CRIVENS!

Whew! I made it! I finally read my own recommended book!

What can I say but that the experience was even better the second time around? I had totally forgotten about the part where Tiffany has to agree to marry Rob Anybody...whoever says size isn't an issue is a complete nincompoop.

But I think my favorite quote this second time around is: "It doesn't stop being magic just because you know how it works."

Sound advice indeed.

I think my second favorite piece of advice was: "Never cross a woman with a star on a stick, young lady. They've got a mean streak."

Now if, like me, you absolutely adored this book, (and it seems like most of you have!) I have another gem for you. Not a book, after all I've had my turn and I'm excited to try something new; but it's almost as good.

http://www.goodreads.com/

The above site has oodles of quotes from all your favorite stories. So if you're ever blue and need a bit of cheering up, look for the Terry Pratchett section. There are some doozies!

Member Spotlights

Yesterday we got two new members! Yay! I thought it would be fun to spotlight them and get to know them a little better. And hopefully our earlier members will fill out their questionnaires and send them back to me because we want to everyone to know how neat and funny you all are!

Our first new member and first ever spotlight is Sarah. She is a busy mom of two adorable little boys, who I know makes time to share her love of reading with them by taking them to story time at their local library. Plus she is my cousin, and is just generally awesome. :) 

So welcome Sarah! I hope you all enjoy reading her spotlight, I sure did...

1. Do you have a favorite author or genre? And if so what do you find most appealing about them? 

I would have said Robin McKinley, or Anne Perry hands down before, but I find my tastes are changing as I get older.  I still enjoy Robin, but sometimes her fantasy stuff is a little 'out there' for me.  Not enough background and explanation, she just expects you to understand the worlds she's created, that being said, I like the worlds she creates.  I love how she always has strong female characters, that usually end up saving the day.  Anne Perry is a fabulous mystery writer and I've enjoyed how she can still surprise me and I love reading about the Victorian world.  I have found that I'm not in the mood for as much murder, mayhem and sexual depravity lately so I haven't read one of hers in awhile.  Lately I've really been enjoying a new local author named Jessica George. She writes fantasy/fairy tale books.  I don't know if I have a favorite genre, but I'll pick up a retelling of a fairy tale anytime.

2. If you could have tea (or lunch, or any meal really, tea just feels more book clubbish, doesn't it?) with any three characters from all of literature who would it be? 

I hate these kinds of questions.  I escape into books to pretend to be a different person for awhile, and while I enjoy getting in their heads, that doesn't mean I'd enjoy having an actual conversation with one of them, because no one would be writing my lines for me.

3. Do you have a favorite reading or book related quote? 

"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales."

— Albert Einstein

"You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend."

— Paul Sweeney

4. Where is your favorite place to read?

In a bubble bath.

5. Do you have any funny reading quirks? (Like having to read things in numerical order or not reading books that start with the letter Q? Something like that?)

I have to read every. last. word.  If I feel like I skipped one I have to go back and read the sentence or paragraph again.  If I'm listening to a book on CD I have to go back and listen to the whole track again if somebody was talking and I missed some.

6. How many books are currently by your bed (on your nightstand or on the floor?)  How many of those are you in the middle of reading? 

 15 and 5

7. Do you have a favorite children's book?  

Many.  Right now I think the Gerald and Piggie books by Mo Willems are just awesome.

8. What is your earliest book related memory? 

Using a flashlight to read under the covers after my mom turned the lights out.

9. What is most amount of money you have ever had to pay in library fines?  

$12.00  but I'm constantly paying off the $.15-4.00 ones cause I don't like seeing them on my account.

10. Do you have any great story to share about trying to multi-task while reading? (i.e. walking into something while your nose was in a book?)

I can't really do anything else while reading, except eat.  I'm not good at blocking stuff out.  I can't read in the car or I get sick but I can say that I have never ever ever fallen asleep while reading a book. 

A day late and a dollar short, as usual.

Well, I actually finished The Wee Free Men last Wednesday and have been busy up to my ears since. It was quite lovely that I had something entertaining to read on the ride to and from Salt Lake last Wednesday (the textiles, sewing, and statistics students went on a field trip to Deseret Mills where they make all of the temple clothes and garments). It was kind of obnoxious, though, to be completely absorbed in the story and start chortling and realize that the six people around me (who obviously forgot to bring their own charming novels) didn't get the joke and didn't appreciate that I was enjoying myself. What was even more obnoxious was that I had to put it down and I somehow found myself having to choose between hiding on the bus and finishing the book or taking the exclusive tour through Deseret Mills and take in all the wonders of those factory seamstresses (I swear, I will never understand how they can sew like that and avoid hurting themselves. Really. Sewing at those kinds of speeds...it left me speechless). And you know that your reading habits are causing issues when you can't reason rationally.

I did love that the heroine's name was Tiffany. I don't think I had read a book yet with the main character having the name of Tiffany. And I would literally have to either mouth or say out loud the wee men's lines. I couldn't resist myself from sounding it out loud, which drove my husband crazy, because he didn't have the least idea of what I was trying to say.

All in all, I thought it was a fun book, a sweet treat to lighten your day, and a quick read--but not because it's short but because you can't put the darn book down even if you have reached Rexburg and you're husband is wondering why you haven't gotten off the darn bus yet.

I give it 5 out of 5 stars. :)

A fruitful library trip

I got to the library today and picked up the first three books in the series.  I am only about 120 or so pages into the first book but I am really enjoying it so far.  When Caite called me about something else this afternoon I spent several minutes reading her some of my favorite lines so far.  She patiently indulged me.

The top 3 (again, so far):

It was a good clang, with the oiyoiyoioioioioioioinnnnnnnnngggggg that is the mark of a clang well done.

"Yes. But sometimes it so hard to find half a mind when you need one."

And finally there was The Goode Childe's Booke of Faerie Tales, so old that it belonged to an age when there were far more e's around.

I am posting these in the hopes that they will make you laugh and want to hurry out to find a copy of the book to read along with us.  I think it is going to be a lot of fun!