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I saw this at You, Me, and A Cup of Tea. I'm choosing ten favorite songs from musicals. Sometimes my favorite moments from musicals are songs, but, not always.

1) The Impossible Dream. Man of La Mancha. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this song.

2) I Could Have Danced All Night. My Fair Lady. Mom and I agree that this is the best song from a musical EVER. If one of us starts singing it, chances are we'll both be singing it until another song pops into our head!

3) Shall We Dance. King and I. Typically, the KING AND I makes me cry. When I saw the King and I live, I even started crying BEFORE the show started when they were playing the overture. That's how closely the music and memory are connected--at least with me! But this one song from King and I does not make me cry. It makes me GIDDY. I could easily watch this one scene twenty times in a row without even trying.

4) Some Enchanted Evening. South Pacific. This is one of the best love songs from a musical.

5) On My Own by Les Miserables. The music from this musical is hit or miss with me. This is my FAVORITE from the musical. I love it with the vocals or without.

6) The Lonely Goatherd vs. Edelweiss vs. Do Re Mi. Honestly, how could I ever choose one favorite song from the Sound of Music. My favorite scenes, however, are when Maria and the Captain are dancing the Laendler and when she's explaining why she came back and he's confessing he loves her!

7) The Black Hills of Dakata. Calamity Jane. Probably one of my first favorite songs from a musical. Mom and I also love to sing this one! She may have grown intolerant of the whole movie after me watching it 90 days in a row, but, there are two or three scenes she continued to love.

8) Wells Fargo Wagon vs. Marian the Librarian vs. Shipoopi. Music Man. I love practically every song in this musical perhaps with the exception of Sadder but Wiser Girl for Me. This is without a doubt my favorite, favorite musical over all. Shipoopi is a song that I love, love, love the tune but don't really regard the words at all. I make up new words to this tune all the time. It's one of my stand-by tunes.

9) June Bride and Spring, Spring, Spring from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I love this musical! I really love the Barn Dance and Barn Raising number too.

10) I love, love, love the Elephant Love Medley and Come What May numbers from Moulin Rouge. Give me a singing Ewan McGregor any day!!!


© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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I haven’t been tagged for a meme in ages which makes them kind of fun when they don’t come along often. Jess at Once Upon a Book tagged me with one that has a coffee theme and since I love coffee to the core of my caffeinated heart, how could I resist? And all you weird tea lovers, don’t worry you get your chance here too.

Black: A series that’s tough to get into but has hardcore fans
This is a tough one because I don’t go in for a lot of series. I’m going to go with Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell books. I know lots of people didn’t like the first book and never reached the end of it. I loved it from the start and the second book was great too. When, oh when, is the third and final book going to be published?

Peppermint Mocha: A book that gets more popular during the winter or a festive time of year
I love peppermint mochas so much! They are great even when it isn’t the holidays but I admit they are best when it is cold outside. As for a book, I don’t read according to season except for the RIP Challenge in the fall when it is always fun to read “scary” books and melodramatic gothic goodness. Rather than a specific book, how about an author? Because while Shirley Jackson is a good read any time of year she is especially delicious in October. I have already read Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, this year I hope to add another to my I love Jackson list.

Hot chocolate: Favorite children’s book
I love hot chocolate even more than I love peppermint mochas! This is a tough one because there are so many books I loved as a kid. Charlotte’s Web, Where the Red Fern Grows, Island of the Blue Dolphin, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, A Swiftly Tilting Planet… how can I choose just one?

Double shot of espresso: A book that kept you on the edge of your seat from start to finish
Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. That’s the first book in the series and I am very glad I read it before the TV show began. It was a real nail biter and the ending was so very shocking. Sadly when I got on to book five, the whole story seems to have lost momentum and why can’t the Starks ever catch a break? Makes me wonder why Martin hates them so much or whether he just likes to rip out the hearts of his readers and eat them from breakfast. Martin must be a Lannister!

Starbucks: A book you see everywhere
This is tough because on public transit most people these days are using ereaders and their phones and the people I see reading actual books are generally reading textbooks. So I am going to go with a book that keeps popping up around the internet lately: My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout. I haven’t read it (nor have I managed to read Olive Kitteridge yet) but it sounds really good.

That hipster coffee shop: A Book by an indie author
I am not exactly sure what an indie author is. Does it mean self-published? Or an author who publishes with an independent press? I have a Kickstarter book sitting on my reading table I haven’t gotten to yet, The Velocipede Races by Emily June Street. That surely counts as indie.

Oops! I accidentally got decaf: A book you were expecting more from
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier. I know a lot of people like this book but I was expecting more since the only other du Maurier book I had read was Rebecca and I loved it. I wanted more menace and suspense and I feel like I was short changed with too much damsel in distress.

The perfect blend: A book or series that was both bitter and sweet but ultimately satisfying
I am going to go for a nonfiction title here, This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein. Bitter because she details all the ways we have f-ed up this planet and the horrible future we have to look forward to with climate change. Sweet because depressing as it is, and pessimistic as Klein is, she does admit it is not too late to stop the worst of it. Note, I did not say stop climate change because it has already begun, but we still have have a small window in which we can keep the worst possible outcomes from happening.

Green Tea: A book or series that is quietly beautiful
The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector. This book was so astonishingly beautiful in so many ways. If you haven’t read it, you are missing out. I mean to read all of Lispector’s other novels eventually.

Chai tea: A book or series that makes you dream of far off places
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. What better book for dreaming of far off places than one about the imagination and stories? Plus it is a rather magical and heartwarming adventure. I have not been able to bring myself to read the companion book Rushdie published in 2010, Luka and the Fire of Life, because I am afraid to tarnish my happy feelings when I think of Haroun. Has anyone read Luka?

Earl Grey: A favorite classic
Only one? Impossible! I have a cat named Dickens so there is a clue. I have another cat named Waldo (after Emerson). If I had a girl cat she would probably be called Woolf. If you twist my arm to name a title I might yell out The Waves or possibly Mrs. Dalloway depending on what phase the moon is in.

Filed under: Books, Memes

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My contribution to this week’s Feline Friday reflects my feline, Simon's, mood today. I write best early in the morning, and I have since Simon was a kitten, so he thinks I need to hop out of bed at the crack of dawn EVERYDAY, and salute him.   

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Although, Simon's style is different from the cat in this image, he still thinks he's the boss. For example, if his breakfast is not served by six a.m., he curls his body on my pillow and purrs like a kitten, which would be irresistible at any other time, but not at the first spark of sunshine, when roosters are still asleep.  
Yep, Simon beats the roosters and birds awake, so instead of awakening to the usual morning sounds, my days begin with the sound of wind chimes smashing against my ear drum. 


I found Feline Friday while visiting Sandee of Comedy Plus, which happens to be one of my favorite blogs.  The meme began with Steve of Burnt Food Dude, which Sandee wrote,  "he started this meme because he wanted everyone to know that he doesn't hate cats.   I'm still not convinced that he loves cats, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. "   

I would like to thank Steve and Sandee for introducing me to such a fun meme, it's a blast. So, if you have a minute, visit one of these blogs to join in the link. I've tried to pick up Mister Linky's code, but I'm having trouble adding the widget, although, you can get it from Comedy Plus, or any of the other blogs listed on Sandee or Steve's blogs.




Thanks for visiting A Nice Place In The Sun, and have a fun day!  

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This year, I decided to use memes in the freshmen orientation for two reasons: 1. kids can relate to these (since they use and make them all the time themselves) and 2. let students know the library is more than rules, guidelines, and shushing. It can be fun, imaginative, creative, and inviting. I did a test drive with our new teachers for new teacher orientation, and although it was unexpected, they thoroughly enjoyed it! :) Basically, it's all about relationships, and this is a fun way to do it. Most of the memes I created myself using imgflip.com SUPER easy!!

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I received the following email from a post on the BRP blog about five romantic memes that need to die.  I will provide a link at the end of this post.

“Dear Ms. Hurwitz, Thanks so much for your 2/4/15 post on the Blood Red Pencil. My genre is contemporary romance and while I’ve tried to avoid the 5 syndromes that you’ve listed below, I’m jealous. For some authors those exact syndromes actually worked. And have brought major successes. My question, why do they work for some authors and not for others? Trying not to whine, B."

This is a rather long response, but I feel it is an important one.

I fear they work because there is a severe amount of dysfunction in our society. To whit:

Reality TV is a constant barrage of people behaving badly for ratings. Indiscretion, infidelity, financial excess, drunken brawls, verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, and mounting body counts are daily sources of entertainment. There should be a line feed at the bottom of the broadcast with a warning: “If this resembles your reality, you can get help, please call…” followed by telephone numbers for domestic abuse and mental health hotlines.

A young girl posted a video that went insanely viral in which she stated that if your boyfriend beat you, it meant he loved you … because he invested all that energy in beating you and you should take that as a compliment and sign of affection.

College students are passing around passed out co-eds like blow-up dolls.

Domestic violence is at an all-time high, and women and children aren’t the only victims.

Hazing at the high school sports level has devolved into sexual assault with athletes literally getting “reamed” in locker rooms and school buses.

In the entertainment industry at large, and the romance genre in specific, there are too many stories that perpetuate the idea that you can fix that bad boy by being so amazing he immediately reforms in the blink of an eye with no professional help. All that matters is that they have a hefty bank account and six-pack abs or a title. These rogues are guilty of kidnapping, degrading language, physical manhandling, murder, and rape, but all is forgiven because they fall in love and his actions were “justified” at the time or the girl can be equally "bad ass."

Everyone who reads a murder mystery does not go out and kill someone. And everyone who reads a dysfunctional romance novel won’t go out and accept abusive behavior in their real life. But a steady diet of subliminal messages combined with a vulnerable population is a toxic cocktail.

Teens and young adults can be very suggestable. If you don’t believe that, you haven’t kept up with insanity inspiring pop culture amplified by an internet world full of cyberbullying, trolls, and provocative “selfies.” The high school and young adult phases are a time when many girls and boys are trying out new identities. They are easily influenced by their peers and the world around them. They adopt affectations. They are beguiled by the exotic and new. Joseph Campbell called it the knock, knock and twinkle, twinkle phase. Self-esteem can be shaky. More young women read books (especially romances) than young men, but both are affected by the entertainment industry and the culture they live in.

I believe we need healthy role models in all mediums of storytelling because our narratives influence the collective consciousness. We owe it to vulnerable teens and young adults. If bad boy heroes get a wink and a nudge for their “nefarious ways,” they make poor role models for our sons. Making female protagonists equally nefarious isn’t helping the situation. If our cultural expectation is that men are bestial as a baseline and must be tamed by the right woman, it is tacit support for unacceptable, even criminal, behavior.

In past decades, too many stories modeled women as helpless, compliant sex kittens fixated on finding the right guy. Women only went to college for a "Mrs. degree." 

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Happy Thanksgiving! I thought I would share the top ten library books I'm thankful to have read this past year. If you love the library, you might want to create a top ten list of your own! I'd love to read your list if you do make one!

1. The Night Gardener. Jonathan Auxier. 2014. Abrams. 350 pages. [Source: Library]

I love and adore Jonathan Auxier's The Night Gardener. Love and adore is probably even an understatement. I read this one twice this year. I have a review here at Becky's Book Reviews and a review at Operation Actually Read Bible.

Here's how this one begins:

The calendar said early March, but the smell in the air said late October. A crisp sun shone over Cellar Hollow, melting the final bits of ice from the bare trees. Steam rose from the soil like a phantom, carrying with it a whisper of autumn smoke that had been lying dormant in the frosty underground. Squinting through the trees, you could just make out the winding path that ran from the village all the way to the woods in the south. People seldom traveled in that direction, but on this March-morning-that-felt-like-October, a horse and cart rattled down the road. It was a fish cart with a broken back wheel and no fish. Riding atop the bench were two children, a girl and a boy, both with striking red hair. The girl was named Molly, and the boy, her brother, was Kip. And they were riding to their deaths. This, at least, was what Molly had been told by no fewer than a dozen people as they traveled from farm to farm in search of the Windsor estate.

2. Goodnight, Mr. Tom. Michelle Magorian. 1981. HarperCollins. 320 pages. [Source: Library]

I checked out the book and the movie from the library. Both are highly recommended!!!

3. Unbroken. Laura Hillenbrand. 2010. Random House. 473 pages. [Source: Library]


This memoir is so intense and compelling!!!


4. Bridge to Haven. Francine Rivers. 2014. Tyndale House. 468 pages. [Source: Library]

Historical fiction set in the 1950s. Would love to see this as a movie!!!

5. The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights. Steve Sheinkin. 2014. Roaring Brook. 208 pages. [Source: Library]

Love this nonfiction title!

6.  Poem Depot: Aisles of Smiles. Douglas Florian. 2014. Penguin. 160 pages. [Source: Library]

Without a doubt my favorite poetry book of the year!!! 

7.  Frozen in Time. Mitchell Zuckoff. 2013. Harper. 391 pages. [Source: Library]

Yes, it's more nonfiction! And, yes, it's set during World War II.

8. The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson. 2013. Simon & Schuster. 240 pages. [Source: Library]

More World War II. But it's so good. A Holocaust book for the audience of Number the Stars perhaps. 

9. The Midnight Library. Kazuno Kohara. 2014. Roaring Brook. 32 pages. [Source: Library]

There is something oh-so-magical about this picture book. It just captured my heart.

10.  A Snicker of Magic. Natalie Lloyd. 2014. Scholastic. 320 pages. [Source: Library]

It wasn't easy choosing the final book. Hence why there will be honorable mentions!

Honorable Mentions:

Bo at Ballard Creek. Kirkpatrick Hill. Illustrated by LeUyen Pham. 2013. Henry Holt. 288 pages. [Source: Library]

Free to Fall. Lauren Miller. 2014. HarperCollins. 480 pages. [Source: Library]

Kiss of Deception. (The Remnant Chronicles #1) Mary E. Pearson. 2014. Henry Holt. 489 pages. [Source: Library]

Absolutely Almost. Lisa Graff. 2014. Penguin. 304 pages [Source: Library]

© 2014 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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You may have noticed a meme going around that goes something like this:

Say your favourite book, author, song, film, and object beginning with a particular letter. And that letter will be randomly assigned to you by me, via random.org. If you’d like to join in, comment in the comment section and I’ll tell you your letter! (And then, of course, the chain can keep going on your blog.)

Danielle assigned me the letter “H.” Of course my mind then went completely blank on all titles or songs or authors beginning with “H.” Finally I have managed to get myself together.

Favorite Book
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. This ended up being harder than I thought. There was Hamlet and Handmaid’s Tale and a number of other titles vying for this spot. But when I looked at the list and asked, which one of these books do I think of most often? I had to go with Hitchhiker’s Guide.

Favorite Author

Hafiz. This one came down to Hafiz and Homer and while Homer is pretty awesome, I pull my Hafiz book off the shelf more often for a quick dip. And since Hafiz lived in the 14th century no photo, but there is a photo of his tomb how it looks today.

Favorite Song

How Sweet it is by James Taylor. Help! by the Beatles was also a possibility but I know the words to How Sweet it is better than I do to Help! so I figured that must mean something.

Favorite Film

Harry Potter. I’m an indifferent film watcher. Don’t get me wrong, I like a good movie, but they don’t hang around for me like books do. And please don’t ask me to name that actor. I used to drive my sister nuts because I could never remember anyone’s name. It was so bad she got into the habit of assuming I didn’t know and would preface all comments about movie actors with you know Brad Pitt, he was in XYZ and played the guy who blah blah blah. I’m not so bad as to not know who some of the big name movie stars are, but if you test me, I will fail. Therefore even coming up with a movie that begins with “H” and is something besides Halloween was not easy.

Favorite Object
Husband. That would be Bookman! The photo was taken when he was digging Amy Pond a month ago. Though he objects to me calling him an object and insists he is more of a subject, he is willing to let it slide this once.

Let me know if you want a letter of your own!

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I saw this meme at Stuck in a Book on Sunday. He was kind enough to give me a letter (randomly) so I could do the meme on my own blog. I got the letter A.

Favorite book: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. It seems like an obvious choice for the letter A. (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland also occurred to me.)

Favorite author: Jane Austen. Going with another obvious choice. I do love Austen enough to keep rereading her books.

Favorite song: "All You Need Is Love" The Beatles. It happens to be my favorite Beatles song.

Favorite movie: Aristocats.

Favorite object: This one was tough. I admit it. But I'm going with air conditioning.

© 2014 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Many thanks to everyone who participated in this month's blog series at readergirlz! I had a lot of fun gathering candid and heartfelt responses from authors. Lorie Ann asked me to post my own list, so here goes nothing:

7 Things You Don't Know About Me

1) I've been writing stories and songs since birth, practically.

2) I am capable of charming squirrels out of trees.

3) There is no television show I have loved more completely from start to finish than Leverage.

4) I love word play.

5) Synchronicity and causality are recurring themes in my life.

6) Chances are, I'm shorter than you.

7) I project. In more ways than one.

So there you have it! I hope March has been lovely for all of you. Don't forget to mark your calendars for Operation Teen Book Drop 2014, which will be happening in just a few weeks on April 17th. Stay tuned to the readergirlz blog, Facebook, and Twitter to learn how you can participate and #rockthedrop!

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In Auden’s essay “Reading” collected in his book The Dyer’s Hand, he talks quite a lot about reviewers and reviewing books. He says:

Though the pleasure which works of art give us must not be confused with other pleasures that we enjoy, it is related to all of them simply by being our pleasure and not someone else’s. All the judgments, aesthetic or moral, that we pass, however objective we try to make them, are in part a rationalization and in part a corrective discipline of our subjective wishes. So long as a man writes poetry or fiction, his dreams of Eden are his own business, but the moment he starts writing literary criticism, honesty demands that he describe it to his readers, so that they may be in the position to judge his judgments.

To that end, Auden created a questionnaire for himself of things he would like to know about other critics when he was reading them. Does it help to know a reviewer’s idea of Eden? You be the judge. I give you my answers to Auden’s Eden Meme:

Landscape
Mesic prairie transitioning to savanna with lots of rivers, streams and some forested lakes.

Climate
Moderately cold and snowy winters and mildly warm summers.

Ethnic Origin of Inhabitants
As diverse as possible

Language
English will be the official language but all languages are encouraged (even Elvish and Klingon) and everyone should know more than one.

Weights and Measures
I know metric is easy, but I am attached to the quirkiness of feet and pounds and ounces and since this is my Eden, quirkiness rules.

Religion
Nature worship in which trees are sacred and animals can talk. Summer and winter solstice and spring and autumn equinox will be high holidays with festival celebrations.

Food
Auden doesn’t have food on his list so I thought it should be added. All food will be sustainably grown and organic and vegan with no weird processed chemicals or ingredients that no one can pronounce.

Size of Capital
Small enough that no one gets lost but big enough that everybody doesn’t know your name. Maybe somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 people.

Form of Government
An empire ruled by me. No just kidding! A democracy in which everyone is engaged and participates. It’s messy everyone gets a voice and plays fair because this is my Eden.

Sources of Natural Power
Wind, water, solar. Also human power especially in winter when it is cold. There will be communal power generating stations with stationary bikes hooked up to the power grid. For fun there will be community events – films and concerts – and those who attend will pedal the bikes for as long as they want to. That way people get out of the house, get some exercise and have fun. There will be no coal and no oil.

Economic Activities
Farming, arts and humanities, science and technology

Means of Transport
Bicycles, trolley cars, trains and boats. In winter skis and dog or horse-drawn sleds will be encouraged.

Architecture
Hobbit holes or other architecture that looks organic and melds with the landscape. There will be no skyscrapers. Buildings should be beautiful and human-scale and energy efficient.

Domestic Furniture and Equipment
Clean and simple design of natural materials in the style of the Amish and Shakers. Kitchen gadgets like coffee makers and food processors, and modern appliances are a must.

Formal Dress
In my E

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When Litlove tagged me to do the 7 x 7 meme I thought I might be able to eventually let it slip away forgotten but then Danielle tagged me too ensuring that I wasn’t going to get away with my convenient forgetting. Lest you think I am down on the meme, that is not the case at all. It is having over eight years of blog posts to think about that had me wanting to avoid it. But a little stroll through the past can be a good thing, right? So let’s get to this meme!

The Rules:

1. Tell everyone something about yourself that nobody else knows.
2. Link to a post you think fits the following categories: The Most Beautiful Piece, Most Helpful Piece, Most Popular Piece, Most Controversial Piece, Most Surprisingly Successful Piece, Most Underrated Piece, Most Pride-worthy Piece.
3. Pass this on to 7 fellow bloggers

Something no one knows
I’m 6 feet 8 inches tall and just retired from playing professional basketball with the Minnesota Lynx. This is something up until a few seconds ago that even I didn’t know!

The Most Beautiful Piece
Some might say Pretty Pink Peonies are beautiful and I agree, I love peonies. But I also think the orb spider I had in my garden last year is beautiful too.

Most Helpful Piece
I wasn’t sure what to consider helpful. Book reviews are intended to be helpful in a way. But I’m going with another popular post, Keeping Track of Finished Books from 2008. I have since updated my book tracking methods, but this continues to be a popular post on my all-time greatest hits stats.

Most Popular Piece
The most popular piece by far going by page views alone, is my review of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Posted on February 23, 2007, it has had 23,314 views. I never cease to be amazed by this.

Most Controversial Piece
Because, you know, I am all about controversy here at So Many Books it was so difficult to choose which one was the most controversial. My review of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals kicked up some tension in the comments. But everyone was very polite. My lack of making many follow up comments bugs me a little but life got in the way and then time made it seem pointless to go back. Does that ever happen to you?

Most Surprisingly Successful Piece
I’m going with my review of How to Write a Sentence by Stanley Fish. It not only got comments on the blog, it got comments on Goodreads too and it precipitated the weird experience of receiving an unsolicited review copy at work from an author of a book on rhetoric.

Most Underrated Piece
Not sure about underrated, but I do find it fun to write about ancient Greek plays. One of my favorite write-ups is Ajax. Which reminds me, I should probably borrow a play from the library. It’s been awhile.

Most Pride-worthy Piece
I never mentioned it but in February this year, a post at the Publisher’s Weekly blog included a link to my post

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It being Wednesday and me feeling rather lazy, I thought I would take this opportunity to answer my own eleven questions from Monday.

1. What is the first book you remember reading?
   One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
2. What book on your shelves have you owned the longest?
   Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. I’ve had it since 3rd grade.
3. What is the oldest book on your shelves in terms of when that particular edition was published?
   Schreiblefefibel für den Unterricht der something something (it’s in a gothic script I can’t decipher!). The book was published in 1889 and belonged to my great-grandfather Willie Hollmichel. It was his grade school primer for learning how to write from when he was a boy in Janesville, Minnesota.
4. If you could meet a character from any book, what character would you like to meet?
   Lottie Wilkins from Elizabeth von Arnim’s Enchanted April
5. What no longer living author do you wish were alive to write just one more book?
   Virginia Woolf
6. Where is your favorite place to read?
   On my red reading chaise or in bed
   

Do you like to snack while reading?
Only on weekends when an afternoon treat with a cup of coffee is just the thing

Do you read with music playing or the television on?
Never

Has the internet shortened your attention span and made it harder to read books as cultural critics claim, or is your ability for sustained reading just as good or better than it ever was?
It’s just as good as it ever was, maybe even better since the internet/blogging makes me often pay more attention to what I am reading since I know I am going to write about it.

Do you belong to a book group?
Yup. The Slaves of Golconda, who, by the way are reading Willa Cather’s My Mortal Enemy for discussion on March 31st. It’s really short so if you are interested in joining in, please do!

What book or author haven’t you read yet and are always saying you’d like to get around to “someday”?
It’s a long list but it seems I say it most about Anna Karenina though most recently I commented on Litlove’s blog that it was Rachel Cusk. Ask me tomorrow and it will be a different answer!

Thanks for indulging me! And if you haven’t already answered the questions and feel so inclined, please do!

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I have been tagged, nay commanded, to participate in the Eleven Questions Meme and when one is commanded to do something, well … in most cases I just pretend I didn’t know about it but in this case it doesn’t hurt to play along.

The rules are as follows:

1. Post the Rules.
2. Answer the eleven questions that were asked of you by the person who tagged you.
3. Make up eleven new questions and tag eleven new people to do the meme.
4. Let them know you tagged them.

Here are the questions that Emily made up and my answers:

1. Have you ever liked a movie more than the book? If so, what movie(s)?
   The Princess Bride. I saw the movie before I ever knew it was a book and I have tried twice to read the book but can never get past the first 20 pages. Inconceivable!
2. ________ opening for __________ would be a dream concert. Fill in the blanks. (You can fill them in with performers dead or alive.)
   Uh. I’ve never been much of a concert goer. If I were polydactyl I could count them all on one hand. I find concerts too loud and too crowded and so very exhausting. The last concert I went to was in 2006 when Bookman surprised me with tickets to see Cyndi Lauper at a small venue. That was a good concert. Some local band I don’t even remember the name of opened for her. I suppose it would be fun to see Eric Clapton in concert or Melissa Etheridge but I don’t really care if I ever do.
3. If you’re making dinner and don’t need to take into account anyone else’s tastes but your own, what do you find yourself having over and over again?
   Cereal. Thank goodness Bookman does the cooking!
4. You get to interview the author of the book you are reading right now. What’s the first question you’d ask?
   Since I’ve got several books on the go I have to figure out which one to choose from. Ok, I’d like to ask Borges if he ever thought about writing a novel, why or why not?
5. If the world becomes one in which all new novels are only published in digital format, what will you miss most?
   I don’t think I’d know how to decorate all the walls that are currently covered in bookshelves. Also. I’d really miss bookmarks and the fun of trying to match my bookmark with my book.
6. If you had been gifted to play any musical instrument brilliantly, what would you choose to play? (Or maybe you are so-gifted. If so, what do you play?)
   I do not play any instruments. For a very very long time I wanted to learn how to play the piano. Currently I’d like to someday learn how to play the fiddle. It’s much smaller and more portable. But then again, if #5 comes true I could put a piano against one of those empty walls.
7. The “war between the sexes” has been around since the beginning of time. What do you think is the biggest problem between the sexes today?
   Men’s reluctance to share the power tools and read assembly instructions.
8. If you could switch places with any celebrity for three months, with whom would you like to switch places?
   Uh. I think I will pass on this. I’d never ever want to be a celebrity. I like my peace and quiet way too much and being followed around and having unflattering photos taken of me just is not appealing. Even the thought of being Nancy Pearl for three months makes me cringe.
9. You can eat at any restaurant in the world. Where would you eat?
   A delicious meal cooked in my own kitchen by my wonderful husband. No restaurant anywhere can make me a meal seasoned with as much love and caring as he gives it.
10. What book do you wish you hadn’t wasted your time reading last year?
    Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James.
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Mission (Un)popular by Anna Humphrey is the story of Margot Button, a twelve-year-old Canadian-Indian seventh grader living with her tarot-card reading mother, her stepfather Bald Boring Bryan, and identical triplet half-sisters who are two years old. At the start of the book, Margot's best friend, Erika, learns that she is being sent to Catholic school, and Margot is forced to face the first day of seventh grade alone. Desperate for friendship, she links up with a new girl named Em, who is from New York City and the daughter of a soap opera actress. She also claims to be a model, and makes it her personal mission to make Margot popular. At first, it seems like no big deal. Em teaches Margot how to dress, and  encourages her to talk to her crush, Gorgeous George. But as time goes on, Em becomes more and more daring, and Margot gets pulled into schemes that include ignoring Erika, torturing Sarah J., the ringleader of the popular group, sneaking out of  the house, and eventually getting seriously injured. Then Margot starts to wonder whether Em has been completely truthful about who she is, and whether she can even be trusted.

This book has everything a tween reader could want - a mysterious, slightly dangerous friend, comeuppance for a nasty bully, romance  with cute boys, and honest commentary on family conflicts. The book starts off a bit slow, and gives us a ton of backstory, but once it gets into the main action, the pacing is perfect, and the reader is kept in  a steady sense of suspense as the truth about Em slowly and deliciously unfolds. Margot's Indian culture, which she inherits from her dad, isn't really the central focus of the book, but there are still enough references to her race to strongly establish her identity as a character.  A few weeks ago, one of the list-servs I follow mentioned a need for more books featuring characters of color that are not explicitly about racial issues, and Mission (Un)popular definitely fits that bill.

There are a lot of books about middle school out there, but this is one of the few I've read that so perfectly bridges the gap between middle grade and YA. The book isn't as explicit as some of the YA books being written for older teens, but it's also more sophisticated  than a lot of school stories and friendship stories written for third through sixth graders. Fans of Lisi Harrison's Clique series, and Lauren Myracle's Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, and Thirteen Plus One, will also enjoy Margot's tumultuous seventh grade year. The events of Mission (Un)popular are far more dramatic than the lives of most seventh-graders I have known, but I think the drama is exactly what will appeal to that age group.

I was surprised by how much I truly enjoyed this book, and I hope to read  more from Anna Humphrey in the future. Visit the author's website and blog at www.annahumphrey.com. Mission (Un)popular will be published on June 14, 2011.

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It's Top Ten Tuesday! This week the theme is Top Ten Tuesday Rewind: Pick a past Top Ten Tuesday that we've done that you didn't get a chance to participate in. 

I chose to revisit Top Ten Favorite Book Quotes, which was originally the topic on September 21st. I am a collector of quotes, and it would  take me months to narrow down a true top ten, so these are just some of my many, many favorite words of wisdom from books.  

1. From Criss Cross by Lynn Rae Perkins:
They looked for one another when nothing else was happening, the way you pick up a magazine or look in the cupboard for a snack. Not exactly by accident and not exactly on purpose. You could go out in the world and do new things and meet new people, and then you could come home and just sit on the stoop with someone you had never not known, and watch lightning bugs blink on and off.

2. From Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen:
But it's strange, when you've always been told something is true, like the moon will come back. You need proof. And while you wait, you feel the entire balance of your world just tipping. It's crazy. But when it's over, and it does come back, that's the best, because it's all you want, everything narrows to just that. It's this great rush, like for that one second everything's okay with the world again. It's amazing.

3. From Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays by Joan Didion
We are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door at 4am of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends. We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget.

4. From Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling:
Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?

5. From Alice in Rapture, Sort Of by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor:
I used to think that when I grew up there wouldn't be so many rules. Back in elementary school there were rules about what entrance you used in the morning, what door you used going home, when you could talk in the library, how many paper towels you could use in the rest room, and how many drinks of water you could get during recess. And there was always somebody watching to make sure.

What I'm finding out about growing older is that there are just as many rules about lots of things, but there's nobody watching.

6. From The Six Rules of Maybe by Deb Caletti:
Introversion is distrusted - it makes people nervous. Maybe it seems like we've got secrets. They think the secret is that you're depressed or something, that's why you don't seek their company, when the secret is really that you're happy and relieved and almost flying at the near-miss escape of not having to be in their company. You're looked at like you're seriously lacking, when the only

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I made this list based on the assumption that these movies would be well made and would remain true to the spirit of the books, even with whatever alterations had to be made to make them suitable for the screen. Otherwise, my list wouldn't have anything on it, because I'm quite wary of film adaptations!

1. Henry and Mudge series by Cynthia Rylant
   I imagine this as a cross between My Dog Skip and Beethoven.


2. Mrs. Wiggle Piggle by Betty MacDonald
   Apparently this was once a TV show starring Jean Stapleton.


3. The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
   I'm kind of surprised this hasn't been done, since these books have been around for so long.


4. The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer
   This book creates such a strong sense of setting, I think it would translate really well to a film.


5. Bunnicula by James Howe
   This would be cute as an animated movie, I think.


6. Ten Kids, No Pets by Ann M. Martin
   This would probably wind up being just like Cheaper by the Dozen, but I would love to see who would be cast as each of the kids.


7. Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis
   I imagine this movie would be like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but with a girl as the protagonist.


8. House of Night series by. P.C. & Kristin Cast
   There is so much drama in these books, they'd translate really well to a teen movie.


9. Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter
   Apparently this almost happened, but then didn't.


10. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
    It would be awesome to see the steampunk aspects of this book come to life.

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where bloggers create top ten lists on a given topic. To see my previous Top Ten Tuesday posts, click here. To participate in this week's Top Ten Tuesd

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I am by no means any kind of designer who should do any kind of designing, but the covers below just really do not appeal to me, and I wish that someone would take pity on them and give them a makeover.


1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (paperback)
Why does it look like the cover for a spy thriller?


2. The Education of Hailey Kendrick by Eileen Cook
What's with the gum?


3. Blubber by Judy Blume
This book isn't exactly about whales.


4. I, Emma Freke by Elizabeth Atkinson
This book is much more quirky and fun than the cover suggests.


5. Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
The cow print. Oh dear.


6. Firegirl by Tony Abbott
It just freaks me out.


7. Anastasia Krupnik series by Lois Lowry
They keep trying, but the glasses bring it down.


8. Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes
This is the least child-friendly cover in the world.


9. Rat by Jan Cheripko
This book came out in 2002, but it looks like it's been around since 1972.


10. The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd
The original cover was so much better.

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where bloggers create top ten lists on a given topic. To see my previous Top Ten Tuesday posts, click here. To participate in this week's Top Ten Tuesday on your own blog, click here.

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I really hate April Fool's Day, so I don't participate, but when I was in high school, I did play one sort of mean prank on an ex-boyfriend. His cousin and I created a fake email account and presented ourselves as a made-up publishing company called Carlotta Applebaum Publishers. We sent a fake email to the ex-boyfriend offering to publish some of his original poetry. After we revealed the truth, he claimed he knew all along, but I could tell he didn't really. And I felt all kinds of guilty afterward - I'm just not cut out for pranking!





I have been very critical of the vampire phenomenon from pretty much the very beginning, but I do secretly enjoy the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast. They're better written than Twilight, and the teenage characters feel very real to me, especially when it comes to the way they talk. But it's tough to admit that I like any vampire books after I've complained so much about them.

I also have a little bit of shame about my recently renewed love for romance novels, but I'm slowly coming to terms with it.

Welcome, new followers! Say hello below. 

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I am by no means a poetry scholar, and as time goes on,  I become more and more okay with that fact. I like to read poetry, but I don’t like to be told what it means, or asked to analyze it. I like to just let the words drop down on me, and then I take away whatever little snippets mean something to me and disregard the rest. Normally, when I look at a collection of poems, I skip the ones that don’t appeal to me, and read only the ones that look interesting. But I did read The Tree That Time Built all the way through, and while I don’t really think it was for me, I can appreciate the work that went into it.

Mary Ann Hoberman, the U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate from 2008 to 2010, and Linda Winston compiled a series of poems by a whole spectrum of poets, dubbing it “a celebration of nature, science, and imagination.” Among the authors whose works appear in the book are Sylvia Plath, Christina Rossetti, Vachel Lindsay, Ogden Nash, Carl Sandburg, Walt Whitman, Jack Prelutsky, Eve Merriam, and Douglas Florian. The book is accompanied by a CD where many of  these poets read their own works. Mary Ann Hoberman also reads her own poetry, and Linda Winston reads a variety of poems herself.

There are many components to the book, which is probably what impressed me the most. Many of the poems are accompanied by footnotes that discuss both the content and the form of the poem. There is also a glossary of scientific terms, as well as a brief biography of every poet at the back of the book. As an information resource, this book leaves absolutely nothing to be desired. It’s very, very well done. The only problem I had was that many of the poems felt too dense and difficult for me, and I didn’t see them as particularly child-friendly. I much prefer silly and playful children’s poetry, and I can’t imagine this being a book kids read for pleasure like they might with a Douglas Florian  or Jack Prelutsky book. I can imagine, though, that nature lovers would enjoy these poems a lot more than  I did, and  that teachers could mine this book for some wonderful lessons that incorporate science and literature.

I will say, though, that I loved hearing Jack Prelutsky’s voice. He even sounds like a poet! Ogden Nash also has a great voice, and Mary Ann Hoberman’s rhythms are spot-on and that much more enjoyable when she reads them aloud. Definitely check this out if you are a fan of a wide variety of poetry, and share it with kids who aspire to be poets, as well as those readers  who like to be challenged.

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