Weekly Geeks #19

This week's theme was to create a list of best books of 2008 (so far). These must be books that were published in 2008 or at the very least late 2007. Here's my list:

Becky: The Life and Loves of Becky Thatcher by Lenore Hart

Black Ships by Jo Graham

The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari

The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray (late 2007)

Masterpiece by Elise Broach

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

And, while I haven't yet finished it, I feel fairly certain Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin will also make this list.

Weekly Geeks #18 and other stuff

Weekly Geeks theme this week is to catch up on "something." (There's more to it, but I'm trying to be concise.) I've already caught up on my book blogs, and I did it over the weekend, so that counts. I also plan to catch up on the rest of my Google Reader, both on my "home" account and my work account. Things have been so out of whack since Ike that I have quite a bit to catch up on. I'm also planning to catch up on my reading, in general. You'd think that with having no power for over a week that I would have gotten a lot of reading done, but no. I was just too distracted to want to do much of anything. I didn't even knit or crochet! I'm not actually sure what I did! Anyway, my goal is to finish Heart-Shaped Box this week and start either Spook (which I picked up at Book People in Austin today) or Mistress of the Art of Death, which I found on the bargain table at Borders recently. That will get me caught up on the RIP III challenge.

I'm bummed that I can't participate in the read-a-thon this go 'round. I have to work that day. Maybe I'll sign up to be a cheerleader in the evening.

We went to Austin this weekend to get away, since we were still without power. We came back home to no power, but we got it back within 30 minutes of our arrival. Yay! I'm so looking forward to curling up with a book tonight!

Weekly Geeks #16

This week for Weekly Geeks, I interviewed Bart from Bart's Bookshelf about The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and he interviewed me about Tithe. Here are both interviews.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Somer: Do you think the storyline in The Invention of Hugo Cabret could have effectively stood on its own, or do you think its success was wholly a product of the illustrations?

Bart: Hmm... Good question! There's no doubt that there would need to be some work added to the story as, so much of it is conveyed in the images, and despite the size of the book, it is actually quite a slim story (and I don't mean that in a derisory manner as it is only intended to be a short story, not an epic!) even with added text though, I think it would suffer, as the story itself is about a visual medium (film). It'd be a bit like a recipe book without pictures, it'd work, but...

Somer: Do you think that your impression of the book as an adult is different than that of, say, a 10-year-old boy?

Bart: Yes, I don't think (at least I know I would not have at 10!) a ten year old would appreciate the detail in the artwork, and the cleverness of it's execution in quite the same way ;) However I think that as an adult, in that appreciation, I miss out on the simple "Cor! this is cool"-ness (or whatever phrase the hip-kids are using) of it all.

Somer: Avoiding spoilers, as I have yet to read the book, what was your favorite part?

Bart: The art-work, easilly the art-work, you really do have to sit down and 'read' the book to appreciate it fully, you can stand in the bookshop and look at it, and ooh and ahh, all you like, but the moment you sit down to read and see it working properly, it takes it to a whole other level of brilliance.

Somer: This book is huge, and the size could be intimidating to a reluctant reader. How would you convince a young reader to pick it up?

Bart: I don't know, after Harry Potter and Twilight, are big books as intimidating as they used to be? Even if they are, it's not an intimidating book when you start to flip through it, the vast majority of pages have no text on and those that do have nice large print and lots of 'white-space'. I'd probably ask them to just have a look at the pictures on the first few pages, honestly if you can get them to do that, you won't need to do anything else.

Somer: Have you read anything else by Brian Selznick (or illustrated by Selznick), and, if so, how does Hugo Cabret compare?

Bart: No, I've not read anything else he has been involved in. 

Tithe by Holly Black

Bart: What made you read Tithe? Was it the book itself or had you read some Spiderwick stuff?

Somer: I don't actually remember how Tithe originally made it onto my TBR stack. I think the cover must have caught my attention at some point, and I added it to my Amazon wishlist. I got the book as a Christmas gift in 2006 (thank you, LibraryThing tags!). Libba Bray (author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and sequels) has raved a lot on her blog about Holly Black, which also influenced my decision to read Tithe. Even though I realized Holly Black co-authored Spiderwick, it really didn't have anything to do with my decision to read the book at all.

Bart: How would you describe the atmoshere of the book? (Scary, disquietning, moody etc.)

Somer: Overall, Tithe is very dark. The main character, Kaye, is a high-school dropout with a troubling homelife. That sort of sets the tone for the whole book. 

Bart: What was your favourite bit and why?

Somer: I always have a hard time with this type of question. I really enjoyed the entire book. I think my favorite parts were any of the parts set in the faery realm because I like the departure from reality.

Bart: And what as your least favourite bit and why? (I'm thinking here not so much of something that was wrong or did not work, but more of something did exactly what the author wanted it to and either scared you or squicked you out etc. :o) )

Somer: Well, I don't want to give spoilers, so I'll do the best I can. To tell you the truth, my least favorite aspect of the book is the switching of the princes in the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. This is an important part of the book, but I had a really hard time keeping track of which courth Nephamael and Roiben actually belonged to and which queen they were serving. But that may have just been me. 

Bart: And finally, who would you recommend read this book to and why? And/or who would you not recommend the book, and why?

Somer: Anyone who enjoys urban fantasy would likely enjoy this book. Fans of Libba Bray, who haven't already discovered this would probably like it. Kids who have outgrown Spiderwick. I wouldn't recommend this for tweens, as it's just a bit too gritty (speaking as the mom of an almost-12-year-old). Teens, yes, but I would probably want my daughter to wait until she was 13 or 14. Mainly because there are some mature themes (a mom that parties a lot, some sexual content (though no actual sex that I can remember)).

Book giveaway winner from last week's Weekly Geeks

I only had two brave participants (Debi and Amanda) for this contest. Amanda, with 5 correct guesses, wins! Amanda, are you still interested in my copy of Becky? I can look and see what else I have to part with if you want, but I know you had expressed an interest in that one last month.

I will update my previous photo post with correct answers, if anyone is curious.

Weekly Geeks #13

It's meme time! This week we're doing a photo meme with an "author" theme. The idea is to answer the meme using pictures, but no names attached. You, my faithful readers, are to guess who the pictures are! I would like to give a prize for this to the person who gets the most correct, but I'm not sure what books I have up for grabs at the moment. So, for now, the plan is to offer a choice of several books to the winner, from which they can choose. However, I will give fair warning that I suck at making it to the post office and my saving grace for the past 3.5 years was that there was a post office in the hospital where I worked. Alas, my last day of work there was yesterday, so whoever wins will have to bear with me - I don't even know where my closest post office is currently! Leave your answers in the comments!

1. Photos of your favorite author(s).









Barbara Kingsolver

2. Photo(s) of the author(s) of the book(s) you’re currently reading.









Alan Brennert










Rick Riordan

3. Photo(s) of any author(s) you’ve met in person (even very briefly).








Libba Bray









Garth Nix









Graeme Base


4. A youtube of (an) author(s) you’ve heard speak.



Libba Bray

6. A photo of the author of the book you’ve most recently finished.








Alison Weir

7. Photos of the hottest author(s)!









Neil Gaiman

Weekly Geeks #12

This week's Weekly Geeks is a variation on last week's theme, in which we picked one of Dewey's books and asked questions for her to answer in a review. However, this time it's reversed. We're supposed to choose books that we need to review and ask YOU, our devoted readers, to ask questions for us to address in a review. I currently have 3 books waiting to be reviewed. You aren't limited to one particular book, as this isn't a giveaway (the library might not be too happy with me for giving away 2 library books!), so ask me about any or all of these three books. Leave your questions in the comments, and I will post about these books later in the week.

Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
Wait for Me by An Na

Weekly Geeks #11

I've been a slacker the past few weeks when it comes to Weekly Geeks.

Week #8 was the scavenger hunt which I knew from the get-go I wouldn't be able to finish, since my blog hopping time is pretty limited.

Week #9's theme was to organize your challenges or join some if you didn't have anything to organize. The only challenge I have going right now is the A-Z challenge, as I've finished the others, and I don't really want to join another one right now. I'm enjoying my current reading MO and am not ready to shake things up again yet. (What is my current MO, you ask? The Randomizer has been my best friend of late. I had 2 lists I was feeding my habit from - the Tayshas list and my TBR list of books I own. Then, I was messing with my Amazon wishlist one day and decided to throw that one into the mix, too. So now, I pick one from the Tayshas list, then one from the TBR list, then one from the Amazon wishlist. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.)

Week #10's theme was to talk about the magazines we read. I'm not really a big magazine reader, so I passed. I subscribe to Better Homes & Gardens but don't think I've ever sat down and read one in detail. I also subscribe to Cook's Country, which, actually, I really like, but probably won't subscribe to again because I just joined the Cooks Illustrated website instead. And I pick up Bookmarks occasionally.

But now I'm back. For Week #11, Dewey wants us to help her move by choosing one of the books she needs to review and part with so that she has fewer books to move. What a fun idea!

I choose Just Listen by Sarah Dessen, because it's one that I wanted to read last year but never got around to it. Here are my questions:

1. Which character from this book did you most relate to and why?
2. The School Library Journal review of this book says, "Dessen explores the interior and exterior lives of her characters and shows their flaws, humanity, struggles, and incremental successes." Do you think that Dessen is successful at this?
3. If you could pick one character to spend a weekend with, who would it be and why?

Weekly Geeks #8 Scavenger Hunt

What a cool idea!

This week we're on a scavenger hunt. Here's my list of things to be found; I'll update it as I find things. I have to say, I doubt I'll finish, because I doubt I'll have enough time to spend looking at blogs...

1. (THE PRIZE. Did you find it?)
2. youtube
3. war
4. Sunday Salon
5. Buy a Friend a Book
6. BTT (or Booking Through Thursday)
7. omnibus
8. Speculative fiction
9. Short stories
10. Ani Difranco (or just Ani)
11. Printz
12. Man Booker Prize (or just Booker)
13. Newbery
14. Mother Talk
15. interview
16. history
17. glbt (or any other arrangement of those letters, or with a q in there)
18. fantasy
19. film
20. giraffe
21. biography
22. Geraldine Brooks
23. graphic novels
24. classics
25. faerie
26. Amelie
27. doo doo doo
28. 24 Hour Read-a-thon
29. etsy
30. poetry
31. Bookmooch
32. del.icio.us
33. R.E.M.
34. Bookworms Carnival
35. library -Karen's Book Nook
36. Lost (must refer to the TV series)
37. Six Feet Under
38. ReadingAnimals (I’m featuring her because I feel bad that I can’t figure out how to comment at her blog.)
39. hedgehog
40. pregnant
41. nosebleed (or nose bleed)
42. 42 (No, that’s not a mistake; number 42 is to find the digit 42.)
43. herding cats
44. Django Reinhardt
45. A.S. Byatt
46. Homer
(The next three are suggestions from my son.)
47. ROFL
48. cheezburger (must be spelled with Z!)
49. d20

50.-?: Each participant gets to put one keyword in the comments, so keep coming back to check on them if you’re trying for the prize!

Weekly Geeks #7

Here's the assignment for Weekly Geeks this week:

1. Decide what to illustrate and start taking photos: Most of you are book bloggers, so you may want to post photos of your favorite reading spot, your TBR pile(s), your local book store, your favorite librarian, your child reading, etc. You may want to post several photos of a certain topic (like all nine of your kids reading!) or a mixed bag of photos that are unrelated except that they’re bookish. Or you may want to post just one photo, it’s up to you. If you have a different type of blog, post photos of whatever you think is suitable.

We're also supposed to link to other people's photo post, but I'm going to cheat a little here. I can't view most images at work, and I really want to take a look at people's pictures, so I'm going to post a summary on Saturday with links to some blogs I took a look at.

Over Christmas I went through family pictures at my mom's house and found several of me reading at various ages, so my theme is SomeReads (Through the Years). You can click on the images for a bigger picture.

This first picture is of me when I was probably 2 years old. I think that book was a book about Smokey the Bear, but I may be misremembering.


In this one, I was around 7 years old. Gotta love the 70s stylin'! I'm reading a reader from school.


Here's one from when I was about 8. I'm pretty sure I'm reading Jack & Jill Magazine. I wonder if I was making a face on purpose...


And this one's from when I was 11. I hated those sweats - I felt like a big duck. And you can't tell, but I was sporting a nice mullet. I have no idea what I was reading.

These next two are thrown in for good measure. They're both from our small town newspaper, both on a large, stuffed Curious George at the public library. In the first one, I was 2, and in the 2nd, I was 6 (I'm the one with brown hair in the picture). The library must have been very new in the first picture, because the shelves are very bare.


I hope you enjoyed my foray into the past!

Weekly Geeks #6 wrap-up

This week's task was to catch up on reviews. I didn't get completely caught up, but as of last night, I was only had 1 left to post.

This week I posted reviews of:
Rules by Cynthia Lord
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensesn
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
The Crocodile Blues by Coleman Polhemus
Big Chickens Fly the Coop by Leslie Helakoski

The only one I didn't get posted was my review of Peresepolis, which I plan to post soon.

Weekly Geeks #6

This week in Weekly Geeks we're supposed to catch up on reviews. I'm almost there, but I don't know if I'll make it. I still have 3 reviews to post, and I think maybe I'm done for tonight.

Weekly Geeks #4

Dewey's instructions for this week:
Choose a political or social issue that matters to you. Find several books addressing that issue; they don’t have to books you’ve read, just books you might like to read. Using images (of the book covers or whatever you feel illustrates your topic) present these books in your blog.

Here are my bookcovers:



I have been blessed with two beautiful, healthy children. We have taught them to question and not follow blindly. My daughter has always fit pretty well into that little box called public education. Well, until this year, anyway, when she was cursed with both a really bad teacher and a real jerk of a teacher - she has learned this year that her teacher isn't always right and sometimes she needs to question what she is asked/told to do (and her teacher hasn't appreciated this). My son has never fit into the public education box very well, and it caused much heartache early on.

All of these books reflect the idea that it is possible to raise well-adjusted children despite societal pressures and norms.

Weekly Geeks Week 3

This week's Weekly Geeks assignment is to write about our favorite childhood books. So I'll muse a bit.

I don't remember learning to read. There are pictures of me with books as young as 2 or 3 years old, but I think I was probably between 3 and 4 when I really put the letters together to make words. As a very young child, my favorite books were a couple of fairy tale compilations and poetry books (which made their way back to me about a year and a half ago, much to my delight!). I would pore over them over and over again, so much so that the pictures are still a part of my earliest memories. I remember one picture of kids looking into a fire in a fireplace and seeing different things. And I remember this one picture with snow topping a fence, with birds in the picture. I have a distinct *taste* I associate with this picture, a sweet taste, that was obviously what I thought that snow would taste like. :-)

I discovered Judy Blume in about 3rd grade and read everything I could get my hands on, and I read them over and over and over again. The first one I ever read was Starring Sally J. Freedman, as Herself.

I went through a phase where I wanted to read every book in my school library and started with A. I think I probably only made it through a few books before giving up. I also went through a biography phase and a play phase - I loved reading the plays out loud to myself.

And of course there was Shel Silverstein. Loved Where the Sidewalk Ends, as did everyone else.

But most of my elementary school days were spent reading paperbacks of various types from the Scholastic or Troll book orders. It was so exciting when the books would come in! I really wish I had a list of all the books I read at that age. Oh, and I also used to love Dynamite magazine and, I think it was called Hot Dog magazine, both of which I would get through the book orders. Those were fun. And yes, I also went through a Mad Magazine and Cracked Magazine phase. I bought my daughter a Mad Magazine about a year ago, and she loved it, but it was nothing like I remembered...

I'm looking forward to reading what other people loved!

Weekly Geeks Week 2 Summary

Dewey wanted us to post a summary of our experience with adopting the policy of linking to other reviews in our review posts. I adopted the policy, but I've yet to have anyone ask me to link to a review. Then again, I've only posted one review, and I did so I was going to do it from now on, not retroactively. I think I'll revise that and say that I'll edit any review posts if you comment on them, even if they were months ago. Sometime soon I'll add a list in my sidebar to books I've reviewed, so you don't have to go hunting. Please be patient, though, as I don't have a lot of blogging time during the week.

I've seen a lot of participation this week, but only a couple of books I'd read. I lost one post - I thought I had kept the post unread but couldn't find it later. (If anyone's reviewed The Thirteenth Tale and mentioned it this week, let me know, because it was probably you!) One book I had read and thought I reviewed, but it turned out to only be a mention in a longer post. And then there was one that I had reviewed and linked to the other person's post and asked to be linked (which hasn't happened, but it was retroactive so possibly the person just hasn't caught up).

I think this is a great way to get involved in the larger book blogging community.

Weekly geeks week #2

This week, the Weekly Geeks challenge is to adopt Darla's policy of linking to other reviews whenever you post a new review on your blog. I think this is a great idea, as I always like to see what others have said about books I'm reading/have read. I generally don't read detailed reviews before I start a book, since I sort of like to go into a book blind. But about halfway through I start wondering what others thought of the book and take a look on Amazon or LibraryThing to at least see star ratings. Since I struggle to find blogging time as it is, I'm not going to make this retroactive, but starting today, whenever I post a book review, if you will comment on the post with a link to your review of the book, I'll add it to the post as soon as I get a chance.

Weekly Geeks

The weekly geekery as prescribed by Dewey this week was to visit some of the blogs of people who signed up for Weekly Geeks and blog about them.

I visited:

Florinda, who is pondering about Twittering. Very thoughtful post.

Table Talk, which I must say is a very pretty blog! Looking forward to reading more.

Alix, who has the best name for her blog (Not Enough Bookshelves). Her list of books for challenges looks a lot like mine, so I'm really looking forward to reading more reviews.

This was fun! I want to read more, but I need to go do the Mom thing. It's bedtime, which means, since I just finished Stardust, that I get to start a new book! (Trying to decide between The Princess Academy and The Sea of Monsters.)