a good way to do it. (Or, if you order some of my gear from the "cool book stuff" link in the sidebar, that works, too.)

Anyway, I got tagged for a meme by Hilary.

So, here we go:
1) Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2) Share 7 facts about yourself.
3) Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
4) Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So, 7 things about myself...

1. The term paper I wrote last week was about CIPA and internet filtering in public libraries. It's something I've been thinking a lot about. On one hand, information wants to be free and filtering is a form of censorship, especially some of the things that get filtered. On the other hand, kids can't spell and often the filter blocks porn they didn't mean to get to. But, filters often block a lot of legitimate, non-porn sites and lets a lot of porn through. In fact, this post will probably be blocked because I said porn so many times. PORN PORN PORN.

2. I use both Napster and iTunes. (Napster is totally legal now guys. I pay for it and everything.) Napster is a vastly superior product, because you pay $10/month and can download and listen to as much music as you want. If you want to burn it onto CD, it's an extra .99 BUT you can buy "track packs" which let you buy credits for a bunch of tracks at a discount. And, if you're buying a full album, it's usually cheaper than buying each track off the album. With iTunes, you can only listen to about 30 seconds of a song before you buy it, and albums cost .99 x # of tracks. I wouldn't use iTunes at all, but it's the only thing that works with my shiny pink iPod.

3. I really hate the use of putting "i" in front of everything information-related. I can understand "e" because it's short for "electronic" and I guess the lower-case "i" can mean information, but, really? You just sound like you're trying to buy into Apple's popularity. My library program is thinking of re-branding itself as an iSchool. It makes me want to scream. Not even getting into my issues with information schools vs library schools but to call us an iSchool?! Ew. Good luck ever getting money from me.

4. I love winter. I hate that it doesn't really snow in the DC area. I miss snow and extreme cold. I know I'm crazy, but I like a day so cold that when you breath in, the cold pierces all the way to the bottom of your lungs and your snot freezes.

5. I've never mailed out Holiday cards. Every year, I say I'm going to do it, and every year, Nada. This year, I have a great idea on cards to make. I know all the supplies I'd need and how to do it. I'm putting lists together in my head, but it won't happen. (As I typed that, I heard Dan saying "no no no no no no no no no" because he knows it would just be one of my projects that didn't go anywhere, and then I heard his giant sigh of relief when I said I wouldn't do it.) So, I'll share my idea with you:

1. Get a bunch of these navy blue cards.
2. Stamp them all over with silver snowflakes. I really like this one and this one.
3. Emboss a few of the snowflakes with this stuff, but I'm not sure which color. One of the silvery/white ones. (Mom and I embossed my sister's save the date cards--awesome and fun and easy once I figured out how to not set stuff on fire.)
4. Using double-sided type, put a bunch of these shiny white cards on the inside (ok, I totally know that they them with scalloped edges, which I'd use.)
5. Then I'd stamp the insides with a greeting. Probably Season's Greetings.

So now you can make them. And mail one to me.

6. I like Christmas carols and the Nutcracker music. My favorite carols are "O Holy Night" and "Psallite." "Psallite" is in Latin and German and is pretty, plus? Two foreign languages in one song? AWESOME.

7. For Christmas, I really want jewelry. Especially necklaces and earrings that I can wear to work. Some great stuff can be found at Tartx (especially the domino necklace with the Red Queen and a monocle necklace with the cards flipping over Alice) and Mytypewriter (especially the snowflake one) or the Cherry Blossom pearl necklace from the Sundance Catalog. (*cough* *cough* *hint* *hint*)

And now I tag Sara, Pam, Miss Erin, HolyKnitter, Kristin, Julie, and Susan and really, anyone else who wants to play.

Harry Potter Meme

Kelly's telling us we all get to play. Yay! I like memes better when everyone plays-- where tagging is fun, sometimes it seems like a popularity contest and kids get left out.

Sorry, there have been hordes of kids in today with clique-y issues. Lots of kids feeling left out. I don't want bloggers to feel the same...

Anyway...


1. Butterbeer or pumpkin juice?
Butterbeer. I love butter. I love beer. I'm not sure how the two go together, but I imagine something sweet and creamy, almost like eggnog, but not as thick... and not spicy, but you know what I mean? Maybe?

2. What House would you most likely (or want to) be in in Hogwarts?
Don't we all want to be Gryffindor? I'd like to say that I'd be a Ravenclaw.

3. If you were an animagus, what animal would you turn into?
See, do you get to pick anigmagus animals, or is it something linked to you that you have no control over, like your Patronus? If I had no control, the animal I most resemble is a slug. If I get to pick, I want to be a... lion.

4. What character do you empathize with, or resemble best?
Hermione, but I wish I was Ginny.

5. What position do you play at Quidditch?
I'd be awful at Quidditch, but Beater sounds fun. But I have no depth perception, so I think I'd just get bludgers in my face all the time, knocking me off my broom.

6. Which teacher is your favorite?
McGonagall all the way baby!

7. Any Harry Potter 7 predictions?
Millicent Bulstrode and Seamus will have a love child who will accidentally shoot Mr. Burns.

Oh wait, no. Harry will defeat Voldemort. Snape will die protecting one of the kiddies, because he was good after all. A jerk, but on the right side of the fight. Neville, Luna, and Ginny aren't going to wait in the background and will bully their way into the fight as well, a la Order of the Phoenix. Harry and Ginny will get back together. Ron and Hermione will snog like there's no tomorrow, because, for them, there might not be. Bellatrix is going down and Neville will have a hand in it. Percy will get his head out of his duff and make nice with his family, but it will take something big to get the siblings to welcome him back. Umbridge will survive, but will have to eat her hat. Hogwarts will reopen, but the magic trio won't be there. Seamus's mam won't let him come back to school, nor the Parvatis. There will be a massive horrifying attack on Hogwarts that will kill off a lot of background characters. Dudley is a wizard. (She said someone will display magical ability late in life, I'm going for Dudders).

The following people will survive: McGonagall, Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Hagrid, one Weasley parent, Lupin, Tonks, the Dursleys, Mrs. Figg, Firenze, Umbridge.

The following people will die: Voldemort, Snape, Pettigrew, Bellatrix, one Weasley parent, a Weasley brother or two, Moody, Ollivander, Colin Creevy, Luna, the mean centaur (Bane? I keep thinking McBain, but that's from Simpsons).

I don't think she'll be so cruel as to kill off only one twin. I think they'll both survive, or both die. I'm hoping survive. I'm really hoping she doesn't kill Harry off, and I'm not expecting her to, but I also won't be surprised if he dies.

Meme!

Ms. Mac at Check it Out tagged me with a meme! I feel so special!

Here it is!

Here are the rules: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Here are 8 facts about me.

1. I am a super hard core knitter, even if my knitting blog no longer reflects that reality. (But, I'm hoping that my IT course I have to take this summer will give me an excuse to really play around with it and do some cool things.)

2. I love lists. All kinds of lists. Especially book lists. I print them off and check off the books I've read compulsively.

3. On the color-coded personality typing thing, I'm a gold, with blue undertones. That's a weird combination, let me tell you. Most people peg me for blue. I like my blueness. No one believes me when I tell them I'm actually gold. They think I messed the test up. Then I say, "Dude, I'm a librarian. Who likes cataloging." and they go, "hmmm..."

4. I'm declaring vodka gimlets with a dash of lemon juice to be the official drink of summer.

5. This is something I'm horrified and ashamed to admit: I like Avril Lavigne. I mean, she annoys the heck out of me, but every time she comes out with a new song, I hear it, and I'm like HEY! what a catchy fun song. Not a good song, but a fun song to sing along to on the radio. And then I find out it's her. And I want to cry. But still, Hey! Hey! You! You! I don't like your girlfriend!

6. Summer session of school starts today. On one hand I'm excited for new classes and feel kinda giddy, like in elementary school. On the other hand, cramming an entire semester into 1.5 months just seems zhende lihai and I'm kinda freaked out. Plus, I've been enjoying my last few weeks off and actually, *gasp!* being home in the evening.

7. My favorite pair of shoes are baby pink patent leather with black piping a heel that is at least 3 inches tall. I wear them with my blank pencil skirt and my pink turtleneck sweater and feel like the hottest librarian ever.

8. I make a mean lasagna with up to 12 cheeses. Every time I make it, it's a little test to see how much cheese I can squeeze in that bad boy.

I tag the following people to play:

uhhhhhhh.... anyone who reads this who hasn't done it yet, YOU'RE IT! because I've been sick and am out of the loop.

We'll see how I feel after class. I have a lot of reviews to post that are half written in my head, but haven't had the time to sit down and do them. Seriously. This meme took me like 5 days. Plus, I've been sick. Too sick to be online even. (I know! The horror!)