nearly a week's worth...

and it still doesn't add up to much. :P

I finally got back to Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine, and read 91 pages. I hadn't meant to set it aside exactly. But Annie needed to read it for school a few months back, and well, I just never got back to it after she'd finished. Ahhh, but I am so glad to be reading it again--I LOVE THIS BOOK!!! I plan to talk about it when I finish it, because some books just deserve to be gushed over.

I read a scrapbooking book this week--We Dare You: Scrapbook Challenges about Real Life (117 pages). As far as scrapbooking books go, this one is just completely awesome. I've followed "The Dares" for a long time now online. Seriously such fun. And the women who started The Dares and put together this book...well, creative doesn't begin to describe them. They make the most edgy, unique, and meaningful pages. Someday (if--no when--I finally get my scrapbook area back into a useable state) I plan to make my own "Dare" album...I think it will be quite rewarding.

And the other night, after yet another trip to Lowes, Rich and I went to Borders to grab a coffee and relax a bit. And while there, I managed to read Sweet Tooth: Out of the Woods by Jeff Lemire (128 pages). This is the second Jeff Lemire graphic novel I've read this month (the other being The Nobody). I really enjoyed this one, and I can't wait for volume 2 to come out. It's a post-apocalyptic tale (gee, no wonder I loved it, huh?) in which most of humankind was wiped out by some sort of disease. But during the time when the sickness was really wiping people out in massive waves, some children were born. Children who are part human/part some other animal. Children like Gus (aka Sweet Tooth) who sports antlers like a deer. These children appear to be immune to the disease...and well, you can guess what kinds of things that might lead desperate, scared, and sometimes downright evil people to...

And speaking of evil...I started a new thriller. Shadow Man by Cody McFadyen. Whoa. I've only read 97 pages so far, but is this book intense! I'm really loving it--best thriller I've read in a long time. (Of course, I haven't really read all that many in the past couple years.) Anyway, I can see this being a series I actually follow through with. ;)

*****
And in the dangerous world of blog-reading, these books were added to my wish list:

*Rowan the Strange by Julie Hearn (thanks to Amanda's very organized and fun-to-read review :D )
*Crossed Wires by Rosy Thorton (thanks to a second, and still enjoyable, read by Amanda)
*Bellfield Hall by Anna Dean (thanks to the darling Ms Eva's enthusiastic recommendation)
*Twinkle Twinkle by Kaori Ekuni (again thanks to that little book-pusher, Eva)
*The Heart That Bleeds by Alma Guillermoprieto (and yet again, thanks to Eva--three books from one post, sheesh!)
*Hidden Wives by Claire Avery (thanks to Staci's intriguing review)
*The Secret Life of Words by Henry Hitchings (thanks to Ana's wonderful review, which left me both fascinated and hopeful that I will actually understand it)

over the last few days

So, I'm getting a little lazy here...been a few days since I updated. And silly, silly, silly me (which is my polite way of saying "stupid me") has started numerous books in those few days. What can I say--when I made my blame game post on my other blog, I realized I had all these library books to get read. So yeah, I'm sort of reading them all at once. :P

I did finish The Stand: American Nightmares. Graphic. Enough even to catch Rich's attention while he was driving and I was sitting in the passenger's seat reading. But then, the novel has some ugly shit going on, so I guess that's understandable. As I said last time, I'm not really sure how to "judge" it, because I know the novel so well and I think I'm automatically filling in details when they aren't there without even thinking about it. Anyway, I enjoyed it...and will definitely pick up the next installment when it comes out.

I read a couple articles (9 pages) in Urban Farm. A couple of really great articles. One about this incredible lady (the lemon lady :D) who pretty much single-handedly has taken thousands of pounds of fresh fruit to her local food pantries. Fruit that would otherwise have gone to waste on people's fruit trees. Definitely one inspiring woman! And I also read an article about raising chickens in your backyard. I was already determined to do it when we have the ability to move, but damn if this article didn't just make me horribly impatient!

Twelve more pages down in The Biodiversity Crisis. A very short little case study about the decline of coral reefs, the introduction to the third section of the collection (the third section being about strategies and solutions for saving biodiversity), and a very prescient essay taken from Fairfield Osborn's 1948 book, Our Plundered Planet.

And now on to all the library books I was talking about--first up, Get Crafty. I've only read the first 8 pages (the introduction), but I'm already in love. In fact, I may end up having to buy this book. ;)  Jean Railla is just so fun. In the intro, she tells the story of how, being a strong feminist, right down to being a woman's studies major at UCLA, she came to view all things domestic as "bad." She says, "I spent most of my twenties defining myself as a feminist not by what I did, but what I didn't do. I didn't keep house. I didn't get married. I didn't cook very often. I didn't knit or sew." And you know, while I hope that attitude is less prevalent today, it certainly hasn't disappeared. Things happened in her life, and her eyes opened. She no longer viewed domestic activities as "bad." Being forced by a society or culture to stay home and wash dirty diapers and cook meals is wrong, choosing to do so of one's own free will is not. She says, "Don't get me wrong. I am not suggesting that every woman should enjoy knitting and cooking and embroidery. But I am suggesting the we give women's work its props as something valuable, interesting, and important, just as knowing how to build a house, keeping accounting records, or playing basketball is." (Though I do have a problem with her calling it "women's work"! If we could just stop labelling activities as in the realm of "women" or in the realm of "men," we'd be a lot further along towards equality.) Anyway, I haven't even gotten to any of the craft projects, and I'm already thoroughly enjoying this book.

I also started Recycle This Book: 100 Top Children's Book Authors Tell You How to Go Green. Haven't gotten far, just the first twelve pages. I do hope that I can get the boys to read it...though I'm not optimistic that it will be any time soon, as they're both sucked into their current reading obsessions. There was a line in the introduction that totally made me smile. "The next time your mother tells you to clean your room, tell her you will when she helps clean up the atmosphere." That is sooooo something I can hear popping out of Gray's mouth. :)  Anyway, I've only read the contributions of the first few authors, and they've had nothing to offer that we don't already do, but they're fun to read nonetheless. Thus far, they've been written in a very humorous manner.

Also begun is The Storm in the Barn. Read the first 63 pages. I have to say that I'm really, really enjoying it so far. I know both Chris and Staci liked it, but didn't love it...but while it may be too early to judge, I think I might be falling closer to the love category. I didn't realize it was set during the Dust Bowl--a definitely plus for me.

And finally from the library stack, I started Junk Beautiful (21 pages). If I remember correctly, they feature seven room makeovers in this book. I've read the first. And I adore this book! While the room featured in the first chapter is definitely not my style (too flowery formal), I absolutely loved some of the projects they showcased. And I'm eager to get to the next chapter, a room that seems much more fitting my style overall.

Okay, and this may be the dumbest reason ever for starting a book...I was moving some books around on my fiction shelves to put away some new acquisitions. Well, let's just say it appears that I really need to stop with the new acquisitions, because there is just no room! Anyway, I ended up not being able to fit this book, Never Tell Him You're Alone, back where it goes. I figured it was a book I was unlikely to want to keep after I'd read it, so I might as well just read it so I can hand it off to the library book sale or something. Besides, it's been a long time since I've indulged in a thriller, and it sounded like a good idea. ;)  After the first 24 pages, I'm not even sure if I'll end up finishing it (as far as thrillers go, I'm not finding it all that "thrilling" so far)...I'll give it a couple more chapters before deciding for sure.

And finally, I read 4 pages in Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm. "Rapunzel" to be exact. I can't be faulted for starting this though...I'm beginning to prepare for the next school year. But I do have to admit that I'm thrilled to be reading fairy tales again. I don't know why I don't make time for reading them more often, because I just so very much enjoy them!

*****
And in the dangerous world of blog reading, these have been added to my wish list:

*Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (thanks to Campaign for the American Reader)
*The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters (thanks to the lovely Ms. Ana's review)
*Disrupting Grace by Kristen Richburg (thanks to Staci's poignant and very personal review)

graphic novel binge

As shocking as it was that I finally finished a book day before last, it doesn't compare to the shocking events of yesterday...when I finished two! Both graphic novels. And then I started a third. Yep, another graphic novel. Got me thinking how awesome it would be to just indulge myself in a big old comic binge. I have so many I'm dying to read right here in my very own house. I know I must start putting together Annie's literature course here (I've already procrastinated a few days longer than I meant to). While we're using a lecture series, which should mean much less work on my part, I still have many, many books to get read. I'm thinking it might be cool to focus on that reading, with massive amounts of graphic novels thrown in. So much for my summer reading plan of finishing up all the books I have started. Maybe I can come up with some mixture of all three. Or maybe I can stop worrying about it and just see what transpires. ;)

Well, we headed to B&N last night. Mostly to be somewhere with AC. Our third day of temps in the 90s had our house up into the mid-80s...and what can I say?...we're complete pantywaists when it comes to the heat. Anyway, while sitting there in the cafe, I ended up reading The Nobody by Jeff Lemire. I didn't mean to...I picked it up to read the first few pages to see if I wanted to buy it, but I got so sucked in that I couldn't put it down until I'd finished all 144 pages. According to descriptions, it is a loose retelling of H.G. Well's The Invisible Man. But I can't compare, as I've never read Well's classic. But I can say I very much enjoyed this book...with its themes of loneliness and loss and identity and paranoia. It won't make my top three reads of the year, but it was definitely worth my time.

At home, I finished up the last 68 pages of Arabian Nights (and Days). I think I said earlier that this wasn't my favorite in the series. But then, they can't all be my favorite, can they? The last two chapters took a detour (though a relevant one, and one that I can tell is going to connect to the main arc). At first I wasn't sure about this storyline, but I ended up loving it! (Sad to say, I really didn't like the art in these last two chapters though. A totally subjective call there--just not my style.) Had the next volume been sitting there, I undoubtedly would have picked it up immediately. However, I was just too lazy to get out of bed and get it from the library, so instead...

I started reading The Stand: American Nightmares (the second volume in the graphic adaptation of Stephen King's novel). Read the first 27 pages, before the need to sleep just overpowered me. I find it incredibly hard to judge this graphic novel series. I'm enjoying them a lot! But I've read the novel so many times now that I'm just automatically filling in all kinds of little details. I honestly cannot judge how different my reading experience might be if I wasn't so familiar with King's original book.