PB&J Challenge list

I'm making this post for ease of keeping track of what I've read for the PB&J Challenge.

Titles:
All Year Long by Kathleen W. Deady
Bark, George by Jules Feiffer
The Crocodile Blues by Coleman Polhemus
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That Darn Yarn by Tony Millionaire
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Authors:
Aylesworth, Jim - Itty Bitty Mousie
Birdseye, Tom - Look Out, Jack! The Giant Is Back!
Colshorn, Carl and Theodor - The Porridge Pot
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Helakoski, Leslie - Big Chickens Fly the Coop
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T
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Random thoughts on a relaxing Friday

I had a job interview today and took the whole day off from work, and it has been such a nice day. I've gotten in more reading time this afternoon than I've had in days (if not weeks). I've been reading The Road, which I am enjoying much more than I thought I would. I've got less than 100 pages to go and hope to finish it in the next day or so, depending on my schedule. Actually, I will be picking up Laura at the airport tomorrow afternoon, which will give me prime reading time, assuming I get out of the house early enough to get through security with time to spare. Depending on how far I get tonight, I may even need to grab an extra book.

I still have a couple of reviews to catch up on - I'll try to get those posted later tonight.

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.

Finished: Once Upon a Time II Challenge

Woohoo! Finished!

Here's the final tally:

The Sweet Far Thing
Stardust
Princess Academy
American Gods
The Book of Lost Things

My favorite was absolutely Stardust! But I enjoyed them all. This was a lot fun! Thanks to Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings for hosting!

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

I'd heard so many great things about The Book of Lost Things, and I wasn't disappointed. This book is delightfully creepy! I explained it to someone as "fairy tales, if you were having a nightmare about them."

David, an unhappy young boy, due to various events in his life, enters a frightening world by slipping through a wall in his garden and suddenly finds his life in danger. Fairy tales come alive, but with disarming twists. David embarks on a journey through this other world trying to find his way home, and on the way he matures greatly from a young boy to a young man.

I would compare this book somewhat to Neil Gaiman's work. The writing style is different, but the aura of the book is very similar. I saw this classified somewhere as young adult (I think maybe someone tagged it as such in LibraryThing), but, really, I think the target audience is older. It reminded me a bit of Stephen King, but brainier, if that makes any sense.

If you've reviewed this book, leave me a comment and I'll link to your review.

Other reviews at:
The Written Word
the hidden side of a leaf
things mean a lot

This completes the Once Upon a Time II challenge! And it fulfills the C author spot in the A-Z challenge.

Booking through Thursday

Have your book-tastes changed over the years? More
fiction? Less? Books that are darker and more serious? Lighter and more
frivolous? Challenging? Easy? How-to books over novels? Mysteries over
Romance?

Don't forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don't have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

I don't often answer these, although I like reading other peoples' responses. But this one looked like a good opportunity to post.

I think it's natural for people's book tastes to change over the years; after all, we all grow over time. When I was in high school, I read a lot of Danielle Steel and Stephen King. I would never pick up a flat-out romance book now, but I'm not averse to reading another Stephen King (it's been years since I read anything by him, but I've enjoyed every one I ever read). Then I went through a Patricia Cornwell stage - I'm over that now, too, as the Kay Scarpetta novels just really seemed to fizzle. I read *much* more literary fiction than I ever have before thanks to book blogs and magazines like Bookmarks. But I'm also reading more young adult books than I've ever read before, thanks to keeping up with some reading lists over the past couple of years. I think I've finally settled into a groove with reading, in that I get suggestions from everywhere, and my wishlist/TBR stack have books of all different varieties. I don't read romance anymore (at least not
Danielle Steel-type - Philippa Gregory's books and the Outlander series do have some "romance" characteristics), and I've learned that I don't really care much for cozy mysteries. But overall, I'll read just about anything you put in my hands!

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortensen

Three Cups of Tea is an inspiring book of how one man can make a big difference. Greg Mortensen, after an unsuccessful attempt at climbing K2, makes a promise to build a school in a small village in Pakistan. This goal of just one school becomes grander as suddenly he is being asked to build schools (mostly schools for Muslim girls) all over Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mortensen overcomes all kinds of odds to make this happen, including lack of funding and the changes in the world after 9/11.

This was another audiobook, and overall, it was pretty good. The narration wasn't the greatest, and the book does not have the best prose I've ever read. But then, Greg Mortensen doesn't pretend to be an author - he's just a man who is trying to spread the word about what a difference education can make in combatting radical fundamentalism. I highly recommend this book!

Rules by Cynthia Lord

This was the last book Laura and I listened to before school ended. I chose it because 1) she had asked me to get it from Audible months ago, but we were listening to His Dark Materials for months and 2) it was a short book, and we didn't have much time.

Laura and I both liked this book very much. The main character, Catherine, has a younger brother with autism, and she is torn by her feelings of embarrassment over his differences and the need to protect him. She also is dealing with confusion over her blossoming friendship with Jason, a wheelchair-bound boy she meets at her brother's Occupational Therapy clinic, and a new friendship with a girl who moves in next door. There are a lot of issues thrown into this book, making it quite complex for such a small book. I highly recommend this one, either in print or as an audiobook. The narration for this was very good.

It's Tuesday, Where Are You?

Today, I spent a lot of time in Iran, during the Islamic Revolution (just finished Persepolis over lunch).

This morning I was somewhere in New England, maybe? I'm honestly not sure where Change of Heart is set. Being Jodi Picoult, it's gotta be somewhere New England-y.

Later today, I will still be on an island in the middle of nowhere with Peter and his friends in Peter and the Starcatchers, and also walking South, I'm guessing somewhere in the area of Tennessee/Georgia, after some sort of apocalyptic event, with my boy (The Road). I just started The Road last night and haven't made it very far, but the mention of a See Rock City sign is a dead giveaway.

As always, if you'd like to play, visit raidergirl3 at http://raidergirl3-anadventureinreading.blogspot.com/

Anne of Green Gables

I had completely forgotten about this - thank goodness for Google Reader!

This month marks the 100th anniversary of the original publication of Anne of Green Gables. There's a blog devoted to the re-reading of this classic found here. I'm going to be reading, and I'm going to try to convince my daughter to read it. Wanna join along?