Happy New Year

Happy New Year! Tomorrow we head back to work. I tried to get as much reading down this winter break but did not really succeed. I spent a week with my family in San Diego and then spent a week back in Los Angeles. It was nice being in LA when everyone else is gone. I actually find it really relaxing. 

So, here is the list of what I read over break:

The Swerve by Stephen J. Greenblatt. There is a review in the New York Times that made me interested in picking this up. I thought it wasn't inaccessible and made the story of Poggio's search and discovery of Lucretius' On The Nature of Things was really fascinating. I have never read anything by Greenblatt but he also writes a lot about Shakespeare so I think I will check those out in the future.

Rotters by Daniel Kraus. This might be one of my favorite reads for 2011. I am not sure why I am reading so much horror lately since I don't like scary movies or things like that, but I could not put this book down. It is dark, sad, exciting, mysterious and just really a fun twisted tale. The protagonists are grave robbers. I think, after all the dystopian, vampire, werewolf and spy books, it was really really refreshing to pick up a book about grave robbers! There is even some interesting facts about those "resurrection" men and their history. I highly recommend reading this one if you haven't already.

I also attempted to read Colin Meloy's Wildwood but I am just having a hard time getting into it. I also tried another book but again, it's not really grabbing me at all. 

Losing space...ebooks versus physical spaces...

Every time I see these new Kindle commercials, I cringe just a little bit. I was trying to pin point what it is that really bothers me and I think I know what it is after reading this quote that Bright As Yellow posted.

I used to enjoy the old Kindle commercials, they were much more alive and warm and kind of gave you this sense of transporting you to another place.

Or this commerical:

But now there is this starkness, like the Apple commercials and there also seems to be this battle with place.  I am not sure if I am making sense here but I will try to articulate what it is that I am thinking and feeling. The first of the new commercials I watched was the one above - I'm going to the bookstore (or library), but hold on, you don't have to GO anywhere, I just bought the book you wanted in 60 seconds. Girl stops and just starts reading. The second commercial, the same girl has a book and again the guy has a Kindle (which probably deserves a comment as well) and she's describing being outside and the physicality of the book and again gets awed by the amazing-awesomeness of the Kindle.

I don't want to people to stop going to bookstores or libraries. I think, even with these e-readers that it is still important to have these spaces to go to where you can browse the shelves and maybe find something else to read or run into friends or have a place where you can feel the weight of a 200 page book in your hand.

Don't get me wrong, I read ebooks, I listen to audiobooks, but I don't really like that there is this battle between the physical book and the ereaders as well as what looks to be as this battle between going out to places where these books are shelved and the ease of the download (never leave your home again!!!!)

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

I just finished Alice Ozma's The Reading Promise which is about a daughter and father's love of reading and it got me thinking about who fostered my love of reading. It was my mom.

Growing up, my mom was (and still is) a sales woman. She was a sales person for Avon, Mary Kay, Temp Tone cookware, Amway, Rainbow vacuum cleaners, and World Book Encyclopedias. She really instilled in us the importance of education and wanted us to have those resources in the house. She would also "win" all of these things so that she could pass them on to us when we had our own families and houses. (Little did we know that you should probably update encyclopedias every year!!!)

One book I kept with me at all times was called Animal Stories or Animal Tales.  It was a thick paperback full of folktales featuring animals. I was obsessed with all animals as a kid and even thought I would be a veternarian one day.

My mom also worked at the school and after she got off work at the cafeteria, she would meet us in the library, which was run by Mr. Frank and my Auntie Felly, who was the library assistant.

The only problem she had with my reading habit was that I would spend all night reading instead of sleeping.

Anyway, thanks Mom for always having our house filled with books and for taking us to the library whenever we needed to do research. Love you!

School Librarian Check Out

I haven't written a list of the things I've been checking out so here it is:

Reading:
Ally Condie Matched. There was an article on this book and on Ally Condie in SLJ and I had to pick it up. I loved Hunger Games so I thought I have some high expectations. On the back of the jacket it also mentions Twilight (cringe) so hopefully it's better written.

Graham Bowley No Way Down: Life and Death on K2 - I love these kinds of books. Also, this came highly recommended from students and Ambookgeek.

Clay Shirky Cognitive Surplus

Survey of EBook Penetration and Use in the US School (K-12) Libraries - you can download it for your appropriate library. If our school is any indicator, ebooks are where it's at (FINALLY)

Listening:
Jeff Lindsey Dexter By Design. This is making me want to watch the show.

Highly Recommend:
You check out the Midwinter 2011 Tech Trends wrap-up presentation archived at ALA Techsource - so worth watching. Lots of interesting things - the Library in the Cloud is one of the things I'm interested in. Plus, @griffey 's gadget report. That alone makes it worth watching. I love gadgets even though I can't afford them! But at least I can drool over them :)

Also, read about this Librarian game on the Speak Quietly blog. What a great way to teach kids about how to shelve books. Actually, and parent volunteers. I want to use it next year for our call numbers lesson. I played it on Library Goddess' iphone. It was so fun! Except you need a bigger screen because some of the call numbers are hard to see. I say we get iPads for our library lessons. Wouldn't it be great to also have them using Noodle tools or some similar tool as well especially since after we started using LibGuides our database and ebook use is up pretty much 2 fold!

Paper.li - your personalized twitter newspaper

My friends have been posting their paper.li content so I thought I would give it a try. I am actually enjoying using Paper.li as a way to make my twitter stream a bit more manageable. Also, people have asked me about what a read and who I follow online and this is a great way to share that information. I have set it up so it's only a weekly update. If you have a paper.li you want to share please post a comment.

It's actually does give an picture about some of the things that I am in to. I might have to test this for my personal stream. 

You might want to check it out too.  

Lynne D Johnson - WomeninTech Daily http://paper.li/lynneluvah/womenintech

Sunday Reading Wrap-Up

Time is flying. I don't even remember the last time I posted about any of the books I've read so here is a little round up.

Audiobooks on my very short commute.

• Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Played With Fire read by Simon Vance. I am really enjoying listening to Simon Vance narrating this story. He's an excellent reader. At one point, when Lisbeth Salander ends up at the farm house I was in so much suspense and nervous as to what was going to happen, I was visibly freaking out in my car. I can only image what people who were at stoplights watching me were thinking. So good!!!
• Howard Zinn - A People's History of the United States - I just get so angry but you know, our country just repeats the same b.s. over and over again. Ok, I am really being incredible superficial and not explaining my self or the book but honestly, it just made pissed off at the government and also the people of this country. Worth listening to and/or reading. The first part is read by Matt Damon and then the 2nd half is Howard Zinn.
• Currently listening to: Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest. I had to take a break from nonfiction and also finish the trilogy. Today, my coworker decided it was out a great idea to talk to me while I was sitting in my car eating lunch and listening to it. UGH!
• Next on the list : Daniel Okrent Last Call: The rise and fall of prohibition - I picked it up at the end of the year when I was shopping for the teacher/staff lending library. I think, I might have the same reaction that I had with Howard Zinn's. My friend was telling me that the parallels between what happened during that time is happening now. Great. I mean, I know, it's good that I'm angry but this cannot be good for my stress levels.

On the Nook:

I've been testing out the Nook for the library which I've decided is kind of pointless. I mean, it's not like I have another Nook to share books with. You need at least 4 to see if it would even matter which is a lot of money to spend to test something. I do like it better than the Kindle so far. I like the Lending option. I like that it's a format that isn't proprietary. And it seems to be thinking about libraries. But you know, after that ebook virtual conference a couple of weeks ago, we really do need someone who works and understands libraries to be building these tools for us.

• Jonathan Franzen - Freedom - depressing but I thought it was a pretty amazing read. Don't sure if I can label him the Literary Genius of our time but I did enjoy it and didn't want to put it down.
• John Valliant - The Tiger: a true story of vengeance and survival - You know, I have no concept of what a tiger's personality would be like but they are incredibly magnificent mysterious creatures. This book is certainly putting them in a new light as well as educating me about Russian and Chinese relations in regards to poaching and territories as well as Russian and indigenous . I am just about finished with it - 40 more pages.
• Next Up: I think I'll order Nurture Shock by Po Bronson.

Print:

• The Warriors by Erin Hunter. I don't know. I don't really understand why it's popular. I'm having trouble just getting into the story. And I read pretty much every thing.

Also, I'm trying some manga reads since there is a new club that I'm a sponsor of. I guess I should read Bleach or something...

Read Across America

Entertaining but I do wonder about the copyright issues with using a Black Eyed Peas song....I mean, yes, they changed the lyrics but I think this might be illegal.

Book Bistro Baking Adventures

I started following the Food Librarian's blog and on Tuesday, Jan 19th, she made these Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars. I had to follow a couple of links but found the recipe on Confectiona's Realm and also learned about a baking group called Tuesdays with Dorie.

Since it is our once a month Book Bistro club meeting, I decided to give the Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bar a try. And I have to say, it was a win! How fun and easy to make. I couldn't stop eating the stray crumbs (maybe chunks) that broke off as I started to cut it into pieces. I did have to modify it because we have a lot of kids with nut allergies but I kind of liked it (and I can't believe I'm saying this) without the nuts. No one wants their students going into anaphylactic shock!!

I also changed how we run our book club. Last month's meeting was the first time we used our new approach which I read about somewhere and cannot seem to find. Our students have a really intense workload so they pretty much read for pleasure whatever it is they want. We tried the assign a book and meet and talk about it technique but that did not work very well. We only had about 5 kids coming to the meetings. Last month, I talked with Max about running it as a sharing book club where kids can just talk about the books they have read and why they would recommend it to their classmates. We have a lot more kids and a lot more sharing. I think, the way our school is this is the best way to go because the kids don't feel like they are being assigned something specific and they can choose what they want to talk about. If another student has read it already, they discuss that book more and then kids talk about other similar books. I thought, it was a much livelier discussion.

Here is the recipe for the bars above. I did not add peanuts or raisins and it is still delicious. Very fudgy! Almost like the fudgies at UCSC's Stevenson College. YUM!!! Also, when did they move the condensed milk to next to the coffee in the supermarket?!? I spent 30 minutes walking around and around trying to figure out where the hell they put it. It used to be in the baking aisle now it's in the coffee aisle!! That doesn't even make any sense.

The bars can be served at room temperature or out of the fridge or out of the freezer. I ate a piece right out of the oven..I COULDN'T WAIT! Warm it's so yummy too. I would totally warm it up and throw a scoop of ice cream on top. Also, it says that if you wrap it up tightly it stays at room temperature for about 4 days, refrigerated it's good for a week and from the freezer..well, I guess, it's good for as long as it takes you to eat it!

Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars, from Baking: From My Home to Yours
For the oatmeal layer:

2½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups (packed) brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 cups old-fashioned (rolled) oats

1 cup salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

For the chocolate layer:
14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

2 cups (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden)

¾ cup coarsely chopped peanuts, preferably salted

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven, and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan, and place the pan on a baking sheet.

To make the oatmeal layer:
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until it is soft and creamy. Add the brown sugar and beat for 2 minutes, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating for a minute after each egg goes in. Beat in the vanilla. The mixture should be light and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear. Still on low speed, or working by hand with a rubber spatula, stir in the oats and chopped peanuts.

Set aside 1½ to 2 cups of the mixture, then turn the remaining dough into the buttered pan. Gently and evenly press the dough over the bottom of the pan. Set aside while you prepare the next layer.

To make the chocolate layer:

Set a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Put the condensed milk, chocolate chips, butter, and salt in the bowl and stir occasionally until the milk is warm and the chocolate and butter are melted. Remove the bowl from the pan of water and stir in the vanilla, raisins (if using), and peanuts.

Pour the warm chocolate over the oatmeal crust, then scatter the remaining oatmeal mixture over the top. Don’t try to spread the oatmeal, and don’t worry about getting the topping even. I just dropped pieces willy-nilly over the chocolate layer.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and the chocolate layer is dull and starting to come away from the sides of the pan. Transfer the baking pan to a rack and cool for about 2 hours.

Run a blunt knife between the edges of the cake and the pan, and carefully turn the cake out onto a rack. Turn right side up, then refrigerate for at least 1 hour before cutting.
Cut into 32 rectangles, each roughly 2¼ by 1½ inches. Makes 32 bars.

Revisiting Judy Blume

from martin kalfatovic's flickr stream. Click here for the original.

A couple nights ago, I woke up all sorts of ideas streaming out of my head...one of those ideas was reading as many Judy Blume books as I could (I have a 12 book stack piled next to me on the reference desk right now) and then just reminisce about when I first discovered her books and what I thought of them then (hopefully I can remember) and what I think of them now.

Honestly, I started with books by Beverly Cleary (who I will revisit next) and then moved on to Judy Blume. But since my waking mind started with Judy Blume, I will start my project there. Who were your favorite authors as a wee-kid? Do you ever re-read those books just to remember and recall your younger years? or do you re-read them to introduce them to the next generation in your family?

Butterfly in the Sky...I can fly twice as high...

Heard this story this morning on NPR. I remember watching this show and wanting to be one of the kids at the end who do the reviews. Go figure that I would become a librarian

clipped from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112312561 'Reading Rainbow' Reaches Its Final Chapter Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high, Take a look, it's in a book — Reading Rainbow ...

Book Drops: "Inkspell" by Cornelia Funke (childrens/YA) (rated 4 stars)

Inkspell

by Cornelia Funke

Book 2 of the “Inkheart” series does not disappoint. Cornelia Funke returns to bring us a tale centered in the “Inkworld.” Dustfinger has been searching for another reader and he finds him in a strange man called Orpheus, or “Cheeseface” as Farid call him. Dustfinger and Farid are double-crossed by Orpheus and Farid has only one option, to get to the Inkworld to be with Dustfinger. In order to do that, he must find Meggie.

Full of sword and fire fights, Funke brings the Inkworld to life. Vivid passages describing the world and it’s folks as well as giving the reader an “inside” look at the characters of “Inkheart.” Excellent read. Now, I will have to pick up “Inkdeath” the final installment of the series!

I wonder if they will make this as a movie as well. I finally watched “Inkheart” last month at my brother’s house and it was pretty fun.

See more about Inkspell

YA Book Review: "How To Ruin A Summer Vacation" by Simone Elkeles

Amy is on a plane with a man she barely knows. Well, she doesn't barely know him, he IS her biological father. But all of sudden, after years of barely being there, she has to go to Israel with him. Israel to meet a grandmother she never knew she had and family she's never met. Plus, the only thing she knows about Israel is what's on the news and that's that Israel is a war zone. A WAR ZONE! Her absent father is taking her to get killed!

Amy doesn't know what to expect and all she can think of is the worst case scenario.

How To Ruin A Summer Vacation is a humourous coming-of-age story about a teenage girl who comes to terms with her father, her Jewish heritage and her ignorance of her own heritage. Amy is annoying in the beginning but in the end she does grow up.

This book wasn't on All Consuming but if I had to rate it, I would give it 3 stars. Definitely good to have at the beach.

YA Review: "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson (rated 4 stars)

Wintergirls

by Laurie Halse Anderson

The phone kept ringing that night. Ring. Ring. Ring. Lia picks up the phone from underneath the pile of dirty clothes, it rang 33 times. Earlier, her stepmother told her that Cassie, her best friend, was found dead in a motel room. Dead. And alone. “33 times” the number and the word plays over and over in her head. They were supposed to do this thing together. They were each other’s support and then she was dumped and now Cassie is dead.

“Wintergirls,” like “Speak,” is another intense realistic portrayal of how girls struggle to maintain expectations that society places on them as well as they place on themselves. Lia is sick but she is not ready to acknowledge it. Her best friend is dead and she didn’t help. Anderson takes us on the downward spiral of Lia’s mental state as she tries to deal with the loss of her friend, her parents divorce and her own insecurities.

It is a work of fiction but this novel gives readers a glimpse of how people can self-destruct and how difficult it is to get out of whatever abyss someone in is mentally and physically. Definitely, worth reading but I had to temper it with some light-hearted movie watching when I finished.

See more about Wintergirls

YA Review: "Graceling" by Kristin Cashore (rated 5 stars)

Graceling

by Kristin Cashore

Kasta is a killer. At 8 years old, she started training with the king’s guards. At 8 years old, she killed a cousin with one strike.

For years, Katsa has done the bidding of her king, maiming or killing those who crossed him. But now in her teens, she no longer blindly executes orders. She questions their validity and has begun going out on her own to right those that have been wronged. She is graced, born with two different colored eyes that mark her as someone with a gift. Her gift is killing, or is it?

After years of working for the King Randa, Katsa finally draws enough courage to leave the kingdom and those she loves. She sets out to help another graceling find the truth behind an unexplained kidnapping. Along the way, she finds out more about herself and what she is capable of.

It is a great, fast-paced story. It is good for boys and girls. It is a romance but that does not take away from the intense fight scenes and the suspense of figuring out why the kidnapping happened. It is great for a summer read and you will not want to put it down.

See more about Graceling

Book 4 is out! Hurray!

Book 4 of Percy Jackson & the Olympians - Battle of the Labyrinth is out! Hurray! The students and I were counting down the days for book 3 The Titan's Curse last year and this year, it was again on of the most anticipated books amongst the students. We have a pretty sizable waiting list that started a few weeks ago. I am also so happy when the kids are enthusiastic about reading and have favorite authors.

I started it and so far it's non-stop action!

SWPL poses the question: Would you date someone who is not well-read?

Photo posted by uncphilosophy.

I was reading SWPL and they posted a link to Rachel Donadio's article, "It's Not You, It's your Books" from the NYT. Would you date someone who was not as well read as you?

I thought about it and honestly, I am pretty turned off when people proclaim, "I DON'T READ!!!" like it's a good thing. It's not. Read something. Read the paper, read a frickin blog, read the dictionary so you don't use words like "boughten."

I do not know how many times I have heard people use words that they completely make-up - like the current president of the U.S. (if you don't believe me read the Bushisms on Slate). And you know, he's pretty proud that he doesn't read.

Do I want a guy who has read all the "classics"? Not really. I mean, I have not read all the classics, who has time with the amount of interesting reading out there. Hello, I just read my first Jane Austin book and I'm in my *cough* thirties. But please, just pick up a book or magazine or read something online.