Everyone has a Blue Castle...

Cascade

2011-08-13T22:37:00.003-04:00

If I could travel back in time, I would happily go back just a few hours ago when I accidentally wiped clean my camera's memory card, before I had transferred the pictures. So, yes, feel like an absolute idiot but I just wasn't thinking (and really didn't realize that by pushing "okay" I would wreak such havoc). Lesson learned.

But, has Gabi learned her lesson about messing with the time travel continuum (trust me, I know all about that as I did a special research project on it for my high school physics class)? Perhaps not. Luckily for the reader, that means that she has yet another adventure in medieval Italy! Yes, I am talking about Cascade the sequel to Waterfall. (As an aside, the titles in the River of Time series: Waterfall, Cascade, and Torrent remind me of the three titles Tom Stoppard used for his Coast of Utopia series: Voyage, Shipwreck, and Salvage, as they go in a sequence.)

At the end of Waterfall, Gabi and Lia have traveled back to the present, promising Marcello and Luca that they will hopefully return someday (if Gabi has anything to do about it). The two are immediately embroiled in the battle between their mom and Dr. Manero, the Italian rival archaeologist, who would have clearly been on Florence's side had he been born a few centuries earlier, over control of the site. Despite her misgivings, their mother is convinced that they had actually traveled back in time and she convinces them to take her along. Because, really, who wouldn't want to go back to medieval Italy when there are some guys out there who want you dead?

Oh wait. What was that? People want you dead?

Um...

Although Gabi and Lia have been away from the past for a very brief amount of time, months had passed since their departure. Things have changed. Well, not everything since Marcello is still waiting for Gabi's return. Counting the days, actually. Fortino is hale and, as Lord Forelli, has worked out an agreement with Lord Rossi of Siena that he will marry Romana Rossi instead of his brother Marcello. And they are to bed wedded in just a couple weeks.

But, treachery is afoot, and with the help of the plague, it isn't too long before Gabi and Lia are matching wits and weapons with old and new foes. As word has spread about the Lady Betarrinis' fame, so to has the bounty on the She-Wolves of Siena's heads. It may take a miracle to survive this trip to the countryside.

This book is completely action packed from beginning to end. Though don't worry, there is also a fairly strong heaping of romance (my favorite bit of that was actually in the vineyards back when things were simple and happy for just that brief moment). I couldn't believe how few days had passed in the storyline compared to all that happened. I was happy to be reunited with old characters (hehe, Luca+Lia), was delighted to make the acquaintance of new ones (more Lord Greco, please, and their mom!), and saddened to see the departure of some others (it is a war, but don't worry, I won't tell you who). There was, I feel, a distinct lack of Fortino throughout the book. Mere mentions won't satisfy me. I am hoping that he is more present in Torrent. Fingers crossed!

My one quibble would be that Luca recovered remarkably quickly. Though, I fear I know as much of the plague as Lia does (a lot of what I know comes thanks to reading Connie Willis's Doomsday Book, another time traveling favorite of mine).

I came away from this book thinking there ought to be a new book in that "You Wouldn't Want to Be a..." series. This one entitled: "You Wouldn't Want to Be a She-Wolf in Medieval Italy".

Here is the trailer for Cascade. Enjoy!

And I leave you with my favorite line:

"Yuk it up, fellas. I'm all LOL myself."

Why is it my favorite? Just because it sounds so typical modern teenager, yet there she is stuck in 14th century Italy. It made me LOL a bit myself (and that is something I rarely do when reading a book).

I'll let you go. If you stay.

2011-08-02T14:45:00.005-04:00

It wasn't until last December when I was flying home to upstate New York that I picked up Gayle Forman's If I Stay. If I had to tell you why, it would be because I knew it would be a slightly depressing read and that I wanted to be in the right frame of mind for it. Of course, I then went on to read it in one sitting and was impatiently awaiting the sequel, Where She Went. Of course, once I finally got it into my hot little hands, I waited a bit to read it. Perhaps I wanted to draw out the suspense.

Where She Went is told from Adam's perspective and begins several years after the accident that claimed the lives of Mia's family. Like If I Stay, the plot jumps from the present action to flashbacks to life before the accident, which helps the reader to understand where Adam is coming from.

If you remember from the first novel, Adam promised Mia while she was still in a coma (and deciding if life was worth living) that if only she would stay he would do anything, even let her walk out of his life. And that is precisely what Mia did after leaving the west coast to go to school at Julliard. Her departure left Adam a complete mess; he even quit college and moved back into his parent's house. But after a year of mourning, he turned his anguish into song. When the novel begins, we are introduced to an Adam who is seemingly at the top of his game: he's a very successful rock star who is about to embark on an European tour. But instead of feeling like he is living a dream life, he can't sleep and is taking medication for his nerves. Not to mention an inquisitive report just asked him about the one topic he refuses to answer: his relationship to Mia Hall.

On his last night in NYC, he stumbles across a concert that Mia is giving and ends up meeting with her after the show. They end up going on a whirlwind trip around the city as Mia shows him the "hidden" city she has come to love. They are given this one night together before each one departs the city to go their separate ways: Adam to Europe and Mia to Asia. Will they be able to finally talk about what happened and learn the truth about what separated them?

Gayle Forman wrote another wonderful book exploring how one accident can cause entire lives to implode and then be rebuilt. I enjoyed how she wrote this from Adam's perspective because you really got to feel how much he hurt, despite the fact that it wasn't his immediate family who had died in the accident. In their own way, they were his family, too.

And, I quite love the cover. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it is the colours.

My love is like a Waterfall.

2011-07-22T13:36:00.009-04:00

Days like today, I always think back to what Harry says in Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword, "I come from a cold country, where the witches live in cool, green forests." Seriously, I can't take this heat. And in addition to myself, now I need to worry that my insulin might combust or just generally become useless? It is too much! I should move back to Canada (or just south of there).

Luckily, there is air conditioning. And good books. Like the one I just finished reading last night.

Waterfall by Lisa T. Bergren.

I first heard about this on Goodreads and it sounded quite fascinating so I went out and purchased it (because I wanted it in time for the 48-hour reading challenge and the library just wasn't there for me). Of course, I found it so fascinating sounding that I ended up not reading it for the challenge because I wanted to enjoy it (trust me, it makes sense in my head). But, I have read it now!

Waterfall tells the story of Gabriella (Gabi) Bettarini, a 17-year-old American who is in Italy over the summer with her younger sister Evangelia (Lia) and their mom who is an archaeologist with a focus on the Etruscans. At the outset, their mom has discovered quite an Etruscan find. Gabi and Lia know it is going to be a long, boring summer stuck out in the backwoods of nowhere (don't I know that feeling!). One morning, Gabi convinces Lia to go exploring one of the tombs with her. In the tomb, Gabi comes across a strange set of handprints on the wall. Her hand fits in one, and Lia's in the other. Suddenly, whoosh!, Gabi finds herself alone in the tomb with the sounds of fighting outside. Rival archaeologists or hot, Italian men from the 14th century fighting out a territory dispute? I'd go for the hot Italian men option. Which would be correct.

The rest of the action takes place in Medieval Tuscany featuring rival families. Gabi convinces Marcello and Luca Forelli that she is from Normandy (to explain her modern clothes) and has been separated from her sister Lia on their way to discover where is their mother. The family Forelli, fighting on the side of Sienna, takes her in and provide her assistance in her search. On her journey, she will need to use all of her skills and knowledge to survive in this foreign land, and perhaps begin to seek God's purpose in all of this.

Gabi reads as a modern teenager. I kind of giggled when at one point she was thinking that all she needed to do was "Google" something to find the answer. Because don't we all say that? And yet, she did manage to slip into fourteenth-century Italian language believably due to studying "the poet" Dante's works. And despite being able to beat people at swordplay, she isn't perfect because, well, her hair just won't stay in place.

There is quite a dash of romance in this book. Gabi is soon drawn into feeling something for Marcello, the presumed heir of the Forelli estate (his older brother Fortino, who is also fabulous, severely suffers from allergies and asthma and isn't expected to live much longer). Except Marcello has a long-standing engagement with Lady Rossi whose father is one of Sienna's "Nine", so this is a big time arrangement for the Forelli family. Marcello also has similar feelings for Gabi. But to pursue such a relationship has the potential to destroy the Forelli family. What is a girl to do?

I also was a fan of Luca. Perhaps because in his way, he made me think of Benvolio. Just as long as Gabi and Marcello don't have to stupidly die for their love. But, I think it was more the sidekick role (and the fact that he was of the "California surfer" type which makes me think of Gregori Baquet from the French Romeo et Juliette). Well, all I'm saying is that I'm still rooting that he and Lia get together (if I'm allowed to happily pair everyone off like Louisa May Alcott did at the end of An Old-Fashioned Girl.

All in all, a very fun read and I would recommend it if you have a thing for historical fiction/time-travel. I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of Cascade, the second book in the trilogy.

But, I will leave you with a bit of silliness. In other words, this is an example of why Kristin shouldn't read good books so quickly.

Quote from Waterfall:

[The doctor] stood again, this time moving to the head of the bed to examine my eyes, tongue, and then the beds of my fingernails. Looking for what? Signs of fever, infection, dehydration? Oh, or that body humours thing? I was surprised when he didn't ask for a urine sample. Apparently, they figured out a lot by the odor, appearance-even taste-of a person's urine.

"You are far[t]ing far better than I expected," he said at last.

So, yes, I'm the girl who read the last line with the word "farting" in place of "faring". My mind apparently went from urine samples to that. Sheesh. As soon as I realized my mistake, I could stop laughing. But, maybe you had to have been there (in my head) to really appreciate it.

And, the Waterfall book trailer:

I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.

2011-07-18T22:07:00.007-04:00

Ah, it's been so long. My one excuse is that it is summertime at the library. And the living isn't quite so easy. My days are filled with all sorts of summer programs, the most well attended being the Lego programs we run. I can't quite seem to fill the teenagers with nearly enough excitement to attend the teen parties. Free food! X-Box games! Crafts! Just not good enough. But give the younger kids piles of Legos and they are happy as clams and clamoring for more. I've already had the good fortune as to be able to add a couple more programs in. Next one is on Wednesday.

Tomorrow I am going to learn more about ebook and ebook readers. Should be exciting.

Even more exciting are the novels I have read/am currently reading at the moment. My boss, Peggy, borrowed Warped by Maurissa Guibord through inter-library loan, and was kind enough to let me borrow it when she had completed reading it. I had earlier snagged it from the desk where she had unsuspectingly left it, not knowing I would want to snag it from her. I mean time-traveling hotties? Sign me up for a little of that, please!

Warped tells the tale of 17-year-old Tessa Brody who pushes her father to bid on a lot of books at an auction after seeing a tapestry of a unicorn that was included in the lot. She is drawn to the tapestry, though at the same time somewhat repelled because strange visions overtake her when she touches it, dreams of a past where she was the virgin in the forest entrapping a unicorn. And then a thread is plucked, the unicorn disappears, and a man appears in her bedroom, straight from the 16th century. It is William de Chaucy, a hot young nobleman who had been transformed into a unicorn by Gray Lily, a witch who learned the art of stealing human life threads in order to weave them into her own tapestry. She wants him back in her art; it is the only way she can stay young and alive. At the same time, the Norn Sisters are after Tessa because they believe she is the one who has stolen the threads. They threaten to destroy her life and those lives of the people she loves if she doesn't return the threads to them. Will Tessa be able to fix the pattern before her whole life is destroyed by Gray Lily and the Norn Sisters? And what will happen to William de Chaucy, a man whom she has learned to love. Their fates were entwined in the past, can she still hold on to him in the present?

Okay, I admit it, I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. Perhaps it was because I picked it up and started it and then got distracted for a couple of days by life and other things and then finished it. So, I had forgotten some of the details of things starting out (like her unimportant date with some high school boy). And then the other part of me that wished that they had spent more time in the past. And the time in the past that they did spend was in the tapestry. So was that really the past or just some sort of Gray Lily's warped view of the past? Who knows. However, I did like the ending. And, as much as I'm all "meh" these days about girls meeting boys and falling in love with them after knowing them for a day (and the feelings being reciprocated), I'm giving this book a pass on that detail. Technically, they "knew" each other for centuries because apparently the Norn Sisters like to reweave your thread into the story even after it has been cut. Basically, she was the reincarnated virgin of the forest that had trapped Will when he was a unicorn. He got over that grudge, apparently, since they did have a nice make-out scene later in the book. All I'm saying is that the instant love kind of romance, I'm not buying it. But, then again, I'm the girl who has loved a guy for two years now. And he doesn't know I exist (as a girl, I mean, I'm like my own subspecies of an "it" to him). But, I digress. I guess that's why I take my inspiration from Helena (All's Well That Ends Well) and Cassandra (I Capture The Castle) these days. All about the unrequited love.

Still, it's nice to still be able to read and dream that these things can happen!

Speaking of Cassandra, I saw a wonderful reading of the new I Capture the Castle musical by Peter Foley held at Signature Theatre this past weekend. I had been looking forward to hearing this ever since three of the songs from the show were previewed a couple of years back in a cabaret. Okay, it was more like "They are doing a musical version of I Capture the Castle? I must to hear that!" Seeing as I always was a fan of the book by Dodie Smith. And, I happily wasn't disappointed. Now, some liberties have been taken. As a matter of fact, Cassandra and Rose's brother Thomas was written out of the show during the workshop process that happened in the three weeks prior to the reading. The actor ended up being the one to read the stage directions. And, it still dragged in places, but with a bit more work, I'm sure it will turn out to be a delightful piece. I put it very much in the same place of love in my heart as Paul Gordon's Daddy-Long-Legs musical. A show that I very much want to see, but I adore the recordings that I've heard because they take whole bits from the show. The one thing that I wish was expanded was the ending and how they have Cassandra say the line "I wanted to run after him and say 'yes!' But, that isn't enough, not for the giver." Because in the book, before the "but, that isn't enough" bit, there is the line about "And surely I could give him-a sort of contentment." I think you really should have left that it to make the last line make more sense. At least they have at the very end, "Only the margins left. I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you...."

Ah, and yesterday I was sitting in the audience waiting for Oklahoma! to start at Arena Stage (very fun production, by the way) when I overheard the man next to me tell his son that when he was living in NYC everyone who visited him had to see Les Miserables. That meant he saw it all of three times and how it was four hours and fifteen minutes long. ::gasp:: I couldn't help but laugh because a)I've seen it too many times to properly remember how many, and b)it really isn't that long. Of course, he lost my respect when he smacked me in the face twice with his coat when he was taking it off and didn't apologize at all.

Falling for shelf-reading.

2011-06-08T22:57:00.004-04:00

I think I am finally getting recovered from the reading challenge this past weekend. That said, I did nearly fall asleep on my couch after work today. But maybe it was because there wasn't enough sweating going on in the book I was reading. (I was attempting to finish Falling for Romeo by Jennifer Laurens-it was the book my friend and I were using to read out-loud to each other during the time in the challenge when we were cooking dinner, the main male character likes to sweat, a lot).

I am currently working on one of my all-time favorite projects at the library. No, it is not prep work for computer classes (those I am very much not looking forward to). It's shelf-reading! Or, "refreshing the collection" as I like to call it. Do you know what it is one of my favorite and my bests? Not only do I get snatches of "me time" away from the desk, I also get to find rather interesting things our patrons have left behind in books. Okay, not everything is wonderful and fun (dirty tissues much?), but then you can also find some splendidly amusing notes, bookmarks, and drawings. I actually have a collection of them growing and I'm quite tempted to scan some of them to show you just how fabulous some of them are. Except then the patrons might start to think their privacy has been violated.

The most exciting thing I found today? A 2010 parking pass for Navy football games. One of these days I just know I am going to find a $100 bill instead of a growth of mold. I will, if I look in enough books! Of course, I'm also still waiting for a ginger-haired boy to come sweep me off my feet. Ever the optimist, here.

Oh, sure, shelf-reading also funnels my OCD-ness into respectable channels. The downside is how grumpy I get when a patron instantly starts to rearrange a shelf just after I had straightened it. It is a constant, and losing, battle this keeping the library clean.

One of these days I'll finish another book. And actually write a review on it. ;)

Done! ::confetti::

2011-06-05T08:05:00.003-04:00

Hurrah! The 6th annual 48 hour reading challenge is over for the year (for me).

I totally slowed down at the end as far as quantity of books. In those 3 o'clock morning hours after going nearly 48 hours with no sleep, you start to re-read sentences, paragraphs, and just when you get to the end of the page, you miss the last sentence so you have to go reread the entire page. Or at least that is what it somehow felt to me.

The only two that I am going to count for this post (I have a few others that I started, but did not complete) are:

Dragon Flight by Jessica Day George

Dragon Spear by Jessica Day George

(I will be editing in thoughts a little later, right now I'm blank, like a white canvas.)

Time spent reading: 46 hrs, 50 minutes
Blogging: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Total time: 48 hours
Books read: 14
Pages read: 3774
Donations: $46.25 (14 books & 17 comments)

Happy reading for all those still working away on the challenge. I'm looking forward to catching up on everyone's blogs after a nap, or church, whichever I decide to do in the near future (and no, they are not the same).

That's my fort!

2011-06-05T00:20:00.002-04:00

Just a little Liberty Smith theatre joke (yes, you can really tell how punchy I am getting here).

See that ladder? That's my fort. That is where I would be hiding for the next eight or so hours if I had something like that in my apartment. But, you won't find me howling at midnight the name "Martha Washington". Nope. Just, "when will it be 8:05?!"

Despair poisoned by hope.

2011-06-04T23:57:00.006-04:00

It sounds like there is a storm a'brewing. That and there must have been an accident or some such thing because the sirens keep going off. Hopefully nothing too serious. All this excitement I could have missed had I chosen to not stay up! Eight hours left. Eight hours left. Am I going to make it? I certainly hope so!

Three more books for you (yes, this year is all about "3's").

Black Watch by Gregory Burke

This year's play selection! Set partially in Scotland and partially in Iraq, the play deals with the last Black Watch regiment before they were disbanded. The author me with some of the soldiers once they were home and after conducting interviews, this was the result. The show recently toured in the US (and I had to hunt down the new version with its new cover of the play for a while, and I'm happy I waited because it does include photos from the touring production-and Kenzie is so adorable). I was fortunate enough to have seen this play (in addition to The Great Game performed at Shakespeare Theatre in DC this past year. The unfortunate aspect of reading this play is there is a lot that you miss visually, especially the choreography. Take "Blueys", for example. Them telling you about the soldiers' reading their letters from home and then signing out the contents of the letter is nowhere near as moving by just reading it. Nor can you get the action of the 10 second fights or the beauty of some of the music (hey, what can I say, I like bagpipe music). Word of caution, there is a lot of swearing.

My Double Life by Janette Rallison

I got this nagging feeling about halfway through reading this that I had already read this novel. Or maybe it was just one very much like? Alexie is a dead ringer for rock star Kari Kingsley. When Kingsley agent offers Lexi a chance to be Kari's double, she jumps at the chance upon learning that she and Kari are half-sisters. Is there a chance she can finally meet her dad? Not to mention what other hot young celebrities might be heading Lexi's way. But can she balance her personal life with Kari's public life without things exploding? Dun, dun, dun.

Pulling Princes by Tyne O'Connell

First in a series. Calypso Kelly is an American in a posh British private school for girls. She doesn't have it all, but this year, with a little help from her mom's PA Jay (who's gay), she decides to get it all. That is, she is going to "pull" boys which will optimistically jettison her into popularity. Of course, she ends up getting more than she bargains for when Prince Freddie, heir to the throne, takes an interest in her after a fencing match. Who doesn't love boarding school stories?

Blogging time: 14 minutes

Time spent reading: 39 hrs, 4 minutes
Blogging: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Books read: 12
Pages read: 3264
Donations: $39.75 (12 books & 15 comments)

Where is my focus?

2011-06-04T15:19:00.005-04:00

It is a major cause for celebration when I finish a book these past few hours. I've now been reading for 30 hours and 40 minutes. The veins are making their ritual appearance. Joy, joy. It's always disconcerting when you look down and see more than you want to see of your insides coming to the forefront.

What I've been reading since the wee hours of the morning...

Sugar and Spice by Kate Messner

This was actually an ARC that I acquired back at ALA last year. When I saw "skater goes to Lake Placid", I knew I had to read it. But it wasn't until I got home that I realized that the author, Kate Messner, actually lived down the street from me back when I lived in upstate NY. It was quite fun reading a book set in one's home locale. So many names and places were of a familiar nature to me. And there was the main character, Claire, playing the game "Who's that guy" with her brothers. I found it hilarious that the man the author described as being a "tall, skinny man with blond hair and glasses... and smiling like crazy" was determined to be an "alien from another galaxy posing as a geeky TV weatherman". Because, really, that is totally (in my opinion) describing the authors husband who is the weatherman for the local tv channel. So, a quite fun read, though I did figure out who the evil vixen skater was a bit earlier than Claire.

Cat's Cradle by Julia Golding

Julia Golding needs to keep pumping out her Cat Drury books every year so I will have a new one to read for the challenge. In this 6th book of the series (to go this high up, you have to order them from the UK because on the first few are currently published in the US), Cat has just returned home from her misadventures in Barbados with Billy Shepherd (whom as soon as we meet him, we have to say goodbye to him ::sniffsniff::) and is soon thrust into her latest venture which is posing as a mill worker in Scotland in order to find, perhaps, some members of her family. Many new characters were added, some nicer than others, though there were a few returning characters (mainly Syd and Frank). I'm not sure if it was the Scottish setting complete with Scottish terms, but this really reminded me so much of some of Sally Watson books. So, despite the lack of Billy Shepherd, I'm still a fan of book #6!

Kat, Incorrgible by Stephanie Burgis

What a fun novel. In a way it reminded me of Sorcery and Cecilia. Not in the format, but the whole set in early 19th century mixed with magic type way. Hah, yes, I think I've run out of things to say right now, but it was quite enjoyable and I am looking forward to reading the next adventure of our Kat (hah, two "Kat" "Cat" books in a row). Hopefully next time, there will be more teamwork with her sisters. I'm still wondering if there is any MP (Magic Potential) in Kat's eldest sister Elissa.

There, give me another 17 minutes for blogging.

Time spent reading: 30 hrs, 40 minutes
Blogging: 56 minutes
Books read: 9
Pages read: 2703
Donations: $30.00 (9 books & 12 comments)

I wish I wasn't so stubborn.

2011-06-04T03:14:00.003-04:00

I am thinking that next year, I shall participate in the 48 hour sleep challenge. Or the 48 second reading challenge. Especially difficult is knowing that friends of yours have gone off to the beach this weekend. It is making me feel insanely jealous. But, then I look at the "pile" of books I have read, and I feel like I have accomplished at least a little something.

It is 3:15 a.m. here. What am I still doing up? And what does this mean for my reading totals? 19 hours and 10 minutes. No, I blogged for 20 minutes of that time. So my total reading time has been 18 hours and 50 minutes. Not too shabby, I guess.

What have I read?

Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn.

Fourth in the Lady Julia Grey mystery series. I have a bad tendency to mix the first book in this series in my head with the first book of Tasha Alexander's series. So, I really don't remember how the series started other than by the death of Lady Julia's husband by murder which lead to investigations helmed by Nicholas Brisbane (now her husband). This one is set in India (maybe). It is a mystery. I am tired. What more do you want me to write. Are you even reading this?

Queen of the Dead by Stacey Kade

I read the first book in this series (The Ghost and the Goth) and really enjoyed it. The sequel did not fail to delight me, though I have to wonder where the author is going to go from this ending. Like all good sequels (Yes, I'm looking at you, Demonglass), the author introduces a super secret organization that may or may not be on the side of right. Our hero must choose his partner in his battle. Does he stick with the dead or the living? And, really, who is "living" by the end?

The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton

Full disclosure, I first learned of this book thanks to being Facebook "friends" with the author's brother (he is an actor and I enjoyed him in Les Miserables on Broadway). Therefore, I had to read her book. It was a very fun book. Our ten-year-old heroine, Persimmony Smudge, in the process of breaking her family's "Giving Pot", losing her hat, and running away from a fearsome poisoned-tongued jumping tortoise, learns of a devious plot hatched by the underground-dwelling Leafeaters. Which can only lead to the discovery of... a giant? Quite entertaining!

And, I am now reading a book by an author from my hometown. I recognize things. How frightening (in a good way, of course)!

Oh, and there's another 19 minutes blogging.

Ye olde tally:

Time spent reading: 18 hrs, 50 minutes
Blogging: 39 minutes
Books read: 6
Pages read: 1729
Donations: $20.25 (6 books & 9 comments)

And then I found out the truth... finally.

2011-06-03T15:25:00.005-04:00

Hi, there! I've been reading now for, um, let's see... I started at 8:05 and now it is 3:24. That means I been at it for 7 hours and 19 minutes. And have only read three books. That seems a bit lax. Hmm. Especially when I see how much else there is to be read!

What have I read?

Linnet by Sally Watson

I actually picked one of her older books this year to read (not one of her newly published ones). To be honest, I like her old ones from the 60s better than the ones she is turning out these days. Not that I'm not grateful for additional Sally Watson books. Especially when they deal with additional stories from people you met in her earlier books. And, I actually hadn't read this one yet (very bad on my part, but she is kind of a hard, and sometimes expensive, author to find these days). Linnet is, as far as I can tell, more of a stand-alone novel than some of her others. But, perhaps it is just that I can't place her family in the context of her other stories. But, it also takes place during Queen Elizabeth I's time and the majority of the others I have read were all after that time. Still, the character Linnet does bear a shocking resemblance to many of Watson's other heroines as far as being quite modern and outspoken with her beliefs, though Linnet is also far too trustworthy. It is that aspect that gets Linnet into trouble in the first place. She has run away from home and meets a seemingly respectable gentleman on her travels to London. He takes her under his wing and instead of taking her to her relatives in London, actually deposits her into his "school" where he trains young orphaned children to be pickpockets, beggars, and cutpurses. It is quite entertaining as she matches wits with him (and of course succeeds in the end) and grows to love the other children whom she first would not deign to sit next to due to their grubbiness. Quite and enjoyable read!

My other two reads were Jennifer Sturman's And Then Everything Unraveled and And Then I Found Out the Truth. Full disclosure, I had read the first book when it had first come out a couple of years ago. It ends on a cliffhanger and I was like "I want to know what happens next like right now!" But by the time the sequel had finally been published, it had somehow slipped my mind. And actually the plot and characters had also dissipated in my memory, so I thought it best to revisit the first to fully comprehend the second. I was not disappointed in either. In And Then Everything Unraveled, we meet Cordelia (Delia to her friends), who has just learned that her mother's ship had disappeared after sending a SOS signal. T.K. (her mother) was visiting Antarctica with an environmental group. Everyone convinced that her mother is dead, Delia is sent to live in NY with her aunt Charity (Charley), though her other aunt, Patience, has control of her financial situation. Delia has never met either aunt. But is T.K. actually dead? Delia suspects not and is prompted into additional explorations of this after she receives a mysterious cell phone call of static. Her new friend traces it to Patagonia, very "near" where her mother's ship was last spotted. With the help of her friend, a possible boy interest, a psychic, and a pony-filled tie-wearing private investigator, Delia intends to find out the truth. And she does. But not fully until the second book. But, don't worry, I won't spoil you for it.

Really, how can you not want to read this author's books when the first book is dedicated to Michelle Jaffe. (I personally love her Bad Kitty novels and am eagerly waiting book number three, whenever that is coming out.)

Now, back to reading. But before that, a tally.

Time spent reading: 7 hrs, 19 minutes
Blogging: 20 minutes
Books read: 3
Pages read: 730
Donations: $10.25 (3 books & 5 comments)

Getting started

2011-06-03T07:57:00.001-04:00

You know, I was just about ready to throw the towel in. The New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys concert is coming on in about an hour and how could I want to miss that?! Well, I'm working beyond that addiction and am turning off the television, brushing my teeth, and grabbing a good book (hopefully it will turn into more than just one).

Starting with Linnet by Sally Watson. Because I traditionally start with a Sally Watson book. And I am nothing if not traditional.

Good luck everyone and happy reading!

The great charity reveal.

2011-06-02T21:26:00.005-04:00

I'm going to spare you the picture of how many books I have stacked up and ready to go for the challenge. No, really, I am. If I only read 16 books last year, I'm not sure why I'm being so downright optimistic about this year. Still, one can always strive to reach the "impossible dream" (and by that, I mean to actually have read all of the books I have in my house).

When it comes down to, it would be too embarrassing to admit how much I plan and look forward to this weekend. Something you might realize if you saw all of my books.

Okay, this is not my pile of books. Just a picture of our book drop after being closed a couple of days for the blizzards last year. Whew! What a lot of check ins!

And, my charity has been chosen! I looked around (okay, flying into a panic today because I hadn't figured out who to donate to though I did have some thoughts running around in my mind, trust me) and I decided to stay local. This year, I am going to support QACCA Our Haven Shelter, which is my county's homeless shelter. I think that this will be a nice balance with my co-worker Erin who is also doing the challenge (she also makes delicious cookies, believe me). Her chosen charity, Animal Resource Foundation (ARF) is an animal rescue organization. Aren't we both upstanding citizens of our county?

So, for every book I read, I will donate $3. For every comment I receive during the reading challenge, I will donate $.25. Run with that!

Now off to clean my bathroom. I managed to burn out my vacuum cleaner tonight attempting to clean the carpet in my bedroom. It is of some difficult type of carpeting that refuses to be cleaned. Excessive vacuuming is obviously not what it needs (which is why I then go around picking up lint bits by hand). Except now I'll have to do the entire apartment that way until I can get a replacement. Oh dear!

Give us your tired, your poor...

2011-05-07T22:29:00.005-04:00

...your moldy books? Ok, maybe not. But that is one of the things we have to deal with at the library on, if not a daily basis, at least once in a while. Myself, I have been accused of being a a right terror because I am generally spot water or otherwise damaged books from a mile away.

Today, we had a patron come in with five bags of books asking if we were taking donations. As our library director had recently run an ad in the local paper that we were accepting donations, I said "yes". Perhaps most unwisely. The patron then went on to say that the vast majority of the books were ones pulled from the trash that Hospice had deemed unacceptable. He didn't understand why, as obviously we would want them. Reader, some of them were moldy clear through. Others were soggy. Um, ew. Generally there is a reason why books end up in the dump. Needless to say that as soon as they weren't looking, I marched out to our dumpster to dispose of the evidence (and the smell).

Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing Liberty Smith at Ford's Theatre from the front row. It has been a while since attending a performance there as a patron (since seeing Meet John Doe for my birthday four years ago). I actually usher there, so I do see their productions all of the time. As an usher, you do get one free ticket per show that you usher (except for A Christmas Carol). This was just the first time my friend and I had taken them up on the offer.

Liberty Smith is about an orphan named Liberty Smith (Geoff Packard) who grows up in pre-Revolutionary War era Virginia. He is childhood friends with George Washington and is also in love with Martha Dandruff (I mean Dandridge). She, of course, looks down on him and tells him that the only way she would marry him would be if he managed to free the thirteen colonies of British tyranny. He goes galloping off to Philadelphia where he becomes Benjamin Franklin's apprentice, meets a more worthy object of affection played by Kelly Karbacz (though he doesn't realize that until act two) and her aunt Betsy Ross, the villainous Benedict Arnold, and eventually finds himself in the midst of Boston during the tea party and Paul Revere's (or should I say Liberty Smith's) midnight ride. Yes, he was there for all of it, but we just never knew about him because he never ended up in the history books.

Here's a preview:

The musical was actually originally written to be an animated movie musical and you can really see that whilst watching it. They don't hesitate to make modern references so it is filled with one liners. All said and done, it was quite the fun night of musical theatre (especially when one considers I typically see more dramatic pieces of art where people die all over the place). The only time it got a bit morose was for the end of Act One/beginning of the second act when all I could do was picture Liberty Smith listlessly counting bullets like Marius in the fabulous 1930s French Les Miserables movie. That said, I am a big fan of his "fort". My one quibble? Why in the world was Martha Dandridge dressed in a regency dress and spencer for part of the show? The other costumes were great and period correct. But that? Why?

And for the record, I took pictures. Of the set. Because we now can. Hehe. I can't tell you how many times I have had to ask people to delete pictures of the set because of copyright issues and now they finally gave up and we don't have to scold patrons anymore. How freeing! Well, except for when there are actors about. Then you still cannot. Don't worry, I didn't try to do that!

Moving on up!

2011-05-05T22:13:00.003-04:00

Ok, for a while there, I didn't think I could change my template. Apparently, I can. I just can't do it from home. It just sits there and loads and loads and does nothing. Very uninspiring. So, I played with it a little this morning at work and switched templates. Then I came home and created a new header. I'm not sure if I like it or not. Obviously, it does not work well with the present colours, but they can be changed. Let's just say that pink was so four years ago, and I really needed a change to actually match the title of the blog. Though, in reality, simply "Castell Glas" (or "Blue Castle") is the title. I love me some Welsh and some L.M. Montgomery.

I received today a commendation for using the least amount of sick leave last year. I have a certificate as proof. I find it all quite hilarious. Especially when you consider it all just collects and one day I am bound to go on a spree and use up all 50+ days of sick leave I have accumulated. Why don't I use it? Because my parents instructed me from a young age that one was never to call out sick unless one was sick enough to go to the doctor's. And who wants that? No thank you.

I finished Blackveil by Kristen Britain this afternoon. Hello, cliffhanger ending! The only characters you feel any relief knowing what has happened to them are the dead ones (::sniffsniff::). Everyone else? Well, it is going to take another how many years (and forgotten memories) to figure out what has happened to them. I actually felt for the length of the book, some of the subplots that were left hanging did not seem to be well developed at all (Amberhill much?). So, I will say that I enjoyed it, with reservations. The first book in the series, Green Rider, is still my favorite. Now, with all the "love triangles" blossoming, bits of it are turning into quite the little soap opera. What happened to the simple lives these characters once lead? Totally gone, I suppose!

And now back to the cleaning I ought to have been doing hours ago. These piles of books are not going to get sorted by themselves!

MotherReader's 48 Hour Book Challenge!

2011-05-03T21:31:00.005-04:00

Am I the only one who eagerly anticipates this time of year? Perhaps so. My poor co-workers have to put up with me perusing the list of books I have on Goodreads of my potential "books to read" for this challenge and trying to match them with ILL orders (because our library is small, there is no chance all the books I want will be purchased). This demands perfect timing for them to arrive not too early, but then again, not too late. Some are still too new so I will have to wait until next year. Though I ask myself, why do I go and order so many books when I have absolutely piles of them sitting under the table in my living room (not to mention actually on my recently rearranged bookshelves?). But, I never can think that having a greater variety can be bad.

More exciting news? Our library purchased a few eBook readers for staff to use in order to educate ourselves about them in order to better assist our patrons when it comes to downloading books from Overdrive and the like (or even just how to turn them on). I've become particularly attached to the Sony Reader we have. As in, I have yet to return it! (Don't worry, I dutifully check it in when it is due, but nobody else has laid claim on it yet so I check it right back out). I intend to put it to good use during the challenge. It is so nice and light for those late nights and will stay open perfectly well when I'm reading and eating at the table. Plus, I've fallen in love with Netgalley because I can get my ARCs in eBook format through them, they have a return date, and then don't take up any space in my apartment. How sweet is that?

Now my own mini-challenge of the month will be to blog more often here. Must get into practice again!

What am I currently reading: Blackveil by Kristen Britain. There, that makes this post even more bookish.

Hour (what are we on?)

2011-04-09T13:04:00.007-04:00

What have I been reading?

Yes, that's right. Jean Webster's The Wheat Princess. Back when I first started to read her books (I love Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy), I never picked up on some of the iffy things. Like dealing with the mentally handicapped children at the orphanage. In this book, there was a comment about how one of the characters tried to "assist the Negroes in the United States but found they were too lazy to bother to work for assistance". This book is not moving along as snappily as her others and I'm not sure if it is worth the effort to finish it. We'll see.

Why do patrons have to keep bothering me when I'm trying to read/write?

Here's another picture one. From a book I read recently and loved!

Can you guess what it is?

Dewey's 24-hour Read-A-Thon

2011-04-09T09:32:00.004-04:00

Let's give this a try-out. I'm not sure how much reading will be accomplished as I am currently at work at the library. Thank goodness for GoogleBooks! I can do my reading online for the moment. I was going to start with Jean Webster's Dear Enemy, but Google Books actually opened The Wheat Princess, so we will see what that leads to.

Otherwise, I am reading First Rider Call by Kristin Britain on my eBook reader.

And answers to the questions:

1) I am currently reading at the libray. Should move home after work.

2) Three random facts: I am under 5 feet tall, hail from upstate New York, and am a new type 1 diabetic. Actually, that was part of the reason why I wanted to do this one. I'm used to the 48-hour Read-a-Thon, and thought this would be a good way to follow my BS levels throughout the day. I don't want to stress out my non-existant pancreas too much!

3) Hundreds? It never ends, does it?

4) To not cause my BS levels to spike. We'll see about that.

5) Plan ahead. This means books and meals. Walk around whilst reading. Don't let your legs go all veiny. And, most of all, have fun. Because if you can't have fun it isn't worth it!

My life in Ashes

2010-06-20T20:55:00.004-04:00

I just recently read Kathryn Lasky's Ashes, and, as a librarian, I have to say it hit home, mainly because of the strong focus on books. Ashes is about a thirteen-year-old German girl growing up in Berlin just as Adolf Hitler is coming into power. Gabriella Schramm's father is the chairman of the Department of Photoastonoy at the University of Berlin. Her mother is a pianist, and her sister Ulla, also a gifted musician, has recently turned away from her studies to focus more on boys. The world is changing around Gaby just as she is beginning to grow up. The years 1932-1933 thrust her into moments of adulthood which she writes about in her Diary of Shame. Moments that either made her feel uncomfortable, or times when she thought she could have reacted better to a situation. Most of those situations dealt with something to do with the growth of the Nazi party in Germany.

Gaby spends much of her time reading books that the Nazis will soon label as being subversive. Soon both her beloved books and her Jewish friends, including Albert Einstein, are under attack. While some might claim the book burning to be the defining moment, I focused more on the librarian Frau Grumbach, and her refusal to hand over the names of students who checked out "questionable" books to Fraulein Hofstadt. Frau Grumbach disappeared the next day and was never seen again. As a librarian myself, of course that was going to make me think of my own responsibility towards my patrons. And wondering if I would have the guts to make a stand about something I know is fundamentally wrong, or would I go along with it in order to cause the least harm to myself by not standing out. Oo, ethics. Of course, I can really just hope that I'm never in that situation.

I also enjoyed that this book was written from a gentile's perspective from that time period. It always seemed like the books I read about World War II when I was a child/young adult mainly featured Jewish or other persecuted people. I think there should be more like this. It was like how I learned at a young age from Bette Greene's Summer of My German Soldier that not all German people were evil Nazis (besides, who wouldn't get a youthful crush on Anton).

I am participating in Centreville's teen summer reading program this year as they are doing "Team Teen" vs "Team Adult" where as Kent Island is doing the middle schoolers vs the high schoolers. I'm kind of glad that I'm not doing it in Kent Island because the high schoolers already have over 4000 pages read-and that was done by just one girl this past week! I would so lose to her.

I am getting ready to have our first adult summer reading book discussion this Tuesday evening. I hope it goes well! I'm not the best at public speaking, so hopefully I will as all the right questions to get the discussion humming and I won't have to talk again. I wish! The book we are doing this time is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Later in the summer it is The Hunger Games. I'm quite looking forward to that one. If anyone will actually show up for them.

Hour 48 is here. Finally!

2010-06-06T08:35:00.002-04:00

Seriously, it is challenges like this, and my obstinate nature, that only propels my natural state of being a hypochondriac into overdrive. Like, maybe I should get some sleep, but, no, we stayed up and read the entire 48 hours. Go me! Two years in a row. However, if this is going to be the weekend date this challenge is held from now on, I'm doubting that I will be participating so heavily in it in the near future because I have a new nephew. He's so adorable! And hopefully he is doing well considering I was totally selfish and didn't call to ask about him this weekend at all. He is home from the hospital, I know that. I also didn't pick up my parent's call. I need to call them now to see when they are planning on arriving here today.

So I'm kind of tossed as what to do right now. Spruce up the apartment, take a nap, or go to church. At this moment, I'm actually feeling quite perky. Energy drink kicking in 6 hours late? Maybe so.

I think, however, I will hold off doing my last few reviews until the next post.

However, here are the books I read for this homestretch:

13) A Posse of Princesses by Sherwood Smith
14) Nightlight by The Harvard Lampoon
15) Bad Kitty: Catnipped by Michelle Jaffe
16) Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
17) Hunger Games (audiobook) by Suzanne Collins

Time spent reading/blogging: 48 hours
Books read: 16
Pages: 4118
Money donated: $75.25

Let the partying begin!

38 hours 20 minutes... end is nearing!

2010-06-05T22:37:00.003-04:00

I'm getting to that veiny point in the competition, where the veins on my feet, legs, hands, and arms make their appearance. Needless to say, this last 12 hours or so are my favorite. From what I can recall from last year. However, new plan for tomorrow morning is, despite how scummy I feel, I fully intend to read/walk my way over to the playground area that they have by the school/church right next to me and doing the last couple of hours over there. I did that tonight before it got too dark and it was quite lovely getting to see someplace that wasn't the living room in my apartment. And I can rest quite comfortably reading a book on the slide. I'll have to remember this for next year.

New reading updates:

9) Hilary McKay's Wishing For Tomorrow. So, no lie, I grew up loving Burnett's A Little Princess. One of my all-time favorites. So when I discovered that there was going to be a sequel of sorts, I had to jump all over that one. And I am quite pleased with the result. The first couple of chapters do have bits from the original novel (basically the banquet/Sara finding the "Indian Gentleman") but it mainly deals with life at Miss Minchin's Select Seminary after Sara leaves. The main thread throughout the story of the girls' left behind is Ermengarde and how she deals with losing her best friend. Or how she thinks she has lost her. But, McKay does a wonderful job of fleshing out Lotte, Lavinia, Jessica, the two Miss Minchins in addition to adding new characters like Alice (the new maid-love her!), Tristram (the boy next door), and Bosco (the cat). This is going to be a book that I buy to keep!

10) Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George. I didn't mean to read two 12 Dancing Princesses books for the challenge, it just happened. Why I haven't read this one earlier, I don't know. My only defense is that once I own a book, it gets regulated to "read last" status because I always have a billion books checked out. I've loved Jessica Day George back when I read her first novel, Dragon Slippers, so I was happy to read these fairy tales retold she has been doing. This was is a lot more traditional retelling of the story (as opposed to The Thirteenth Princess) but still very well told. I love the knitting knight Galen. And, I think with all books based on this story, there is the lack of character development except for a few of the major princesses just because there are so many of them. These princesses all had flower names as their mom was big into flowers. She was also the cause of them being cursed to dance (and then marry) the half-demon princes because her mom made a deal with their dad. Good idea, right? So not. Very fun read.

11) Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George. I fought to get this book from the Bloomsbury Publishers at ALA Midwinter this year. I knew what I wanted, but it was at the bottom of their stack. After asking three times, however, someone was willing to go get it for me. And I loved it! This one is a sequel of sorts to Princess of the Midnight Ball and focuses on Poppy, one of the middle princesses (and a twin) who is sent to Breton as part of a new royal exchange program. Not that the king wants her there because his son happened to die attempting to break their curse back when they had to dance every night. So hostilities from that direction. And then she meets Prince Christian who just happens to be captivated by a former lady now servant Eleanora? Something is not quite right, and Poppy will need to use all of her wits and knitting power to set things on their correct course. A twist on the Cinderella story, but who is the real Cinderella? Needless to say, it was worth every moment spent annoying the publishers for my ARC of it.

12) Ouran High School Host Club Vol 1 by Bisco Harori. Jo seemed to very much like this series. I just didn't get into it. Maybe I need to read it when I'm not so tired? I'm not sure. Oh well.

Time spent reading/blogging: 38 hours, 20 minutes
Books read: 12
Pages: 3239
Money donated: $58.75

27 hours and still going

2010-06-05T11:54:00.003-04:00

But maybe not all that strong. I'm sensing a need for chocolate in the near future. Especially because I seem quite excited that my newest book, Hilary McKay's Wishing For Tomorrow, has pictures.

More books, please.

7) I somehow sense that there are going to be a lot more sequels I am going to want to read in the near future. Like Y.S. Lee's The Agency: A Spy in the House. A fun, light Victorian mystery romp. At age twelve, Mary Quinn, orphan and convicted criminal, fell off the scaffold and into the care of Anne Treleaven, the headmistress of Miss Scrimshaw's Academy for Girls. There she is educated and at age 17 becomes a part of the "The Agency", a select organization of crime-solving women. Because who really expects Victorian women to be all that exciting? So you know that while there are good women in the story, that means there is also going to be bad women, too. Just have to figure out who is who. Her first mission is to infiltrate a rich merchant's home as a lady's companion. Then the real adventure begins! Looking forward to the next Agency book.

8) Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C. Wrede. I might have hit this book at the wrong time because it came highly recommended to me, but it just seemed to drag. Maybe I'm just getting to the point of tiredness due to lack of sleep.

Last night Jo and I read out loud to each other the first half of Nightlight. We also spent a couple hours resting our eyeballs and listened to more of The Hunger Games also did this during breakfast which was thoughtfully provided for us by Jo's mom and her sister. Yay! In addition, I ate a piece of the best chocolate chip pie I ever had thanks to my friend and co-worker, Erin.

Now back to reading hard-core. Seriously. ;)

Time spent reading/blogging: 27 hours, 20 minutes
Books read: 8
Pages: 2214
Money donated: $42.00

17 hours in...

2010-06-05T01:35:00.003-04:00

Alas, poor Yorick, I sense no sleep for me tonight. No sleep, and no air conditioning. It was supposed to be fixed yesterday afternoon. No show. This afternoon. No show until almost 7. Then, apparently some other part was broke and since it was too late to buy the part (and are these places closed on Saturdays?) I was informed that I would have to wait until Monday. Vexed, you say? Vexed was way back there. It's been over a week now. ::grumblegrumble::

There are so many worse things out there. I shouldn't be complaining about a silly thing like that. Besides, just think of the savings on my electric bill!

I have now read three more books! So...

4) Crazy Beautiful by Lauren Baratz-Logsted. Any book in it that discusses musicals (even if it is Grease) is fine by me. And, there even was a mention of how the musical differed from the movie, that's a nice plug. Lucius managed to create a rather large explosion his freshman year of high school and blew off his arms. Now he has hooks. His scars are quite visible to the outside world, making him open to torment by fellow students. Aurora's mother recently died of cancer. Her scars are inward and I got the feeling she didn't talk much about her mother with her new friends. They are both new to the school, their respective parents having moved them to a new school district for a new beginning. I thought it was a good read. Plus, Aurora's father was the school librarian. The awesome one would could find you research. Gotta love that!

Took a break from reading books and switched on an audiobook of Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games for dinnertime. We are doing this book for a summer book discussion shortly and I need a refresher. Somehow, though, listening to Katniss talk about the time she nearly starved and how Peeta saved her made me feel not so hungry anymore. It was like the time I was at Dachau Concentration Camp and we had just watched the introductory film filled with starving prisoners and some American stood up after the video was ended and loudly proclaimed, "Well, it's time to go get something to eat!". Tact much?

5) The Everafter by Amy Huntley. One of those books that I probably needed to read. Why? Because I form strange attachments to inanimate objects just like Madison Stanton, the protagonist, did. And now that she is dead, she has discovered that through the objects she's lost throughout her life, she can go back and revisit those moments. Until she finds the missing object and the experience of that memory is forever lost to her. It made me wonder just what sort of lost objects I would find in my own "Is", though I would go beyond year 17 now. I was surprised just how she died. I wasn't quite expecting that.

6) The Thirteenth Princess by Diane Zahler. A fairy tale, retold. This one of the "Twelve Dancing Princesses". Jo recommended that I read it next. It was light and enjoyable, having the tale told with an extra princess. One who is, unfortunately, regulated to working as a servant because her father, the King, blamed her for causing her mother's death. And for not being a boy. Despite that, Zita (unlike her sisters who's names all start with "A's"), has turned out to be a well-adjusted girl who, during the course of the book, befriends a stablehand, a witch, and a soldier, all on her quest to help her sisters end their curse. I did figure out earlier on who the bad witch was. I'm not sure if I should be proud of myself, or not!

Currently reading: The Agency: A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee - Fun!

Time spent reading/blogging: 17 hours, 15 minutes
Books read: 6
Pages: 1567
Money donated: $31.50

9 hours in...

2010-06-04T17:51:00.004-04:00

And I feel like I'm moving at a snail's pace reading my books. All will be well, though, I am sure. As long as I have four total done by hour 12, I think I should reach my goal. Maybe? Goal being to at least match the amount I read last year.

So, what have I been reading so far?

First up was Castle Adamant by Sally Watson. She's an old favorite of mine who just recently started writing again. Or at least publishing her books again. The problem with her books that generally her characters are at least slightly related to characters from other books and it makes me want to go read the other ones again! Watson again wrote a fabulously eccentric female character from the time of the Civil War in England, Verity. She being a Roundhead "kidnapped" by Royalists and ending up at a Royalist stronghold Castle Corfe. Pretty much all of Watson's main female characters give me hope that maybe men out there really do prefer their women intelligent instead of just easy-going, as of course Verity was going to end up with the snappish Peregrine, as they battled out their feelings for God, country, and themselves with a dialogue peppered with Latin, Greek, and Bible scripture. A rewarding read.

Next we turned our thoughts to modern times with a paranormal twist. In other words, Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins. So I figured out some of the villainy ahead of time in this book, however, I wasn't quite prepared for all the treachery or the death. I can see why Jo would want me to read it as it is very entertaining and pulls you in. I'm looking forward to the next book.

Thirdly, was Julia Golding's Black Heat of Jamaica, the fifth book in the Cat Drury books. I had to order this one from the UK because it wasn't out yet and I can't say enough about the fun that is this series. Seriously. Not to mention we have Billy Shepherd actually acting, dare I say it, passably nice to Cat in this one. Actually, most of the major players from earlier books were gone in this volume and we were left with many a villain. Or at least scoundrels and one villain (Kingston Hawkins). And believe you me, he was up to great and terrible things. Looking forward to the next adventure with Cat (yes, I actually already have this one pre-ordered) but it is going to be a lengthy wait.

And now I'm reading Crazy Beautiful by Lauren Baratz-Logsted.

Hours: 9.5ish now
Books read: 3
Pages: 883
Money donated: $15.75

Ready, set, go!

2010-06-04T08:34:00.002-04:00

"The moment we have all been waiting for," quote Jojo. And I'm ready to start this thing.

My charity of choice this year is a couple from my church who are in the midst of adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia. So, I am doing $5 per regular book read, $1 per graphic novel, and $.25 per valid comment on my blog. I can wait to meet their new son!

And now it starts with a Sally Watson book, as tradition dictates. Hopefully my air conditioning issue will be fixed today.

Everybody is playing the game.

2010-05-12T23:01:00.003-04:00

Luckily the rules are the same. (Yes, I am misquoting a musical, and that musical is Chess).

I have most recently signed up to compete (yes, like an athletic event) in MotherReader's 48 Hour Book Challenge. I was in it for gold last year for my own mercenary reasons (ARC of Catching Fire much?), but this year, I want to go all the way for the charity of my choice. Which, I can't quite say yet because I have not gotten it approved by those who need to approve it, but it will be for a splendid cause if I have any say in the matter.

What I won't be doing is seeing a show after the event as I did last year (Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and I so wish I had seen it when I was more awake). Nor will I be celebrating barricade day with my friends who are stuck on this continent and can't celebrate it in Paris with all the other Les Miserables junkies. No exciting Paris trips for me this year. Instead, I'll be reading for a cause.

I have been reading Estelle Lazer's Resurrecting Pompeii the last few days, and I am quite enjoying myself. More for her humorous commentary on stories written by Theophile Gautier which feature heroes who have a tendency to form attachments with random body parts of long-dead women: in one instance a cast of a woman's bosom and hips, the other a woman's foot. Now I want to read these stories outright, despite the fact that the author gave a brief summary of them. The stories being Arria Marcella and The Mummy's Foot.

I love how reading one book can introduce you to another. I would have never heard about Gautier, I bet, except for this book. It is just like how one blog can inform another and link to something else and it continues forever. Sometimes I get lost in reading blog posts. Oh, technology, what a "time waster" you are to me. Or is it? Certainly I learn things when I hop from one blog to the next following a stream of information that interests me.

But now I am feeling woefully tired. Perhaps I am no longer young enough to stay up late and keep night hours. That bodes ill for the challenge...

Mayhem! Or, "to be continued..."

2010-01-29T08:25:00.004-05:00

Growing up, I always enjoyed reading books by authors that were dead (though I did read those by authors living, of course). There was a finality to it that the authors would be unable to leave you hanging because the next book was already written. So even if they did leave you with a tantalizing "to be continued..." at the end of one book, there was always the immediate relief of the next. Unless they die before the series is complete. But new authors? You have to wait a while for the next book to come out. That sometimes takes a bit of patience!

And Then Everything Unraveled by Jennifer Sturman

Cordelia Truesdale (or Delia to her friends), a California girl living with her mom, T.K., goes surfing one day only to come home to the news that her mother has disappeared during an Antarctica expedition and is presumed dead by all. Everyone, that is, except for Delia herself. However, a reading of T.K.'s will sends Delia to live in NYC with her Aunt Charity (or Charley), with her other aunt, Patience, acting as her trustee; neither of which she had ever met before. As if starting her junior year in a new preppy private school isn't enough, Delia attempts to unravel the mystery of her mother's disappearance and along the way makes friends with a tech-saavy schoolmate, becomes attracted to a boy who might be dangerous, ask the assistance of a private detective, be told her future by a psychic, and attempt to avoid T.K.'s oily assistant, Thad.

I enjoyed reading this, but I do wish that it didn't leave me with a hanging ending. Though at least one thing was resolved by the end o the book. Of course, I'm not going to say what! I am looking forward to reading the sequel, And Then I Found Out the Truth.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood

The first book in a new series, Maryrose Wood quickly introduces the reader to the ever intrepet Miss. Penelope Lumley, who at fifteen years of age is a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females. Armed only with sayings of Agatha Swanburne (not all of them make sense), her favorite stories in the Giddy-Yap, Rainbow series, and her own personal convictions, Miss Lumley is still not quite prepared to face her newest challenge: being a governess to three children recently found running wild in the woods of Ashton Place. Named the Incorrigibles by Lord Frederick, the owner of Ashton Place, Alexander, Cassiopeia, and Beowulf face many challenges in becoming normal children as taught by Miss Lumley, not the least of which are the local squirrels. When the much anticipated ball (by Lady Charlotte, at least) devolves into "Mayhem!" as shouted by Cassiopeia, many questions are raised but none are answered by the end of the book.

In a way it reminding me in parts of Lois Lowry's The Willoughbys and Joan Aiken's The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. Perhaps the orphans, perhaps the mystery, or maybe just the sometimes ridiculousness of it demonstrated by the adults in the story. While I wish I knew more by the end of the story, I did find it a fun romp. I'm looking to reading more of the series!

Ruined (and the not so ruined Helen Hayes nominations)

2010-01-26T22:38:00.009-05:00

Rebecca Brown, the fifteen-year-old protagonist of Ruined, a young adult novel by Paula Morris, finds herself at the beginning of the book shuttled off to live in the pre-Katerina city of New Orleans while her father is on an assignment in China. Her mother is dead, and there is only her Aunt Claudia, who isn't actually her aunt, to take care of her for an entire school year. Upon arriving in New Orleans, Rebecca learns she will be attending the prestigious Temple Mead School for girls, a school that has a rigid system of hierarchy that Rebecca, being an outsider, will never be able to crack.

The story really starts to move when Rebecca disobeys her aunt and sneaks into the cemetery (rule 1 - do not go into the cemetery) to spy on a group of "Them" girls from the Temple Mead School and their boy followers (rule 2 - do not associated at all with that group of kids). Of course, Rebecca makes a noise while spying on them, and has to flee through the cemetery. Except she gets lost. And meets a girl who points the way out. A girl who turns out to be a ghost.

Ruined took me back to the good old fashioned ghost stories of my own youth. A time where there were no zombies and vampires to interupt a good haunting. I could see the plot twists coming, but I still had fun getting there. Perhaps the most interesting aspects of the story for me was learning more about New Orleans historically and pre-Katrina. I think that the ghost, Lisette, had the most fleshed out character (yes, even as a ghost) of anyone in the book including Rebecca. I wish I could have learned more about Helena and what made her tick, though I guess every teen book needs that randomly awful for no apparent reason mean girl. And the romance aspect of it, I don't think it really needed it because to me it was more Lisette's story than Rebecca's.

Overall, while it had some weaknesses, I did enjoy Paula Morris's Ruined.

Next up: The dreaded "To Be Continued..." (a.k.a. two books I have recently read that featured those words at the end of the book)

And can I just get my theatre dorkiness squee out? I was so excited to see that both David Turner and Miriam Silverman were nominated for this year's Helen H ay es Awards (it is Washington, D.C.'s yearly theatre awards). And both for their performances as Tristan and Marcela in Shakespeare Theatre's Dog In the Manger, one of my favorite productions of last year (and currently in my top list of plays). Also Arcadia was nominated for several awards and other shows I liked. I can get more into the Helen Hayes Awards than the Tony Awards because I see a greater portion of the shows, so I do actually have my favorites!

And who could resist a play that has such lines as, "Late again, missing all the fun, like a virgin at an orgy." My friend actually made a t-shirt for me with that line on it as a birthday present. Though, however much fun Tristan was, my heart and sympathies went out to Marcela. "You don't throw stones at a window to test the quality of the glass."

However, I also have to love Arcadia just because of the archival dorkiness and Tom Stoppard love. I can't believe I went this long without knowing about the awesomeness of this play of his (though to be honest, the only other one I've seen by Stoppard is Rock 'n' Roll both in NYC and at Studio Theatre here in D.C.). I only wish that Thomasina (and Septimus) had a happier ending. Still, who could resist loving the opening line, "Septimus, what is carnal embrace?"..

Open letter to librarians from California

2010-01-25T09:51:00.004-05:00

Dear Librarians of California,

Why? Why do you have to be so helpful? It puts pressure on us other poor librarians, especially those from the east coast. And then add to that your natural beauty, us less beautiful east coast librarians just can not compare.

Hah. We had a patron in the other day who told us that life was better in California as for as libraries and librarians go. I'll be taking his words with a grain of salt, however, because he also believed that my boyfriend called me at work to break up with me (because I was a bad kisser). I really don't know where he gets this information because that never happened to me at all! And, I might add, is slander. Especially the way the story is spreading... (not that I'm helping at all by posting it here).

Librarians are helpful and hot the world over, not just in California. Or that's what I choose to believe.

Love,
Kristin

Maybe I'd rather usher at a theatre.

2010-01-24T14:45:00.004-05:00

I've been slacking off on reading the past two days. That could potentially be a bad thing, I guess, but I have actually been working on completing the blanket that I started crocheting about two and a half years ago. That's a long time for me, when at one point, I was cranking one out every couple of months. I guess because this one is for me and not a gift, I haven't felt the inspiration. Until I realized how much nicer my apartment would look without random piles of granny squares around. I have enough piles of books in this place that anything else is just messy in the extreme. That and I want to put the keyboard my brother gave/lent to me where I was keeping these piles. Seems like a good enough excuse to get to work! That isn't the blanket that I'm in the midst of working on, but it is going to end up looking just like that once it is complete. Minus the scarf.

I also ushered at Ford's Theatre last night. It's a volunteer opportunity I first began last year with their production of The Civil War, and I have enjoyed the opportunity to help out while still getting to see a show (for free!). Last night's production was called The Rivalry by Norman Corwin (though I kept wanting to call it The Dispute). The play was about the Lincoln/Douglas debates of 1858 (the election that Lincoln lost) as told through the debates themselves (dialogue was pulled from the debates) seen through the lense of Stephen Douglas's wife Adele looking back on what happened. It's a very enjoyable show (in my opinion), though quite dorky. Great if you love history!

I couldn't help but think, however, that being a volunteer usher is not at all unlike being a librarian.

For example:

1) As a librarian, I get to scan your card and that recognizes the patron and their ability to check out items. As an usher, I get to scan your ticket and that identifies you as a paying patron with a seat.

2) "Can I help you find a book?" (and then leading them to the correct section in the library) isn't that far off from "Can I help you find your seat?" (and once again taking them to the correct seat).

3) I have the Dewey Decimal System to work with at the library. At the theatre, I have the sometimes confusing seat numbers. Everyone gets confused and misplaced sometimes, even books!

4) Instead of handing them a receipt when the transaction is complete, I hand them a playbill once I have shown them their seat.

5) "Where is the bathroom/water fountain/add in your own directional question?" Same the world around, I suppose.

6) Nametags are desired, and sometimes required, no matter how much you dislike them.

7) Ah, reference questions. They are the meat and potatoes of my library diet. How was I to know I would be asked questions about Lincoln's life (and not have any resourses but my brain as an aid) and questions about recyling and what exactly does go into the paper slot vs trash. E.G. Where does the leftover cookie bits go? (Um, trash?)

8) Wearing a bright smile, no matter what is happening in your life? Same in both places!

9) Drunk patrons. You can find them both at the library and at the theatre. What a relief!

Really, it's all about working with the public. I just never thought that my library career would inform my ushering job. Though, I guess I should be grateful, because I'm not quite the expert. Though I'm always happier if I get my special corner of the theatre where I like to work.

I am so good in this scene.

2010-01-21T22:12:00.004-05:00

Have you ever read a book and have some glaring instance of "that isn't right!" happen? Now you know I'm a big theatre geek, and a big fan of shows like Les Miserables (really, if people die, I'm happy). So imagine my surprise when I come across this little bit in Alex Flinn's Diva. I really like Alex Flinn's books, especially her fairy tale ones, and this really was a tiny thing that had nothing to do with the main character at all, but, reading it just annoyed me, though I'm sure that other people wouldn't have picked up on it at all. The book is about a teenage girl, Caitlin, who sings opera and, at the beginning of the book, has been accepted into the Miami High School for the Performing Arts.

When one of the other characters (who becomes a friend of Caitlin) introduces herself to her Performing Arts classmates, she makes the statement that she performed as Young Eponine on Broadway in Les Miserables. Now, if you have ever seen Les Miserables, you would know that the role of Young Eponine is a bit role. She does not say anything, nor does she sing at all. It is Young Cosette that has the lines and sings "Castle on a Cloud". I can only assume that the author got the two confused because it is Eponine who has a song in the second act (and has millons of teenage fans).

Secondly, the roles of Young Eponine/Young Cosette is typically shared by either two or three girls depending on the production (though I do believe some of the regional productions might have assigned girls to either Young Eponine or Young Cosette). But, you would either be not in a performance or in the performance as either Young Eponine or Young Cosette depending on the rotation used. A young actress on Broadway in Les Miserables would not be cast as Young Eponine. She would be cast as both roles. Though, if you were announcing to your class you performed on Broadway in Les Miserables, it would make more sense to claim you were Young Cosette rather than Young Eponine.

Yes, I have thought way too much about this. Have you ever run into something that just sticks out as wrong to you?

Next up... Ruined by Paula Morris

And, a bit more personal. I've been pondering the need for new pointe shoes. The ones I am currently wearing (because I have three pairs I rotate) are from 1997. I really have no idea if they are the kind of shoe I should even be wearing anymore, as obviously a lot can happen in 13 years. Perhaps what I find more frightening is that one of my fellow dancers is 13-years-old. Yes, my pointe shoes are the same age as her. That makes me practically ancient in ballet terms! But, really, I fell yesterday doing a pirouette en pointe. How embarrassing, right? Maybe I'm just getting too old for this type of thing.

So, it wasn't Babe Ruth, but...

2010-01-19T19:23:00.002-05:00

It's been a while, n'est pas? So much, and yet so little, has happened the past six months or so. I'm going to be an aunt again! That's exciting news. I'm also going to be in the local ballet production of The Nutcracker come June (I know, a little late-just so long as it doesn't interrupt any 48-hour book challenges!). But, at present, I just returned from ALA midwinter in Boston where I attended a genealogy pre-conference event, caught up with old Simmons friends and Boston itself, and snagged a lot of books that I have been interested in reading. Perhaps most exciting, however, was I managed to quite accidentally meet a favorite author of mine.

I was sitting in the Au Bon Pain cafe that was attached to the hotel we were staying at, talking with Julie (my friend and co-worker) and two other librarians who were on her committee, when an older woman came up to us and asked us if we were librarians. We stated in the affermative, and she went on to thank us for being librarians because she, as an author and as a child, always has had a soft spot for librarians. Score points for us! Which I thought was quite nice of her to say, since obviously we weren't her librarians, just some random librarians off the street (and we never can get enough of complements, can we?). She told us that she had been out of the writing/publishing field for a while, and was interested in starting back up and she was doing a reading soon for that purpose. She then handed us a flier for her upcoming reading, her name was on top and it was... Bette Greene, author of Summer of My German Soldier, one of my favorite books when I was a kid! (Seriously, how could you not love a book that had a hot, German boy in World War II who was not evil-it's like how could you not love Nat Eaton from Witch of Blackbird Pond? You just can't not.)

This meant that I of course had to go and talk to her. I told her how much I loved reading Summer of My German Soldier growing up (and, even now), and she seemed delighted that I actually remembered who she was and liked her writing. She gave me a hug and sat me down to talk a little about her life at present and books, both hers and others. Her husband had been sick for the past twelve years, and she had gone to taking care of him full time, which is why she was about of the writing business for so long. I did not realize until she was telling me about how she writes about emotions (those that she has experienced) and not plot points, that Summer of My German Soldier had personal meaning to her. Not that I asked her if she had a father who liked to beat her. I hope that wasn't part of her emotional experience growing up.

She also attempted to shock me out of my librarian senses by informing me that she thought that the writing for Make Way For Ducklings was pedestrian, though she loves the plot (and wishes she had thought of it). However, I wasn't shocked because it had been so long since I read that book, that I don't remember all the details. She also said that she was due for a reread, so maybe it will come off better this time around.

Ms. Greene signed the flier for me, as I obviously didn't have a book handy, and now I will have that to treasure for life. You never know who you are going to meet in the magical city that is Boston! Actually, that's true. Because Julie and I also ran into Mitali Perkins as we were on our way into the exhibits. She was on her way out!

So, which author from your childhood would you love to randomly meet one day? I'm sad that I will never get the chance to meet Madeleine L'Engle or Lloyd Alexander. I never would have had a chance to see L.M. Montgomery, so she doesn't count.

Temaraire

2009-07-14T22:12:00.005-04:00

I have lately finished the five books that current make up the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik, though I believe that there is at least one more in the works for the series. The titles are: His Majesty's Dragon, Throne of Jade, Black Powder War, Empire of Ivory, and Victory of Eagles. In truth, I read them in such quick succession that I have a hard time remembering exactly what happened in each book, though I do acknowledge that the most exciting action takes place in books 1, 4, and 5. That is partially due to the fact that the majority of the battles discussed takes place in those books.

I was first introduced to this series by several of my friends; all of whom were gaga over the books. In order to have any sort of meaningful conversation with them at present, it seemed best to read the books and join in. I'm already quite backwards in their society because I've only read the first two Patrick O'Brian books. I hear that they do get more exciting the further along you go. Perhaps another attempt is due someday.

Novik takes dragons and plops them in the middle of the Napoleonic Wars. A very interesting place to land, I might add. The addition to aerial combat to just the regular land/naval battles adds a completely different twist on revisionist history. And these dragons are unique in that they want to do more than just fight, they also want to be philosophers. Ok, that's a lie. Temeraire, the main dragon on which this series revolves, wants to become a philospher/political activist/fighter/etc. Basically, he is a Mary Sue, and does a great job of it, until the little (huge) firebreather Iskierka comes along and tries to out-Mary Sue him. That battle hasn't been finished, though many others are covered. So far, Novik has taken us, along with Temeraire and his captain Laurence, across three continents in these five books, and I believe the sixth book will feature another one.

Will I read the next one? Of course. I'm too attached to these dragons to let them go. Especially little Volly. I love how he eagerly anticipates getting a cow whenever he courier run takes him to Temeraire. He's so adorable!

What I collect, but, not why.

2009-07-06T22:26:00.005-04:00

I attended the Smithsonian's Folklife festival this past Friday. No, that is a lie. I attended the Welsh portion of the festival; that country being of particular interest to me seeing as that is where I did my study abroad. I actually met a girl from Carmarthen at the festival. We also found the "Dafydd" and "Jones" tents. Though not together. A Tom Jones, however, was found.

But, the best find? Sheep Poo Paper. Yes, that's right. Paper that is so environmentally friendly, it is made out of sheep poo. Let's just say that people should be expecting to get some very adorable sheepiness for Christmas cards this year. Could you really resist the sheep on the tree? I thought not.

The final act of the day was to go to Second Story Books, or at least their warehouse store in Rockville. It is well worth the drive.

I'll let you in on a little secret. I collect what I like to call "Victorian moralistic children's tales", and Friday night, I was in heaven. I can trace this collecting frenzy back to when I was somewhere between 10 and 12. I loved reading Frances Hodgsen Burnett's A Little Princess and The Secret Garden over and over. When in my library's booksale, I came across a Burnett book I had never heard of: T. Tembarom. I was shocked! Why had nobody told me she had written other things. In fact, she had written a great deal of other things, and I have travelled over the world to collect them. Florida: Sara Crewe, Hay-on-Wye: Louisiana and The Pretty Sister of Jose, Edinburgh: That Lass O' Lowries, and back again home, Plattsburgh: The Lost Prince (a particular favorite of mine). Finding one of her books in a used bookstore is like my own private treasure hunt. A holy grail of used bookstore shopping, so to speak.

Not that I don't have others. I would kill to find a non-ex-library copy of Sally Watson's Witch of the Glens, or actually any of her books. Though I have never had luck at all finding them.

So, imagine my joy when I discover an old copy of Racketty-Packetty House by Burnett. My joy is made complete when I run across these classics of Victorian children's literature that I had no idea existed let alone needed to have. Things such as Helen of the Glen: A Tale for Youth from 1827. Or Helps Over Hard Places for Girls (1862) by Lynde Palmer written as a response to Helps Over Hard Places for Boys. Or even Facing Death, a reprint of an 1882 edition. The back of that book states that "'Facing Death' is a story with a purpose." How can you go wrong with a beginning like that?

So, is it weird that I collect these types of books? One of my favorite books I own is The Story of Naughty Kildeen by Queen Marie of Romania. I have the special edition that has hand-tinted artwork by Job. It is, I have to admit, very shiny. Of course, then there is the Enid Blyton Christmas book that has an inscription in it that makes me think that an American soldier must have bought it for his daughter over in England during WWII.

I won't even get onto my collection of books that contain statistical data about the United States and other fun facts. Of course, then there are the just plain weird for even me. Like the advanced reader's copy of racist author Thomas Dixon, Jr's The Leopard's Spots which I pulled out from the garbage pile at at FOL bookstore because a) I had no clue what the book was about but, b) in the front was a letter signed by the author asking for the reader to send in reviews of the book once it had been read. I thought that that was fabulous and had to save it. Little did I know...

Everybody's playing the game

2009-06-24T09:43:00.002-04:00

So, our teen read summer challenge has begun! I'm signed up on Team Library, along with much of the rest of our staff and a few selected individuals from the schools. Right now we are ahead by a few thousand, but I expect that to change in the near future when we have our first get together event. Which is mainly an opportunity for the teens to laugh at us old folks if we should dare to try out things like Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero. I at least had a spot of practice on both games thanks to Julie, but, I'm far from a superstar on either of them.

So, my resolve is to blog all of the books I've read so far. And, I'm already behind. Luckily just by two books. I'm a bit slow these days.

But, coming soon to a blog near you will be reviews of:

Cindy Ella by Robin Palmer
Hearts and Minds by Rosy Thornton
and... Viola in Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani

The Finish (Finnish) Line

2009-06-08T08:14:00.001-04:00

It's great to be done! I thank you all for your patience in letting me take a day to recover before posting this. I was just about to do it last night, but then realized that I wasn't in the mood to post my final two book reviews, and that delayed me just a bit. That and it was after midnight when I returned home.

My friend Jess (with whom I saw Arcadia last night) has informed me that what I did would be considered torture under the Geneva Convention and that I must not be allowed to do it any more. At that point, I fully agreed.

So, my totals?

Total time reading/blogging/networking: 47 hrs, 33 min
Total books: 14
Total pages: 3829
Breaks: 0
Time spent doing things that could damage books (washing hands/rinsing dishes, etc): 27 minutes
Hours awake: 50
Times I wanted to gouge out eyes: oh, dozens

Ok, lying on that last one. But, yes, I do agree with Jess. I don't think you will see me staying awake for that long again, unless I really am being tortured! Plus, I think I would have actually read more books with more sleep. And, I need to focus more on networking for next year. That should be my new goal. I really only commentated on people's blogs if they were people I knew. Even online I'm still dreadfully shy and don't want to take the chance of annoying people with comments about how I'm reading that same book, etc. Maybe one of these days!

Maybe if I networked more, I would be more apt to keep this blog update, right?

Thanks, MotherReader for hosting this read-a-thon again!

Tom Stoppard is a brilliant man.

2009-06-08T07:44:00.003-04:00

He really is! Arcadia is so wonderful that I managed to stay awake the entire 3 hours of the show! And the show is not only for mathematicians, but also for archivists. Hence, I am in love! It's playing until next weekend at Folger Theatre, so go if you can!

My last couple of reviews!

13) Geek Charming by Robin Palmer

To say that I enjoyed this book would be a lie. And, it is not the book's fault at all, it is mine. I was reading it at the time that I was so utterly exhausted that my eyes kept skipping bits and therefore had to go back and re-read whole paragraphs sometimes. If there was a possibility that I was sleep-reading, this book would show proof. But, march on I did. No, the book itself was light and fun, a retelling of the frog prince story. Which, you have to admit, is not done at all pretty much. I do like the ending and how it wasn't completely formulaic. It was like Dylan got the ending that Parker was looking for in Cracked Up to Be.

Page count: 338

14) Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs

I revived myself in time to read this book. It helped that for the most part, I was standing at my window reading it and for some reason, it helped me concentrate a whole lot better. You know, there is nothing like "normal is the new loser" which Phoebe finds out when she ends up at her new school, a school for the descendants of the Greek gods. Complete with running, a pesky stepsister, and an amazingly hot and mean guy/god, there is plenty of adventure in this book.

Page count: 264

Total pages read: 3829

Thank goodness I'm done!

There is no way to go on... (48 hours have passed)

2009-06-07T07:44:00.003-04:00

Though, I've actually not seen my bed nor bathed in nearly 50 hours which is making me rather twitchy. I have two more reviews to write, one on Geek Charming by Robin Palmer, the other on Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs. I know! My reading totally slowed down the longer I went without sleep. Because I did read all night long. That's rather sad, isn't it? I trust that you will not find me too lame for not doing it right away, but, I have six hours to catch up on two day's sleep before I need to head off to DC to see Arcadia.

Needless to say, my wrap-up post will come hopefully by late tonight/early tomorrow morning. I don't think I will try again this reading for 48 hour straight with no sleep breaks. I think my health has been wrecked.

I'm so glad to be done!

I'm turning into an old woman!

2009-06-06T23:07:00.003-04:00

Eheu! I thought I was being good about not being too sedentary over the past two days, but I was just shifting positions and I realized that I suddenly have the feet of an old woman. My veins are popping out and now I'm terribly worried. Was it due to poor blood circulation or just lack of sleep? Is the 48 Hour Book Challenge really worth it? Maybe I should be afraid to look in the mirror because I might now have gone totally grey. Needless to say, I may be walking around the apartment for the next few hours just to make sure the blood is circulating. Eep!

So, some book reviews because it has been a while?

9) Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

I know, I know. It should be considered shocking that I haven't read this series yet. I'm kind of tossed as to how much I actually like the books. They are fun reads, but, they do sometimes seem to drag a bit. And, I kind of want to smack Shay around a bit.

Page count: 425

10) Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

Especially in this one. Shay needs a bit of a smack down. The plot reminds me a bit of Tanith Lee's Biting the Sun. I guess with the whole tribe of youngsters who get to be pretty and yet some are disallusioned. But, maybe that's me. I seem to really like saying that these books I'm reading remind me of others these days.

Page count: 370

11) North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

Another book I had to argue with Marina to send down. I've read her other two books and really enjoyed them, so, of course, I wanted to read this one as well. I was not disappointed, even though this story seemed to share the plot with both the daughter, Terra, and her mother and how they both develop and mature over the course of the story. I was so cheering for her mom! And very much disliking her father and older brother. Boo!

Page count: 373

12) The Dog in the Manger by Lope de Vega (trans. by David Johnson)

I will not lie, I adore this play. I saw it twice at Shakespeare Theatre in DC this winter I liked it that much. Though, it is probably just the one based on this translation. I mean, how can you not love a show that has lines like, "Late again, missing all the fun, like a virgin at an orgy." My friend actually had that line made up as a shirt for me (which I still haven't found a proper place to wear it to). I adore Tristan! And I do so adore Marcela, betrayed by love. So, yes, call me dorky, but I had to go out and buy this script after seeing the show I liked it so well.

Page count: 125

Total pages read: 3227

And, I'm in the midst of Geek Charming by Robin Palmer at the moment. 8 1/2 hours left. I'm so not going to fall asleep for all 48 hours. I haven't taken a break at all (unless you count potty breaks) so I'm so greatful that we can take time to look at other's blogs. It's been a real lifesaver for my sanity. I can't wait to see the outside world starting tomorrow morning at 8! Well, rather at 3pm once I'm done sleeping (unless I'm so totally exhausted that I can't sleep).

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons

2009-06-06T07:54:00.003-04:00

I don't know how I've been able to do it, but I've somehow managed to pass the entire night reading (with only a glass of soda for caffeine help). I'm rapidly approaching 24 hours now with no sleep and only the barest minimum of breaks (like to snatch my pre-made lunch and dinner from out of the fridge and quick trips to the loo). Can she make it another day? Can she? I think I'm going to have some friends over tonight to prod me awake if I dare look like I'm nodding off. That's what friends are for?

Though, I do have to say I'm a bit disappointed in my output overnight. Actually, no, I lied. There was just one book that seemed a bit dense to me and I slogged through that one. But, I wish I had at least one more book to my name by now. Eheu!

But, here goes!

5) Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon

This was an ARC that our lovely children's librarian, Julie, let me borrow. Yes, I steal all of my YA ARCs from her. So, I traveled from 1970's India to ancient China (why yes, I do like to travel around a lot these days) with this book. I thought that it was a pretty fun action type book, and it reminded me a little bit of that favorite Disney movie of mine, Mulan. Not that that is a bad thing! Except for the whole not cross-dressing (and, yeah, thanks Disney for making me have to explain what that meant to my little cousins). But, I liked it!

Page count: 343

6) Once a Princess by Sherwood Smith

This was the novel that dragged for me a bit. Which is odd considering I had read it in rough draft format on the author's website a few years ago, and it didn't seem to drag that much then. I'm going to chalk it up to being tired. It's actually only part one of the full story (which I have, but have not read yet), so it leaves off at a bit of a cliffhanger, as is to be suspected. The plot revolves around a mother and daughter who currently live in the United States, but are escaped princesses from another world. If that makes sense at all. It is fun.

Page count: 278

7) The Sweet, Terrible, Glorious Year I Truly, Completely Lost It by Lisa Shanahan

Now that's a title, right? I laughed out loud quite a bit while reading this book, which is quite excellent for me, because I usually like to hold back silly emotions like that. The last time I think I laughed so much was when I was reading Michelle Jaffe's Kitty Kitty (those Dadzilla references always crack me up). And yet, the story was more than just funny, (though I would have loved to have attended Gemma's sister's wedding) as it dealt with some heavy issues and, yes, even death.

Page count: 297

8) Fade by Lisa McMann

I read Wake about a month ago, and enjoyed it so much that I kept pestering Marina (our ILL system) until some county library system was willing to send me a copy of the sequel. And, it didn't disappoint. Fade also dealt with some pretty big issues, what with student-teacher relationships, date rape, and new lessons and hardships for our main character Janie. I hope that this series continues, even after Janie graduates from high school.

Page count: 248

Total page count: 1934

And, right now I'm midway through Scott Westerfield's Uglies. I'll be working my way through those books over the next few hours.

Eight 1/2 hours and four books later...

2009-06-05T16:37:00.000-04:00

Who knew that reading could be so wearing on one's body? Well, not really, but I am feeling the tiredness of inactivity, though I've danced my way around the apartment while reading. I thought I would get my 30 minutes of blog time in before I start another book. I have managed to only take about five minutes or so off since starting in order to use the loo and grab my pre-made sandwich from out of the refrigerator. I just might manage my goal, though I have now decided that I have this craving for chocolate chip cookie dough. Oops?

So, on the the books I've read so far!

1) The Delicate Pioneer by Sally Watson

This is actually a rewrite of Poor Felicity which was written in 1960. I had not read that version of the book (as it is OOP and insanely expensive), but the ending was apparently quite different in nature to this book's. I think I liked this ending better because it seems to match more with the character's nature, unless that was also changed in the original text. This story follows a southern plantation girl, Felicity Dare, on her overland trip to Seattle with her uncle and another orphan boy, Arne. She herself becomes and orphan when her parents die on the way there. She had been considered and was always treated as being "delicate" so is in for a rude awakening on the trip over there and once she gets there and realizes that there is no plantation with magnolia trees and slaves ready and waiting for her. But, I loved growing up with her and finding a bit more about the Dare family, ancestors of hers which were featured in The Hornet's Nest and Jade, if I do recall my history right.

Page count: 104

2) Constance by Patricia Clapp

I didn't mean to read two pioneer type books in a row, I really didn't! This book is another old one that I had never heard of before, but the children's librarian and the main library branch recommended it as a good book, so I thought it was worth a try. Constance Hopkins has come over to America on the Mayflower and doesn't like it very much. It's a big change from London, where she grew up and loved. Of course, she does manage to find her way in the world (and a husband) by the end of the book. Though I am left to wonder about John Cooke. Oh, and it did annoy me that she seemed to be using more modern slang in her dialogue. But still, an enjoyable, if somewhat old-fashioned, read.

Page count: 255

3) Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers

And this one was a total change of pace from the previous two. Set in modern times, with a very modern teen girl protagonist, Cracked Up to Be focuses on Parker Fadley's attempts to disappear from her family, her friends, and her school all over something that happened the end of junior year. You get bits and pieces of the story of that night throughout the novel. I didn't find Parker to be all that enjoyable of a character, though, I would say that that could be part of the point of the novel, since she was attempting to make herself undesirable to those around her, but failing miserably because her friends, and yes, even her enemies, seemed to want to help her out. So, interesting.

Page count: 214

4) Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins

Asha's father has lost his engineering job and so she, her mother, and her sister Reet have to go live at his brother's house until he can find a job in America. Of course, things don't always go as planned, just like in real life. What I thought was going to remind me of Padma Venkatraman's Climbing the Stairs actually ended up reminding me of Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle by the end of the book. Though, I guess you could say it was a bit of both (from what I remember of both books) all together. Which meant, I really liked the book, but I wanted to cry by the end of it. And yet, I am optimistic that Asha is going to find her happy ending. She is too smart and too strong not to.

Page count: 225

Total pages read so far: 768

Now, onwards to my next book!

Doesn't anyone here care about the rules?

2009-06-05T07:37:00.003-04:00

It is the starting line. Dun dun dun.

The basic guidelines of the 48 Hour Book Challenge:

The weekend is June 5–7, 2009. Read and blog for any 48-hour period within the Friday-to-Monday-morning window. Start no sooner than 7:00 a.m. on Friday the fifth and end no later than 7:00 a.m. Monday. So, go from 7:00 p.m. Friday to 7:00 p.m. on Sunday... or maybe 7:00 a.m. Saturday to 7:00 a.m. Monday works better for you. But the 48 hours do need to be in a row. That said, during that 48-hour period you may still have gaps of time in which you can’t read, and that’s fine. (In the middle of the three different challenge weekends I’ve had to go to work, attend a ballet recital, and drive for a Girl Scout event.)

The books should be about fifth-grade level and up. Adult books are fine, especially if adult book bloggers want to play. If you are generally a picture book blogger, consider this a good time to get caught up on all those wonderful books you’ve been hearing about. With the change in the way prizes are awarded, graphic novels can be included in the reading. One audiobook can also be included in your time and book total.

It’s your call as to how much you want to put into it. If you want to skip sleep and showers to do this, go for it. If you want to be a bit more laid back, fine. But you have to put something into it or it’s not a challenge. Twelve hours is the benchmark for winning prizes.

The length of the reviews or notes written in your blog are not an issue. You can write a sentence, a paragraph, or a full-length review. The time spent reviewing counts in your total time.

New this year: You can include some amount of time reading other participant’s blogs, commenting on participating blogs and Facebook pages, and Twittering about your progress (remember the #48hbc tag!). For every five hours, you can add one hour of networking. This time counts in your total time.

On your blog, state when you are starting the challenge with a specific entry on that day and leave the link to that post at the Starting Line post (via the trusty Mr. Linky).

When you finish, write a final summary that clearly indicates hours — including partial hours — you spent reading/reviewing/networking, the number of books read, and any other comments you want to make on the experience. It needs to be posted no later than noon EST on Monday, June 8th. Also, check in at the Finish Line post on MotherReader that will be posted Sunday and please link to that post from your final summary post.

I'm starting shortly after I post this, which means around 8 am, Friday, May 5th which will mean I will end at 8 am, Sunday, May 7th. After that, I need to see a show in DC! First book up will most likely be a Sally Watson book.

And my goal: to do better than last year, not worse!

48 Hour Book Challenge!

2009-06-04T09:46:00.002-04:00

I'm so very excited to announce the reawakening of this blog in order to participate in Mother Reader's 48 Hour Book Challenge! It's an event that I look forward to every year, and, like my co-worker Julie, think it is part of the reason why I still sometimes poke at this blog, in order to be ready to participate.

I've been pondering what to pick for a cause to donate to, and have decided that charity begins at home. Therefore, I'm going to donate either a $1.00 for every hour spent reading, or $.01 per page read (whichever turns out to be more) to my local library (and where I work) to either buy some replacement copies of summer reading books that have gone missing, or to put it to our exciting new teen summer reading challenge!

So, look for me starting tomorrow morning with the reading challenge. I'm giving it my all this year!

Bewitching Season

2008-08-13T19:57:00.004-04:00

Did I mention that I read several books while on vacation?

As a big fan of Patrica Wrede and Caroline Stevermer's Sorcery and Cecilia, I was very much looking forward to Marissa Doyle's Bewitching Season. Instead of cousins, however, Doyle's book features two twin sisters, Persephone (Persy) and Penelope (Pen) Leland who both study magic from their tutor Miss Allardyce (Ally). And, even better, Bewitching Season includes Princess Victoria as a character. I've always had a fondness for her, as we are the same height (4'10"), which means that the steps of Parliament match my tread just as much as they matched Queen Victoria's!

But, back to the book. Of course, nothing is as it seems in this tale of magic, mischief, and the question of who will control the county when Princess Victoria ascends to the throne. Persy and Pen are thrown into the middle of the intrigue when Ally is kidnapped by a mysterious magician who is being blackmailed by someone close to the throne. Attempting to locate where Ally is being held only draws them closer to danger.

Intermixed with the mystery and magic of the tale is Persy's desire to have nothing to do with the London season and getting married. All she wants to do is learn magic. Her sister, Pen, however, wants nothing more than to attend balls and be presented to the Queen, something which utterly terrifies Persy. But with the return of her neighbor, Lochinvar Seton, a boy that she hated growing up until one day when they realized they both shared a love of books, she is confused about her feelings towards marriage and love and how Lochinvar fits into everything. Pensy does makes mistakes with her relationships, both with her sister Pen and with Lochinvar, before finally figuring everything out.

For the most part, I was not disappointed. I did have a few slight quibbles with the (what I thought) shabby treatment Pen received from Doyle. She was reputed, granted from Persy's persepective, to be the beauty of the family, and yet seemed to pick up no suitors while Persy had multitudes. I'm hoping that Pen's story will be expanded if there is going to be a sequel. And there is, right? Also, the conclusion of their magical exploits seemed a bit too similar to a scene from Sorcery and Cecilia for my tastes.

And there is going to be a sequel coming out next fall! Betraying Season. And it will be Pen's story. So, yay!

And, if you want some fun historical tidbits, check out Marissa Doyle's blog.

My Most Excellent Year

2008-08-13T19:17:00.005-04:00

Musical theatre, baseball, Boston, and Julie Andrews? This sounds like a book for me!

My friend and I stumbled across My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger in a bookstore back when it was first released. After reading the cover and perusing the first few pages, I knew that it was going to be a book I had to read. So I wrote it down, and hoped for the day that ILL would send it my way. Thankfully, that day happened a few weeks ago, so I had the book in hand when I went on vacation to my grandmother's. And, I was supposed to visit with her, right? But, instead, I was instantly drawn into the world of T.C., Augie, and Alejandra. Luckily for her, it only took me a few hours to read it!

The book takes place during their freshman year, although it is done as a writing assignment when they are in eleventh grade. T.C. and Augie are brothers, not by birth, but by their definition of how brothers should act. Alejandra is new to the community, and an ambassador's daughter in the bargain. T.C. instantly sets his sights on her, while his manner of proposing his intentions to her leaves her very much indignant and for much of the book goes out of her way to annoy him. Augie, on the other hand, is determined to succeed as musical theatre actor and talent show director, looking all the while to famous musical theatre actresses for guidance.

I really did enjoy the development of the relationship between T.C. and Hucky, the six-year-old who gives T.C. signals about when to swing on a pitch during his baseball games. That is, if Hucky is liking T.C. at the moment! In Hucky, T.C. sees something of himself, as her lost his mother at a young age while Hucky is an orphan. Hucky has adopted Mary Poppins as his perfect mother figure, thus Julie Andrews plays a very important role in this plot of this book. But Augie and Alejandra face their own struggles in this book. Augie comes out as being gay, and Alejandra must stand up to her parents if she is ever to fulfill her dream of being an actress.

All in all, a delightful read. Well worth the effort to hunt it down!

And for some extra fun, you can visit Augie's website.

Incidently, while I was at grad school in Boston, I went to see the Julie Andrews directed show, The Boyfriend (which also happened to be her first Broadway show way back when). I also got to meet her, which was amazing. I wish I could have somehow brought baseball into this, but I really can't. Unless you can imagine that I went to see the show with a Red Sox baseball player as a date? That's the best I can do!

48 Hour Book Challenge Roundup!

2008-06-08T18:59:00.002-04:00

Total number of books read: 7

Total pages read: 2025

Total hours spent reading: 20 hours

There you have it, a miserable total for me! Hopefully next year it will be a better weekend for me where I don't have a dance recital, my parents aren't visiting, and I'm healthy. I guess I'll have to take a week off of work in order to make sure I don't deal with the sick public before this epic event!

It certainly has been fun!

48 Hour Book Challenge - Books 6 & 7

2008-06-08T18:42:00.005-04:00

Total number of books read: 7

Total pages read: 2025

Total hours spent reading: 20 hours

You know, it's sad when a 150 page book takes longer to read than a 300 page book. Oops. Here goes my last two books to review!

The Outrageous Oriel by Sally Watson
Total pages: 156

I have to say that at the end of reading this one, my first thought was "Sally Watson did not just go there!". But, I think she did. Of course, I can't say anything in depth about what exactly she did do because, well, there would go the ending. But, I have to wonder if a) this book was written back in the 1960s when she was writing her other children's books and was just never published, or if it is indeed a completely new story. It was nice having characters discussed in Lark explored in full. The main character, Oriel, was the eldest sister of Lark. The middle sister only briefly mentioned in her for her excellent housekeeping skills is in another newly published Sally Watson book, Loyal and the Dragon. That's another one that I'm looking forward to reading (especially if it has more of Alex from Witch of the Glens. That's something I love about her books, the way that you can somewhat indirectly follow the lives of characters from other books. They aren't in a series and can be all stand alone, but there is a nice tasty treat inside them if you are interested in finding out the current happenings of favorite characters. Or at least their descendants! Overall, not my favorite of hers, but still an enjoyable read.

Queste by Angie Sage
Total pages: 596

I do enjoy this series, even if I was confused in the beginning about what exactly was going on because I had completely forgotten about Septimus's brother Nicko being sucked out of time. Good thing that Jenna and Septimus are on the case! Though the villain does not make his presence truly known in this one unlike DomDaniel in previous volumes and the ending seemed a bit rushed and quickly resolved, it was still an enjoyable read. It does make me wonder where and if this series is going anywhere next. There was really no dramatic cliffhanger, though there was also no "yay and they all live happily ever after" either. So, the ending was kind of up in the air. And, really, no deaths. How strange!

48 Hour Book Challenge

2008-06-07T13:23:00.003-04:00

Total number of books read: 5

Total pages: 1273

Hours read: oh, dozens. Actually, I would say we are going on 12 hours right now. It is a little bit difficult because I was stuck at my recital's dress rehearsal last night from 7:30-11:30 without a watch and only passing glances at my book when I had a moment. But, there you have it.

Well, I started at 3:15 Friday afternoon. I decided to start with page volume first, and attacked my "300 pages" pile.

1) She's So Money by Cherry Cheva
Total pages: 290

She's So Money tells the tale of a Thai-American family, specifically one Maya who desperately wants to get into Stanford, and there's only one thing stopping her, a $10,000 fine. Add a boy who just might not be boyfriend material, a nerdy scheme to get rich quick, some blackmail, and a family who just might be willing to send her back to the rice paddies in Thailand. Basically, an enjoyable book. Though, I did have a sort of hard time believing that some super popular boy (Camden King) would be so into Maya. Though, he seems to be the one to hide his intelligence behind an idiot's exterior. Oh yes, win on the whole "name three writers of the Declaration of Independence" thing. I was totally singing from 1776 then.

2) How Not To Be Popular by Jennifer Ziegler
Total pages: 339

Maybe this was the reason I was singing Billy Joel's song "Home" this morning. Well, not exactly singing because my throat hurts so much. Sugar Magnolias (oh, Julie, I can't help but think of you there!) has been travelling all her life, want to set down some roots. Except when she realizes that she can't, Maggie decides to not connect with anyone at her new school. Failure of epic proportions. Not that you couldn't see that train wreck coming a mile away (much like my dance recital tonight!). I especially enjoyed the different costumes that she wore to attempt to avoid people liking her, and then that all backfired.

3) Peeled by Joan Bauer
Total pages: 247

To tell the truth, this wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but I was glad (due to the late hour I was reading it) that it wasn't really a ghost story, more of a "investigative reporting" story. That said, I was glad that I read it, despite the fact that I thought the main character's (Hildy Biddle) boy friend type person (Zach) was kind of bland. That said, I really wish we could have learned more about the Polish woman who owned the restaurant Minska. As well as Hildy's father. This isn't to say that I didn't like the book. I did! I guess I just wish there was more!

4) How To Hook a Hottie by Tina Ferraro
Total pages: 196

I think I should have skipped this one in my books to be read in a short time because it did kind of remind me too much of She's So Money, but I enjoyed this one less. Plotwise, Kate needs to raise $5,000 and keep straight "A's" for graduation so she can not go to college and do whatever she wants with her life and her college fund money. After being asked out by Mr. Popularity, she is suddenly accosted by people asking her how she did it, and she starts charging for advice. Pretty much the generic rags to riches and then crash and burn as the sudden popularity fades, only to ride off in the sunset with the real man of her dreams. This one just sort of dragged to me.

5) The Seer of Shadows by Avi
Total pages: 202

I really liked this one. Well, I've been interested in photographs of dead people since my research project on them back in grad school, but this book took it to another level. That of a photographer who, as a seer, could bring dead people into being as ghosts, just by taking their pictures. Of course, it seems to work most on vengeful ghosts, which makes it kind of hard to sympathize with their plight. You know, then whole, "you killed me so I'm going to get you now bwhahahahaha!!!!" type thing. I did want to like you, Eleanora, but, no. Utterly fabulous.

Ok, now that that has taken me upwards of an hour to write (in between talking to my parents and trying to find jewelry for my mom to wear, etc...) . Back to reading!

Oh, I can sign in!

2008-06-05T22:38:00.003-04:00

I am all prepped and ready for the 48 Hour Book Challenge! At least as far as books are concerned. I have over sixteen potential books to read, and right now they are all in different stacks based on page length. I'm so excited for this. I've been hoarding and ILLing books like mad the past few weeks in preparation. Despite the fact that I am a) sick, b) have a dance recital and c) have my parents visiting all in this same weekend, I am quite ready to give this a go.

I have to apologize for not blogging more. I come up with these brilliant blog entries (I assure you, they are brilliant), but they are all in my head. I mean, who else but me could combine Drew Gilpin Faust's This Republic of Suffering with James Patterson's Sundays at Tiffany's (which will probably be the only James Patterson that I will ever read) and the short lived television show New Amsterdam.

And then there was the planned entry of a review of Shakepeare Theatre Free For All's Hamlet, the viewing of which has been forever altered by the Canadian TV show Slings & Arrows, as well as Lisa M. Klein's Ophelia. The play was utterly wonderful, even though I was like, "But Ophelia isn't dead! She was just acting all crazy!". Um, am I not allowed to read reworkings of famous plays anymore?

But, since I'm not that adventurous to fully post all of my thoughts about the above and the hundreds of books I've read since I've last posted (it really is quite depressing), I think I'll go to sleep and hope I feel better in the morning!

Dear Buddha, please bring me a pony and a plastic rocket...

2007-12-06T23:12:00.000-05:00

It's Christmastime and love is in the air! Ok, well, maybe not so much. But, my Christmas tree is up and fully decorated. In even better news, my niece, Erin Elizabeth, was born a week ago Friday (November 30th). She's just adorable! Here, have a picture for free. The picture does not do her justice. Or so I've heard, as I have yet to see her. But, over Christmas I will!

This week, I have been reading less and crocheting more. Why, you ask? It's because I volunteered to make scarfs for B'way Kids Care's
knitting project. Though I am neither on Broadway or a kid. According to Marie (who is the mom of Zach, one of the Gavroche's in the revival of Les Miserables) who told us this at the stage door last weekend, they were behind production levels and needed more help to make enough scarves by mid-December. I having left over yarn bits volunteered to help out. After all, it was thanks to her that we got our backstage pass to the Broadhurst Theatre.

That's not to say I haven't been reading anything. Why, just the other day I finished reading Sarah Stewart Taylor's first book, O' Artful Death. If I were to write mysteries, it would be something like what I might come up with. The main character (she of red, curly hair, of course), does research on Victorian grave art and mourning rituals. And, hello, wasn't that my senior research thesis for undergrad? Why yes it was. In that aspect, it was a lot more fun than Danielle Steel's The House, however much it pretended to talk about historic preservation (which was my undergrad major). This book dealt with a pre-Raphaelite-esque grave statuary and the mystery surrounding it, plus several deaths. As one of our patron's says regarding mysteries, if somebody isn't dead (or laid) by chapter three, it's not worth reading.

Teen reading? How about Hush by Donna Jo Napoli. Julie and I set up a "Fairy Tales for all Ages" display, and while we don't own this one, I thought it looked interesting enough to track down, as I am a fan of retelling of fairy tales. This one was Nordic, and one I'm unfamiliar with. The main character, Mel, and her sister are kidnapped by slave traders. Mel is the stupid one, compared to her younger sister Bridget. It's only following her sister's example that she remains silent and does not acknowledge their relationship in front of the traders. Soon, though, she learns the power she has gained over those who captured her just by remaining silent (and playing into their own superstitions). My friend Jess teases me about reading Mary Sue-eqsue YA lit (see Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson for all of your Mary Sue needs) , but the nice thing about this, was there was no conventional "happily ever after" fairy tale ending. There were several things left open and unknown by the end of the story. As Byron Rogers said about Princess Gwenllian who was shuttled off to a convent for her entire life by King Edward, "I would like to think she was happy, for anything else would be just too sad".

I was also tagged by Jennie for a meme. So, why not? Maybe it will breathe new life into this old blog!

The rules are:
1) Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2) Share 7 facts about yourself.
3) Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
4) Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I'm going to skip the last two, because, really, how many people do I know on blogger who haven't been tagged? Zilch. Really. I'm so lame.

So, 7 things about myself...

1. I miss Wales. It was one of those weird things that I felt at home as soon as I was over there, and so off balance and lost when I came back to the states. I used to constantly have these dreams with people from the program saying that I was welcome to come back immediately. Of course, I would wake up before that happened. Hopefully next year! That's what I'm shooting for. In other words, I love to travel! Though I suffer from being no longer "heart-whole" as Lauchlin did in The Hornet's Nest by Sally Watson. (You should totally check her books out if you haven't already, btw.)

2. When I'm cleaning my house, and if I find a headpiece laying around, I generally tend to pick it up and wear it while cleaning. This could be a winter hat I crocheted, a Victorian headpiece I wear with my ballgown, or a tiara. Perhaps this is silly of me, but that is what I do.

3. I'm totally addicted to collecting Victorian to early 20th century kid lit. It's so cracktastic and moralistic and absolutely hilarious at times. Really, I am drawn to it. But, just think, in my copy of The Children of France: A Book of Stories of the Heroism and Self-sacrifice of Youthful Patriots of France During the Great War, I found an early piece of fanfic, with the author giving one girl a happy ending and a metal to boot! You can't make these things up, and it doesn't get better than this.

4. I collect historical information about a family that isn't mine. The Davidge's of the Washington/Baltimore area. Truth is, they are easy to track down (as they used the same ten names in rotation) than my own family, and it's thanks to them that I went into the archivist's career. And look where it's taken me. To the reference desk.

5. I sang the National Anthem at Yankee Stadium. Now I'm afraid I'm losing my voice due to misuse. Can anyone find me a local choir group I can join? Please.

6. I'm bad in social situations. Though, isn't that the case with lots of librarians? I swear, I need to go home and not talk to people after work because it drains me so much, all that being nice and helpful to everyone. Though, my nickname at work is "Vicious", though the circ staff wouldn't use it in front of the patrons. But just imagine the patrons' expressions when they are told to "go see Vicious over at the reference desk". See how they turn and run!

7. And so the war was won. I don't quote movies. No, I quote musicals! Back at college, I had a friend who could keep apace of me. Not so much not that I've graduated. Our conversations on the phone are interesting, however, what with musical lyrics and discussions of wandering wombs and St. Ursula's boat. I miss those schoolgirl days!

I am also no good about talking about myself and finding interesting things about me. Now it's long past time to sleep! This entry took forever to compose what with all the thinking I had to do this late at night!

A long time ago (we used to be friends)

2007-10-02T12:35:00.000-04:00

I'm so neglectful! Actually, that isn't totally true. I've been meaning to post for ages (at least a month, right?), but have been so consumed with other things that I haven't. Some days its hard enough to post on my own personal blog that to do anything other than cut and paste is painful. That's not to say that I haven't been doing interesting things, no, rather I've been busy with reading, trips to NYC/DC, and, wait for it, taking up ballet again!

If there is anytime you need to feel old, take a ballet class filled with eleven-year-olds. Because, as I had to explain to one of them after they asked my age, the reason why I am good is because I have been dancing for longer than they have been alive. Sad, isn't it?

But not all is lost. In honor of banned book week, I have read a Gossip Girl book (by Cecily Von Ziegesar. It was Because I'm Worth It. Not exactly my sort of book, but that's probably because there is very little in the characters that I can identify with. It was somewhat the same with The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants in that I couldn't identify with Bridget because our personalities are not at all alike. So, about halfway through my GG book, I did want to put it aside because, to me, it seemed quite pointless. However, I am glad that I read at least one from the series for the experience and now I know what they are like should an unsuspecting parent of a ten-year-old ask me about them. Next on the list is Patiently Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

In the unchallened book arena (or at least it didn't make the top ten list at ALA) is Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. I know, I know. Everyone and there mother has already read this book, and isn't it about time that I discovered vampire love? Perhaps not. I took this book with me over the weekend to my brother's house and I attempted to use it as a shield to stop my cousin from talking to me (because he talks for hours straight). It didn't work and I'm not sure if it was because of him, or the very fact of the very wordiness of the book, but by page 12, I wanted to toss it across the room. Don't worry, I did get into it, and enjoyed it by the end.

Perhaps I shouldn't go on about wordiness considering how wordy I tend to be! Then again, I have no editor and do not write books.

Through work, I attended the WebSearch University in DC a couple weeks ago and learned much about internet searching (and came away wanting to erase all traces of me online, a.k.a.: facebook/myspace-go away scary stalker people!). I also just received my professional librarian certificate finally. It only took about a year.

I was on a smoewhat fantasy kick this past week when I did my ILL shopping, so, in brief, I read: Poison Study and Magic Study by Maria Snyder. The first one I liked quite a lot, the second one was not nearly exciting so was sort of "meh". Decoy Princess and Princess at Sea by Dawn Cook. I would not recommend reading the second one before the first because of something big that happens in the end of the second that changes ones opinion of a certain character. And, lastly, Mystic and Rider, The Thirteen House, and Dark Moon Defender by Sharon Shinn. And, ok, there were other books in between those, like Ophelia by Lisa M. Klein, which I really loved, but now I can't remember them all!

This month's trend seems more for YA/historical fiction. It's amazing how these things go in circles!

Lemon cookie recipe

2007-08-30T23:12:00.000-04:00

We have parties at our library for people's birthdays. Actually, I like to slip in parties for other days, too. You never can have too many goodies at the library! Well, as long as you wash your hands before and after eating.

Today was Lynn's birthday, and since she likes lemony things so much, I decided to drag out an old recipe that was hidden away in my own journal. I made them a couple years back with a friend. After making the cookies, I went home and wrote down the recipe by memory and never had a chance to try it out (I went to grad school instead!). Luckily, it seems that I remembered it correctly, because the cookies turned out just fine. In fact, Lynn asked me for the recipe. Fancy that!

In case you want to try them, it is as follows:

1 c. shortening
1 1/2 c. sugar
mix until fluffy

2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon extract
mix into above

2 1/2 c. flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
mix into above

cool for at least 1/2 hour

pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
roll into balls, cover with sugar, place on ungreased cookie sheet, press down with a fork. It takes about 8 minutes, take them out before they are fully cooked through, and eat warm.

Recipe should make 5 dozen.

Now I need to figure out what to do with my excess, because certainly I shouldn't eat them all!

When she danced she was just this happy ballerina.

2007-08-28T22:36:00.000-04:00

I was, for many years, a ballerina. My co-workers would attest to this by the simple fact that I can not just walk across the library from the reference desk to the circ desk to answer a patron's question (or a co-worker's question), but instead I must, well, you fill in the blank, to get there. Glide, leap, prance, hop, skip. They probably all fit. If only I can be so peppy in 50 years time when I'm wacking around the pages with my cane and muttering about the "good old days".

Therefore, I was shocked to read BiblioFile's blog to find out that there was a series of ballerina books that I had never read. I admit, I wasn't a girly girl. Give me something pink, and I scorned it. Frankly, the only reason I ever got a doll was because I turned up for pictures as a "Party Girl" in The Nutcracker and discovered to my horror that everyone else there had brought a doll and I had none. I had to borrow another girl's doll for my picture. Needless to say, that although I was given many ballet-themed items (and scorned most of them), ballet books pretty much weren't among them. At a library book sale, I found an old copy of Noel Streatfeild's book Dancing Shoes, and it was a tradition for me to read it over summer break. Perhaps it was my own way of getting my mind into the game for Nutcracker auditions.

Back to the new series. The Drina books by Jean Estoril. Unfortunately, this books rate the same as Sally Watson books. Which are near impossible to get. No, I have to take that back. Sally Watson books have been republished in softcover by Image Cascade Publishers. They specialize in republishing vintage books. So, maybe there is hope for Jean Estoril books! But finding original Sally Watson books is like the Holy Grail in book sales. I will fight you for it!

Happily, I was able to ILL two of Jean Estoril's books. Drina Dances in Italy and We Danced in Bloomsbury. I just love the title of the last one. Some titles I just find so attractive and I'm drawn to them. Yeah, maybe I'm weird. In the Drina book, she's just come back from a year dancing in the country to return to her former dance school. They like to point out throughout the entire book that she dance the name role in The Changeling (I guess it's an important fact that we shouldn't forget). But, her Italian grandmother finally gets her way, and Drina is off to Italy for a visit for the second part of the book (the first half is her getting back into the rhythm of London/worried about Italy). Of course, dreams are realized in Italy and new friendships are formed. I only wish I could get ahold of the other books in the series!

After reading this book on Saturday, I sniffed back a tear and went to find my ballet bag which I was finally reunited with after several years earlier this month. I preceded to walk around my apartment with my pointe shoes on, thinking that I should really get back to ballet. I can't be too old and funless for it yet. I just need to find a place to attend! Though doubtful anyone would want me seeing how out of practice I've been since college.

We Danced in Bloomsbury Square follows the fortunes of the Darke twins, Dorrie and Debbie. It's told from the point of view of Dorrie, who feels the lesser of the twins, being "Darke in name and dark in nature" as her teacher called her. They both audition for a scholarship spot at a dance school in London. While both are accepted, only Debbie is given the scholarship, and they can't afford to pay to send Dorrie. Of course, doors are open, but before then, Debbie says some very hurtful things about Dorrie to her face, and causes a major rift between the twins. The book follows Dorrie as she begins to believe in herself, as an individual and as a dancer.

They were both very satisfying little reads that reminded me of how much I loved being a dancer. Though, perhaps, my feet are thinking of something different!

Picture time! Here's me as a snowflake from the "Snow Scene" in The Nutcracker.

I would say, "pretty hot, eh?". But, it should rather be ice cold, I should think. I was, I think, in 10th grade when that one was taken.

The Last Summer (of You & Me)

2007-08-22T23:04:00.000-04:00

"As children, they had dozens of names for the beach... A placid, white-sand and sparkly turquoise affair was a Tortula beach... The Rily beach, also known as Fight beach, was when the little grains of sand whipped like glass against your skin and the surf was ragged and punishing. An Alice beach was truly rare, and it involved tide pools." ~pg 10, The Last Summer (of You & Me) by Ann Brashares.

I walked out my door this morning into a "Wales day". You see, I sometimes like to name my days according to the places I've been and of what they remind me, rather like how the characters in Ann Brashares' book named beaches. To me, a "Wales day" is one that has a slight chill in the air, is overcast, and if it is slightly misty, all the better. Despite the unpleasant sound of that, I really do love these days. Bring on the hiraeth! Of course, then there are "France days", which can also be slightly chilly, but are blindingly bright in the early morning hours. These bring to mind the days I spent studying abroad in France during high school and my early morning walks to the bus stop. Each of these days are rare, so I'm always overjoyed to find one when I step out of my apartment.

This was actually the first book by Ann Brashares I have ever read. I know! I know! Horrible me for not reading her Travelling Pants series. And I did find some bits of it to be overwhelmingly "Danielle Steele-esque repetative" (especially Paul's emotional musings over Alice), I did, overall, enjoy the book. It only took a couple chapters to realize that it really would be the last summer for one of the characters (ooo, gone all totally A Summer to Die on you, haven't I?).

Out of the three characters, I think I related most to Riley, and, of course, she was the least well representative of the "voices" Brashares used in this book. But there are times, as I'm sure comes to most everyone, that I don't feel that I quite fit into this world as well as most people, and perhaps it would be better if I were to die young (and not just because of how good I am, thank you Billy Joel). Which, I know, makes no sense. That and the fact that my heart and I have a love-hate relationship starting from the time that I had to get an EKG (because I have a heart mummer), which still gives me an "ick" feeling whenever I think about it, to the time that I woke up and was completely convinced that my heart was not beating. I could not feel a think, and not for lack of trying. (I then decided that God had given me a few moments to find my parents to say goodbye to them, and I couldn't find them. Which meant I stumbled back to my bed and collapsed in a cold sweat, and then passed out-not pretty, I assure you). But, if it all comes down to it and I had the choice Riley had, I think I would chose to end it how she did

So as far as being "emotional" when reading this book, I didn't really go there like Julie did. But, then again, I only show emotions when I watch cheesy Hilary Duff films like Raise Your Voice (I admit, when her brother died at the beginning, I was completely balling my eyes out because I was thinking what would I do if my brother died and I was all to blame). But don't tell anyone I said that! There were some times, however, when I didn't think I was going to be able to finish this book, because I hate the talk of medical things, it makes me go faint. Perhaps that was why I never got into those Lurlene McDaniel books that were so popular when I was growing up.

Gosh, I am really bad at trying to review books. I should give up!

What was that book?

2007-08-21T19:00:00.000-04:00

I have to say that I adore this LJ community: What Was That Book?.

It's like a big mystery story just trying to figure out from the little clues people remember about a certain book what exactly it is. And, it makes me realize how few books I've really read when there are so many out there I can't ID!

And, I sometimes find some very interesting sounding books there that I just have to read! Like A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley.

As Tim Gunn would say...

2007-08-21T16:00:00.001-04:00

How to post this onto a blog 101. Make it work!

The above posted by Zoho Writer. Trying to see why Terri's wasn't posting correctly.

"Flirting is Manditory"

2007-08-21T14:41:00.000-04:00

According to the Dove chocolate I just ate, "flirting is mandatory" today. I rather absently read it and threw it away. Now I'm wondering if that really is what it said. Seems somewhat suspect.

We have the Dove chocolates here because I bought them as an incentive to Terri to finish her 23 Things blog. She's going to do so today. Well, she had better. We work late together tonight (finally!) so I will be poking and prodding her all night long. And stealing her chocolate incentives!

Flying out to St. Louis a couple weekends ago, I finally got a chance to read some of the ARCs I got at ALA. The first was Jinx by Meg Cabot and I, suprise suprise, actually enjoyed it. I act suprised (really) because I haven't much enjoyed the last couple books she has written for teens. And although I thought that the plot was going to turn out all Witches of Eastwick "we want the perfect man" and in walks the devil. But, it wasn't. And despite the transparent love affair, rather enjoyed the book.

Sadly, I was not as impressed with Shannon Hale's newest book Book of A Thousand Days. I'm not sure if it was because I wasn't so familiar with the fairy tale it was based off of, or the fact that she pulled a HP7 ending where everything managed to be wrapped up in a perfect conclusion and I wanted a bit more conflict. No. Perhaps I'm being a bit too harsh. It was a good story, there were just little bits of it that annoyed me. The biggest issue I had was at the end with the "interview with the author" bit about this really being some real story that was found and translated, etc. Fake things like that annoy me.

I did, however, love Scaredy Squirrel Makes A Friend. Those stories are too cute.

Oh, and Jonathan Crombie, you know, Gilbert from Anne of Green Gables, well, he's going to be on Broadway in The Drowsy Chaperone as "The Man in the Chair". It seems hard to believe that he won't be playing a romantic lead. I really wish I had been able to see him in Romeo and Juliet back in the day up in Stratford, Canada.

Week 9, Thing 23

2007-08-15T15:04:00.001-04:00

Bling bling ka-ching!

It looks like I'm at the end of the road for this learning process. I have to say that I think my favorite aspect was this blog. It helped me to meet and connect with other librarians in my area as well as abroad. And, really, how cool is that? This means that I will truly do my best to keep up with this blog, and learn how to write proper book reviews. Proper ones, mind you! Because, it should be useful, shouldn't it? Instead of just full of random book/theatre/baseball bits and pieces that go floating around like normal. Though, I suppose that's just me, and it's a hard time changing a personality, isn't it?

Out of my 7 1/2 lifelong learning goals, I have to say that this one prompted me to focus ~~on my spelling~~ on learning how to be a mentor to my co-workers which is something I freely admitted to being weak on since I felt too young. But, helping Terri work on her blog gave me a sense of accomplishment and feeling of goodness that I would have lacked otherwise. Plus, we helped each other stay inspired, and you can't want anything more than that, can't you?

I am quite sure that I would be interested in doing other sorts of things like this, should Maryland/ESRL libraries do offer something like. Though maybe not so much over the summer. It seemed extra busy, especially with everyone away on vacations!

Week 9, Thing 22

2007-08-15T14:34:00.000-04:00

Lacking a mp3 player (yes, I am so last century), I never really had the sudden urge to go download an audiobook from NetLibrary, which is the service that our library provides. Though, I did note that when I was scanning through the titles that some of them were unavailable for download through our library. I was disappointed with the lack of selection of some of my favorite authors. But, I freely admit that my tastes in authors run to very obscure minor authors or ones that are dead, so it really is no great suprise that I was coming up empty with the authors I searched for.

However, it would be a good resource to use while at home, as I can download the audiobooks onto my computer and listen to them while I, say, crochet a blanket. I hate just to do one thing at a time, especially crocheting, because as relaxing as that gets, it can get mindnumbingly boring, especially when I have a deadline and "can't stop now" fever! Thus, an audiobook would work just as well as the tv, and perhaps slightly more intellectual.

Week 9, Thing 21

2007-08-15T12:51:00.000-04:00

I was slightly amused when I searched under the term "library" at PodcastAlley.com to find coming in at #56 Erotic Expressions, or "An audible sampling of steamy erotic fiction from the Lusty Library at lustylibrary.com ". Needless to say, that one did not make my cut. Over at Yahoo Podcasts, I was happy to find several that had Jasper Fforde in them as a guest. I really wish that they could podcast his book talks because he's all sorts of brilliant. The ones they had there were a couple years old with him talking about some of his past books.

In the end, however, I ended up at the BBC podcasts because I was curious to see if there was anything familiar from BBC Radio 2, which just happens to be the radio station I listened to while studying abroad in Wales. Not only did I find several podcasts of familiar radio personalities (at least to me) and added them to my bloglines accounty, I also found one from BBC Radio Wales which I happily added to my bloglines even though it is in Welsh and I probably won't understand it. The way I think about it, it can't hurt, and perhaps it will help jog my memory with the Welsh language. However, there are currently no episodes up for listening, but, it seems like they want to do it, so it can't hurt and I'll hope for the best that they will soon start doing Welsh podcasts.

Now if I can just find a French one, I'll be all set language wise!

I can see how these could be useful, especially for book discussions and talks. Within the library or outside. Some, I noticed, are even just readings of books which is good to know when you can't access downloadable books or audio books. The important thing is just being able to find them!

And, however tempting it would be to make a podcast, I'm holding back the urge. Not that anyone wants to listen to my voice here!

Tireless pursuit of the lamest joke.

2007-08-09T09:20:00.000-04:00

Can I just say that Jasper Fforde is brilliant? Well, there you are.

Stretch your mind back two weeks ago, I, along with Peggy, attended the Jasper Fforde reading at Politics & Prose in DC. I drove the two of us there, and might I say I was just too pleased with my parking.

That's me next to my CR-V. I hadn't parallel parked since my road test years ago (swore I never would), but look what I managed to do in the "big" city?! And, it was pure perfection, just about an inch from the curb.

Just added to the bliss of the event. Jasper is a hilarious man, just like you would expect if you were to read his books. I had trouble at times seeing him, seeing as I'm so short, but I adored his voice. I have about six pages written up about the event in my personal journal, so I won't bore you to tears, although I love the fact he asked a museum gift shop worker if they sold "Dodo Home Cloning Kits" and she told him to come back in 25 years. Though, I'm mighty glad that Pickwick is Pickwick and not Elmo the Cat. That and when I was flying home, the presentation by the flight attendents was just like the one presented by Jasper and Mari.

I went crazy at the signing part because I had brought a couple books from home (U.K. editions) to see if he would sign them, and he did. He even did a little "Plock!" on one of my Thursday Next books when I asked if he would, just because I love Pickwick and saying "Plock". Actually, I adore the Pickwick graphic on his site (Pickwick's Cavalcade of Fun) where he runs across the screen saying "Plock". Maybe I have issues.

And, I didn't act like a complete idiot when I talked to him, though I did ramble on a bit why I have the UK editions. But, that was ok because I ended up having a nice little chat with Mari because she actually grew up in the next town over from Carmarthen (Llanstefan). And, her mom teaches art at the school there. And, it was all very exciting. Plus, I got a picture with the two of them! (People didn't seem to be taking many pictures, but there I was with mine, bwhahahaha!!!!)

Never fear, though, for I did have an opportunity to make a stupid comment to a remotely famous person (well, famous in my books). Robert Hunt! After seeing him in Les Miserables that weekend (and loving his performance as Javert as ever), I asked to get a picture with him, telling him that "I've loved you for three years!". When something like "I've been a fan of yours for three years" or "I've loved your Javert for three years" would have been a bit more apropos. Still, front row seats is not a thing to be scoffed at, especially when it is your friend's 100th performance.

I also enjoyed "A Most Notorious Woman", a one-woman show about Grace O'Malley (and the foxy English queen and all the men who loved her) as well as the new musical "Glory Days". Both viewed at the DC Fringe Festival.

Today I received two new books. The Fox by Sherwood Smith which I've very excited about because the first book in the series was very fun and Little Lady, Big Apple by Hester Browne, which I have read, but was a suprise gift from my friend.

Week 9, Thing 20

2007-08-08T09:50:00.000-04:00

Since I've already posted the one lone video on Youtube that features myself, I decided to turn to musical theatre and bring some "Frou Frou" into this blog's life. Otherwise known as the musical version of The Scarlet Pimpernel, a book that I have cherished for many a many years. Of course, the musical version did play heavy with the Marguerite/Chauvelin romance aspect, but, it did have some wonderful baritone songs for ChauChau. And Douglas Sills as Percy was hilarious!

So, here is the Tony Awards performance:

The site seems easy enough to use. I think it could be used for library things such as the video from Mitali Perkin's book launch party that I had posted previously. It could show the community just what's happening at the library. Oh, I am full of brilliant ideas this morning.

And, speaking of The Scarlet Pimpernel, my friend over at Bronteana highlighted two vampire Scarlet Pimpernel romance novels. Which sound absolutely, um, interesting, to me. They are Possession and Confession by Lori Herter.

The snippet posted by The Scarlet Pimpernel Merchandise site from Possession tantalizes us with:

A really bad vampire/romance novel. The interesting thing about it is that the hero is a playwright who became a vampire in the year 1616, but lives latter-day Chicago and his newest work is a musical version of The Scarlet Pimpernel in which Percy is a vampire. The author has a nympho vampire friend, who becomes obsessed with the actor portraying Percy. Most of the book is set during rehersals, which, oddly enough, all of which the actor does with full prosthetic makeup and costumes. He has to wear a blond wig and the rubber mask because he has a round cherubic face (not an aquiline nose) and brown curly hair, and because he was very famous on a sitcom, and doesn't want the audience to see his TV image.

It's unfortunate that I can't get this one on ILL. ::sniff::

Week 8, Thing 19

2007-08-08T09:34:00.000-04:00

This one is inspired by my mom, who has decided that I need to buy a house. I think it's so they can move in with me during the summer now that they've sold their "summer home" and don't want to live in Florida full time. Ah, the life of the retired!

So, I checked out both Zillow and HousingMaps. I found HousingMaps to be nice and simplistic, as it is just based on Google Maps. Unfortunately, the focus is on houses around the DC area, as that is the nearest Craigslist site. Though, I did happen to click on one in Richmond, VA. Close enough, I suppose. What's a few hours?

HousingMaps actually had stuff in my area. Granted it was very expensive and I could never afford it. How depressing. Well, when I become a millionaire, I'll think about it. The "Make Me Move" thing was interesting. As my mom always said, "It's all for sale". I guess some people just need the right price.

Then, of course, thanks to poking around on Mingle2 (a site my mom would never approve of), I found a link to this priceless gem (a.k.a. the Millie "I'm going to marry my boss" Dillmount approved site of the day) Wealthy Romance, where you can find all of your rich men dating needs. Now you know how I'll be spending my down time on the reference desk.

Ah, I probably shouldn't even admit to finding that one, should I? It's just too amusing.

Week 8, Thing 18

2007-07-26T16:08:00.001-04:00

Having an online word processor is a very useful tool for libraries such as ours that do not have access to Word documents on computers designated for online use only. These types of programs will be especially beneficial to those who need to create and send business letters and resumes online for job applications.

The above paragraph was brought to you in part by Zoho Writer and my mad typing skillz. With special thanks to Mrs. Walker who did not fall out the window in our typing class.

The word processing program is pretty neat and it has all of the things that Microsoft Word has, and lets you work on saved documents anytime and anywhere. And costs a lot less. Though, you have to make sure you actually log into your account to keep the documents from being deleted! But, for when you are in a pinch or at a place where there is no access to Microsoft Word (or similar word processing programs) it's quite good.

Something to sing about.

2007-07-25T11:47:00.000-04:00

I'm beginning to wonder... could this be the best week ever?

It started last Saturday night when I went to the National Symphony Orchestra concert at Wolf Trap. There, not only did I finally get to hear Aaron Lazar sing in person (he was Fabrizio in the PBS broadcast of Light in the Piazza) but, I got to meet him in person backstage!

It was another example of why being crazy sometimes just doesn't work out. Now, I had my own flight of crazy earlier in the day when I chased down the local post woman so I could get my personal copy of Harry Potter. Being nice and patient has its rewards. Take, for instance, fifteen years ago when I went to see a baseball game in Montreal. It was the Expos vs the Mets. The Mets were doing warm ups on the field. I was standing next to my brother (wearing an Expos cap) and a man who decided the best way to capture a baseball and the attention of all of the security guards was to jump the field and run around a bit. And there I was, standing, hoping. And, wouldn't you know, Sid Fernendez came up to me and gave me a baseball. My almost 11 year-old self was paralyzed with astonishment and so I forgot to ask to get it autographed. SID FERNEDEZ IF YOU READ THIS I HAVE A BASEBALL FOR YOU TO AUTOGRAPH!!!!! Ahem.

Saturday night, there were all sorts of middle-aged people yelling out to Marvin Hamlisch that they were his long lost cousins and that he should really come over and take pictures with them. We stood and looked at them with shock and dismay over the general pushiness of people. We were asked who we were waiting to see, and said Aaron, but were told that he had about fifteen family members backstage with him, including his grandparents. So, we were doubtful that we would even get a chance to see him (we did see him going into the theatre pre-show, though). But, shortly after, the guard lady came back and told us that if we didn't mind waiting a bit more and promised to behave ourselves, we could meet him backstage. And, so we waited, and met him, and even though he called me Kristie (I have the problem of going quiet on the last part of my name, I admit) he was so sweet and lovely and so nice to actually meet him. Not to mention that his "Music of the Night" was to die for.

And, today, is Jasper Fforde Day!!!! And it's been declared that day on the calendar for several months now. Finally, after five years of reading his books, I get to meet the man. I'm so very excited, even though it means I have to drive through crazy DC traffic to get there. I first read The Eyre Affair whilst travelling through France and I nearly wanted to not go out and see Paris so I could finish reading the book. That's a problem, isn't it? So The Eyre Affair is probably my most well travelled book in the history of ever as it went on my spring break "tour of Europe" back when I was in Wales. In fact, I collect the UK editions, so my friend was studying at Cambridge bought me a signed copy of the UK edition (which I have discovered is actually missing some text) and I'm going to get her a signed copy of the US edition, which she collects. Win all around.

Hopefully this coming Saturday, I shall finally get to meet Robert Hunt, who is probably my favorite Javert and get to see Michael Minarik (of frolicing through four lanes of traffic in Boston fame). So, now you can see why it is the best book/musical week!

Week 7, Thing 17

2007-07-25T11:30:00.001-04:00

Mass hysteria was created when I posted my blog to the Maryland Libraries Sandbox. Ok, I'm sure it isn't that bad, but I was confused where I should post the link. Should it go under the heading "Eastern Shore Regional Library" or did I dare create a new heading for "Queen Anne's County Free Library" as people from libraries on the western half of Maryland did. I dared.

Of course, some of this daring was caused by pure ignorance. As a non-native to Maryland, I still haven't quite sorted out all of the county names and where they are located (a problem when entering out of county patrons into the system). For the moment, however, the Queen Anne's County Free Library is free ranging it!

Week 7, Thing 16

2007-07-25T10:24:00.000-04:00

Wiki! Wikis! My first experience using (and by using, I mean actually contributing) a wiki was during grad school. It was my records management class, and one of our wiki assignments was to be a "definition taker" for a certain class period and we had to find definitions to the various words we discussed during class. I always lived in fear that I would get some tragically hard word and end up looking stupid. Though, goodness knows, I don't need help for that! Now that wiki was password controlled, so only members of the class were able to access it. What was especially nice with it, was that at the end of the class, we were left with a permanent spot on the web of everything that we learned over the course of the semester that we could go to for reference.

My second use was an on the job experience at Wheelock college where the reference librarians had their own wiki (as did the circ staff). This kept all of the reference librarians up-do-date with various questions asked, questions that were still being worked on, and things that we could do when there was nothing else to do. Once tasks were complete, we could cross them off the list so others would know that they could move onto the next task. The wiki also included useful guides for things such as filling ILL requests.

Wikis can pretty much include whatever the users want, on a variety of topics. They could be used within libraries for librarians to share useful links for reference sites/article discussion/reviews/etc.

Does this sound like a good textbook answer?

Week 6, Thing 15

2007-07-25T09:53:00.000-04:00

As I read the articles provided about Web 2.0 and Library 2.0, I can't help but think about small public libraries like where I work. Especially during the article by Rick Anderson, "Away From The 'Iceburgs'". He questions the role of "collections" in this article as he promotes the Library of the Future that will be able to provide the local community with electronic access to pretty much anything, all without needing to come into the library. Now, you can call me an old-fashioned stick in the mud (and I'm only 26!), but, I have a hard time believing that there will ever come a day that we could do that, simply based on the cost. And, of course, some of the technology really needs to improve (such as book readers) before I'm willing to give up on my paper books. Patrons may expect to find everything digitally, but until we can afford such a thing, they probably won't get it.

Granted, I am also an archivist, and this archivists needs her paper!

I will be the first to admit, however, that a more interactive cataloguing experience would be love. Especially if they would always provide plot synopsis and reviews.

There are times when I should really think.

2007-07-23T18:12:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Hailey Abbott's book Summer Boys, I now have a new pick-up line for the rest of summer.

"It's summer. It's hot. It's time to hook up."

Of course, now Lauren wants me to say that to the next person who walks in the door, and that just is not going to happen. Ever. At all.

This one is for the memories.

Note: I have not read this book, just the back cover.

Week 6, Thing 14

2007-07-23T17:25:00.001-04:00

Tagging is my friend. Except, I've apparently been using the "wrong" tag for this blog. I use "23 Things" to mark entries relating to the 23 Things course I'm taking, but it seems that the prefered term was actually "mdlearn2"? Well, I'm not going to change now! My problem with tagging is that sometimes I forget the ones I've used before and end up using something slightly different, thus creating an onslaught of tags. Mountains, believe me. That said, I enjoy searching for "23 Things" in Technorati and finding my blog. Of course, on days like today (July 23), you have to type it in with the quotes otherwise, good luck. And, yes, the searches are different depending on where you search.

It comes as no suprise that "harry potter" and "deathly hollows" are some of the most popular tags at the moment. What makes it more fun is the fact that I am now free to read them without worrying about spoilers. Not that I actually have time to read them or even really want to read all of them. That would be frightening. It does concern me, however, that one of the top 100 blogs has something to do with "hot asian teenage girls" or some such thing. I obviously did not look at that one, either. Does that count as interesting?

Week 6, Thing 13

2007-07-23T12:40:00.000-04:00

Now that the Harry Potter madness is over for me (as far as reading the book unspoiled), I can now go back to reading blogs/watching the news without fear that I will stumble across something that I didn't need to know about too soon.

Which is why I can now talk about Del.icio.us, the social bookmarking manager. Something that will prove instantly useful this week as my home laptop is beomg sent out to California to be repaired. Taking with it all of the bookmarks I saved on that computer. And, pretty much everything else in my life the past two years. I know, that isn't that dramatic.

But, it explains how perfect a tool Del.icio.us can be when used "for the greater good" (HP!). I can, therefore, access my bookmarks elsewhere, or be reunited with them when I am reunited with my computer and no harm done. Then there is the additional bonus of the tagging and being able to see other people's bookmarks and how they are labled so you can find other sites that might be of interest to you that, otherwise, might have been unfoundable. Unfoundable? Maybe hard to find, then. So, I can see it's uses for things other than personal. That is, of course, if the bookmarked links are reliable sources and that depends on the user. Like so much of everything on the internet, it is helpful to be a little bit wary.

As far as Harry Potter goes, Snape = Neville. That's all I'm saying (and not Neville Longbottom).

Success!

2007-07-18T22:23:00.000-04:00

Ok, I don't know how much help I was, but, I did find the "expert" on Eastern Shore baseball history. Or so I think. I mean, he did present a paper on the early history of baseball on the Eastern Shore at Cooperstown. That has to count for something, right? I also found another person who is writing a book about semi-pro baseball in the mid-Atlantic region. A book that, when it is published, should go on our "to be purchased for the library" list. And, this person is a former Expos player. Double points.

So, I gave the patron all of the info I found when he came in, and I know that he has contacted the first person, as I received an email back from them saying they had been contacted by the patron. All I can say is score points for reference! Ok, so it took several hours to discover this, but, it happened.

Speaking of baseball, let's see how the Mets are doing...

... and, they're losing. What a suprise.

To make it a perfect day, the same cute little girl who waved at me in the Food Lion parking lot came up to me and gave me a hug whilst I was talking to Julie. And a little boy came up to me while I was working on my reference question and gave me a very colourful drawing to hang from my desk. I am adored by the little people! At least today I was.

Week 5, Thing 12

2007-07-18T09:50:00.000-04:00

Rollyo! Just saying that is fun. The unfun part of it was staring at the screen, trying to think up what I wanted to roll (or is it rollyo?). I finally decided, that since this blog features musicals as much as books, that I would do one of theatre news sites. This is supposed to be about play, isn't it? So, I'll cop out of the "work" mode of "I really should have used useful ready reference sites" and have some fun. Who knows if it would even be useful.

Find the sites to add was not a problem. Finding the link to my Rollyo project was. Thankfully, Julie pointed me in the right direction, so you can find my Theatre Rollyo search engine here. It features sites relating to Broadway, West End, and French theatre. I've done a few searches, and it seems to be useful. For my own personal interests, though. This one won't cut the mustard at work.

Well, let the 10 o'clock onslaught begin! I need to find information about the Eastern Shore Negro League. It's being rather difficult and mysterious. Woe is me.

Week 5, Thing 11

2007-07-17T18:47:00.000-04:00

I've known about LibraryThing for a while now. Known about it, but haven't used it. Part of the reason, I suppose, is that my books were scattered across three states at the time. Actually, they still are. But, instead of FL/NY/MA, now it's FL/NY/MD. Florida books have mostly come home to roost, but my New York ones are causing me a spot of bother, as, apparently, I have too many of them. Already, my mom has packed away nine boxes, and that just from the two bookcases in my bedroom (and not counting my entire L.M. Montgomery collection which was brought down to me a month ago). I still have boxes of my childrens books that were packed away during a previous move. I am being told that I must go through these boxes when I'm up there visiting in a few weeks and weed my collection. It will be the saddest day of my life. Ok, probably not that bad.

Did I have a point?

Maybe. Or, maybe not. Most likely not.

But, here I am, with a LibraryThing account! A very limited catalog, yes, but, I'm trying to remember books I like. Some of them I haven't seen in years. It is all quite tragic. What I like best is trying to find the exact edition that matches, which, unfortunately, I wasn't able to do for all of them. I need to go home and find the ISBNs for some of them to get it all straightened out. Of course, that will take extra effort on my part. Perhaps, too much. I did, however, break into one other LibraryThing user's dream world of being the only one to own a copy of The Story of Naughty Kildeen, so take that! I own it too. And I got it for a song ($5). Ok, so there are some page rips, but, the illustrations are hand painted and you don't get that quality anymore for $5. I'm such a snob.

Is it sad, though, that the majority of the ten books I have listed at the moment have the tag "young women"? I guess you can figure out pretty quick that I like to read books about smart young women. There, to make myself feel better, I put up a book with a tag of "young men". That should balance it out!

Week 5, thing 10

2007-07-17T18:27:00.000-04:00

You know, with a week entitled "play", one would think that I would be blogging like crazy because, after all, it should be fun.

But, then there's me. Luckily, tonight at work is finally slow, so I have time to do fun things like create avatars:

And then, use other image generators to create things like this from previously created avatar:

As you can see, I did have fun. The first was created at Yahoo! Avatars, while the second image was created at FD Toys. They should probably both be dedicated to my friend Rachel. As I met her over in England/Wales (why I went for the UK theme, I was tempted to add the Welsh flag, but that might be overkill) and the second Warhol-esque image because she adores Warhol. I even endured the Tate Modern to see a Warhol exhibit they had. The exhibit was fine, but afterwards? Going around all of that modern art makes me twitchy (I'm such a Renaissance/Raphael fangirl). That's why I love visiting the National Gallery of Art in DC because I heart Raphael's St. George and the Dragon they have. So much better than his version in the Louvre.

And now that I've wandered off into the art world...

Here's a link to a story about my friend Carol and her exhibit she designed for the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Conneticut. It sounds tempting, doesn't it?

::hunts in drawer for chocolate::

Week 4, Thing 9

2007-07-09T14:17:00.000-04:00

I have fallen shockingly behind in my "Things" post. So, prepared to be stunned with the massive amounts of updates today! That doesn't mean that I haven't looked at what I was supposed to be doing, I just got a little delayed with other things that happened last week.

I hadn't heard of MERLIN before, so it was nice to have that highlighted as a thing to do/place to see this week (or, two weeks ago). It has been added to my bloglines. Out of all of the blog finding tools, I am most familiar with Technorati. I did like, however, how Topix.net lets you view news articles that are related to your community/city. That's very useful for finding all of the juicy stories that Terri and Lynn like to read.

Ca alors!

2007-07-03T15:32:00.000-04:00

Julie was suprised when she saw that Cathy had a picture of the two of us bhangra dancing at Mitali Perkin's book launch last week. Even more shocking? A youtube/google video has surfaced, featuring... us! Well, thankfully not us specifically, but, we are there, and we are dancing badly. To you, gentle reader, I present... bhangra dancing!!!!

If you can, then pick us out. Otherwise, that's too bad. I'm not going to tell which one of the dancers is me!

I took yesterday off, which meant I read lots of books. Well, three and a half to be more specific. They were: The Lady's Not for Burning by Christopher Fry (this is actually a play), Dairy Queen and The Off Season both by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, and Looking for Alaska by John Green.

I had picked up The Lady's Not For Burning thanks to my read through of Pamela Dean's Tam Lin. The plot does resemble Tam Lin a bit, at least as far as the girl ends up saving the boy from death. Thomas, in this case, went looking for death while she was attempting to avoid it (she was to be burned as a witch, he wanted the magistrate to hang him just to die). But, there at the mayor's office they met and he lost his heart and was willing to give her fifty years.

Dairy Queen and The Off Season go together as they deal with the same character. I had to go back to my FLA conference notes because I went to Murdock's discussion about Dairy Queen without having read the book (oops). Now the two things her children said after she finished reading it to them make complete sense.

Daughter: "The movie will have two kissing scenes."
Son: "You mean it was all a stupid English paper?"

I was glad for the ending of The Off Season. It wasn't the typical "happily ever after" type ending because, really, how real is that? Life isn't perfect, but there is a big world out there with many other options. D.J. saw a glimpse of that when she visited college with her brother Bill. I do wish that we could see her in the future, though I know that Murdock's next book is a fantasy novel. Perhaps more someday soon, though!

I should have more to say regarding Looking for Alaska after dinner. That's where I'm off to now.

Week 4, Thing 8

2007-07-03T15:22:00.000-04:00

RSS feeds! And bloglines!

Firstly, here is the link to my current bloglines: http://www.bloglines.com/public/castellglas. I know, very exciting. It pretty much consists of the links I have listed here plus a few others that I threw on there for fun. But, everyone wants subscribers, and now I can at least further my stalking of co-workers when I'm not glaring at them from my reference desk (it's a talent we reference librarians must cultivate to mainatain our street-cred/certification).

Bloglines is a useful feature, because I'm forever checking out different blogs/news feeds to see if there has been an update, and, voila! now I can do it all in one place. If that isn't exciting then ~~you haven't been inside a library in a while~~ I don't know what is.

Onwards and upwards, because I have lots of things to blog about (and lots of goodies to eat).

What is Habit 7 1/2: Play.

2007-06-28T14:02:00.000-04:00

Sunday at ALA. Julie and I didn't start quite as bright and early as Saturday, and yet, we ended up at the conference center at the exact same time. Which meant we were about 45 minutes early for the first session, because it started at 8:30. We got great seats, however! About four rows back and on the aisle so a clear shot to see Nancy Pearl. She discussed her newest book, Book Crush which is bound to be a favorite as I do love my children's lit.

Nancy Pearl also discussed some of the top signs that you know you are an avid reader. One of them being that you could never properly pronouce words. I have that problem. I always have had that problem. It used to vex my mom dreadfully, particularly because she was a speech therapist. It must have looked (sounded) awful for a woman in her career to have a daughter who couldn't talk properly. One of Nancy Pearl's favorite words to misprounce? "Misled".

Another sign was when you attempted to gain the definition of an unknown word through the context of what was around it. She used the example of Ruby Gillis in Anne of the Island dying of consumption. She was eaten? Worse would be galloping consumption. That's like take out.

The last sign was when you began to believe that what took place in book-verse happened in real life. She apparently discribed in great detail her date with "Mike" to the junior prom complete with dress and what happened to her daughter, and her daughter pointed out that that was exactly like the prom adentures of another girl in Double Date. Oh. Of course, my worse mixing of fact and fiction was actually in a dream format whereas I dreamt that a high school friend of mine had died, and it was so vivid that I went around the entire next day convinced that he had, in fact, died. And I was depressed. But, voila! He was on IM that night. Joy!

Julie and I then went to the exhibits and, firstly, we found Shannon Hale's newest ARC Book of A Thousand Days. I have yet to read it, because I'm dreadful about saving things like that. At that time, we also went to the Graphic Novel section of the exhibit center and picked up a few samplers and some ideas. We then headed to the Random House fall 2007 book preview, but on the way, as I was reading to Julie from the back of Emma (vol 4), a friend from Simmons stopped me. It was Elizabeth! It appeared we had no free time to really chat, but it was so nice to see her again, even for that brief moment. Despite there being a whole slew of Simmons people, I didn't spot nary a one after that encounter.

It made Julie and I slightly late to the book preview, but, we only missed one book being discussed, so that wasn't half bad. I had never been to one before, and it was so nice getting to see some of the insides of the book. Plus, we got a really fun Love, Stargirl bag with shiny blue plastic handles. Of course, mine started to break when we were later walking in the exhibit hall, but that's ok. We found a nice little sandwich shop next to the convention center thanks to two women on the escalator who overheard us talking about lunch. We got there just in time because soon a line was developing for the sandwiches!

More later, I'm tired of typing now (plus, I look like a slacker and who wants to work with a slacker these days?).

Not your mother's librarian.

2007-06-27T16:02:00.001-04:00

Or, An Abundance of ~~Katherines~~ Bugs.

I just spent the last twenty or so minutes cleaning up the bug problem in three rows of our fiction and non-fiction section. The two pages working today (Jess and Nicole) cornered me in the back room, telling me they had a "little problem" that needed fixing. So, I was snagged into doing bug duty. Previously, I was helping a lady find old tax forms online, so you can see how my duties vary.

Bug duty involved scooping up little black bugs and larger brown bugs (no, I did not stop to identify the exact type of bug they were) onto pieces of paper and smushing them if necessary. The girls apparently hate all types of bugs and wouldn't risk being near ten feet of them, let alone bring the trash bin closer to me for easier disposal. Just the sight of dead bugs in the trash was enough to turn them green.

The one thing I was not about to touch was the very much alive Daddy-Long-Legs that was waving its very long legs at me in anger?hurt?frustration?. I let Terri take care of it. She's good at picking them up by a leg and throwing them outside. And these ones are huge.

My reward at the end of this: chocolate.

Priceless.

"You turned my brother into a bug, and now he's dead!" I forget which movie that is from, but, hilarious.

It's as clear as black and white.

2007-06-27T09:35:00.001-04:00

I have this picture of the author being unapproachable, and I think I can blame Julie Andrews for that. Did you ever think that I would have a negative thing to say about that woman? Because when I went to her book signing in Boston a couple years ago, the fear of God was put into me that I couldn't really a)talk to her or b)take any pictures. It really is quite a silly thing that I should base all interactions with authors on her standards. Silly because I have met authors before her and after her, and they were all very nice and highly approachable.

The scene: high school, 11th grade

In my English class, we were broken into small groups and assigned different books to read. My group was assigned The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks. As part of this project, we had to come up with type of project presenting the book to the class. We ended up inviting Russell Banks to come to our class and give a book talk. He came, he was very nice to all of us crazy high schoolers and our project was a success.

The scene: ALA Conference, 2007

Mitali Perkins' book launch party for her newest book, First Daughter. I had so much fun there! I ate things (samosas) that had vegetables in it (peas) and learned how to do some bhangra dancing (and, there are pictures that have me in it doing some dancing, but you won't be seeing them here!). Julie, Genevieve, and I teamed up for Mitali's presidental quiz and we all actually won a free copy of First Daughter. This was later signed by Mitali. Just so you know (this was the bonus/tie breaker in the quiz) that 23 presidential children have gone on to write books. 23

After Mitali read a "bit and a bite" from her book about bhangra dancing, and then we all danced a couple dances (after being taught), as well as watched a professional dancer do a dance for us. The songs were all about the beauty of the girl's eyes. Here is a picture of Julie, Mitali, and I from after the dancing:

After the book launch party, we all headed down to the KidLit Drink Night at Capital City Brewing Company for dinner. Well, I at least had dinner there! It was a rotating cast of librarians/bloggers/authors that completely confused our poor waiter. But, it was so nice getting to meet all of these new people and a whole new world of blogging has been opened up to me. I'm so new at this blogging that it was quite embarrassing to introduce myself. I also realized that perhaps a Welsh phrase was not the best name for a blog because it's awfully impractical when attempting to tell a stranger the name of your blog. Especially when one word includes the double "ll" at the end of it (you really do need to make a strange sound if you want to pronouce it correctly. You live and learn!

A complete list of everyone that we met is over at Julie's blog. Though, I must say that it was particularly nice to have met Jennie at Biblio File. She had to put up with my tired ramblings, poor girl!

After dinner, Julie and I decided that we were far too tired to attend the storytelling program that evening, so we headed back home on the metro and, eventually, home home.

So, overall, it was a great experience and this was only day one! And, I've added so many books I need to read to my "book book".

Day 443: Goat has attempted to eat my book.

2007-06-26T15:24:00.000-04:00

Actually, it should be ALA Day 1, but how boring would that be? Probably not so much because my first day ever of ALA conferencing was exciting. It invovled getting up at 5 a.m. so I could be at the metro station a bit before 7. I met Julie there, and we rode our way in style towards the DC convention center. At registration, I managed to snag the nice registration lady. Julie was not so lucky. Mine was so nice that she even attached my "New bee" ribbon onto my badge.

The eight o'clock session I attended was completely filled up. I had to sit on the floor (so hopefully it was clean). It ended up being a lot shorter session that it was supposed to be as the presentor was sick and had given us a substitute. We got through the material in 30 minutes (it was about new technologies and uses in the library). This was followed by 30 minutes of discussion, and then freedom.

Freedom to go to the exhibits! At the Florida Library Conference, they weren't really giving away things (at least, I didn't see anything like this there). So, my first ARC pick-up, I acted a bit like this:

(that being loving ripped from the utterly fabulous Stick Library comic, "Control Freaks".) I, of course, being the one on the right running away with a free book (and I am actually a trained archivist). And then I realized that there were more!!! About the time that I realized that if I bent down I couldn't stand up because my bag was weighing me down that much, I decided that I had enough of free books, and, goodness me, what was I to do with them all the rest of the day (you must realized that this was about 10 am). Of course, I was justified in taking what I did because Julie was still in session, so missed out on that first initial rush of ARCs. So, I was collecting stuff for the both of us. I also got Lois Lowry to sign a copy of Number the Stars for only $3. Not too shabby. I could have gotten The Giver, but I read and loved NtS first. So, why not?

My 10:30 session was on Libraries and Landscapes. My undergraduate degree was in historic preservation, and, we might be expanding our library, so I thought that it would be interesting to see what other libraries did on the outside of their buildings, as a session I attended in Florida dealt with their innards. I think I might have been the youngest person there. It was an interesting session, though, with the exception of the last speaker (the token librarian) they didn't delve much into the problems that a landscaped environment can create for the library. I did learn a fun new phrase, "blessed bling bling" regarding a very shiny gold plated church altar thing.

After this session, I met up with Julie for lunch. But, I had decided that it would be better to run back to my car and drop off my bag of books so I wouldn't be so weighed down for the rest of the day. It was probably a good idea with what else we did. Besides, I had a bagel and some water, I would be all set for a cheap lunch. It was a race against time and the metro... and I won! Despite trying to go down an up elevator, I managed to get back to the conference center with nine minutes to spare before the next session. These shoes are made for walking!

My 1:30 session was on Shakespeare in the Library, and it was not all that I had hoped it would be. One of the speakers was all about how academic librarians and professors should work together. Another was like "wee! Elizabeth I!!! I've been in love with her since I was ten." So, you get the picture. Plus, Julie came in from her session and managed to distract me by her exhibit guide. (I confess, I am easily distracted when I get tired.) We actually left the session early so we would be able to arrive at Mitali Perkin's book launch on time.

And, I'll have more on that later... now it is time for dinner.

Week 3, Thing 7

2007-06-21T10:02:00.000-04:00

Our last task of the week is to talk about anything technology-related. At first, I was going to talk about the Internet Archive, because, I admit, I am a fan. And how fun is it to read old books online? Well, it can be when they include the neat book flip feature.

However, a friend pointed out the Online Musical Theatre Video Archive to me last night, and I've had too much fun looking at it last night to not give it a mention here. I had never heard of it before, and it appears to be still in the process of creation (if the fact that they stopped in the "s" titled musicals gives any indication). The videos on the site come from either the Tony Awards or from programs like the Ed Sullivan show or morning talk shows.

Here's a favorite show, Deaf West's Big River:

The show is based on Mark Twain's Adventures of Huck Finn. It might never have been a show that caught my interest, as the music runs more towards country/bluegrass/gospel, except the addition of signing added a powerful element to the show. There was a mix of deaf and hearing actors in this version of the show. The hearing actors spoke/sung the words for the deaf actors. For the first five or so minutes, you are aware that the character Huck Finn is not really speaking/singing his lines and it is Mark Twain doing the talking for both himself and Huck Finn, but, slowly you accept MT's voice as Huck's and it is all quite magical. Oh, I think I'm describing it rather badly. And, I know that I said previously that I didn't think I would be a fan of the music, but there are actually quite a few songs I love from that show. A couple sitting next to me walked out before the end of the first act, because it does have those elements in it that make Huck Finn a banned book in some places, but, if you look beyond that, it is a beautiful piece of work that is made more poignant with the addition of signing. Especially when Jim tells the tale of his daughter who became "deaf and dumb" due to scarlet fever but he didn't realize this until after he had hit her for not shutting the door when he told her.

The second featured show? 1776! Because, really, how can you resist singing, dancing, and snarking founding fathers? You just can't.

This is the Original Broadway Cast peforming "Sit Down, John" and "Molassas To Rum" on the Ed Sullivan show. I always said that despite the content, that "Molassas to Rum" has to be one of the sexier baritone songs.

Edited: Oh look! It appears that they now have shows all the way to "Z". How exciting!

Week 3, Thing 6

2007-06-21T09:35:00.000-04:00

I played around (ah, rule #7 1/2!) with several of the flickr toys. I was most amused by Mappr declaring on their photo map that they have "high" or "low" confidence that the photo was actually taken where it was tagged taken. It does seem like something that would be interesting once it takes off, but it was rather slow and clunky on my computer (probably due to a slow internet connection on my part) but also the lack of photographs attached to the map that meant everything I looked up, I could not find a related image.

I guess I had the most fun with FD Toys' Trading Card Maker. I made two! Though, neither of them are of me. The first uses a picture that I used during an archives presentation to the local historical society last week. It's of a daguerreotype:

The other is of cats. A co-worker of mine from the BAC Library in Boston used to joke about another co-worker as being the type who years from now would be the kind of librarian that would have cats hanging from her sweaters. So, I couldn't resist this one.

Thus ends my Flickr explorations for the moment.

I'm no longer that girl.

2007-06-20T22:50:00.000-04:00

"When I grow up, I want to be...

...'a teacher,' said Kristin."

Or so I said at age five. With both my parents teachers, it's probably no suprise that I would pick that career path. Although a total of eight kids in my kindergarten class picked that answer. Perhaps the most unique was said by another teacher's kid. It was, "the person who does the elephant job in a circus". You can't beat that! However, I don't believe Eric grew up to do that. Tragic. I'm sure circuses world wide mourn the loss.

My response for what I wanted to eat for Thanksgiving? "Soda, a donut, and turkey." Not quite traditional.

I would do just about anything for a donut back then. Especially a sour cream with nougats from the P&C bakery. In fact, my parents took away my donut privilages when I refused to ride my bike with the training wheels (I was always resistant to change). Needless to say, one scary go down my driveway and into the bushes across the road earned me half a donut and I never looked back after that. Except, I can honestly say that I haven't had a donut recently. I must remedy this when I go home. Hopefully the P&C donuts I love (though they now do not feature the sugary nougat) will be on sale then!

"I liked kindergarten because...

...'I got to do things well,' said Kristin."

Oh, teacher's pet. I went across the star chart way too many times and never had a time out (my brother had one). I was also the class valedictorian and managed to make my hat fall off in the middle of my speech, just like my brother! (You can tell I always wanted to be just like him, hero worship.)

And, I should probably be embarrassed that I love my mommy because "she sometimes wakes me up in the morning and sets my clock" and my daddy because "he makes me my lunches" when other kids are saying what wonderful parents they have in better terms. But, come on, I was only five and I did have to think up these things right as I got into class in the morning. Though, perhaps the best one was when I said it was my dad's birthday and I thought he was turning 55. I'm sure they laughed that one up in the staff room.

All of these things I wouldn't have had a hope remembering had I not saved everything, well, not everything, growing up. I have a whole binder dedicated to kindergarten and our teacher, Mrs. Dowie, typed up "our morning stories" where we told her one interesting fact each morning before entering her classroom and this would get sent home each night. We would have to circle words/letters that we were working on and have our parents sign it. Looking back, it's actually quite shocking some of the things we said and that she actually put in it.

I think, just looking at this, it is also quite shocking that I never though of being an archivist until I was 22. I mean, I have trees worth of paper products that I saved, even from things I didn't actively participate in but just saw or attended. Or people I knew.

If only I could style my life after that girl who shredded everything that she ever wrote or was written about her. But, erasing oneself isn't always the answer, either. Perhaps I shall have to take up electronic blogging permanently!

The ties that bind.

2007-06-19T15:39:00.000-04:00

I was reading reviews of children's books over on Julie's blog. She participated in the 48 hour readers' challenge last weekend. I missed out doing this because I was fully occupied by work on Saturday, and on Sunday, I did practically no reading. Shocking how lazy I can be on a sunny Sunday. The Lady's Not for Burning held no interest to me.

It was fun reading about her second go at Dairy Queen, as I was the one who met Catherine Murdock down in Florida. That was my "break" during the FLA conference. In between learning about giving (or rather not giving) medical advice, gaming in the library, etc., I decided to fit in an author discussion. So, that was fun. And, very much more down to earth than when I met Julie Andrews in Boston. In my being stunned by the greatest that is Julie Andrews, I managed to tell her that I liked the illustrations in her book. Seconds later, I realized that she had nothing to do with the illustrations. I am a complete idiot.

In fact, this entry was based on demonstrating how to use a link. I hope it wasn't utterly pointless, however.

Week 3, Thing 5

2007-06-18T22:32:00.000-04:00

"Tamsin: Does Cameron need a Christine in London?
David: Hmm, I wonder what Cam will give me in London."

Let's talk about musicals. Specifically Les Miserables. It was the first (two) musicals I saw on Broadway, and, I admit, the last. Don't worry, I have seen other shows between the original production and the revival. About a month ago, I was lucky enough to see Ben Davis as Javert in the revival production. I say lucky, because he was fabulous. Really, one of my favorite Javerts ever. Yesterday, I learned that Cameron Mackintosh fired him. Which was really tragic. And heartbreaking, considering they gave him a bad excuse and it was a role he really wanted to play.

So, for my first exciting Flickr assignment, I thought I would upload to Flickr the picture of Ben and I, just for fun. Clearly, because it has nothing to do with library life.

This is us!

In all reality, I need to post a photo with the label of "mdlearning2". Lacking the resources of a digital camera (so, I'm old fashioned), I bring you an exciting/frightening photo from my past to fulfil this requirement. But first, let's talk about my Flickr experience. I admit, I've used Photobucket since 2003 for my photo uploading needs, but, I was willing to give Flickr a go. And, it isn't all that bad, and features many shiny things that PB doesn't, so, it has quite a few possibilities. Though, goodness knows, I'm a preservationist, thus, resistant to change.

It is quite easy to upload images, though I have only done two so far, and as I had a yahoo account from way back in the dark ages of the late 1990s, I was pretty much all set with that.

So, here's my next photo.

It is from well over a year ago when I was still in library school in Boston. My friend Vita and I were training to be archivists at the Park Street Church archives and discovered this "crazy clown" doll tucked away among some other things that looked like were gifts to missionaries. Perhaps this one was possessed, as it certainly had a very evil expression. Second semester, I worked in the vault alone. Should I ever write a memoir, and should it ever be published, at the time, I was hoping for it to be call: "Locked in a vault: The Tales of an Idiot Archivist". Because, well, we worked in a vault (lucky, an old bank vault and not where they used to keep the dead bodies under the church) and sometimes, the custodians tried to lock us in it.

There! Flickr and stories. Sounds like bedtime to me!

What fools these mortals be.

2007-06-18T00:07:00.001-04:00

I guess I'm quite the narcassist since I have this blog and I ::gasp:: actually write about myself in it. And here I was thinking that was the point of blogs. Silly me. What else will I learn during my trip through 23 Things?

Continuing in this vein (vain-hah), I created a new header that features Castell Harlech, which, as Princess Branwen, I claim as my own. And, also created a user picture of a Diversion sign from London. I guess you would have had to be in the UK/Wales with me at the time to understand all of the fun of Diversion signs and Owain Glyndor.

I also added some links to blogs run by my friends. Of course, now it looks like I'm also limited in the friends department. But, such is life.

Week 2, Thing 4

2007-06-16T14:40:00.000-04:00

You know, as a librarian, you would really hope I knew how to read. No dice. Well, I did read, just not far enough down the page to see the link to register my blog until it was too late. I suppose not too late since I did eventually find it. So, the blog is registered completely (I hope), and now I'm all set for week 3. Hoorah!

Now I just need to work on the beautification of this blog. Really, I picked the pink colours because my friends like to tease me about my "love" of pink. Except, all of this teasing means that I've actually begun to wear more pink/use it in my day-to-day life. Horrors!

Do you know what are really beautiful? Architectural drawings. They really are their own unique form of art and beauty.

Week 2, Thing 3

2007-06-16T11:54:00.000-04:00

Create a blog! Well, I guess you wouldn’t be reading this if I neglected this “Thing”.

I admit to being an awful person when creating a "user profile". I was slightly overtaxed with final projects when I updated my Facebook profile which includes as an activity, "frolicking through traffic with baritones" or some such nonsense. That's not to say that I haven't done that. Because I have. I just don't make it a daily activity. Truly, it's all about the lack of baritones and not lack of traffic. Especially if I wanted to try to frolick across Route 50 on foot to get to work. Frankly, there would not be much left of me.

So, for the moment, you will have to accept the user profile as is until I have a bit more free time. Free time! Hah!

Week 1, Thing 2

2007-06-16T10:21:00.000-04:00

Thing 2 identified the 7 ½ Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners. These are:

Habit 1: Begin with the end in mind
Habit 2: Accept responsibility for your own learning
Habit 3: View problems as challenges
Habit 4: Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner
Habit 5: Create your own learning toolbox
Habit 6: Use technology to your advantage
Habit 7: Teach/mentor others
Habit 7 ½: Play

As I pointed out to Peggy one day, the joy of being a librarian, especially a reference librarian, is that you are always learning (and it is my way of fighting Alzheimer’s as it does run in the family). Being a reference librarian, I’m always asked different questions, so it keeps me constantly in a state of learning. And I get paid to do that! That makes Habit 2 the easiest to follow.

Perhaps the most difficult habit for me would be Habit 7: to teach or mentor others. I’m the youngest (other than the pages) employee at our library, and I sometimes find it difficult to be in the teaching position, as there is so much for me to learn from everyone else! Maybe one day I’ll be knocking around the pages with my cane, cackling madly. But, not today.

Week 1, Thing 1

2007-06-16T09:51:00.000-04:00

Well, here I am getting ready to start a new adventure. A technological adventure! As one of the few people who admitted to being less than thrilled to having to sit through the intro to technology course at my library school (believe me, it was boring) this one looks quite fun. And, hopefully, I will learn some good (and useful) new technological skills by the end of my nine weeks here.

How I live now

2007-06-11T11:52:00.000-04:00

You know, when starting a new blog, or a new journal, or new anything, you feel like you need to say something crushingly intelligent. Or at least spell things properly. Two things at which I'm bound to fail (notice, mom, no hanging "at"!). Oh, yes, you can tell I've earned my master's degree.

This blog was created due to the 23 Things library program from which I will hopefully learn exciting new things about technology; all of which will be recorded faithfully in this blog. That is if I want to receive my CEUs. Of course, it seems almost silly right now seeing as I've yet to receive my certification. Though it was submitted last February (or was it January?). I don't intend to lose my job now that I have it!

The name of my blog, "Castell Glas", is translated from the Welsh into "Blue Castle" which happens to be my favorite book (it's by L.M. Montgomery and you should check it out if you haven't already). I have a thing for Wales, as it was the country I did my study abroad in. And Welsh, the natives would have you understand, is the "language of heaven".

Well, back to the real world of checking patrons out (at least their books, not them personally).