blame update

Let me apologize right off the top here for the ridiculously long list of books below. I really need to update the whole book acquisition/blame thing more often. Anyway, feel free, obviously, to skip it entirely. But if you're interested in who got points for what, those books are the ones with the *** in front of their titles.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. Which I already read, and loved, and babbled about a couple posts ago. This was a thank you present for doing the taxes from Rich. But he doesn't get a point. I feel like I should give a point to John Green though. It's his fault I buy his books, right?

Behind You by Jacqueline Woodson. Sequel to If You Come Softly, which I haven't even read yet. But I know I'm going to love it so I had this on my PaperbackSwap wish list, and it recently became available.

***Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay. Raise your hand if you know who gets a point for this one. Yep, Ana. She always makes a pretty safe bet. :D










Word Watching by Julian Burnside. Babylon's Ark by Lawrence Anthony. Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall. All Easter gifts from Rich.












***The Madame Curie Complex: The Hidden History of Women in Science by Julie Des Jardins. Another Easter gift from darling husband. But this one comes with a point to Eva, as she's the one who brought it to my attention, and thus had me making puppy dog eyes at Rich as I told him what a lovely gift it would make. ;)



***The Door in the Dream: Conversations With Eminent Women in Science by Elga Wasserman. Somewhat related to the last one, and also coming attached with blame. Though this time the blame goes to Ana again.






***We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. I have wanted this book for a long time...ever since I read Dewey's review. I'm not sure why I never got around to buying it before, but when I saw it on the B&N buy-two-get-one-free table, well, there was no stopping me. Point for Dewey.




Promise Not to Tell by Jennifer McMahon. The Kiss: A Memoir by Kathryn Harrison. You know, because I needed to come up with two more books to justify buying We Need to Talk About Kevin. ;)


***A Cool Moonlight by Angela Johnson. *sigh* Whatever am I going to do with you and your awesome reviews, Ana?!!! Thanks goodness for PaperbackSwap...otherwise, I'd be broke as well as buried in books.






Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters. You know, I have yet to read a book by her. But I am so utterly convinced that I'm going to love absolutely everything she writes that I keep picking them up. Now I just need to start reading them!!!






Many Stones by Carolyn Coman. First ran across this book when Annie and I were studying Africa a while back, but never got around to checking PBS until now. It's a Printz Honor book, so I needed to get my hands on it sooner or later anyway.






***Tea With Hezbollah by Ted Dekker and Carl Medearis. I know this isn't news to anyone, but Staci is an absolute sweetheart! She sent Miss Annie and I a box of books a few weeks back. Just totally out of the blue. Now as incredibly thoughtful and generous as this is, I do hope she doesn't think she can escape blame. ;) Yeah, I added this book to my wish list as soon as I read
her review...and the fact that she sent me the book doesn't relieve her of the responsibility of adding it to my TBR pile. (Sorry, Staci! And thanks again! :D)

The Broken Road by Keifer Bonvillain. Also from Staci. And it sounds really good...and really heartbreaking, and really infuriating.








Sheesh...well, this shows you how long it's been since I did my last bit of blaming...the next five books here are ones I bought with the gift card I got for my birthday (which, yeah, was nearly two months ago).

***Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn. Yep, the dastardly book-pusher Ana and her review again.































I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali. Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash by Elizabeth Royte. Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath by Michael Norman and Elizabeth M. Norman. Journal Revolution: Rise Up and Create! by Linda Woods and Karen Dinino.

Whew. And finally the books I picked up from the library this morning.
Calamity Jack by Shannon and Dean Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale. Because I loved Rapunzel's Revenge so much.








***Enchanted Night by Steven Millhauser. Even though this book wasn't the easiest to get my hands on, I persevered...no way was Chris going to escape getting some blame for this one. His review made me physically *crave* it!






***La Perdida by Jessica Abel. And of course, one last point for the lovely, if dangerous, Ana...cuz yeah, like I could resist this one either. :P

absurd amount of books finding their way into my home--a list

Hmmmmm. I'm feeling an excess of guilt. The reason? The somewhat ridiculous amount of books that I've brought into this house lately.

Book buying ban? What book buying ban? *sigh*

Oh okay, truth be told, I'm not feeling nearly as much honest guilt over this as I should be. See, not only has the old book ban been purposely "forgotten" over the past month here, but I'm on track to have the lousiest reading year ever! And by "lousiest" I'm talking number-wise. Now numbers are not what matter when it comes to reading. However, they really should play a part when it comes to acquisition. I mean it would be one thing to bring 20 books into the house a month if I read 20. Heck, even if I read 15. But when I bring in 40+ books and only read 5...well, it's not hard to see the problem, is it? It's not a matter of money or anything like that, as most of these books come from PaperbackSwap or used book stores...no, it's a matter of WHERE THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO PUT ALL THESE BOOKS WE KEEP BRINGING HOME?!!

Anyway, I don't want to bore anyone here, but I do sort of like having this record of the books I get and when I get them. If you are, however, interested in any blame being doled out, they'll be the books with the asterisks.

--Carnet De Voyage by Craig Thompson (b'day gift)
--Bayou by Jeremy Love (b'day gift)
--Dancing in the Streets by Barbara Ehrenreich (b'day gift)
--Essex County by Jeff Lemire (b'day gift)
--Reckonings: Contemporary Short Fiction by Native American Women edited by Hertha D. Sweet Wong, Lauren Stuart Muller, & Jana Sequoya Magdaleno (b'day gift)
--A Bitter Brew by Christine Ellen Young (b'day gift)
--***Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (b'day gift; point for Eva)
--Fables: The Great Fables Crossover by Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges (b'day gift)
--***Sounds of Your Name by Nate Powell (b'day gift; point for Chris--sorry Chris, seems a tad mean of me to be blaming a book on you that you didn't really even talk about it, but this book wouldn't have been on my wish list if it weren't for your review of Swallow Me Whole...you will forgive me, right?)
--Eco Books: Inventive Projects from the Recycling Bin by Terry Taylor (b'day gift)
--Great Breads by Martha Rose Shulman (b'day gift)
--***Shattering the Stereotypes: Muslim Women Speak Out edited by Fawzia Afzal-Khan (paperbackswap; point for Eva as one of the many awesome-sounding books she had on her Women Unbound list)
--Luna by Julie Anne Peters (paperbackswap)
--I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This by Jacqueline Woodson (paperbackswap)
--***Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland (paperbackswap; points for Ana and Chris--sorry guys, I know I saddled you with points a long while back for this same book when I got it out of the library, but since I didn't get to read it then and yet I still wanted it so badly you all are going to have to shoulder the blame again)
--***Polaroids from the Dead by Douglas Coupland (paperbackswap; and yet another point for Chris)
--The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester (bad debi couldn't resist buy)
--A Wall in Palestine by Rene Backmann (bad debi couldn't resist buy)
--***Lost at Sea by Bryan Lee O'Malley (bad debi couldn't resist buy; point to Ana)
--***I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly (bad debi couldn't resist buy--actually she had to search far and wide and was tempted to throw a party when she finally found it; point to Ana)
--***The Unwritten by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (bad debi couldn't resist buy; point to Ana)
--House of Mystery: Room & Boredom by Matthew Sturges and Bill Willingham (bad debi couldn't resist buy)
--Scraps: An Inspirational Field Guide to Collage by Elsebeth Gynther & Christine Clemmensen (bad debi couldn't resist buy)
--Cat Burglar Black by Richard Sala (library book)
--***Stuck in the Middle: Seventeen Comics from an Unpleasant Age edited by Ariel Schrag (library book; point for Staci--how can it be that this is your first point?!!)
--After the First Death by Robert Cormier (paperbackswap; homeschool)
--***Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon (used book store; homeschool; point for Chris)
--Crank by Ellen Hopkins (used book store; homeschool)
--Navajo Code Talkers by Nathan Aaseng (used book store; homeschool)
--Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years 1954-1965 by Juan Williams (used book store; homeschool)
--Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison (used book store; for Printz Project)
--Silent to the Bone by E.L. Konigsburg (used book store)
--The Innkeeper's Song by Peter S. Beagle (used book store)
--The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre (used book store)
--The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman (used book store)
--The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King (used book store)
--***Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician by Daniel Wallace (used book store; points to both Ana and Eva)
--***Notes from the Hyena's Belly by Nega Mezlekia (used book store; point for Eva)
--Final Analysis: The Untold Story of the Susan Polk Murder Case by Catherine Crier (used book store)
--My Lobotomy by Howard Dully and Charles Fleming (used book store)
--One Day in September by Simon Reeve (used book store)
--***Looking for Bapu by Anjali Banerjee (just because gift; point for Chris--sorry you can't escape blame since I was definitely going to pick this book up myself after your review)

I'm thinking I need to skip the local library sales coming up over the next few weeks. :(

*****
Hmmm...I typed this post last week. No idea why I didn't post it. But, hey, it works well for today since I don't have time (after a crazy weekend culminating in Gray spending several hours in the ER last evening to get a couple stitches in the eyebrow area) to write much today.
I did squeak in, at the last minute, my read for Chris's Animals in Comics Mini-Challenge last night. Redwall: The Graphic Novel by Brian Jacques, with art by Bret Blevins. I'll say a few words about it next time I babble about books.

Have a wonderful first week of March everyone!!!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweet friend Amanda!!!

new books, blame, and good stuff (quite the uninspired title)

Decided that I ought to get caught up here on the doling out of blame. My latest two trips to the bookstore need to be accounted for.

First though, the non-blame books:

The Value of Nothing by Raj Patel. I am sooooo excited to read this book...it just sounds incredible. If it lives up to its description, it sounds as if it not only addresses the failings and unfairness of our world economy, but it offers hope and ideas. And as I was just admitting to a very dear friend, as optimistic as I try to be in my own little personal life, I tend to be extremely pessimistic about the future of our world in general. So pessimistic that it can leave me hiding in depression for days at a time. So yeah, I'm all for a little hope.

Created Equal: Voices on Women's Rights by Anna Horsbrugh-Porter. Another one I'm really excited to read! Okay, I guess that's sort of a no-brainer, huh? Obviously, I really want to read these books...otherwise, I wouldn't have bought them. This isn't a long book. It appears to be more of an introduction to the state of women's rights around the globe today. Among the issues it discusses are education, violence against women, slavery, and poverty. I may have to wait to read it though...when Annie saw it, she immediately asked if she could borrow it.

The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma by Thant Myint-U. I'm really tempted to blame this on poor Eva, but I guess that wouldn't be fair. See, I really wanted to get From the Land of Green Ghosts because of her review, but the bookstore just didn't have it. But I was determined to read something about Burma, so I picked up this book instead.

Nylon Road by Parsua Bashi. A graphic memoir. What can I say...you all have turned me into a graphic novel junkie...seems as if I have to get my fix every time I hit the bookstore anymore. ;) This wasn't the book I really went looking for...thanks to Ana, I really, really, really wanted to get my hands on I Kill Giants, but they didn't have it. But this book caught my eye...and then made its way home with me.

Collage Lab by Bee Shay. One of those impulse buys. One of my biggest personal goals for the year is to make more time for "playing" in my craft room. A goal, I am to the point, failing miserably to meet. This book makes a massively fun addition to my inspiration library.

And now we come to those books that I refuse to take personal responsibility for. ;) Points go to:

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. I have been wanting to get my hands on this soooooo badly ever since reading Carl's review! It just sounds so utterly delightful and fun. (Irrelevant side note: I was surprised to realize that this was the only novel of the whole bunch.)

Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande. Yeah, no way Eva's escaping blame for this one. And somehow I suspect that blame for Better will be forthcoming as well.

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. Don't even have to tell you who gets the blame for this one, do I? Yep, the lovely Ana made it impossible for me to resist. And I suspect she doesn't even feel guilty about it. ;)

*****
Whatever day it is "Good Stuff"

*Annie started her latest college course last night. She's taking Arabic. And she came home just as excited as could be...chatting away, showing me the letters she's learned to write so far, talking about the course in general. Don't you love the way that enthusiasm is simply contagious?

*Last night was also the first night of Rich's evolution class for this semester. And all went well! I suppose on the surface it seems a silly thing to even worry about...we certainly haven't worried about his other classes that start this week. But yeah, because it's evolution. And there's been precedent for attracting people who don't want to learn, don't want to listen, don't want to ask questions, but simply want to be disruptive and obnoxious and threatening in an effort to promote their religious agenda. The first semester he taught this course, things were so bad that we actually worried a bit about his safety. But Rich was so happy when he got home last night, said his students seemed engaged and enthusiastic and asked really great questions...and well, it's just a relief.



*There are times when this kiddo has me wanting to pull out all my hair in frustration. And then there are times like these...yep, my heart just melts. I think I shall never tire of watching the munchkins sleep. :)

*Sooooo happy for Chris!!!! And the city of New Orleans, in general, too. :D

*I've been trying so hard the last few weeks to come up with an idea for "something," but just couldn't come up with anything I was satisfied with. But that proverbial lightbulb lit up yesterday! And I don't just like the idea, I love it! (Hopefully, it will turn out the way I envision it in my head.)

book babble...Maxie style

So I gave in and let him have his choice of photo first. ;)

All five of us here in the Stevens household are happy to be participating in the Graphic Novels Challenge this year. Thinking that he would rather be doing about 384 other things besides reading, Max is perhaps the least enthusiastic. Or so he likes to tell us. But actions speak louder than words...Max is ahead of all of us, having completed two comics thus far. (Annie has completed her first, Rich and I are each in the midst of our firsts, and Gray hasn't yet started one.)

Here's here what Max had to say about his first two selections:

The 8th Garfield Treasury by Jim Davis

I liked Garfield the book, because I like Garfield the cat. It was a really, really, really funny book. I liked when Garfield made a snowman and put it in the fridge, and then Garfield, John, and Odie were going to eat it. And it was funny was when the lawn mower was chasing John. Garfield was watching it like it was a movie.
Garfield and John and Odie always fight. Sometimes I fight with my brother, but never with my cat.
This book was from the library, but I wish I owned it. I hope I can find more Garfield comics.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, Part Two by Akira Himekawa

This is the third Zelda graphic novel I've read, but I have a few more to go. That's good, because I like them. They are exciting, because there are warriors fighting with swords and big humungous monsters. They're trying to defeat the power of darkness. Zelda is a princess.
I like the art in these books. I wish I could draw like that.

And just a few questions:

Mom: Do you like comics?

Max: Yes. They're easier to read than big, long chapter books. But they still tell good stories. And it's fun to look at the art.

Mom: Do you sometimes like to draw your own comics?

Max: Yes, because I like drawing and making up stories.

Mom: How many more graphic novels do you think you'll read this year for the challenge?

Max: Eighty-six.

I hope he makes his goal. :D

*****
January 12th "Good Stuff"

*Waking up to find the most wonderful e-mail from the most wonderful friend! Thank you, again, Chris!

*After all my complaining yesterday about the recent insomnia problems, I ended up having the best night's sleep I've had all year!

*Our internet is decidedly slow, and frankly, just totally flaky today. My initial reaction was frustration, but then I realized it just made for the perfect excuse to stay away for the computer for the most part and get some other things done.

*Grape Nuts. :) When I went to get out the oatmeal to make Max's breakfast this morning, I saw the box of Grape Nuts...I'd totally forgotten that I'd bought them. Mmmmmmm.

*Gray survived his "performance"! Though the assembly was at the very end of the day, and he's now worried about going to school tomorrow, because he's convinced that everyone is going to make fun of him. Poor guy...I'm afraid his worrying skills rival his mother's. 


*New books! Another gift card bit the dust...the books I ordered a few days ago already arrived. :D And there's points to hand out here:
--For The Beekeeper's Apprentice, there are three points to be handed out (it was one of those ganging up deals): one to Eva, one to Pat, and one to Ana.
--For Dark Banquet: Blood and the Curious Lives of Blood-Feeding Creatures, another point to Eva.
--For How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity, point for Amanda.
--For In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo, yet another point for Eva.