AMQS (Anne) reads in 2014 -- chapter 4

Hello and welcome to my fourth thread! Thank you very much for visiting. I have been away from LT too much this summer, and hope to get back to visit everyone. Unfortunately my first day back at school is this Wednesday -- somehow the summer just flew by!

Continuing with illustrations from children's literature, this is from the wonderful Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson. A favorite of mine when I was little, and of my girls as well.

December, 2014
67. Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
68. Daisy Miller by Henry James
69. Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck
70. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
71. Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit by P.G. Wodehouse
72. The Witch's Boy by Kelly Barnhill
73. Spirit Animals Book 1: Wild Born by Brandon Mull

November, 2014
60. Watership Down by Richard Adams
61. Tales of Terror by Edgar Allen Poe
62. Crusoe's Daughter by Jane Gardam
63. Smile by Raina Telgemeier
64. Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather
65. Howards End by E.M. Forster
66. The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer

October, 2014
54. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
55. The Map Trap by Andrew Clements
56. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
57. Judy Moody by Megan MacDonald
58. The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe
59. Death by Toilet Paper by Donna Gephart

September, 2014
48. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
49. A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr
50. The Cheshire Cheese Cat by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall White
51. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
52. The Hippopotamus by Stephen Fry
53. Fire by Kristin Cashore

August, 2014
42. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
43. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
44. Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage
45. Gaby, Lost and Found by Angela Cervantes
46. The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer
47. The Maze Runner by James Dashner

July, 2014
40. Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
41. Letters From Skye by Jessica Brockmole

June, 2014
32. The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
33. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
34. Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats by Kristen Iversen
35. Doll Bones by Holly Black
36. Three Bird Summer by Sara St. Antoine
37. The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill
38. Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein
39. Ungifted by Gordon Korman

May, 2014
26. Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer
27. Selections from The Complete Stories of Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
28. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
29. The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
30. Frindle by Andrew Clements
31. Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

April, 2014
21. The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone
22. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
23. The Code of the Woosters: Jeeves to the Rescue by P.G. Wodehouse
24. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
25. Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

March, 2015
13. Light in August by William Faulkner
14. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
15. Far, Far Away by Tom McNeal
16. The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
17. The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
18. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
19. The Ever Breath by Julianna Baggott
20. Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

February, 2014
8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
9. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
10. Lady Susan by Jane Austen
11. The Eyes of Venice by Alessandro Barbero
12. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

January, 2014
1. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
2. A Winter in Arabia: A Journey Through Yemen by Freya Stark
3. Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather
4. Ivy and Bean by Annie Barrows
5. August Folly by Angela Thirkell
6. A Spy in the House by Y. S. Lee
7. Creaturely and Other Essays by Devin Johnston

42. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

My July reading list is pathetically short. I have no regrets, though, as I spent most of the month driving the cattle up the trail from Lonesome Dove, Texas to the vast and largely uninhabited Montana. What a book! I have been encouraged by many of you here to read this book, and you were all right. Loved it. I laughed out loud, cried frequently, and loved the characters so vivid I felt as though I knew them. I mourned them, too, for I feel they don't make 'em like that anymore. People that is, who settled the prairie, drove the cattle, braved the elements, forged the rivers, shod the horses, ate the grasshoppers, and lived the astounding lives they did. Fantastic read.

Welcome home, Anne, and happy travels noted. Such envy-inducing photos!

Read #40, totally agree...I was fine with the book up to the ending, which I **HATED**. It was really nice writing, though.

Read #42, again totally agree. Such a gripping read! He knows his onions does McMurtry.

*smooch*

Hi Anne! Happy new thread, and I hope you are getting some down time to catch your breath!

I really need to read Lonesome Dove......

Happy New Thread, Anne! And happy 75ers that you're back in place here.
I also really need to read Lonesome Dove and have no idea when I can make it happen.

Already??? That's, that's, that's downright unAmerican!

Happy new thread, Anne and YAY! for more Lonesome Dove love! I don't as a general rule read westerns or books about cowboys but I really think Lonesome Dove transcends the usual western/cowboy story.

Happy new thread!

Hi Anne, just marking my spot on your new thread : ).

Delighted you enjoyed Lonesome Dove so much. It's hard work driving cattle and eating grasshoppers, isn't it? Fantastic read indeed!

Happy New Thread!

Lonesome Dove is a brilliant novel, and I'm so glad you enjoyed it so much. Though it's really long, I have reread it 2x because it is so very very good. And I, like >9 lkernagh:, don't generally list westerns among my genre of choice.

Happy New Thread, Anne!

I love Rabbit Hill, too.

I can't believe I still haven't read Lonesome Dove. What is wrong with me?

Happy new thread, Anne! And lovely review of Lonesome Dove, a novel I haven't read, but probably should one of these days. Also, I didn't know that he wrote Terms of Endearment or even that it was a book, before it was a movie. I learn so much here on a daily basis!

Yay, visitors!! Thank you so much for stopping by.

>5 richardderus: Richard, indeed he does (McMurtry). We really enjoyed our travels, but it is nice to be home. Just wish I had a little more time before I go back to school (tomorrow). SMOOCH back to you!

>6 katiekrug: Hi Katie! Not much down time, I'm afraid, but I have spent the past few days in slug mode, which is how I was able to finish Lonesome Dove. Terrific read, when you have a chance.

>7 LizzieD: Thank you, Peggy! I had a library discard copy of Lonesome Dove for a couple of years, and I had planned to bring it on my travels this summer. As you might guess, I spend more time packing my books than I do my clothes. I want to pack books I know I'll enjoy, but that aren't so special I can't leave them behind. I thought Lonesome Dove would be perfect -- nice long read that promised to be wonderful, but a very old, very well-used copy I could easily leave and replace with a shiny new one when I got home if I needed to. Only I didn't finish it on the trip. Still, a perfect read for a long trip!

>8 ronincats: Oh Roni, I know!! I'm afraid I'll be leaving claw marks on the highway tomorrow morning. There are some school districts here that have students back in session already. Tomorrow is just for librarians and admin types in my district. Teachers come back Monday, and students the following Monday. God knows we need as much instructional time before the inhumane/educational-malpractice/onslaught of standardized tests we take, right?

>9 lkernagh: Hi Lori! I can't say that I read many westerns either, and may never have discovered this wonderful book but for this great community we have here!

>10 cbl_tn: Thank you, Carrie!

>11 lit_chick: Hi Nancy, and thanks for filing your claim here:) I loved Lonesome Dove. I'm well into another book, but constantly thinking about that one, and dreaming of it, too.

>12 Storeetllr: Thank you, Mary! Yes, I imagine I'll reread it at some point, too. Just wonderful.

>13 scaifea: Thank you, Amber! Rabbit Hill is a wonderful read aloud, but I'm sure you already knew that:) Thanks for stopping by!

>14 rosalita: Julia, it will be there when you're ready, and then you'll be in for a grand epic!

>15 DorsVenabili: Thank you, Kerri! Yes, so many things I lave learned on LT. And my life is so much richer for it!

>4 AMQS: *direct hit*
I really have to read this one. It's a chunkster, right?

I don't like westerns, don't want to read another chunkster. See me dodge the book bullet! I'm dodging it. Yup, I'm...

Oh Lonesome Dove - what a great read!

I read it the first summer we were in Colorado in that happy time before I had to start looking for a job.

>1 AMQS: we could use that sign on our street. We have a ridiculous amount of rabbits this year!

>18 LovingLit: Ooh, good, Megan! If you have to take a direct hit, this is a good one, and yes, it's a chunkster. Mine is a mass market paperback (short and stout), and clocked in at nearly 950 pages. 950 delightful pages, and well worth the read!

>19 cammykitty: *will be looking for Lonesome Dove on Katie's TBR list* Good luck with that! I'm not really a western reader either, but I caved to this one and and I am very glad I did!

>20 Copperskye: Hi Joanne! that happy time before I had to start looking for a job Of yes, that is a happy time, as is "beofre school starts." *sigh* Great days for Lonesome Dove, though.

We have so many rabbits this year as well. Also, many great horned owls, which I love. The bunnies, not so much. I wonder why so many rabbits this year?

43. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

I really enjoyed this one. A.J. Fikry is a bookseller in a small bookshop on a small Massachusetts island. Though young, he is grumpy, curmudgeonly, and dispirited, keenly grieving his wife who died a couple of years ago, and finding everyone else irritating. A series of unexpected events changes him profoundly and renews his love for life. This sweet book is sprinkled throughout with book quotes and references (my favorite: the tabby cat named Puddleglum), and has a deeply touching and personal running list of short story recommendations for someone very special. A very quick read, and a light one. A light read, that is, with heft and meaning and emotional resonance.

AJ Firky sounds worth reading for the short story recommendations alone!

Yup, Lonesome Dove is on the WL but it may take it awhile to rise up to "Now Reading." The thing is everyone raves about it and over 1/2 of the people who like it don't like westerns.

Anne, I'm so pleased you enjoyed Lonesome Dove. I, too, discovered it on LT and thought it was amazingly good.

Happy new thread! Sad that school is back already though (the holidays have just started here).

>17 AMQS: Well, Charlie and I haven't read it aloud yet, but it's on the short list...

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry is one I have on my list, Anne. Glad you enjoyed : ).

Hi Anne - Good luck with the start of the new school year. I'm just finishing summer school this week, and my duplicating for fall is due next week, so I, too, have to get back in the school mode. :( Summer always goes so fast. Nice reviews. I've heard great things about The Storied Life of AJ Fikry; I won it as an ER book, and it never came.

Oh gosh, I remember the original Puddleglum. One of my favorite characters.

I liked Gabrielle Zevin's Elsewhere (geared toward a younger crowd), and this one is in my future. Thanks for the review, Anne. It sounds right up my alley.

>23 cammykitty: It's well worth a spot on the wish list, Katie. Actually, I can't rightly say that I don't like westerns, because honestly I just don't read them. Not avoiding them, exactly, but just not the kind of book I'd think to pick up. Lonesome Dove I will pick up again at some point, for sure!

>24 susanj67: Hi Susan! Yes, back at school today, but I feel much better than I did last year -- probably because I'm not new anymore. Our weather has been a bit cooler, I've felt the urge to bake (and I've answered it in spades), so it feels okay to be back at work, even though I would dearly love to be a lady of leisure for just a bit more! I think I remember you reading Lonesome Dove, and your comments probably helped influence me to pick it up:)

>25 scaifea: A good choice!

>26 lit_chick: Nancy, I think you'll enjoy it. It is a quick read, and a good one. Hope you like it!

>27 BLBera: Thank you, Beth! Sounds like you never left school mode! 1st day back was good, but aside from admin types, only librarians are back, so the library was very quiet. My mom came in today and we assembled a double-sided book display that the PTA bought me, moved some things around, and got organized. I remember feeling lost and overwhelmed at this time last year, so I am sure glad to be back at the same school, and a school I really love. Do you have any break at all?

>28 jnwelch: Yes, I love Puddleglum as well. There's also a ballet teacher named Madame Olenska:) Hope you enjoy The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry when you get to it, Joe!

I read that Fikry thing and the entire time kept saying, "Good damned thing George Eliot's dead...this is Silas Marner with window dressing and a bad case of bloat."

*sigh* Yet again I am out of step.

Lonesome Dove... I don't think I've read it. Pretty sure. Not positive. Huh.

I have a serious mental stumbling block around Westerns. I think they're all terribly boring even though I've never read one. Maybe one day I'll try one to decide if they're actually not for me.

>30 richardderus: No, not out of step, Richard, it just didn't do it for you. I think I was in the right mood for that book, and at another time it may not have worked for me. On a happier note, I have a sudden desire to read Silas Marner...

>31 nittnut: Hi Jenn! Worth a read, if you haven't, and a lookover if you're not sure:)

>32 MickyFine: LOL. Maybe I really do love westerns. Only one way to find out, right Micky?

Hi Anne - Well, summer session ended Thursday, and two weeks from Monday classes start. I finally got the mold removed from my office after it was flooded. On Friday, the committee for the redesign of faculty offices met, so there is hope that within the next few years, we'll have updated, modern space. So, it doesn't feel like much of a break. But it will be fun to be back.

My daughter is getting geared up, too. She hasn't seen her new classroom yet because it's still under construction!

Oh my, Beth. A teacher I know in another school district has been frantically putting things together (along with the rest of the staff) because of construction that still isn't finished (school starts Monday). She hasn't even seen her own classroom (music) yet! Hope your daughter's classroom is finished and wonderful. Ugh, mold! Glad that's gone. Hope you can rest this weekend, Beth!

Just saying Hello, hoping you had a great summer, and wishing I could come to Denver again just to have breakfast with you!

A Tale of Two Books. Both of these books are Colorado Children's Book Award nominees. One of them is a highly-praised Newbery Honor book I had been looking forward to for a long time. The other, with its too-cute cover and sappy Scholastic Book Fair-produced book trailer was one I forced myself to read because it's a CCBA nominee.

Well, well, well, Ms. Smarty-Pants Librarian, didn't you ever learn not to judge a book by its cover (or its reviews)?

44. Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

This Newbery Honor book is a North Carolina mystery featuring "rising sixth grader" Miss Moses LoBeau, who was born during a hurricane and sent downstream lashed to a raft. She was found by "The Colonel" who lost his memory during the same storm, and raised by The Colonel and Miss Lana, who open a cafe together (Mo runs it when either Miss Lana or the Colonel inexplicably takes off, but since she's not allowed to touch the stove, she serves peanut butter sandwiches). Mo is devoted to the idea of her "upstream mother" writing letters to her and having friends release bottles with messages when they travel in the hopes of finding her. When cranky Mr. Jesse is found murdered, Mo and her best friend Dale investigate the murder.

I confess I am at a loss to understand the superlative reviews and the Newbery Honor, and I'm pretty sure this will be my least favorite book of the year. I love (or thought I did) mysteries where kids get together and solve them with pluck, but this one is too implausible, even for this fan of kid lit, and the plot (and sweet message about family being about love rather than blood) is obscured by a character so obnoxiously mouthy I was driven to distraction (the book was probably doomed for me when I read that Moses LoBeau is the new Scout Finch). On top of that, the author seems to have raided a discount bin of cutesy southern colloquialisms and cornball synonyms and jammed as many into the book as two covers could possibly hold. While very popular, the book did not work for me at all, and I had to force myself to read it over the course of a week.

45. Gaby, Lost and Found by Angela Cervantes

I read this book in a single sitting weeping freely through the last third or so, completely surprised that I liked it as well as I did. Gaby is a sixth grader whose mother has recently been deported to Honduras. When this occurred, her father moved in. Since her parents broke up, her father has been a twice-a-year presence in her life, and he is neither successful at caring for a young girl nor particularly willing. Gaby's sixth grade class is about to vote on a public service project, and the two top possibilities are the City Harvest Center food bank and the Furry Friends Animal Shelter. Gaby is terrified the class will choose the food bank, as she is a regular patron, so her best friend persuades the class of the value of the animal shelter. At the shelter the girls socialize, exercise and train the animals, and clean the cages. Gaby, with a talent for writing, is assigned to write heartfelt profiles of the animals in order to increase their visibility and inspire members of the community to adopt them. Gaby empathizes with the homeless animals, as she keenly misses her mother and recognizes that she also needs a loving and stable home. Gaby falls in love with an emaciated cat named Feather, and winds up smuggling Feather out of the shelter when his neglectful owners show up.

This story is designed to appeal to girls 9-12, which it does very successfully. The school/shelter plot is okay/cute, but the issue of deportation and its effect on families is handled with both restraint and poignancy. Gaby's grief, confusion, anger, and shame are very real, and very moving. What I liked best, I think, was how Ms. Cervantes created an entirely Latino cast of characters who exhibit the integrity, values, and considerable virtues for which Latino communities are known, but are often overlooked in this racially-charged time when individuals instead focus on crime and poverty and legal status. Ms. Cervantes does this very subtly -- no chest-pounding here. Gaby's father does not have his act together (a reader may infer that he is Caucasian), but the neighbors and other characters are giving, loyal, and fiercely protective of Gaby, from Mrs. Sepulveda the cat lady to Dr. Villalobos the shelter vet; and from the Gomez family, parents of Gaby's best friend Alma, who lovingly advocate for her and take her in as one of their own, to goofy neighborhood boys Marcos and Enrique ("Marcos tugged on the strings of his hoodie and looked out toward the street. Her father's car wasn't there. He looked back at the house. Gaby hoped that he didn't notice ripped window screen. The last thing she needed was him opening his big mouth to everyone about the condition of her home. A month ago, the porch light wasn't working. Marcos told Enrique. The next day, all of Enrique's uncles showed up and turned her house into a day-long project. They fixed the light, unclogged the kitchen sink, chopped the tree branches that hovered dangerously over the porch and power lines, and even took out the trash. She was grateful, but her father came home and acted insulted. He had sulked and muttered, 'I was going to get around to it.'").

With schools more ethnically diverse than ever and diversity glaringly lacking in children's literature, this book, while far from perfect, is important. Interestingly, Three Times Lucky checked out maybe twice last year, while Gaby, Lost and Found flew off the shelf. I'm glad it's a CCBA nominee -- it should reach a wider audience in Colorado this year, and deservedly so.

>36 tloeffler: Hi Terri! Oh, I wish you would come back to Denver! Since we met I have discovered some amazing places to have breakfast, and a few more I'd like to try. Thanks for stopping by. How are you?

Oh, too bad about Three Times Lucky. I had planned to read it as some point, but it sounds like Gaby, Lost and Found would be a better choice. It sounds like a book I would enjoy.

>39 cbl_tn: Well Carrie, I'm definitely in the minority with Three Times Lucky. I say go for it -- you'll probably like it more than I did:) Gaby, Lost and Found was a very pleasant surprise.

Hi Anne - I keep adding books to my "Scout" list. Gaby, Lost and Found sounds like a winner.

>37 AMQS:: Anne, I loved this line. Thanks for my morning laugh…with a dose of wisdom behind these words…

Well, well, well, Ms. Smarty-Pants Librarian, didn't you ever learn not to judge a book by its cover (or its reviews)?

…sometimes we've just got to read the book and forget about our preconceived notions. I love it when I'm pleasantly surprised. Adding Gaby, Lost and Found to my "Audrey" list!

I'm another big fan of Lonesome Dove. I loved the time I spent with Gus and others on the dusty cattle run. 'Happy Trails' has new meaning for me now. I hope you and the family are having a good Sunday.

Edited because my autocorrect doesn't like the name Gaby!

Anne, I have to say thank you. I finished The Winter Sea this week which went on The List because of your review (at least a year ago). It was a lovely read.

>41 BLBera: Hi Beth! Scout will have the world's best library, that's for sure:) I can't say that Gaby, Lost and Found was a Great Book, but I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it, and by how Ms. Cervantes treated the heavy -- and timely -- subject of illegal immigration with such sensitivity.

>42 Donna828: Donna, considering how I felt beginning of each book, I certainly needed the reminder! I am still living with the characters and events of Lonesome Dove in my mind. What a treat. Looking forward to seeing you soon-ish!

>43 MickyFine: Oh Micky, I'm so glad! I am grateful every day for this community. How many great books have I discovered here? Glad you enjoyed The Winter Sea. My daughter Callia loved it, too.

46. The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer

A very diverting audio to start my school year. I have been meaning to read more Georgette Heyer after reading so many positive reviews here, but my library seems to be lacking in selection, save a few titles, including this one. The Quiet Gentleman has all the charm of Ms. Heyer's Regency romances and the intrigue of her mysteries. Gervase Frant returns home from the war with Napoleon at Waterloo to assume his title of Earl of St. Erth, much to the chagrin of his stepmother and half-brother, who fervently wish he had died during his service. As the earl settles in, he deals with hostile personalities at home, and suffers numerous attempts on his life. A very fun, charming read.

You expected a plausible mystery from a book that starts with a baby girl found lashed to a raft and raised by an amnesiatic "Colonel?" I haven't read it, but from your description it sounds like the point of the book is how many implausible things can you get past a middle schooler. Gaby, Lost and Found sounds like the much better choice.

47. The Maze Runner by James Dashner

I was inspired to read this by Amy's (Porch_Reader) son, who gave it to her for Mother's Day because the movie is coming out soon, and he is well trained enough to know that you must always read the book first! I saw this book on the "Lucky Day" shelf at the library, and smiled, remembering that I read about it on her thread.

I thought it was fairly typical YA post-apocalyptic sci-fi, with an utter mystery at its core. One boy per month arrives in The Glade in a box, his memory wiped of everything but his name. There he finds other boys, who have organized themselves into a strict, structured society where all pitch in to ensure survival, and a few spend their days running through the massive maze, attempting to find a way out. At nightfall, the maze closes and becomes a deathtrap. When Thomas arrives, he has disturbing, shadowy memories, and the other boys can sense that something is different about him. And only one day after he arrives, a half-dead girl arrives, heralding "the end." A page-turner with even more mysteries unsolved at the end (and at least three sequels).

>46 cammykitty: LOLOL, Katie, you NAILED it! Yup, that sums up the book perfectly (but still doesn't explain its accolades). Gaby, Lost and Found was a much better read, at least for me. Hope you're having a great weekend!

I'm taken with your review of The Quiet Gentleman, Anne. Reminds me that it is time for another Heyer. She is always charming and entertaining, isn't she? I'm curious about the audio edition you listened to … did you get it at Audible or your library? (or perhaps neither) My library has a lot of her books in print but none on audio.

Saw The Maze Runner being previewed at the cinema yesterday and it looks half-decent. The kids all love the cinema so we sampled a show (Into the Storm) in City Star, Cairo.

Have a great Sunday, dear lady.

>49 lit_chick: Nancy, I got it at the library. I remember looking at a huge selection of Heyer audios at the library several years ago, and now there are very, very few. I think they must have been weeded :( My next audio will be my first ever download from the library. I hadn't really ever paid attention to the digital downloads before, but if I find books I want I may look more. Lori's experience has me a bit worried, though. The Quiet Gentleman was a very fun read.

>50 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul! Are you home yet? I've enjoyed following your Egyptian travels very much. Safe travels to you wherever you are!

>45 AMQS: Anne, if your library has Freading, they have all of Georgette Heyer's bibliography on there I recently discovered.

>47 AMQS: - Oh my son will be so happy that he inspired you to read The Maze Runner! It was a page turner, wasn't it? Ben just convinced me to buy the 2nd one in the series!

Hi Anne!

It's funny. I had never heard of The Maze Runner, but just now, I was reading your review (while watching preseason football with Joe) and he said over my shoulder, "Oh, someone's reading The Maze Runner." Then, immediately after that, a commercial for the movie came on.

Ok. Maybe that was neither funny, nor interesting. Ha!

I still think I should try a Georgette Heyer mystery. I think I've said that here before.

>52 MickyFine: Micky, I don't think the library system has Freading, but there are several titles on Overdrive. Nice to have them to look forward to!

>53 porch_reader: Please thank you son for me, Amy! Yes, it was a page turner. I enjoyed it, but I don't know that I'll be reading the sequels -- at least not at this time:)

>54 DorsVenabili: Nice coincidence, Kerri! I've enjoyed the Georgette Heyers I've read. I know that sometimes fans of her Regency romances on't like the mysteries as well, but this one was both, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Hi, Anne! Trying to catch up here. One of my reading goals for 2014 was to FINALLY read Georgette Heyer. Hopefully I'll do that soon(ish). I have had The Maze Runner on hold at the library for several weeks now. If I'm lucky, I'll get a copy in a couple more weeks. Not that I don't have enough to read as it is :) Do you think you will read any of the sequels?

Just checking in, Anne, after a too-long absence! Hope the school year is starting off well...

I've been absent from threads too long, just dropping by to say hello, and hope the school year is starting well. I'm putting Lonesome Dove on my list of audios for a car trip.

Hi Anne! Just getting caught up here. Thanks for reminding me that I am behind in The Maze Runner series

>56 aktakukac: Hi Rachel! I think you will love Georgette Heyer. I don't know that I will read The Maze Runner sequels. I enjoyed the book, but not enough to inspire me to pick up the sequels. I don't know that I'll see the movie either, but if I do, I'm ready!

>57 katiekrug: Hi Katie, and thank you for checking on me. The school year started well, but I am a bit overwhelmed. I have too much on my plate, I think, which is a good thing in a way. Teachers are so stressed and so busy that they won't use a specialist if they don't think it's worth their time. It's nice to be in demand -- now I just need to get ahead and hopefully I'll have more time to read and visit LT. How are you doing? I need to visit threads, and yours especially, because you may be moving...?

>58 markon: Ardene, I'm so happy to see you! I have been absent for awhile, too, and hope to be catching up soon. Lonesome Dove could get you through a long, long road trip -- it's a great read. Do you have a road trip planned?

>59 ChelleBearss: Hi Chelle! How's that dear little one? Have you read past the first Maze Runner book? Do you recommend the sequels? Thanks for stopping by!

This is the beginning of week 4 -- with students, that is, and I am trying to recover from a bona fide reading drought. In the nearly three weeks since my last book I have managed one audio and a 135-page book. *sigh*



48. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. Audiobook narrated by Davina Porter.

I'm sure it was Nancy (lit_chick) who wrote the review that persuaded me to read this one. A series of vignettes, rather than a novel, this charmer drops in on the lives of the women of Cranford, a town populated primarily by widows and spinsters. Not action-packed, by any means, rather the stories of the Cranford ladies as they live their daily lives, practice their small economies, and go through the rituals of gentility (when callers may come, how to serve refreshments that are neither too extravagant or too meager, how to address a lady, how to divert the conversation if someone unthinkingly mentions a relation who is in trade, the propriety of inviting one lady of lower standing when the town's leading lady is to be expected). Nancy's review on the main page is lovely. I also like Carrie's (cbl_tn) review from a few years ago. She points out that the Cranford ladies live much as Jane Austen's Bennet and Dashwood sisters might have lived had they not married Messrs. Darcy, Bingley, Ferrars, and Brandon. I thought the book was gentle, funny, and poignant, if a bit slow.

49. A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr

A book I'm certain I would never have known without LT. This is a quiet, reflective gem, nearly as restorative to the reader as to narrator Tom Birkin, who comes to live in the lovely country to restore a medieval mural long-forgotten in a small church in 1920. Birkin arrives broken from the hell of the Great War and the hurts of a faithless wife. As the painting is restored, so too is Birkin in some measure. This is a lovely book.

Those of us who work in education will understand your reading drought. My reading always takes a hit at this time of year. The first few weeks of the school year are so draining that even when I have time to read I often don't have the energy.

I'm glad you liked Cranford. I'll have to see if I can track down an audio copy when I'm read to re-read it. And you've reminded me that A Month in the Country has been on my wishlist too long. I need to do something about that.

I love Cranford. What a wonderful story. I have A Month in the Country waiting on my tbr bookcases so happy to see that one has received glowing reviews from you and other readers here on LT. I hope the 'back to school' routines are going well for you and the girls. Here in BC the public schools haven't gone back yet. The teacher's strike that started back in June is still on-going and last time I checked, the parties were not even close to settling. *sighs*

Two books I pluperfectly adored! Cranford is a quiet, lovely meditation on the aftermath of one of history's bloodier conflicts; where are all the men? Dead in the wars. Wonderful read even yet.

A Month in the Country has made so many new fans because of LT!! Had it not been for Suz and Kerri, I'd never have picked it up. And what a loss that would've been. It's the reading equivalent of a late-summer afternoon in a hammock.

Delighted you enjoyed Cranford, Anne. A Month in the Country is picking up a lot of love here on LT; have to get this one!

Oh, don't rush to my thread. It's a dim possibility (moving), and other than that, it's like a graveyard over there!

Half glad and half sorry you are so busy. Yay for being needed but boo for no reading ;-)

>63 cbl_tn: The first few weeks of the school year are so draining that even when I have time to read I often don't have the energy. Yes, that's it! I'm slowly recovering from the beginning-of-year fog:) This is shaping up to be a wild month, but I am feeling a bit more in control, so hopefully that will transfer into more reading. I think you'll love A Month in the Country. It's a lovely read. I liked the narrator of Cranford -- the one Nancy listened to, though, is one of my favorites, so you can't go wrong! How is your school year going?

>64 lkernagh: Hi Lori! Yes, we're becoming accustomed to the routine. Wow, that's a long strike. We have a new-ish school board that seems determined to drive the district into the ground (look, now it's failing, so it needs to be privatized!), so there's talk afloat about filing grievances, lawsuits, recall efforts, and possibly strikes. So sad. One of the new board members actually said (at the last board meeting on Thursday) that she would like to see AP US History abolished, because among other things, it encourages students to think critically. No, I'm not kidding. It's really awful. And yet, we start afresh each day with those students in our classrooms and libraries.

>65 richardderus: Hi Richard! It's the reading equivalent of a late-summer afternoon in a hammock. Yes! I could use a reading day in a hammock right about now. I'll just content myself with immense gratitude for this community which has introduced me to so many wonderful people and books!

>66 lit_chick: Yes, you do, Nancy! I think you'll enjoy it. And tank you for your recommendation of Cranford!

>67 katiekrug: Hi Katie! A graveyard? Then I definitely need to visit! September is shaping up to be kooky, but I am finding a bit more reading time, for which I am very glad. Raising my glass to you and all my dear LT friends!

Hi Anne - School is keeping me busy, too. I recently read and loved A Month in the Country. I think, from your comments, I would also like Cranford. One of these days.

I hope all is going well with school.

Hi Anne!

> 61 - I hadn't heard of this one, but now it will go on the wishlist. I've wanted to read Mary Barton for ages though...

>62 AMQS: - Yay!

Hi, Anne ~ Hope you are having a great time up in the mountains this weekend! I saw on the news that its actually supposed to be warmer and dryer than down here! Colorado. It was lovely to see you last night. I'm so glad you could take the time to meet up with Reba, Joanne and me, even though you had to leave early for your camping trip. I meant to take a snapshot while you were still there but forgot. We did get a couple of the rest of us, though, and I posted them over at my thread. https://www.librarything.com/topic/177603#4845404

I just put A Month in the Country on my mooch list. Sounds beautiful.

>37 AMQS: Great review of Gaby, Lost and Found. It's added to my pile.

I did end up buying Lonesome Dove, for the Kindle, naturally. So I guess it will be there, waiting for me when I get my Kindle.

If you're going to do another Heyer on audio, see if you can get one narrated by Richard Armitage. Fabulous. He's another one who can read me the phone book. :)

Oh, I have been neglecting my thread, and all of LT, even after I vowed not to. I've been out of town with the Chorale, busy with school, and when I am on the computer, obsessed with and sickened by our school boards's latest efforts to destroy our district, this time via censorship. And I am actually sick, so rather than be more sick at the computer I knew I needed to get away to my happy place, which is here. Bless you all for visiting me even though I am such a poor hostess and even poorer guest.

>69 BLBera: Hi Beth! Hope you're settling in to the new school year. I'm sure you would enjoy Cranford -- it's a very nice read.

>70 DorsVenabili: Kerri, I would never have heard of Cranford had it not been for LT. Not A Month in the Country, either. Hoep you have a great weekend.

>71 Storeetllr: Mary, it was so nice to see you and Joanne, and to meet Reba! I wish I hadn't had to leave so soon. We had a great weekend in the mountains, and after Friday (yes, it did snow!) we had very warm weather. Thanks for the photo!

>72 cammykitty: Hi Katie! A Month in the Country is a lovely book. Hope it comes your way soon.

>73 nittnut: Hi Jenn! Hope that Kindle comes soon. Lonesome Dove will be a long treat!
see if you can get one narrated by Richard Armitage Are you kidding?? I'm swooning already:)

Anne, you sound like you could benefit from and share forward David Brin's blog post on the current phase of the Civil War. Most enlightening.

{{{Anne}}} for living blue in a red state.

50. The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright

He was the best of toms. He was the worst of toms.

One of the teachers at my school insisted I buy this for the library, so of course, I had to read it. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese makes the best cheese in England, and is a pub oft-frequented by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, William Makepeace Thackeray... and a whole lot of mice. Skilley is a street cat "hired" as a mouser at The Cheese, which suits him very well, for though he shudders at the thought of eating a mouse, he does love cheese. Skilley strikes a bargain to protect the mice of The Cheese in exchange for, well, cheese. The plot thickens, though, when Skilley discovers Maldwyn, an injured raven who is one of the raven guards of the Tower of London, and when his old arch nemesis and vicious mouser Pinch also takes up residence at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. The drama of the pub's animal residents is observed closely by Mr. Dickens, who chronicles his observations, and intervenes at critical moments. This book is charming, even more so because Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is a real pub that has been in existence since the 1500s, really was a favorite haunt of Charles Dickens, and is alluded to in A Tale of Two Cities (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Olde_Cheshire_Cheese). A very fine and very fun book indeed.

>75 richardderus: Oh Richard, thank you!! (((Richard))) The current phase of the Civil War. I had never thought of it like that before. I know these things are cyclical, but it is devastating that this particular swing of the cycle is occurring now. I worry about my job and my students, but I'm just sick for my kids. I do live in a very conservative county, but the county and the state have been decidedly purple in the last two elections. And who pays attention to a local school board election? Well they have our attention now. If there's a glimmer of hope, it's that the board may have gone too far with their latest "curriculum committee." Until now they had done a great job of demonizing teachers, but now parents and students are up in arms. Here's the proposal, if you can stand it: http://www.boarddocs.com/co/jeffco/Board.nsf/files/9NYRPF6DED70/$file/JW%20PROPO...

edited to add: My daughter is scheduled to take AP US History next year...if the board hasn't eliminated it. Ugh.

I had to stop reading at "Theories should be distinguished from fact." Stupid should be distinguished from electable.

I loathe these right-wingers with all my fibers. I don't want to compromise with them. I want them to go down in flaming, humiliating defeat and never, ever, ever rise again because they can not command the respect of anyone with an IQ over 75. None of whom should be able to vote. "Are you now or have you ever been a member of any of the following organizations:" and the list would be extensive.

And that's the precise problem Brin identifies. Compromise? What's that when it's at home? I wish I could tamp down my disdain and loathing, but I'm just unable to watch the stupids eviscerate the finest, most beautifully designed mechanism for discovering the least-worst answer to society's unending questions that there has ever been without filling up with rage.

Me? Part of the problem. Ironic, no?

51. Stardust by Neil Gaiman. Audiobook narrated by Neil Gaiman

A darkly magical fairy tale for adults. Young Tristran Thorn crosses from our world into Faerie in order to bring back a fallen star to the girl he loves. But in Faerie, things are not as they are in our world, and the star turns out to be a young woman, pursued not only by Tristran, but by a trio of witches after her heart, and by a trio of princes after a jewel she carries. Many well-loved fairy tale elements here, as well as real fairy-tale elements -- very dark and violent ones. My favorite involved a bit of wax and a nursery rhyme:

How many miles to Babylon?
Three score and ten.
Can I get there by candle-light?
Yes, and back again.
If your heels are nimble and light,
You may get there by candle-light.

The book had a line that struck me so much I actually pulled over to the side of the road to write it down: Have been unavoidably detained by the world. Expect us when you see us. Also the Hempstocks (also of The Graveyard Book and The Ocean at the End of the Lane) appear in this book.

I haven't kept up at all with Jeffco's school issues, but I did note with interest the teacher sick out this week at two Jeffco high schools.

The proposal doesn't leave much room for any of the types of discussions that kids should be having in an AP class. How does one teach civil rights or the western expansion with such constraints?

One of these days, teachers will be trusted to teach again. I hope.

How was your camping trip?

>78 richardderus: There is no compromise, not even for the willing. I am so dispirited I can hardly stand it.

>80 Copperskye: Hi Joanne! Yes, that's the problem, isn't it? What about the signers of the Declaration of Independence, or the Underground Railroad? And AP is a national curriculum with a national exam, for which high school students can earn college credit. It can't just be changed. The board member behind this has come out publicly to disparage "critical thinking." No joke. *sigh*

Camp was great! The kids were fabulous, and the camp itself was lovely. It was a beautiful weekend once it warmed up. Next week we start A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Colorado Ballet.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

>74 AMQS: - gasp! Did I read your post correctly? Your school board is on a mission of censorship?! ACK!!!! Noooooooo, say it isn't so. Censorship has such a nasty ring to it it is hard to imagine anything positive that can be associated censorship.

>77 AMQS: - Oh.... I see. I understand your concerns. As a Canadian, I cannot see how any number of major events in US history can be objectively and critically presented to students without crossing - or risking being interpreted as crossing - the boards so called 'guard rails'. Like Kent state. How does one present an emotionally charged event - with huge ramifications - to students with nothing but cold, clinical facts and facts alone. That just defies logic, reason and critical thinking, the very things that schools are supposed to support and nurture.

Stay strong Anne!

Anne, The Cheshire Cheese Cat sounds perfectly delightful!

>77 AMQS: Anne, that curriculum document is alarming, and I can see why you're worried. I'm doing a Coursera course at the moment on "Introduction to Key Constitutional Concepts" with the University of Pennsylvania and the professor commented in the first lecture that the Declaration of Independence was actually an act of treason as far as George III was concerned. And that the people who drafted the Constitution were *supposed* to be amending the Articles of Confederation, and not drafting a Constitution at all. I wonder how they're going to cover those key events if materials should not "encourage or condone...disregard of the law"!!

I'm sorry to hear you're so stressed out by it all. Periodically there are curriculum debates here and interestingly there have been some calls recently for a more positive view of British history and the empire to be taught, the prevailing view being that the empire was a bad thing (for those outside Britain) but I don't think they would go as far as your school board is proposing and erase all the bad stuff.

But welcome back to LT :-)

>83 lkernagh: Thank you, Lori! Kent State = some troublemakers got what they deserved. (Or maybe Kent State - it never happened!)

>84 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy! Yes, it was a fun book:)

>85 susanj67: Thank you, Susan. I think the worst of it for me is that this particular swing comes at a time when my children are directly affected. And this is just the most recent of the board's antics. Ugh.

Anne, I am so sorry for the antics in your school district and the resulting stress. I had to get out of teaching because it was slowly driving me mad. I loved the kids and the actual teaching but it gets ugly when politics comes into play.

>79 AMQS:. Wow, you pulled over to write down a quote? That is an endorsement I have never heard before. Stardust is going on the WL.

Anne - Sorry for the idiots on your school board. This is Banned Books Week- are you putting up a display in your library? ;) I wish people would let us do our jobs.

Nice reviews. Stardust sounds good; my favorite Gaiman is still The Graveyard Book.

>87 Donna828: Thanks, Donna. Yes, there is so much involved with teaching that is not actually teaching. Ugh.
That particular quote struck me just right. I enjoyed Stardust, but I can't say it will end up on a favorites list. That quote, though, resonated with me for some reason. Maybe because my kids are getting older and more independent. I would love for them to be unavoidably detained by the world (but also for them to check in via cell phone as often as I need them to :). I guess it made me think of curiosity and exploration and learning and travel. It was the right quote at the right time.

>88 BLBera: Thanks, Beth. Yes, I plan to create a display in the library, but I can't actually label it as "Banned Books." In middle or high school I would not hesitate, and there are some powerful ideas out there on Pinterest and other places. I do plan to share with teachers what the display is all about. I know they'll appreciate it. With everything going in my district, I can't be too controversial. The school board has done an excellent job demonizing teachers and accusing them of manipulating students. Such an ugly time.
I did enjoy Stardust, but like you, The Graveyard Book is my favorite. By far!

>77 AMQS: >78 richardderus: ~ AMEN! Down in flames, never to rise again. Yes.

Since I loved both The Graveyard Book and Ocean at the End of the Lane so much, I'm going to have to read Stardust too one of these days.

Coming late to the party here, but my! Your school board sounds frightening! Even the choice of classes they are reviewing the curriculum on seems politically motivated. This phrase, that the curriculum will cover the "essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system" smacks of McCarthyism. No way to get corporations deemed to be non-people if we have to teach our kids that way! If I were a history teacher in your district, I would be looking for a different place to teach.

>76 AMQS: You hit me with a book bullet!

>90 Storeetllr: Hi Mary! Stardust was a good read!

>91 cammykitty: Hi Katie! Yes, they are frightening. Fortunately now they are getting a LOT of attention, and hopefully this will start something that helps us take back our district.

>92 thornton37814: Hi Lori! The Cheshire Cheese Cat is a very fun read:)

*******************************************************
...and our school board, particularly the one who is spearheading the new curriculum committee may have finally gone too far. Students and parents are up in arms, and we have now attracted the attention of the national and even international media. Our student protests are on the front page of the NY Times, in The Guardian, USA Today, Slate, and more.

The best article on this subject, in my opinion is in this Newsweek article (did you know that Moses helped to write the Constitution?). Lots of info about our board member here as well:
http://www.newsweek.com/2014/10/03/textbook-case-bad-textbooking-texas-272351.ht...

Oh, dear, Anne. I know how stressful it is to work in a district with a politicized school board. The thing that has happened around here, however, is that once a right-wing candidate is elected and starts acting like this, a recall election generally is coming around. While a candidate may hide the degree of their extremism during an election campaign, the general public in most places is not at all happy to have them act on it in office.

>93 AMQS: - I just came over here to share a link to the NYT article, in case you hadn't seen it yet. My husband sent it to me, with the comment "Almost makes me want to rent some kinds so I can get outraged at local school board politics with authority." Sorry you are having to deal with all this.

And as a resident of Texas, though one who doesn't much like it here, sorry, too, for the textbooks..... :-/

I'm sorry you have having to deal with such nonsense too, Anne. What I got from the article is misrepresentation at every turn and the tomfoolery is boundless. Oh, dear. What is it with some people, given just a little power and influence?

Wow! That article lets your school board have it! Love this quote The curriculum, designed with the assistance of historians from top universities and colleges, will now be reviewed by a group of untrained laypeople, to make sure that “theories are distinguished from facts.’’ Pretty much says it. If you want me to hope a plane and go drill teeth, I will. ;)

Yikes, sounds heavy at work. And your work actually affects the community a lot, so I wish you luck :)

Great article. Thanks for providing the link, Anne! I am so glad this issue is getting the attention it deserves and needs. I read the article to my Scottish born and educated other half and he was floored by the way US history was being camouflaged and re-written.

Thanks for sharing the Newsweek article, Anne. I'm glad to see the students getting involved in the walkouts and I hope it will do some good. This has been simmering for a while and maybe the national coverage will change some minds.

The bright spot seems to be that they've gone far enough that parents and students are getting engaged. I've spent years raging at various things only to feel so burned out and discouraged that I pull back into my shell. But that just ensures that the idiots will get their way. They seem to be so certain they're right and so unwilling to listen to anyone else that they wear us all down. So, bravo for you and keep fighting the good fight!!

Fascinating if a little chilling are the internecine ways of school politics. Thanks for sharing.

Hope that it won't prevent you from having a wonderful week.

And we just had banned book week! My RL LT book group has someone who is going back to school for her library science degree, so our next book is banned, banned, banned! I'll read it and think of your school board. It's Eleanor and Park btw.

Anne - What a good article. People! Just in time for banned books week --

http://www.postbulletin.com/opinion/our-view-painted-drum-offers-teachable-momen...

Anne, I hope you are hanging in there and all is well. It's been too long since we heard from you. Your board was in the national news again tonight, so I know the drama continues.

It was lovely seeing you, Joanne and Donna yesterday! Thanks so much for organizing it, and for making sure we had such great weather! I posted a pic of our meetup at https://www.librarything.com/topic/176437.

Hope you enjoyed the show last night!

Hi Anne, Well, I guess ditto what Mary said! I'm so glad we could all meet yesterday. Hearth Fire Books was an excellent choice.

Hope your work week is uneventful!

Wish I could have been there for your meet-up.

*wave

Thank you so much to everyone who has kept the cobwebs at bay while I've been away. I appreciate all of you very, very much, and thank you for not giving up on me!

>94 ronincats:, >105 ronincats: Oh Roni, there's a lot of momentum, and a lot of misinformation. I am hoping their actions and their compete disregard for community input/outrage will have consequences for the election. None of them, however, is up for re-election, however. Hoping there's a recall soon. I appreciate your support!

>95 katiekrug: Hi Katie! Oh, we'll take outrage from where ever we can get it! Yeesh, those textbooks! I feel for TX students.

>96 lit_chick: Hi Nancy! Yes, a little power, a little influence, and a great big agenda. National agenda, that is. One of my favorite signs from a student protester (what the school board chairman calls "pawns of their union thug teachers" and Fox News calls "punks" ) was, "I'm sorry, was my education in the way of your agenda?" It's very ugly here at the moment.

>97 cammykitty:, >103 cammykitty: Oh, Katie, you want to drill together? I mean, how hard can it be? All this time we're just letting these so-called expert "dentists" just have their way... ;) How are you enjoying Eleanor and Park? If anything good comes out of banning books, it's motivating more people to read the banned titles!

>98 LovingLit: Thank you, Megan. Yes, it is heavy. I am at elementary level, so this is just poison hovering in the air, far above the kids and their future. Nothing like elementary kids, though, to keep you in the moment!

>99 lkernagh: Pretty shocking, isn't it, Lori? I hope this attention continues, though the board has absolutely no regard for public opinion.

>100 Copperskye:, >107 Copperskye: Hi Joanne! It was so nice to see you Saturday. I always look forward to our get togethers. As for the board... no mind-changing will occur, but it is nice to "wake up" the community. Local elections do matter!

>101 RebaRelishesReading:, >108 RebaRelishesReading: Hi Reba! It was so nice to meet you, if only briefly. We would have loved it if you could have met us again this past weekend! Hope your drive back home was uneventful. It must be nice to be home.
I've spent years raging at various things only to feel so burned out and discouraged that I pull back into my shell. But that just ensures that the idiots will get their way. Oh, that's just it, isn't it? It is so discouraging. Far more talented people than I are fighting this along with me, so I am hopeful... and discouraged at the same time. I am worried for my job, my position, and my students, obviously, but I am just sick for my own kids. I am not worried about their brains, but I do worry for the quality of their education, and don't want any doors closed on them. It's just icky. Nice to have this community of support, though, as well as the national and international media coverage.

>102 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! Thank you for your visit and your words of encouragement. Hope you're having a lovely week.

>104 BLBera: Great article! I do believe that parents should have a say in their own students' materials. Most schools have alternatives to controversial materials. The best advice I can give is to read the material yourself, and have a conversation with the teacher/english/social studies department about why the book is included in the curriculum. Often there's a thoughtful, written rationale. But don't go so far as to restrict other students...

>106 Storeetllr: Mary, it was wonderful to see you! If I had control over the weather you can be sure I'd be sending lightning, hail, hellfire, and locusts to the school board! Great picture! We enjoyed Flowers for Algernon very much. It really was a terrific production. And the next day Marina and I saw A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Colorado Ballet -- the other cast, that is, and it was wonderful as well!

>109 nittnut: Hi Jenn! *waves*

I've been lucky enough to attend two LT meet-ups since I last posted! I didn't get a photo of the brief meet-up with Mary (storeetlr), Joanne (coppers), and Reba (RebaRelishesReading) in September, but it was lovely to meet Reba and see the Denver-area ladies. This past weekend I met Joanne, Mary, and Donna (Donna828) at Hearthfire Books in Evergreen for delightful book shopping and delicious Nepalese, Tibetan, and Indian food at Cuisine of the Himilayas. Thanks to Mary for this photo:



Mary, Anne, Joanne, Donna

...and I've actually managed to read/listen to some books!



52. The Hippopotamus by Stephen Fry, narrated by Stephen Fry

This was a hilarious audio, and an epistolary English comedy-of-manners turned rather indelicately on its head by the randy, foul-mouthed, curmudgeonly narrator. Ted Wallace is a failed poet. After being sacked as a theatre critic in a well-publicized episode, he is approached by his long-lost goddaughter (he was fired as godfather at her baptism) and hired to observe the goings-on at her extended family's country estate. He records his observations in long, rambling musings, gradually solving the "mystery" of a young man's seemingly magical healing powers. This book is hilarious. It is also unexpectedly touching, and outrageously, irreverently ribald. Reader, beware -- and enjoy.

53. Fire by Kristin Cashore

This is the second book/prequel of the Graceling series, although it stands alone on its own. Fire is a part-monster young woman, possessed of hypnotic beauty and the ability to enter and influence minds. She joins forces with the volatile King Nahs and his reserved brother Brigan to defend the Dells against treacherous enemies. I enjoyed the story of Fire coming of age, and realizing and embracing her powers and her independence. I did not like the story as well as I liked Graceling, however. A good read, and a good piece of the Graceling world.

54. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

I finished my slow-and-savored reread of the HP series. These books definitely stand up to second and third readings -- I think I tore through them so fast the first time through I missed quite a bit. I enjoyed it every bit as much this time around.

>112 AMQS: I *loved* this one when I read it - and now I wish I had it on audio with Fry reading!

Anne, you've been a busy reader! My goodness, I'm very sorry to hear that educationally things have gotten so ugly. The government here also likes to calls students pawns of the unionized teachers.

>111 AMQS: just love the meetup pic- looks fun!
Wilbur just pointed to you, Anne, and said to me "is that you, Mum?" Hehe.

>112 AMQS: I just read a Stephen Fry essay in one of m y latest reads, The Library Book. He came across as very smart and astute and with the potential to be very funny.

Looks like a fun meetup, Anne! Thanks for posting the photo.

>113 AMQS: It's good to see someone enjoying Kristin Cashore's books. I agree with you on Fire; it's not Graceling, but it's a good piece of the Graceling world. I also liked Bitterblue.

I hope she comes out with a new book soon, as I feel like hers are getting a bit forgotten. They deserve to be read.

Hi Anne - I agree that it's good for parents to talk about books but not remove them from the curriculum. That's what she was requesting. Her daughter was given an alternate assignment, but she wasn't happy with that. What I would like to know is whether she read the whole book. Often the "naughty" bits are taken out of context.

Lucky you! Two meet ups. I need to move to the Denver area. And you've done a lot of reading.

I've been doing mostly school reading lately.

>115 scaifea: Amber, I had been hearing what a treat his narrations were, and indeed it was a treat!

>116 lit_chick: Nancy, it seems like children are always in the middle, and they, of course, are the biggest stakeholders. Thank you for visiting. I actually haven't done all that much reading -- those three books represent nearly a month, but I didn't even have time to write reviews. Presenting three at once makes it seems like I've been reading more than I actually have.

>117 LovingLit: LOL, Megan, I wish you were in the photo! It would be lovely to meet you in RL. As for Stephen Fry, he is all of those. He is somewhat of a hero to Greeks for his impassioned position that the Elgin Marbles should be returned to Greece. This video is classic Fry: http://www.videoman.gr/50980

>118 jnwelch: Hi Joe! Good to see you. I look forward to Bitterblue, though I have been warned that it is unlike the other two. I really enjoy the world Ms. Cashore has created.

>119 BLBera: Hi Beth, It's a tricky issue, for sure, but for this: one (usually uninformed) person should not have the power to restrict the reading and learning opportunities of my child, nor of any others not their own. I had a long email conversation about this issue with a friend of mine who sought my advice when her son and his wife objected to The Outsiders (only for their child). I sent them as many resources as I could, including my own kids' fairly conservative school's justification for its inclusion in the 8th grade English curriculum. The alternatives to The Outsiders suggested on Common Sense Media were disappointing, and recommended books at a much lower level. My favorite quote on the subject comes from Chinaberry (which, if you have not already seen this catalog, you definitely need to: www.chinaberry.com). Chinaberry says:

Parents -- Please Read:
The older our children grow, the more complicated their lives become. Because level four covers such a wide range of children's ages, we feel it is necessary to warn you that some of these books may have mature themes in them - themes that may involves sex, violence, and indiscreet language. And while we feel it is crucially important to offer our children books with mature themes, it becomes more difficult to for us to choose books that fit the general reader since we all have such varying ideas of morality. It is our intention to choose books that offer our children visions of higher models of resolution to problems than the resolutions that are commonly exhibited in our culture today. We are looking for books that lead children to develop expansive levels of compassion, empathy, and skill when dealing with the inevitable difficulties of life. This type of book often has a disturbing amount of conflict; but we feel this conflict finds resolution in a way that models behavior that we would like our children to embody.

Happy Saturday, Anne! I know I haven't been by in awhile, so I thought I better make an appearance. Hope all is well.

I love the Meet-up photo in #111! Hopefully, I can join that hallowed group, one of these days.

Have you read the Painter yet? I recently finished it and it was terrific.

Hi Anne. This time last week we were enjoying (i.e., devouring) that wonderful Himalayan feast. I loved Evergreen and hope to go back someday to check out the Colorado crafts store you mentioned. I may have to pay another visit to Hearthfire Books. They had so many fun things in their children's section. Hope loved her new book! Thanks for planning a terrific outing!

Great review of The Hippopotamus. "Irreverently ribald" really makes me want to read it! Cute cover, too.

>121 msf59: Hi Mark! We had a lovely time together last weekend. We'd love for you to join us!
I have not read The Painter yet, though it is on the list. Glad you enjoyed it so much!

>122 Donna828: Hi Donna! It was a terrific outing, and I'm so glad we could make it happen, and enjoy such pretty weather. We went back up to Evergreen today to that off-leash open space park Joanne liked so well. Great day!

55. The Map Trap by Andrew Clements

Vintage Clements -- a realistic fiction, stand-alone school story aimed at middle grade readers, with appealing characters who are just smart enough to land themselves in hot water. 6th grader Alton Ziegler is a map fanatic, who makes maps of pretty much everything. Trouble begins when a special collection of Alton-made maps go missing at school: maps of how many times the principal says "um" during announcements, of his young teacher's brain, of the kids in his grade whose parents have divorced... Alton unexpectedly befriends a cool kid who joins Alton is his quest to recover his maps. I really enjoyed this book, and I love Andrew Clements. Really, this is a celebration of the interesting ways to visually display data. I could see reading this aloud at the beginning of a school year, and creating maps inspired by this book all year long.

Hi Anne - I bookmarked chinaberry.com - nicely put. I also noted The Map Trap for future Scout reading. Have a great Sunday. I hope you're having nice weather; it's beautiful here.

>123 AMQS: We almost went back up to the Evergreen dog park yesterday! But the morning yard work took a little longer than we had hoped and then the clouds built up so we went for a long walk on the Highline Canal instead. It would have been fun to run into you and meet Whistler!

The Hippopotamus sounds like one I need to remember when I'm looking for a good audio.

Have a great week, Anne!

The Map Trap sounds fun! I'm enjoying Eleanor and Park so far but I'm not too far into it. First chapter, I figured out why it made the banned books list. "J*sus F^ck" Park says. And the bands "Sex Pistols" and "Joy Division." It's the 80s, my era, and Park's music matches what mine was except we haven't gotten to Total Coehlo "I Like Eating Cannibals" yet. And yes, in the 80s, all the hot alternative bands were into offending someone. "Girlfriend in a coma, I know, I know, It's serious..." And of course the abuse. I was thinking of Sharyn November's (editor Firebird imprint) guidelines for swearing in YA. She says if the character would swear, and it would sound fake if he didn't, then swear. Park would sound super fake if he didn't, and he would be uncool if he didn't listen to Joy Div - which frankly is the most offensive band name I can think of.

The new Chinaberry catalog just arrived in my mailbox! Yeah!

>125 BLBera: Beth, I think you will love Chinaberry. I still get the print catalog -- the catalog itself is a great read, and it has terrific resources for kids of all ages. I am a huge fan of Andrew Clements -- any book of his is a great addition to Scout's list:)

>126 Copperskye: Hi Joanne! That would have been fun to run into you and your dogs. Maybe we should coordinate one weekend. Aren't we lucky with this weather?

>127 cammykitty: Katie, I have Eleanor and Park on my list. Glad you're enjoying it. People have all sorts of reactions to swearing. I remember when networks were preparing 9-11 special reports with people's video footage as events unfolded. Many videos were flagged/bleeped by the FCC because of swearing, and I remember reading a columnist who wrote about how silly that was. You're filming an extreme act of terrorism, and you're supposed to say, "Oh golly-gee-wow!" instead of your more visceral, natural reaction?

>128 ronincats: Yay, Roni! I still enjoy reading them. I know they're SD based. Do they have a brick-and-mortar store as well?

56. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, audiobook narrated by Barbara Caruso

"Newland! Do shut the window. You’ll catch your death.”
He pulled the sash down and turned back. “Catch my death!” he echoed; and he felt like adding: “But I’ve caught it already. I am dead—I’ve been dead for months and months.”

Edith Wharton is a masterful writer, wielding a pen she sharpens to a scalpel-sharp point on 1870s New York society. The book is framed by performances of the opera Faust. At the first, Newland Archer is happily and somewhat smugly anticipating his marriage to the young, innocent May Welland, whose every thought and opinion he is looking forward to shaping, if not outright providing. He is somewhat scandalized when May's family hosts the Countess Ellen Olenska in their box -- this cousin is separated from her husband, a Polish count, and is seeking refuge in New York.

The countess's European sensibilities and unconventionality make her an uncomfortable puzzle for her family: she treats a servant familiarly, visits and befriends social climbers and outcasts, and does not care to live in the "right" neighborhoods. Newland is attracted like a moth. As Newland falls in love with the countess, he comes to perceive the smallness and rigidity of their New York world, and is powerless in the face of it. Ellen is determined to preserve her independence, to live life as she chooses, and as Newland realizes this, he understands that his future with May is one of convention, propriety, and suffocation. May in her turn is smooth and pleasant on the surface, and deftly manipulative underneath. Near the book's end, Newland attends another performance of Faust, reflecting how he has utterly changed, yet sentenced to a life of stifling sameness. This book made me deeply uncomfortable -- it is pervasively sad, and utterly fascinating.

57. Judy Moody by Megan McDonald

Judy Moody was in a mood.
Not a good mood. A bad mood. A mad-face mood.

Fun series beginning for 2nd-4th grade readers -- a bit like Junie B. Jones as a sassy third grader.

58. The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe

The first of Poe's Monsieur Dupin series of gentleman detective stories in which Dupin solves through observation and induction what has utterly baffled the police. A creepy puzzler.

No, no bricks-and-mortar presence for Chinaberry, as far as I can tell.

*waving* at Anne

Happy Friday, Ann! Just checking in. Hope all is well. Good review of the Wharton. Have you been over to the Wharton AAC thread? You should stop by and share your review:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/181038#

I've really been enjoying the Custom of the Country.

Happy Friday, Anne! Lovely review of the Wharton book. I just finished my first Wharton read, Ethan Frome - always best to start out with a thin one! - and I can see myself enjoying more of her books.

Oh, I like that review of Age of Innocence, Anne. I had the same reaction. Thumb from me.

Anne, wonderful review of The Age of Innocence. I read this a couple of years ago and it was a 5* read for me … remains one of my favourites. Your review makes me want to listen to the audiobook!

>133 ronincats: That's too bad, I imagine it would be a fun place to visit. Hope you have a great weekend, Roni!

>134 alcottacre: Hi Stasia! *waves*

>135 msf59: Hi Mark! Great to see you here. I think I dropped in at the beginning of the month, but yes, I'll come by and leave my review.

>136 lkernagh: Thanks, Lori! I also read Ethan Frome as my first Wharton, then went on to The House of Mirth last year. Did you like Ethan Frome?

>137 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe! Glad you enjoyed it, too, and thanks for the thumb!

>138 lit_chick: Thank you, Nancy. I enjoyed the audio. Barbara Caruso was the narrator I heard when I listened to The House of Mirth as well, and also Willa Cather's Song of the Lark. It was good on audio, and I'm glad you enjoyed it so much!

>37 AMQS:, Hi Anne. I haven't been as frequent of a visitor as I would like to be. Many thanks for recommending Gaby Lost and Found. Your writing is excellent. Perhaps I could bottle it and import it to the students I supervise.

>139 AMQS: - I found Ethan Frome to be an interesting story but I enjoyed it more for how Wharton portrayed a bleak New England winter and for her writing style than for the story itself.

Hi Anne - Great reviews. Wharton is great; Age of Innocence is my favorite of hers.

>140 Whisper1: Thank you, Linda! I don't get around nearly as much as I should here on LT, so I understand! I am very glad to have you here whenever you can come. I was so surprised by Gaby, Lost and Found. It was really well done.

>141 lkernagh: Ethan Frome was bleak, wasn't it? The other two of hers I've read (The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence) are fairly opulent, by contrast, but scathing and devastating. I think she is such a fascinating writer!

>142 BLBera: Thank you, Beth!

59. Death by Toilet Paper by Donna Gephart

The day I picked this one up my daughter Callia read it in one sitting and told me it made her cry. I admit I was surprised -- it hardly seems like a sad read -- until I read it myself, and indeed, it is a tearjerker. Ben Epstein is a middle schooler with a lot going on. He has a lifetime love of contests and sweepstakes, but now his entries have a lot more riding on them: since his father passed away last year, he and his mom are struggling financially, and trying to hang on until she can pass the (expensive) exams to earn her CPA license and get a better job than the one she now has at the pancake house. The symbolic indignity of their reduced circumstances is the necessity to purchase the cheap, awful toilet paper (if you hadn't guessed by the title, toilet paper and all things bathroom are major factors in the book). Ben's hopes are pinned on the creation of a new slogan for the "good kind" of toilet paper: the winning entry will win $10,000.

This is a great story, with a good balance of funny, gross, and poignant. Ben's grief, when it spills over, is absolutely wrenching. The challenges he faces make your spirits sink lower and lower: his mother is let go from her crummy job, Ben is victimized by a school bully, Ben and his mother face eviction, Ben's grandfather comes to live with them, Ben's grandfather battles dementia... it all works, but at some point it just feels like too much: the author is trying too hard. Over on Amazon there are so many superlative reviews, and while I enjoyed it, it is not a 5-star read for me -- perhaps I would have loved it more if I had read it aloud. Ms. Gephart has created a book chock-full of toilet facts and gross-out bits (well-timed puking, and the fact that Ben's best friend is a gruesome make-up artist), along with a lovely and aching story of a young family struggling. I felt like the author's focus was To Appeal To Boys rather than to tell a great story. Still, a good read, and one to recommend to boys:)

>144 AMQS: I know it's hard sometimes to find books to appeal to boys who are reluctant readers. (It brings to mind the Captain Underpants series.) This one looks like a winner and sounds like it has some depth. What ages would you recommend it for?

Hope you're all having a Happy Halloween!

Hi Joanne! Yes, it can be hard to reach reluctant readers. I'd say Death by Toilet Paper would be good for 5th-8th grade readers.

A very fun Halloween! I think Callia is done trick-or-treating, but Marina got dressed up and had a great time. I had fun in the library, too, though these pictures are a bit dark.

You make a great witch, Anne. :) I only had one trick-or-treater this year, Scout. It was really cold here.

>144 AMQS: a dark horse huh? Good recommendation :)

I have a reluctant reader on my hands with my oldest :( Although, at just turned 6, I am not too worried yet.

Love your witchy outfit!

Hi Anne! I can totally relate to what you mean by the summer flying by. I can't believe we are fully into fall already and the end of the year will be here before we know it. Hope you and yours are doing well. :)

You do look witchly but in a nice way Anne. Trust that you will have a splendid weekend and I hope that my malay pronunciation was helpful to you a little while back. xx

>147 BLBera: Hi Beth! You had the very best trick-or-treater! What was her costume? We've had very mild weather until this past week, when it rarely got above 10 degrees. Today it is cold and very snowy. My husband and I went to San Antonio for a weekend. Monday morning we were strolling the River Walk in 80 degree weather, and that afternoon flew back to 10 degrees in Denver. Quite the shock, but we were due for winter at last!

>148 LovingLit: Thanks, Megan! Yes, you're right not to worry about your reluctant reader at this age. If he is still reluctant when he gets older, there are tons of great books and resources to try.

>149 jolerie: Hi Valerie! We didn't have much of a fall -- it was so nice and then winter came with a bang! Hope everyone is warm and cozy at your house!

>150 PaulCranswick: Paul, your Malay pronunciation was such a huge help! I still need to send you the presentation. Now we're on to the next weekend -- hope yours is wonderful!

60. Watership Down by Richard Adams, narrated by Ralph Cosham

I have been meaning to read this one forever, having somehow missed it when I was younger, but was inspired to search for the audio when I learned that Ralph Cosham passed away earlier this fall. He was as magnificent as ever -- what a sad loss for audiophiles. Watership Down is a lovely book -- on par with the classic adventure stories of fantasy and folklore, with its own vocabulary, mythology, and cast of heroic characters. Hazel and Fiver lead an unlikely group of rabbits away from their warren after Fiver has visions of a terrible event to come. They cross over treacherous land and water, persevering through predators, man, disbelief, injury, and hostile rabbit warrens to create a new home on Watership Down. I absolutely loved it.

61. Tales of Terror by Edgar Allen Poe, narrated by Jack Foreman

Poe's tales of terror were terrifying, indeed. I can't get the touchstone to work, but the tales that haunted my car rides were:
The Tell-Tale Heart
The Cask of Amantillado
The Pit and the Pendulum
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
The Fall of the House of Usher
The Masque of the Red Death
The Black Cat
Hop-Frog
The Murders in the Rue Morgue

Shiver!

62. Crusoe's Daughter by Jane Gardam

It is usually just fancy when you say that someone 'changed from that moment'. When a change starts is a matter for the angels, and even they may disagree. Historians can never be certain of anything. Dates as we know are meaningless. The Great War 'began' in 1914 and the world 'changed'. But when did the change really begin? With a student who by chance was sitting in a cafe when the Archduke's carriage turned down a sidestreet by mistake?

Long, long before.

And so with people. Often the intention is definable -- the moment when we say, 'From now on I shall do this, do that.' But the change itself proceeds waveringly -- and of course often does not proceed at all.

But changes -- huge changes -- do take place, and in spite of the libraries of Freudian evidence to the contrary, the deep stamp of past years and even of dreams can be eradicated, washed away, and new people can emerge: and it will be a bad day for novels when this is not so.

This was a wonderful book -- I really do love everything I've read by Jane Gardam, and this is her personal favorite. Little Polly Flint is brought to live with her reclusive aunts in the yellow house on the bleak marshes of the Irish Sea. Polly's life is lonely and solitary, with the books she finds in her grandfather's study her only companions. She finds kinship with Robinson Crusoe -- they are both learned, and utterly marooned, and this kinship becomes a lifelong intimacy with the book, with Mr. Crusoe, and with the inner workings of his mind. This book's reader, meanwhile, experiences Polly's mind -- exceptionally sharp, yet affected by solitude and absolutely no occupation -- over the course of some 80 years as the tumultuous 20th century sweeps over her world, just out of reach. A wonderful read.

63. Smile by Raina Telgemeier

This book is hands-down the most popular book in the library. I managed to distract my students with a book fair so I could read it myself. This is a graphic novel that looks deceptively light, but in fact is a hefty, meaningful read. Ms. Telgemeier tells her own story of adolescence, beginning when she took such a hard fall after Girl Scouts that she not only knocked out her two front teeth, but damaged both gum and bone. What follows are years of orthodontia in various stages of pain and horror, all during the most tender, sensitive years. She is absolutely unflinching when describing her painful dental experiences, and equally so when describing the horrors of middle school and early high school, with friend issues, teasing and bullying, teenage awkwardness, sibling conflict, raging crushes, and rampant acne. Many personal turmoils subside just as her orthodontic work is complete, leaving the reader hopeful for young Raina's future, and Raina herself able to finally smile. This is a great book for kids 4th grade and up.

Oh, Anne, I read Watership Down in a children's lit course in university so many years decades ago. I've seen the narration by Cosham and have thought about getting it. You've made up my mind! Thanks for that : ).

>146 AMQS: Thanks Anne! Great library witch!

I'm so glad you listened to Watership Down! It is a great story all on its own but made even better with a great narrator. And you got me with the Jade Gardam. I still have Old Filth to get to first though. Stay warm!

>152 AMQS: Anne, Watership Down popped up as an answer yesterday in one of those time-wasting Kindle games I was playing, and I thought I really must read it. I remember trying as a child, but couldn't finish it. Your review has made me determined to give it another go, and my library has it as an ebook. They also have the Ralph Cosham audiobook, so anyone with access to the Overdrive system through their public library might find it there. I hope you're not shivering too much in Denver!

I am so far behind here. I see you have managed some great reading since my last visit and I love your witch costume!

Happy Sunday, Anne!

>152 AMQS: this is the book that was the start of my 2nd book group. (In saying that i just realised I am on my third one now!). My sister and me were attending a Simon and Garfunkel concert with our childhood friend and all most of our parents. When Bright Eyes was performed, we decided we must read Watership Down. So plans were laid.
When it came to the actual reading of it, the third member of the fledgling group who shall remain nameless (it was not me) not only got the wrong book, but read chapter synopses from the internet!! It was so funny. She 'read' Wuthering Heights instead. We have not let her live it down yet and it was nearly 6 years ago.

I should really read Watership Down at some point since it's a classic!

I've seen Smile everywhere in the bookstore lately. :)

>156 lit_chick: Hi Nancy -- oh, you'll love the audio of Watership Down. Enjoy!

>157 Copperskye: Hi Joanne! Are you reading Old Filth? I loved the whole trilogy. Crusoe's Daughter was a great read, so you've got some great reading ahead of you.

>158 susanj67: Oh, enjoy, Susan! Today it was in the 20s (f), which felt downright balmy after a week or so of temps near zero!

>159 lkernagh: Thanks, Lori! So glad to see you here.

>160 LovingLit: LOL, Megan!! That's quite a mix-up:)

>161 jolerie: Hi Valerie! I finally got around to Watership Down and I'm very glad I did. Smile is a good read, too. I'm running a book fair right now, and its sequel Sisters is just flying off the shelves!

64. Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather

Ms. Cather's first novel is a short and very melancholy tale, and is a fictional account of a real historical event -- in this case, the catastrophic collapse of the Quebec Bridge in 1907. In a very concise story Ms. Cather examines youth and forbidden love, the burden of renown, and professional responsibilities. In some ways the book felt very timely -- why won't government/funding entities/policy makers actually heed the advice and expertise of those trained and hired to do the work (insert testy rant about the state of education)? In other ways, the book was a poignant portrait of a young man making his way at the dawn of the 20th century. A good, thoughtful read.

I liked Alexander's Bridge, too, Mary. Cather has become one of my favorite authors.

As Amber said over on Mark's thread, I need a handful of your WTF's to get through today. :-) It's a nasty cold one in the Chi-town area.

Hi Anne,

Hope you're having a good week.

Wave!

Two of your recent reads, I absolutely loved. Watership Down is such a lovely book and I'm so glad you liked it! I also really liked Alexander's Bridge and completely sympathize with your comment about heeding the advice of the experts - my husband being a civil engineer. :)

BB's - Crusoe's Daughter and Smile. Excited to find another book that Margo and I can read together.

Hope you have a great day. Stay warm!

Smile sounds like a great one for the reluctant readers. It's about time someone capitalized on the pain of orthodontics! I went to the most "popular" orthodontist in the area and have found since that his name works as an icebreaker. Someone else at wherever you are had him too and you can bond over tales of how you always tried to bite him but he'd hand you off to his cute junior assistant just in the nick of time. Perfect backdrop for a story on the teen years.

Wow, Anne - what a lot of good reading going on here. I, too, love Gardam, and hope to get to Crusoe's Daughter soon. It sounds wonderful. I've never heard of Alexander's Bridge, but will definitely look for it. I'm due for a Cather read.

Scout was a puppy. Pretty adorable. She is more fun every day.

>165 RebaRelishesReading: Hi Joe! Has it warmed up out there yet? We've had a few days of milder temps, but we're expecting another storm tomorrow I hear. Thanks for stopping by!

>166 nittnut: Hi Jenn! I can't believe I hadn't read Watership Down before now. I think when I was younger I confused it with Rabbit Hill, which I read as a child and loved. That would be a good one for your younger kids if you haven't read it already. Glad I got you with some BBs! Smile is a good one to share. I think there are two more books -- Sisters was a popular book at my book fair. Hope you have a great week!

>167 cammykitty: Yes, you're right, Katie, the ordeal of orthodontics is the perfect backdrop for a middle school story. Her experience was so traumatic, but she said when she published the book she heard from hundreds of readers who shared similar dental trauma. I definitely had the braces -- and at a time when they pulled a lot of teeth to make it happen. I remember the tooth extractions as being particularly awful. I had braces for just over three years. Marina starts the process on Monday. Her teeth are really crooked like mine were. She's not looking forward to the pain, the appointments, etc., but she's really ready to get her teeth fixed.

>168 BLBera: Awww, she had to have been the cutest puppy ever! Both Alexander's Bridge and especially Crusoe's Daughter were really god reads. Enjoy!

Anne, I'm 30% of the way through Watership Down :-) I love it. But I can see why I didn't finish it as a kid - it was just so different from the sort of thing I usually read. And I'm not convinced it's really a children's book, particularly not with those quotations from the classics at the beginning of each chapter! I want to hunker down and finish it today as it's the perfect rainy weather for an afternoon of reading.

>170 susanj67: Oh Susan, I'm so glad you're loving Watership Down! My version was an audio, and included an author's note. He said he was rejected by dozens of publishers -- most saying it wasn't a children's book, yet was too fantastic to be an adult book. I remember confusing it with the wonderful Rabbit Hill, which I loved as a child, and also read aloud to my girls.

65. Howards End by E.M. Forster

"Love and Truth -- their warfare seems eternal. Perhaps the whole visible world rests on it, and, if they were one, life itself, like the spirits when Prospero was reconciled to his brother, might vanish into air, into thin air."

This Forster classic from 1910 takes a good look at England as it is changing, examining class mobility (or stratification), intellectual/leisurely pursuits versus business/industrial pursuits, morality, scandal, honor, and social responsibility. Three very different families interact over time: the idealist Schlegels, the materialist Wilcoxes, and the impoverished Basts, and come to love, vexation, humiliation, tragedy, and understanding. I was drawn in slowly, but began both listening and reading obsessively. A masterful book, and a must-read for fans of British literature.

Some really great reading there Anne. I also loved Watership Down especially when I first read it.

Hope to read Howard's End soon. I have read three or four novels by Forster and like all of 'em.

Excellent synopsis of Howard's End, Anne. I read this one a couple of summers ago, but it bears rereading (at least me me).

Anne, you've been doing lots of good reading and listening lately. I have heard from other(s) about the excellent audio of Watership Down. It's one of those books I missed along the way, too, and might consider it for the next long drive to Colorado…probably next spring. You also remind me how much I like Jane Gardam's books. Crusoe's Daughter sounds like a must read. It's good to know that it's the author's favorite of her books.

Wishing you and your sweet family a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know you will enjoy a long weekend with them.

HI Anne - Nice comments about Howard's End. Forster is so good.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Hmmm...I don't have any Forster in my TBR mountain. Will have to see if the library has anything! I always struggle with classics but am never one to shy away from a challenge. :)

>173 PaulCranswick: Dear Paul. I have read a few by Forster now, and I've enjoyed them all. You have a treat is Howards End is in front of you.

>174 lit_chick: Hi Nancy! Yes, I can definitely see myself rereading Howards End in a few years. Glad you enjoyed it, too.

>175 Donna828: Thank you, Donna! I hope you enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving as well. Are you hosting? You have two excellent ideas: a Watership Down audio on a long car ride, and Crusoe's Daughter. Jane Gardam is a treasure, isn't she?

>176 BLBera: Dear Beth, Happy Thanksgiving to you as well! Will you be seeing little Scout this Thanksgiving?

>177 jolerie: Valerie, I heartily recommend trying audio versions of classics. It definitely works for me -- there's something about a narrator bringing a story to life. Sometimes I find those texts are more accessible that way.

Anne, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving either in the UK or Malaysia but I have to say that I am thankful to this group - where else would I have thought it wise to video myself speaking in Bahasa Melayu in order to teach schoolchildren in the American North-West the correct pronunciation of a South-East Asian language! Have a lovely day with your lovely family.

Happy Thanksgiving, Anne, and I hope your holiday weekend is lovely!

>179 PaulCranswick: oh Paul! You didn't! That is so cool!
(so many exclamation marks, I know)
So does that mean (and I think it does) that you will write my essays for me next year???!!
;)

Hi Anne, I went to the church today that I went to to see Callia sing. I hadn't realised it was the same one until I talked to my mum on the phone, and she reminded me. (It looked different in the day time and I was headed to the hall for a book sale, not to the church for beautiful song). I came away with 5 books, and Wilbur with 8!

>179 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul. I am very, very thankful as well. We are certainly enjoying Thanksgiving break -- it seems like a really long haul between the start of school in mid-August and now, so we are grateful for some downtime with family. I will upload the presentation to YouTube this weekend and then make sure you see it.

>180 Storeetllr: Thank you, Mary! We're lucky in Jeffco, as we get the week off (no fall break, though), and we are enjoying it very much. Did you go to the mountains?

>181 LovingLit: Yes he did, Megan, and I am very grateful. That's what 21st century learning is all about, isn't it? Connecting with people all over the world? What a wonderful thing for my students and for me!

Callia has one of her walls papered with New Zealand things -- maps and brochures and tickets and souvenirs from her trip. She's considering freeing up wall space for more treasures and transferring the NZ things to a scrapbook, but there are a few things she wants to leave up. She still talks about that amazing experience, and fervently wishes to go back. We hope to make it happen sooner rather than later! Happy memories in that place -- music and books: what could be better?

66. The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer

This is another 2015 CCBA nominee, and a super popular book in the library. Glee's Chris Colfer has written a fairy-tale mashup in which two grieving children from our world find themselves in The Land of Stories, seeing first-hand what happens after "happily ever after," and racing against time and fairy tale evil to assemble the ingredients they need to perform the Wishing Spell and return home. Cute story, great idea, but nothing really magical here. The story uses one of my least favorite devices: a boy and girl pair (in this case twins) whose smart remarks and endless bickering provide the soundtrack of their journey. Still, their grief at losing their father is handled well, the not-entirely-surprising twist at the end is sweet, and the door is wide open for books two and three.

Oooo, wish you liked The Land of Stories better. It looks kind of Peter Pannish cute.

Hi Katie! I did like it, but yes, I wish I had liked it better. Still, it's worthy of its current popularity:)

I started making a list of favorite read alouds for a graduating student teacher, which became a blog post, which became an evening-long reflection on the magic of reading aloud. I took this picture for the blog. What are your favorites?

Just passing through :) *wave!

Ooh. Cross posting. Lots of my favorites are in the pile. I have to add the Hiccup Horrendous Haddock books, The Chronicles of Narnia and Half Magic.

Happy Sunday, Anne! I also loved Howards End when I read it, a couple years ago. It was my first Forster and I would like to read more.

Hope you had a great holiday with your family.

Hi Anne - I'll add the Colfer to my list of Scout books. Right now I'm reading Flora & Ulysses, which is delightful. Holy bugumba! I hope you're having a great holiday weekend.

Hi, Anne. At young ages our daughter loved hearing us read Rainy Day Kate and our son The Jungle Book. Later, it was Nancy Drew and The Happy Hollisters for her, and The Magic Treehouse and Oz books for him. My MBH read all the Harry Potters to all three of us.

Love the book pile pic! I have only read two of the book on that pile - The Little House in the Big Woods and Charlotte's Web. The rest I have no memory of ever reading. *hangs head in shame*

Happy Sunday, Anne!

I love the book pile too, Anne : ). The first one that jumped out at me was Charlotte's Web.

>190 jnwelch: Oh wow! I had totally forgotten The Happy Hollisters!

>193 nittnut: And The Trading Post, the combination sporting goods, hardware and toy store, right? :-)

>187 nittnut: Hi Jenn! Are those the How to Train Your Dragon books? I think Marina has the first, but I haven't read any of them. I may have missed the boat, given the girls' ages :( There are many, many of my favorites that are not in that pile -- the Narnia books AND Half Magic among them!

>188 msf59: Hi Mark! Happy Sunday to you as well. We had a very nice, very low-key Thanksgiving, which was just about right. Hope you enjoyed yours. Take care!

>189 BLBera: Hi Beth! I really enjoyed Flora and Ulysses when I read it earlier this year. I particularly loved that it was a Newbery aimed at slightly younger readers. Sometimes I think the 2nd-4ths miss out.

>190 jnwelch: Hi Joe! I loved the Nancy Drew books, but I could never get my girls interested in them. Harry Potter was a different story. I just finished a series reread, and Callia is about to as well. I haven'y heard of Rainy Day Kate or The Happy Hollisters so now I have new books to find and enjoy!

>191 lkernagh: No shame here, Lori. Several of those have been published fairly recently, and were I not reading those to kids I might never have heard of them either. Now that I look at the pile, many are old books. It might be worth it to pick one up if you come across it!

>192 lit_chick: Hi Nancy! Oh, I love Charlotte's Web. I'm so thrilled that it is still read aloud!

>193 nittnut:, >194 jnwelch: Double incentive to find it! How have I never heard of The Happy Hollisters?

>194 jnwelch: YES!!!

>195 AMQS: Yup - How To Train Your Dragon is the first. As I have said before, we listen to the audio in the car (narrated by David Tennant) and the whole family adults, teenager, on down enjoy them. They are a riot to read aloud.

OH, lovelovelove your stack of read-alouds! Charlie and I just recently finished Charlotte's Web! We're now reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Wizard of Oz.

Oooh..Charlotte's Web and Little House in the Big Woods stand out as they are sentimental favourites. :)

>196 nittnut: Jenn, they sound wonderful. I may have to convince the girls to give the audios a shot:)

>197 scaifea: Hi Amber! I think reading aloud to my girls is my favorite thing we've ever done together, and certainly family read aloud times were my favorite times when I was growing up. One of the best things about reading aloud is sharing all of my favorites with the girls. Lucky Charlie!

>198 jolerie: Hi Valerie! Always favorites. Some classics fade away but those are as beloved as ever!

67. Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

It has been my experience that rewarding and heartbreaking often go hand in hand.

This is another 2015 CCBA (Colorado Children's Book Award) nominee, and one that is both rewarding and heartbreaking. I positively devoured this one. 12 year-old Willow Chance is an adopted child, dearly loved by her parents and profoundly gifted. When her parents die suddenly she is left with no relations and no money. She makes her way with the help of her bumbling, reluctant school counselor, a Vietnamese family who decides to take her in temporarily, and a taxi driver who considers her his personal angel. For a realistic fiction book, it is necessary to suspend disbelief quite a bit, but it is totally worth it. This is a very rewarding, very heartbreaking book about acceptance and love and change. I loved it. Highly recommended for 5th grade and up.

>181 LovingLit: hahaha and, erm, no!

>186 AMQS: The Witches by Roald Dahl

I loved Counting by 7s, too, Anne. it is necessary to suspend disbelief quite a bit, but it is totally worth it. You nailed it. In thinking of how to recommend this one, I kept tripping over that need to suspend disbelief, but you're right, it's totally worth it.

>201 PaulCranswick: You can't go wrong with Roald Dahl, can you, Paul? Have you every read Boy: Tales of Childhood?

>202 jnwelch: Hi Joe! Sometimes that's a deal breaker for me, but in this case it worked. At least for me:)

68. Daisy Miller by Henry James, audiobook narrated by Suzanne Toren

This 1878 novella is a portrait of a young American traveling at length in Europe with her mother and brother. She charms American ex-pat Winterbourne when they meet in Switzerland, but he learns that his aunt and others in American Society find the family common and vulgar. While captivated, he does also find her capricious, and both a shameless flirt and a petulant pouter. When they meet again in Rome, Winterbourne is more and more disturbed by her impropriety. Neither Winterbourne nor the reader is quite sure whether Daisy's self-destructive behavior is rooted in complete innocence or willful disregard for convention.

I'm glad I read the book, as I wanted to try something by Henry James. The world he created is very like the one of which Edith Wharton writes, and I can understand how they are often mentioned together. Though the restrictive, elite society is its own form of imperious cruelty in Ms. Wharton's books and in Daisy Miller, I dearly wished to throttle all three Millers. I will definitely try another book by Henry James.

Ooh...I'm not a huge classics fan, but Daisy Miller might be worth considering. Thanks Anne. :)

Wonderful review of Daisy Miller, Anne. I'm not a huge fan of James (was disappointed with The Portrait of a Lady, but I have a copy of this one and have been meaning to get to it. It's a novella, so that helps.

>186 AMQS: is Where the Sidewalk Ends also a noir film? I swear I saw that just the other week.

Counting by 7s sounds a goodie. And, it helps I like the cover. I am so easily led....

You got me with Counting by 7's. Ouch! In a good way, of course.

I LOVE Henry James. I think The American might be my favorite, but I also loved Washington Square. His short stories are great too. So many to choose from. :)

>205 jolerie: Hi Valerie! Well, Daisy Miller is short, at least. A good one to try, in my opinion. Hope you have a great week!

>206 lit_chick: Hi Nancy! I hadn't tried Henry James before this one, though >208 nittnut: Jenn's comments make me want to try more.

>207 LovingLit: Hi Megan! You know, I had to look it up Where the Sidewalk Ends, and sure enough, it is! I would never have known this:) Counting by 7s is definitely a goodie. Aren't we all easy when it comes to books? Here at least.

>208 nittnut: Jenn, thanks for the Henry James recommendations. I think you'll love Counting by 7s. Have a great week! I have been thinking about you -- getting ready for Christmas in the summer. We have a guest staying with us -- a student from Cyprus studying in the US in Florida. We're hoping for his sake that we get snow this year!

69. Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck, narrated by Ron McLarty

Localness is not gone, but it is going.

I loved this book, part travelogue, and part fictional musing. In 1960 and aware he was seriously ill, John Steinbeck set out with his 10 year-old French poodle Charley to see America one last time in a tricked-out camper named Rocinante. He first wanders north from New York to the tip of Maine, then west through the northern states to Washington, then down through California before heading back east through desert, Texas, and deep south. I loved sharing his views, his meals, and his conversations, whether invented or not, and loved his relationship with Charley. For a book describing a road trip in 1960, it felt surprisingly modern to me. What he observes in the deep south is disturbing and troubling, a heavy portrait of racial tensions in 1960, though I wonder, with recent events, how much has really changed. The book is poignant and delightful, touching, and very funny. I listened to an audio version narrated by Ron McLarty, and urged the print book on my husband, who is on his way to Maine in Rocinante. Wonderful.

This may have made the rounds awhile ago... I don't get out much:) A colleague of mine shared this today, and it made me laugh out loud.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/99-book-nerd-problems/

I hadn't seen it before, Anne, and there were a # of items that made me laugh because they were so true!

Two more days of work and school before the holidays? Are you ready? Will it be a white Christmas there?

ETA Your husband is riding Don Quixote's steed to Maine?

>211 AMQS: Brilliant! I was PMSL as I read through it. So many things only avid readers can understand.

>211 AMQS: 56. Mispronouncing words because you’ve never actually heard them out loud—you’ve only read them in books.

This is so me!

ETA: and this

Family members who don’t respect shelving protocol.

and this...

Publicly snort laughing at jokes written 150 years ago.

63. Reading a book so good it (temporarily) ruins you for everything else on your shelves. (Them poor books.....)
73. The scary stains you find in the pages of borrowed books. (Oh the horror. I shudder even thinking about it...soooooo grrrrrooooossssss!!!!)
31. That thing where authors have lives, but us readers have NEEDS. (I'm not going to name names...Ms. Gabaldon and Mr. Martin.....)

Great list, Anne. Thanks for sharing. Makes me feel not as isolated in my craziness..ha! ;)

Hmm. I've not yet read anything by Henry James but you have my attention.

Hi Anne, your recent reread of Watership Down lit a fire under me. Just finished the audio edition read by Ralph Cosham. How fabulous! Will be one of 2014's bests!

>216 EBT1002: Ooh! I warble some Henry James at you too!

>217 lit_chick: I loved Watership Down when I read it years ago. I think it will be a re-read - or rather a listen with Ralph Cosham in the new year. Sounds wonderful.

So many of the 99 book nerd problems made me laugh out loud.
#6 Yes, I have buried a book deeeeeeeep on my shelves because it disturbed me so much!
#35 I happen to hate Love You Forever, but there are other picture books that make me cry every time... like City Dog, Country Frog and The Old Woman Who Named Things.
#38 -- I constantly pause Jane Austen adaptations to um... fill in the details. Fortunately I haven't ruined them for the girls, but when their eyes start rolling back I stop:)
and from the comments, #100 missing Harry :(

>212 ronincats: LOL, Roni! Well, perhaps not literally... He has picked up Travels with Charley again, though.

>213 lunacat: Hi Jenny! Yes, I shared this list here right away, as I knew it described most of us!

>214 nittnut: Me, too!

>215 jolerie: That's the wonder of LT, Valerie -- so many people like me! It's a comfort, really:)

>216 EBT1002: Hi Ellen! nittnut is probably a better Henry James ambassador than I am -- I've only read the one, but it was good (and short, too!)

>217 lit_chick: Oh Nancy, I'm so glad! Actually it wasn't a reread for me -- it took me this long to read this lovely classic. So glad you enjoyed it as well!

>218 nittnut: Jenn, it was a wonderful production -- you'll love it!

70. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (who passed away this year)

Flowers for Algernon was the fall play at Callia's school. I bought the book for her (she's on the stage crew) and my whole family ended up reading it. It's a beautiful, thought-provoking, and terribly sad book. Charlie Gordon is a man with severe intellectual disabilities who undergoes an experimental surgery to improve his intelligence and memory. This surgery was very successful on a mouse named Algernon, against whom Charlie competes at solving mazes and other puzzles. Charlie experiences a meteoric improvement in his intelligence and learning, and disturbing flashbacks of memory. He faithfully records his observations and progress, and discovers that the old Charlie's life is incompatible with the new. When Algernon experiences a rapid deterioration, Charlie fears he may follow Algernon again on this regressive path. All four of us were absolutely riveted and devastated by this book.

100% agree with you Anne. The book is so beautiful and sad at the same time. Didn't know he passed away...sad news indeed.

>220 AMQS: I read that one in junior high and it's one that's stuck with me ever since. Devastating but beautiful, I agree.

Anne, wonderful review of Flowers for Algernon. This is one I must read.

Merry Christmas! Enjoy, bookie friend : ).

Anne, it's Chrismas Eve's eve, and so I am starting the rounds of wishing my 75er friends the merriest of Christmases or whatever the solstice celebration of their choice is.

Merry Christmas, Anne.

Book nerds - Regarding Beth March's dying: When I read Little Women to my kids, I tried to prepare them so they wouldn't be traumatized; then I proceeded to weep through the entire section. This is in our annals of unforgettable readings.

Happy Holidays, Anne!

Anne have a great Christmas and new Year!

From our family to yours!

Merry Christmas, Anne, and a joyful Happy New Year!

(I've been awol too long to catch up, but I just have to say that I'm glad somebody else remembers Caddie Woodlawn with love.)

Anne, best wishes for Christmas to you and your family. I loved the book nerd problems further up the thread :-)

Merry Christmas Anne!

Merry Christmas!

Hope your Christmas is wonderful, Anne!!

Stopping by to wish you and your loved ones a happy holiday season and all the best in 2015!

Also a merry christmas to you and your family.

It''s too long since I visited your thread I can see by all the wonderful classics you have read the past few months.

#186 - copied the photo for future book-ideas. Have only read a few in the pile :)

I hope you are having a terrific day with your lovely family, Anne!

I am so glad you loved Travels With Charley. That is a special book.

A very merry Christmas to you and your family, Anne.

Anne, thank you SO much for my Christmas Swap books, all 4 of them! Most exciting gifts of the day!

Dear, dear Roni, I wish I could take credit for the books, but it wasn't me!! I haven't taken part in the Christmas swap yet, as December is just too crazy. I will one day, though.

Ooops! A different Anne then! Sorry. Merry Christmas to you and your family--I'd better go thank the other Anne. ;-)

Hope you're having a lovely day with your family, Anne! Merry Christmas. You're probably in the middle of the feasting right now.

Thank you so much for all of the kind and thoughtful visitors who left such lovely messages! Valerie, Micky, Nancy, Roni, Beth, Amber, Rhian, Joanne, Peggy, Susan, Carrie, Jenn, Chelle, Reba, Lori, Carsten, Mark, Julia, and Cushla! I hope each of your Christmases was lovely and restful, and that you have lots of new nooks to read! We are indeed experiencing a white Christmas, with about 9 inches of new snow since yesterday afternoon and more to come! We may go sledding later, but for now I am looking forward to some time with books:)

71. Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit by PG Wodehouse, narrated by Jonathan Cecil

Another fun, silly, laugh-out-loud Jeeves and Wooster offering where Bertie grows an ill-advised mustache, and lands in the soup in various ways, to be rescued as always by the unparalleled Jeeves. Jeeves & Wooster books and audios are "just the thing" when you need some light reading :)

Wodehouse is so good.

I wasn't going to do Christmas greeting rounds but I can't resist leaving this guy on a few threads. I hope your Christmas was happy, Anne!

Wishing your lovely family the most splendid of festive seasons. xx

>246 EBT1002: LOL, Ellen, them's fightin' words... er... Seahawk! Our Broncos aren't looking as good this year. I don't follow football very much -- how are the Hawks looking? Ready for a repeat?

>247 PaulCranswick: Paul, I love it! Merry Christmas to you and your family.

72. The Witch's Boy by Kelly Barnhill

Published this year to much acclaim, this is a dark and captivating tale for readers 4th grade and up about magic and its power to do good or destroy. Young Ned and his twin brother Tam are clever and mischievous boys who build a raft in order to visit the ocean. However, their raft breaks apart and Tam is drowned. Villagers whisper throughout the years that "the wrong boy" lived. The wrong boy grows up haunted and hesitant, until he is called upon to protect the magic his family keeps and save his village from war. Young Áine's mother dies just after telling her that "the wrong boy will save your life, and you will save his. And the wolf --" Boy, girl, and wolf come together to unravel the mystery of the ancient magic -- here portrayed as a tricky, willful character -- and save their respective kingdoms from war. An atmospheric and moving read.

Hmmm, not sure I'll make 75 this year, though it was sure fun trying. I did manage to complete my book bingo card, though:)



More than 500 pages: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Forgotten Classic: Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (at least it is according to http://qwiklit.com/2013/04/29/20-classic-novels-youve-never-heard-of/)
Book that became a movie: A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
Published this year: Three Bird Summer by Sara D’Antoine
Number in the title: The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone
Written by someone under 30: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Book with non-human characters: August Folly by Angela Thirkell.
Funny Book: Lady Susan by Jane Austen
Female Author: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Book with a mystery: The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
One-Word Title: Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Book of short stories: The Complete Stories of Dorothy Parker
Set on a different continent: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Non-Fiction: A Winter in Arabia by Freya Stark
First book by a favourite author: Alexander’s Bridge by Willa Cather
Heard about online: Far, Far Away by Tom McNeal
Best-selling book: The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
Based on a true story: Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather
Book at the bottom of TBR pile: Howards End by E.M. Forster
Book my friend loves: A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr
Book that scares me: Full Body Burden: Growing up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats by Kristen Iverson
More than 10 years old: The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
Second book in a series: Fire by Kristen Cashore
Blue cover: The Eyes of Venice by Alessandro Barbero

73. Spirit Animals Book 1: Wild Born by Brandon Mull

Book One of a super-popular series in the library, and a 2015 CCBA nominee, Wild Born tells the story of four children from different parts of Erdas. Certain people of Erdas can summon spirit animals -- an animal with whom they have a special two-way bond and understanding. These four children somehow summon back the Fallen Great Beasts, which signals urgent need and the beginning of a desperate war.

Great review of Flowers for Algernon, Anne. Would you post it on the book page? I'd like to thumb it. What a powerful book that is. The movie based on it, Charley, is really good, too.

Hope you're having a happy holiday season!

Hi Joe! Thank you for the nudge and the pledged thumb! It was such a powerful book. We may look for the movie at some point -- the play was pretty powerful, too.

We are having a nice holiday. It is very cold and very snowy. That suits us just fine, as we like to hunker down over the break and rest and recharge, but this year we have an unexpected houseguest -- for a month -- and I think the quiet, and especially the cold and snow are getting to him. More houseguests expected this week, so it's a full house for us!

Hope your holiday is wonderful, Joe.

Thumb applied, thanks, Anne.

We're enjoying the un-full house after a big family gathering in Michigan for a few days. We had a great time, and I hope you do with your full house of houseguests. It's been a wonderful holiday, with more to come, including a visit from our son and his intended, who we just saw at the Michigan gathering. So good to have him back in the midwest!