Mermaids. I like mermaids. I should have liked Deep Blue more than I did.
I didn’t actually really start to enjoy it until it was almost over and then I was kind of grouchy because it ended and now I have to get book two in order to find out what happens next (all while hoping that I enjoy the beginning of book two more than I enjoyed the beginning of book one. Which I’m not all that inclined to do, right now. Maybe later.)
Deep Blue (Waterfire Saga) Read More »
We went to the library yesterday to pick up the reserves that were waiting for me. While I grabbed those, TW went over to the new arrivals section. The FICTION new arrivals, obviously. I joined her and was ready to go when I saw a man walk around to where the non-fiction new arrivals USED TO BE. He scratched his head and looked around and muttered to himself.
I chuckled.
Then, he asked a librarian where the non-fiction new arrivals were — I mouthed what she said, as she said it, “Upstairs with the rest of the non-fiction.” I chuckled some more. Not exactly happy that someone else was as annoyed by this as I am but … yea, glad it’s not just me and TW and some of the librarians who think this was stupid.
As I’m chuckling and muttering about this to myself, I hear the librarian call him to the research desk and tell him to fill out a survey… because they are taking a survey about this issue.
What?! A survey? Let me in on that. (And how come they blogged about moving the books but didn’t blog about taking a survey to find out how folks felt about the move? Whatevs.)
I rushed over and asked if I could fill out the survey too. I chatted with the guy and that librarian about how much I hated the nonfiction books being up there. The librarian nodded and said “A lot of people agree with you. That’s why we’re doing the survey.”
I ran back to TW and told her about the survey and made her go take it, too.
I was all giddy about this.
A SURVEY! They are taking a SURVEY! Maybe we’ll get our non-fiction new arrivals back downstairs where they belong. But even if they don’t — at least they’re doing the right thing and asking library patrons how they feel about this. That’s a step in the right direction.
Sassymonkey mentioned This One Summer to me recently on Convo and I decided I needed to read it. Though I didn’t love Skim as much as most people did, I liked it quite a lot and wanted to see how this one compared.
I liked this one even more (though based on some Good Reads reviews I read, I might be alone.)
I liked this one for the reasons that most people did not.
Growing up is hard. Growing up as a girl is really hard. And when your parents are dealing with their own shit, everything is even harder and weirder and confusing.
And you know what? Kids don’t always learn (immediately) from their experiences. I liked that Rose didn’t immediately and obviously learn the hard lessons. I suspect that what she went through that one summer will stay with her and help her become whoever it is she becomes. Kids don’t immediately grok why slut-shaming is wrong just because a friend says it’s wrong. That kind of thing takes time. Kids don’t immediately grasp the complexities of other people’s relationships and their opinions are formed around what they know of the world, so it made perfect sense that Rose might not see things from Jane’s point of view and she certainly would not have understood her mother or her father.
It was just one summer. Kids don’t evolve into complete and wonderfully deep human beings in just one summer. That was the truth, for me, of this book.
Oh yea, the drawings were wonderful — as you’d expect.
One of the things I do all day is watch Google Trends to see what’s hot and happening.
All day long, the Blackhawks have been on the top 20 trends list, with multiple versions of their name.
The Kings… they make the list once. Way down the list. Hell, when I got up this morning, they weren’t on the list at all.
Does nobody care about the Kings? I know I don’t but I probably don’t really count as a BIG hockey fan, though I have strong preferences for the Bruins, the Capitals, the Rangers and the Flyers. (In that order, pretty much.)
Are You Sure the Blackhawks Didn’t Win? Read More »
Holy hell. What happened in May?
Looking back over the month, I can tell you pretty much nothing from any of my lists is scratched off.
Oh sure, I started strong and then we went to Miami and everything went to hell. OK not everything. But pretty much everything.
I didn’t blog every day in May. That’s the first time that’s happened in… longer than I can tell you.
I didn’t pick up my art journal at all. I had a lot of fun playing with the Some Lines a Day journal but then Miami happened and I got out of the routine of doodling in it and BAM, haven’t touched it since then.
JMP’s stocking is stagnating again. I was doing so well… shoot. I really need to pick up the pace there, so maybe they can take it home with them after they visit this summer… hahaha who am I kidding, the kid will be lucky to have it show up in his Christmas box.
Hell. There was a whole week when neither of my Filofaxes were even decorated, much less used properly. And then once I got back into them, I couldn’t actually get anything on the lists FINISHED because the world is crazy, work is crazy, life is crazy and I’d like a May do-over, please.
Except. May being over means we’re one month closer to our move south! 2 years and 2 weeks to go. Let’s just leave May and start June on that happy note.
Filofax, Art Journaling and Other Goals In May Read More »
Just 19 books. Another rough month for reading, (though this was a rough month for pretty much everything.) I really need to get back to my kindle books because I’m really falling behind. Almost half way through the year and I’m not close to half way to my goal. Oops.
Here’s what the month looked like:
– 3 were Audio books
– 2 were Children/Middle Grade
– 2 were YA
– 1 was from the Cybils shortlist
– 6 were Non-fiction
– 1 was a graphic novel
See, pretty pathetic. Maybe I should stop playing around online and hurry up and finish another book so I can get to 20 for May? Wish me luck, maybe I can come back and update the numbers before the night is over…
TW picked up The Princess Bride a couple of weeks ago and I was perplexed. Turns out, it was a good impulse selection since it was the 2013 version with the beginning of Buttercup’s Baby included. Of course, this just means I want to read the entire Buttercup’s Baby, sigh.
Another note… good lord this book is heavy. They’ve used nice, heavy paper and while it was a joy to turn the pages — it was like reading a 1300 page chunkster because it was so heavy!
The Princess Bride Read More »
I think I have liked pretty much all of Jennifer Chiaverini’s books so it’s probably not a surprise that I liked The Spymistress.
What’s not to like.
Cool woman. From Virginia. Strong Unionist. Became Postmaster.
What’s not to LOVE?
Best book from the Cybils shortlist so far this year! I loved Escape From Mr Lemoncello’s Library and I’m extra glad we listened to it on audio.
We chuckled our way through it and were sad when it ended. Equally sad that Nickelodeon optioned it for a TV movie. Sure wish Pixar would have grabbed it. It would make a great movie — and a great theme park attraction.
Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Read More »