The Dolphin People

A big thank you to Harper Perennial for the opportunity to read and review this novel. The work was originally published in Australia, where author Torsten Krol lives, in 2006; then in Great Britain in 2008. Krol has another novel, Callisto, published in 2007. Most interesting is the statement on the back cover of the book about the author: Torsten Krol is the author of Callisto. Nothing further is known about him. And, after extensive searching on the Web, it seems that this is true. He is reclusive and many believe the author is writing under a pseudonym.

At any rate, I really liked this delightfully interesting novel. The Dolphin People is narrated by Erich Linden who is a sixteen year old who travels with his mother and younger brother Zeppi to Venezuela. Erich's father has died fighting on the side of the Nazis in World War II. Erich's mother will now marry Klaus, her late husband's brother who has fled to Venezuela to avoid prosecution as a Nazi. And this is only the beginning!

After changing their last name, the new family takes a flight to the interior of Venezuela where they will live. Unfortunately the plane crashes and the four must figure out a way to live with the Amazonian tribe they encounter. The family learns the culture of the tribe via another white man, Gerhard, who has lived with the tribe for many years. To save their lives, the family members pretend to be dolphin people, almost gods who had been expected by the tribe. As time passes, the family must do more and more bizarre things to continue the ruse. I will not spoil the fun by telling you the results!

This novel was reviewed by Anis Shivani in the Huffington Post.

TITLE: The Dolphin People
AUTHOR: Torsten Krol
COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 356
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: I loved this fanciful novel, but really enjoyed the political rhetoric as well.

Displaced Persons

In May, 1945, Pavel Mandl, a Polish Jew recently liberated from a concentration camp, searches for surviving family in the Allied Zones of a crushed Germany. Alone, with no money and no prospects, he trades on the black market to survive. While searching for family members and waiting for a visa to America, he befriends a pair of refugees, Fela and a teenaged boy named Chaim, and soon the trio form a makeshift family. (From the back of the book)

When the war was over and Nazi concentration camps were liberated, survivors were taken to camps for displaced persons where their medical needs were addressed. But Europe, especially Eastern Europe, was in shambles. Survivors searched for family members and, more often than not, found that they alone had survived. The emotional devestation led to years of buried emotions and a feeling of not belonging. Displaced Persons, written by Ghita Schwarz, explores this emotional solitude over decades of survival. Ultimately, the emotions under the surface bubble up and expose feelings unknowingly guiding many decisions.

Pavel Mandl found himself in a British displaced persons camp after the war. He found his place in trading in the black market and joined with two other refugees, living in a small house he took over after the war. Fela, widowed by the war, and Chaim, a teenaged boy, who was willing to work with Pavel in trading in the black market, became each other's family. Ultimately Pavel married Fela and the couple struggled to gather what was needed to immigrate to the United States. They hoped the dream of freedom would erase the pain and struggles they had endured. While the two did make it to New York, they found that the past followed them and while they never discussed their experiences, certainly it was there, between them, between them and the world. Chaim went to Israel where he married Sima. Eventually Chaim and his wife also came to New York and the couples were reunited. Then the world changed.

After the fall of Communism, people wanted to hear about the past. They wanted survivors to speak out about their experiences. Many realized that by discussing their past, they would have to relive them in public. With this private struggle exposed, each survivor tried to find a way to move forward. To see the struggle over forty years and two continents really illuminates how difficult survival was after the war.

To hear the author discuss her novel, visit Book Passage.

TITLE: Displaced Persons
AUTHOR: Ghita Schwarz
COPYRIGHT: 2010
PAGES: 340
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: This is a very thoughtful book. The novel might be especially interesting to students of history who want to follow the post WWII lives of survivors.

Sunday Sidelines

This has been a very difficult month and an especially difficult week. My mother died on Tuesday evening (November 23, 2010) ~ she has been ill for about three years, but we have known the end was near for about a month. She was at peace. Now my sister and I are trying to find the same peace. The funeral is tomorrow, so I am hopeful that it will make me feel some better...to officially give her over to God. She was 83 years old and I will miss her every day for the rest of my life.

BBC Booklist!!

"The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here."

Instructions:

•Copy this list.
•Bold those books you’ve read in their entirety.
•Italicise the ones you started but didn’t finish or read only an excerpt.
•Tag other book nerds.
•Highlight the ones that you have but haven't read.

So, here is my list (feel pretty good about reading 39 of these great books):

Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
The King James Bible
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
Nineteen Eighty Four (1984) – George Orwell
His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
Complete Works of Shakespeare
Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
Birdsong – Sebastian Faulk
Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
Middlemarch – George Eliot
Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
Emma -Jane Austen
Persuasion – Jane Austen
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe – CS Lewis
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
Winnie the Pooh – A.A. Milne
Animal Farm – George Orwell
The DaVinci Code – Dan Brown
One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
Lord of the Flies – William Golding
Atonement – Ian McEwan
Life of Pi – Yann Martel
Dune – Frank Herbert
Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
The Secret History – Donna Tartt
The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
On The Road – Jack Kerouac
Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
Moby Dick – Herman Melville
Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
Dracula – Bram Stoker
The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
Ulysses – James Joyce
The Inferno – Dante
Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
Germinal – Emile Zola
Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
Possession – AS Byatt
Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
The Color Purple – Alice Walker
The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White
The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
Watership Down – Richard Adams
A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
Hamlet – William Shakespeare
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

Wishing you all a wonderful week ~ with reading and love for your family. Please say a little prayer for me and mine.

Two Little Girls in Blue

I have to admit that the last time I read a Mary Higgins Clark novel it had to have been 1991 with The Cradle Will Fall which scared me half to death - not necessarily the mystery (SUSPENSE) to read when you have four children alone in a house! So, I was rather surprised when my mother gave me two of these NEW mysteries. I read this book sitting next to my mother at the hospital and was desperate when her room was changed and I, with only 20 or so pages left to read, could not find the BOOK! AHHHHH! I found it a few days later exactly where I left it at my desk at work. Thankful sigh!

Two girls in blue - the twin daughters of Margaret and Steve Frawley - are kidnapped. In an interesting twist, we know who took them from the beginning, we just do not know until the end who orchestrated the kidnapping or why really. And believe me, there are plenty of people who had their own reasons to be the ONE. When the girls are separated, special twin communications help to reunite them...but will it be in life or in death?

TITLE: Two Little Girls in Blue
AUTHOR: Mary Higgins Clark

COPYRIGHT: 2006
PAGES: 390
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: I love a good mystery and this one was exceptional!

Blog Hop Friday

It is Friday!! And time for another HOP! Visit Crazy-For-Books and link up your response to the question, then blog about it on your site, then visit some phenomenal bloggers!

This week's question comes from Sarah who blogs at Writer, Reader, Dreamer:

"What is your favorite book cover?"

One of my favorite book covers is Oh!: A mystery of 'mono no aware' by Todd Shimoda. I really do not think the beauty of this book can be translated to the eye without holding it in your hands. The inside is equally as beautiful with high quality paper and lovely illustrations by the author's wife.

I reviewed this book here (the cover looks more the way it looks in real life on my review page).

Another book cover that I love is What I Loved by Suri Hustvedt. It reminds me of a Dali painting that I also find enchanting.

I reviewed this book here. It was one of my favorites this year.

I am trying desperately to get everything I have read over the last few months reviewed.

Please hop around and see how I am coming along! And I plan to visit as many people on the list because it has been a while since I have participated.

Enquiring Minds want to Know!

Visit DollyCas to share a little about yourself with other bloggers!


1.What is your favorite vegetable? There are not too many vegetables that I dislike. I love eggplant and squash. I think maybe my favorite though are sweet potatoes ~ can that count. If not, then onions.

2.What is your favorite fruit? My absolute favorite fruits are Queen Anne cherries ~ which are the white cherries only available for a short time here each year. I just eat them up and settle for regular red cherries the rest of the year.

3.Do you grow any of your own fruits & vegetables? No, we live in a rental house. However my sister's family has a Farmer's Market and we often have access to very fresh fruits and vegetables.

The Outer Banks House

The Outer Banks House by Diann Ducharme came to me via Crown Publishers, a division of Random House. As the name suggests, the setting is the Outer Banks of North Carolina. And the book is filled with the richness of North Carolina history and scenery. Taking place just after the Civil War, the tensions of the post-war South also play a significant role in the development of the book.

Abigail Sinclair, her parents, and her siblings come to the North Carolina shore with Abigail looking toward her marriage in the near future while her father is hoping to escape a plantation that is faltering with the loss of slave labor. The family quickly, if reluctantly, joins in the rythms of the island. Abby is introduced to the island by Ben who is a young man with deep ties to North Carolina life and history. Abby teaches Ben to read and their temperments clash until Abby realized that Ben has much to teach her as well. While she becomes more involved in the lives of ex-slaves living nearby, Abby's father becomes involved in local attempts to put the ex-slaves back in their place.

Of course, Abby and Ben fall in love, struggle, come apart, and come back together. It is actually this part of the book with which I have the most trouble. Perhaps the book follows the tried and true method of plot build up, conflict, and resolution ~ but I just did not find it to be real. Maybe as someone who lives in the South, I did not like the racial undertones of the conflict for Abby and her family. So I enjoyed the book for the descriptive narrative, but not the human interactions.

TITLE: The Outer Banks House
AUTHOR: Diann Ducharme
COPYRIGHT: 2010
PAGES: 291
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: I did not particularly care for this book. I appreciated what the author was trying to accomplish, but it just did not feel true for me. However, the descriptions of the North Carolina shores were beautiful.

Kasey to the Rescue

Thanks to Library Thing Early Reviewer program and Hyperion for the opportunity to read and review this fascinating family saga. I was so excited to receive Kasey to the Rescue. My husband and I always visited the two small monkeys at our local pet shop. I also love the idea of service animals of any sort.

In this true account, Kasey becomes the service monkey for Ned, a young man who was paralyzed in an auto accident. His mother tells the reader about the accident, her son's recovery in the face of low odds, and how Kasey came into their life as a miracle!

Ned was your typical college student when he was injured in an accident. His mother rushed to his bedside only to hear the words no mother wants to hear - that their child might not make it and will be a quadripilegic if he survives. With a life that was crazy enough to begin with, Ellen Rogers stays with her son through his recuperation and brings him home where he lives in the living room. Recognizing that her son needed assistance and even perhaps a new focus in life, the family explores the Helping Hands program which provides capuchin monkeys for the disabled. This is a remarkable and funny story of the determination of one family to get through tough times with the miracle of a monkey! (I hope you will visit the website above and consider supporting their program).

As a parent, I certainly could identify with Ms. Rogers and her love for her son and her other children shines brightly in this easy to read book. I know the delight of a miracle. My daughter is also a miracle - but from birth. I know the wonder of a life saved. If you don't have time to read this book, try to make time. You can also view a number of interviews and videos online:

Recent interview with Ellen Rogers - at Paw Nation
Kasey to the Rescue website - book website
And even a Facebook page - Kasey to the Rescue

TITLE: Kasey to the Rescue: The Remarkable Story of a Monkey and a Miracle
AUTHOR: Ellen Rogers
COPYRIGHT: November 2010
PAGES: 288
TYPE: non-fiction
RECOMMEND: If you have a love of animals, you will likely be enchanted by Kasey. If you love the triumph of the human spirit, you will love Ellen, her son Ned and her younger children. Altogether a fascinating story of love and faith and a little helper monkey!

National Non-Fiction Day ~ YEAH!!

I have always loved non-fiction. I like Holocaust narratives, history, memoirs, cookbooks, and just about any how to do it book. When I was a child, my mother said I even read the phone books. So I thought I would do two things today. I am going to write two reviews on non-fiction books I have recently completed and then tell you a little about a non-fiction book I just loaded on the Kindle and am looking forward to reading.

My dear, dear boss JVK brought me an autographed copy of this book. She stood in line at ALA and I am very glad that she did. The idea is how librarians and cybrarians can help in the organization of what has quickly becomed gluts of information.

One of my favorite quotes is early in the book - the author is speaking of the information explosion that came with the Internet: Information and new forms of information were washing over me in oceans and it was fun to splash in the wake. (p. 17) Now that I have read the Internet back and forth ten thousand times, I am nearly done with the splashing.

Here is the best advice found in the book: Just because librarians like to search for author, title, subject the way they used to in the old card catalog doesn't mean the general public does that anymore. The card catalog is dead, people. Move on. (p.41)

TITLE: This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save us All
AUTHOR: Marilyn Johnson
COPYRIGHT: 2010
PAGES: 272
TYPE: non-fiction
RECOMMEND: I laughed and laughed ~ I have lived so many of these moments. Never more proud to be a librarian.

For students of Jewish or European history, it is a well known fact that the Hungarian Jews were the last to be sent through the Hitler killing machine that decimated the Jewish population of Europe. In 1944, late in the war that Hitler was slowly losing, Swedish Raoul Wallenberg, educated in America and a world traveler, found himself with the knowledge that the Jews in Budapest were being rounded up and sent to their deaths. He felt that he must try to save as many people as possible and began to do just that.

Using fake protective passports, Wallenberg saved between 30,000 and 100,000 Hungarian Jews. He set up safe houses and managed to move the hunted Jews to safety. In doing so, he put himself in danger. As the Soviets came closer and closer to the Hungarian capital, they became convinced that Wallenberg was a German spy. After the war, Wallenberg was captured by the Soviets and has not been seen since the end of the war.

TITLE: Raoul Wallenberg: The Man Who Stopped Death
AUTHOR: Sharon Linnea
COPYRIGHT: 1993
PAGES: 145
TYPE: non-fiction, Holocaust narrative
RECOMMEND: This book made me sad - although why it should have more than others, I don't know. I think it upset me because a man who saved the lives of others could not be saved.

This is the personal account of Carolyn Jessop's escape from a fundamentalist Mormon polygamous marriage. I have heard her speak about her ordeal, from the time she was married in her early teens to her life after escape. I expect this book to be very interesting. To make it even better, I am going to read it on a Kindle.

TITLE: Escape
AUTHOR: Carolyn Jessop with Laura Palmer
COPYRIGHT: October 2007
PAGES: 432
TYPE: non-fiction
RECOMMEND: I can't really say yet, since I am only starting the book, but I know I will like the topic. And I have seen very good reviews.

All in all, non-fiction remains my favorite genre. As they say, truth is stranger than fiction and I love it that way!!

Adam & Eve: A Novel

First, I would like to thank William Morrow/HarperCollins Publishers for sending me this uncorrected proof. In return, I am providing an unpaid review of the book containing my personal opinions of Naslund's newest novel Adam and Eve. In her two previous novels, Ahab's Wife and Abundance, the author brought a fictional character to life - Ahab's wife (from Moby Dick) and took a real life character - Marie Antionette, into a fictional world. In her latest novel, Naslund wraps her characters around ancient religious symbols and texts - moving from Amsterdam, to Eden (somewhere in the Middle East), to France.


Lucy Bergmann was in Amsterdam when her husband was killed. Shortly before his death Thom, an astrophysicist, had given Lucy his flash drive with the quip that it was the keys to the kingdom. And the kingdom included extraterrestrial life! He could prove it. At this point, I was thinking, oh brother ~ another one of these stories ~ but I persevered! And I loved this book.

The book bounces back and forth in time, but is easy to follow. We meet people who are to help Lucy, like Adam who finds himself adrift from a war he never believed in - adrift in Eden. Alone until Lucy ~ his Eve ~ crashes a plane nearby. Together they look for a case Lucy was carrying ~ holding ancient biblical texts. Lucy and Adam are not the only people searching for them and the two find themselves in the center of a battle between the three main ancient religions.

I was glued to this book from beginning to end. I had to hear what the ancient texts said, I had to follow Adam and Lucy in Eden, I had to know who the bad guys were, and was there a happily ever after? I hope that you will grab this book and spend some time with it. I plan to read it again as soon as I can and check out the author's previous two books as well.

TITLE: Adam & Eve: A Novel
AUTHOR: Sena Jeter Naslund
COPYRIGHT: September 2010
PAGES: 335
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: I found this to be a beautiful book that provoked joy and deep thinking about our place in the universe. A perfect blend of mystery, faith, and beauty.

Sunday Sidelines (And Awards, ~squee~)

So, today is a special Sunday around our house ~ it is my husband's birthday! He is 42 today and we are celebrating with a special dinner with vanilla cake (with vanilla icing) [his choice, as per our household agreement, birthday person picks cake and icing flavor]!

What a sweet thing to find in my comments today! CMash @ CMash Loves to Read gave me the following two awards:

The Honest Scrap award is given to bloggers who share honest bits of information about yourself. And the Versatile Blogger award is given to a new blog that you think is fantastic. So first, I want to thank CMash for these two awards. It is always nice to know that someone out there is reading what you write and thinks of you. I love reading CMash's posts so I feel very special to receive these awards.

And now for the criteria:
To accept these awards it is required that I share ten things about myself.

1. I have four chihuahuas that I treat like my children ~ I have four of those as well, but they are all grown.

2. My husband is fifteen years younger than I am, we both work for the same library!

3. I have two grandsons and wish that my other three children would get busy and provide me with some granddaughters!

4. I wake up two or three times each night and go outside and read ~ probably not good for my health, but I get some reading done!

5. I have so many books that I have read and not reviewed that I could just cry ~ all of the Outlander series, about four review books from publishers, two from LibraryThing ~ oh, goodness the list just goes on and on! I'm working on it.

6. I love playing all of the Lego games on the Wii ~ sometimes I have to get one of my children to beat a level so I can more forward.

7. I work with young people all day long, and I think it keeps me young as well. Now if some how they could just help me lose weight??!!

8. I traveled to Eastern Europe and absolutely fell in love! I hope that I get the opportunity to return.

9. I have another blog that focuses on Holocaust resources for children. I am really drawn to these books and feel it is important to provide this information to our children.

10. I have really enjoyed getting to know all of the book bloggers out in the blogosphere! What a great bunch of people. Thanks again to CMash!

I would like to pass the award on to the following bloggers, in no particular order:

Crazy for Books

In Which a Girl Reads

Lost in the Library

Peaceful Reader

Reading While Female

If you don't already follow these blogs, you should definitely check them out ~ they are fantastic!

Don't forget LunaNina and the Word Association Game:

1.Mustache :: Pete
2.Person :: of interest
3.Restore :: my health
4.Discretion :: is the better part of valor
5.Lamp :: Lava
6.Pillow cover :: so soft
7.Arousal :: sexual
8.Seattle :: needle
9.ATM :: card
10.Custard :: vanilla

Wishing everyone a Happy Sunday and a wonderful week!

Room

Jack is only five years old.
He lives with his MA in ROOM.
Everything outside the ROOM is pretend.
ROOM is all Jack has ever known.

But one day MA tells Jack that
There is another life outside of ROOM.
MA has lied to him.
But can they leave ROOM?

If they do leave ROOM
How will they live?
Will Old Nick find them,
And take them back to ROOM?

Will MA's family care
Care that they have been in ROOM
Such a long time
Only to finally reappear?

Can Jack and MA escape from Old Nick?
Will the love between MA and Jack sustain them
Outside the ROOM?


Thanks to Little Brown and Company, I had the privilege to read this fascinating book. Five year old Jack is the narrator and author Emma Donoghue has done a magnificent job in giving Jack just the right voice for his age and experiences. One would think this book, limited in range to one small room and two people, would be flat and boring. Instead Ma and Jack's story is a testament to love and ingenuity. With very little to assist her in her efforts, Ma provides Jack with as many "normal" childhood experiences as she can, using what she has, and providing loving care for her son. Still she knows things have to change. And they do! Ma thinks of a way that she and Jack can fool Old Nick and escape Room. Will they succeed and will they find greater happiness? You will have to read the book to find out!

TITLE: Room: A Novel
AUTHOR: Emma Donoghue
COPYRIGHT: September 2010
PAGES: 321
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: I loved this book, as a reader, as a mother and as a child. Fantastic novel!

If my recommendation is not enough, Room is on the Man Booker Prize short list! If you have read this one, let me know how you felt about it!

BBAW - Future Treasure

I want to hear all about your FUTURE treasures. We’ve been visiting each other and getting to know each other better…now is your chance to share what you enjoyed about BBAW and also what your blogging goals are for the next year!

I have enjoyed every single part of Book Blogger Appreciation Week! From the very beginning with judging blogs from all of the categories to this last little bit ~ and of course every little thing in between. I have found some wonderful blogs which are new to me that have over-filled my Google Friend list, I have given some love to beautiful bloggers who have influenced what I am reading, I have created a monstrous TBR pile of books that I just know I am going to love, and I had the pleasure of interviewing two fantastic bloggers! So how much fun was all of this? T.O.N.S of FUN! Thank you to all of the people who helped to organize BBAW and thanks to all of the bloggers who showed just how much they love books!

My blogging goals for the next year are to try my best to review books immediately after I read them whenever possible ~ and I would even say, to review books that I have read, because sometimes I get so far behind (voracious reader that I can be) that it seems impossible to get caught up, so I just stop like a deer in the headlights! I hope to remember that this is always supposed to be fun. I would like to make even deeper connections with my fellow book-loving nerds and enjoy what we all have to say!

BBAW - Forgotten Treasures!

Today’s Topic: Sure we’ve all read about Freedom and Mockingjay but we likely have a book we wish would get more attention by book bloggers, whether it’s a forgotten classic or under marketed contemporary fiction. This is your chance to tell the community why they should consider reading this book!

What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt is a wonderful novel that I have not seen bounced about in the blogosphere much. I read the book as part of the Scandinavian Reading Challenge 2010 which you can find at The Black Sheep Dances.

Here is the beginning of my review:

For me, the mark of a great book is one that, while I am reading it, I say to myself "This is the best book I have ever read." Now granted I am prone to saying that with some frequency, but for me, What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt was just such a book. I loved every part of it - the mundane, the excitement, the familiar, the unknown, the art, the critic, the loneliness, the camraderie. This book has everything and then some. The focus is clear as we have a single narrator who leads us through his twenty-five year friendships in New York's art world.

I hope that you will take some time to read the rest of my review which can be found Here.

I found another excellent review of What I Loved at The Public, The Private, and Everything In Between. Beyond this review I didn't find too many others, so I hope you will read this book and post a review ~ and come back and leave me a comment to make sure I read it!

BBAW - Unexpected Treasures

Book bloggers can be some of the most influential people around! Today we invite you to share with us a book or genre you tried due to the influence of another blogger. What made you cave in to try something new and what was the experience like?

This is an easy question for me. Because of Presenting Lenore and her Dystopian August with promotion and love for the Hunger Game series, I read all three Hunger Game books as fast as I could when Mockingjay was released. I do like YA books, and I love reading her reviews of YA materials - but dystopian novels with strange worlds ~ not my typical read. And I absolutely loved the three books. In fact, I plan to read all three again when I have a bit of time on my hands. Of course, I continue to read Lenore's reviews of other YA books and know that I can trust her judgment! She is my Queen of YA books!!

Table Talk Tuesday

It is time again for Table Talk Tuesday! Welcome to TABLE TALK TUESDAY hosted by Cheryl at CMash Loves to Read. I missed last week because I had it in my mind that it was Table Talk Thursday - very, very close! OK, so this week is Book Blogger Appreciation Week and that is very exciting, so my conversation tidbits will be about BBAW. But first let me answer CMash's questions.
CMash's conversation tidbits:
1. Do you have any special plans for this week?

I stay super busy most weeks, but this week I am trying to set aside some time to read as many BBAW related posts as possible. This is coming on the heels of what was probably a very successful Blogfest (which I did not sign up for because I am slow!)

2. It's that time of year, do you get a flu shot?

Absolutely - even with the flu shot last year I was one of the lucky Floridians who managed to get the Swine Flu - working in a library, I think we are offered every possible bug every day!

3. What are you reading this week?

I am reading A Call from Jersey by P.F. Kluge - which I love so far.

Now here are my thoughts and questions:

1. I am in love with BlogFest and BBAW - I mean seriously book bloggers are the greatest people. How have you participated? I did an interview with one person for each of my blogs - here are the links: Sophisticated Dorkiness and Age 30+ - A Lifetime of Books
Both are phenomenal bloggers so I hope you will check out the interviews and visit their blogs.

2. Tell me how you found out about BlogFest - did you participate? Do you know any bloggers in real life? How did you meet? I would love to meet with real people just once!

3. Do you ever participate in the Read-a-thons? If yes, how many hours of 24 do you actually read? Do you significant others understand this insanity? I have not participated but I would love to, so I am thinking about Dewey's Readathon.

Hope you have a wonderful week! I've enjoyed my cup and cake with you this morning!

BBAW - Interview

This is about as much fun as I have had in quite some time - I mean, you get a bunch of readers and bloggers together, and how could it not be fun?!! Today's event is swapping interviews with other bloggers and I knew from the start that it would be delightful.

So without further blathering from me, I am excited to introduce Heather @ Age 30+...A Lifetime of Books. Heather is a very active blogger reading a wide range of books. In 2009, Heather won Best History/Historical Fiction Blog.

1. To get started, tell us a little about yourself. What do you do when you are not reading and blogging?

I’m a wife and a mom and lots of other things so of course my life is crazy busy. Most of my non-bookish time is spent with my 8 year old son Kiddo – boy, does he ever keep me on my toes!

2. I have to admit that I have never listened to an audio book! I see from your blog that you review them frequently. Which audio book should I listen to first so that I will fall in love with the medium?

That’s a really hard question to answer since it depends on your reading tastes. The key to enjoying audiobooks is twofold: to find a book you are ALREADY interested in and then to make sure the narrator is one whose voice you enjoy – that will usually guarantee success. After looking at some of the books you’ve reviewed on your blog I’d suggest two things. First, try out the Harry Potter audiobooks narrated by Jim Dale. Since you’ve read the books and seen the movies, you can compare the experience to both of those. Plus, these are some of the best audiobooks out there in my opinion. Since you also read and enjoyed The Survivor’s Club, my second suggestion would be Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers: The Story of Success. I’m a huge fan of non-fiction audiobooks, and this one seems like a good fit for you. Thank you for your guidance and suggestions. Now at least I know where to start!

3. Tell us about the best book you have read that was totally outside your normal choices.

I’d have to say The Horse Boy, by Rupert Isaacson. I don’t generally read memoirs or books dealing with special needs issues, so this was not something I’d have picked up on my own. However, it was an incredibly moving book and extremely well-written. (And it was a audiobook as well!) I’ve been recommending it to everyone since I finished it.

4. I see you are participating in the Lost Challenge? Which lost character are you? Why?

I’m actually one of the co-hosts of the Lost Challenge – which, by the way, is still going on despite the end of the series. :) I’d say I’m probably most like Juliet. I always want everyone to get along and I’m always trying to do the right thing.

5. What three things do you love (reading doesn’t count, or blogging!)?

Watching Kiddo excel at ice hockey and seeing how much he truly enjoys it
Doing family history research, either online or by interviewing family members
Spending time on the beach in the sun and sand, with the sound of waves continually crashing

6. What would the name of your autobiography be?

I Find Myself Interesting … You May Not Agree Now that is funny! I think you are quite interesting!

7. I love the idea of Mom and Son reading. What is the best book you and your son have read?

The one that generated the funniest answers during our Q&A was definitely Diary of a Wombat, by Jackie French. But the “best” book we’ve read together was The Ark, The Reed, and the Fire Cloud, by Jenny Cote. It was a huge book and took a very long time to read, but the story was fun and it was quite a challenge to try to do all the accents in that book!

8. Are you a cat person or a dog person – or maybe a neither person?

I’m a bit of both. At the moment we are without a pet (other than a fish) because both our two dogs passed away over the past few years. I’d love to have cats again like I did as a child but both Hubby and Kiddo are very allergic. And our schedule is so busy that we’re hardly home right now, so I don’t think it’s fair to get another dog just yet. But I’d love to have something furry to cuddle up with each day, be it a dog or a cat. We have three chihuahuas but I long for one cat - I am the one who is now allergic after a lifetime of cuddling!

9. What book should I rush out to buy if I don’t already have it?

You should absolutely get the illustrated version of Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown. This is a must read book for everyone.

10. When people visit your blog, what do you hope they leave with?

I hope they are excited about reading and that they find reviews of some books that they haven’t seen on other blogs. And I always hope that they’ll leave with the desire to visit me again! I certainly left with that feeling - I will be back again and again!

Thank you, thank you for talking with me!!

BBAW - First Treasure

Let’s talk about that first treasure today.
For those of you who participated in BBAW last year, what’s a great new book blog you’ve discovered since last year’s BBAW?
For those you new to BBAW, what was the first book blog you discovered?

Tell us all about this blog and why you love it…why do you keep going back for more?

I have been blogging for about six years, but in February 2007 I found a blog called The Newbery Project while doing some research for work. WOW - people were reading the Newbery Award books, posting a review of each title, AND having discussions about each book. I was delighted - there were other nerds (I mean adult people) who were reading books meant for a younger age group and joining together in a discussion!! My kind of people.

As I read and posted (under Flusi's Posts), I decided I wanted to start keeping track of all of the books I was reading. So I made the move from Diaryland to Blogger and got started. It was a little lonely at first, but over time I started recognizing other bloggers and looked forward to reading their posts. Then along came LibraryThing and I began to join others in discussing books.

Within these two communities I feel comfortable enough to state my mind and I have met some wonderful bloggers who recommend the best books, some I would never have read on my own and, lets face it, some I would never read again! But we are all as different as we are the same and that is what makes the blogosphere go 'round!

Sunday Sidelines

Welcome to another Sunday Sidelines! I have so much to talk about today. It has been an exciting week and another exciting week will be coming up!

I hope that you will take some time today to visit the blogs who are participating in BlogFest 2010! Over 200 bloggers are offering giveaways on top of the opportunity to visit their wonderful reading blogs. The host, A Journey of Books, has created a tracking site where you can keep up with which ones you have visited. It all ends at 11:59 pm tonight, so start visiting!

Another fun thing I do every week is Unconscious Mutterings, hosted by Luna Nina! It is so much fun to see answer these free association suggestions and go back and see how others have answered. Participation has been down a bit so I hope you will go play her game so that she continues to do this!

Singapore :: Nights
blah blah blah :: Seinfeld
Stall :: bathroom
Bowls :: 300
Entrance :: Exam
Antique :: dresser
Elizabeth :: Bennett
Hook :: line and sinker
Width :: and depth
Photo journalism :: Viet Nam War

Next week starts another big event in the world of blogging. Book Blogger Appreciation Week will be full of wonderful surprises - blogs with awards, interviews with other bloggers - so I hope you will stop by for a visit throughout the week. On Tuesday, I will be posting my interview with Heather J. from Age 30+...A Lifetime of Books. It is oh so exciting!

Blog Fest 2010

Oh my goodness - BlogFest 2010 has some amazing blogs and some amazing giveaways - you really have to go and visit! I think the best place to start is at A Journey of Books. And it only lasts for two days, so you better get moving - over 250 blogs to visit!

Book Blogger HOP

This week's question/topic comes from:

Anne @ My Head Is Full of Books

Post a link to a favorite post or book review that you have written in the past three months.

And your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to COMMENT ON THAT PERSON'S POST! Spend some time getting to know each other's blog and writing!

Note: If you have already commented on this person's review, find another one that you haven't commented on! The point is to read a post on their blog that isn't a HOP post! :)

The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly meme hosted by Crazy-For-Books. If you hop on over to her blog, you can find Mr. Linky and link your HOP post to the other 300 who link up every week. It is always fun to see the different books and blogs which are highlighted each week.

My Answer:

I think you might enjoy What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt. I liked it alot and it was outside my normal reading genre. Great question and great challenge!

Cherry on Top Award

Oh my goodness! The wonderful blogger, CCL at Crazy Cat Lady's Library, gave my blog the Cherry on Top Award. This award is meant to go to "beautiful blogs with that little bit extra!" While I am not sure my blog is beautiful, I always try to give a little bit extra and I really appreciate her sending me this award.

The Cherry on top Award Rules are:

1. Answer this question: If you had the chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you, and what would it be?

I think maybe there are two things - one I might change, the other I would definitely change. When I was in college, I had the opportunity to go to Italy and study for two years - completely paid for by a scholarship. For a variety of reasons, I did not go. How. Insane. Is. That?? But who knows, things do and don't happen for a reason. So I might change that.

The thing that I would definitely change would be the birth of my first child - she was born two weeks late in a time when they just did not induce. She had terrible problems as a result and almost died. Her life has been a blessing for me, but I would change that because of the pain it has caused her - through no fault of her own, just that people can be quite mean. Wait, maybe if I am being given power to change things - I would leave my daughter just as she is - a wonderful blessing - and change everyone else!

2. The second thing you have to do is, pick 6 people and give them this award. You then have to inform the person that they have gotten this award.

I have chosen the following 6 blogs to pass this award along to:

1. CMash Loves to Read
2. Caroline Bookbinder
3. Rose City Reader
4. The Blue Bookcase
5. Notes From the North
6. Thinking About Loud

3. The third and final thing is: thank the person who gave you the award.

This is the easy part!! Crazy Cat Lady, thank you, thank you, thank you so much.

BAN THIS and BANNED BOOK CHALLENGE

BAN THIS - check it out!! Visit Donna at Bites to join in this celebration of our freedom to read. If you are planning on posting anything about Banned Books Week on your blog, please visit her and leave a link so others can check out what you have to say.

BANNED BOOKS READING CHALLENGE -

While you are thinking about this very important topic, please visit Steph Sue Reads and join the reading challenge that goes along with Ban This! You should pledge to read seven banned books in seven weeks. You provide a link on her blog and then post links to your reviews and any other information you might have on this one link...anyway, sounds like a great challenge. Here is my initial list:

• Go Ask Alice
• TTYL
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower
• Olives Ocean
• TBA
• TBA
• TBA

So everyone who wants to show support for librarians, book store owners, publishers, principals, teachers, friends, and readers - sign up now and read some banned books!

Donna also provides this fantastic proclamation and as a librarian I think I should also make the pledge:

Banned Books Week Proclamation

WHEREAS, the freedom to read is essential to our democracy, and reading is among our greatest freedoms; and

WHEREAS, privacy is essential to the exercise of that freedom, and the right to privacy is the right to open inquiry without having the subject of one's interest examined or scrutinized by others; and

WHEREAS, the freedom to read is protected by our Constitution; and

WHEREAS some individuals, groups, and public authorities work to remove or limit access to reading materials, to censor content in schools, to label "controversial" views, to distribute lists of "objectionable" books or authors, and to purge libraries of materials reflecting the diversity of society; and

WHEREAS, both governmental intimidation and the fear of censorship cause authors who seek to avoid controversy to practice self-censorship, thus limiting our access to new ideas; and

WHEREAS, every silencing of a heresy, every enforcement of an orthodoxy, diminishes the toughness and resilience of American society and leaves it less able to deal with controversy and difference; and

WHEREAS, Americans still favor free enterprise in ideas and expression, and can be trusted to exercise critical judgment, to recognize propaganda and misinformation, and to make their own decisions about what they read and believe, and to exercise the responsibilities that accompany this freedom; and

WHEREAS, intellectual freedom is essential to the preservation of a free society and a creative culture; and

WHEREAS, conformity limits the range and variety of inquiry and expression on which our democracy and our culture depend; and

WHEREAS, the American Library Association's Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year as a reminder to Americans not to take their precious freedom for granted; and

WHEREAS, Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that LibrarysCat celebrates the American Library Association's Banned Books Week, September 25th to October 2nd, and be it further

RESOLVED, that LibrarysCat encourages all libraries and bookstores to acquire and make available materials representative of all the people in our society; and be it further

RESOLVED, that LibrarysCat encourages free people to read freely, now and forever.

Adopted by Donna at Bites
8/14/10
Connecticut

Adopted by Donna at LibrarysCat
9/3/2010
Florida

Blog Hopping Time Again

ABOUT THE HOP:

In the spirit of the Twitter Friday Follow, the Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word! This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books! It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs to read! So, grab the logo, post about the Hop on your blog, and start HOPPING through the list of blogs that are posted in the Linky list at Crazy-For-Books!!

The Hop lasts Friday-Monday every week, so if you don't have time to Hop today, go back later and join the fun! This is a weekly event! And go back throughout the weekend to see all the new blogs that are added!

This week's question comes from Sarah Reads Too Much!

Do you judge a book by its cover?

Is this a bad thing? Oh, right, my mother always told me "you can't judge a book by its cover"! Well, then I have to confess that sometimes I do. Especially if I am wandering around the book store with no particular book in mind. I just walk up and down the aisles and - all of a sudden, I am drawn in by a cover! Now I don't just willy-nilly buy the book, I do have sense enough to read a little and decide if it is for me - but the awful truth is that I probably would not have picked it up without the cover.

If you are visiting from the Hop, welcome and I hope you will take a look around. This past week I posted reviews on Knit in Comfort: A Novel and The Eternal Ones. I also participated in a brand new meme - Table Talk Tuesday hosted by CMash Loves to Read.

Wishing you a wonderful Labor Day weekend filled with lots of fun, lots of reading, and of course, LOTS OF HOPPING!

Knit in Comfort: A Novel

Let me begin this review with thanks to LibraryThing and Avon Publishers for providing me with the opportunity to read this book. Knit in Comfort: A Novel by Isabel Sharpe is one of many books published recently which are centered on a group of women who share knitting as a common hobby. I wanted to love this book, and while I found it engaging enough, I only liked it.


The story revolves around two women. Megan Morgan lives a settled life in Comfort, North Carolina with her husband, children, and mother-in-law. She belongs to the knitting club, Purls before Wine which meets weekly. Even though this is the life Megan wanted, she never really seems content. Needing to supplement the family income, Megan rents out the small garage apartment behind the house to Elizabeth Detlaff. Elizabeth lived in New York City with her boyfriend. In a dream, Elizabeth heard her grandmother tell her to go find “comfort” and she believes that is what she has done! She views Megan’s life as blissfully happy until she sees beneath the surface and realized things may not be the way they seem. And isn’t that true of everyone’s life?




The part that made this story a little more interesting was the introduction of Megan’s stories about her ancestors from the Shetland Islands in Scotland. Fiona, Megan’s great-grandmother, knitted beautiful lace that seemed to tell her story. (This little sample of Shetland Island lace is just one of many beautiful examples I located - oh, if only I could tat lace like that!)
In the beginning, I was more focused on this story until I could figure out who was who. The two stories, Megan’s and Fiona’s, seem to flow together over the course of the book just as Megan and Elizabeth’s stories do.



TITLE: Knit in Comfort: A Novel
AUTHOR: Isabel Sharpe
COPYRIGHT: 2010
PAGES: 320
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: This was an easy book to read and it kept my attention - bonus twist as you learn family secrets. I didn't love it, but not really my cup of tea.

Table Talk Tuesday - 1st ever!

Welcome to the first Table Talk Tuesday meme, hosted by CMash Loves to Read. Hop on over to her blog to participate. The goal is to share a cup of coffee or tea and share three tidbits or ask three questions - either things about yourself or things you want to know.

My Three Things:

1. Do you prefer coffee or tea? I love Starbucks coffee on ice. Not a huge fan of hot coffee. I love, love sweet (Southern sweet) tea. Only drink hot tea when I am sick.

2. I love animals. We have four beautiful chihuahuas at our house. Do you have any pets? Or even a pet preference? I used to have cats but somehow I have become allergic, so I am not strictly a dog person.

3. I read The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay all in this last week - a little late to the games, so to speak!! Have you read them? Do you plan to read them?

I hope you have a great week and enjoy this little coffee break!

The Eternal Ones

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Haven Moore. I's seventeen years old and I live in a town called Snope City in eastern Tennessee. As long as I can remember, I've had visions of another life in New York, a city I've never visited.

My name then was Constance, and I was friends with some members of your Society. I believe I was around twenty years old when I died in a fire in the mid-1920s. (p, 101)

Haven Moore wrote the message above to the Ouroboros Society. She and her best friend Beau decided it was time for her to find out about her past lives, especially since her "spells" are becoming more and more frequent. After seeing Constance's lover on television, Haven runs away to New York to find him. The book becomes a mystery, with psychological twists and frantic escapes. The questions Haven must answer are: Who can she trust? Is the past real? and Can she find love and happiness in the future?

I was a little hesitant at first when I began reading this novel. It seemed disjointed with Haven moving back and forth in time, with other names and other people. Gradually, I really liked Haven and Beau and wanted them to find answers. And I wanted the bad people to be punished. In the end, I was satisfied with the outcome and glad that I had read the book. The strength of the book is that Miller is able to make each character, often the same person but different in time, become real and separate. I also liked the flow of the story, from beginning to end.

I visited the author's website and discovered that she is the creator of Kiki Strike, a young heroine in New York City, which has been very popular. I found a very good interview with Miller at Publisher's Weekly online - Q & A with Kirsten Miller. I would like to thank the publisher, Sleuth Razonbill, for sending me this copy of the ARC of The Eternal Ones. In return, I am providing my honest review of the book.

TITLE: The Eternal Ones
AUTHOR: Kirsten Miller
COPYRIGHT: August 2010
PAGES: 411
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: I had a little bit of difficulty getting into this book, but once it got going, I could not put it down. So if you don't like it at first, give it a chance - it will be worth it.

Sunday Sidelines

So, in my little neck of the woods, it has rained and poured all weekend long. It could not have happened at a better time. I finished The Hunger Games and Catching Fire (both on the Kindle) and now I can start Mockingjay. The only review I allowed myself to read was rather negative, so I am a bit sad because I want it to be as good as the first two. If you have read the final book and would like to encourage me PLEASE leave me a little comment telling me how good it really is! But no spoilers, please.

Please visit Merit Badger to decide which badge you have already earned as a reader or a writer! I read through many of them and have decided that I have earned the Voracious Reader badge:

Sure, writers write. But they should read, too! Earn the “voracious reader” merit badge by giving yourself permission to refill your head with words every now and again.

Since I am always reading two or three books at a time, I think I have earned this one for sure. Visit this unique blog to see which badges you have earned!

1.Bangs :: cut too short
2.Diaper :: change
3.Coffee table :: book
4.Cops :: and robbers
5.Matches :: cigarettes
6.250 :: dollars
7.Hurricane :: Katrina
8.Bad :: news
9.Confirmation :: church
10.Fiber :: One Bar

Unconscious Mutterings is a weekly word association game created by Luna Nina. Visit her blog to play along and see if anyone else matches your answers!!

I have one other question for you today...do you use Intense Debate for your comments, and if so do you like it better than the standard comment management on your platform?

Wishing you a great week ahead.

Blogger Hop Friday - raining and reading The Hunger Games

ABOUT THE HOP:

In the spirit of the Twitter Friday Follow, the Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word! This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books! It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs to read! So, grab the logo, post about the Hop on your blog, and start HOPPING through the list of blogs that are posted in the Linky list at Crazy-For-Books!!

The Hop lasts Friday-Monday every week, so if you don't have time to Hop today, go back later and join the fun! This is a weekly event! And go back throughout the weekend to see all the new blogs that are added!

This week's question comes from Books Are A Girls Best Friend!

Do you use a rating system and if so, what it is and why?

I do not use a rating system. I usually end each post with the publication information and my recommendation. I always like it when people DO use a rating system - with one quick glance I can see if they liked it or not. I often think about creating one, but haven't yet - then I would have to decide how to rate each book??#@

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend. I just finished The Hunger Games and have started the next book, Catching Fire. Don't be like me and wait forever to read them as the first book was really good. I had to stay up way past my normal bedtime last night just to see what was going to happen. I really appreciate all of the reviews and the excitement surrounding these books over the last few weeks. Your words or praise really encouraged me to read the books. Soon it will be Mockingjay time for me. (All on the borrowed Kindle, I might add.)

Have you read them? Did you love them? Which book was your favorite?

Sunday Sidelines

Good morning and welcome to another Sunday Sidelines!

I reviewed the Kindle and Drive by Daniel Pink this week. I very much liked both!!

It is also time for Luna Nina's Unconscious Mutterings:

1.Leads :: follows
2.Concierge :: tip
3.Thousand :: and one nights
4.Engines :: cars
5.Argument :: constant
6.2006 :: so long ago
7.Knot :: tied
8.F*** :: my life
9.Handsome :: is as handsome does
10.Ridge :: Noth Carolina

I would like to share another website and activity with you this week. It is called Postcrossing and I enjoy it very much! Share postcards with people all over the world. I have been collecting postcards since I was 14 (umm, over 40 years now) and I absolutely love this site. Check it out!!

Check out my review of A Special Fate: Chiune Sugihara, hero of the Holocaust to learn about one of the largest rescues of European Jews during the Holocaust. Another Holocaust review this week is The Good Liar.

I have been doing a lot of reading and hope to get some more posts up soon. But the school year starts tomorrow and I have over seventy students in one class and I am dedicated to establishing a real relationship with each and every one of them (in an online environment) - this involves quite a bit of time. And I expect the library to be very busy as we move into the semester. So we will see where I can carve out reading, reviewing, and posting time!

I would love to hear about your week (grab the logo and leave a comment to your post) and hope you have a great upcoming seven days! !