Tuesday Thingers!

Since we're past the Fourth of July and the summer season has officially started, what are your plans for the summer? Vacations, trips? Trips that involve reading? Reading plans? If you're going somewhere, do you do any reading to prepare? Do you read local literature as part of your trip? Have you thought about using the LT Local feature to help plan your book-buying?

My plans for the summer are to work. I started my first "real" job about five months ago. What I am looking forward to this summer are the releases of Breaking Dawn and Violet In Private. My reading plans include reading those two books, and cross my fingers a lot of the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series (which means I should start buying them, but i shouldn't because i have nowhere to put them, and i don't want to check them out from the library because I'm supposed to be reading books from my big TBR pile!) and tons of other things!

When I do go on trips I usually try and scout out interesting and unique bookstores or libraries to visit (along with art museums) Sometimes I'll scream and point from the car forcing my family to turn around so I can go into an amazing looking store we've just passed! While my sister is shopping for clothes I'm shopping for books.

I think the Librarything Local feature would help a lot next time I go on a trip. When I went to the UK for a month I believe I did some research before and during the trip about sights to see. I'll usually look at the displays of local books but never usually buy anything from them. I did get two tiki books in Hawaii though (pretty sure I could have gotten them anywhere though)

Some of my favorite bookstores around the country include... The Book Alcove, somewhere in Maryland, great used bookstore for a cheap price. Atomic Books in Baltimore, Maryland comics and zine heaven. The Borders Express stores on Maui (after all the nature I needed something familiar to bond with!) The Atlantic Bookstores on the east coast (our location closed about a year ago) all the bookstores in Bethany Beach Delaware. If you can't tell bookstores are where I get my souvenirs!

What was your favorite bookstore you visited while on vacation?

Who's been to Powell's cause I want to go there so very badly! A friend gave me their map/flyer once and I just about passed out!

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

Now I just said Audrey, Wait! was hilarious but this is also hilarious! A different kind of hilarious.

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging is the first of nine (so far) in Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series. It's basically Georgia's diary we are reading. This book starts right before Georgia is to return to school. She's 13/14 years old. She has a crazy cat named Angus and a little sister named Libby who may have peed somewhere in her room. At first I thought it would be a sweet read made for maybe junior high readers. But it was hilarious, just hilarious! I'm ready to read all the rest of the books now! Georgia and her friend Jas get into some hilarious situations along with their other friends and frienemies! I just adore this book!

This series takes place in the UK so there may be some words Americans are not familiar with. Georgia has provided us with a hilarious glossary in the back of the book. I think the difference in language allows for new laughs that we haven't seen overused in American books.

The books were originally released with different, cartoony covers. These new covers are so very beautiful in my opinion. The color palette and photography work together magically. Check out most of them here.

What series are you hoping to read more of this summer?

4/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway

Audrey, Wait! is the story of a normal girl that breaks up with her boyfriend who just happens to be in a band. Next thing she knows he's written a song about her, it ends up on the radio and catches like wildfire all over the country and world! Audrey becomes an unwilling celebrity and this is her journey.

I had heard tons of good things about this book and it did not disappoint. This book was hilarious but with a strong heart. I'm in love with this style of writing, hilarious and full of popular culture references and asides. It reminds me a bit of the style of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist which I also adored. Audrey's cat, Bendomolena cracked me up every time she was mentioned. I want to be friends with Audrey, James, Victoria, and Jonah. I only wish I was as cool as them when I was in high school.

Each chapter is headed with a song quote. Which makes a great soundtrack for reading this book! A good portion of the musicians I recognized but I didn't begin to appreciate this type of music until I started college. But thank goodness I did!

This is the most beautiful cover I have seen in a long time. I actually looked up the design firm, Rodrigo Corral Design. He has done tons and tons of book covers and jackets including James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. All I want to know is Sir, how can I get your job!

Thanks to author Elizabeth Scott! I won this book in her last book wish contest!

4/5 Stars

A New Dawn: Your Favorite Authors on Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series edited by Ellen Hopkins

Well I guess I was on a mini anthology kick here! Listen up all Twilight fans, this will get you through the final month up until Breaking Dawn's release!

I happened to be in Borders one Saturday, like most weekends! and the Special Edition of Eclipse had just come out. There was a big display right in the front entrance that included the Special Edition of Eclipse, the paperback of New Moon and this book. Definitely an impulse buy but it was well worth it!

Classics lovers with love some of the essays that go into comparisons with Romeo & Juliet, Dracula, and Pride and Prejudice among others. I really enjoyed the tour of Forks, Washington, the battle between Edward and Jacob as the best boyfriend for Bella, the history of vampires and the history of werewolves. As you can tell I pretty much liked this whole anthology!

I think some of my lesser favorites dealt with Edward: sociopath or not? and two fan girls debating with two scholars. Another thing that was just slightly off putting was several of the authors explaining how they didn't want to read these books at first and then finally they did and they liked it. I guess I went through that myself but it's not really something I'd be proud to mention! It sort of made me wonder if they should be writing essays for this book.

Does anyone have any ideas about what is going on, on the cover? I'm not really making the connection. I swear I see a faded scar on the girl's hand, either that or some sort of printers error. Is that supposed to be Bella? I'm not sure I'm buying that...

Overall, I really enjoyed this anthology. I'm surprised more people haven't talked about this book. I wonder if because it's a "Borders exclusive" some people don't have access to it.

Are you a fan of the Twilight series, and if so do you have Breaking Dawn pre-ordered?

I'm dragging my sister to the midnight release! Who knows when the next one of those will ever be! I thought I'd never get to partake in that kind of excitement after the last Harry Potter book was released!

3.5/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

Have I Got A Guy For You- Edited by Alix Strauss

Have I Got A Guy For You: What Really Happens When Mom Fixed You Up is a anthology of 27 stories of woman and their mothers who set them up on blind dates.

It's hard to give a summary since this is a anthology. So let's see some of my favorites involved Hindu Matrimonials, "Cousins", the Perfect Son In Law, and a live-action game of Dungeons and Dragons. For the most part this was a good natured look at blind dating. It was funny!

Most of these matches end up in mismatches. But I found myself hoping that something good would come from these blind dates and in a few cases something did! Most of these mothers had their daughters best intentions in mind so it made the stories more lighthearted and loving.

It seemed like a large group of friends got together to contribute to this and a good number of them happened to be Jewish and live in New York, nothing wrong with that but it was definitely a theme throughout.

Reading these all in a row could get a little bit repetitive but at the same time anthologies are nice because you can set them down and pick them back up without losing your place. This is one of the many reasons I love anthologies. I read several stories a day for maybe 3 or 4 days.

I love love love anthologies. The idea of look at one subject (be it vague or specific) from multiple angles introduces you to many new and exciting ways of looking at a subject. And also getting to sample a bunch of different authors at the same time! I still need to go back to this one and look up some of the authors other works. (There are great bios in the back) I love that anthologies have the potential to lead you to your new favorite author.

What's your favorite anthology?

Thanks to J. Kaye for featuring this book on her blog.
3/5 Stars
Review copy provided by publisher

Booking Through Thursday!

It’s a holiday weekend here in the U.S., so let’s keep today’s question simple–What are you reading? Anything special? Any particularly juicy summer reading?

I am reading Violet On the Runway by Melissa Walker. I've been wanting to read her series for months now and I'm really enjoying it! I'm also hoping to read the second book in the series this weekend, Violet By Design and an ARC I received this week for The Watercooler Effect.

In other book news..
I popped by our large library today after getting done with work early. They have a pretty large friends of the library store.
I picked up:
Smashed: Story of a drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas
Me vs. Me by Sarah Mlynowski
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom

What are you reading this holiday weekend? Have you read any of my finds for today?

This Year In Movies: June

June was a busy month for everything but movies *sniffle* But I did watch a few tv shows on dvd which eats up lots of time. Speaking of which I got the first disc of Mad Men today, I've been hearing good things about it FOREVER!

Dedication- was waiting for this on netflix for months, gave up and got it for cheap in a blockbuster sale, I really liked this!
The Riches Season 1- good! I was hoping it would be a little bit on the comedy side more so than the drama..
I'm Not There- thought it was going to be awesome.. it hopped around a little too much for it to make much sense, need to watch it again
The Savages- really good, really funny, I freaked out when I first saw the chris ware poster!
Lipstick Jungle Season 1- way better than I thought it would be, need to read the book...
Get Smart- I cried from laughing at least two times, was still talking about it the next day, will be buying this one for sure!
August Rush- cried from happiness- two of my favorite actors, and a little cutie!
There Will Be Blood- better than I thought it would be, the music was very creepy, almost distracting
Persepolis- finally! I wanted to see this in the theatre but didn't get to, it was great, just like the graphic novels
Definitely, Maybe- really sweet, it was semi-predictable but I really liked it. most movies you can predict probably before you even see them, this one was more of a mystery
Under the Same Moon- very sweet

Tuesday Thingers!

Here is the Top 100 Most Popular Books on LibraryThing. Bold what you own, italicize what you've read. Star what you liked. Star multiple times what you loved!

1. Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone by J.K. Rowling (32,484)***
2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) by J.K. Rowling (29,939)***
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5) by J.K. Rowling (28,728)***
4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) by J.K. Rowling (27,926)***
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3) by J.K. Rowling (27,643)***
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4) by J.K. Rowling (27,641)***
7. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (23,266)
8. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (21,325)
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) by J.K. Rowling (20,485)***
10. 1984 by George Orwell (19,735)
11. Pride and Prejudice (Bantam Classics) by Jane Austen (19,583)
12. The catcher in the rye by J.D. Salinger (19,082)***
13. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (17,586)
14. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (16,210)****
15. The lord of the rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (15,483)
16. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (14,566)
17. Jane Eyre (Penguin Classics) by Charlotte Bronte (14,449)
18. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (13,946)*
19. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (13,272)
20. Animal Farm by George Orwell (13,091)
21. Angels & demons by Dan Brown (13,089)
22. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (13,005)
23. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (12,777)
24. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Oprah's Book Club) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (12,634)
25. The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, Part 1) by J.R.R. Tolkien (12,276)
26. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (12,147)
27. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (11,976)****
28. The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, Part 2) by J.R.R. Tolkien (11,512)
29. The Odyssey by Homer (11,483)
30. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (11,392)
31. Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut (11,360)
32. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (11,257)
33. The return of the king : being the third part of The lord of the rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (11,082)
34. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (10,979)
35. American Gods: A Novel by Neil Gaiman (10,823)
36. The chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis (10,603)
37. The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams (10,537)
38. Lord of the Flies by William Golding (10,435)
39. The lovely bones : a novel by Alice Sebold (10,125)----- hated it, I gave it away!
40. Ender's Game (Ender, Book 1) by Orson Scott Card (10,092)
41. The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1) by Philip Pullman (9,827)
42. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman (9,745)
43. Dune by Frank Herbert (9,671)
44. Emma by Jane Austen (9,610)
45. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (9,598)
46. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Bantam Classics) by Mark Twain (9,593)
47. Anna Karenina (Oprah's Book Club) by Leo Tolstoy (9,433)
48. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (9,413)
49. Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides (9,343)
50. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (9,336)
51. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (9,274)
52. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (9,246)
53. The Iliad by Homer (9,153)
54. The Stranger by Albert Camus (9,084)
55. Sense and Sensibility (Penguin Classics) by Jane Austen (9,080)
56. Great Expectations (Penguin Classics) by Charles Dickens (9,027) **
57. The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel by Margaret Atwood (8,960)
58. On the Road by Jack Kerouac (8,904)
59. Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt (8,813) * never got to finish it!
60. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery - (8,764)
61. The lion, the witch and the wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (8,421)
62. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (8,417)
63. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (8,368)
64. The Grapes of Wrath (Centennial Edition) by John Steinbeck (8,255)
65. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (8,214)
66. The Name of the Rose: including Postscript to the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (8,191)
67. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (8,169)
68. Moby Dick by Herman Melville (8,129)
69. The complete works by William Shakespeare (8,096)
70. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond (7,843) never finished it, for school
71. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (7,834) ***
72. The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel (Perennial Classics) by Barbara Kingsolver (7,829)
73. Hamlet (Folger Shakespeare Library) by William Shakespeare (7,808)
74. Of Mice and Men (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) by John Steinbeck (7,807)
75. A Tale of Two Cities (Penguin Classics) by Charles Dickens (7,793)
76. The Alchemist (Plus) by Paulo Coelho (7,710)
77. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (7,648) never finished, got too depressing
78. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics) by Oscar Wilde (7,598)
79. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition by William Strunk (7,569)
80. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (7,557)
81. The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, Book 2) by Philip Pullman (7,534)
82. Atonement: A Novel by Ian McEwan (7,530) ** beginning section was amazing
83. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (7,512)
84. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (7,436)
85. Dracula by Bram Stoker (7,238)
86. Heart of Darkness (Dover Thrift Editions) by Joseph Conrad (7,153)
87. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (7,055)
88. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (7,052)
89. The amber spyglass by Philip Pullman (7,043)
90. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Penguin Classics) by James Joyce (6,933)
91. The Unbearable Lightness of Being: A Novel (Perennial Classics) by Milan Kundera (6,901)
92. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (6,899)
93. Neuromancer by William Gibson (6,890)
94. The Canterbury Tales (Penguin Classics) by Geoffrey Chaucer (6,868)
95. Persuasion (Penguin Classics) by Jane Austen (6,862)
96. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (6,841)
97. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (6,794)
98. Angela's Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt (6,715)
99. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (6,708)
100. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli (6,697)

I currently own 34 of these books. I've read 32 of these. The Great Gatsby was my first chosen favorite, in high school. I've never been able to proclaim a new favorite since then, I probably should. What's your favorite book?

The Ultimate Mail Day or Why I'm Saying "Screw The Book Buying Ban"

I came home to a pile of awesome today! The mailman/FedEx person dropped off for me:

-Two bookmooch books- Coffee and Kung Fu (I saw this in the airport when it first came out and forgot about it until now) and The Man of My Dreams (Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep was pretty interesting so I thought I'd give this one a go)

- A mini-bound manuscript (they were out of arc's) of The Watercooler Effect (I love books like these... The Tipping Point, Freakanomics)

-Violet On the Runway, from Amazon (with its sequel and 3 other books coming in 2 other shipments, Can't wait to read these!!)

- A coupon to Best Buy, Half Price Books (foam at the mouth!) and a $20 voucher for Amazon!

I don't think I'll be able to top that for a long time!

Did you get anything super exciting in the mail today?

Booking Through Thursday

Visit Booking Through Thursday to read more answers!

What, in your opinion, is the definition of a “reader.” A person who indiscriminately reads everything in sight? A person who reads BOOKS? A person who reads, period, no matter what it is? … Or, more specific? Like the specific person who’s reading something you wrote?

When I ask someone if they are a reader, what I'm really asking is if they read a book more than say 4 times a year. Sometimes people roll their eyes at me like "Duh, how could anyone not be a reader" and then others, get what I mean, and answer "No, not so much". For a lot of the past several years of my life I would answer "I used to be, and wish I could be more so." These days I can proudly answer "Yes, I read almost everyday!"

So to me a reader is someone that actively seeks out books to read, most than once every season change. They don't wait for someone to insist they read a book and do it so they will stop bothering them.

What do you consider a reader?

Tuesday Thingers!

Visit the Boston Bibliophile to join in!

Last week I asked what was the most popular book in your library- this week I'm going to ask about the most unpopular books you own. Do you have any unique books in your library- books only you have on LT? How many? Did you find cataloging information on your unique books, or did you hand-enter them? Do they fall into a particular category or categories, or are they a mix of different things? Have you ever looked at the "You and none other" feature on your statistics page, which shows books owned by only you and one other user? Ever made an LT friend by seeing what you share with only one other user?

I love this question! I have 79 items unique to my library. A lot of them are hand entered zines and mini comics. (I'm not even caught up entering those!) I've been slowly adding in covers for these, someday I hope to have covers for them all! Some things that aren't zines and comics: A Wild, Cold State by Debra Monroe, picked this up in a library sale a few years ago, haven't read it. An Americana Annual from my birth year from my grandparents, a few textbooks, a few photography collections, a book on tiki, a novel called Juno and Juliet (library sale) and most surprisingly, A New Dawn, the Twilight essay anthology I just recently read. Apparently no one knows about this... (I'll be reviewing it soon!) I think everything that wasn't a zine or comic I entered via it's ISBN number, so they exist, it's just that no one else seems to have them!

Now the you and none feature. I share 27 books/zines/comics with one other person. In several cases I share multiple things with one other person, mostly library comic collections or schools. I'm hoping that by me hand entering some of the comics and zines it made it easier for other people to add them as well. Some books I share with one other person? The best book ever, Wrongboy's History of the Earth, my friend bought this for me in the UK, the other owner actually struck up a conversation with me about it awhile back. Actually a lot of these books are ones I got on my trip to the UK a few years ago, exhibit companion books mostly. And some other random stuff!

What's your favorite book that no one has ever heard of?

Summer Reading Extravaganza Day One

Visit The Friendly Book Nook to Learn More!

Since I'm not actually going to be going to the beach this summer, but will be going to work I'm going to talk about a few of the things I plan to take along for my daily bus rides to work this summer!

David Sedaris's, When You Are Englufed In Flames looks to be a promising one. I've enjoyed what I have read of his previously. It will definitely wake me up with a good laugh in the morning. Plus I got to meet him about a week ago!

Leah Haye's all scratchboard graphic novel, Funeral of the Heart promises to be a creepy and quirky read.


Audrey, Wait! By Robin Benway is one of the most talked about new young adult books from this spring. And it has a pretty fantastic cover. It's the story of a girl who's ex-boyfriend writes a hit song about her and she can't get away from the limelight. I think? I haven't read it!

What can't you wait to read this summer?

Booking Through Thursday

Visit Booking Through Thursday to join in the fun!

Think about your favorite authors, your favorite books . . . what is it about them that makes you love them above all the other authors you’ve read? The stories? The characters? The way they appear to relish the taste of words on the tongue? The way they’re unafraid to show the nitty-gritty of life? How they sweep you off to a new, distant place? What is it about those books and authors that makes them resonate with you in ways that other, perfectly good books and authors do not?

This is a hard question. I would consider The Time Traveler's Wife and The Namesake two of my favorite books. I have only read them once each (though plan to read them again and again) and these are the only books I've read by these authors (unless you consider Audrey Niffenegger's graphic novel type books, that's a different ballgame to me). I do consider these two favorite authors. I've been waiting and waiting for Audrey's Niffenegger's new book that she's talked about on her website and hope to read all of Jhumpa Lahiri's books. I think what makes a book a favorite is when it bring all the different aspects a book can have together, plot, characters, emotion, writing style. All of it, it has to be epic! I enjoy a lot of books but for it to be a favorite I think it needs to be firing on all cylinders.

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

I never thought anything in the series would get better than Twilight. But I think this may have. I enjoyed Twilight for it's take on first love. New Moon was ok, necessary to the story but a little depressing for my taste, still better than a lot of other junk I've read. It had it's good moments (I couldn't put it down). And Eclipse wow, it brought back the story with all the power it could. I really really liked it. It took all the great elements from the first two books and added something I was crossing my fingers and toes for: more history about the characters! And now I can't wait for Breaking Dawn! You still have time to read the first three books in the series before Breaking Dawn comes out August 2nd. I suggest you start now!

Reading this series reminded me how very much I love series. They allow you to arrive in a much more complex and detailed world because each book just builds and builds the story. What's your favorite series?

5/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

Tuesday Thingers!

What's the most popular book in your library? Have you read it? What did you think? How many users have it? What's the most popular book you don't have? How does a book's popularity figure into your decisions about what to read?

The most popular book in my library is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. 32,544 members have it. Yes I did read it. Time for a little story...Me and my sister started collecting the books around the time the fourth book came out and the buzz was to the extreme. It's the reason we bought the books, the hype. I remember sitting at home watching all the news about the Harry Potter release. We even ended up going to the midnight release two times. Also seeing the first movie before starting to read the series got me going! Usually that prevents me from reading the a book right away (after seeing the movie), gotta wait til it isn't fresh in my memory, but in this case it made me read it.

The most popular book I don't have is The Hobbit (at 21,235 people) It's number 8 on the list. I didn't like the first LOTR movie, so I really doubt I'll ever read any of the books.

As I talked about a little bit before I do let popularity influence my reading choices. I look at it this way, if I'm already interested in a book and it's getting rave reviews/lots of people reading it I consider that a good thing, if it doesn't I still might read it anyways. And on the flip side, if a book doesn't sound interesting, it usually still doesn't sound interesting even after people say it's worth checking out. Hype and popularity got me to read the Twilight series which I really enjoyed.

One more side note, do you guys have a lot of books in your library that you share with one other user or no one? I have a lot because of the manually entered zines I have. But I just counted and there are 26 books/zines I share with one other person. And some of those are 2-4 things with one other person. I think they are zine collections and libraries.

The Library Book Sale or Why I Shouldn't Be Allowed Near Places That Sell Books for a Very Very Long Time

Day One:

There hadn't been a big book sale in my town since October. It was like Christmas. I left way too early but I was so excited I couldn't wait any longer. I didn't get to go the first day because of work :( I was the first one to enter, while at home sat about 200 books in my to be read pile (cringe). Everything is 50 cents to a 1.00.

I got:

Blue Bloods (One of the first places I looked was the YA section, didn't have much and then I found this! In the romance section. YA is my new book passion)

Carolina Moon (The synopsis sounded good, I guess I didn't read it all the way through though, so hopefully this will be good. The cover is pretty ugly, but it's still in print so that's a good sign)

Why We Buy (A friend or two had to read this in college and it sounded really good to me)

Assassination Vacation (Not sure I want to necessarily read about assassinations but I've read such good things about Sarah Vowell I definitely want to give it a shot, love her covers too)

The Alchemist (Friend recommended this)

The Bean Trees (Friend recommended this)

PS I love You (Read this a few years ago and liked it, it's a mass market paperback, let's see how long I can hold onto it before swapping it out for a trade paperback)

Slaughterhouse Five (I've been meaning to read this for awhile now)



(and a few things for my sister)

Day Two:
This is where it gets embarrassing/buying things I really shouldn't. Darn dollar a bag!

So I will just give you a number: 14 books I shouldn't have bought. Oh +3 I found in the upstairs regular library sale.

Do you go to library sales? Do you end up buying things you really shouldn't or do you only buy a few choice books you really want? How do you control yourself?

Admit One: A Journey into Film by Emmett James

To me my love and books and movies were always separate. There weren't many movies about books nor books about movies. When I heard about Emmett James's book, Admit One: A Journey into Film I knew the gap had been bridged. I knew I had to read it.

Emmett's memoir starts with his early memories of visiting the cinema with his family. He doesn't remember much of the movie (he falls asleep) but remembers the affect it has on his brother. Each chapter is framed by a different movie and gives a little synopsis. The first half of his book explores Emmett's love of movies as a viewer and the second half explores it as a participant. He moves to LA and starts to work. I loved how it hits movies from two sides. I could relate to the viewer side but had always wanted to hear about the participants side. I wish this jump between the two different parts had been bridged with just a little more detail (he seems to go from a young teenager to a 20-something like that) but maybe that's just me.

I was also pleasantly surprised to hear he went to school for graphic design for a spell. The chapter about retouching was so funny to me.

All in all, I love books, movies, and memoirs so to me this was just a great idea for a book. Peeking into something I don't believe i ever had, has been a great joy.

Thank you to Lisa Roe, Online Book Publicist for the review copy.

3.5/5 Stars

Book Readings and Signings: David Sedaris

It had been my goal for a few years now to be able to go to a book signing and I finally did it! Mr David Sedaris read from his new book When You Are Engulfed In Flames and then signed books. Boy was it exciting! He is so hilarious it could brighten anyone's afternoon! He's gotten pretty well known but was such a nice man signing multiple copies for people.



I wasn't sure what to expect as far as lines so I got there about an hour early. It was at a Borders so they used their colored wristband system that they also use for midnight book releases. I ended up in the third group. All in all it was everything I hoped for. I hope I can go to another one soon. I wish I knew a website to check to find out about upcoming events. I just happened to see a sign at my own Borders for the event.



Have you gone to a book signing or reading? What was it like?

Lookalikes 4

I've had my mind on this one for a few years or so and finally remembered to compare the two to see what i found. Not the same photo but a similar composition. 

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

Have you ever been a member of a book club? How did your group choose (ot, if you haven’t been, what do you think is the best way to choose) the next book and who would lead discussion?
Do you feel more or less likely to appreciate books if you are obliged to read them for book groups rather than choosing them of your own free will? Does knowing they are going to be read as part of a group affect the reading experience?

Book Clubs. How I've always wanted to belong to one. I've come close but not all the way yet!

At one point in college about ten of us decided to try and read a book together. We threw out ideas and voted via facebook. Ended up picking The Time Traveler's Wife. The school year ended and we never found a time to get together and discuss it. I think about half the people finished before the year was up but the other's weren't done. I did hear that most people really did enjoy it, including myself. It's just a shame we never actually got to meet, I'm so glad I got to read that book though I really love it.

I've also read the same book at the same time as a friend before but we never actually sat down and discussed it. We more just talked about it casually on and off.

Tuesday Thingers!

Visit the Boston Bibliophile to learn more!

Today's question is about tags- do you tag? How do you tag? How do you feel about tagging- do you think it would be better to have standardized tags, like libraries have standardized subject headings, or do you like the individualized nature of tagging? What are your top 5 tags and what do they say about your collection or your reading habits?

I do tag! I don't believe I started doing it right when I joined Librarything but for awhile now I've done it like clockwork once I get a good number of new books into my library I tag them all.

I tag everything from the genre of book, to how much I paid for it (if it was really really cheap), to if it's an ARC to when I read it or if I haven't read it. I also write where I bought a book in the comments box if I remember.

I think I would like to have a set of standarized tags applied once a book was entered but also have the choice to edit them myself or add to them. I think that would be nice.

Top Five Tags: (man this first one is horrible!)
1. TBR (185) (I need to stop buying and read these darn things!)
2. Fiction (163) (Fiction that isn't Chick Lit or Young Adult Fiction)
3.Reference (97) (Something that isn't meant to be read straight through, a lot of art/design books)
4. Collection (93) (Anything from short stories to Artist Books to Comic Anthologies)
5.Comics (76) (these range from graphic novels to small little self published comics)

A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl By Tanya Lee Stone

Written in verse, three girls encounter the same bad boy. Using a library copy of Judy Blume's Forever, all the girls that have been used by this boy leave messages to each other, sharing their experiences.

When I saw all these reviews saying this should be required reading I wasn't so sure about that... After reading this, I think it should be required reading for girls, boys, grownups, parents, everyone! What a powerful piece in such a slim package. I think it's one great life lesson. I hadn't heard of this book until it was mentioned as a giveaway on a blog and I looked into it. It's a shame it isn't more widely recognized.

Though the book teaches a powerful lesson it's still very fun to read. I really enjoyed it. I had never read anything I liked in verse, probably because it was all school related. But this book is very easily digestible. Makes me want to seek out other books in the same format.

I also really like the cover. It's perfect, the image, the doodles, the handwritten title. I could do without the boy's stubble. There's something about the image being so close-up that makes it distracting.

4.5/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

What book have you read that shares a powerful life lesson in a enjoyable way?

Adrian Tomine's New, New Yorker Cover

For anyone not familar with Adrian Tomine, he's a ultra talented graphic novelist/cartoonist. He publishes the comic Optic Nerve, who's last three issues were turned into Shortcomings, the book which has done pretty well in the mainstream market I believe . He also does several New Yorker covers a year. Definitely one of my favorites.

Booking Through Thursday

Visit Booking Through Thursday to join in!

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

I don't think my tastes have changed they have evolved. I read in waves. For awhile chick lit, then memoirs, then graphic novels, and most recently young adult literature. I don't think I've dropped a particular category, I've just added more. It's not all strictly one genre I read at a time, but you can definitely tell what genre I'm into by looking at my reading list and what I buy!

I've never read much that's considered serious, except for in school so there is probably less of that now and more FUN stuff! I usually don't like dark and depressing books. I never considered myself a nonfiction reader, but if you consider memoirs nonfiction, I guess I read it now.

Tuesday Thingers!

Visit the Boston Bibliophile for more info!

Why did you choose to open and maintain an LT account? Do you/did you use other online cataloging/social networking sites, like GoodReads or Shelfari? Do you use more than one? Are they different or do they serve different purposes?

I joined Librarything about 2 years ago. I must have been searching for something to help catalog my books. I don't know how else i would have found it. I actually just found something to catalog my movies as well (it's not as good as Librarything though) I think I probably found the website, squealed and sat down and started entering my books, it's totally my kind of thing.

I didn't find out about GoodReads or Shelfari probably until a year later (maybe they didn't exist then). 

I tried GoodReads because my friend invited me, but it seemed too much like an application on facebook that I don't even like that much. It didn't seem worth it to me to maintain my Librarything account and that as well, I think I still have a profile there though.

 I actually tried Shelfari a few weeks ago, since I could easily import my books from a excel file, but it didn't like a lot of the ones I had manually entered into Librarything. It also listed all my books as read, which is so not true. It was kind of a pain in the butt to go through and fix that. I'm not sure if I'll keep using that or not. The books do look pretty on the shelves though. 

As I see it now, Librarything offers me what I need. Maybe if I feel like dorking it up and maintaining more I will but Librarything will always be my number one, I have a lifetime membership!

New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

I don't want to say too much about New Moon so as not to ruin it for anyone that hasn't read Twilight (because you should read Twilight!). So I'll try and keep it short and vague.

Let's see, I wish there was more vampire awesomeness, related to their powers and back story. I haven't read Eclipse yet so I'm crossing my fingers that these things will come up more in the last two books.

Bella got sort of depressingly pathetic during the middle part of the book.

My favorite parts of the books tend to be when the vampires are being their awesome and nurturing (Alice) selves.

I heard that this cover really has no meaning to Stephanie and that she doesn't really like it. What I want to know is how they were able to give her what she wants for the other covers but completely dropped the ball on this one. What changed that she had no say for this cover. Or is it that she just happened to like what they came up with for the others and she's never had a say to begin with? That really bugs me, I think authors should have more of a say. I also thing the designers should read the books before trying to design a cover, I know that's not always possible but I think it's important enough that an effort should be made to get them the manuscript or something.

2.5/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

What's your favorite book from the Twilight series? Are you going to go and pick up Breaking Dawn at midnight when it's released?

Lock and Key By Sarah Dessen

Ruby is abandoned by her mother. She thinks she can sail on through living alone until her 18th birthday until she is discovered by her landlords and is sent to live with her sister who she hasn't seen in 10 years.

This is my first book by Sarah Dessen and I rather enjoyed it. I saw the movie that two of her books was based on, How to Deal, and didn't exactly like it so I never tried out her books until now. But I'm glad I did. Lock and Key had a really nice theme of family, more specifically sisters. It also speaks about losing the hard shell that a lot of us walk around wearing from day to day.

I felt there were enough secondary characters to keep the story interesting but not so many that I started forgetting who was who. I especially liked Ruby's friend Olivia and her cousin Laney. The book is rather long but I read it pretty fast because the story was so great. Nothing too shocking happens, it's a quiet sort of story but none the less very worth the read. It's sort of a snippet of life sort of story.

I've heard that the next place to go would be Sarah Dessen's Just Listen so I hope to check that out sometime in the near future. What is your favorite Sarah Dessen book? Did you like the movie, How to Deal?

3.5/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

Big Love = The Riches

Well not exactly. I just started watching The Riches yesterday and noticed it has some pretty big things in common with Big Love, at least in my opinion. Both families in Big Love and the Riches are hiding (or trying to hide) their true identities from their neighbors, coworkers, etc . Also with Big Love, it shares a very large extended family that won't let them escape their origins. They keep appearing in their new lives and this threatens to reveal who they really are.

Dexter also comes to mind when thinking about hiding someones true identity.

What are you going to watch this summer?

This Year In Movies: May

Nancy Drew-very cute
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly- painful to watch but worth it
PS I love you- different from the book but still enjoyable
$100 and a t-shirt-great information about the zine scene in portland
Over Her Dead Body-better than i expected
Tin Man-pretty good, i like how the story evolved
Chuck and Buck- his movies got better
Superbad-rewatch, so funny
Venus-ok
The Good Night-didn't really like
Mad Money- really fun
No Reservations-carbon copy of mostly martha, yet still fun to watch
Dhoom- my first bollywood action movie, funny!
I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With- ok
Cloverfield- really liked, wanted more backstory on the monster
A Collection of Academy Award Nominated Short Films- some were really good, some were not
Dans Paris- kinda funny, ok
Iron Man-theatre- really liked this
Sex and the City-theatre - really good, i hoped it wouldn't suck

Tagged for an author meme!

I was tagged by Marie of The Boston Bibliophile for this meme!



Author meme:
1. Who’s your all-time favorite author, and why?



This is a hard question. I've been saying my favorite book has been The Great Gatsby for a number of years now, ever since I read it in 11th grade. But I haven't really read much else by him so I wouldn't consider him a favorite author. I don't know if I could consider anyone a favorite! There is no one I run right out to buy books by except JK Rowling, but I still wouldn't say she's a favorite author. Man you're got me stumped!


2. Who was your first favorite author, and why? Do you still consider him or her among your favorites?



I think Roald Dahl was my first favorite author. I remember just loving Matilda and the Witches in particular. I would definitely consider him still a favorite in fact I've been meaning to try and reread his books and read the ones I haven't. I also really loved Ann M. Martin's for The Babysitter's Club as well.


3. Who’s the most recent addition to your list of favorite authors, and why?



Probably Chris Ware (he's a comic book artist) I just read The Acme Novelty Library #18 and just loved it.


4. If someone asked you who your favorite authors were right now, which authors would first pop out of your mouth? Are there any you’d add on a moment of further reflection?



Adrian Tomine, Daniel Clowes, F. Scott Fitzgerald, JK Rowling, Malcom Gladwell, Anne Brashares, Audrey Niffenegger.



Rules: Link to the person that tagged you, post the rules somewhere in your meme, answer the questions, tag six people in your post, let the tagees know they’ve been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog, let the tagger know your entry is posted.



Tagged:

The Page Flipper

Bending Bookshelf

Books and Movies

Amor Y Libros

The Book Muncher

Melissa Walker

A New Dawn Edited by Ellen Hopkins

I walked into Borders today and greeting me at the door was a big display featuring the special edition of Eclipse, the paperback version of New Moon and this new book A New Dawn (pictured left). It's a Borders Exclusive completely unauthorized collection of essays by different authors about the Twilight series. How cool is that! I still need to read Eclipse and then I'm onto this one for sure. I just recently picked up some collections in a similar spirit about Veronica Mars and Gilmore Girls. Definitely a great way to keep the spirit alive after these shows have gone. Happy Reading :)

Booking Through Thursday

To learn more visit Booking Through Thursday!

What is reading, anyway? Novels, comics, graphic novels, manga, e-books, audiobooks — which of these is reading these days? Are they all reading? Only some of them? What are your personal qualifications for something to be “reading” — why? If something isn’t reading, why not? Does it matter? Does it impact your desire to sample a source if you find out a premise you liked the sound of is in a format you don’t consider to be reading? Share your personal definition of reading, and how you came to have that stance.

Great question! I think reading is anything you set your eyes on that has words or is in book form. I read a lot of comics and graphic novels and i certainly consider them reading, even the one's without words! Just because you can read them a lot faster doesn't mean they aren't still reading! It's all about using your eyes!

I guess the only thing I wouldn't consider reading to be would be listening to audio books because that's listening, but there's nothing wrong with listening to a book! It's just a different way to take in information. When reading I need to pay full attention so that makes it hard for me to listen to books on cd. I know a lot of people use audio books while multitasking, I've tried it but I can't concentrate enough, I think the only time it worked was when I was on a plane but then it was an abridged book of short stories with some other stories from another book on it... so i gave up and figured I'd just read the book instead!

This question also brings up another question for me. I keep a list of the books I read, but there are some things I don't include on this list. I don't include magazines (you know the ones that are almost book like) zines or comics that are stapled. I only include what I determine to be a true book which I've determined to mean something that is bound professionally (that isn't a magazine). I don't include those things I've pointed out because they are things that aren't meant to be read cover to cover or take only a matter or minutes or seconds to read. That probably makes no sense to anyone but it works in my head haha! I want my list to reflect things that take a significant amount of time to read (usually). Please don't try to understand this, it's almost making no sense to me either!

Tuesday Thingers!

Bop over to The Boston Bibliophile to learn more!

How many books do you have cataloged in your LibraryThing account? How do you decide what to include- everything you have, everything you've read- and are there things you leave off?

I have 575 "books" listed in my librarything catalog. Everything in my catalog I physically own, I do include comics and zines which can sometimes only be a handful of pages. I'm slowing getting the covers for these into my catalog. The only things I have that I don't include are books from my childhood that I'm embarrassed that I still have and hope to get rid of!

I'd like to find a way to include all the library books and what not I've read in there somewhere but for now I like it being a collection of what I actually have at my fingertips. To try and counterbalance library books not being accounted for I've put the books I've read in the last few years on this blog in a few different posts. I've been keeping a list of everything I've read since about 6th grade!

As far as wish list books go, those stay on my amazon wish list.

Lookalikes 3

Wow! Twice in two days! Minus the flip and slight blur these appear to be the same photo. Has anyone else noticed any others?

UPDATE: the new first picture appears to be from the same shoot as well, note the girl's shirt and the boy's hair.

What kind of books do you like?

Maybe you seek out hardcovers, go the way of the trade paperbacks or maybe you like the smaller mass market paperbacks, or maybe you're all about the books on tape/cd?

What type of books do you like?

Or maybe like me, it depends on the kind of book or how much you really really want to buy it this very second? I'll love to hear what type of books YOU like!

My answer:
When it comes to novels I prefer trade paperbacks, they are much easier to hold when reading (especially when laying down), also the corners of hardcovers poke me in the hands! Paperbacks are just easier to handle in my opinion, they stay open without too much effort. I've been known to buy hardcovers if i can't wait for a book to come out in paperback (I've been doing that a lot lately)! I do like having the option of someday swapping out my hardcovers for paperbacks. Libraries often have their books in hardcover which is sometimes a bummer...

I very rarely buy mass market paperbacks. I like to keep my books in good condition and the moment you open a mass market paperback it seems the spine cracks, they are also very hard to keep open since they are so small and thick.

When it comes to design books I prefer hardcover. These books I don't really "read" more lay them open on the table when I'm working so they have to stand the test of time a little better than novels and hardcovers provide just that. I handle my design books a lot more often then novels. Usually they only come out in a hardcover or paperback edition though, so no choice there, so I take what I can get.

I often buy a lot of very cheap used books from the library etc. and in those cases I'm not AS picky, I still stay away from the mass market paperbacks though!

I've always wanted to use books on tape more but haven't really found the opportunity.

Comment back with the types of books you like!

Lookalikes 2

UPDATE: 7/7/09 Thanks for finding this one Khy!

The Luxe by Anna Godbersen

Two sisters, a servant girl, a best friend, and a hot mess of a boy. Throw in two-ish love triangles and you've got The Luxe. I kept reading and reading about this book, just like I had done with Twilight and then decided I just better read the darn book. I'm sure glad I did. What a fun book. It's set in 1899 New York City and alternates the five main characters points of view. I think the alternating viewpoints really made this book for me. I just can't get enough of that. The book ends not unlike a movie with a sequel in the makings already. It basically ends with a taunting, "you won't know how this ends until you read the next book!" If you even half liked this book you'll want to know what happens next in the sequel Rumors, out the beginning of June. I know I'm ready to find out what happens next.

On a side note, I think I'd really enjoy a movie version of this book if only to see these outfits brought to life, is it just me or does anyone else sometimes have trouble visualizing an outfit that's being described in a book. I think it's half I'm not so interested in people's clothes as the story itself and half I'm not really sure what they are talking about. That becomes somewhat of a problem in some chick lit novels.... I really liked the clothes in Marie Antoinette the movie, I think I'm just the type of person that has to actually see the outfit being described to fully grasp it. Does that make any sense?

4/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

Love Marriage

Love Marriage is the story of Yalini, an American born daughter of a Sri Lankan family. She and her family care for her dying uncle she had never met and through this she learns and keeps a record of the past generations of her family and the turmoil in Sri Lanka.

I really enjoyed the writing style of this book, little vignettes about her different relatives, usually related to if they got married/how/to who. I especially liked the story of Yalini's, father's mother, Tharshi. At first these little stories almost stand alone and then towards the end the whole story starts to come together as one.

At times it became hard to remember who was who and what we had learned about them so far. I also wish we got to learn more about Yalini herself, I felt I knew her family better than her.

All in all I was very pleased with this book, I found it easy to read because of the quick little vignettes, the broke the story up very nicely.

ARC from Librarything's Early Reviewer's Program.
3.5/5 Stars

Twilight Trailer

Speak of the devil!

Twilight in HD


Via Maw Books Blog

Twilight

The hype roped me in. I always believe there is some magic behind hype so I finally went out and bought Twilight. I loved the Harry Potter books and their addicting nature, I heard the same about this series and it did not disappoint. It's a love story between a teen human girl, and a vampire, that appears to be a teen as well. The only aspect of this book I was hesitant about was the vampire element, but the end of the book I was actually wishing there had been more vampire elements. Maybe we will see that in the rest of the series? At points the romance got a little too over the top for my taste, maybe I would have eaten it up a little more if I was a young adult, the targeted reading group. None the less it was pretty enjoyable, especially the first half of the book when Edward and Bella were getting to know each other. I know one thing for sure, it's going to make one hot movie.

5/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club

Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club follows the lives of four friends in Hollywood. Each chapter is told from an alternating viewpoint but their storylines always cross paths. At first I suspected it may be similar to all the other chick lit I had read and in a way it was, but at the same time it was much more fun that I remember other chick lit books being. Maybe because it was set around the movie business which is something I'm really interested in. I also felt the alternating viewpoints was a great strength of keeping the story interesting. I feel chick lit stories told from one perspective always turn into "poor me stories" where the main character is always feeling sorry for herself about something. I didn't feel that so much with this story. I also loved the bit of mystery to the story, it helped me keep reading because I wanted to know what happened. I also enjoyed the characters of Kiki and Boom Boom, some people not directly in the circle of the four main characters. I do feel it would have been best if I had read the first book first (didn't realize there was one until I started reading the book) it would have been nice to get the background on the main characters families and so forth, in the second book they are just mentioned in the background mostly. This was a fun book that I really enjoyed!

ARC from Librarything's Early Reviewer's Program.
3.5/5 Stars

Gossip of Starlings

The back cover says it all. Prep school, drugs, friendship, tragedy. Already knowing that, there was nothing left for me to be engaged by.

Gossip of the Starlings is the story of two girls (Catherine and Skye) and their friendship while attending an all girls boarding school. Catherine is a new student leaving her old school for her "bad girl" ways and Skye is the daughter of a senator with a constant spotlight on her.

I thought I was in for a shocking tragic read, it was more sad and not totally unexpected based on the premise. I didn't find myself connecting with any of the characters or really caring what happened to them. I would have enjoyed more of the prep school atmosphere, with more teachers and students and their interactions. I felt the story was pretty simple and almost quiet in a way. It would have been nice to see Catherine and Skye framed by a few more characters.

Overall it was a ok read, I did enjoy the writing, it was beautiful, just would have liked more character development and characters.

Out June 10th. ARC from Librarything's Early Reviewers program.
2.5/5 Stars

Top 106 Unread Books on Librarything

The rules:
Bold what you have read, italicize books you’ve started but couldn’t finish, and strike through books you hated. Add an asterisk* to those you’ve read more than once. ( )those on your tbr list. I'm considering my tbr list books I own that I haven't read. (I can't figure out how to underline!)

(Jonathan Strange & M. Norrell)
(Anna Karenina)
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One hundred years of solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
(Life of Pi: a novel)
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick And I have the certificate to prove it.
Ulysses
(Madame Bovary)
The Odyssey
(Pride and Prejudice)
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveller’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
(Mrs. Dalloway)
Great Expectations
American Gods
A heartbreaking work of staggering genius
Atlas shrugged
(Reading Lolita in Tehran)
(Memoirs of a Geisha)
Middlesex
Quicksilver
(Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West)
The Canterbury tales
The Historian
A portrait of the artist as a young man
Love in the time of cholera
Brave new world
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A clockwork orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
(The Poisonwood Bible)
1984
(Angels & Demons)
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
(One flew over the cuckoo’s nest)
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les misérables
(The Corrections)
(The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay)
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes
(The God of Small Things)
A people’s history of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A confederacy of dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The unbearable lightness of being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics - Had to return to the library, really enjoyed it
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood
(White teeth)
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

This Year In Movies: April

Extras Extra Special Series Finale -more serious than the rest of the show
I Could Never Be Your Woman -fun but something was a little off
Fever Pitch -a typical chick flick
How I Met Your Mother Season 1 - i couldn't fully appreciate the show until i watched all the episodes
Things We Lost In the Fire -pretty good
How I Met Your Mother Season 2 -and now i love love love it
Dan In Real Life -rather enjoyable, felt bad for dan like i did for ben stiller in meet the parents
Lust, Caution -eh ok
Chalte Chalte -not my favorite bollywood, a little too serious
The Kite Runner -pretty good, sad
Lars and the Real Girl -really liked this one
Forgetting Sarah Marshall-theatre -hilarious
Michael Clayton - didn't really like
La Fine del Mar- Intl Film Festival -quiet and slow
Ca Brule- Intl Film Festival -pretty not good
Namastey London -fun, a more modern bollywood
Om Shanti Om - love this one
Salaam-e-Ishq -a rewatch, had to watch this again right away, love it
Hannah Takes the Stairs - typical of these people, it's better than some of the others
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story - pretty dumb, in a bad way
Bee Movie -pretty good in an animated way
27 Dresses - not bad for a chick flick, still too predictable

Read in 2008: A Beginning

Ice Haven
Tales of Woodsman Pete
Mother, Come Home
Robot Dreams
Ghost World
Best American Comics 2007
20th Century Eightball
Caricature
The Acme Novelty Library #18
The Fart Party
When You Were Small
Gossip of Starlings
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Mome 9
The Polysyllabic Spree
Housekeeping vs. The Dirt
Bloom
Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club
20 Times A Lady

Twilight

Read in 2007

Good In Bed
Big Stone Gap
Mortified
Summer Blonde
Best American Comics 2006
Stolen Sharpie Revolution
The Guy Not Taken
PS I Love You
Forever In Blue-The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood
Wrongboy's History of the Earth
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The Plain Janes
Gifted
Prep
American Born Chinese
The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl
Blankets
Goodbye, Chunky Rice
Veil of Roses
An Abundance of Katherines
Invincible Summer: an anthology
The Constant Rider Omnibus
Make Something: an anthology of portland zinesters
Atonement
Don't Go Where I Can't Follow
Drawn and Quarterly Showcase Three
Missouri Boy
Let Us Be Perfectly Clear
Never Ending Summer

Read In 2006

Holiday On Ice
Ice Haven
The Time Traveler's Wife
Black Hole
My Sister's Keeper
The Cheese Monkeys
44 Scotland Street
Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress
Persepolis
Scrapbook
Bitter Is The New Black
Persepolis 2
Paul Has A Summer Job
Breakfast With Tiffany
Goodnight Nobody
Running With Scissors
Inside the Mind of Gideon Rayburn
Charmed Thirds
Little Earthquakes
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
Love, Rosie

Read in 2005

In Her Shoes
Kissing in Manhattan
The Da Vinci Code
The Grim Grotto
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002
Understanding Comics
The Prince
Cat's Cradle
American Girls About Town
Girls In Pants-The Third Summer of the Sisterhood
The Tipping Point
Sloppy Firsts
Second Helpings
Bergdorf Blondes
The Pleasure of My Company
The Know It All
Lucia, Lucia
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Me Talk Pretty One Day
Nickel and Dimed
Thumbsucker
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Blink
The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters
The Idiot Girl's Action Adventure Clube
The Namesake
In The Company of Cheerful Ladies
Meno

Read in 2004

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
The Summons
Firestarter
The Lovely Bones
Prey
Rage of Angels
Brunelleschi's Dome
Shopgirl
The Devil Wears Prada
Fishbowl
Tears of the Giraffe
The Nanny Diaries
Morality for Beautiful Girls
A House Called Awful End: The Eddie Dickens Trilogy
The Hostile Hospital
The Carnivorous Carnival
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
The Slippery Slope
The Catcher in the Rye
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
The Kalahari Typing School for Men

Read In 2003

The Logic of Failure
The Beast In the Jungle
The Birth of Tragedy
Confessions
Candide
Crime and Punishment
A Room of One's Own
The Trial
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
The Schreuderspitze
The Lady With the Pet Dog
A Small Good Thing
Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Catch Me If You Can
The Bad Beginning
The Reptile Room
The Wide Window
The Miserable Mill
The Austere Academy
The Ersatz Elevator
The Vile Village
Girl With A Pearl Earring
Walden Two
A Woman's Book of Life
The Perks of Being A Wallflower

This Year In Movies

I decided at the end of this year last year that I wanted to keep track of all the movies I watched this year. I saw someone else's breakdown on their blog of how their movie watching habits had changed over the years and thought it was pretty cool. I always knew I watched a lot but never really kept track of it before. I already keep a list of the books I read so I figured why not do the same for movies. Man do I watch a lot of movies... I've included tv shows as well, when I've watched the whole season. Thank you netflix! Maybe I'll go back and make some specific comments later.


January (22)
Juno-theatre - great way to start the year!
Shoot em Up -stupid even for an action movie
10 Items or less - a quiet gem
Happenstance -a rewatch, now i can't even remember it again!
Starter for 10 -cute movie
Sweeny Todd- theatre -didn't really like
Funny Ha Ha -very low budget
Eagle vs. Shark - love this movie
Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party -not exactly what i expected but still interesting
Juno-theatre again -awesome again
The Lives of Others -sad
Factory Girl -sad
Rushmore -a favorite
Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price -frightening
The Hoax -ok
Nine Lives - like a collection of short stories
Idiocracy -pretty dumb but better than i thought it would be
Black Snake Moan -pretty much what i expected
Good Luck Chuck -good for a laugh
Wedding Daze -not so good for a laugh
Rocket Science -similar to thumbsucker
Stranger Than Fiction -a rewatch, funny movie

February (16)
Ira and Abby -kinda cute
Tideland -the worst movie i have seen in a long time
Sicko -what you would expect, didn't watch the gross parts
The Nanny Diaries -cute, maybe better than the book
Blind Dating -ok
Paris Je T'aime -a rewatch, i love this movie
Great Expectations -a rewatch, i also love this movie
Veronica Mars Season 3 -a rewatch, a love this show
The Tudors Season 1 -wow jonathan rhys meyers is intense
Feast of Love - sad but nice
The King of California -goofy but good
Be Kind Rewind-theatre - not as good as I'd hoped for
Fierce People - good until something happens and then i was pretty disgusted
A Citizen, A Detective, and A Thief -kinda long
The Jane Austen Book Club - really liked this one
Margot at the Wedding -did not like this one

March (31)
The Other Boleyn Girl-theatre -pretty good, want to finish the book now
Sydney White -cute for this type of movie
Jumper-theatre -fun, but not so much plot
Reign Over Me -sad but good
Guru -long and sad
My Kid Could Paint That -interesting
Goya's Ghosts -ok
Full Frontal -interesting idea
You Can Count On Me -ok
Penelope-theatre -love this movie
Blade Runner - didn't really see what all the hype was about
Undiscovered -better than i thought it would be
No Country For Old Men -esh, why do these kind of movies always win the awards
50 Pills -fun
The Martian Child -sweet
Rent -pretty good
No Day But Today (Rent Documentary) -really interesting
Raising Victor Vargas -sweet quiet movie
Southland Tales -dumb as was expected
Love In the Time of Cholera -sad but ended nice
Enchanted -so very hilarious
Possession -romantic
Horton Hears A Who!- theatre -really good
Death At A Funeral -funny and awkward
Suburban Girl -not half bad
Broken English -really enjoyed
The Hottest State -ok
Smiley Face -had to watch because it looked crazy and it was was
Salaam-E-Ishq -one of my new favorites
Extras Season 2 -so funny
Hitman - pretty bad

Did anyone else notice this?

Anne Boleyn and Ugly Betty share the same taste in necklaces.