Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Top Ten Tuesdays


Top 10 books that should be in your beach bag

I don't have a typical beach/summer reading list. I used to just be a summer reader (so my life was consistently full of books stereotyped beach reads/chick lit) , this is the first time that I have chance to really take a break from typical reading. I only read YA literature. I feel like I owe to both this blog and my job to do so... plus at the rate I read it's hard to keep up with YA and Adult. So.... My plan was to only read Adult this summer, so let's pretend I'll actually do that :-)

1. Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris ( I am deciding summer will be starting tonight, because it just came in for me at the library!) I read the whole series last summer, so it'll be a good beginning of summer book to read!
2. Promises to Keep by Jane Green. I feel like every other one of her books is good, hopefully this is a good one!
3. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger- I had had a borrowed copy of this at home for so long, plus I loved A Time Travelers Wife.
3. Sisterhood Everlasting by Anne Brashares. Literally Can't wait!!! 5 + 6.The Husband Habit + Dirty Girls on Top by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez- I read a couple of her other books a while back, I remember her being fun.
7. Room by Emma Donoghue- I have heard a lot of great things about it!
8. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks- Again, I have had a copy of this book at home for so long, figured it was time to read it.
9 + 10. Rain Village + Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story by Carolyn Turgeon. I think I read about these books on Goodreads a while back, finally time to check them out!
11. Extra one because I forgot! Sisterhood Everlasting by Anne Brashares 

Friday, May 27, 2011

Long Weekend

I have to say goodbye to my internet world for the next 3 days because I am going camping. I am getting the shakes a bit. I can't go 12 hours much less multiple days.

This is what I plan on reading for the weekend:
These are ARCs sent to me from a Spring Release Webinar back in February.
I figure since I own them I'm not worried about camping damage.
I got into a conversation with a girlfriend this past week about Mockingjay so I decided to check that out of the library. I just need to know what happens!!! I just have to be super careful with it!
And then there is City of Bones...
I am saving it for last because I'm just not sure about it yet. I have heard a lot of hype about it though.

Oh and a pile of Entertainment Weekly's, People and last months Cosmo.
(I may or may not sneak in another book while the BF isn't looking.)
Did I mention yet that I am neither a camper or an outdoor person? 
And it's going to rain all weekend?
AND I'LL HAVE NO INTERNET!!!
Let's hope I make it through this.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday...

Courtesy of Breaking the Spine

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ann Brashares comes the welcome return of the characters whose friendship became a touchstone for a generation. Now Tibby, Lena, Carmen, and Bridget have grown up, starting their lives on their own. And though the jeans they shared are long gone, the sisterhood is everlasting. 
Despite having jobs and men that they love, each knows that something is missing: the closeness that once sustained them. Carmen is a successful actress in New York, engaged to be married, but misses her friends. Lena finds solace in her art, teaching in Rhode Island, but still thinks of Kostos and the road she didn’t take. Bridget lives with her longtime boyfriend, Eric, in San Francisco, and though a part of her wants to settle down, a bigger part can’t seem to shed her old restlessness. 
Then Tibby reaches out to bridge the distance, sending the others plane tickets for a reunion that they all breathlessly await. And indeed, it will change their lives forever—but in ways that none of them could ever have expected. 
As moving and life-changing as an encounter with long-lost best friends, Sisterhood Everlasting is a powerful story about growing up, losing your way, and finding the courage to create a new one.

I feel bad for wanting to read this book so much. I feel like I am betraying the YA genre. I never read adult anymore and the book I am second most excited about reading is an adult continuation of a YA series I have never read. It was just too teenage-girl for me.  I can't deal with the insecurity, boy drama and phrases like "the first time" when referring to sex. I am hoping the Adult Librarian has already ordered it!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists! Each week we will post a new Top Ten list  that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists.
My  Top Ten Books I have Lied About:
I can't remember all of the books assigned to me in grad school, I am sure a lot more of them would be on this list... though the majority of this list was assigned reading.

  1. Moby Dick. I was assigned this in 20th Century American Novel in undergrad, I will remember this for the rest of my life. The one book I didn't read was the book the stupid professor focused on for the rest of the semester. I don't think I managed more than a C+ that semester. 
  2. Ender's Game. It made my brain hurt.
  3. Little Women. I probably, really, never finished reading this book. But I love it. And I've seen the movie 5000 times. 
  4. Alice in Wonderland. I think I lost this one in book ADD mode. 
  5. Siddhartha... I was assigned this in high school and had an on going joke with another girl about how we would never reach enlightenment because we didn't finish it.
  6. The Godfather. I tired, it's just too long.
  7. The first 2 Harry Potters. They were too much like the movie, this was when the screenplays matched the book length. 
  8. The Stranger. Another high school book. Awful class.
  9. One Hundred Years of Solitude. Too many names to keep track of. 
  10. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Loved the movies, just too girlly for me to read. I will read the new adult book in the series though!

NetGalley!

I am posting this for 2 reasons. To possibly win a Nook in a contest. Second reason is for promotion because I think they are awesome!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

A Delicate Matter

I eagerly awaited watching the budget unveiling yesterday, here is the summary of that...Proposed Rochester budget juggles cuts, services

I work at the library mentioned. By mid summer, our hours will be cut from a whopping 75 (We had enhanced hours because of the particular neighborhood we're in, and our we share a building with  a recreation center and school) to 40 hours per week, just like the other libraries in our branches. This was the topic of every conversation at work yesterday. And this is what I said: "no libraries are closing down and recreation centers are staying open, over all it was a very good day, if you look at the big picture."

But (because there is always a 'but')... We're losing part time positions. My position is one of the positions on the chopping block. I have spent the last 11 days not knowing if I will have a job come August 1.

When I was told I quickly replied "But... But... my job is needed here! I just got comfortable, the kids just started talking to me... Wait, what about the adult librarian... oh, no, But look at all those teens out there..."

I am heartbroken and frustrated. It's a cycle.

First, it's a pity party. I waited a long time for this job and I enjoy the people I work with. I was looking forward to the future and building these relationships with the teenagers and community I am in... and that is being taken away from me. I have worked for this library system for over 10 years and the hopes I had for a long term career are being dashed.

And then the frustration creeps in... I get that the hours are being cut, but why cut the librarians? I get that we're the newer positions, but why are they making a library populated by the lower level positions? Why did I go to school to get my masters degree when the majority of the people who work at the library don't even need to be college educated? How is this going to fix the big picture?

And the cycle turns again.... back into the pity party because really, I am 28 years old without health insurance and I need to grow up some day...

Then the second round of anger comes back. I was told to stay hopeful, maybe I'll get bounced around. But that is all I was told, 11 days ago. So I am still left in the lurch, not being able to react to this mountain of possible change.

Book Blogger Hop

Book Blogger Hop

Question of the week: "If you were given the chance to spend one day in a fictional world (from a book), which book would it be from and what would that place be?"

Answer: I have always been fascinated with the world of Jane Austen. I would have loved to spend a night at a party with the Bennet sisters, or hanging out with Emma at an afternoon picnic. 

Friday, May 20, 2011

Follow Friday


Q. It's circle time. Time for us to open up and share. Can you tell us FIVE quirky habits or things about you? We all have them...

  1. I find it really difficult to only do one thing at a time. Like if I am watching TV, I am always on my computer. (Like right now...)
  2. I am addicted to snacking. I have a constant fear of randomly being hungry (or thirsty). I spend a lot of money at corner stores on the way to work for this reason.
  3. I have never had a full-time job and I am 28 years old. This is the first time in my 12 years of working that I have only had one job (part-time) and nothing else (like school)
  4. I can go weeks without reading and then read 3 books in 3 days. Also, when I read a series I tend to space them out (when they're all released) just because I don't want the story to end yet.
  5. I am completely OCD. Things have certain places and that's just where they belong!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday...



Wildefire Releasing on July 26, 2011
Ashline Wilde is having a rough sophomore year. She’s struggling to find her place as the only Polynesian girl in school, her boyfriend just cheated on her, and now her runaway sister, Eve, has decided to barge back into her life. When Eve’s violent behavior escalates and she does the unthinkable, Ash transfers to a remote private school nestled in California’s redwoods, hoping to put the tragedy behind her. But her fresh start at Blackwood Academy doesn’t go as planned. Just as Ash is beginning to enjoy the perks of her new school—being captain of the tennis team, a steamy romance with a hot, local park ranger—Ash discovers that a group of gods and goddesses have mysteriously enrolled at Blackwood…and she’s one of them. To make matters worse, Eve has resurfaced to haunt Ash, and she’s got some strange abilities of her own. With a war between the gods looming over campus, Ash must master the new fire smoldering within before she clashes with her sister one more time… And when warm and cold fronts collide, there’s guaranteed to be a storm.


What are you looking forward to?

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Top 10 Tuesdays

This weekly feature is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's theme is: Top Ten Favorite Minor Characters

  1. Alcide from The Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris. Yes, he was kind of a jack ass for a couple books, but he was just to dreamy there for a while.
  2. Pam also from The Sookie Stackhouse series. She is so witty, and more and more I am wanting to know more about her past.
  3. Mia's friend Kim in If I Stay. She was a very loyal and wonderful friend... I wish I knew more about her.
  4. Any professor from Harry Potter. I feel like they need their own adult series. 
  5. Rue from The Hunger Games Trilogy.
  6. Hana from Delirium. I wish we knew more about her.
  7. Grandma Roncalli from Brava Valentine by Adriana Trigiani. Love her. Trigiani always has great grandma characters.
  8. Rose from Wither, I wish there was a prequel.
  9. Bella's dad from Twilight. He was always consistent.
  10. Cinna from Hunger Games. Fabulous!

Monday, May 16, 2011

What Are You Reading?




Hopefully this week I will finish that and read...

PS I saw Rachel Hawkins speak this weekend, she is soooo super fun! 
And I snagged a free tote bag, 

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Top 10 Tuesdays

Courtesy of the Broke and the Bookish

The other week we did top ten mean girls in lit..so now we're on to the biggest jerks..all those jerky guys in books..those who truly WERE asshats and those who just acted like one but could be quite loveable! Check HERE for future topics.
  1. This might just be me, but, Gale from The Hunger Games series. I think he has a good heart, but has a hard time being honest and then gets all mad and stupid. 
  2. Archer, for obvious reasons, from Hex Hall
  3. Anna's bf from Some Girls Are... Stupid boy.
  4. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. Snob!
  5. Douglas from Hold Me Closer Necromancer
  6. Tucker Max from either of his books.
  7. My Secret Agent Lover Man, only from Weetzie Bat though, not the rest of the series
  8. Malfoy from any Harry Potter
  9. Edward and Jacob from Twilight. Sorry, they're both tools.
  10. Lord something special from Wither, I don't really know his fully story yet, but he'll get what's coming to him.


An Ongoing Post of Random Coincidences in Books

(I know there are more, these are books I've read or come across since December)
*On the list more than once

Private/Reform/Special School
Fallen by Lauren Kate*
The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey
I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter

Human in love with an Supernatural being (Vampire, Angel, Werewolf, etc)
Fallen by Lauren Kate*

Main Character is Dead or Can Talk to the Dead
Hold Me Closer Necromancer by Lish McBride


Greek God/Goddess Mythology
Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton
The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
Abandon by Meg Cabot
Sirenz

Celebrated Pregnancy
Bumped by Megan McCafferty
Wither by Lauren DeStefano*


Dystopian
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
XVI by Julia Karr
Wither by Lauren Destefano*
Hunger Games Suzanne Collins

Monday, May 9, 2011

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?


Read this past week:


Currently Reading:


For this week (probably):



I usually top out at 2 books a week...


Sunday, May 8, 2011

Link Day

This article was absolutely baffling and frustrating to me: Do we really need our libraries? 
"I approach the book aisles in much the same way I would the alleys behind Uptown bars after midnight. I'm no longer convinced it's safe for a lone female to browse them alone since they are practically deserted and present a great opportunity for ambush."


And in defense of that, an article from our system's fabulous director: The Future According to MCLS


Interesting timeline of Web Sites from Stephen's Lighthouse.  


Great post from the YA 5 about "sexy" YA writing. She speaks the truth...
"Nearly everything I write has sex in it. Why? Because teenagers have sex! They think about it, too!"


'Checking out porn' protected by First Amendment. This happened in Rochester a few years back, I feel bad for any library system that has to deal with it. 
"Library patron Daisy Nazario, 60, said she was grossed out when she discovered she was sitting next to an elderly porn watcher in the Brooklyn Central Library recently. The looker was using library-provided extensions on the sides of his computer to block the view of his screen -- which was featuring a threesome at the time -- "but I could still hear the voices," a disgusted Nazario said."



Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday...

Courtesy of Breaking the Spine
Sirenz, by Charlotte Bennardo, Natalie Zaman comes out on June 8th. Love the cover!

Bickering frenemies Meg and Shar are doing some serious damage at a midnight sample sale when they find themselves arguing over a pair of shoes—with fatal consequences. One innocent bystander later, the girls are suddenly at the mercy of Hades—the god of the underworld—himself. To make them atone for what they’ve done, Hades forces the teens to become special-assignment Sirens, luring to the Underworld any individual whose unholy contract is up.
But just because they have an otherworldly part-time job now doesn’t mean Meg and Shar can ignore life’s drudgeries (work) or pleasures (fashion!). Finding that delicate balance between their old and new responsibilities turns out to be harder than they expected, especially when an entire pantheon of Greek deities decides to get involved. Then there’s the matter of the fine print in their contracts . . .

What are you waiting for?

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Reviews-Week of 5/2

Wither
What if you knew exactly when you would die? 


Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out. 
When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home. 
But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.

So I had a little read-a-thon day and read Wither, and for once I didn't throw it across the room, but I was left with a lot of questions... First and foremost I liked it (I think) and I would recommend it to any teen in my library.  I think I just need to talk it out.


Things I liked about it:
  • I liked the story and the separate girl's stories. For the most part, I even liked the girls (There is a 'but' in the bottom section)
  • I liked the Jane Eyre feeling of the novel. I had the whole women in the attic feeling throughout the whole novel. It was a haunting story.
  • I LOVED the way it was written, no matter if it's within the series, I will read Lauren Destafano's next novel.
  • I liked the way the dystopian world was built int he novel. I felt like I know a lot about the world in which they live. 
  • I am not trying to be saucy, but I liked that teen sex and pregnancy were apart of the story. It was refreshing that there were no apologies, it was just apart of the characters life.
  • Gabriel was dreamy
Things I didn't like:
  • Seriously, in Florida it doesn't snow! No matter what the time frame. I wish this was justified.
  • Instead of it "just ending" like I usually complain, it ends suddenly. Like after this whole drawn out beautiful 330 pages, she announces it's her last day in the mansion... and then they just leave without anyone finding out, no fight, no confrontation, just happily ever after for Gabriel and Rhine. 
  • I am questioning my last remark already but I'll still put it out there. By the middle of this novel I was questioning how it was a series. And by the end I was really wondering... Rhine's story seems complete, but as I look back on my remarks I realize that the other character's story isn't finished. And maybe that's the direction the series will go...
  • Cecily... That's all. 
  • Linden and Vaughn kind of bored me. Linden revealed little about himself, his father Vaughn is painted as the bad guy and never, truly does anything wrong (at least he isn't confronted, Linden knows nothing of his father's actions). 
  • I'll make this point again... There was a general lack of confrontation in the novel. No one was told they did anything wrong, and no one truly changed as a person, they just changed to fit their circumstances.

Catching Fire
Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark won the annual competition described in Hunger Games, but the aftermath leaves these victors with no sense of triumph. Instead, they have become the poster boys for a rebellion that they never planned to lead. That new, unwanted status puts them in the bull's-eye for merciless revenge by The Capitol.

This book is in three different parts and I have to say it I had 3 very different feelings while reading it. 

The beginning I was kind of bored, and then very much on edge and stressed out, even more so when they announced the new rules for the quarter quell. 

When they entered the games, I enjoyed the characters smartassness. Effie and Haymitch left them up to their own devices, so for once you were able to see Katniss and Peeta truly interact without acting a part. I believe they really fell in love in this novel. And they can't even admit it to themselves.

The last part, left me confused, especially the last words of the novel. I didn't know what was going to happen and I still don't fully understand it. But I'm not meant to, that's why Mockingjay exists.

Monday, May 2, 2011

The Month of May

It is Zombie Awareness Month! Read a little about it here: Zombie Research Society. I wandered around work sulking tonight because I have a serious lack in Zombie themed books. Le sigh.

It is also:
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Jewish American Heritage Month
Mental Health Awareness Month

I would not know these things if I were not a librarian... (One who has a serious fetish for displays)

Waiting for Superman



Very good documentary, very scary numbers about the education system as a whole... They blame the teachers, the schools, the budget. As I saw it, the only solution they promote is charter schools... and since they run on a lottery system because so many people apply, it still isn't a solution.

I have gotten into this argument before and I am curious about others opinions as well... Is (a good) education a right or a privilege?

We get the products of the school districts, I see it everyday. Little ones looking for The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Parents checking out books for their children for reports. Teens doing research. Tutors clamoring for the quiet tables in the back. And more than anything else, we get the kids, teens, just hanging out. We pick up where they leave off. Try to teach them something else...