Ahh...Summer!

Well, as anyone who has worked in the Youth department of a library will tell you, summer is a very busy time for us! Busybusybusybusy. That is not to say that it can't be fun.....just, well, busy. I am hoping to get back to some semblance of order, but I'm afraid that blogging has taken the farthest back burner. I am reading....mostly to children and not as much for myself, but I am always reading. Currently, at our Tuesday afternoon "all ages storytime" I am reading Odd and the Frost Giants, by Neil Gaiman. I like to read something that will take us a couple of weeks, but not much more than that to get through. It is about testing their attention spans and reading stuff I don't normally get to read. Yes, I could get through several "picture books" in that time, but I wanted this particular Storytime to be different. I like to change things up like that, it is how I roll.

So, Odd and the Frost Giants. This is the story of a boy called Odd, which means "tip of a spear". His father dies at sea during a Viking expedition, after saving the life of a pony, changing Odd's life dramatically. Odd injures his leg, his mother re-marries, and through a series of remarkable events he ends up in Asgard (home of the Norse gods) trying to help a trio of gods regain their home. Gaiman once again shows his expertise in storytelling with this tale of an unlikely hero up against seemingly impossible circumstances. Odd is a wonderful character, his quirky personality, which often got him hit by his step-father Fat Elfred, is very endearing. I really enjoyed the story when first I read it, and then handed it to my son to read, as he likes reading Norse myths and legends. It seemed like a great story to start off our Summer Reading 'all ages' group. I think they have very much enjoyed this story, and I am looking forward to starting a new one on Tuesday. What shall it be this time? I have some ideas...

While Summer Reading is taking up so much of my time, we also just went "live" with our library's digital collection, powered by Overdrive. We now offer downloadable audio books and e-books. I am very excited that our library is catching up a bit technologically speaking. The first audio book I downloaded? Odd and the Frost Giants read by the author, of course.

I will try to keep updating over the summer, and I promise to read something for myself again soon, and also to tell you about it. : ) Hope all are having a wonderful summer! Hug your family often, and tell them you love them!

June

With Memorial Weekend, and my birthday behind us now, this is the time of year when I think....crap, it is June already! What have I accomplished this year so far? Not as much as I had hoped, that is for sure! I comfort myself with the notion that many people are in the same boat I am in, however, it is not an extremely comforting thought. I did start this blog, that is something I toyed with in the past, and finally got around to....I suppose that is something, right?

I have started reading three different books.....but as I am not sure I will finish them all, or even two of them, I shall reserve talking about them for now. One that we own, and I have been meaning to read, I finally picked up because I recently watched the film version. This is Lakota Woman, by Mary Crow Dog. The film version stars Irene Bedard, and was a pretty well done film, I thought. Admittedly, I have only read small sections of the book, until the other day, when I decided to start from the beginning and read the entire thing. What a concept, I know.

I have some awesome picture books that I recently shared with kids, and so were brought to mind again. The first is a picture book by the wonderful Neil Gaiman called The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish. The copy we have here at the library has a cd so you can listen to Neil read you the story, which is fun. In this story, the boy swaps his dad, who mostly just sits reading his newspaper, for two goldfish (as the title would imply). The fun starts when his mother comes home from shopping and makes him swap back. He finds that he has to travel all over town swapping back many items from an electric guitar, a gorilla mask (a "really good gorilla mask"), to a pet rabbit called Galveston. The relationship portrayed between the boy and his little sister is perfect. My favorite, "when are you going to put the mask on?" after she has put on the gorilla mask. Anyone who has siblings will appreciate this book, as well as anyone with a sense of humor. Very funny, and well told story. The illustrations, by Dave McKean are quite fun also. I love the indignation of the mother, the indifference of the father, and the fact that no one complains when they have to swap their things back, they just do. This must happen with swaps quite often. I'm not sure I ever really swapped anything......hmm...maybe I missed out there....

It is a Dark, Stormy....Morning

I have no motivation to do anything but get into bed and read the day away. (well, read/nap) It is dark (it was lighter when I got up 3 hours ago). It is morning. I should be working. Need to kick myself into gear.

In Honor of My Mom, For Mother's Day

If the evil that is breast cancer hadn't stolen my Mom twelve years ago, I am sure many things would be different. She was an amazing woman, full of life, love, and creativity. She is responsible for introducing me to many, many things but a love of reading is what I want to talk about today. (I could write about Mom for hours, and still not say all that I want to say.) I have mentioned that I remember both of my parents reading to me, something which I know has influenced me heavily in my life. READ TO YOUR KIDS!! I cannot say it enough! Today, I want to remember Mom by talking about just two series that she introduced me to. The first is the Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. (If you haven't heard of them, I don't know what rock you have been living under...) These seven books may have changed my life. My older sister got this set for her birthday (12th?). I remember reading them for the first time, and getting so sucked in that I could not put them down. This is the first series that I remember being so entranced by. I couldn't read them enough. I still love this wonderful series, it never loses its magic for me.

Then one day, as I was browsing the bookshelves in our living room, mostly filled with Mom's books, I found this book: Dragonsong, by Anne McCaffrey. How had I never seen it before? Such a wonderful book, I immediately started reading it, and was taken away, once again to another world. Even better than reading this one, was finding out that there were TWO MORE! Not to mention a whole other series written about this magical world of Pern. So, thank you Mom. Thank you for your inspiration, imagination, creativity, music, and love. I would be nothing without you, and miss you every day, with every breath. I love you.
(on a side note, I recently saw an interview with Meg Cabot in which she talked about this series being one of her early influences....cool!)

Mother's Day Approaches

So, my daughter, who is getting ready to graduate next month, is gearing up for college! My son, who is finishing 4th grade, still lets me read to him at night. This may be indulgent, but I'm not sure which of us is indulging the other......the books have gotten bigger. We've read all of the Harry Potter series, a few Cornelia Funke books, among others, and are now working on Brandon Mull's Fablehaven Series. Usually, I have already read the books myself before I read them to him. Know what the best thing is? The other day he told me I was a Silvertongue. If you don't know what that is, you need to read the Inkheart series by Cornelia Funke. While I don't know if I'm quite up to Silvertongue standards, it sure was a very nice thing for him to say.



And now, I'm off to help my "little girl" work on her graduation announcements. I love my kids!

Well...

...since the last posting, I've visited Copenhagen, Venice, Barcelona, Athens (no street view....bummer), a few random places, and various locations in Mexico. The latter, just this morning. It is Cinco de Mayo, after all!


Also, I did finish 13 Little Blue Envelopes, which I enjoyed very much. This is the story of a young girl (Ginny) who's Aunt Peg passes away and leaves her letters, 13 of them, hence the title, and money with explicit instructions. Ginny is to purchase a backpack, passport, and plane ticket to London. She is to take nothing that does not fit into said backpack, and no cell phones, cameras, or additional money. (for a better description, go here) I was intrigued by the premise of the story, and decided, finally, to read it. Sometimes books go "on my list" and languish there for years. Others, I will snatch up as soon as I can get my hands on them. Such as Lips Touch, by Laini Taylor, just to give one example. Back on topic, Jen.... So, Ginny has many adventures all over Europe. Along the way, she meets many fascinating new people, learns much about herself and her beloved aunt, and ultimately comes to terms with reality that Aunt Peg is really gone, and not just away. This fun, touching, and often humorous story is very well written. Maureen Johnson's quirky sense of humor actually made me laugh out loud a few times. Which always makes my husband wonder what I'm reading, and then I get to share the story, and what struck me as amusing, which is fun. I like to share stories. I was also moved to tears a time or two, which is a quieter thing, and he probably didn't notice as he was asleep. Making the reader feel and care about the characters in the story is such a wonderful skill. Not all writers can do this, just the best ones. I am so very glad that I finally picked up and read this book. (note: my daughter read it years ago....I should listen to my daughter more.....although my reading it has inspired her to re-read it, which is fun too) Not surprisingly, 13 Little Blue Envelopes has won multiple awards, much deserved awards.

And now, I should get to work....

Wanderlust

Sometimes, I have a very definite itinerary in my mind for myself in the morning, then I get to Bing, my start page, and there is a beautiful photo. That's it, now I'm sidetracked. I want to know, where is this, can I guess? If it is too easy, I lose interest quickly....unless it is someplace that fascinates me. Let's face it, that covers much of the world. I'm curious, it isn't a crime. : ) I like reading the little facts, and sometimes even follow the links. Most often, I end up on Google maps, (because I like it better than Bing's maps).....have you played with the street view? Just yesterday, I was standing on a beach in Spain, then not 20 minutes later, wandering down a lane that led to the sea in rural Wales. *sigh* Virtual travel. It is not as lame as it sounds....ok, maybe it is, but it is all I can currently afford, and have easy access to it. This morning, I was led away to the Canary Islands, which is why I am not talking about books.

Although, I am currently reading 13 Little Blue Envelopes, by Maureen Johnson. Which fittingly, is a book, and also involves plenty of travel, soo....guess I segued right back. I am really enjoying this book, and also reminding myself that there are great books out there that I generally don't look twice at because I have silly rules, that definitely need to be broken. One of these is my mostly unspoken rule that leans me toward fantasy more than any other genre. I have decided that it would be awful if I never read anything else, and therefore am making more of an effort. I just have a thing for magical creatures and other worlds. I used to have a rule that I would read nothing that is set in a modern time period. I took it one step further by saying I would read nothing that took place this side of WWI. Well, I do like historical fiction. I learned more about the Civil War reading Gone With the Wind, than I did in my high school U.S. History class. (not knocking the class, I had some great teachers in school, I really did) One of my favorite historical writers is Morgan Llywelyn. I can't even begin to touch the subject of her books just yet. We'll have to save that for another day....