Friday Five: Books Edition

Shamelessly lifted from Tammy at Just Enough, And Nothing More. Because I can't resist a book list.

How many of you have a to-be-read pile a mile high next to your bed? What are the top 5 books?

Just finished Jen Lancaster's Such a Pretty Fat and am almost finished with Beth Harbison's Secrets of a Shoe Addict. Up next in my to-be-read pile:

1. The Film Club by David Gilmour

2. Love The One You're With by Emily Giffin

3. Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another by Philip Ball

4. Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper by Diablo Cody

5. A Charmed Life: Growing Up in Macbeth's Castle by Liza Campbell

I have the best job in the world

It is going to be all I can do not to ignore everything and everyone this weekend. I worked at the bookstore tonight, and I scored advance reader copies of

Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster

Secrets of a Shoe Addict by Beth Harbison

Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin

I'm currently reading Nancy Farmer's The Sea of Trolls. I'm only about 50 pages in at the moment though, so I'm going to have to step it up. I'm anxious to get to my new books.

If you only hear sounds of silence from this blog in the next few days, you'll know why.

A Year Without "Made in China"

I've gotten away from posting reviews of my recent reads, partly because I've been reading more fluff than I want to admit, and partly because I've been retreating into old favorites.

I picked up A Year Without "Made in China" last month while Skeeter was out of town, but I didn't finish it until early last week.

Most people will probably find it surprising, but it was a very easy read. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but good all the same.

A Year Without "Made in China" chronicles a year in the life of the Bongiorni family, one in which they vow not to purchase items made in China. Any parent will sympathize with the author in her troubles with finding toys and shoes for her children without breaking the "no China" rule. And any parent will laugh in reading her sneaky ways of allowing China products into the house to keep the peace. After all, they can accept gifts made in China . . . .

The book is written very much as a chronicle of the family's life, without much digression into global economics. I was actually hoping for a bit more statistical and economic information, but I know that I'm a bit odd in that respect. Spyder is reading it at the moment, and the writing style is easy for him to follow and enjoy. In my bookstore, it was cataloged in the business section, but truly, it's more of a biography.

When I was reading it, Spyder was a bit concerned that I might want to join in this whole "no China" thing. I reassured him that I wasn't planning on it, but the book did make me more aware of what I'm buying and how it got there.

Too much to read and not enough time

My basket of books is overflowing.

I got Twilight from the library last week, simply because I've heard such good things about it. It was due yesterday, and I couldn't renew it last night because someone has it on hold. I decided to keep it, thinking that whoever it is can wait until next week. I started it tonight. So far it's pretty good (although not really my usual fare), and it's an easy read, so I should be able to finish it by Tuesday, at the latest.

Sass and I are reading Dragon's Breath, the next book in the Frog Princess series. We read The Frog Princess last year, and she absolutely loved it.

Spyder, Sass, and I are reading Pippi Goes on Board as a group. It's just as engaging as Pippi Longstocking was.

Next on the group read -- Frindle.

Skeeter started reading The Fairy Tale Detectives to the children tonight as their bedtime read. I read it last year, so I'm not joining in on that one.

(Shhhhh . . . I read Twilight instead.)

Whew! Between all of these, plus the school reading, my throat is sore! Luckily, I bought the audio version of Story of the World along with the book, so my dear Jim reads that to all of us. :)

So long, Pippi!

We've just finished reading Pippi Longstocking, and we all enjoyed it tremendously. Sass and Spyder both loved Pippi's unorthodox ways of doing things, and each had a little epiphany during Pippi's escapades. Spyder was annoyed by the ending though. There was no closure, and he hates that.

Sass drew this today while we were reading.


Not bad, eh? The little blobs off to the right are Tommy and Annika. I was especially pleased with her drawing of Mr Nilsson.

So for now we say goodbye to Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Efraim's Daughter Longstocking. I've just put Pippi Goes on Board on hold at the library though, so we'll see her again soon.

Oh joy! Oh happy day!

I've just found out that Scholastic is having a warehouse sale through Saturday. I had completely forgotten about it! As I've mentioned before, I love the Scholastic sales!

There's just nothing that sets my heart a-flutter like cheap books.

Today we were planning to take the afternoon and create our Zoology notebooks. That plan? Gone, out the window, flying away in the breeze. (Or sitting lackluster outside the window in the stifling heat -- take your pick.)

Spyder and Sass are almost as excited as I am. They both know that we come away with great stuff.

In fact, I think Spyder even more excited. He's planning to scour the shelves in hopes of finding Mad Science items.

The Shakespeare Stealer

The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood is the story of Widge, an orphan in the late 16th century. Widge is taken in by a rector, who teaches Widge a version of shorthand. The rector uses Widge's learned skill by sending him to listen to sermons and have him transcribe them word by word.

Eventually Widge is sold to another man who charges him to transcribe Shakespeare's Hamlet while standing in the audience. Widge succeeds, but loses his transcription. Caught behind the stage, he pretends to be interested in learning to be one of the players.

Widge makes friends with the other apprentices -- the first real friends of his life -- and the players become his family in a way that he has never had before. Eventually Widge has to choose between loyalty to his purchaser and his new-found friends.

Spyder and I both really enjoyed this book, and we had an excellent discussion on it afterward.

Many of the people in the book play a role to conceal his true character, just as a player does on the stage. Widge pretends to have the acting bug so that he can steal the play, although he learns how difficult that is. The rector pretends to be an upright and honest man, but he uses Widge to steal ideas and words from others. There are other examples, but they would be spoilers, and I wouldn't do that to anyone. But at any rate, Widge finds that the people who show their true selves to him are the players themselves.

Additionally, Widge finds himself in a situation where he has to find his own morals. His world has been filled with adults who display amoral behavior in one way or another. Widge has been shown this type of behavior, but he finds that he is dissatisfied with it and decides to make his own way.

This is exactly the kind of book I hope to find when I'm browsing, one that is both exciting and thoughtful.

Very highly recommended for both boys and girls (and adults)!

All is well in the world or, Bill Bryson writes again

Bill Bryson is one of the few -- very few -- writers who can publish absolutely anything and I will read it. Bryson's latest book is a memoir, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, which chronicles his childhood in De Moines, Iowa in the 1950s.

Bryson's style is personable and fun, and the reader feels like a friend. And if you listen to him read the audio version, you can imagine being a friend who is sitting across the booth at a coffee shop, just listening to the story unfold.

The Thunderbolt Kid (as Bryson was dubbed by his father) brings to life a time that is foreign to me, the time in which my parents grew up, but I never really understood. As a child of the 1970s, I never thought about bomb shelters or future space accommodations. It wasn't part of my world, and I couldn't really comprehend how it could have been believable at one point.

The memories that brought about The Thunderbolt Kid exemplify the intensity and innocence of childhood, a time unlike any other. And it doesn't matter whether childhood occurred in the 1950s or the 1970s, many of the emotions are exactly the same.

Very highly recommended.

Booking Through Thursday: 'Fess Up

Booking Through Thursday

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

I sometimes read chick lit. Yes, I've said it. I do. It's what I read when I want to read something, but I don't want to think about it. Going through the motions of my evening read is comforting, but I don't always want to be invigorated or challenged by it. On those nights I turn to chick lit.

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

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

I can't remember ever actually missing something important (school, work, or the like). However, I can definitively say that I haven't been at my best on many occasions because I've been up too late reading.

Booking through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

1. Just out of curiosity, as we enter into Passover and Easter season... have you ever read the Bible? Just the odd chapter or Psalm? The whole thing? (Or, almost the whole thing? It's some heavy reading, of course, and those "begats" get kind of tedious.) I've read most of it. I use The One Year Chronological Bible, which is a wonderful "read the bible in a year" resource. It also makes me realize correlations between books that I wouldn't have otherwise. I've never made it all the way through because I sometimes get behind, and I've decided that it's better for me to just keep going rather than lament over where I got stuck.
   


2. If so, was it from religious motivation or from a literary perspective? Stuck with nothing else to read in a hotel room the Gideon's have visited? Any combination? Religious motivation. I studied portions as literature when I was in college, which was fascinating, but honestly I got more out of it when I did it for spiritual reasons.
   


3. If not, why not? Against your religious principles? Too boring? Just not interested? Something you're planning on taking care of when you get marooned on a desert island? N/A


4. And while we're on the subject... what about the other great religious works out there? Are they more to your liking? I've read the Apocrypha, which is not included in my Protestant bible, and I've read small portions of the Mormon bible, but I can't think of any others.
   

Booking through Thursday

Today's Booking through Thursday question:

Where do you do most of your reading? Your favorite spot?

I do most of my reading on the "comfy chair" in the living room, with my very old, very special blanket that The Michael's mom made for me when I was about 17.

The comfy chair is also old, an overstuffed, oversized armchair that is big enough for an adult and a child, which makes it the perfect reading chair. Sass and I read there quite a lot, and I tend to do my alone reading there as well.

Read to me: the final chapter

Sass and I had almost completely gotten away from reading simple picture books. Our day was focused on reading out school books and our novels, and the picture books had gotten pushed aside. Sass is five, and five-year-old girls like picture books. Just because it's not something that I'd prefer doesn't make it acceptable for me to skip it.

So, picture books were our focus in the Reading Challenge, hosted by Jennifer at Snapshot. As I reported earlier, I was quite pleased with our progress in the Read to Me challenge. We were reading several picture books every day. I was, however, quite tired of reading the same books over and over, and I decided to take a more active role in choosing our picture books.

I am happy to report that Sass was just as pleased as I to add a few new books to the routine. She has now begun to choose books that don't have "Clifford" in the title -- a huge step! At first she chose the ones that I had introduced, probably because they were ones that she remembered reading recently. But after a couple of days, she started choosing ones that had sat neglected in the bookshelf.

It's once again opened her up to reading a variety of books, all for fun. Not because it's part of our schoolwork or the book that she and I are reading together, but because it's what she wants at that moment.

Read to me progress report

Sass and I have been progressing in the Read to Me challenge, and I feel like I'm right in the middle of success and failure.

Since we already read so much, I decided to use the challenge to read more plain ole picture books to my Sass. We started by simply letting her choose books from her bookshelf.

Success! We're now reading several picture books a day (except today, since Ryan and Olivia were here to play for several hours). It's been working quite well. She has complete control over what we read during "our time," and I think she likes it. She is also quite pleased that during this reading time, it's usually just the two of us. She loves her brother, but . . . well, time apart is sometimes a good thing. She loves the extra individual attention, and (to be perfectly honest) I love spending the extra time with her.

Failure. Since I decided to let her do the choosing, we're reading the same Clifford books over and over and over. Yawn! I have memorized Clifford the Firehouse Dog, Clifford and the Big Storm, Clifford's Kitten, and Clifford's Manners. There are more, but you get the idea. All Clifford, all the time.

Since we've started to develop the habit of reading these picture books, I have decided to take more of a role in choosing. She can certainly still choose some, and I'm sure that Clifford will be part of it. We just have so many great picture books that it seems shameful that we're only using a handful.

Here are some of the ones that I'm planning to feature this week.

The Napping House by Don and Audrey Wood. One of Sass's favorites, and I'm actually quite surprised that she hasn't chosen this one on her own. Repetitive, but it has great rhythm, and I think that those are the main reasons Sass likes it so well.

Weslandia by Paul Fleischman. One of Spyder's favorites as well, but I don't remember whether I've read it to Sass or not. The illustrations are excellent, and the whole plot is just so imaginative that I can't see anyone not enjoying it.

Rapunzel by Paul Zelinsky. Again, one of Sass's favorites, and it's one she would probably choose herself if she could get out of the Clifford rut. We used to read it regularly before we started on chapter books at night.

My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. I used to read this to Spyder regularly, but it just never became one of the ones in Sass's collection. It actually helped Spyder quite a bit in being able to define his emotions at an early age, and I think his self-awareness is all the better because of it.

The Parable of the Lily by Liz Curtis Higgs. It seems only appropriate since Easter is only a few weeks away. I also like that it teaches a good lesson in patience as well as in understanding that one can't make a judgment call without knowing all the facts.

Olivia by Ian Falconer. Quite a precocious pig, one that Sass has can recognize in herself. She can relate to Olivia, and she likes hearing about her misadventures. This book has never been one of our mainstays, but it should be.

I've already pulled out these titles and put them in our book basket, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow when we can get started!

Maisie Dobbs . . . the rest of the story

I've just finished the last book currently available in Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series. I reviewed the first book in the series, but I decided to lump all of the subsequent books into one.

Just as in the first book, Maisie is thoughtful and insightful, alert and astute throughout. We were given her history in the first book, and it seems as if she is comfortable with where she has come from and what she has become. As we read further, we learn that Maisie hasn't quite come to terms with how life brought her to become Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and investigator.

So far, all of Maisie's mysteries have come as a result of repercussions of World War I, and each has allowed her to delve further into who she is and how she came to be. I found that I was fascinated with the details surrounding The Great War. I studied it in school, of course, but there were many times that I had to jot down something to look up later.

In general, I do not recommend series as a whole, simply because I am usually disappointed with the later books. However, the Maisie Dobbs series is a welcome change to that trend. I have thoroughly enjoyed them all. As with any series, I do suggest that they be read in order. The books in the Maisie Dobbs series are as follows (in chronological order):

Maisie Dobbs
Birds of a Feather
Pardonable Lies
Messenger of Truth

Very highly recommended.

Reading Challenge!

Jennifer at Snapshot has issued a reading challenge!

We already spend quite a lot of reading time, partly because Sass and I now read real books together, and partly because we read our school books together. The challenge made me start thinking though, and I realized that I've completely gotten away from reading the shorter and more colorful picture books to Sass. And I definitely need to get back to them. She loves picture books of all sorts!

I intend to use this challenge to read more non-chapter, non-school related books to Sass. I'll be posting updates of what we've read to see how we're doing.

Spyder may or may not be included in this challenge. He usually stops in and listens whenever I'm reading to Sass, no matter what the book. He may only be eight years old,

("Eight and a half, Mom! I'm eight and a half!")

but he's an excellent reader and can read pretty much anything he wants. He reads an average of three books a day, and that doesn't include when we're reading aloud already.

We did read some today, but my official challenge begins tomorrow, with blankies on the couch and a water bottle at my side!

Bookin' on . . .

Southern Girl has posted another meme that I absolutely couldn't pass up -- books.

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback? Any and all, but for feel, I prefer trade paperbacks or hardcovers. Trade paperbacks are my favorite because they're the easiest to hold one-handed.

Amazon or brick and mortar? Brick and mortar, but I buy online often. I just find so much great stuff while browsing at the store.

Barnes & Noble or Borders? Barnes & Noble. I've never been impressed with our Borders store (the only one I've ever visited).

Bookmark or dogear? Neither. I just remember the page number.

Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random? I used to have the organized by genre, then alphabetically by author within each genre. Children have cured me of that, although our DVDs are still arranged alphabetically.

Keep, throw away, or sell? Entirely depends on the book. Some I keep, some I sell, and some I donate to the library. I'd rather cut out my tongue than throw one away.

Keep dustjacket or toss it? Keep, definitely.

Read with dustjacket or remove it? I read hardcovers with the dustjacket on. It bothers me when it's not on.

Short story or novel? Novel, hands down.

Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)? Generally, I prefer a collection to an anthology. Anthologies seem disjointed to me.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Harry Potter. I've never really cared for the Lemony Snicket series.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? I seldom stop at chapter breaks. I generally read until I get to a point that seems to be a natural break, and that almost never happens at the end of the chapter.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”? Either one, really, but it all depends on my mood.

Buy or Borrow? Depends on what kind of book it is. Some I want to keep, but if it's one that I'm probably never going to read again, I'd rather borrow it.

New or used? I usually buy new, but used is fine as long as it doesn't smell.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse? Browsing or recommendations.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger? Neat and tidy ending, thank you. A cliffhanger within a series is fine, but I am not okay with a series that has no definite ending.

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading? Nighttime, simply because that's when I have the most "me" time.

Standalone or series? My favorite books are standalone, but I read series books as well.

Favorite series? Harry Potter comes to mind first. It's been the one long series that I haven't gotten tired of reading. I did have a bit of a hiccup with the fifth book, but all was redeemed with the sixth. I'm both anticipating and dreading the seventh.

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith. It's my favorite book in the whole wide world.

Favorite books read last year? A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel; Montmorency by Eleanor Updale; Queen of the Oddballs by Hilary Carlip; Bloody Jack by LA Meyer

Favorite books of all time? Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith; A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman

The Devil in the Junior League

The Devil in the Junior League shows us the life of Fredericka Mercedes Hildebrand Ware (Frede to her friends), a pampered and privileged Texas socialite. Her picture-perfect world falls apart the day that she comes home to find another woman in her house who claims to be pregnant -- by Frede's husband.

This book falls firmly into the "Chick Lit" category, and I picked it up on a whim. It's not my usual book fare.

Despite her privileged status, Frede is a good person at heart. She does have some class prejudices, but she recognizes them for what they are. She isn't cruel with those prejudices, unlike many of her peers. She is flawed (who isn't?), but Frede is a likable character, which is what I really liked about the novel. Even though I quickly realized that this book really wasn't my style, Frede herself was the reason I continued to read it.

Recommended only for those who enjoy the "Chick Lit" genre.

Maisie Dobbs

Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs is my first adult read for the year, and it was well worth it!

There are so many good things that I could say about this book that I'm not sure where to start. The book opens with Maisie opening her detective office, but her investigations are much more than just facts. They are also a journey into the spirit -- hers and her client's.

The setting is the mid 1900s to the late 1920s. We follow Maisie (although not chronologically) from her beginning in service to Lady Rowan to her studies at Cambridge to serving in the Great War to beginning her agency.

This is not a typical fluffy detective/murder mystery that are so popular today. There are no cats or coffeehouses or embroidery circles. The reader finds out that Maisie isn't as calm and collected as we believe at first. She has had experiences that she hasn't reconciled, and by the end of the novel, the reader has done a bit of soul-searching along with her.

I didn't realize it when I picked it up, but this book is often compared to Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. I'm still undecided whether I like the comparison, although I can see similarities.

Maisie Dobbs is very highly recommended.

The Legend of Holly Claus

Book #3 for the year!

The Legend of Holly Claus is such a wonderful story! The novel is very much a larger-than-life story of a young woman who intends to earn her place in the Land of the Immortals.

Everyone in the Land of the Immortals has earned his or her place there -- everyone except Holly. Holly was born because a boy asked in his letter to Santa what Santa would wish for at Christmas. Santa wished for Holly, and she was born -- the first child ever born in the Land of the Immortals.

Told as part fantasy, part historical fiction, the story is set in the Land of the Immortals (near the North Pole) and in Victorian era New York City.

Overall, I loved the gentle delivery and the characters who were truly good people (and animals) who cared for one another. There is a large portion of the plot that deals with an evil sorcerer and his desire to rule the Land of the Immortals. Sadly, I felt that the resolution on that plot point was very hurried and brusque, and not at all in keeping with the pace of the rest of the book.

The pen and ink drawings scattered throughout the book truly made me feel as if I was reading a Victorian era novel. They added that "something extra" that many books lack to make them special.

Even with the one trouble spot, I would recommend the book, particularly to teen girls who enjoy the fantasy or historical fiction genre.