Book Fair!

Every fall and spring our school has a Scholastic Book Fair. In August, I get the Book Fair for Fall on my calendar. The librarian is a buddy of mine, and my daughter and I get to shop "Sneak Peek" on Friday afternoon before the Fair opens Monday morning. Same thing, then, in January: I've got to know when the Book Fair is coming.

I adore Scholastic: great teaching materials, great prices on books, totally NUTS fun stuff for kids!!! I even do the classroom fliers and book orders, for the points to use on classroom goodies. So today, we got to Sneak in on the spring sale.

I bought: Bones of Faerie (hardback!), Savvy (hardback), Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism, Gamer Girl, and, for THREE DOLLARS IN HARDBACK!!!!!... The Sea of Trolls!!!!! One of my FAVES! plus it's by Nancy Farmer, who also wrote A Girl Named Disaster, another fave. Katie got a poster for her bedroom, and our total was $31. Not that it needs to be said, but we walked away from another stack of books we wanted, but I couldn't spend more.

Affected by Books

Before I read the Barcode Tattoo books, I was plowing through The Mediator series. The Tattoo books were good sci-fi, kind of heady, and I find I cannot settle back down to spunky Suze and her brand-name-dropping and worries about cute boys. I am moving on, instead, to Arthur C. Clarke. Hope I can handle it! I've only read one ACC book, "Childhood's End," and it kind of freaked me out. I think I'll go back and re-read that one, though, because that was a lifetime ago, before marriage, children, and BIG philosophical changes. Funny how what we read is affected by our current mood, our life changes, our current interests, etc. I'm just glad that summer is coming SOON with lots of reading time!

My Facebook Flair

The Bar Code series

Very interesting series! I think this is marketed to Young Adults, the packaging is kind of cheap, parts of the story may be hard to swallow, but overall the author did a great job. She really did a lot of research into science, bar codes, politics, social science, and...more. (I even got on the internet to do some light research on points and names she brings up, i.e. her Global 1 vs. the real world GS1.--something like that.) There are Biblical allusions, and the story's pro-Bar Code movement seems very much like a fanatical religious movement. The book made me think about the countless fads we jump into with a passion and no questions and the liberties that we take for granted in, at least, the U.S.A.

I took me a little while to get into the first book, but then I plowed through the book and the sequel. Worth a read, but be ready to think!

Bel Canto

A beautiful, touching book! This one stayed with me for weeks as I mulled over the characters and events. I still sigh when I think of this one. Terrorists take over an international party in a South American mansion, and the hostages are held for a long time (weeks? a month?) During that time, the hostages, translators, and terrorists begin to interact. Their emotions and relationships transcend language barriers. *sigh* I might have to read this one again...

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

One of the most important books for my life. Can't really remember a lot of details, but I absorbed more of an "approach" to life that helps me a lot. The most memorable moment in the book was when a bolt broke off in the motorcycle and the author (this is a "true" story) didn't know what he was going to do. Finally he stepped away, took a break, and came back. When he came back mentally removed from the problem, he figured out what to do to remove and repair the seemingly hopeless problem. So now when I am stressed about a situation, I take a break from it and come back refreshed and more clear-headed. It is also a great approach to writing: write, leave, return, and edit.

I Love Books...

Big books, little books. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry. Biography, autobiography, geography. Adult books, young adult books, kids' books. Old books, new books. Books with movies. Coffee table books. How-To books. Never....enough....time....