Book: Fangirl

I read next to nothing for fun during semesters. This past fall semester was a bit brutal, but I made it through with straight As and to the halfway point in my program. I knew after this semester that I would be taking a break for the spring and summer to welcome our first bundle of joy. From the time the semester ended, I knew I wanted to get some reading for pleasure done. Sadly, a lot of what I had picked up just didn't make me happy. 

And then I chose Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell... and I may have fallen in love with Ms. Rowell.

It has been a long time since I have fallen in love with a character. I immediately wanted to become BFFs with Cath once I started reading. I seriously could picture myself in the story with Cath, reliving my freshman year in college. Navigating classes, dorm life, boy stuff, friendship - the entire book had me reminiscing about my own college experiences while staying completely engrossed in Cath's world. There's humor, drama, romance, and characters you can't help but relate to. I'm so happy I picked up Fangirl because it really rejuvenated my desire to read for recreation (you get into reading ruts, right?).

At the recommendation of my husband, I'm reading One for the Money by Janet Evanovich at the moment. Crime novels aren't my thing, but there's plenty of humor to get me through the messy parts. I also have Rowell's Eleanor & Park sitting on my nightstand, along with a handful of other YA choices I'm hoping to get through in the next few weeks.

Is reading awesome or what?! (Says the girl who works in a library and is pursuing a Master's degree in library science - I'm not biased or anything.)

Disclaimer: Yes, I've linked to where you can learn more about these books and authors. No, I'm not making money off the links.

Books: Hoop Genius and Odd Duck

Now that a new semester has started, summer just feels over to me. I know it's definitely not over in terms of the weather - we went to a cookout this past Sunday and the heat made me miserable. During the summer I did my best to get through my extensive to-read list, and I am trying really hard to manage my time better so I can continue to make progress this fall. But when I'm feeling bogged down, I like to pick up "light" reading.

"Light" reading for me is children's books!

 

Basketball is big in our home and in our marriage (never thought I would ever write that). I like to order nonfiction books for my library that are unique and aren't covered by other materials. Hoop Genius by John Coy is a quick read that gives kiddos a basic explanation of how basketball became basketball. Of course, Richie knew the story well before I had ever heard of this book, but I enjoyed the lesson.

 

Odd Duck by Cecil Castellucci is classified as a graphic novel at my library. I know I've mentioned how awesome graphic novels are, and I love seeing lots of graphic novels coming out now for the preschool/early-elementary crowds. Odd Duck is hilarity with a moral - be yourself. This is the perfect book to start a discussion on fitting in (or not).

 

Disclaimer: Yes, I've linked to where you can learn more about these books and authors. No, I'm not making money off the links.

Book: Trinkets

I’m gaining momentum on my to-read list. I had a few duds where I stopped reading them after starting. I used to have such guilt about not finishing books that I started. I’ve trained myself to stop reading if I am not genuinely interested in the plot. The time spent reading is too precious to waste on books you don’t enjoy.

I flew through my latest pick: Trinkets by Kirsten Smith. One could read this in a single evening. Smith’s characters - Elodie, Tabitha, and Moe - each have a different style of telling the story. On the outside, the three teens wouldn’t look like the type to become friends: Tabitha is the popular one, Moe is the punky one, Elodie is the girl-next-door one. However, their common bond of kleptomania brings them together at a Shoplifters Anonymous meeting. Soon after meeting, the girls “compete” to see who can steal the most expensive item they can. As time goes on, they each learn something about themselves and their lives, leading to broken families, broken relationships, but ultimately a happy ending.

As always, I borrowed this book from my local public library. I found it in the Young Adult section.

Disclaimer: Yes, I've linked to where you can learn more about Kirsten's book. No, I'm not making money off the links. 

Book: 52 Reasons to Hate My Father

I finally chose a book on my to-read list (because while I am reading, I'm not picking things up that are on that list!). Jessica Brody's 52 Reasons to Hate My Father has been on my list for almost a year. I read My Life Undecided earlier last year and really enjoyed the plot (I recommend it, too). 52 Reasons sounded just as fun.

Spoiled trust-funder Lexington Larrabee is thisclose to getting her trust fund check... until her father deems it necessary for his daughter to work for that money. His plan? To have Lexi work a different blue-collar job each week for a year. Along the way, Lexi learns more about herself, her family, and just how those on the other side of the lawn live. There's humor, sadness, and love all wrapped in one young adult novel that makes for a great weekend read. It's chick-lit for teen girls, but as a chick-lit fan, I thought the book was just plain fun.

I found my copy in the YA section of my local public library. I bet you can find your copy there, too.

Disclaimer: Yes, I've linked to where you can learn more about Jessica's book. No, I'm not making money off the links. 

Poolside Reading

 

"That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest."

- Thoreau

Book: Operation Oleander

Can you tell by my recent blog posts that I am spending a lot of time reading? Operation Oleander by Valerie O. Patterson hasn't been sitting on my to-read list for long, but it came across my desk at work and I figured I'd snatch it up before I miss my chance.

Three teenagers - Jess, Meriwether, and Sam - live on an Army base with their families. Jess creates an aid organization, Operation Oleander, to collect school supplies and other necessities for an orphanage in Afghanistan, where Jess's father and Meriwether's mother are serving. An IED goes off near the orphanage, wounding and killing American soldiers and Afghani children at the orphanage. The soldiers were delivering supplies from Operation Oleander... and one of the casualties was Meriwether's mother.

This is a short YA (young adult) read, but it's worth it. I'm familiar with military bases and life, thanks to my dad, so many details I could pass over. However, this book is an excellent introduction to the life of a teenager on a military base. It's also incredibly relevant to teens who have grown up during the Afghanistan conflicts. My only complaint? I felt the ending was incredibly abrupt. I really wanted more story.

If you're looking for this book at your public library, check out the YA section (if there is one).

Disclaimer: Yes, I've linked to where you can learn more about Valerie's book. No, I'm not making money off the links.

Book: Sparkly Green Earrings

I read a review somewhere for Sparkly Green Earrings and decided to download it to my Kindle when it was available for free. It's not the typical memoir I'm attracted to. But the review I read had me cracking up, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

Melanie Shankle writes about motherhood in about as honest of voice as you can get. I'm not a mother, but this book makes me look forward to the hilarity that comes along with having a child. She discusses dirty diapers, over-the-top birthday parties, and public school adventures. She also peppers her stories with Bible verses and small doses of faith. I wanted nothing more than to go have dinner with Melanie and her family when I finished reading.

When something made me laugh, I'd take the time to read the humor out loud to Richie. We want to have a child one day, and this book settled some of my fears about future motherhood. Even if you have no intentions of procreating, read this book for a good laugh. I guarantee you'll fall in love with Melanie's daughter, Caroline. Caroline seems like the kind of kid any parent would be proud of.

Melanie blogs at Big Mama. If you don't want to purchase the book and can't find it at your library, read her blog. It's an equally satisfying read.

Disclaimer: Yes, I've linked to where you can learn more about Melanie's book. No, I'm not making money off the links.

Book: The Pregnancy Project

I kept hearing good things about The Pregnancy Project on professional list-servs I belong to. I was waiting and waiting and waiting for my library system to get a copy. Finally, it popped up on our new release list and I was the first one to check it out. (Nerd? Yes!)

Gaby Rodriguez faked a pregnancy for her senior year project. That’s pretty intense. She discusses teen pregnancy and stereotypes from a very first-person perspective. Rodriguez’s memoir is a hard-hitting dose of reality for any teen, and she balances her personal experiences with statistics and research. She reveals the hurtful comments her classmates and friends uttered behind her back, and it's a sobering reality of what many teenagers go through on a regular basis. One quote at the end of her story stood out to me: "I hope we can change this society so that, instead of teens working hard to tear each other down and laughing about it in the school hallways, we can learn to support each other and help each other move forward when there are troubles along the way." 

Rodriguez's writing is from the heart and very easy to read. I flew through the book in two days. As an adult, it was a fascinating glimpse into the realities that some teenagers face. If this sounds like a read you’d be interested in picking up, it would be in the nonfiction area of your local public library (our copy was shelved in the Young Adult area).

Disclaimer: Yes, I've linked to where you can learn more about Gaby's book. No, I'm not making money off the links.

Book: Wedding Night

I picked up my first Sophie Kinsella book in high school and became instantly hooked to chick lit. I read “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and followed the entire series with excitement. When I finished the series, I devoured all of Kinsella’s stand-alone novels (including her works by her real name, Madeleine Wickham). After I finish one, I’m anxious to read what she writes next. Her latest release, Wedding Night, is hilarious!

Imagine everything that can go wrong on a honeymoon, and you’ve got this book. The characters are humorous, and there is a level of predictability of who ends up marrying who. While the premise is a bit much (which is often true of most chick lit, in my opinion), you’re not reading chick lit for the mental stimulation. Most chick lit is just plain fun with a lot of laughs.

If you’ve never read any of Kinsella’s book, I would recommend Twenties Girl (my favorite!). It doesn’t follow the traditional chick-lit formula. You should be able to find Kinsella’s works in the fiction section of your local public library.

Disclaimer: Yes, I've linked to where you can learn more about Sophie's books. No, I'm not making money off the links.

Book: The Pioner Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels

I have never followed Ree Drummond’s blog. I was never interested in her blog until my library ordered her cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier. I love this cookbook! Step-by-step pictures are gold for this kitchen-phobic girl. I also love Ree’s children’s books about Charlie the ranch dog. So when browsing through my library’s eBook collection, I found The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels and figured I’d give it a shot.

If you’re looking for a sweet love story and a fast read, this is your book. Ree is incredibly open about her love story to her Marlboro Man, but not to the point of TMI. I laughed out loud several times (especially her telling of their honeymoon to Australia), which doesn’t often happen. You get a little romance, quite a bit of humor, and even some suspense (thanks to a wicked prairie fire). Her style of writing made me feel like I was sitting next to her as she’s revisiting good times and bad.

This book wasn’t on my to-read list. Because I work with children and teens, I read more juvenile/young adult books than I do "adult" books. Ree's book was a fun read. I read the eBook version, and I’m embarrassed to admit that this was the first book I finished on my Kindle Fire (that I've owned for a year). If you’re looking for this book at your local library (which you should!), you’ll find it in general nonfiction.

Disclaimer: Yes, I've linked to where you can learn more about Ree's books. No, I'm not making money off the links.

My Own Reading Challenge

Remember that reading challenge I "signed up" for?

Yeah. That didn't happen.

I had good intentions and had even selected several books to read. However, I was the genius who decided to participate in the challenge in the middle of a semester. I know better now.

I'm not participating in this specific challenge anymore - but don't get me wrong, there are some awesome titles on the list that are worth reading (the ones I read were great). Instead, now that I have three glorious months off from school, I am going to be working through my to-read list that is probably longer than... well, it's pretty long.

My library system's catalog has an option where you can log in to your account and create lists. Often times when I'm working the circulation desk and a book passes through that looks interesting or a patron recommends something, I add it to my account's "To Read" list. I also have a nice stack of books I own that I really should read. I'm not lacking for reading material. My "To Read" list on my library account had 84 books on it. After evaluating the list, I managed to remove 14 books that just didn't sound good to me right now. I'm not editing the books I already have at home because there aren't too many, and I'm telling myself that the books I have there are there for a reason.

So, for the next three months, my intention is to make progress on the list and the stack. I'm not setting a specific number because that doesn't work for me. I just want to make progress by August 1.

What are you reading right now?

Reading Challenge: Update 2

I finished We’ve Got a Job last Monday.

Quick commentary: I hate to admit this, but I had no idea what children willingly put themselves through for integration. This book was incredibly informative and engaging - once I started reading, I couldn’t put the book down. I highly recommend this for history classes or any curious middle-grade students. Again, I say this often, but if you're an adult, pick up some children's literature sometime. There are some incredible recent contributions, such as this one.

I'm still working through the other two books I'm reading. It's slow, but I'm trying. I'm embarassed at times to work in a library and not ready as much or as frequently as I should. But then I remind myself of the various hats I wear and realize that if I can fit in just 15 minutes of reading before bed, that's OK.

One book down, 24 to go.

Reading Challenge: Update 1

Here's an update on the reading challenge I "signed up" for.

I haven't read for fun in almost a week.

I did attempt to listen to In Darkness by Nick Lake. Lake's title won this year's Michael L. Printz Award, so I thought I would give it a try. I couldn't get past the first chapter. I hate when that happens, but I'm getting better at not reading a book if I'm just not into it. I used to feel extremely guilty for not finishing a book I started, even if I didn't like it. There are far too many books on my never-ending list of books to read to read something that doesn't captivate my interest.

As of right now, I'm working through the following from this challenge:

Pure by Julianna Baggott
We've Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children's March by Cythina Levinson
Bomb: The Race to Build -- and Steal -- the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

I'm in the thick of spring semester AND summer planning at work right now, so squeezing in this reading will require epic time management skills. But I can do it... right?

Reading Out Loud

My library hosts a reading therapy dog who children sign up to read to. It’s a really great program for boosting reading confidence and skills in children. Our volunteer called out sick this week, and I rushed to call parents to notify them. I was hoping to catch many parents before leaving to come to the library, but alas, I did not.

A first grader who was signed up for her very first time to read to the dog came in, and I was able to get her signed up for a future session. Mom was very understanding, and then asked me if I would allow her daughter to read to me.

I couldn’t say no.

This little lady read a Keiko Kasza book to me, and she did a wonderful job! It is so rare for me to listen to a child read out loud to me. I love reading to groups of children, but it was such an awesome experience to have a child read to me. Afterwards, Mom said that she is hoping her daughter’s confidence in reading will improve by reading out loud more. I hope her reading experience was as enriching for her as it was to me.

Take the time to listen to a child read. It will mean the whole world to them, and I’m pretty sure it could mean the whole world to you.

Reading Challenge!

I have never participated in a book club. Odd, right? I guess I've never been at the right place or right time to be involved, or any book club I've looked into just didn't fit me. I love the idea of a book club, and I could start my own... but I'm busy.

One of the challenges in my regular routine is finding time to read for fun (which my new morning routine of reading has suffered lately). So when I caught wind of YALSA's 2013 Hub Reading Challenge, I thought it would be right up my alley. Reading for fun AND reading for work? I can totally do that!

I have until June 22 to read at least 25 of the eligible titles on the provided list. I just started reading Pure by Julianna Baggott, and I've just downloaded the audiobook of In Darkness by Nick Lake.

Why am I posting this here? Because I need accountability and a couple of cheerleaders/slave drivers.

Can you do that?

Cats and Graphic Novels

Saturday morning awesome.

 

The best way to start your Saturday? Waking up with a cat on your shoulder, of course. Humphrey is 17 pounds of pure love. My shoulder didn't appreciate it, but I love morning snuggles with my kitties. (Crazy cat lady? Perhaps.)

 

My newest book obsession is graphic novels. I never read them as a kid (I'm not even sure if they were around then), but I'm thoroughly enjoying them now as an adult. I remember reading A Wrinkle in Time in 6th grade and hating it. The graphic novel though? Love!

Book: The Best Advice I Ever Got

I have been on a nonfiction reading kick lately. It doesn’t matter if it’s adult or juvenile nonfiction as long as it’s something I’m interested in reading about. I also tend to gravitate towards nonfiction because they are faster reads (for me) and I can skip around if necessary.

 

I came across a recommendation to read this title a few weeks ago, and I was pleasantly surprised. Katie Couric solicited advice from a diverse group of well-known individuals on a variety of subjects: pursuing your passion, how to handle rejection... you know, the stuff you encounter as an adult. One of my favorite bits of advice came from the advice provided by Ellen Levine.

I'm referring to the last sentence on the page.

It was a nice reminder that there is more to me than my job title and career aspiration. While I am very career focused at this season in life, I’m more than that. I am someone’s wife, daughter, daughter-in-law, sister, aunt, and best friend. It is so easy to forget all the hats we wear, and even easier to forget which hats are the most important.

Duck Pond and Picture Books

Awesome happenings from this past weekend.

Richie and I braved the chilly temperatures and went walking at a local park. The park has a name, but locals refer to it as the duck pond. The waterfall in the background is a recent addition. We walked several laps around the pond, and we had the park all to ourselves for much of the time. It was a peaceful and relaxing way to spend an hour on a Saturday.

 

In my never-ending efforts to catch up on what's awesome in the world of children's books, I have been working my way through the Kirkus list of Best Children's Books of 2012. The picture above highlights some of the goodies I brought home this weekend. I enjoyed all of the above.

Tell me about something awesome in your world.

Recent Reads: Picture Books

One of the perks of my job is that I get to read children's books. I read every book I consider for story times and try my best to keep up on what's appearing on our new shelves. Let me tell you: There are fantastic new releases for children coming out all the time. Here are a few I recently read and loved.

Abe Lincoln's Dream by Lane Smith

A fun read featuring honest Abe and presidential pooches.

 

Hello! Hello! by Matthew Cordell

Excellent book about unplugging from technology.

 

The Box by Axel Janssens

Did you ever get creative with a cardbox box as a child? Check out this boy's adventures.

The next time you visit your public library, check out a picture book or two. Reading through a new book or a classic from your childhood is a fun and free way to make you smile.

(All titles mentioned aboved were borrowed from my public library. I receive absolutely no compensation for talking about these books.)

Book: No Safety in Numbers

I finished this YA novel yesterday after returning Wonder to the library. Quick read, very disturbing, and very possible. I'm annoyed that I can't find any information on when the second book in this series will be published.

If I could read at this rate during a semester, I'd be on top of the world.