The Loot, Part 1

I'm already prefacing this with "Part 1" even though the exhibit halls have only been open for 1 day. I know I'll grab more stuff tomorrow. I am definitely restraining myself - last year I grabbed books indiscriminately, but this year I'm at least reading the back before deciding to take. Still, I came home with 10 ARCs today and bought 3 other books for my family. Here's the lowdown so far:

1) The Edge of the World by Kevin Anderson
2) Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud
3) Dodger for President by Jordan Sonnenblick (thought Eli might like this)
4) Boyology: A Crash Course in All Things Boy by Sarah O'Leary Burningham (I actually didn't grab this one; my coworker grabbed 2 and gave me one. Laura may not be quite old enough to appreciate it yet, but she'll grow into it.)
5) Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival by Clara Kramer
6) I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti by Giulia Melucci
7) Lyonesse: The Well Between the Worlds by Sam Llewellyn
8) Don't Let It Be True by Jo Barrett
9) The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
10) Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez

I bought:
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (for Laura)
Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves (for Jimmy)
Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson (for Eli)

I'll be back tomorrow and Thursday. I'm sure I'll snag more...

TLA 2009

It's that time of year again! Most of this week I'll be attending the Texas Library Association conference, which is here in Houston this year. My goal is to NOT come home with the 45 advanced reader copies I ended up with last year, which I've barely made a dent in. I'm sure I won't be able to resist a few, though. Hopefully the fact that I'll have to drag them home on the bus will be a deterrent!

On a reading-related note, I'm still plugging away at The Mists of Avalon. Sheesh, that's one big book!

Once Upon a Time III

In general, I'm not doing any challenges this year. My own, personal, challenge is to read as many of my own books as possible (generally speaking, I'm reading 1 library book for every 3 books from my own collection).

However, how can I resist Carl's challenges?


This year, Carl has included an option for general participation, without having to choose a certain number of books. This fits perfectly with my reading plan, and, as I am currently reading The Mists of Avalon, the timing is perfect.

If you've never joined one of Carl's challenges before, I highly encourage you to join in. It is more than a challenge; it's an experience.

Twitter

Some of you, at least, have noticed that I now have a Twitter badge on my blog. I actually just added a new reading-specific account which will be the one that updates on this blog now. Feel free to follow any (or all) of my three Twitter profiles:

somereads
somernewland
someryarns

I am a much more prolific Tweeter than blogger, I promise! :-)

Just checking in

I started re-reading The Mists of Avalon after I finished my last book, so it will be a while before I post a review, I think. It takes a really long time to read an 800+ book with only a little while each day to read! I first read Mists of Avalon in 1992, and I remember not being able to put it down. I'm not having that experience this time, but I think it's just that I don't have the time to devote to it that I did when I was 20... The fact that I have placed it on my list of favorites consistently keeps me reading.

We've had a very tough week here emotionally (my 10-year-old son had a friend who tragically died), and I haven't been in a mood to lose myself in a book. Knitting has kept me busy while not having to concentrate. It doesn't help that I have 3 time-sensitive projects going and more in the wings.

On a book-related note, we went to see Coraline for the second time today. The first time we had to settle for the 2D version, since the 3D version wasn't playing anymore. I guess they had freed up all the 3D slots for the Jonas Brothers movie (it was opening weekend), because today we noticed Coraline was showing in 3D again. I have to say, having seen both versions, the 3D version was MUCH better and more satisfying.

Goose Girl by Patrice Kindl

I needed a nice, quick read after Tamar, and this fit the bill perfectly. In this adapted fairy tale, a common goose girl, Alexandria Aurora Fortunata, has had a spell cast upon her so that whenever she combs her hair, gold dust falls out, and when she cries, she sheds diamonds instead of tears. This has grabbed the attention of both the King of Gilboa and the Prince of Dorloon, who have locked her in a tower until she chooses which one she will marry.

With the help of her beloved flock of geese, Alexandria escapes from the tower and, naturally, encounters all kinds of obstacles. While the ending may not be a complete surprise, it is entertaining, as is the book as a whole. Highly recommended for fans of the likes of Shannon Hale.

Tamar by Mal Peet

I can't decide if I liked Tamar or not. I liked the story, and I like the subject matter, but the book just seemed to drag. It took me a couple of weeks to read, and I didn't feel overly compelled to pick it up instead of, say, knitting. That's my current gauge. If I'm really enjoying the book, I will choose to read instead of knit. If the book is just so-so, I will often choose to knit instead. I got a lot of knitting/crocheting done while reading this book.

Tamar bounces back and forth between the present and 1944/1945 and between two characters with the name Tamar. One character is the narrator, a young woman recounting the story of her grandfather's death and the process of trying to figure out a puzzle he left her when he died. The other character was a resistance fighter in the Netherlands during World War II. The stories are intertwined, as the girl Tamar was named by her grandfather, in honor of his experiences in the war. Both story lines are compelling, and the mystery revealed wasn't a dead giveaway. Still, I felt there was something missing, something that could have made the book impossible to put down. I would definitely recommend it for someone interested in the Dutch resistance or WWII history, in general.

Library Thing Early Reviewers

I snagged another Early Reviewer this month, after a couple-month dry spell. This month I'll be getting All Other Nights by Dara Horn. This book looks fantastic, and I can't wait to read it!

Pardon my absence!

I just realized how long it has been since I updated my blog! I'm sure I've lost any readers I have by now...

My reading is going pretty slow right now, and I guess that's part of the problem. I finished Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber a couple of weeks ago and just loved it so much. Now it's been so long, and I don't even know how to review it. So I'll sum it up with what I tweeted on Twitter when I finished it: "It was so good I hugged it when I finished!"

Since then, I also finished The Golden Bull by Marjorie Cowley, an ARC I picked up at TLA last year. I enjoyed it and gave it 3.5 stars in LibraryThing. It wasn't terribly memorable, though, I'm sorry to say, a few weeks later.

I attempted to read The Last Summer (of You and Me) by Ann Brashares, and I had high expectations after the Traveling Pants series. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into it and returned it to the library.

Now I'm reading Tamar by Mal Peet, and while it is a pretty slow read, I am enjoying it and will finish it before moving on to something else.

I'm woefully behind on my book blog reading, too, but I am slowly catching up. Not doing any challenges right now; it's just me and crazy long book lists!

Library Loot

I'm off work today and tomorrow and trying to catch up on my blog posts and reviews. The reviews are done!

Here's what I've brought home from the library since my last Library Loot post:

1) Elizabeth: The Golden Age: After finishing The Lady Elizabeth, I just happened to find this one on the DVD shelf, so I grabbed it. I really enjoyed the first Elizabeth movie with Kate Blanchett, so I'm looking forward to this one.

2) The New Amateur Astronomer came home as a request from my astronomer husband.

3) and 4) I saw 200 Stitch Patterns for Baby Blankets on a cart of books I was shelving, and I liked some of the patterns and not just for baby blankets. After investigating some, I found the other Jan Eaton book on the shelf as well and brought both home. I will probably end up purchasing at least one of these books in the near future.

5) The same day I picked up Elizabeth: The Golden Age, I found Flags of Our Fathers on the shelf. We've been wanting to watch this one, too, so I brought it home. Of course, both have been sitting on the TV since then... I'm horrible about leaving movies sitting forever. (Case in point: the Netflix copy of The Manchurian Candidate that we kept for at least 5 months, and I never watched. At least Jimmy watched it!)