Sunday Salon: 2010 Reading/Blogging Goals

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Those of you who’ve been following my blog for a while know that I don’t really go in for blogging goals, let alone reading goals. I tend to just let things flow the way they do, not really worrying about “achieving” something. But, as I was sitting here, thinking about the end of the year (my best-of post will be up on Thursday, if you’re interested), thinking about the several requests I’ve had to host a challenge again, and thinking maybe I should actually set some goals for 2010. It is a new decade, after all.

So Reading Goals:

  • I am going to clear off my TBR shelf of ARCs, gifts, and past Cybils books (from this year and last!) that I want to read.
  • I’m going to pace myself better than I did last year. I think I read *too* much (for me), and I’ve been feeling like I need to diversify my life a bit more. Perhaps stop double-booking?
  • I will not buy any new books. Exception: the two that I need to buy for the 2010 challenge (probably the Hunger Games sequel and one other).
  • I’m going to try and diversify my reading more: more books by people of color (I’ve been trying to do this for three years, now!), books set in and about places I know little about (Africa comes to mind), more books in genres I haven’t tried. The GLBT challenge will help with this.
  • I think I will indulge myself and reread books (which is why I joined the Flashback Challenge) this year. Only caveat: they can’t have a (substantial) review on the blog.

And Blogging Goals:

  • I will try to interview one author per month. It may not post on the first, though I would like it too, but there will be an author interview each month.
  • I don’t want to do blog tours anymore. I know they increase blog traffic, but I’m not sure I like being a part of them.
  • I will try to resurrect Books-to-Movies. Which requires I see more movies, which means I ought to read less…
  • And, yes, I think I will host another challenge. Perhaps I’ll do another Well-Seasoned Reader, or maybe I’ll take over the Armchair Challenge this year. Either way, nothing is going to happen until January, so stay tuned.

What are some of your reading/blogging goals for the coming year?

2009 Challenge #9: What’s in a Name 2

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Nothing like scraping in under the wire, is there? But, I managed to finish the What’s in a Name 2 challenge.

What I read:

1. A book with a “profession” in its title. Captain Alatriste, Arturo Perez-Reverte (also for my challenge)

2. A book with a “time of day” in its title. Evernight, Claudia Gray

3. A book with a “relative” in its title. The Heretic’s Daughter, Kathleen Kent

4. A book with a “body part” in its title. Orcle bones : a journey between China’s past and present, Peter Hessler

5. A book with a “building” in its title. Coffeehouse Angel, Susan Selfors

6. A book with a “medical condition” in its title. Echoes From The Dead by Johan Theorin

My favorite of these? Probably Coffeehouse Angel. It was an interesting challenge, though.

The Heretic’s Daughter

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by Kathleen Kent
ages: adult
First sentence: “The distance by wagon from Billerica to neighboring Andover is but nine miles.”
Support your local independent bookstore, buy it there!

This is a fascinating, harrowing tale about a time in American history that I know very little about: the Salem witch trials.

Our main character, Sarah Carrier, is growing up in Billerica (and later Andover), Massachusetts. She’s often at odds with her hard, logical, unsentimental mother, Martha. Then, the summer of 1691, Martha is arrested on suspicion of being a witch, and asks Sarah to do the unspeakable: to cry out against her own mother in order to save her life. That’s the basic plot in a nutshell, but the book is so much more than that. Rambling and long, it’s a look at how Puritan communities and families functioned and interacted. It’s an attempt to understand why the Salem witch trials happened — whether it was just misunderstanding, fear, or jealousy; though in that case, I’m not sure it succeeded. I was left with almost more questions, especially after the descriptions of Martha’s trial. It’s almost incomprehensible to the modern mind how exactly everyone could let these abuses of human rights could go on. It was a different time and place, and that feeling is something Kent captured quite well.

The ending, for me, was a bit off, though. After Martha’s trial (and eventual execution), the book goes on telling us the fate of Sarah. Sure, it’s called the heretic’s daughter, but I’m not sure I really cared that much about Sarah’s fate. Perhaps it was because I was more emotionally invested in the story of her mother, and their relationship. Or maybe it was because Kent leaps over years and years in the final 7 pages. At any rate, the final revelation, the final secret her mother was keeping came as a “Huh, what?!” moment, which lessened the impact of the rest of the book.

Which, to be sure, was fascinating.

Christmas Book Week, Day 6

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From the Dr. Seuss Christmas Classic:

So he paused. And the Grinch put his hand to his ear.
And he did hear a sound rising over the snow.
It started in low. Then it started to grow…

But the sound wasn’t sad!
Why this sound sounded merry!
It couldn’t be so!
But it WAS merry! VERY!

HE stared down at Who-ville!
The Grinch popped his eys!
Then he shook!
What he saw was a shocking surprise!

Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,
Was singing! Without any presents at all!
He HADN’T stopped Christmas from coming!
IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold int eh snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: “How could it be so?
“It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
“It came without packages, boxes or bags!”
And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch Thought of something he hadn’t before!
“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.
“Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more!”

And what happened then…?
Well… in Who-ville they say
That the Grinch’s small heart
Grew three sizes that day!
And the minute his heart didn’t feel quite so tight,
He whizzed with his load through the bright morning light
And he brought back the toys! And the food for the feast!
And he…

… HE HIMSELF …!
The Grinch carved the roast beast!

Happy Christmas from my house to yours!

Operation Yes

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by Sarah Lewis Holmes
ages: 9+
First sentence: “
Review copy provided by publisher.
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Over the past two months, I have read a lot of books about war, death, loss, and kids dealing with all of that. Some of have been moving and made me cry, some have been irritating and made me annoyed. Few, however, have hit me just right. Operation Yes, though, is one of those few.

Bo is the son of an Air Force Colonel, living on base in Reform, North Carolina. They’ve moved a lot, of course, and he’s not had a good track record with school. That is, until sixth grade and his new teacher, Miss Loupe. Miss Loupe is one of those teachers — may we all be blessed enough to have one — who makes learning exciting. Oh, how I wanted to be a part of her class. She’s dynamic, she’s thrilling, and she has Bo totally and completely engaged. That is, until Gari — short for Garrison — shows up.

Gari is Bo’s cousin, and she’s (yes, that’s not a typo) come to stay with Bo and his family for a year while her mom, an Army nurse, is deployed to Iraq. To say that Gari is not happy about this, is to be wildly understating it. Gari is bitter, angry, and troublesome. And because Bo has the father he does, he gets blamed for much of the trouble that Gari brings. That is, until Miss Loupe’s brother, Marc, goes missing in Afghanistan, and Bo, Gari and a couple other classmates hatch a plan that will bring hope to everyone.

The book, from the first page, gave me a sense of what it means to work together toward a common goal. To deal with the loss of someone, both through distance and injury. To hope in spite of mounting evidence to the contrary. To dream. To walk to a different drummer. And it made me want to stand up and cheer. Everything about it, from the writing and characters down to the plot had me hooked from page one. I couldn’t put it down; I didn’t want to put it down. And I didn’t want it to end, even though the ending is supremely perfect.

If you have to read one book about War and Loss (and even if you don’t), pick this one. You won’t regret it.

(Just for the record: because this is a Cybils nominee, I’ve been asked to make sure y’all know this is my opinion only, and not that of the panel.)

Christmas Book Week, Day 4

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From Baboushka, retold by Arthur Schollet, and illustrated by Helen Cann. A not-so-subtle reminder to get out from under the business and just *enjoy* the season.

Now everyone was itching for news. No one could work. No one could stay indoors. No one that is, but Baboushka. Baboushka had work to do — she always had. She swept, polished, scoured, and shined. Her house was the best kept, best polished, best washed, and best pained. Her garden was beautiful, her cooking superb.

“All this fuss for a star!” she muttered. “I don’t even have time to look. I’m so behind. I must work all night!”

So she missed the star at its most dazzling, high overhead. She missed the line of twinkling lights coming toward the village at dawn. She missed the sound of pipes and drums, the tinkling of bells getting louder. She missed the voices and whispers and then the sudden quiet of the villagers, and the footsteps coming up the path to her door.

Positively

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by Courtney Sheinmel
ages: 10+
First sentence: “
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

There are some books that quietly creep under your skin and stick there. Sure, you know up front that they are issue books, that the sole purpose of the story is to raise awareness on something or other — in this case, AIDS, especially in children — that the author particularly cares about. But, for many reasons, the story sticks with you.

The story in this case follows thirteen-year-old Emerson — Emmy — Price. She’s HIV-positive, and her mother — who had AIDS — has recently passed away. Emmy’s dealing with a lot of change (she’s moved in with her dad and his new wife, who is expecting), a lot of pain, a lot of heartbreak, and it’s almost too much for her to bear. She wants to give it all up: it’s hard being different, taking meds all the time, and she misses her mom desperately. Then her dad sends her away to Camp Positive, a camp exclusively for HIV-positive kids. Over the course of the summer, Emmy learns to accept what has happened and move on.

It’s an issue book, definitely: the authors note on the end was almost more moving than the story itself. The fact that the author cares about the subject, and wants to address issues surrounding AIDS and HIV. But, she gave us a character we could care about (and get irritated with; I spent a good half of the book annoyed with her) and care about the journey of. It’s a touching book, it’s a caring book. And so, it surpasses the issue-ness and becomes a genuinely good book.

(Just for the record: because this is a Cybils nominee, I’ve been asked to make sure y’all know this is my opinion only, and not that of the panel.)

Christmas Book Week, Day 3

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gFrom The Little House on the Prairie, which has been made into a lovely picture book called Santa Comes to Little House.

Laura and Mary never would have looked in their stockings again. The cups and the cakes and the candy were almost too much. They were too happy to speak. But Ma asked if they were sure the stockings were empty.

Then they put their hands down inside them, to make sure.

And in the very toe of each stocking was a shining bright, new penny!

They had never even thought of such a thing as having a penny. Think of having a whole penny for your very own. Think of having a cup and a cake and a stick of candy and a penny.

There had never been such a Christmas.

The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg

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by Rodman Philbrick
ages: 9+
First sentence: “My name is Homer P. Figg, and these are my true adventures.”
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Life is not good for Homer P. Figg. His father was felled by a tree. His Dear Mother passed away, leaving Homer and his other brother, Harold, in the care of their uncle, Squint, who — to write an enormous understatement — doesn’t treat them well. Now Squint has illegally sold Harold to the Union Army, and it’s up to Homer to find him and bring him home.

These are his adventures. (Mostly true, anyway.)

And, boy are they adventures.

From getting caught by a couple of slave hunters (in Maine, of all places), and rescued by a Quaker to becoming a part of a traveling circus, this is one a rip-roaring adventure. Sure, it’s a Civil War book; there’s the same old Civil War themes of slavery, fighting, traitors, and death. But it didn’t feel like a Civil War book; instead, it’s more of an adventure story with a Civil War backdrop. (Bonus plus: Joshua Chamberlin, my absolute favorite Civil War character, made an appearance!) But, more than the unusual take on the war, the best part of the book was Homer. He’s is not only a winning character, he’s a wonderful narrator, even if he is (admittedly) a bit of a liar. It’s not a lying book like, say, Justine Larbalestier’s Liar is: the lying is more for comic effect, something which adds to the unique charm of Homer’s character. But, it was that dash of comedy (and, yes, lying) that made the pages just fly by.

And it was Homer’s charm that completely won me over. The cadence of the sentences, the word choices all lend itself to the whole charming tale. I’m not often a visual reader, but while reading this I had a definite picture of Homer. And I could totally wrap him up — spite, spit, dirt and all — and stick him in my pocket.

Which means that this one is a keeper.

(Just for the record: because this is a Cybils nominee, I’ve been asked to make sure y’all know this is my opinion only, and not that of the panel.)