Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

Poison Study is one of my favorite books. So much so that I own three copies of the book currently. One audio version on my MP3 player, one hardback copy with the dust jacket, and one hardback copy w/o the dust jacket! :-) My library has recently added the whole Study Series to the collection as well. I'm so excited to share this fun series with my students.

The story starts with Yelana, our main character, in the dungeons waiting to be executed. Instead she is brought to a man who gives her a choice: continue on to be executed and know your death, or become the Commander's Food Taster and await possible death by poison. She takes the job and that's just the beginning of her problems. The whole story line really grabbed me. I enjoyed the ups and downs as Yelana made friends and enemies while trying to stay alive and gain her freedom.

Yelana's adventures continue in Magic Study and Fire Study.

Is it Break Yet?

I have 7 days, not counting today, left of school before the Winter Break. I am BEYOND ready for it to be here. And more importantly so are the students. I can't wait for next semester, with new schedules and new faces. The students seem to feel the same, schedules came out last week and it's been a little crazy ever since.

Surprisingly this feeling didn't really "hit" me until today. I've got a head cold going on, giving me the world's most annoying headache. On top of which I went to the doctor last night, yes Happy Birthday to ME I've got health insurance (!), and found out I broke my foot. I've been walking around in slight pain for the better part of two months, because the last time I saw a doctor about my foot they said "there really isn't much we can do." But I was fed up with the pain so I went to the doc anyway and it's a good thing I did! Today I get to go to Carroll and buy a "boot" from a pharmacy, which I am to wear for the next couple of weeks. So, I'm ready for a break. Really, really, ready. Maybe I'm getting a bit more ready the longer this day lasts...

Just like that

I started looking over the biography section. I know I'll need to move it, and I know I want to get rid of the old useless books while I'm at it. So I decided to jump right in.

I went through the first three shelves of the section. Only looking at the condition of the book and the copyright date I was ready to grab anything that was older than the 1990s. However, upon seeing most of the books coming from the 1950s and 1960s I revised my earlier standard. I kept anything from the 1980s and some things from the 1970s depending on the condition and the content. It was quick, and kind of painful. In no time at all half of each shelve was in my discard pile.

I'm not ready to toss the books out yet. I want to be stealthy about it so nobody tries to give them to charity. These books are fit for no one! So for now they'll get put in my back room as a "consideration" pile. And when I'm ready I'll delete them from the computer and send them to the recycle bin. I fully plan to have half as many biographies by the end of the week. But on the bright side I did find some really great books once they were not hidden behind real losers. Now I'll have half has many books to fit into the already bloated non-fiction section!

WTF?!

Okay, I know that when using the Dewey Decimal Classification System it is easy and common to come across differences in cataloging. It's a highly subjective "science." But I have never seen or even heard of what I found today. Next to the biographies in the middle of the Fiction section that is divided by AR and non-AR is a section labeled SC: Story Collection. This is where I found Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Famous Tales of Sherlock Holmes and a Garrison Keller book. Random? I should freakin' think so! I now have so much re-cataloging to do it's not even funny. To be fair the section is really very small, but where the heck did it come from and who decided what a "SC" book was anyway? I think I might be spending my WHOLE summer in the library now. Between combining the Fiction sections, putting the biographies back in the Non-Fiction section (hopefully weeding some of the section) and now disbanding the bat-shit-crazy Story Collection section! AAAHHHH!!!!! I hope everyone else is having a better Friday than I am.

Anne McCaffrey

My favorite author, who wrote my favorite book, has passed away. I am floored, I am speechless, I am sad. Here are some of my favorite quotes, books, and book covers.

The White Dragon was my FAVORITE book of all time, just look at that cover and tell me you wouldn't want to read it! But some of the best Dragonrider quotes come from the Harper Hall Trilogy, because really who better to quote than Harpers?!

“Don't leave me alone!
A cry in the night,
Of anguish heart-stiking,
Of soul-killing fright.

Live for my living
Or else I must die
Don't leave me alone.
A world heard that cry.”

~ Dragonsinger

"The tears I feel today

I'll wait to shed tomorrow.

Though I'll not sleep this night

Nor find surcease from sorrow.

My eyes must keep their sight:

I dare not be tear-blinded.

I must be free to talk

Not choked with grief, clear-minded.

My mouth cannot betray

The anguish that I know.

Yes, I'll keep my tears til later:

But my grief will never go."

~ Dragonsinger

"Oh, Tongue, give sound to joy and sing

Of hope and promise on dragonwing."

~ Dragonsong

"My nightly craft is winged in white, a dragon of night dark sea.

Swift born, dream bound and rudderless, her captain and crew are me.

We've sailed a hundred sleeping tides where no seaman's ever been

And only my white-winged craft and I know the wonders we have seen."

~ Dragonsong

I love this last quote because it is talking about events that took place in The White Dragon. The Harper Hall Trilogy overlaps with The White Dragon's timeline. I also really enjoyed Nerilka's Story which was a minor and shorter story pulled from Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern. There was a time when I could probably have recited the WHOLE book from memory. I did read more than Anne's dragonrider books, but they were always my favorites. I enjoyed reading the Talent books starting with The Rowan and all the Pegasus books as well.

Anne McCaffrey was an amazing author. She was a pioneer for women in what was largely considered a man's profession: science fiction writing. She was the first woman to win the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award. She lived in Ireland for most of her life. I'm sad that I've missed the opportunity to visit here there. Oh Anne, you will be missed.

Holiday Travel

Right about now I miss the train. It is a highly underrated pleasure to be able to sit contentedly while someone else does the driving. I love being able to sit and read, watch the scenery, play cards, or just take a cat nap while traveling from one place to the next. Moving 4 1/2 hours away from friends and family tends to make you cranky about travel. I'm not saying it's the worst thing ever. I am lucky to not have children when traveling. I can choose my own music and sing along with it at the top of my lungs if I so choose, and lets face it that's what I do. But every now and then I'd like to be able to gawk. So this Thanksgiving don't expect to hear me volunteering to drive. I'll be driving on Wednesday and Sunday. That's it. Thursday's trip to Wisconsin and back will see me in the passenger side seat gawking out the window at absolutely nothing!

FEVER CRUMB!

My Lit Review introduced me to the author Philip Reeve and his Mortal Engines series. The article I found had me so interested in the series I was hoping to be able to read it in my research. However as I narrowed my focus during the selection process I cut out the possibility of reading the books. Part of my criteria was to not read any books in the middle of a series. Another criteria was that the book be written between 2005 and 2009 (or 2010 I can't remember exactly). Every book in the series except the first made it into my pool. I was a bit upset. But when I finally managed to look at my final list Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve was on it. At least I had found a book by the same author. I soon came to realize it was a prequel to the Mortal Engines series.

Reading this book was such fun. The book is set in the far future of London. The main character is the lone female in what is called the Order of Engineers, they tend to believe that women can't think rationally enough for their order. However this girl was raised by one of the members which allowed her to join the order. She is singled out for a job which takes her away from the order for the first time. Right away she runs into trouble and sets several problems into motion. I was intrigued by how many different points of view were shared in this story. I really just enjoyed Reeve's writing style and can't wait to start the original series!

The book had its ups and downs in terms of pace. Some sections seemed to race by and others felt like they took forever to get back to the interesting parts! While the book had a satisfying ending I am pretty sure if I had read the original series first I might not have felt the same way. From my understanding of the Mortal Engines timeline there are things that still need to happen in this book to make way for the future readers already know happens. There is already a second book out and another on the way in the new Fever Crumb series so I hope that these loose ends will get tied up nicely. :-)

Crazy!

If you notice the bookshelf on the right side of this blog you will see something truly amazing. I am reading 3 books right now (not the amazing part) that are ALL non-fiction (AMAZING!!!!)!!! That's right I need 7 exclamation points to get this point across. I am NOT a fan of non-fiction. If you look through my Shelfari shelves you will notice an abundance of fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, and even some romance titles. But by far non-fiction titles make up the smallest percentage on my shelves. However, a goal at my library is to update and refresh the non-fiction section. So this could be a lot more common in the near future.

The Comet's Curse

I should do the last two books together, but I can't bring myself to do it. Mostly because I was so indifferent to The Comet's Curse and I was beyond in love with Fever Crumb. So, about The Comet's Curse...

The story starts after a comet narrowly misses impact with the Earth. Instead the "tail" of the comet passed through, which turned out to be worse. Slowly people start to get sick and slowly lose touch with reality. The sickness is not responding to any medications that are thrown its way. Eventually it is determined that only adults can contract the disease and at the rate that it is spreading scientists won't be able to cure it before it wipes out Earth's population. That's a lot of back story for such a short book! But it is given partially as flashbacks from the main characters' points of view.

So the idea is that they build a HUGE space ship to send a select group of "children," nobody over age 16, into space on a mission to locate a new planet. This is humanity's last hope. It is one of the most classic space adventures that I have seen in recent years.

The main characters are Triana, the head of the council, and the rest of her council members Bon, Gap, Lita, and Channy. The events of the story are related through their perspectives along with Roc, the main computer aboard ship, and Dr. Zimmer, the man who came up with the plan. One reason I was so indifferent to this story was my lack of connection with any of the characters. I just couldn't get excited about anything that was going on.

This is just the first adventure in a series as the ship travels to its intended destination. So the book was very open ended. I think I would be interested to know how it ends up once they land on their new planet, but the flight to get there holds very little interest for me. Maybe I'll check into the last book in the series, but I might have to skip everything in the middle! I really thought this would be better...more exciting...more anything. Meh. That just about sums it up.

11-11-11 THANK YOU

I must say Happy Birthday Uncle Bruce! Happy St. Martin's Day to anyone celebrating in Germany! I hope everyone has a lovely day.

Thank You to all the brave men and women who have served our country and kept us safe!

I'm back!

Okay, by now we all know that I am a horrible blogger. But I can't help thinking I could be better. So here I am yet again trying to make a go of it. I STILL have not finished writing the reviews from my research! I've got two left, Fever Crumb and The Comet's Curse. I'll try and get those done one of these days. I've decided to keep a blog for my school library, which brings me back here. The goal is to post something once a week, if all else fails at least once a month! I found that I keep up with this blog a lot better when I've got another blog to write. Who knows, maybe this time it will stick.

I cannot believe that it is November! Where did all this time go? It seems like yesterday was the first week of school and I was just trying to keep my head above water! Now I've made it through two walk through observations with my principal, the elementary book fair/parent teacher conferences, and football season. Bring on the basketball season!

In a couple of weeks I'll be headed home for Thanksgiving! We had our first snow scare this week. The weatherman predicted 2-4 inches...we didn't even get any rain. It was a total bust but it scared me enough to make an unscheduled trip to Carroll to buy a snow shovel. And I went all out buying the funny handled shovel, I was less than thrilled with the plastic options that were available but made do. Well, I think I've rambled enough for now. Hopefully these get better...but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Good-bye old friend, you will be missed...

This was a post I meant to written WAY back when I originally heard the news about Borders closing. I was and still am very sad about the whole mess. While Borders and Barnes & Noble share many qualities I had always found Borders to give the better overall experience. The music and movie sections were far superior that of B & N. I enjoyed the way they arranged the different genres. I loved the cafe and the most comfortable areas to "browse" the merchandise. I went to every midnight release party that they gave for Harry Potter through to the Twilight books that I was able to attend. That's right I am THAT GIRL. :-) Now it's over. I can't go and spend a Saturday morning sitting, reading, and deciding which books I can get and which books have to stay at the store for a while longer. Sadness.

I've been lucky being in Manning and not Davenport right now. I'm sure I'd be a lot more upset if I were home. As it is I'v been out in Western Iowa where it's difficult to find a Target let alone a B & N or Borders. :-) It's been kind of nice.

What do you know? Books I've already read!

As I went about choosing the books to read for my research in as scientific a way as possible I ended up with three books on the list which I had already read. Lucky me! The Hunger Games was a book I had found while taking Library Resources for Young Adults. I randomly bought The Adoration of Jenna Fox at a bookstore's closing out sale. And The Carbon Diaries 2015 was a book that Dr. Yolanda Hood, director of the Rod Library Youth Collection, asked me to read and lead a discussion on for a library program. It was nice as I started to re-read these books to remember what I had liked and disliked about them in the past.

The Hunger Games was an amazing book. I remember my only problem with the book when I first read it was that it was a planned trilogy and none of the other books were out yet! I was so excited for this book that as soon as I heard the Rod Library Youth Collection was putting together The Cedar Valley Hunger Games, I signed up to help. I loved this book. Katniss and Peeta have been chosen to compete in the Hunger Games, a barbaric fight to the death that the Capital makes everyone take part in. I'm not gonna spend much time on this book, because really everyone already knows this book! By the way, it is currently being made into a movie! Exciting to see how much they screw it up.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox begins with Jenna waking up from what she is told was a coma. But as she becomes more aware of herself and her surroundings she finds that some things are just not right. The first time I read this book I was completely creeped out! While the story is not actually about cloning, it is a very similar idea. Upon reading this novel for my research I was very interested in the search for identity that Jenna was going through. This helped take some of the focus off the creepiness! I enjoyed this book much more the second time through.

The Carbon Diaries 2015 book discussion came about on accident. When I first started work on my research my advisor had initially suggested Dr. Hood as my second reader because of her work and interest in young adult science fiction. After our initial meeting she asked if I would like to lead the discussion on The Carbon Diaries 2015 that was coming up. Of course I said yes. The discussion was part of a series of movies and books being read and discussed for a library program about climate change and going "green." I read the book in a day it was so interesting! I was a little nervous about the discussion, having so little background information about climate change. In the end there were four, maybe five people at the discussion! Dr. Hood and her associate from the Youth Collection and one or two students that had not read the book but saw the topic and wanted to know more. It was an interesting discussion. One student who attended had a science background so we had a wonderful time talking comparing what happened in the book to the actual science! I really enjoyed this book. Basically, after some apocalyptic type storms have happened around the globe England has decided to rush their carbon rationing program. The story is told through one high school student's diary. It was amazing, and made me want to "go green" in a hurry!

Being by Kevin Brooks

This book was good and horrible all at the same time. I really enjoyed the "voice" of the main character, Robert. I totally bought him as a typical kid. I also kind of loved Eddie, she was all sorts of messed up but still likable. It really was a shame how the book ended...

Basically Robert has found out some surprising and dangerous information about himself. He's on the run from who knows what kind of guys in suits and just can't understand how this is happening to him. The title of the book suggests that this will be a story about something/someone that is other than human. Which is true. But that whole idea never gets resolved! At the end of the book Robert, and the reader, are no closer to figuring out what he is than at the beginning of the story! Which makes for a VERY disappointing ending. But despite the fact that the ending of this book was HORRIBLE I still have to give it four out of five stars. Why, you ask? Because I loved Robert. He was a great character; likable, funny, normal.

House Hunting

I thought it might be nice to let everyone see my teeny, tiny house! I'll be renting this house from one of the teachers in the building. I think it's small but perfect! The tree in the front yard is doing a pretty good job of hiding the house, but it's there. Trust me.

Back at the beginning of June Claire came with me to check out apartments and houses to rent in the Carroll/Manning area. There was a lot to look at! If it wasn't for having to move up a crazy set of stairs and an impractical entryway I may have ended up living above the garage of a funeral home! But it just wasn't meant to be, and in all honesty it was probably more space than I needed. So I've ended up renting a small one bedroom house in Manning.

I'll post better pictures after move in weekend! Move in weekend will be the last weekend in July, so I've managed to make sure my family misses out on a family picnic, the Bix Fest, and the last day of RAGBRAI. I'm such a meanie!

Magic or Science?

If I had to pick one over the other I might have to pick magic, but that's just because I've become more of a fantasy reader! Luckily for me, I won't ever have to make that choice because everything works better when it is balanced. That's what I learned reading Interworld by Neil Gaiman. I LOVED this novel. And really, how surprising is that? Neil Gaiman wrote it, with Michael Reaves.

According to Interworld there needs to be a balance between science and magic in order for the whole Multiverse, and the Altiverse to function. The Altiverse is a part of the Multiverse that contains all the infinite variations of Earth. This book was fast paced with plenty of action and adventure! I thought this was an incredibly smart piece of science fiction for the younger scale of the young adult market.

I really loved the information at the end of the book about how it came to be written and published because the pitch for TV wasn't working. I can't imagine why this story wasn't snatched up for television because I loved it! I think this would have made an interesting and exciting series to watch. At least I got to read the story even if I didn't get to watch it on TV.

"This is a work of fiction. Still, given an infinite number of possible worlds, it must be true on one of them. And if a story set in an infinite number of possible universes is true in one of them, then it must be true in all of them. So maybe it’s not as fictional as we think." ~ Neil Gaiman

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Well, I which army Mr. Shusterman would have sided with. Basically this book comes down to one key problem: pro-choice vs pro-life. I really enjoyed the idea of finding a compromise between the two sides of this argument. And I can COMPLETELY see how the ridiculous answer they came up with is satisfying nobody and everybody at the same time. It's so true, that there is no middle ground in this argument and the only way to come up with a middle ground would be to find a third completely crazy option. Because whatever the "answer" is to the pro-life and pro-choice debate I believe it can never be the "right" answer.

About the story...I enjoyed the characters. Connor is being Unwound by his parents after his behavior and grades continue to get worse. Risa is a ward of the state who is being Unwound to make room for more children. Lev is being unwound as a religious tithe from his family. Connor was an excellent train wreck! Risa was perfect as "the thinker." I'm not sure that I ever enjoyed Lev as a character, but it was an important point of view to have. When I started reading this book, I didn't really have high hopes of enjoying it. I was surprised in the end when the action of the story kept me interested and engaged throughout!

The edition of the book I read had the blue human silhouette cover, but I much prefer the cover with the different body parts. I think I would have had a better idea of the story and more positive attitude if this had been the cover I had seen.

Chaos Walking

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness is the first book in the Chaos Walking series. While this was one of my favorite books during my research, it took forever to finish! The first half I finished in no time...then crap started piling up and my reading time got a lot smaller! So I finally finished it a couple weeks ago now and loved it!

This book made me feel young. "The Knife" is classic science fiction at it's best. Todd and Viola are the main characters. Together they are trying to out run an army! I really loved this story. Mr. Ness has a way with words. Within and between the horribly annoying imporper speech that the settlers use are some really powerful passages. "The Noise is a man unfiltered, and without a filter, a man is just chaos walking." Love it! There were a couple spots while I was reading that were like that...I just knew I had to write them down or mark the spot because it was just amazing.

My only complaint with this book is the TOTAL lack of ending. It was pretty obvious early on that this was going to be a series of books, but I have a problem when authors can't take the time to end something. Right up to the last couple of pages it was looking like a somewhat normal end was coming. But than BAM! It's gone and I was left with the RAGE of A.) not having the next book to read NOW; and B.) not having the time to read that book until after my research was done! It was dreadful. Even with those two infuriating problems I still think this was one of the best books I've read this year.

Sucess!

I had a goal and reached it! I have finished writing the last two chapters of my research paper. My goal was to be finished with all the writing by the end of June! So now all I've got to worry about are revisions and printing! I'm beyond excited. I'll have to do some serious work on my portfolio as well, but I'm going to leave that for next week. This weekend is all about basking in the glory of a job well done!

Great blogger that I am...

I've obviously gotten off the blogging bug. I think I'll be able to keep up with this fairly well once the school year kicks in. It would be nice to have a place where the family could keep tabs on me without my having to send a bunch of emails! Of course that's what I thought about my trip to Germany and we saw how well I kept up then...hmmmmm. Good luck with that! But here's an update for anyone who cares!

I'm working on finishing my Master's Research. The goal is to be done with the major writing by the end of this week and only have to deal with revisions and printing in the month of July. I've also got to get my Portfolio finished...hmmm...I HATE writing! I'm hoping to get that done this week as well...maybe I should be working on that now rather than a stupid blog post...

I've found a place to live! I'm going to be renting a small but lovely house in Manning starting the last weekend in July. It's gonna be a lot of fun. Dad is working on finding me a used lawnmower and renting a moving truck. I'm working on my paper, and figuring out what I need/what I have to move!

That's about the it for me. Not much is actually going on other than procrastination right now!


PS
Once the worst of the research paper and portfolio is done I am planning on posting my thoughts about the other books that I read!

A job!

I will be a k-12 school librarian this coming Fall! Everything is tentative right now, since the contract for next year is still being negotiated. But a school made an offer and I accepted. I am expecting a tentative contract in the mail by the middle of May. I'm very excited and a little scared about this new adventure. It's exactly what I wanted. It's the reason I went back to school. I have accomplished what I set out to do. How scary is that?!

April, where did you go?!

So it's quickly coming up on the end of April and I haven't posted anything in almost a month...yup, I suck. I was going along so well, and then I hit a couple bumps. I just didn't have enough time to "get into" my research books like I wanted to. The ones that I have left to read seem to be a bit more layered or at the very least more "involved." I can't handle what's going on in the story quickly enough to read, move on, and get the rest of my life in order! So I've shelved the reading for now. I need to get my end of semester projects done and get through the Graduation ceremony. Then I'll take all of May and finish those darn books! I plan to be done with the whole thing by the end of June. We'll see how it goes.

Ah...Heaven...

I give up!

The Declaration was not going well for me. I am putting it aside for now so that I can continue to read the rest of my books! I was looking at my time line and realized if I can't get these books read by the end of Spring Break I'm gonna be in trouble. I don't really want to take research again this summer, I could probably just pay for the class by the number of hours I'm going to take, but who wants to do that?! I'd like to be done so I can have the summer to myself. So I started The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. I started it yesterday and I'm already at the mid-way point. I'm astounded and excited by this one. I can't wait to finish it, although I know it probably won't be a real ending...it is book one of a trilogy.

Ehhh...

I'm not enjoying The Declaration. I raced through to get just past the half way point...but now I need a break. Being the empathetic reader I am, this book is pretty stressful for me. This happens from time to time when I'm reading, but not always. Candor, for example, could have been a stressful read. However the author did an excellent job of moving the story along, and engaging me in the WHOLE story. In The Declaration I'm just too focused on the two main characters, and right now things are only going so well. It's too much. I think I'm going to take a break and try reading from The Road again. Which seems depressing, but maybe not quite as stressful! I've got a horrible knot in my stomach whenever I look at The Declaration right now...what does that say about my research?

You are what you hear...

Cador by Pam Bachorz

Wow, I really enjoyed this book. I was interested in reading this book after reading the "blurb" on the cover and was pleased it made it into my research. Some books I've been indifferent to, a couple I've been excited to be able to read for this project, and at least one I am not looking forward to reading. I know I should keep my opinions to a minimum, but there's only so much I can do! I know what I like and what I tend not to like. Not that I don't find pleasant surprises once in a while. But that's just background, I need to talk about THIS book!

Candor, Florida. The perfect community. Problem with your kid(s)? Problem with your marriage? This tight knit community is the answer to all your problems! Of course the fact that things are only perfect due to subliminal messages running 24/7 isn't really mentioned, to the kids. Oscar is the perfect son of the founder of Candor. Only Oscar has found a way around things. He's got a pretty good business going, getting some of the kids out who can afford his fee...until Nia comes to town. She's different, more resistant to the Messages. And she's the first person who that ever trips up perfect Oscar Banks.

How much did I love this book? I liked this book so much I wanted to throw the stupid thing across the room when I finished. Now that's a good book. Oscar isn't your typical hero, he's majorly flawed. He's been making big money and perks from his clients, and he's just not the nicest person. Which initially turned me off. However, when you see what the "nice" kids are like, the mean ones start to look a whole lot better. In the end I liked him. I could see that he had grown as a person. He wasn't the same Oscar at the end of the story that he had been at the beginning. I'm shocked, but I really LOVED this book.

Taken by Edward Bloor

I was very cautious when reading this story. I was worried that the ending might leave me hanging, I was pleased to find my worries were unfounded. So let's go over the story a bit. Basically in the future people will horde currency, ANY and all currency in big vaults in their homes. The gap between rich and poor is at an extreme. This leads to kidnapping children of the wealthy becoming big business. The story is told in first person by Charity as she deals with her kidnapping. I'm not sure how much I enjoyed the overall story, it was different. I think this will be a very interesting book to interpret once I start the "research" process. I'm actually looking forward to reading this again to see how things are "different" now that I know the whole story.

One down 15 more to go!

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld.
This book was NOT what I was expecting. I thought that when I chose the topic for my research I had chosen one that would steer clear of the current vampire craze. It's not that I am not a fan of vampire books, I actually enjoy them. But there is so much fantasy out right now, I was having a hard time seeing any science fiction titles when I went to the book store. So I decided on a topic that would focus solely on science fiction and leave fantasy topics, like vampires and werewolves to another researcher! What a shock to find a scientific take on vampires. And it is a very detailed and researched scientific take on vampires. Although, the "big bad" that is named at the end of the book started sounding like a fantasy. I mean, after all the trouble of hitting "the vampires are science" theme you would think the author would give you a little more science to go on with the "big bad." But I believe that will be addressed more fully in the next book. As far as I know there are only two books in this series, and that is how it will stay. But I'll hold judgment on that until I've finished the second book. Because, yes, I will HAVE to read the second book. Not for my research, just for myself.

I have found lately that series books, especially for young adults are not holding my interest like they once did. I read Shiver, but haven't felt the need to even touch the second book Linger...and now there is a third book set to come out in July. Maybe I'll get back to the series eventually, but right now...meh...I can take it or leave it. The same thing happened with the book Hush, Hush, read it and liked it. When I looked at the second book called Crescendo, I read the "blub" on the cover and passed. That however seems not to be the case with this series! I need to know what that "big bad" worm thing is and if Westerfeld has a reasonable scientific explanation for it! Or else there will hell to pay! I'm so glad I have this blog to just go crazy with because I wasn't ready to really "interpret" what I had read and apply it to my research project...but I think I am now. I'm excited to finally be starting this process!

Next Up:
Taken by Edward Bloor

Blogging for a grade...

I hate blogging for a grade. My first post got 5 out of 10 points, because I didn't put the right detail into my post. I'm sorry I thought it looked pretty awesome. And isn't this class about VISUAL LITERACY! Okay, I know it has to be more than something that LOOKS nice, but I am just so frustrated! I like short and sweet and there is of course a word count. ARGGG...I didn't like it when I was required to post on this blog for a grade any better. But when I started this blog it was my first. So even though I hated the format it wasn't too difficult to conform, because I had never done anything else! Now that I have started blogging in my own, admittedly poor way, I am having a difficult time conforming to the new guidelines. I also don't think the guidelines were very specific and needed to be more structured if she's actually going to cut so many points off my grade. It's one thing to miss an element that was required and take a couple points off, but she cut me to 50% of the total...that's a failing grade! So now I am second guessing myself for all the posts after that. I've already added a couple sentences to two other posts, and I'll probably add more to at least one more. I HATE blogging for a grade, and I feel like it can become redundant when having to post discussions AND blog about similar or even the exact same topic(s). I'm just a little frustrated right now and had to blow off some steam...thanks! Better...I feel better...I WILL DO better next time...sigh...I needed that.

February...I hate February

Yes, that's right I hate the whole month! There is nothing good about February! I don't care about Valentine's Day, and I'd like to believe I'd feel the same with or without a Valentine. By now I am DONE with Winter, but apparently Winter isn't done with me. This year was worse than normal, first with the Blizzard right away and now the COLD is setting in. We might have some decent temps over the weekend, but rest assured that by the time we all have to go back to work/school it'll be frigid and cold again. I'm just sick and tired of Winter, I'm ready for SPRING! Ahhh...now there is a happy thought! SPRING!!!!

BOOKS!!!!

I have started buying the books for my research project this week. I am looking online for the cheapest prices I can find. I am going to use the library copy of one book, because it is in the Stacks at "the Rod" so I can check it out for the whole semester. All the other books I am using are in the Youth Collection and only check out for 7 days at a time. I could talk to Yolanda and request longer check out periods, but that's not really fair to the other patrons. Besides, I assume I'll be making some notes right in the books while I am reading! I think it's best that I have my own copies. I believe I own 2, maybe 3 of the books already. Which leaves 12 books to purchase. I am excited about finally getting to read some good science fiction, but I am nervous about the research! I feel like I don't know what I am doing! There are 16 books that made the cut in the research process. I can't wait to start reading!

• Incarceron
• The Road
• Peeps
• Interworld
• The Declaration
• The Carbon Diaries 2015
• Makers
• The Comet's Curse
• The Hunger Games
• The Adoration of Jenna Fox
• The Knife of Never Letting Go
• Taken
• Unwind
• Being
• Fever Crumb
• Candor

What am I reading?!

I feel like I have sorely neglected the fact that this is the blog of a future librarian! I haven't mentioned what I've been reading in ages! And don't for a minute think that just because I was having a marvelous time in Germany that I didn't get any reading done. I didn't get MUCH reading done, but I did finish a few books. Hmmm...let's think about this for a minute!

Right as I was leaving at the end of August I started reading the Sundered Series by Michell Sagara West. I got the first one done in the States and took the second and third with me. I was an idiot and didn't bring the fourth book. Forgetting that there is always time to read on never ending train rides and before work in the mornings! So I am finishing that series right now and am just to the half way point. When I got home I also got to start in on the latest book in another series by Michelle West: House Name. I had been waiting for this book for some time and was very happy with the wait. Of course now I have to wait another year for the next book to come out!

I was able to purchase a few books while living in Germany. Most bookstores had at least a small section of English language books. It was fun to see the British cover art for some of the more popular books. I found a short story collection by Neil Gaiman that was good called Fragile Things. I also picked up a new fantasy book called The Magician's Apprentice. That was a LONG book, and it kind of dragged in the middle. There is another book out in that series, but right now I'm not interested. They had a pretty decent selection of young adult novels as well, so I decided I'd pick out one of those for something faster to read during a particularly boring section of The Magician's Apprentice. I found Hush, Hush. It is about a fallen angel! I thought it was a good trade off from all the vampire and werewolf stories for young adults going around right now. I really enjoyed the story, but it was a bit obvious what they were setting up for the next book, again, I'm not sure if I'll read further in the series. For now I think I'll wait and see.

While stocking the bookstores for a copy of the new Michelle West book I did fine another treasure. There is a new Jane Eyre movie coming out this year, and I thought the trailer looked excellent. I knew some of the back story from another book I read that used the novel Jane Eyre in the plot. But I had never read it. Well, I found the most amazing cover art on a new copy of the book and had to have it. I spent the New Year getting to know Jane, and I must say that I liked the story. It was a bit long getting to the end, but all in all a good read.

I think that catches everyone up on the highlights. Next I start reading the young adult science fiction novels for my research! I've got 16 titles picked out. I think I'll try and make one post about each book, ambitious I know!

Online learning

I am taking a course titled Distance Education this semester. Basically distance education today means online courses, but that's just a technicality. I'm trying to finish my assignment that is due tonight, but I'm having some difficulty. I have three readings to finish and then I need to write a reflective paper. The problem being the stupid chapter keeps putting me to sleep! I'm not even tired! It's just THAT boring! The whole class is online so it's going to be a lot of read and reflect...I am NOT a fan of online learning. At least not when I am the student!

I am a librarian...

That has got to count for something! It's not like I could have AVOIDED the Twilight obsession. I was working with junior high students when the books came out! I read the books...I watched the movies. Do I think it is the most profound series ever written? No. Do I think they are the best movies ever filmed? No. But, they are ALL entertaining in their own ways. And really, that is what it's all about. Being entertained! People forget that. Things get "trendy" and it's all about how long you've been a fan or NOT been a fan. Really, it's only about one thing. Did I enjoy the books? Yes. Have I enjoyed the movies? Yes. In celebration of that fact here is the first photo to be released from Breaking Dawn!

Did I just post that for ANYONE to see?!

Oh Facebook how I love and hate you all at the same time. Only on Facebook can you embarrass yourself so completely. There are just too many people that are connected to keep track of it all! Really, I've done enough for one weekend so that's all I'm going to say on the matter...I just had to vent.

Saturday Afternoon Class

I got to teach the end of the Introduction to School Library Studies class today! All I really did was go over how to use eLearning. I answered the questions that I could. It was pretty informal. I think there were plenty of people who knew what they were doing. There were a couple with more specific questions, but I think I did okay. I need to remember to give Karla some feedback on the quiz. Most people did not like the way it was set-up. It was pretty fun! I wish I had brought my camera!

Thank GOD it's Friday!

Some days when starting a new job you just feel like you don't know anything...and everybody else knows it!

Just because...

I feel like the pictures from the end of my trip got cheated. So I am going to post some here anyway. Lots of stuff happened at the end of the trip! Like my birthday and all the WONDERFUL Christmas Markets. I really went crazy over the Christmas Markets. I think working backward from December is an excellent idea. On my Birthday Janeel, Erin and I went to the Nuremberg Christmas Market. It was my third trip to that particular market...what can I say? I was ADDICTED! I also went to Christmas Markets in Ansbach, Wurzburg, Augsburg, and Munich. I collected a mug from each and they all survived the trip home.


At the end of November Mom and Dad came to visit. I actually got the long weekend, it was nice to have the time to spend with them. Of course while I finished my work week they had fun in Munich. I'm not gonna lie, the best part was getting to the Birkenstock Factory. But I also got to take them to a Christmas Market, and it's obvious how much I like Christmas Markets. We had some fun in Nuremberg before as well...mostly we were lost, but we did find what we were looking for!

November also happened to be Janeel's birthday. Janeel stayed home for the weekend and so did Erin and I. Bruce, Janeel's boyfriend came for the day and we made Thanksgiving dinner! It was great. We bought a turkey, potatoes, and Stove Top. We played Clue and made some fun drinks. It was a fun day. Did I mention we moved a couch? It was a small Thanksgiving get together, but it was the best we could do. Thanksgiving weekend I was with my parents and everyone else was in Berlin!

November we also got a day off in the middle of the week! Thank You Veterans Day!!!! That was totally a military perk. We got off work on Wednesday and hopped on the train to meet up with the Illesheim girls. They had wanted us to come and visit them at some point in the trip, they had enough extra beds. So we did. We had dinner at a Thai restaurant and then went to a bar. It was nice to be able to see the other girls.

I really did enjoy my semester. I am missing the kids, even the preschoolers! That's saying something because those kids were the most difficult for me. But I'll miss Germany this semester while I'm trying to get everything done! CHEERS!

The Final Semester

So I am obviously a horrible blogger, which has already been discussed and examples abound. Since I gave up half way through my semester in Germany...sorry! I will try to keep the self-loathing to a minimum. ;-)

This semester I need to have a blog for my visual literacy class. The worst part about blog assignments tends to be the requirements. "No shorter than 120 words," "cite all visuals," and "date each entry." I'm sorry but blogger dates my entries for me! I'd also like the choice of how much I want to share. I don't think that more is better, especially when blogging! Oh well, maybe this will help me keep up my real blog better!

I am also taking Distance Education, an online class. We'll see how that turns out. The original class scheduled sounded much more interesting, but this is what ended up being offered. I think it will be good enough.

After that it's just finishing my Research paper/project. That doesn't have a class for this part. It's all one on one work with Karla and Yolanda, my first and second readers.

I'll be working as the Grad Assistant for the School Library Studies Dept. and at the MSC desk in the library. As far as I know I am not planning on working at Catherine's this semester, but I won't rule it out just yet. We'll see how it goes and if I get soft. :-)