Who Doesn't Like the Bangles?!

It's just another manic Monday
I wish it was Sunday
'Cause that's my fun-day
My I don't have to run-day
It's just another manic Monday

First things first:
Monday brings us the new March/April issue of The Edge of the Forest. There are many fantastic features, including Spring Books, a podcast, and author interviews. It was contains my reviews of three awesome titles:

Gamma Glamma Kim Flores (fun book featuring scientifically based makeovers)
Toby Wheeler: Eighth-Grade Benchwarmer Thatcher Heldring (feel good sports book)
Smart Dog Vivian Vande Velde (girl tries to save talking dog from having his brain dissected. It's a funny one.)


But Mondays are also all about nonfiction, right? I bring you 2 titles for older teens and adults. One depressing, one hilarious.

First up:

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier Ishmael Beah

Technically, this is an adult book, but it has massive teen appeal (content skews it towards older teens, although Beah was a much younger teen when he lived it) and is listed as one of YALSA's 2008 Top 10 Best Books for Teens, as well as a 2008 Alex Award winner. For our system's Notable Teen Books discussion, this is the one book everyone has to read. (There are 10 books being discussed, you have to read at least 5 or 7, I can't remember because I'm a dork and read all 10, but there's one book that everyone has to read. This year, this is it.)

One day Ishmael, age 12, goes to town with some friends. While there, he village is attacked and his family flees. He never sees them again. He and his friends run from the war-- trying to stay in front of the fighting so they don't get caught, don't get killed. Still, a group of boys traveling together is a thing to be feared. Eventually, Ishmael is caught and forced to join the army fighting against the rebels in Sierra Leone. He's given massive amounts of drugs, a gun, a little bit a training, food, and a hatred and desire to kill the people who killed his family. Eventually he is taken by UNICEF and undergoes rehab and moves to New York.

The chronology is kinda jumpy, but the horrific story is beautifully told. I had to keep hitting myself to remind myself that Beah and I are the same age. While he was fighting for survival, snorting coke, and watching people he cared for die, I was freaking out about chemistry class.

It's a hard read, but the Beah's story is one that needs to be told, and he does it really well.

There have been some criticisms of the accuracy of the book, but frankly, I don't think there's much merit. (If the claims were true, there'd be much wider coverage, I think. Also, Beah addresses all these accusations here.)

And now to something completely different...

Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World's Most Coveted Handbag Michael Tonello

Do you know what a Birkin is? It's a handbag made by Hermes. I've always found them extremely ugly, but, in a brand of "it" bags, they're the ultimate. They also cost an insane amount of money. ($10-$100K. My college education was cheaper!) Remember that Sex and the City episode where Samantha really wants a Birkin but the list is years long and so she uses Lucy Liu's name to get one? She loses the bag, and Lucy as a client. Too bad she hadn't read this book first. I've always preferred the Kelly bag, featured in the movie version of Le Divorce. (It might be in the book-- I haven't read it. Anyway, the Kelly might not be as rare or hold as much cachet, but a cuter handbag by far. And smaller. The Birkin is the size of a diaper bag. UGLY. Of course, most of my purses were free. Yes, one initially housed a lotion/bubble bath duo. And my latest one looks like a Nancy Drew cover, so what do I know?)

ANYWAY!

In this hilarious, dishy memoir, Michael tells of deciding to move to Barcelona on a whim. Quickly, the job he had lined up fell through--he's broke with mounting debt. He also has a closet full of clothing appropriate to his old life on Cape Cod, but not so suitable for sunny Spain. So, he sells it on Ebay. He quickly catapults himself into a career buying Hermes scarves that are easy to get in Spain, not so easy in the US.

This escalates in trying to hunt down the elusive Birkin. He finds a formula that works almost every time, no waiting list needed. Waiting lists are for mere mortals who don't have the formula.

Along the way he finds himself, true love, eats some really fabulous food, and has to hire some thugs when a bag is taken hostage.

This book is great, because it's dishy, but not in a bad way. It's mainly dishy about Michael, and there are very few celebrities, so it's a nice dishy. It's also HYSTERICAL. Michael's list of stock Hermes employees alone is worth the book. What I love is that he never takes the Hermes lifestyle as serious as his clients, which allows him to poke fun at the crazy ones, while at the same time singing the praises of the nicer ones. Michael's easy tone makes it seem like the whole story is being told over a lavish dinner with some good wine. I couldn't put it down.

(The Birkin is the one on the left at top. The Kelly is the one down here on the right. I even picked matching leather and textile to get a better comparison. See how HONEST I am?)

Full Disclosure (see! more honesty!) ARC was provided by publisher via LibraryThing's early reviewer program.

Look for it next month.

I always cry at weddings...

I always laugh at funerals.

Was that Homer Simpson? I think so. Anyway, I went to a wedding last night in my hometown. One of the other guests was my 8th grade science teacher and junior high homeroom teacher.

Wow, Jennie that's really exciting.

It is actually, because guess who said teacher was? Connie Roop! As in co-author of such books as Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie and Buttons for General Washington and 100 or so more books for children.

And no one ever believes me that I know her, let alone she once threatened my friend Caroline and me with detention if we didn't start doing... I can't remember. Knowing Caroline though, we probably deserved it.

The wedding was lovely. And I'm still in Wisconsin gorging on super-fresh cheese curds and hanging out with my family.

TGIF

It's Friday!

I'm gearing up for a big weekend with Mother Reader's 48-Hour Challenge. I'm going to start sometime tonight. I haven't decided yet... I need to get some stuff done around the house, like cleaning the guest bedroom (I know, so exciting, but it's part of the bargain I made with myself to allow myself 48 hours of reading...)

I plan to catch up on all the YA stuff I have checked out and is due soon...

Interrupting my reading time will be a group meeting for school (I really hate group projects, luckily I managed to get a group that all live in my state, which is nice, because school is in a different state, on the other side of DC. I was once in a group where one member lived in a different state and one person lived in a different country. Yeah, he was only 1 hour away, but we couldn't call him, because we were students and that means we were poor and who can afford international calling rates to talk about a project no one wants to do anyway?)

On a better note, I'll also be hanging out with friends on Saturday night, grilling and stuff. I think I'll need to break on my brain. Other than that, lots and lots of reading. And blogging about reading. I'll post again tonight when I start, if my computer agrees with me.

But, also, because it's Friday, here's a poem:

Widow's Lament

It's not quite cold enough
to go borrow some firewood
from the neighbors.

-Richard Brautigan

Also, a quick blogger question-- if my template doesn't include a left sidebar, is there an easy way to add one? Because I want one, but I don't want to change my template.

FUN GAMES!

I know y'all wanna have some fun... here's how to party Jennie-style:

1. Join Mother Reader's 48 Hour Challenge. Read all weekend guilt-free and maybe win prizes!

2. Play the hidden side of the leaf's Blogroll game-- read more blogs, meet new people and maybe win prizes!

Of course, Summer Reading Programs are starting up around the country. Let me tell you-- Summer Reading isn't just for kids anymore. Many libraries have programs for everyone, birth--really, really, anciently old. Check out your local library and sign up, because do you know what Summer Reading means? Read and get prizes!

Also, in the "feel good" category, yesterday I went to one of the schools near the library to talk up Summer Reading. I also book talked a few books to fill out my presentation. Today one of the kids came in and we had the following conversation:

Her: Can I get those books you talked about yesterday?
Me: Sure, which ones were you interested in?
Her: All of them.
Me: Sweet.

Also, Memorial Day weekend we did a lot of stuff around the house, including rearranging the bookshelves. The upshot is now the books are once again in order! Woot! I'm just waiting for the day when Dan looks oddly at one of the shelves and says Why on earth are computer manuals and fashion guides next to each other? (The answer? BECAUSE THAT'S WHERE THEY FIT!)

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!)

Haiku Friday

My life this past week has involved the following:

A very mature debate about Professor Snape that contained about five minutes of

"is not!"
"is too!"
"is not!"
"is too!"

Thanking the greater good that Southbound and Northbound 395 are two separate structures which meant that while I was northbound, I got to see Her Royal Majesty's most giant of all motorcades instead of being stopped in all the blocked traffic while she was southbound.

Finishing my first year of library school...

Talking wedding plans with my baby sister.

There was some other stuff too, but it's a bit of a big blur.

But it's Friday! So here's a poem!

Well, actually some haiku about my life lately:

Why do children think
Running in the library
Is appropriate?

Everyone I know
Is going to have a baby
Makes me feel skinny

School's out for summer!
School's out forever!
By which I mean until June

ok, that messed with form a bit. whatever.

Reading for Fun

I'm blogging over at Geek Buffet today about guilty pleasures in reading. Check it out.

Banned Books!

Ok, so instead of always talking about banned books here, I just update my list-mania lists over at Amazon and they're all nicely linked up in the side bar.

But yesterday, I read that Of Mice and Men is being challenged in Newton, IA.

This makes me incredibly sad, because I have a very warm spot in my heart reserved for Newton. Newton may be a small town in central Iowa, but, when I was in college, it was the big town. Iowa City was far enough a way that it was a preplanned excursion, but we'd go to Newton at the drop of a hat. We'd all pile in the car and drive along Highway 6 with the windows down and the radio up and check out their Super Walmart (Because nothing is more fun than buying oodles of fabric at 1 am) or the Perkins, or everyone's favorite Mexican joint with margaritas bigger than your head-- La Cabana.

There was a time senior year when we went to La Cabana pretty much every weekend. Even my Tex-Mex snobby friends (they're from Texas, so they know what they're talking about) like that place!

Plus, it's the home of Maytag blue cheese. Yummy.

But I think I liked those drives the best-- 6 is curvy and hilly and at dusk in summer, full of fireflies. And on those nights, singing along with the radio on our way to Newton (sometimes it wasn't Newton so much as the escape from campus) with the warm summer air and the smell of summer-- hay and green things, tinged with falling humidity... I fell in love with those nights. I fell in love on one of those nights.

And now they're challenging Steinbeck.

Life in the Fast Lane

Now Reading: Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Just Finished: You Know You Love Me: A Gossip Girl Novel, Book Crush: For Kids and Teens-Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Interest, Ten Green Bottles: The True Story of One Family's Journey from War-torn Austria to the Ghettos of Shanghai, Junie B., First Grader: Dumb Bunny, You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When It Monsoons - The World on One Cartoon a Day, Friendship For Today

Ok, first things first, you should all check out Good Reads, a website my writer-friend Sarah just told me about today. Basically, you have a bookshelf of all the books you've read and rate them and review them and then you read your friend's reviews, because we all trust recommendations from our friends more than some random dude on Amazon, right? It's pretty cool and I'm just getting used to it, but check it out and be my friend.

I like this in addition to Library Thing (which I love) because I'm using Good Reads for books I've read, and Library Thing for books I own. There's a world of difference there.

I went down to Savannah this weekend for a most beautiful wedding. It was lovely and I found out Abby reads this thing, so here's a little shout out to the beautiful and wonderful bride. And her husband, Jack. (Hey Abby-- did your 'rents tell you that were were on the same flight at stupid o'clock Monday morning?)

Also, a shout out to Ruth and Kristin and Tom and Mark, because it was really, really good to see you all and trade books! :)

And, I got a lot of reading done! Because reading is good and lovely and airports are boring.

Anyway... here's a book review, because that's what we're all about here on Biblio File, right? Here's one I just had to read after the great review that Fuse #8 gave it. Thanks for the head's up on that one-- it didn't disappoint.

Friendship For Today by Patricia C. McKissack

This book provides a wonderful child's-eye view of school integration in the St. Louis area.

Rosemary is not entirely sure why all the adults in her life are so excited about integration. All she knows is that she will be the only black kid in all of 6th grade at her new school. Plus, she has to sit by Grace the Tasteless, the white girl from the next street over that torments her all the time. At school, Rosemary finds out that Grace is also an outcast, because she's "poor white trash" and an uneasy friendship blooms.

McKissack is a wonderful (and prolific) writer and this book is an excellent example of her talent. Rosemary's voice rings true even today and I spent a lot of the novel rooting for Grace to stand up and do the right thing. And when she did, it was honest and true, which is hard to do and you don't see it done well all that often. The author's note at the end explains it's a highly autobiographical novel.

A nice story of friendship and change for readers 9-13.

Oh! The Decisions!

I really need to do some more reviews. I've read some absolutely lovely and wonderful things in the past week.

BUT! I'm lazy at the moment and want to talk about something else.

So, I absolutely loved Narinder Dhami's Bindi Babesand Bollywood Babes. I checked them both out from the library. Now, on TUESDAY there is a new one coming out--Bhangra Babes. Now, it will take a few months before the library gets this on the shelf, I'm sure. (I mean, the Lauren Child books are much more popular and circ a heck of a lot more, and But Excuse Me That is My Book [which came out on JANURARY 19th] is just now in processing). So... I don't want to wait 3 months for Bhangra Babes. Do I just buy it then? If I buy it, do I have to buy the other two? Do I want to own all three? What's the point of owning the third if I don't have the other two?

Do I need to just NOT worry about this? Probably. Will I stop? Probably not.