Library List for September 28th

I don't usually post my Library Loot because I tend to renew books over and over and it just doesn't change that much, but since I went to my local library at lunch today to pick up some holds, I thought I'd post a list.

Today's holds were:

Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols - I can't WAIT to start this one!

The Savvy Crafters Guide To Success: Turn Your Crafts Into A Career by Sandra McCall

I also picked up a few for Mike:
The Spy Who Haunted Me by Simon R Green (last minute grab, appears to be 3rd in a series, oops!)

Deadwood: The Golden Years by Watson Parker

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbableby Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters by Robert Gordon (he may have read this one, I can't remember!)

Ill Wind (Weather Warden, Book 1) by Rachel Caine (I read and loved it, thought he might too. I have books 3-7? on hand so if he does we're set.)



And, of course, the stack I already had:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Secret Life of Prince Charmingby Deb Calleti

Perfect Chemistryby Simone Eckeles (how great is that cover?)

Vision in White by Nora Roberts

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

The Total Money Makeoverby Dave Ramsey

First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and a Third World Adventure Changed My Life by Eve Brown- Waite

Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip Through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of the True Dharma by Brad Warner (the title made me pick it up!)

How to Start a Home-Based Craft Business by Kenn Oberrecht

How to Market and Sell Your Art, Music, Photographs, & Handmade Crafts Online: Turn Your Hobby into a Cash Machineby Lee Rowley

Where would you start? Do you ever pick up a book you HAVE to read only to discover that they are ALL so tempting that you are overwhelmed? Am I the only one who has to check out some of them THREE TIMES to get them finished? (The Hunger Games, and no, I haven't even started it. I want to be mentally prepared for it!)

Random Friday, It's Fall!

I have added so many lovely blogs to my reader that I can't seem to get it below 400. I'm tempted to go back to hiding the unread counts so it doesn't bother me as much.

It is fall here in South Dakota. It's mid-40s to mid-50s when we leave the house in the morning. The leaves are starting to turn. It seems like summer just got here! I'm hoping to get outdoors again this weekend for a bit, might have to wear our jackets. I'd still like to have one more camping trip before closing it up for the winter. I'm not sure if it's possible.

This post really resonates with me. This is the fall that I get my ducks in a row. We recently had a huge unavoidable bill. It will be a long while before our checking accounts recover. It's time we got smart with money. Once that's settled, I'm on to dressing like a grownup.

If you follow me on Twitter, then you know I broke the vacuum last night. But miracles do happen and it CAME ALIVE again! I would never have thought that a working vacuum would bring me so much joy, but not having to replace it about made me dance.

And, speaking of money, I've decided to start including a small shop update every Friday. I'll put it down at the end of the post, feel free to ignore it. I don't want to spam my blog with "buy my stuff buy my stuff!" but if I don't promote myself, who will? And honestly, we need the money. Plus, if I have to report to you all weekly it will inspire me to keep the shop up to date and full. So, weekly shop update. I will continue to post about what I'm actually making as I go along, I just won't spam you with the shop at any time other than Friday. Deal? (You can also click on the logo to go to the shop!)

The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule AND a fairy house!

One of the things about working full time that I really regret is that I can't always do all the thoughtful, inspiring things that I always imagined I'd do as a parent. When you work a full time job there just isn't enough time to get it all in and while I'm willing to let some things go (just look at my house!) some things have to be done, like dinner and baths and the occasional laundry. Despite this lack of time, I love to read about how other mamas (and dads) find the time to do it.

I'm not sure how I first stumbled across Soulemama but I've been reading her for a few years now. I love to watch how she manages to find time to be the creative, nurturing mama that I'd like to be, only with four young children to my two. Her first book, The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections, came out a couple years ago but I only managed to get my hands on it this summer. The Creative Family is full of ways to encourage your children to be creative in various ways. There are quite a few simple projects to do with your child, most of which I've marked to do someday. There is an emphasis on being creative YOURSELF, without worrying about the quality of your work (WOW, that doesn't look much like an elephant!) but just letting go and having fun with it.

One of the projects in the book is to build a little fairy house using things you find in nature. This weekend we spent a lot of time in the backyard (I think we knew fall was coming, and it did!) and one of the things the Pirate and I did was to build one ourself. We started with a little area up next to the retaining wall. The pumpkin vine from the garden stretches along the wall and there is a small, softball sized pumpkin near the end. We thought that the fairy (Tinkerbell, which might take some of the magic away, but oh well!) would like to live near a pumpkin.

We gathered sticks to make a wall and a dandelion for her pillow. It's hard to see, but there is a little mossy bed up near the wall as well. We picked a few green tomatoes to add to the pantry, and some red chard for a roof.

Near the end of the project the Bug woke from his nap and joined us outside.

Neither parent claims responsibility for that shoe job.

Soulemama's next book, Handmade Home: Simple Ways to Repurpose Old Materials into New Family Treasures, is out now and if I had the spare $15 it would be the first thing I would buy. The Creative Family is very inspiring, it makes me want to go on walks and draw birds and pinecones with the boys. It's not too crunchy and it doesn't make you feel like you should be an artist, or that your kids should be an artist either. It simply encourages creativity and imagination.

Do you feel that you are a creative person? Do you encourage your kids to draw and paint? Do you buy quality supplies (as she suggests) or the cheap stuff in the $1 bin (like I am guilty of doing)? Do you look for the beauty of nature with your kids or do you tend to stay inside? What is your favorite creative activity with your own kids? (or, I guess, anyone else's kids!)

The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule
Trumpter Press

2008

224 pages

New in Reader

Remember how everyone posted their favorite blogs last Monday? Well there's probably still some I haven't visited, but I've been keeping track of the new blogs. Here is a partial list (ie, the ones I thought to make a list of after having added quite a few.)

Persnickety Snark (does the name make you want to click?)
Kiss a Cloud (I admit it, I haven't read much yet, but the picture of books rock)
Lakeside Musing (SUCH a beautiful header. My dream spot, seriously!)
beauty that moves (not about books, but still lovely)
Lit and Life (another Lisa!)
Dolce Bellezza (it's true, somehow I'd missed her!)
My Year of Reading Seriously (I think we have very similar taste, and can't wait to explore further)
Serenehours (more YA)

Tina Says... (I actually added her before this, but thought I'd throw her on the list anyway!)

Who did you add to your reader this week? Anyone I need to know about?

(The picture has nothing to do with anything, I just don't like not having a picture.)

Don't Judge a Book by it's Cover- or Genre (TSS)

I don't read science fiction. Oh, unless The Time Traveler's Wife counts, because then I totally do. But I don't read fantasy! Unless you count Graceling by Kristin Cashore, because I'm reading that now, or The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien, because I loved those. And I don't read thrillers, but I'd really like to read In the Woods by Tana French, which lots of people tell ms is spooky and tense and thrilling. Westerns are stupid and dusty and I'd never read those. Wait. I LOVE Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry! And chick lit is all about pink fluffy mindless girls who wear pointy shoes and the covers are SO embarrassing, so I definitely don't read those. Except I did love Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes, and while THAT cover has book pink and pointy shoes, the cover of the one I read did not.

My point? Doesn't it make me look like an idiot to claim I "don't read" specific genres? Wouldn't I be stupid to judge a book by it's cover? EVERY genre has good books, bad books, and GREAT books. Nymeth wrote a great post about why she reads and loves fantasy and many of her commenters agreed that it was silly to stereotype books. So why do people do it to romance?

Ok, yes, the covers can be bad. But how often does the cover accurately predict the contents anyway? Have we learned nothing from the Liar Controversy? There are definitely some bad romance novels out there, I'm not about to say there aren't, but just as in any genre there are also some good ones. And don't bring up the whole "romance novels are just porn for bored housewives" thing, because the people spouting that the most are the very ones who only read a romance to LOOK for that. I don't read a lot of romance novels any more, but it used to be the only thing I read and I still have some favorites and follow genre in general.

The point of this post is not to make you read a romance novel, but rather to ask why this stereotype is still allowed long after it became ok to openly read other distinct genres like science fiction (have you seen some of those covers?) and horror? Why is it shameful to read about looking for a happy ending when most of us would readily admit to wanting a happy ending of our own? Are romance novels stigmatized because women read them? Does that mean that books for women are inferior? What a slippery slope that is!

I'm sure your next thought is: well then Lisa, recommend a book to me! But I'm not going to. My goal isn't to make you go read a romance novel. It's to have you think about why you might keep stereotyping an entire genre of books based on either their cover, their title, or an experience with a badly written novel you read back in 1987.

If you're insistent on reading one, you could do worse than to ask the nice bloggers at:
The Book Smugglers (winners of TWO BBAW awards!)
Book Binge
natuschan- books, books, and more books
Babbling about Books, and More!
The Misadventures of Super Librarian

Obviously this is one of my big literary pet peeves. I react to "I don't read romances!" the same way other bloggers might react to someone hating poetry or writing in books. Next Sunday I'll share my other pet peeve, but until then, tell me what never fails to provoke you regarding books? What do you defend every time you run across it? What misconception makes you stop and leave a comment?

Random Friday: Messy child edition

I couldn't get a good picture straight on of the lipstick, but his ear and neck are also covered and you can see what's left of the tube. Please note that prior to finding the lipstick, he poured a cup of water down his shirt. Anyone need an extra child?

WANT THIS No, really. I really do.

I don't participate in any of the "waiting on" type memes, but I just stumbled across Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story by Sue Monk Kid and don't think I've seen anyone else mention it. As the title would suggest, it's about traveling through Europe trying to figure out who you (they) are. If you like that type of book, there ya go!

I added a ton of blogs to my reader this week, one day soon I'll type up a list. My reader has settled around 600 all week, scary.

We're hoping for one last camping trip this weekend before the fall arrives.

I plan to update the shop at lunch with some cute little drawstring backpacks (or "shoebags" as they seem to be known around here.) Be sure to check back if you need one.

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D Schmidt

In case you haven't noticed, this is Book Blogger Appreciation Week. I haven't posted about it because I found myself irrationally disappointed that not only was I not shortlisted in anything, I wasn't even nominated in anything. I took the grouchy old lady stance and ignored the whole shebang (ok, not completely, I did nominate people and I voted.) Without getting completely anti-social, I do feel that the awards part of it really is a popularity contest. This isn't to say that I wouldn't have loved one, I totally would have, but the big get bigger, ya know? Anyway, putting my sour grapes aside, I really have enjoyed all the work the bloggers have put into the daily blog topics and today's topic caught my attention.

Today we encourage you to blog about a book you read only because you discovered it on another book blog. Preferably, this will be a book you loved! You might also write a bit about the blog you discovered it on!

Well! Just like night I finished reading The Wednesday Wars by Gary D Schmidt. It was completely and totally excellent and I only have Janssen at Everyday Reading to blame. Janssen gave the book a 10 out of 10, which made me add it to my list immediately. I get a lot of recommendations from her- Sarah Dessen being the biggie, but there are others. I even created a category for her on my Goodreads account. She has yet to steer me wrong.

So the book. The Wednesday Wars is really a little bit about everything, but I'll try to summarize. Holling Hoodhood is in 7th grade (did I mention this book can be found in the juvenile section of my library?) and this year he has Mrs. Baker, who hates his guts. Holling is the lone Presbytarian in his class, which is a shame because every Wednesday afternoon all the Catholics and Jews load up and go off to religious classes leaving him alone with Mrs. Baker. To fill all this one-on-one time, they study Shakespeare (see how much she hates his guts?)

That doesn't begin to address all that the book is about but it would take me all day to detail the plot for you. What you need to know is that it is a terrific book. It is funny and sad, silly and serious, there are bomb drills (it takes place during the Vietman war) and giant rats, roses and tailfeathers. There is a lot about being a kid and a little romance, of both the young adult and adult adult kind. It is a very well done coming of age story and like Janssen I could recommend this book to everyone I know.

Other coming of age stories I've reviewed that you might enjoy:

Boy's Life by Robert McCammon (same era, same age boy)

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen (finding out that your family isn't as you thought)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky


What coming of age book do you love? Are you a die hard fan of The Catcher in the Rye? (For the record, I am not.) Do you think that term is used too much with young adult novels, or do you think most YA novels are essentially coming of age? Do you not read any YA at all? (If you don't, you should still read this!)

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D Schmidt
Sandpiper
2007
272 pages

Brilliant idea!

Booklogged over at A Reader's Journal has had a brilliant idea. You know how you KNOW that some other bloggers are associates at various online shops? And you'd LIKE to support them but you can't remember who it is? Well, Booklogged has created a directory. It's very small right now, just getting started, but the more people who add their links the better it will work. I've added it to my sidebar as well, but here's a link to get you started.



PS. I've also added a link to Amazon in my sidebar, since I'm an associate there!