Category Archives: books

TGIF

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Halfway through the last day of my first week. It’s going fine…the end of April is a weird time to come in to a classroom. Spring fever has hit–hard–and so it’s going to be difficult for anyone to keep a class under control. But overall, I really can’t complain. I’m reading The House on Mango Street with my 8th graders, and they seem to be liking it so far.

Yeah, I know I haven’t been blogging much…it’s not even so much a matter of time as it is a matter of mental energy. I updated the wedding blog this week, and I regularly update my twitter feed . (You can see my most recent tweets on my sidebar, too.)

Met up with Jen last night for dinner and margaritas at Cozumel, and that was great. 🙂

Tonight, Ookla and The Fibs are playing at Nietzche’s. It’s an early one–I believe the show starts at 6, and Ookla will go on around 8. I’ll be there, if anyone would like to come by!

That’s it for me. Happy Friday!

Yarr! Here there be Pirates!

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(cross posted to Required Reading)

I’m helping my friend Adam Selzer promote his new book, Pirates of the Retail Wasteland.

It’s the follow-up to his hilarious How to Get Suspended and Influence People, which I reviewed here. I also interviewed Adam in the same post.

I loved How to Get Suspended, and Pirates is definitely on my to-read list!

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The return of Required Reading

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So I decided to bring back my YA lit blog, Required Reading. I was prompted to do so because of my new blogfriend Jessica (aka miss_shortskirt). She is also a lover of the YA, so I  proposed that she join me in reviving the blog as a co-blogger, and she agreed. Woohoo!

So, anyone interested in YA can check us out over there. See ya!

Awesome books

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Every once in a while, I read a book that makes me wish I’d come up with the idea.

This is one of those books. (I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You, by Ally Carter)

Hello? Spy school? How awesome is that? My love for all things Alias guaranteed that I would fall in love with this book, and I have. I want to read the sequel. (Actually, likely the second in a series…)

That is all. 🙂

Obligatory post

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I promised I’d post every day during this BufBloPoFo thing, even if I didn’t get around to the prompt (and truthfully, I’m too lazy to go see what today’s prompt is…), so here I am.

Today was a typical day in the life of a sub…phone rang at 6 am (gah…hate that…but glad I took it) and I had a very laid-back day with a great schedule. Score. I managed to both finish Living Lost: Why We’re All Stuck on the Island by J. Wood (which I enjoyed, but somehow, not as much as I enjoy his blog!) and Boy Proof by Cecil Castellucci. I love how raw and honest her characters are.

Aside? Lost is totally rocking my world this season. Bring it on!

And what was even worse than the phone ringing at 6? Well, digging my car out. Rand had to give me a push b/c I was completely stuck.

Over the weekend, I ate too much pizza, slept too much, and had a brainstorm for a series of YA novels that I need to let marinade or percolate or whatever for a while. I think it could be really, really cool.

(Speaking of writing, I need to get going on my April article for TC!)

OH…and another big thing happened over the weekend, but I’m not quite ready to go totally public with it yet. Soon, as soon as things are definitely definite. 😉

And that’s what’s new with me today. Hope you’re all having a spectacular Monday!

I could hear the voices of my childhood

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In response to today’s BufBloPoFo prompt:

BufBloPoFo Topic for Day 6: What kind of stuff (toys, books, TV shows) were you into when you were a kid? Do you think that had an effect on what kind of a person you are today?

Hmm…I had lots of the typical toys of a child of the 70s/80s. Hungry Hungry Hippos. Lite Brite. Viewmaster, Sit’n Spin, Etch-a-Sketch. I played with Barbies and Strawberry Shortcake dolls, My Little Pony, the Rubiks Cube, Cabbage Patch Kids (I had two). I enjoyed all that stuff, and I think that they serve as cultural markers–in some ways, we’re all identified by these things…the toys we played with, and the music we listened to, and the shows we watched on TV.

But of everything, I think the things that most influenced me were my books. I’ve always been a reader, ever since I can remember. I continue to tell people that my favorite book of all time was and continues to be A Wrinkle in Time. I loved the Chronicles of Narnia, particularly The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Another one of my favorites was the lesser-known The Girl with the Silver Eyes. I absolutely ate up anything magical, anything extraordinary, and I so desperately wanted it to be real. I wanted to open a door and emerge in a different world. I wanted to bend the rules of space and time. I wanted to be able to move things with my mind. I loved these books, and I read them over and over and over again. It was in those stories, I think, that my desire to be a writer first emerged. I wanted to be able to make other people feel the way I felt when I was reading.

Books read so far…

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1. Love, Stargirl–Jerry Spinelli
2. Abadazad: The Road to Inconcievable–JM DeMatteis
3. Neptune Noir–edited by Rob Thomas
4. Blood Price–Tanya Huff
5. Looking for Alaska–John Green
6. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom–Cory Doctorow
7. Young Avengers
8. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born
9. Kimmie66
10. Blood Trail–Tanya Huff

Also read this year (but perhaps not in entirety) have been several wedding planning books and one homebuying book (are we buying a home? Sigh…I don’t know…). Slow start, but I’ve been a little busy.  😉

I also have several things started, just waiting for me to pick them up again…

What have you read lately? 🙂

School board meetings (PORN! Part 2)

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So, I remembered that the Depew School Board meeting was last night, so I had to check the paper to see what happened. As expected, a bunch of people showed up to talk about John Green’s book, Looking for Alaska. Some of them were in favor, others were opposed. the board will review the book and make a decision next month.

Reading this story made me SO HAPPY that I am no longer required to attend school board meetings. I did this back in PA for a couple of years, and briefly covered Sweet Home for the News.

Of course, one of the people who showed up to bash the book was a member of the taxpayers association:

Jan Wiercioch of the Depew Taxpayers Association called the novel “disgusting.”

Back in my hometown, we always had a member of the taxpayers association ON the school board. “Taxpayers Association” should be code for “I’m a raving lunatic.” Basically, his job was to make sure that the district never spent money on anything. Seriously, I think that guy voted no to everything that came before him.

My favorite quote was this one, though, from a parent:

“Would any of you read this aloud at a board meeting?” Miller asked the seven-member board. “What’s next? Free condoms and unisex showers?”

Incidentally, this was from the parent of a 9th grader. The book is being proposed for 11th grade English.

I cannot wait to read this book.

Don’t forget to visit John Green’s webpage.

Books

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to read/currently reading

This is my current reading/to be read pile. I’m nearly done with Blood Price by Tanya Huff, and I’m really enjoying it. I just bought Looking for Alaska yesterday, and that’ll probably be my next read. The two wedding books are here and there reading, as is You Can Do It! (which was a totally awesome gift from Jen!)

Maybe this week I’ll actually venture out of my apartment for photos. 😉

PORN!

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Ah, now that I have your attention…

I’m wondering if anyone in the local blogosphere has picked up on this. It’s getting a lot of attention on the book/YA lit blogs I read. I first caught it on Meg Cabot’s journal, and I just saw it on Cecil Castellucci’s LJ.

The story is that some teachers at Depew High School wanted to teach John Green’s book Looking for Alaska. (I haven’t read the book, but it’s now at the top of my to-read list) Because the book does deal with some potentially touchy issues (SEX! he talks about SEX!) they jumped through all the proper hoops…sent permission slips home, offered students the opportunity to read another book if their parents did not sign the slip.

Apparently, that wasn’t enough. Parents of kids who aren’t even in the class are trying to get the book pulled. Because it’s apparently “pornographic.” It’s filthy and evil. *eyeroll*

The author addresses the situation here, as well as on this video on YouTube:

Meg Cabot offered the following information:

There are many supporters of this book among teachers, administrators, librarians, and the school board in Depew (as well as authors, such as…me! Well, I don’t live in Depew…but you get what I mean). To help them, John is asking people to email letters of support for the book at sparksflyup@gmail.com.

So, if you’re a fan of the book, please send a thoughtful, non-hysterical email to let them know there are many, many people who loved the book.

Also, if you live near Depew, the book will be discussed at the Depew Board of Education meeting on February 5th at the Depew High School Auditorium at 7 PM.

I haven’t met this kind of situation firsthand, of course, but as a teacher (and as a book lover in general), it hits very close to home. It frustrates me that people are so reactionary and close-minded