#12 - Hate List / NOOKS, Kindles, & eReaders

Did I create a rule about no YA books unless they were for book club?  Well, my rules, so I guess I can break them if I want to.

This was the first book I read on the new NOOKcolor eReaders purchased for the library.  Since they are loaded with books for the high school students (and we're still taking requests), YA was the really the only choice.  Hate List by Jennifer Brown is the emotional story of a school shooting.  This one is told from the viewpoint of the shooter's girlfriend.  Most of the selected targets were the product of her hate list, a notebook in which she had tracked all the slights and wrongs committed against her, or should I say perceived wrongs. The story alternates between the present, while Valerie returns to school and learns to cope with the help of her counselor, Dr. Hieler, and the days leading up to the shooting.

The NOOKcolor is an amazing little gadget, now being called an iPad lite.  But I have to say that while searching and browsing the web is easier and more eye-appealing than the same tasks on a Kindle, I much preferthe Kindle when it comes to reading.  I like the fact the Kindle is not back-lit... and you can read one-handed with either hand.  Swiping on the NOOK is not as convenient as the Kindle's buttons to turn the page, located conveniently on both sides.

#11 - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

This book took me forever five months to get into.  I started it before Christmas and was less than 20% into it when May began.  It may have been all the restarting that slowed me down, but I think it was the multiple plot strands and Swedish translation.  Obviously, it needed to retain the Swedish names of characters and places, but because they all sounded so foreign strange unfamiliar, I had trouble keeping the characters straight.  Now I'm dying to start Steig Larson's next book, "The Girl Who Played with Fire."

So Many Books, So Little Time

My plate is full and I'm not hungry... family tasks, work tasks, home tasks, personal tasks.  So many things to do and escaping in a good book isn't appealing at the moment.  I have a number of books going right now: a number I have downloaded into my Kindle, several waiting in Audible, a bunch I brought back from TLA but haven't started... and none of them have grabbed me.  We'll see what I finish first.

Currently listening to:  The Body by Stephen King, Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, Your Kids are Your Own Fault by Larry Winget, and I Thought it Was Just Me by Brene Brown.

Currently reading:  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, Medicus by Ruth Downie, and No Good Deed by Mary McDonald.

I suspect some of these will remain abandoned.  And I suspect that the next book I blog about will be none of the above... It will likely be one I read for book club... which doesn't meet for several weeks.

Have you read any of the above?  A good recommendation may get me moving again.

#10 - Water for Elephants

Beautiful!  This was a book I hated to see end.  Told as a memoir, this historical look at the railroad circus was highly entertaining and poignant.

#9 - The Abstinence Teacher

This book was a surprise.  Expecting a more political debate about curriculum decisions, I found myself looking at the different views of Christianity.... and not so much in regard to curriculum - particularly Sex Ed, as the title implies.  To believe or not, that was the question.

I found the ending particularly disappointing - I think the author took the easy way out.

#8 - Cutting for Stone

I purchased this book on audible.com after reading a review that compared it to The Help.  Personally, I would not have compared the two at all.  The Help is set in 60's America, told from multiple perspectives, and addresses early views of civil rights.  Cutting for Stone takes place primarily in Ethiopia, tells the life story of orphaned twins - the sons of an American missionary and an Indian nun working together at a missionary hospital.  This book was much slower to grab me - and had I been reading it from the printed page, I may have abandoned it.  It was much easier to keep listening while in my car with nothing else to do.  But once it finally hooked me (about 1/4 into it), I couldn't wait to hear more and dreaded it ending.

I find it a curious follow up to Roots and The Help.  I have certainly broadened my perspectives of Africa and African-Americans this year.

#7 - The Help

I finished this book in February and thought I had posted about it... but there is not post.  So, here goes.

Several people had mentioned this book so I gave it a try.  LOVED IT.  I listened to this one through audible.com, and with the different voices the story is told in, audio seems the perfect choice.  This was a good follow up to Roots... picking up where it left off.

This very insightful look at white and black society in the South during the  60's was eye-opening.  I found listening about the world I was born into (how can the 60's now be historical fiction?!?) particularly fascinating.  Hats off to brave people everywhere who change history!

#6 - Little Princes

Wow!  Inspiring, exciting, and a memory shaker. Little Princes by Conor Grennan is the story of a man who accidentally found himself helping orphans in Kathmandu.  His would-be three months as a volunteer turned into a life's calling. 

I loved the walk down memory lane to Kathmandu.  It was the one place that Scott & I threw out our plans to see more of the country than the tourist district.  We felt like cats that had used up 8 lives and decided not to test the 3rd world roads out in this particular place.

Conor's story reminds me of a mixture of Into Thin Air by John Krakauer, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson,   and I am David by Anne Holm all rolled into one awesome adventure

#5 - The Gift of Imperfection

I don't know how Brene Brown ended up in my saved list on YouTube... I didn't know you could have a saved list... but after serendipitously watching her clip from TED, I listened to her book.  Her positive outlook on life while was a fantastic start to the day while I walked the dog in the morning.  Everyone should start their day with a few affirmations.

#4 - Looking for Alaska

Looking for Alaska by John Green is both a YA book and one I've read before. I am very much looking forward to discussing this book with the Seven Book Club next month.  I've read and discussed this book with two groups of HS students.  This time I opted for the audio version and a discussion with adults.

#3 - Roots

Can I count a book I started last year?  Sure, it's my blog, my rules.

I started listening to Roots by Alex Haley last year.  It is 30 hours long so it took a while.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book, right up to the author's notes at the end, and I highly recommend it as a must-read.

#2 - Proof

Number two is the play, Proof, by David Auburn.  This was actually an audio book that made a long road in the dark a little bit shorter. 

#1 - Room

The first book on my list for the year is Room.  I found this book annoying to read, although the story line was gripping enough to keep me hooked until the end.  I would much prefer to have heard the mother's voice.  Perhaps alternating chapters, or switching to the mother's voice when her son escaped. 

At any rate, it is noteable as the first book I read on my Kindle, a wonderful gift of my DH.

Blogging? Really? Yeah, in my spare time...

Amid applying for grad school, trying to complete portfolio entries for National Board Certification, working a job that drives me crazy, while being a spouse, a parent, and a daughter, I've decided to blog what I am reading.  Am I  nuts?  Where do I think I'll find the time???

The beauty of writing things down is that you can then forget them.  So, if I start blogging, I won't have to keep track in my grey matter.

It's been a few years since I kept track - in some way, shape, or form - of what I am reading.  And now that I am not working as a HS librarian, I find I am actually reading books for grown ups. 

So here are my self-imposed rules:
1 - Books must be finished to be posted.
2 - I will only post on adult books although young adult books read for a grown-up book club are allowed.
3 - I will allow books I have read before (since I've never posted on them.)
4 - Don't start your blog shortly before midnight after a manic Monday when you really should be sleeping.

Oh well, weren't rules meant to be broken?  And it might be good for me to break a few once in a while.