New Book Ideas

Been a little quiet over here lately.... just ran across this site, and immediately thought of you guys!

anynewbooks.com lets you sign up for categories, and sends you an email each week with recommendations of new books in that area. Not that any of us are suffering from a lack of quality reading material, I know we all like getting new suggestions!

I just signed up, so will let you know what I think.

Library book sale

It's that time of year again - the library book sale! A few weeks ago I dropped off a few things that I had read and hadn't loved. Books I really enjoyed either find a home on my shelf, or I give away to friends or family members. This year's sale was huge; one of the librarians said that there's a new committee overseeing the sale. I say, bravo new committee! Lots of great stuff. As usual, I got carried away. $1 for trade paperbacks, $2 for hardbacks; I walked out with two big bags for $29.

Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating

Amy Bloom, Where the God of Love Hangs Out (hb)

Carl Hiaasen, Flush (I think we already own a copy of this...)

Lorrie Moore, A Gate at the Stairs (hb)

Jennifer Weiner, Best Friends Forever

Amy Bloom, Away (already read it, but wanted a copy)

Patricia Wells, The Food Lover's Guide to Paris

Minimus (children's Latin textbook...I already have one copy)

Barbara Kingsolver, The Lacuna (hb)

Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire (hb) (already read it, but wanted a copy)

Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (already read it, but wanted a copy)

Maiya Williams, The Golden Hour (looks like something Alex would like)

Blue Balliett, Chasing Vermeer (hoping to interest Tim)

J. Courtney Sullivan, Commencement

Mark Haddon, A Spot of Bother

Neil Gaiman, American Gods (loved it, wanted my own copy)

Michael Chabon, Summerland (loved it, wondered if Alex might be ready for it)

Plus a bunch of Garfield, Simpsons, and Foxtrot comics, a Ripley's Believe-it-or-Not book, etc. which will be revealed right before our 1.75 hour drive to a soccer tournament next weekend.

Hunger Games, the movie??

I just read that The Hunger Games is going to be made into a movie. While I'm glad that one of my favorite recent books is getting so much attention, I shudder to imagine what will end up on the big screen.

Sequels

So, I'm about to dive into the new Artemis Fowl book, when I realize that I really can't remember what happened in the previous book. I strained my brain to remember something - anything - about the plot, but all I could think of were some random bits from some of the previous books in the series. I looked at my Goodreads review, which was pretty vague about the plot. (I avoid plot summary in those reviews to avoid spoilers, so that wasn't a big surprise.) I finally turned to Wikipedia to read a plot summary, and while it sounded familiar, I could barely follow the convolutions of the time travel story. Crossing my fingers about starting the new one...

How to read a good book

Question for you -- when you're reading a book you know is going to be excellent, do you:
1) read it as fast as you can
2) read it slowly so as to savor every word?

I just finished another Laurie King book.... I LOVE those books, so save them to read when I know I'll have long stretches of uninterrupted time. I almost hate to read them because then I won't have a new one to read for a long time. They are the kind of books you know you'll be incredibly sad to finish because you'll miss it. So, I'm torn between reading it as fast as I can because I love it, or purposely reading slowly....to linger over the story, the words, the characters....

Lightning Round!

It's just been too long. I was thinking about all my old childhood summer faves while digging through the library bag.
Ready? Go!

Favorite Laura Ingalls Wilder:
The Long Winter
Favorite BTT:
Betsy and Joe
Favorite Anne book:
Anne of the Island (I wanted to live at Patty's Place)
Favorite Nancy Drew:
Password to Larkspur Lane
Favorite Phyllis Whitney YA mystery:
Mystery on the Isle of Skye
Favorite Trixie Belden:
The Secret of the Mansion
(they find Jim, how can you not like it?)

It was always so easy to head to my bookshelf or library and reread my summer away! Now, as I dig through the aforementioned library bag, there are too many good new books to spend much time re-reading!

The Life Cycle of Basil

It's been quite awhile since I've posted but I thought I'd get back into the swing of blogging by featuring some pictures I took while making a huge batch of pesto a few days ago. I filled two plastic grocery bags with basil and the plants hardly look like I touched them. It's been quite a good month for basil and the tomatos are doing well too. I'll post some pictures of them later. The only drawback to the good plant weather is that the mosquitos are the size of small aircraft. Weeding and even watering often involves a lot of arm and leg slapping. Ah well.