Library Time

Tonight was "Spooky Story Night" at the library. After soccer practice and a hamburger, I grabbed my grandson, Camron and we donned pajamas, grabbed a pillow and a stuffed animal and went to Spooky Story Hour.

It was fun... that's his little blond head at the bottom of the photo, holding onto his pillow. I just want him to love the library. After story time, he asked if he could check out some books...of course I said yes. He ran to NON-FICTION.

What is it about little boys and non-fiction? Spiders and magic tricks and a dinosaur book.

And I was trying to get a good picture of this from across the room. It looks a bit shakey, which looks a bit spooky, so I put it in anyway.

And last but not least, a bookmark! A Halloween bookmark for my collection.

I want to win

If you know me at all, you will know that I'm just not the winning type.
I went with my friends to a "Taste of Home" Cooking show, where they gave away, 2 complete sets of kitchen appliances, and some custom cupboards, not to mention numerous other things all the way down to a pot holder.
http://thefridayfriends.blogspot.com/2008/10/taste-of-home-cooking-school.html

I did not win...even the lowly little pot holder. It's sad really. Sad, when you think that I live in Nevada and I should be shouting from the rooftops... IT'S GLORIOUS HERE, WE HAVE WINNERS ALL THE TIME . (I do work indirectly with the tourism industry), but.... it's just not true. I never win.
It could be, because I rarely "play".... but still

So, I think that I deserve to win! LOL
Seaside Bookworm Blogger is hosting her first give-a-way. She is giving away a few copies of "Who by Fire" by Diana Spechler. Check out her blog post, which includes a video clip of Spechler talking about her book.
It sounds great!
And then....enter if you must.

( I used this same line for another give-a-way I entered. The whole, poor me, I live in Nevada but never win anything line. It didn't work then either. Wish me luck)

Check out the give-a-way at:
http://38thavedivareaders.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-first-book-giveaway.html

Monday Memory--The Changeling

Well, today isn't Monday, it's Tuesday....would you accept a "late" Monday Memory?

Just a (Reading) Fool at http://justareadingfool.wordpress.com/
has been having fun reliving his childhood thru reminiscing about books he read in his youth. Or not. Some of them ring a bell, but when he re-reads them as an adult, some leave him cold. But that's what is so fun about reminiscing.


At first, I was just making comments on his posts about the books he read as a youth... I have read most of them. But yesterday's book, "The Incredible Journey", I have never read. Shame on me. I do love the movie tho...the one with Michael J. Fox as a voice of one of the dogs (part of the reason I love it, is because a lot of it was filmed in Oregon, around where my family homesteaded a century ago... it was fun to think I recognized some scenery, but I digress once again ).

Since I've never read this "Monday Memory", I decided to do one of my own: The Changeling by Zilpha Keatly Snyder.

A blurb from the inside cover:
Ivy Carson belonged to the notorious Carson family, which lived in a run-down house in suburban Rosewood. But Ivy was not a typical Carson. There was something wonderful about her. Ivy explained it by saying that she was a changeling, a child of supernatural parents who had been exchanged for the real Ivy Carson at birth. This classic book was first published in 1970. It was awarded a Christopher Medal and named an outstanding book for young people by the Junior Library Guild.


I must have read this book when I was around 10 or 11. It became my favorite book of all time...that summer. I remember my friend Kathy and I, riding our bikes to the library once a week and taking turns checking out "The Changeling" back and forth, all summer long.
The Changeling was about a friendship between Ivy and Martha. Martha came from a home, that was very structured and upper-middle class, while Ivy came from a poorer part of town with an obvious dysfunctional family. The two became friends and invented a wonderful, magical, make-believe world in which they would play together. They never met often at each other's homes, but would play in the wooded area, which was perfect for their make-believe world.
Their friendship lasted years and went thru rough times...the rough times of growing up, peer pressure and--yes--a class system. Even tho we don't want to admit it, in the United States, there are cliques and class system situations that children have to learn to deal with all the time.

These are the things that stuck with me about the book.
Ivy and Martha played for hours in a wooded area. They knew to be home for dinner, but other than that, no one came looking for them.

This is true. I mean, that's how it was in 1970. We could leave our parents home, and ride our bikes or walk anywhere and no one thought anything of it. We just knew that we, too, like Ivy and Martha, had to be home in time for dinner. There was such freedom at that time. During the summer, my friends and I would ride our bikes to orchards on the outskirts of town and read our books or play hide and seek or truth or dare. Or we would ride downtown and get an ice cream at Henry's. Or, we would go to the "canyon", which of course had a swamp monster and we would run and hide and get lost in it. (when I go back home now, the canyon is a park with walking and biking trails, only a few blocks long... but we really thought we were lost.)
So, I identified with the freedom that Ivy and Martha had.

And the class system? In our town, there was a neighborhood called "Sunny Slope Homes". A lot of migrant workers lived there with their families. My mother had reservations about me befriending Esther Gonzales, who lived in Sunny Slope, because it was a poorer part of town. To be honest, Esther was also Mexican... I was so in love with her brother Henry in the 5th grade...which gave my mother pause: fast forward 38 years and her great-grandchildren are Mexican and Guamanian, as well as Norwegian and Italian. My how times change. In my family, for the better.
There I go, digressing again.
Esther's house, even tho she was a poor Mexican and she lived in Sunny Slope, was clean and inviting and nice. And it had Henry, the love of my 5th grade life.
My other friend, Cheryl Miller, lived not in Sunny Slope homes, but in a neighborhood down the street. My mom felt more comfortable about my friendship with her, but in that household, there were dirty dishes, unmade beds, laundry overflowing...things that were not so in our home. It intrigued me... that families could live in such disarray and be happy. In my home, you cleaned and your things were picked up and put away, and a dish was never undone.
Both of these friendships intrigued me, because their home lives were so different from my own.
Just as Ivy and Martha in "The Changeling" came from different backgrounds and were such close friends.

I also always had an imaginary world going on inside my head (and then I read "You never promised me a Rose Garden" and found out that voices in our heads isn't such a good thing...LOL ).
I just felt a kinship with the book... The Changeling. I loved it. I read it for years every summer. I haven't read it in over 30 years and I wonder how it would read to me today? I think I might have to find it and learn if my memory holds true.
A magical, wonderful, intriguing book about what it means to be an outsider and to find friendship.

A choice to make

Last night I finished "Tangerine" by Edward Bloor, for my Wednesday night book club. It was good. It'll be a good book to discuss.

But now.... I want a good mystery. Any ideas? I grabbed "Fearless Fourteen" this morning, and I know I'll finish it tomorrow. Fast read, and although I love Stephanie Plumb, I want something a little more "intense" right now.

My TBR piles at home are separated into two piles:
mysteries and others
so...I do have some mysteries at home to chose from. hmmmmm, or perhaps a good horror story. It is almost Halloween after-all.

I have "The Spellman Files" at home. Should I read that? Or Faye Kellerman's "False Prophet?", or even Laura Lippman's "In Big Trouble?"
I even have:
Dying for Chocolate
The Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn
Deja Dead

okay, so I haven't read any Kathy Reich's, but I own about 4 of them...
so, should I read that one? Her fist one?
I want one that is really good.

The correct link....

And if I didn't read so fast, I would have understood him (Just a reading fool) to ask that I leave the link to this Memory Monday...which is this link:
http://justareadingfool.wordpress.com/tag/mondays-memory/


and now...I have to hurry up and read "Tangerine" before my book club next week. Just starting it now.

Monday Memory on Wed

Anyone who knows me, knows I like to reminisce. I like to talk about things I used to do, love, listen to...and read.
So, I was very excited when I read "Just a Reading Fool's blog" and found out he had asked a question on his "Monday" blog, about a book I loved as a child.

As far as I can tell, he began his "Monday Memory Blog" about a month ago.
And I am going to comment on all of the books he is "remembering", because---well, I love them.

A link to his beginning post for Monday Memory
http://justareadingfool.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/mondays-memory-in-the-night-kitchen/

This past Monday, October 20th, Reading Fool talked about "The Boxcar Children". He didn't care for it.
http://justareadingfool.wordpress.com/2008/10/20/the-boxcar-children/

BLASPHEMY!! (of course, he read it as an adult and granted.....there are a lot of unanswered questions, such as, why and how did the children, Henry, Benny, Jessie and Violet end up in a bakery at night alone after their parents funerals? Where in the world was Social Services? And too many exclamation points...of which I have a bad habit of using also! See? It must be a subconscious thing from my love of the Boxcar Children. LOL ), but it holds a special place in my heart, as does the rest of the series that was originally written by Gertrude Chandler Warner.
As with a lot of children and YA series, they became "formula books" once they got to be so popular. And some say this isn't true, but, I swear I can tell when the original author quit writing and the 'formula" authors began. Not that they still aren't good and hey, if kids like them and get them reading...good for them, but I prefer the "old" originals.

We own the Boxcar Children books and I've read them to my children and my grandchildren. I think the world must be divided into groups: Boxcar and nonbox lovers.
We fall into the first half.

This is the comment I left for "Reading Fool"....on his post about The Boxcar Children and his Memory Monday:
ooooh. I’m sorry you didn’t like it. It is, of course, all those things you said. But, ah, when you are 8 years old, in 1966 and your 3rd grade teacher reads it aloud to you after lunch….it becomes YOUR FAVORITE BOOK OF ALL TIME (until the next one your teacher reads to you).I just wanted to live in a boxcar!! LOL
but you are right…. I can’t go intellectual there (forgive spelling errors please), because “why…why did the nice grandfather hate their mother? Perhaps the mother was a lunatic and just brainwashed the children into thinking that? Or the nice grandfather was…not-so-nice after all!! (exclamation point!!! I’m doubling up on mine to make a “boxcar” point. )And how did they end up alone in a bakery after their parents funerals?There are a lot of unanswered questions. It lends itself to a Prequel….of a scandalous nature.

and now...I have to comment on his past posts for Memory Monday.
Have a good day.

Tuesday Thingers have a great question/meme

I am not a "Tuesday Thinger" (but perhaps I should be---I am a Library Thinger, which is where Tuesday Thingers originated I believe), but I stole/borrowed their question to ask my original Friday Friends.
The original Friday Friends, my friends from all over the United States. (heavy on the West Coast)...there are 50 of them, and.....3 or 4 take the time out to answer my questions.
LOL
I ask questions every day, (in an e-mail forum) and every day 3-10 of them answer...always a few the same and a few different who respond, so we do get around to hearing from everyone, eventually.

so....here was yesterdays question.....

Now...in addition to Booking Thru Thursdays...there is a new "meme" I found. It's called "Tuesday Thingers" (and officially I think you are supposed to belong to "Library Thingers"...which I do, so)....... this is your question:
Today’s questions: Series. Do you collect any series? Do you read series books? Fantasy? Mystery? Science fiction? Religious? Other genre? Do you use the series feature in LT to help you find new books or figure out what you might be missing from a series?



and here are the Friday Friends answers

first me!
I do read series. I love them. And I have to read them in order. I have a little notebook where I list my favorite authors and their series books in order, so that I can cross them out once I've read them.
I'm that anal about reading them in order. And I love the characters so much. They are like old friends.
It began long ago with the Boxcar Children, and it has never ended. I just keep finding new authors and new series to enjoy.
It's like a drug to me.
Most of them are mysteries, but I do love "the Mitford" Books and the "Harry Dresden" books. The Narnia books.... I could go on, but lets see what the other Friday Friends have to say...

from Lisa in Nevada:
I have the Mitford series! I love, love, love them! Thank you Debbie and Gina for turning me on to them several years ago....
Also, I do not collect these but I love the alphabet murders with Kinzie Milhon, The Rabbi series, Goldie the caterer series, Mrs. Pollifax series, Kay Scarpeta series and I just recently started the Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody series and the wacky sister series that I cannot remember their names but one of the title's is "Murder on a Girl's Night Out"......wow, I did not realize how many series' I was reading/listening to!


from Peggy, somewhere in the United States, full time RV'er:
Hi deb it seems I only read series. fantasy, science fiction, paranormal, you name it. examples Harry Dresden, by Jim butcher, sookie stackhouse by charlaine harris, (now a series on hbo called true blood, twilight series, (don't miss the movie in November), the dragon series by Anne mccaffrey, too many to name. I am interested in library thingers will you send me a link? hope everyone is fine. sorry I missed you on our last trip. We're in lake havasu now the weather is wonderful, between 80 and 90 degrees. hope to see you soon.

from Barbara in Arizona:
Most of the books/authors I read have an on-going character that MUST be read in sequence to follow their lives and the plots, etc.I use fantasticfiction.com to find which books to read in order written, as well as new authors. They have a "star" system that rates the better ones.

from Shelly:
No series. I tend to get tired of them so haven't even tried to read a series for several years. The last one I read (and never finished) was the Father Tim series. I can't even remember their proper title. For me, I would rather read a book with reoccurring characters. The book can stand alone but there are familiar references to previous stories.