"Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" by Rachel Cohn and David Levithin was a surprise! Who would imagine that Tris could turn out to be a fairly cool character? Except for the kissing thing in the ladies' room - that was a little weird but edgy and I can see that readers younger than I might find it ...intriguing. Tris's reasoning behind breaking up with Nick made perfect mature sense and when a reader is set to hate a character it is delightful to find out that the character is multi-dimensional.

"The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan : an Enola Holmes mystery" by Nancy Springer was a worthy addition to this series. Those books are too short for me. In this installment, Enola rescues a young friend from a dastardly arranged marriage with a little help from her brother, Sherlock. Her other brother, Mycroft, is quite put out. Stay tuned. The next book is due out in the Spring of 2009.

I've discovered another medieval murder mystery series that I want to explore. "The Fool's Guild Mysteries" by Alan Gordon explores the lot of fools and jesters in the early 13th century, a time when such nonsense was frowned on by the Church. I read "The Moneylender of Toulouse", the most recent book in the series, and it was entertaining and educational. Gordon doesn't try to mimic the speech patterns of the time which is just as well since English as we know it didn't exist. And the book takes place in Toulouse where English in any form would be rare. So, at first, I found modern contractions and phrases to be disorienting but only for a short while. The characters are fully realized. The mystery had enough meat to it. What kept me going was the historical setting and how it influenced daily life and political practices. Now I must go backwards and read the earlier books.

Happy New Year everyone. I hope to be a more faithful blogger in 2009.

Just checking in. I realize that it has been almost two months since I've posted on this blog.

This blog is about what I've been reading and I have not been reading a lot lately SO I haven't had much to write about.

Graeme Base was here and charming as always. I think his fans were disappointed that he didn't do any sketches but he said, 'please, no'. I'm not hard to get along with.

Kim Chatel was here with her book Rainbow Sheep. She led a great wool felting workshop with 20 children and their parents. Our little meeting room was crammed! Kim does a great presentation.

We held a Fall Fest on Saturday, November 1st. And I forgot the dragon costume. So our dragon transformed himself into a vampire and the kids still had a great time. the weather was cloudy and warm and the leaves were absolutely beautiful.

I am busy with NaNoWriMo and to tell the truth, writing is almost as absorbing as reading. I am going to finish a stry I have been playing with for years. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.

Graeme Base, my favorite Australian author/illustrator, is returning to the Parkland Community Library on October 17th at 3:30 pm. That's a LOT of advance notice, I know. Expect to hear about this again - and again. Graeme is fabulously talented. His books are visually challenging and thought provoking. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of his latest, Enigma: a Magical Mystery. I hope it comes in soon.

So what else have I been reading? Well, not New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. It's not on the shelf here and there's a waiting list. This is a GOOD thing. I love it when a book or a series gets so popular it flies off the shelf.

I finished the latest Miss Julia, Miss Julia Strikes Back by Ann Ross. Miss Julia chases jewel thieves all the way to Miami, FL and she takes her late husband's son, "Little" Lloyd with her!! (His mother, Hazel Marie, won a trip to Mexico just at the same time that Miss Julia's new husband, Sam, took a long-awaited tour of Russia. What a coincidence!) Sometimes I worry about Miss Julia's judgment. At least, in this book she agrees that at 11, almost 12, Little Lloyd is not so little anymore. Without her lapses of judgment these books wouldn't be nearly as much fun. Miss Julia always manages to prevail over difficulties of ALL kinds. Drunken PIs, doubtful wardrobe choices and the unbearable heat of Southern Florida ruffle Miss Julia's feathers but she wins out over all. This book is for Mature audiences - not because of questionable content, though. It's just that us older readers can relate to Miss Julia and her particular struggles.

Teen Read Week Approaches - Oct. 12-18th, 2008
On the 14th - a Tuesday, at 7:30 pm, The Parkland Community Library will host a book discussion on Books with Bite. I MIGHT try to find a montage of vampire footage to display since vampires are so....[Insert word that means very, very popular here].

But Books with Bite don't HAVE to be about vampires. Any book that creates a stir, causes people to think differently about something, opens our eyes to a situation, opens a door in our souls, builds our world view and understanding - THAT book has bite, my friends. For some, that book could be Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. For others, it could be Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Terry Pratchett's Making Money is a biting commentary on the financial world and a hoot, to boot.

So bring one of your favorite biting books to this book discussion and build a case for its biting-ness. I will prepare a booklist and email it to all participants.

Open House at the local High School (PHS) was an eye-opening experience. I'm surprised that the school district doesn't auction off hall space to area organizations. If you just want to expose a product to a captive audience, high school Open Houses are a great choice. (Many thanks to our high school's excellent librarian, Ms. Will, for inviting the Parkland Community Library to participate.)

For sure, the parents are not interested - AT ALL - in getting a new library card, or learning about drug intervention or heart disease. What they want to know is how to get to Room B125 or to the Cafeteria or where they can pay Class Dues.

Still, there you are - in their faces - as they dart back and forth, following a truncated version of their teen's daily schedule. Like hawkers in subway stations at rush hour, you can hand them a flyer or a bookmark and a few of those will make it home. A small percentage of the ones that make it home will actually be used.

An information table at a school Open House is a lot like a billboard on a highway. People see it. And if they pass it often enough, it sinks in.

Open Houses are NOT the place to sign people up for Fun Runs, library cards, or Scout Troops. An organization's presence at these events should be designed to just advertise that organization's mission and availability and to give people the information they need if they WANT to sign up for a Fun Run or a library card - all with the School Districts' blessings, of course.

Just some librarian-ish thoughts.

I just finished Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. In case you've been out of the solar system for the last three years, that's the first book in a very popular series of teen vampire/romance books. Good book, quick read, absorbing romance, great teen stuff.

STILL, I may just be too old to fully appreciate this book. Here's the thing. Bella is ostensibly a very selfless teen, giving up her life in Phoenix to live with her father in the rain forests of Washington State so her mother can be happy with her new husband. Right? And then there's that whole going to meet evil James so her mother won't be hurt thing. BUT she starts insisting that her boyfriend do something reprehensible to her. Because then they can be equal in their relationship - oooh , romantic.

He obviously doesn't want to do it. And he's the one who fully understands the consequences of the action. She insists. He has saved her life several times in this book and shown amazing restraint the whole time. He's willing to put his urges aside to be with her. She refuses to listen to him. He knows what she will suffer. But she's set on it. That's not selfless. That's immature and selfish. Listen, young lady. Pay attention to your elders and stop pouting.

What does he see in her anyway? Since the book is written from Bella's perspective, it really is hard to see what he sees in her.

Oh and Edward? Handsome, super-hero strength and speed, able to read minds in a blink, always there to save her - okay, that's romantic, I guess. But he's too good. It's Annoying

Like I said, I'm not sure I "get" it. Well, I might wait for the cliff notes to come out or for someone to do one of those novels in 10 second things for the other three books. Still, if you like that kind of thing, tortured vampires doing good in the northwest, this is a good read.

Today, I realized something. Books are the original "Second Life". When I am reading a good book, I am taken out of my own skin into the experiences of the character. I see vividly the landscape of that new land and I feel the emotions. A good author can bring me to tears, make me laugh out loud, have me squirming in my seat. A good story can do that without computer graphics and Linden dollars.

When I was younger, an appealing character and a good story never ended with the close of the book. My imagination took over and created new characters and scenarios over which I had total control. I even played games based on favorite books with my friends and siblings - real games with real dirt and real hazards and real fun. But these games were of our own making and they had little to do with our everyday real lives.

Think of Tom Sawyer playing Robin Hood in his long underwear in the woods around Hannibal, Missouri. Children have been playing with the people they meet in books as long as books that appeal to children have been around. I'm sure us older people create fantasies around our favorite characters though not as often as when we were young. It is hard to say goodbye to someone who has inhabited your brain for several hours.

Online worlds offer a chance to create your own story, be someone else for awhile. They have the element of chance that comes from interacting with characters over whom you have little control. There is the excitement of visual and aural stimulation and endless choices.

All that said, I prefer books. A quiet corner in the sunlight, a well-written paperback in my hand and I can enter a "second life" where everything is a surprise and all I have to do is let the story unfurl in my mind's eye.