Double-Stacked Bookshelves

Midway through the week and it's time for an installation of Why I Love Wednesday, a meme hosted by Alexis from Reflections of a Bookaholic .  Today's topic is Favorite Childhood Series .  And, like many women my age, my favorite childhood series is, hands down, The Babysitters Club . I loved, loved, loved The Babysitters Club .  I wanted to be a part of that club so badly.  I wanted to start my own Oregon chapter and conquer the needs of frazzled parents in a fun, timely, and enthusiastic manner.  Instead I contented myself with reading about the exploits of Stacey, Mary Anne, Claudia, Kristy, Dawn, Jessi, Mallory, and Logan and the town of Stoneybrook.  My favorite character was always Claudia because she was an artist.  I also really liked Dawn because she was earthy and crunchy (a very Northwest trait).  The issues that the series dealt with were spot on for me as a child/young teen and I really connected with these characters. My love ...

It's Tuesday and that means it's Teaser time!  Today's excerpt comes from Jennifer Weiner's Best Friends Forever .  "In my dreams, he reached for my hands, he tugged me into the secret vestibule outside the gym teacher's office to steal a kiss before class.  None of this would ever happen, but my dreams, carefully embroidered and unfolded each night, were as sweet as candy" (231). I've never read anything by Jennifer Weiner despite the fact that several of my friends really like her writing.  But I am enjoying this so far.  Yay!

Mary Karr's The Liar's Club was a very interesting read.  I started reading this book at the end of September (along with about two others) for YET ANOTHER book club I've joined (I think I'm becoming a book club junky).  This one is actually a campus book club made up of students and faculty.  We meet once a month or so to discuss the book and eat food (the bonus of this club).  That being said, the club started this book over the summer and I picked it up on September 19th after my summer department meeting.  Needless to say, I had a later start than everyone else. The book is actually a memoir about Karr's rather traumatic childhood.  This poor girl grew up with an alcoholic father, an alcoholic and CRAZY mother, and had some pretty horrific things happen to her.  From being raped by a neighbor boy to nearly being killed in a car accident with her mother, from being molested by a male babysitter to nearly being detained in Mexico for cro...

  Daniel Tammet meets Kim Peek (the inspiration for Rain Man) Absolutely fascinating.  Thought-provoking.  Interesting.  All of these describe Daniel Tammet's Born on a Blue Day:  Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant .  I picked this up for my Page by Page online bookclub, after originally passing it by in the first place, and am glad that it was the chosen book for the month.  I learned so much about the mind of a high-functioning autistic and was enthralled from the beginning. In Born on a Blue Day , Tammet sets out to explain how his mind works.  He thinks in colors, numbers and shapes.  All aspects are unique and all hold a special place in his mind and heart.  To see (or read) exactly how he approaches life and different situations was eye-opening.  The process he has to go through every second of every day is mind-boggling and heroic! The parts of the book that made me most angry were those where Tammet de...

Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye was...was...waaasssss...I don't even know how to describe it.  It just was.  It took me a bit to get into this book and it took me even longer to finish it.  I can't put my finger on why I didn't enjoy it.  It's not like the book was absolutely terrible (believe me, I've read worse), but for some reason it just didn't grasp my attention or keep my attention. The novel centers around Elaine, an artist...though she prefers to be called a painter because the term "artist" conjurs up pretension, according to her.  She's come back to Toronto, her hometown, for a gallery show and, while there, she spends her time wandering around the much changed city.  The reader is taken back to her childhood through interspersed chapters and it is these sections that hold the most appeal.  Through these episodes you really get to know what drives Elaine and why she left Toronto in the first place.  Also, Elaine focuses a lot of...

Once again, this blog I follow has brought forth another great idea.  I've decided that, in addition to my book reviews, I'm going to participate (you can too!) in her "Why I Love...Wednesdays" (I'm also going to do her "Teaser Tuesday," but I forgot yesterday...whoops).  Not only will this give my blog a little bit more to offer the two of you who read it (haha), but it will force me to post a bit more often.  It's like killing two birds with one stone (or post).  I like this idea.  So, to get started, I've taken the past "Why I Loves" from the Bookaholic and have decided to start working my way through the weekly growing list.  Needless to say, I'm a little behind.  My first selection is:  Favorite Childhood Friend . This honor goes, undoubtably, to Charlotte Doyle.  I remember picking up Avi's The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle when I was in elementary school; I don't recall exactly when, but it was definitely in...