Virtual Book Tour

Mom forwarded along an announcement that HarperCollins has teamed up with BlogHer.org, the eminent community for women bloggers, to launch a three-month virtual book tour. Beginning February 11, HarperCollins will promote the first of nine titles via BlogHer. Three times a month, at least 25 review copies of a new title will be sent to members of the community who request them through BlogHer's Virtual Book Tour Page, located at http://blogher.org/node/15258. Bloggers are invited to post their reviews and participate in book title discussions on their own blogs and on BlogHer.org, which includes a directory of more than 7,100 blogs.

The titles that will be promoted in the Virtual Book Tour include: Babyproofing Your Marriage by Stacie Cockrell, Cathy O'Neill, and Julia Stone; Diaper-Free Baby by Christine Gross-Loh; What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman; Good Kids, Bad Habits by Dr. Jennifer Trachtenberg; Men May Come and Men May Go, but I’ve Still Got My Little Pink Raincoatby Gigi Anders; Sanity Savers: Tips for Women to Live a Balanced Life by Dale Vicky Atkins and Barbara Scala; Modern Jewish Mom's Guide to Shabbat by Meredith Jacobs; Raw Food Life Force Energy by Natalia Rose; and How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life by Mameve Medwed. 

... and of course Dr. Dale is a good friend of my Mom's, which makes this even more fun to check into!

Reading update

I'm horribly overdue on chronicling the books I've been reading -- I haven't posted anything since before our trip, so I'll probably miss some now, but here are some of them:

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World
by Michael Pollan
(Dad and Jane gave me their copy months ago and I finally got to it on the trip and really enjoyed it)

The Labyrinth
by Kate Moss
LOVED it

A Letter of Mary: A Mary Russell Novel
by Laurie R. King
I meant to grab the one where they go to the Middle East, but instead this one follows that one and deals with a mystery left to them by a friend they had met there

Bandit Queen Boogie
by Sparkle Hayter
great fun, 2 friends traveling around Europe

Maximum Ride : The Angel Experiment
by James Patterson
Can't believe I haven't read this series before -- will now have to go read the sequels, left it for Hanna to try

Tortilla Curtain
by T.C. Boyle

Zen And the Art of Crossword Puzzles: A Journey Down And Across
by Nikki Katz

shoot, wish I could remember any others... they may come back to me.

Now I'm reading Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of Traveling Pants) by Ann Brashares and have a pile of crossword puzzle related books that I'm hoping to read before Puzzle Day... but I've been doing event organizing instead of much reading the last few weeks... I do have some long plane rides coming up in March to stock up for though...

Update: oops, one more I remembered just now:
The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession
by Susan Orlean

Silicon Valley Reads 2007

Its time again for Silicon Valley Reads, where the people here all read and discuss one book. This year's pick was Tortilla Curtain, which I finished on Friday night just in time to go to the Morgan Hill event Saturday morning. Here are a few photos from the event, the group watched a video taped interview with the author and then had a discussion led by a professor of Latin American studies.

Its also our February pick for the bookclub at work, and its my turn to lead the discussion (last Wed of the month).

A few books

Before I go, I wanted to write up a few of the last books I've been readig and listening to before I forget about them:

Swapping Lives
by Jane Green
Great chick-lit where a London singleton and a married CT housewife trade lives for a month to see if the grass is really greener elsewhere. A scary portrait of CT suburban life, making me appreciate living in such a very different social climate here.

The Tenth Circle: A Novel
by Jodi Picoult
Another from a fantastic author. This one is a father/daughter one filled with twists and turns. Lots of heavy issues, but great characters and story.

The Game (Mary Russell Novel)
by Laurie R. King
Another fantastic series, unfortunately I had about 1/2 a CD to go last night and had to return it before trip since it couldn't be renewed past our return date.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder: A Hannah Swensen Mystery (Hannah Swensen Mysteries (Hardcover))
by Joanne Fluke
You can't go too wrong with a book featuring cookie recipes interspersed in the murder mystery. Not the best of the food-themed mysteries I've read, but the series may improve (there are a bunch of them).

Notable Books

I've read two of The 10 Best Books of 2006 (according to today's NY Times list) -- Special Topics in Calamity Physics, which I loved, and The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, which I finished off last night.

From their list of 100 Notable Books of the Year, there were the two from above plus The Gate of the Sun, which we read for book club (but which I didn't actually make it all the way through)

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan was really excellent, and I highly recommend it to anyone who cares about what they're eating (or isn't, and really should be). I had no idea how much of our diet was based on corn!

I also recently listened to The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, which was so well written (and not as hard to get through as I thought given the subject matter). I'm currently listening to The Tenth Circle and am not sure which book off the big pile I'll read next.

A couple more books

A couple more books off the pile:

In the car, I listened to The Templar Legacy: A Novel by Steve Berry (which I think I had read about in EW ages ago but can't remember). Its Da Vinci Code-ish (and I had to fast forward through the end of the prologue because it got too gruesome) and is very heavy on the religion aspects, but it was another one that I wanted to stay in the car for. PW wrote, "But lively characters and action set pieces make this a more readable, if no more plausible, version of the typical gnostic occult thriller." Booklist writes, " After nearly grinding to a halt through all the premise building, the novel finally gathers steam in the last 100 pages or so, concluding with a revelation that seems refreshingly clear after the many convoluted twists that precede it. Until the next Dan Brown opus is released, this should hold devotees." In a funny coincidence, I got an email from long-lost college friend Collin while I was listening to this book -- The Knights Templar always make me think of him since he almost wrote his thesis on them (but ended up not doing it in the end for some reason I can't remember).

Quickly polished off Dark Tort: A Novel of Suspense (Goldy Bear Culinary Mysteries) by Diane Mott Davidson that Mom had passed along ages ago. That series is always reliably delicious.

A sidetrip into nonfiction for Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab. A really interesting look at some of the unconscious food decisions we eat every day and the results of studies his lab has done with bottomless bowls of soups, super large movie popcorns and all sorts of other things.

And Nicole, my local YA librarian, made me check out Nancy Werlin's new book, The Rules of Survival, which she says is likely to be a Prince finalist. As always, Nicole picked another really good one. "Narrated by 17-year-old Matt as a letter to his youngest sister, Emmy, The Rules of Survival is his effort to come to terms with the vicious treatment he and his two sisters suffered at the hands of Nikki, their beautiful and unpredictable mother." (SLJ) Booklist writes, "The author of Double Helix (2003),Werlin reinforces her reputation as a master of the YA thriller, pulling off a brilliant departure in this dark but hopeful tale, with pacing and suspense guaranteed to leave readers breathlessly turning the pages."

A couple of books

I couldn't resist gobbling up New Moon, the sequel to Twilight, a spectacular teenage vampire romance. This one was equally hard to put down and now I definitely want a third in the series -- and according to the faq, "Book three in the Twilight Series, Eclipse, is in the final stages of editing. This means that it's pretty much done, with just a few minor fixes to go. We're on schedule and Eclipse will be released in the fall of 2007." (phew) Read the first chapter of New Moon here.

I listened to Mark Haddon's new book, A Spot of Bother and enjoyed it. It took me a while to get into it, but then I couldn't wait to find out what happened to the characters and how it would all sort out (and what the wedding would be like...)

I saw this on the Westport Library Book Blog and couldn't resist trying a coffeehouse mystery. On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle is the first in the series and was a very fun quick read (and includes recipes and coffee-making tips). I could see tearing through the rest of the series at some point.

Bookclub this month is The Life of Pi, so I may need to reread that since its been quite a while.

The Thirteenth Tale

Stayed up very late to finish The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield last night. Kathryn at work had lent it to me and from the first page I was hooked.

Web Site for the book (including a chance to win a leather-bound edition)

Its another real booklovers book (here's a list of the character's favorite books and has a strong dose of Jane Eyre running through it.

Reading Group Guide

Vida Winter, a bestselling yet reclusive novelist, has created many outlandish life histories for herself, all of them invention. Now old and ailing, at last she wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. Her letter to biographer Margaret Lea - a woman with secrets of her own - is a summons. Vida's tale is one of gothic strangeness featuring the Angelfield family: the beautiful and wilful Isabelle and the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline. Margaret succumbs to the power of Vida's storytelling, but as a biographer she deals in fact not fiction and she doesn't trust Vida's account. As she begins her researches, two parallel stories unfold. Join Margaret as she begins her journey to the truth - hers, as well as Vida's.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics

Finished Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl last night. Mom had raved about it and then passed it along to me when I was there last week. I, of course, loved it too.

The web site for the book is cool (though it reminds me of JK Rowling's)

Here's the official description:

Special Topics in Calamity Physics is a darkly hilarious coming-of-age novel and a richly plotted suspense tale told through the distinctive voice of its heroine, Blue van Meer. After a childhood moving from one academic outpost to another with her father (a man prone to aphorisms and meteoric affairs), Blue is clever, deadpan, and possessed of a vast lexicon of literary, political, philosophical, and scientific knowledge—and is quite the cineaste to boot. In her final year of high school at the elite (and unusual) St. Gallway School in Stockton, North Carolina, Blue falls in with a charismatic group of friends and their captivating teacher, Hannah Schneider. But when the drowning of one of Hannah’s friends and the shocking death of Hannah herself lead to a confluence of mysteries, Blue is left to make sense of it all with only her gimlet-eyed instincts and cultural references to guide—or misguide—her.

Structured around a syllabus for a Great Works of Literature class and containing ironic visual aids (drawn by the author), Pessl’s debut novel is complex yet compelling, erudite yet accessible. It combines the suspense of Hitchcock, the self-parody of Dave Eggers, and the storytelling gifts of Donna Tartt with a dazzling intelligence and wit entirely Pessl’s own.

Kathryn suggested The Secret History as a follow-up.

2 More Books

2 more books read/listened to:

Charlie Bone And The Hidden King (Children of the Red King)
I just love Charlie Bone -- maybe even more than I like Harry P.

Elsewhere
by Gabrielle Zevin
This was a wonderful story to listen to -- and really nice to imagine the afterlife as such a nice place.

And 2 more came in the mail from the paperback book swap!

Dancing in the Dark by Mary Jane Clark
and
The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin

Thank you to everyone who is participating in the paperback book swap -- it's so much fun to open the mailbox and discover all these books!

Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. This year, 2006, marks BBW's 25th anniversary (September 23-30).

Most Challenged Books of 21st Century (2000-2005)
Explore Banned Books with Google

2 More

I got two more books in the mail today from the paperback book swap (really, its not too late to join in, just let me know and I'll email you the invite!). Today in the mail were:

The Visiting Professor by Robert Littell
and
The Wind Caller by P.D. Cacek

all three so far have been postmarked from Washington DC

September Books...

Another pile of books has piled up without me blogging about them, let's see if I can remember them all.

But first -- I'm so excited that I received my first book back from my paperback book swap! If you're interested in participating (you send out one book and send the letter to six friends, you get back 36 books!), please let me know -- I'd love to include you and somehow I doubt that all 6 of the people I sent it to are planning to actually follow through with it (if you did, thank you!! isn't it fun!!) I just got Bel Canto in the mail, which I have been meaning to read forever and now will finally try to get around to!

Anyway, here are some of the books I've been reading/listening to lately:

The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde
Thank you Mom for sending it -- I do love Jasper Fforde! I thought this was better than The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime, and so much fun to jump into the now familiar Nursury Crime world. Can't wait for the next Thursday Next though...

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
The local teen librarian had said this was the best book she had read all summer, and I can totally see why. Its a fantastic YA vampire book with great characters. A week later I was dreaming about making the movie version of it and I'm on the waiting list for the sequel. A quick can't-put-it-down one.

All Over Creation by Ruth L. Ozeki
I had really liked My Year of Meats a few years ago so thought I'd take this one (plus I thought S would enjoy the agricultural angle so it seemed like a good choice for our long weekend car ride) It was complicated and long (and I admit I fell asleep for some of it which probably didn't help), but overall I liked it and it lead to some interesting conversations in the car about genetic engineering and things.

Dragonsinger (Harper Hall Trilogy, Volume 2) (Harper Hall Trilogy, Volume 2) by Anne McCaffrey
We listened to this one on the way back home from Oregon. They're such comforting, easy to listen to stories. I'm glad I had listened to A Gift of Dragons since it got me familiar enough with the world that I could jump into book two of this series pretty well. I don't know why I haven't read all of them before now...

The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
I had avoided picking this one up for ages, but was desperate for a CD so finally gave in -- and then of course loved it. I had no expectations going in except that the back blurb didn't sound very appealing. But the commutes zoomed by all week with this one playing.

I'm still slogging my way through this month's bookclub pick, Gate of the Sun, but it puts me to sleep so I doubt I'll finish in time for next week's discussion (and then I'll probably abandon it for my growing pile of fun books). Just started Elsewhere in the car which seems promising.

Dragons and Spies

A quick note about 2 more books listened to:

Scorpia (Alex Rider Adventure)
Scorpia is the fifth book in the Alex Rider series of books by British author Anthony Horowitz. Raven's Gate (The Gatekeepers) (Gatekeepers, The). I haven't read any of the others in the series, but really like the character of Alex Rider and would be tempted to pick up the others.

A Gift of Dragons
A series of short pieces by Anne McCaffrey, which for some reason reminded me ot the characters in City of Ember... Very nice dragon tales and also tempting to keep going with others in her Pern series...

Paperback Book Swap

If anyone is interested in being part of a paperback book swap (you know, its like a chain letter, you send one book to the person on the top of the list and send the list to six people, and if all goes well you end up with 36 books) please let me know. Last time I tried to participate in one of these (dish towels!) none of my friends followed through so I didn't get any towels back. So if you want to play along, leave me a comment or send me an email and I'll send out all the details. How can you resist getting 36 interesting books from all over sent to you for the price of one book that you've already bought and read. Thanks!

Google Book Search

Ooh fun! More PDFs of public-domain books through Google now.

New books by authors I love

There are so many new books right now by some of my favorite authors!

Mom sent me The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde (which of course I had to jump into immediately -- not a Thursday Next, but the NCD ones are still a lot of fun)
Jennifer Weiner's The Guy Not Taken: Stories is out (and you can see a video of her reading from it on her MySpace page! - how cool is that!)
And a new Sujata Massey, Girl in a Box is due out soon
Plus, a new Dorothy Cannell, Withering Heights: An Ellie Haskell Mystery, but not until next April it looks like...

Read for the Record

Today is the day when we're all supposed to Read for the Record!

• Tens of thousands of adults and young children will read The Little Engine That Could together in their homes, libraries, parent groups, preschool centers and major public venues on August 24 to show support for early learning, engage in the very practice that helps young children thrive, and set a world record.
• A special edition of The Little Engine That Could, custom published by Penguin and generously printed gratis by Pearson, will celebrate Jumpstart’s Read for the Record campaign and share with you important tips for making the most of reading time with young children. The custom limited edition of The Little Engine That Could is available exclusively at Starbucks from August 1 – 28.

Brian and Karen are in San Antonio, where she will be the Jumpstart representative at an event with over 600 children (and simulcast to the schools with 30,000 more children) reading The Little Engine That Could together with state representatives, local celebrities, and much to Brian's liking, the Coyote mascot from the Spurs.

More books

Some of the recent books I've been reading or listening to:

Hit the Road by Caroline B. Cooney

A great intergenerational YA book where a teen and her grandmother hit the road and run into all sorts of trouble. A really fun read.

The Photograph by Penelope Lively

It reminded me a bit of The Accidental, but that may be just the British family theme.

Jingo by Terry Pratchett
We loved Thud! A Novel of Discworld so much that we had to listen to this one too.

Blue Shoes and Happiness

The most recent in the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, always a treat to read.

Miracle in the Andes by Nando Parrado and Vince Rause

This month's book club pick at our work book club. Definitely not one that I would have picked up on my own (but of course that's the whole point of our book club). I really enjoyed it though and am glad I read it! I've never read Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors (Avon Nonfiction) or even seen the movie, but knew the basics of the story of course.

Revolutionary Wealth by Alvin and Heidi Toffler

Only managed to get through 1/2 of the CDs before I had to return it, but there are some interesting ideas in there about prosumers and the changing economy.

The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs

Hanna recommended this one and I have to say it's a strage one. Maternal taxidermy and things. Hmm...

Ruby

I just love Block's lyrical style. The subject matter is always pretty intense, I love the way magic is woven in. Yum.

Now I'm listening to Gatekeepers: Ravens Gate (After Words) a fantastic scary fantasy and will probably start our next book club pick, Gate of the Sun.

3 books

I'm on a roll with three really fun reads this week:

Triangle: A Novel by Katharine Weber
This one is our upcoming bookclub book and so far everyone has really enjoyed it. It features the granddaughter of the last survivor of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and her really great composer boyfriend as they piece together some of what happened to her grandmother. I'm going to have to pass this one along to Mom and to Aunt Susan, who I know is interested in books about that fire.

Literacy and Longing in L.A. by Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack
Mom read this one when she was out here and I also loved it. (Lisa - I've left it on your desk for you) Booklist calls it "Book lust meets chick lit in this tale of a love-challenged bookworm." I mean really, how could we resist?

And a trip to my favorite bookstore in DC, Politics and Prose, yielded The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank (author of The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing) which I read on the plane home today. I loved Sophie and totally identify with her self-description of being a "solid trying to do a liquid's job" and she was even a Hebrew-school dropout like me... Good, quick chick-lit read.

A few books

Here's the last few books I've managed to read or listen to. I got bogged down for quite a while in The World is Flat, which set me back a bit. Got some good quality reading time this evening though while giving platelets again, so I managed to finish off Magyk (and will now have to go on the waiting list for Flyte)

The World is Flat: a brief history of the twenty-first century by Thomas L. Friedman.
This was our June bookclub book and it was interesting, but not a light read. It seemed to say the same things over and over, but they were interesting things so I tried to stick with it. Only 2 of the 8 people who came to the bookclub meeting had actually finished in time (I wasn't one of them) "The New York Times columnist offers a concise history of globalization, discussing a wide range of topics, from the 9/11 attacks to the growth of the middle class in both China and India."

Thud! by Terry Pratchett, Performed by Stephen Briggs.
S had listened to this one and from the little I heard I knew I was going to have to too. It is wonderfully funny and engaging. I'm really going to have to read more Terry Pratchett books. "A seemingly routine day in the life of City Watch commander Sam Vimes is abruptly interrupted by an unsolved murder, an impending war, an unwanted new recruit, and a pesky government inspector. By the author of Going Postal. It's a game of Trolls and Dwarfs where the player must take both sides to win. It's the noise a troll club makes when crushing in a dwarf skull, or when a dwarfish axe cleaves a trollish cranium. It's the unsettling sound of history about to repeat itself. THUD! It's the most extraordinary, outrageous, provocative, insightful, and keenly cutting flight of fancy yet from Discworld's incomparable supreme creator, Terry Pratchett."

Rowing in Eden by Barbara Rogan, Read by Anna Fields.
Another one passed on from S. "The surface serenity of life in the village of Old Wickham is disturbed by Sam Pollak's killing of his wife, a spate of arson, and the arrival of Jane Goncalves and her three foster children." Not something I would have picked up on my own, but I didn't want to get out of the car once I was hooked on it.

Septimus Heap, Book One: Magyk by Angie Sage
Had to read this one after so many people had asked for it at the library and I definitely enjoyed it and look forward to the next book. "After learning that she is the Princess, Jenna is whisked from her home and carried toward safety by the Extraordinary Wizard, those she always believed were her father and brother, and a young guard known only as Boy 412--pursued by agents of those who killed her mother ten years earlier."

And sadly I think that's it. I've been reading bits of The May Queen : Women on Life, Love, Work, and Pulling It All Together in Your 30s (which I learned about on Jennifer Weiner's blog) but haven't finished it.

Janet Evanovich

While I was at work on Sunday, S was super wonderful and stood in line at Costco for 2 1/2 hours to get Janet Evanovich to autograph her new book so that we could donate it to the silent auction at the upcoming Friends of the Library fundraiser. I'm so impressed how many people were willing to wait for hours for an author there!

p.s. if anyone has other ideas for silent auction items or would like to come to the fundraiser, please let me know.

Hebrew Book Week

Happy Hebrew Book Week (which apparently runs June 7-16)

During this week leading Israeli authors and poets will meet with the readers in organized fairs all over the country. Poetry readings, lectures, literary workshops, street theaters, comics happening and other activities for young and adults will also take place.

Some stats: The National Library at Hebrew Universtiy in Jerusalem reports that 6,840 books were released last year, as compared to 6,436 in 2004. In addition, there were 915 journal titles and new newspapers, and 650 non-book titles, including cassettes and CDs, appeared last year.

While unrelated, I'm very excited to be going to the Book Club Expo here in San Jose on Saturday! (if any of you are going, let me know and we can meet up there!)

And speaking of Hebrew, thank you to Ran for sending me a link to my site in Hebrew :)

One by one marketing on MySpace

Another great use of MySpace -- an author asked me to be her "friend" on the site so I checked out her profile, read about her book, and ordered myself a copy on Amazon (because of the good reviews people were leaving on the site and because I thought it was so cool she sought out readers through the social network... and because our library doesn't yet own a copy). How's that for good marketing?

May Book Roundup

Before I forget all of them, a rundown on some of the recent books I've read or listened to:

Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones
First novel in the Chrestomanci quartet -- another fun one with a boy discovering magic powers (yes, I'm in a rut of those)
And how cool is it that the School Library Journal review posted on that Amazon page is by our very own deputy county librarian!

The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeanne Duprau
The prequel (50 years before its even built) to the City of Ember, which I had written my culminating paper on (planning a visit for the author at our local library). I had preordered it ages ago. I definitely liked it, especially the end when we connect up with what we know from the later books. There's an excerpt on the Amazon page.

Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods by Suzanne Collins
Third in this fun series and just as satisfying. Next up is Gregor And The Marks Of Secret which the library doesn't seem to own yet (darn!)

Funny in Farsi : A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Dumas
This is our bookclub pick for the month (we meet the last wednesday of each month at lunch)

Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata [CD]
Narrated by Elaina Erika Davis
A Newbury medal winner

The Mask of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig [CD]
The sequel to the The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, another fun historical espionage/love story. Definitely a guilty pleasure. (ooh, a new one is due out in November - The Deception of the Emerald Ring)

The Plot Against America by Philip Roth [CD]
Narrated by Ron Silver
Since we had about 12 hours in the car last weekend we polished this one off. I had heard about it for ages but the idea really didn't appeal to me. But it was worth listening to.

I think there were more... I have to get back into the habit of blogging them as soon as I'm done!

reading now: Dead Days of Summer
in the car: Eldest (Inheritance, Book 2) (though its due back on Saturday and I have over half the CDs left to go, so I'll probably end up reading the rest)

Bunch of Books

I'm horribly behind in recording books here... Here's the last set of ones I've read

The Dark Hills Divide (The Land of Elyon, Book 1)
and
Beyond the Valley of Thorns
by Patric Carman
A great series I just stumbled upon with an 11 year old girl who ends up saving the day.

Midnight for Charlie Bone (The Children of the Red King, Book 1)
Charlie Bone and the Time Twister (The Children of the Red King, Book 2)
Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy (The Children of the Red King, Book 3) (almost done listening to it in the car)
by Jenny Nimmo
Another great series -- a fantastic Harry Potter readalike (very similar -- young boy realizes he has some magic power and is sent off to boarding school) I love Charlie!

The Geographer's Library
by Jon Fasman
I just happened across this at a bookstore in Phoenix. It took me a while to get through (with the move and all) but it was interesting. Its a bit Da Vinci-code-ish -- journalist piecing together century old mystery type thing.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (again, this time for book club at work)
Listened to it this time -- very nice recording.

and there's probably more that I'm forgetting, but at least I've recorded these now.

Book Group Expo

Oooh! This looks like fun: Book Group Expo San Jose. We just started a book group at work and one of our members sent around the link. I'm working 6/18, but definitely will try to go on 6/17.

Saturday, June 17 10A - 5P Sunday, June 18th 9A - 5P
San Jose McEnery Convention Center

If you thought book groups were just about reading books, THINK AGAIN! book group expo San Jose is designed for book group members as well as anyone who loves reading. This two day event is an innovation in bringing readers and authors together in an intimate and conversational way.

book group expo San Jose is a place where you can:

Meet (famous) authors. Eat chocolate. Attend lively discussions. Taste wine. Have your books signed. Sample desserts. Meet other serious readers. Watch live cooking demonstrations. Meet (not yet famous) authors. Savor fine tea. Browse books -- lots of books - to your heart's content. Listen to literati. Enjoy friends. Eat more chocolate. Learn about book groups and book clubs. Have fun. Serious fun.

And Tina and I were just talking about our old book group... it'd be fun to start that up again one day... There's nothing like sitting around with a bunch of interesting people talking about good books!

March Book Roundup

With everything that's been going on I haven't had much time for reading, but here are the last few books I sqeezed in (the one upside about being too sick to get out of bed is I did get a little reading done the past few days).

The Company by Max Barry

The Penderwicks : A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall

Size 12 Is Not Fat : A Heather Wells Mystery by Meg Cabot

Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult

Tournament of Books

via Powell's Blog comes the Tournament of Books Pool from Coudal Partners where you can bet on the books chosen by The Morning News It costs ten dollars to place a bet.

All the money collected will be given to Donors Choose, an awesome charity that "provides students in need with the resources our public schools often lack." After the tournament we will randomly choose one of the right answers and send that person ALL the nominated books. Nine other correct bets will receive the nominated book of their choice.

The Current Odds according to the site are:

The History of Love 4/1
The Time in Between 20/1
Veronica 7/1
Never Let Me Go 5/2
The Greatest Man in Cedar Hole 30/1
Home Land 9/2
The Historian 5/1
No Country for Old Men 7/2
The King of Kings County 20/1
Anansi Boys 8/1
The Accidental 8/1
On Beauty 7/2
Beasts of No Nation 16/1
Garner 10/1
Saturday 3/1
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close 4/1

Hard choice since I've only read Teh Historian... I overheard sections of Never Let Me Go and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close while riding in S's car while he had the CDs of them playing. Will definitely have to add a few of these others to my to-do list...

Our office is about to start a book club, but I don't think we're organized enough to run a pool like this (though the Survivor Pool is still going strong).

Catch

Between pledge breaks this morning I finished off Catch by Will Leitch, a really excellent YA boy-book about a kid from a small town and his last summer before college. School Library Journal writes, "During the summer between his high school graduation and leaving for state college, Tim Temples works and drinks hard and discovers that he is not alone at the center of his own universe. ... Only belatedly does Tim realize that he is different from most of his friends, most of his family, most of the town. He's leaving to be a college guy, in a world just down the highway but very far away in terms of prospects. Leitch draws readers to Tim slowly and places him within a cast of characters who are finely etched, realistic, and memorably quirky. Teens will recognize people they know among these characters, some admirable, most deeply flawed, all genuine. This is a keenly felt and absorbing read about this bittersweet rite of passage." I will definitely add it to my list of YA recommended books.

Grade 10 Up

Flush

Another great environmentally friendly young YA book to go with Hoot (by the same author... and did you know there's a movie coming out soon? yay!), Tangerine, etc. Can't beat books with kids who go after the polluting bad guys!

Flush
by Carl Hiaasen
Grade 5-8, 272 pages
2 thumbs up

February Books

3 books to report on -- I feel like I haven't been getting any reading done at all but the last few days have been productive at least.

A Long Way Down
by Nick Hornby
This one took me a while to get through but I did enjoy it. Its a weird set-up of four very different people who meet on the top of a building on New Year's eve -- each with the intention of jumping off of it but finding themselves drawn together. I liked the voices of the characters.

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things
by Carolyn Mackler
which I had been meaning to get to forever (who can resist a title like that?) but once I started seeing reports that it was challenged in some school and once Emy blogged that she was reading it, I moved it up higher on my list. Definitely a good YA girl book.

Storky: How I Lost My Nickname and Won the Girl
by D.L. Garfinkle
a YA book with a smart, geeky, scrabble-playing teen facing divorced parents, teenage lust, and a looming driver's test... better than Adrian Mole and definitely a guy you want to root for.

I have a whole pile of other YA books waiting (I went a bit crazy with the holds when the new best books of the year lists came out). Luckily most of these YA ones are pretty quick enjoyable reads.

Silicon Valley Reads

Presented by the Santa Clara County Office of Education, the Santa Clara County Library and the San Jose Public Library Foundation, Silicon Valley Reads is designed to promote reading and literacy, broaden the exposure to and appreciation of good literature, and build community.

I've read one of the two books so far, When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka. The other book chosen is The Souvenir by Louise Steinman. Both present perspectives on the effects of World War II on California families. There are study guides available too.

I don't think I'm going to be able to actually make any of the events again this year which is too bad. Unfortunately I'm working tomorrow when there's a big event right down the street from me. But if you're local, check out the event list and participate! I love the idea of the whole community reading the same books and discussing them!

Zod Wallop

Zod Wallop by William Browning Spencer is one very strange book. I can't remember where I heard about it, possibly in a discussion about books within books (one of my favorite reading categories). This one is downright trippy though, when the horror story becomes reality, or perhaps drug-induced shared telepathic hallucinations... anyway, it leaves you upside down and sideways but is well worth the wild ride.

Apparently it is often compared to The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll, which happened to be in at the library last night so its now waiting on my towering to-be-read pile.

Dealing with Dragons

I stumbled across Dealing with Dragons: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Book One by Patricia C. Wrede (also a co-author of Sorcery and Cecelia) when weeding W paperbacks a couple of weeks ago and just had to give it a try. And then of course I had to ignore the huge pile of books waiting in my pile and go right into Searching for Dragons: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Book Two (yes, there's a third and fourth as well).

Its a great series with a spunky princess Cimorene who is tired of etiquette and embroidery and being told that everything she likes to do is improper for a princess. She runs away from home and ends up keeping house for a dragon and getting plenty of the adventures she was hoping for. Throughout the books other fairy tale stories are woven in (like the giants frustrated that every adventuring boy who visits them is named Jack).

Ages 10+, Grades 5-9

I'm going to have to find a 10 year old who needs a birthday present and buy them the box set.

Book Awards

The American Library Association (ALA) announced the top books and video for children and young adults -- including the Caldecott, King, Newbery and Printz awards today at Midwinter (one day I'll get to go to one of these ALA conferences, they sound like such cool events.) IN the mean time, here's more books to add to my pile of ones to check out...

ALA Press Release

"Criss Cross," written by Lynne Rae Perkins, is the 2006 Newbery Medal winner.
"The Hello, Goodbye Window," illustrated by Chris Raschka, is the 2006 Caldecott Medal winner
"Looking for Alaska," written by John Green, is the 2006 Printz Award winner. (read it)
"Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue," written by Julius Lester, is the King Author Book winner.
"Rosa," illustrated by Bryan Collier, is the King Illustrator Book winner.
"Jimi & Me," written by Jaime Adoff, is the Steptoe winner.
"Dona Flor: A Tall Tale About a Giant Woman with a Great Big Heart," illustrated by Raul Colon, is the Belpre Illustrator Award winner.
"The Tequila Worm," written by Viola Canales, is the Belpre Author Award winner.
"Dad, Jackie, and Me" written by Myron Uhlberg, illustrated by Colin Bootman and published by Peachtree Press, wins the Schneider Family Book Award award for children ages 0 to 10. Kimberly Newton Fusco is the winner of the middle-school (ages 11-13) award for "Tending to Grace," published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children's Books. The teen (ages 13-18) award winner is "Under the Wolf, Under the Dog," written by Adam Rapp.
"Henry and Mudge and the Great Grandpas," written by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Sucie Stevenson is the Seuss Award winner.
Jacqueline Woodson is the 2006 Edwards Award winner. Her books include: "I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This," and its sequel, "Lena;" "From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun," "If You Come Softly" (read it) and "Miracle's Boys."
"Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley," written by Sally M. Walker, is the Sibert Award winner.

Alex Awards for the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences

"Midnight at the Dragon Cafe," written by Judy Fong Bates and published by Counterpoint.
"Upstate," written by Kalisha Buckhanon and published by St Martins
"Anansi Boys," written by Neil Gaiman and published by William Morrow & Company
"As Simple as Snow," written by Gregory Gallaway
"Never Let Me Go," written by Kazuo Ishiguro
"Gil's All Fright Diner," written by A. Lee Martinez (read it)
"The Necessary Beggar," written by Susan Palwick
"My Jim," written by Nancy Rawles
"Jesus Land: A Memoir," written by Julia Scheeres
"The Glass Castle: A Memoir," written by Jeannette Walls

plus a few others

Case Histories

I finished listening to Case Histories by Kate Atkinson, read by Susan Jameson, in the car yesterday. I had seen the book on a number of year-end best books lists, and was surpried I hadn't seen it earlier given that I had read two of her other books, Behind the Scenes at the Museum and Emotionally Weird (and while I can't actually remember a thing about either of them, I think I remembered liking them.) This one is a detective story -- private detective Jackson Brodie looks into three old cases, one involving two sisters who discover a shocking clue to the disappearance of their third sister thirty years earlier, one where a lawyer is searching for his daughter's murderer, and one where a woman whose past mistakes and demanding family life culminate in a violent escape. Meanwhile someone is trying to kill Brodie and his ex-wife is threatening to move away with their daughter. The lives and stories of the characters weave into one another and the characters are all richly decribed and the narration is perfect. I would definitely recommend it -- I didn't know anything about it going into it and was a bit shocked at the end of the first chapters, but the investigation is great.

Inkspell

Finished Inkspell by Cornelia Funke, audio version narrated by Brendan Fraser, on the ride home from work tonight. I have to say I didn't like the reading, and it took me a couple of CDs before I really fell into the story (and even then, some of the voices he did just bothered me). But the story itself was good and I think overall I liked it much better than the first (which Lisa T reminded me was disappointing since we had such high hopes for a book where people get to pop into other books... but looking back to my blog entry from 12/04 I guess I liked it at the time.)

This one definitely leads right into a sequel, so hopefully the story will continue!

And it looks like they'll be making a movie version of Inkheart, due out Spring '07.

"This time Dustfinger (the fire-eater/book character who came to life) returns to the pages of the Inkheart book from whence he came, and Meggie gets magically-and literally-caught inside the story, too."
16 sound discs (ca. 18 hr., 50 min.)

Dreams and Fractals

2 books from this week:

Dream A Little Dream : A Tale of Myth And Moonshine by Piers Anthony & Julie Brady.
S has been listening to Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series (I read a bunch of Xanth ones from Meag's bookshelf in high school) and stumbled across this one. I wasn't blown away, but its an enjoyable quick fantasy read with interesting ideas about what happens to our dreams when we stop believing in them.

The Fractal Murders by Mark Cohen
I think Mom sent this one ages and ages ago but it sank lower in the pile and I just finally picked it up yesterday. Its a quick read with an interesting main character (who is a bit too ex-marine and workout/dog-crazy for my tastes) and some fun math thrown in (check out this great list of math fiction). I was totally into fractals for a bit in high school (thanks to Darin, who probably understood them a whole lot more than I did but I loved the way they looked) which is probably why she had sent it. There's a new one with the same PI out now, but its not math related (the summary says "The second mystery featuring private eye Pepper Keane, a former JAG with a Diet Coke addiction, who becomes the target of an outlaw biker gang.")

Also this weekend we saw the movie Munich, which led to much yelling (in Hebrew unfortunately) among the boys here. Its a disturbing and powerful (and very scary) film that seemed important to have seen.

My Sister's Keeper

Number four from the teen top ten is My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. The summary says, "Conceived to provide a bone marrow match for her leukemia-stricken sister, teenage Kate begins to question her moral obligations in light of countless medical procedures and decides to fight for the right to make decisions about her own body." So I shouldn't have been surprised that this would be an emotional read, but OMG. I really don't know how I would have been able to get through my teenage years if I read books like this then. But it is wonderfully written, the characters are great (and the perspective switches between them for each chapter) and it raises a million issues (no wonder they picked it to be one of the bookclub kits - though I'm not sure my friends would forgive me if I made them all read it and discuss it). So read it... but be ready.

2 more vacation books

2 more books finished to add to the pile (I do love long plane rides):

A History Of The World In Six Glasses by Tom Standage, which I had given to Bill for his birthday but borrowed back yesterday. It was interesting, but not as indepth as some of the really good history through particular lenses like that are. I didn't realize how involved the British gov had been in keeping the opium trade alive to keep the tea supply going, and there were fun overlaps in the coffee house descriptions to Neil Stephenson's great book, but otherwise it was just an ok, quick read. It does make me want to add some more good non-fiction to my to-read pile though.

And Mom passed along A Time to Run by Barbara Boxer and Mary-Rose Hayes, which was a really fun political tale that I didn't want to put down. Here's the official summary: "The novel follows Ellen Fines from her days as a college student through romantic entanglements and a difficult marriage to a rising political star. When her husband is killed in a car accident during his campaign for the Senate, Ellen assumes his candidacy and achieves an upset victory over a political machine. On the eve of a crucial vote, past and public worlds collide when Ellen's former lover, now a journalist with strong right-wing connections, gives her sensitive documents that could either make or break her career."

Inside Job

I always feel so cool when I've read the books that get featured as cartoons in Unshelved. Of course, I forgot to blog this one, which I read right before we left on vacation, but since it's technically tomorrow's comic, I still feel pretty on top of things.

Inside Job
Connie Willis (one of my all time favorite writers, ever since I read Bellwether ages ago)
A quick read, but fun if you're into debunking mystics and channelling Mencken. I was so excited to see that there was a new Connie Willis that I was bound to enjoy it.

Vacation Book Update

On the plane I read Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares (another of the teen top ten) and it is just as good as the first two but luckily didn't make me cry like #2 did (since that's awkward on long plane trips).

Next up was a birthday/new-librarian gift from Margaret and Alan, The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester, a very engrossing tale of the creation of the OED, a great read for anyone who cares about words or just loves stories of crazy little-known historical people who were obsessed with words.

Then a quick one, a birthday present from Mom, The House of Paper by Carlos Maria Dominguez, Peter Sis (Illustrator), Nick Caistor (Translator). Interesting tale of a man obsessed with books to the point that he builds a house of them, but more Literary (with the capital L) than I usually read, especially on the beach.

I then I finally read Julie and Julia : 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell (which had a long line of holds for it at the library) and LOVED LOVED LOVED it. After the first chapter I was going around the house telling everyone else they would have to read it. Karen expressed some concern since she doesn't cook -- but few can cook less than I do and I still absolutely loved it. Its more about Julie and her life and turning 30 and figuring out what you're doing in life and all... and of course it is all about cooking terrible sounding things like brains and kidneys and killing lobsters but it is hysterically funny and I couldn't put it down. Of course there's that pang of self loathing that other people can come up with an idea, blog about it, and become famous and published for it, but I won't hold it against her because the book really is wonderful and if anyone deserves a better apartment and kitchen and job sitting around writing in her pj's it is this woman and her very patient husband.

The Truth About Forever

Again, having vacation time really rocks. There's nothing I like more than spending hours in bed finishing more good books. I have to say though, the weather today has been utterly amazing (sorry to those of you knee deep in snow, but after a couple days of yucky rain here, today was just picture perfect) so I did get out of the house and walked to the library for more books this morning and then later this afternoon walked over to our main downtown street for some more yarn.

The Truth About Forever
by Sarah Dessen
Another of the well deserved teen top ten (yay, I'm half way through the list!). It had a lot of similarities to Someone Like You, which I had also enjoyed. I love these teen books where the main character finds a way to break out of the expectations of everyone around her and meets awesome new friends who help her to really be herself.

Here are the official summaries:

"The summer following her father's death, Macy plans to work at the library and wait for her brainy boyfriend to return from camp, but instead she goes to work at a catering business where she makes new friends and finally faces her grief."

"Although Macy has her whole summer planned out, situations arise that she does not expect, especially her encounter with Wes, a tattooed artist, who makes her feel surprisingly at ease and with whom she feels she can let down her guard."

Ages 12+

Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie

Another really awesome YA book, Drums Girls & Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick. Its was one of the teen top ten (I've now read or listened to 4 of them). Steven Alper, 8th grade drummer, has his world turned upside down when his 5 year old brother is diagnosed with cancer. Its heartbreaking to read, of course, but the character is great and his voice is fresh and funny and its a great, quick read.

Goodnight Nobody, The Typhoon Lover

I got so much reading and knitting done this week that I feel like I'm on vacation already! 2 very enjoyable books to add to the list:

Goodnight Nobody
by Jennifer Weiner, one of my favorite chick-lit authors and wife of a guy I knew from College Dems
This one's a murder mystery with the main character a frazzled suburban mother of three with the requisite v. cool best friend.

The Typhoon Lover
by Sujata Massey
This is one of Lisa and my favorite series, and I thought this one was way better than the last, especially because Rei gets to go back to Japan where the stories always flow better... and the ending makes it sound like next ones will be very interesting as well...

mmm.... excellent reading... what to pick next?

Wizards and Pirates

2 more great audio books from the commute:

So You Want to Be a Wizard: The First Book in the Young Wizards Series by Diane Duane, Narrated by Christina Moore.
Ages 10 & up
"Thirteen-year-old Nita, tormented by a gang of bullies because she won't fight back, finds the help she needs in a library book on wizardry which guides her into another dimension."
A fun magical read, great NY scenes.

Pirates! : the true and remarkable adventures of Minerva Sharpe and Nancy Kington, female pirates by Celia Rees, Read by Jennifer Wiltsie.
"In 1722, after arriving with her brother at the family's Jamaican plantation where she is to be married off, sixteen-year-old Nancy Kington escapes with her slave friend, Minerva Sharpe, and together they become pirates traveling the world in search of treasure."
Grade 6-9
A fantastic YA pirate adventure with great girl characters. Another one of those CDs that makes you not want to get out of the car.

Fat Kid Rules the World

The new YA librarian at MH recommended this one, and it definitely now ranks among my favorite YA books.

Fat Kid Rules the World by K. L. Going

The unlikely friendship between Troy Billings, a 296-pound 17-year-old, and Curt MacCrae, an emaciated homeless legendary punk-rock guitarist high-school drop out.

Its a fast read that pulls you along to a punk rock sound track.

Good readalike to Joyce Carol Oates's Big Mouth & Ugly Girl

Grade 8+
A Michael L. Printz Honor Book; chosen by YALSA as one of the Best Books for Young Adults from the past decade.
trivia questions

Souls in the Great Machine

One of my work colleagues recommended this series to me, and I'm completely hooked (the second one is waiting for me on my desk at work, since that's the one she lent to me with the advice that I read the first in the series first, which luckily they had in at the library.)

Souls in the Great Machine
by Sean McMullen
(Book 1: Greatwinter) (Tor, 1999)

Set far in a future (40th-century Australia) where librarians pretty much rule the world and all walk around armed and fight duels to settle disputes, the story follows the Highliber of Libris - aka head librarian - Cymbeline Zavora - and other characters as they create a giant "Calculor" (a giant calculating machine powered by nameless human components with abacuses who remain imprisoned within its workings), fights wars, chase after lost loves, and communicate with ancient technologies left over from a more technological age.

Its a bit crazy but the world is compelling (oh right, cool librarian characters) and very interesting technology questions to ponder. A very satisfying read.

The Romance of Libraries

The Romance of Libraries is out. I'm ordering a copy to give to Margaret and Alan (since they met working at the library) :)

Vampires, Werewolves and Eve

2 books from the weekend away (nothing like a long plane ride, even though I slept the entire first leg and forgot to bring a spare for the final flight)

The Garden by Elsie V. Aidinoff.
This was on the teen top ten list and was fantastic! Its a retelling of the Garden of Eden story from Eve's point of view. Grade 11 Up. (and the author was Smith '53))

I don't remember where I heard about Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez, but the review mentioned something about people who liked Hitchhiker's Guide liking it, so I of course put it on my list. The main characters are Earl the vampire and Duke the werewolves who end up stopping off for a bite to eat at a diner and staying to help the owner get rid of a zombie problem and stop a local teenager from ending the world. Its funny and a quick read.

Teen Idol

In my effort to get through as many of the teen top ten books as I can, I finished listening to Teen Idol by Meg Cabot in the car on the way to work this morning. Its narrated by Elisabeth Moss (aka Zoey Bartlet on West Wing) who was fantastic. I have to say I loved it! I didn't want to get out of the car (and Amytha caught me sitting outside her apartment for a few extra minutes yesterday before going in to get her because I just wanted to listen to a little more). I haven't read any Meg Cabot before, but she's hugely popular at the libraries and I always meant to...

The Historian

Just finished The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, a hefty 642 page historical vampire adventure best-seller that I've been meaning to get to for a while (but patiently waited until my turn on the hold line since it wasn't like I didn't have enough other stuff on my to-read pile). I admit I was mostly drawn to it by mentions of vampire librarians... and wasn't disappointed. Its like a history version of the DaVinci code, the main characters rushing around Europe (mostly Eastern) chasing historical leads and documents to track down Dracula's tomb, which a great deal of Ottoman Empire history thrown in. Mostly told in letters, the action zips around between past and present and draws you right up to the last page... Excellent book! (though I'm glad I finished it before our trip, since it would be a heavy one to bring along, and I wouldn't have been able to leave it unfinished at home!)

Berenstain Bears

Stan Berenstain, Co-Creator of Those Fuzzy Bears, Dies at 82

Stan Berenstain, who with his wife, Jan, churned out more than 250 books showing how the warm and fuzzy Berenstain Bears - Mama, Papa, Brother and Sister - confronted and learned from life's little crises, died on Saturday in Doylestown, Pa. He was 82.

Official Berenstain Bears web site
Random House page
books in our library
Activities for kids

[posted to library blog as well!]

Listening to...

A lot of driving in the last week, so here are the books on CD I've been listening to:

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen, narrated by Chad Lowe. This would be a great read-alike with Tangerine, both feature middle school boys in Florida. In Hoot, Roy and his friends work to save a colony of burrowing owls from certain disaster in the form of a new pancake restaurant planning to bulldoze their holes. Grade 5-8.

The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place by E.L. Konignburg, author of one of my favorite books of all time, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Narrated by Molly Ringwald. This book has been sitting on my pile for ages too, so I finally checked out the CD to listen to and of course loved it. It's a good match to Hoot, another kid taking on the system and stopping something (this time art rather than animal) from getting destroyed in the name of redevelopment and property values. Grade 6-9.

and, since we had a 7 hour drive down to Joshua Tree, we listened to
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I was tempted to read the book when everyone was raving about it, but knowing that the story is told from the perpective a 14 year old brutally raped and murdered watching her family coping with the loss, I could never bring myself to pick it up. But I finally did and it was well worth it. I felt it was a bit long, but really liked it and it definitely made the drive go quickly.

On the way back home we listened to Four to Score by Janet Evanovich, a mystery starring New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. Mysteries are great for long car rides since you usually want to get to the ending, but I don't think this is a character I'd go back for more of.

NY Times Notable Books

Yum, another book list.

Holiday Books: 100 Notable Books of the Year. This list will run in the Dec. 4 print edition of the Book Review. On Dec. 11, a selection of the 10 Best Books of 2005 will be printed.

Ok, so the only one I've read of the 100 seems to be Harry Potter #6.

How to draw...

I'm weeding 970s today and kept coming across this great series of books that I thought I'd share:

A Kid's Guide to Drawing America
(You can see a few pages -- but none of the drawings at google books)

Mid-November Book Update

Eek, more than mid-way through the month already and no reading update posts. Here's an attempt to remember what I've been reading and listening to lately...

Listened to:

The third in the Pendragon Series, The Never War, where he goes to "First Earth" and tries to figure out if he should save the Hindenburg or if that will cause worse things to happen. I'll have to read The Reality Bug and Black Water now (though the library doesn't have the talking book versions, and the library I'm working at tonight doesn't have either of the books in). There's a sixth, The Rivers of Zadaa, which we don't seem to have at all yet.

Nancy Farmer's fantastic Sea of Trolls

now listening to Hoot, which I had been meaning to read for ages

Read:

Witch Way to Murder : An Ophelia and Abby Mystery, since it was about a psychic librarian.

Scott Turow's new book, Ordinary Heroes, which Mom had sent me.