I’m tired and out of inspiration at the moment, so I’m stealing a Broke and Bookish Tuesday topic from a couple weeks back:

Ten Authors I Own The Most Books From

1. Carolyn Keene: Although they are all in my parents’ attic, the plurality award goes to my Nancy Drew collection, which was started by a gift from my mother when I was in 3rd grade. There are probably close to 20 books there (although I loaned one out once to a friend of a friend who lives on the West Coast and never got it back…)
2. L.M. Montgomery: I loved the Anne books and the first one was definitely a present. But I can remember using my saved allowance to buy copies of the subsequent books in the series and then the Emily books and either bought or received as gifts several of her other titles. Some of them are up in Connecticut still, so I can’t give you an exact count, but I’d guess somewhere around 14.
3. Jasper Fforde: I have every book he’s published thus far in the U.S., which according to Wikipedia now numbers at 12. I will continue to buy them, so at some point, he’ll overtake the Nancy Drew team.
4. William Shakespeare: He’s another one I can’t give you an accurate count for, since I buy them used for cheap, but I’m probably somewhere around 10 or so…
5. J.K. Rowling: Seven Harry Potters in English (and possibly one in French), plus the most recent Cormoran Strike novel. If we count household copies, we have duplicates of the last three HP novels and Rudi is in possession of at least three in foreign languages: two in German and one in Welsh.
6. Barbara Kingsolver: 7 or 8. I can’t quite remember how many short story/essay collections I have. One of my favorite authors.
7. Louisa May Alcott: My grandparents gave me a set of six of her books when I was a kid and I received a second copy of Eight Cousins as a prize in third grade. With Harry Potter and the Anne books, Little Women is the book I’ve re-read most during my life.
8. Laura Ingalls Wilder: I know I don’t have the full collection, since I’ve been picking them up over the years as I find them (having read the library’s copies as a kid), but I’d guess I’ve got six of the ten Little House books and then a collection of her newspaper columns.
9. C.S. Lewis: 6, although I’ve never read the final book in the Narnia series, since a friend told me doing so runs the risk of ruining all of them. Since she doesn’t mess around about that kind of stuff, and since I thought the quality had tapered off after the first three or so, I’ve taken her advice thus far.
10. Toni Morrison: 5 or 6. Many of these were read during college, so I don’t quite recall whether or not I’ve read (and thus own) all the titles I think I have.

How about you? Are there specific authors you collect and/or read above all others?

Wednesdays are for sharing books and knitting projects as I yarn along with Ginny.

As part of my August goals and for a competition in one of the Ravelry groups I belong to, I’m working on finishing up some socks-in-progress. I began the first sock of this pair last summer while watching The Avengers at Canal Park, worked on it as a take-along at events where I wanted easy, focus-free knitting (like concerts and ballgames and the like), and bound off at a showing of Lover Come Back (Rock Hudson and Doris Day play ad execs and hijinks ensue) down on the Mall in July. Sock #2 was cast on at the ballpark last night. I’ve got some bus time coming up soon, so I’m hoping these will be a good project for that when I’m not sleeping (and sometimes even when I am, as Rudi will attest).

I just finished a book last night, so I’m mulling over something new to read. I’m 29 pages into The Last Days of California, a coming-of-age story about a teen girl traveling with her family to the West Coast in time for the day their cult predicts will be the end of the world, and haven’t made up my mind yet. The other two are baseball stories: George Will’s is about growing up a Cubs fan. I’m not especially a fan of his (or his politics), but we used to see him and Tim Russert at games when the Nats played at RFK periodically and baseball is a force that unites even the most polar opposite of folks, so I thought I’d give it a shot after seeing him talk about on CBS Sunday Morning. And the other book is a mystery/detective story about a minor league player who starts investigating things for his fellow teammates. It sounded like it might have potential. I have some other books, should none of those stick, but these seemed like the most likely next candidates.

What are you reading and knitting these days?

Wednesdays are for sharing books and knitting projects as I yarn along with Ginny.

Color Affection 3 continues to grow. I’m nearing the end of the third section now, which then only leaves the solid base and binding off. We’re heading out to watch a biking-themed movie tomorrow night, so I hope to finish the stripes then, or maybe Friday evening. Either way, I think this one might be off the needles by this time next week.

Two new books this week. I bought The Cats of Tanglewood Forest last year for the Once Upon a Time readalong, put it on this year’s list, as well, and then didn’t start it until the first day of summer. But that’s ok. The illustrations are lush (as you can probably tell from the cover), but I’ll need a few more pages to determine how I feel about the story of cats turning a girl into a kitten (to save her life) using their version of magic.

Beauty Queens appeared on a number of best-of lists a couple years ago and I went hunting for it at the library last week, as I felt a stirring for a survivalist summer read. I started it earlier this evening and am already more than 150 pages into this satirical novel about teen beauty pageant contestants who survive a plane crash onto what they believe to be a deserted island. Their ambition, mettle, and talents are put to the test as they convert evening gowns into rainwater collectors, spear fish with curling irons (sharpened to a point with manicure sets), get to know each other (and themselves) a little better, and explore personal and societal expectations of what it means to be a teen girl.

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic at The Broke and the Bookish is ten books I’d like to read this summer:

1. Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior: I know, I know. I haven’t read either of the last two Kingsolver novels I’ve bought. I will get past the first chapter this summer.
2. A.S. King’s Ask the Passengers: Also on last summer’s TBR list. It is in my possession from the library and just waiting my finishing up my current read-along on Saturday.
3. Eliot Schrefer’s Threatened: Also in my possession. I started it the night I got it … and despite enjoying what I read, I haven’t gone back to it. Soon…
4. Alaya Dawn Johnson’s The Summer Prince: It has summer in the title and takes place in (an alternate version of?) Brazil. Seems like good World Cup reading to me.
5. Mariko and Jillian Tamaki’s This One Summer: A summer-themed graphic novel.
6. Robert Galbraith’s The Silkworm: Sequel! Comes out Thursday!
7. Rainbow Rowell’s Landline: Rainbow is one of those authors I will read anything by.
8. Nina LaCour’s The Disenchantments: Post-high school road trip. This screams summer reading.
9. Helene Wecker’s The Golem and the Jinni: I put this down earlier in the year and am eager to get back to it.
10. Jennifer E. Smith’s This Is What Happy Looks Like: A summer romance.

And more, I’m sure!

Let’s have a look-see at what I’m carrying around with me these days, shall we? You haven’t seen any of this before:

Yes, it is another Color Affection shawl in different colors from the last one. No, the previous one hasn’t been finished yet, but I’ve put it aside in favor of this one for the time being. Yes, I do think I might get tired of this pattern. No, it doesn’t really matter.

On the book front, what you see here are two books I’m reading for the Once upon a Time challenge. Wildwood is a contemporary middle-grade fantasy story written by the frontman for The Decemberists. Like his songs, Colin Meloy’s novel is chockablock full of words that would make Mr. Roget radiate with repletion. Yet the story, of a girl whose baby brother is stolen away by a murder of crows and who braves the untrespassed nearby forest armed only a backpack and her annoying classmate seeking to retrieve him, is fun and original and the dual narration doesn’t feel gratuitous. I’m about halfway through and look forward to finishing it this week.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns is a more traditional fairy tale. Our protagonist, a fat, 16-year-old, second-daughter princess, is married off to a stranger/king and then must move to his country via a jungle and desert journey during which time they are beset by brigands (eat you heart out, Meloy) all the while downplaying that she has God’s blessed gem living in her belly button. Oh, and there’s going to be a war. Okay, so maybe “traditional” was a bit of a stretch there earlier. But it’s compelling and I’m enjoying watching Elisa grow into the person she didn’t think herself capable of.

And on the audio front, I’ve finished with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (which I highly, highly recommend both in print and audio formats) and tonight started a re-listen to the first Harry Potter audiobook. I still wish I could track down the British version, read by Stephen Fry, but the American version is perfectly fine, although if I recall correctly, the narrator isn’t great with girl/women voices and should never have been given the go-ahead for his rendition of Hermione. I particularly like audio for re-“reads” and I’m finding that it’s a nice alternative to tv for late-night knitting.

Yarning along with Ginny. 
 
 

I spent the weekend reading, as stated in the last post, as part of Mother Reader‘s annual 48-Hour Book Challenge. The minimum goal of participation was 12 hours, which is just about what I managed.

During that time, I read five books:

1. The Skin I’m In: Sharon Flake’s debut young adult novel focuses on Maleeka Madison, who is trying to get through 7th-grade unscathed. She’s got a best “friend” who shares clothes with her and tolerates her company in exchange for completed homework assignments, a classmate who sings unkind songs about how dark Maleeka’s skin is, and now a scarred English teacher whose interest in her potential are just going to bring down a heap more trouble on her head. (171 pages/2 hours)
2. Walk Two Moons: Sharon Creech’s middle-grade Newbery winner tells the story of Salamanca Tree Hiddle, a 13-year-old who is on a road trip with her grandparents from Ohio (where she and her dad moved the previous year) to Idaho (to where her mother suddenly announced the previous spring she was going to take a solo trip). While on the road, she regales them with the story of her classmate, Phoebe, whose own mother also left home recently, and of adjusting to her new life.

   Sal and her mother are part Seneca Indian (she prefers that term to Native American) and share a love of their tribal folklore and of nature, although she does note that her mother had thought their tribe name was originally Salamanca, when she’d named her daughter. As for the diversity of the book, Creech’s portrayal of Native Americans relies heavily on the somewhat outdated late-20th century vision of Native Americans as being particularly in touch with nature. It was nice that the main character had some Native American blood in her from several generations back, but it seemed mostly peripheral to her life.

   That said, the book was still quite enjoyable and touching and her grandparents (who once were arrested when visiting D.C. for trying to borrow a couple tires from a senator’s car when theirs had flats) were hilarious and now rate high on my list of favorite grandparents in literature. (280 pages/4 hours)

3. Nowhere to Run: Claire J. Griffin set her young adult novella in D.C. and dedicated it to her Montgomery College students. Calvin is a senior at a dilapidated public high school, but he only stays in school because he’d made a deathbed promise to father to graduate and because he is a sprinter on the school’s track team. He loves to run more than pretty much anything. So when a local gang leader threatens to break his legs (after Cal asks the guy to stop harassing his mom about protection money for her nail salon) and then settles on Cal throwing the District championship, Cal is stressed out. Other things that stress him out as the year inches toward that race are his school principal, who suspend him on wrongful charges of possession; his mom, who wants good things for him, and his kid brother, who looks up to him; his girlfriend, who is a daddy’s girl and who maybe thinks his best friend is a bad influence; his best friend, who is, in fact, a bad influence, but who also has always been there for him until he’s suddenly asking a lot more from Calvin; and his boss, who tries to get Cal to look at the long view and who reminds him that everything in life is a test.

   While I liked the local setting, this book stressed me out unbelievably and I kept putting it down every six pages or so to untense my muscles and to give myself some headspace. While I am not fond of the type of ending the author opted for, I can see it generating good discussions, particularly among teenagers who really do have to make hard decisions in their lives. (110 pages/3 hours) [Thank you to the book’s publisher, Namelos, for sending me a review copy.]

4. Clara Lee and the Apple Pie Dream: Written by Jenny Han, this elementary school chapter book portrays 3rd-grader Clara Lee, who very much wants to be the Little Miss Apple Pie winner this year. She can see herself standing on the float, wearing the traditional Korean dress her grandfather brought back for her from his visit there, but to get there she not only has to beat out older girls at her school — and a classmate who has ties to the founders of the town — but also give a speech about what makes her town special in front of her whole school.

   Aimed at younger kids, I think this book will be a hit with its target audience. Clara Lee has an annoying, but supportive younger sister (she kind of reminded me of DJ from the Arthur series), parents who are realistically well-rounded and emotive, and an adorable grandfather, who jots down unfamiliar English words and idioms in a notebook to look up later in his Korean-English dictionary, fixes Clara Lee’s hair every morning, gardens, and helps interpret her dreams. While the main character is a girl, I don’t think there’s anything in the book that would keep a boy from finding it just as enjoyable as a girl would. (148 pages/1 hour)

5. The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez: Raisin has just moved across the country after her mother remarries and begins a secret blog to share her new life with her two BFF’s back in California. She’s working hard to fit in at her new private middle school and to make friends with the most popular seventh-grade girls, but, somehow, things just never quite go her way (like when she invites one of them over to study for a math test and Raisin ends up having to remove the remnants of a bra from her step-sister’s dog or when she joins the soccer team without knowing the rules of the game).

   I picked out this middle-grade book by Judy Goldschmidt particularly because the drawing of the main character on the book’s cover featured a girl with brown skin. However, were it not for a Latino surname and a single mention by the main character of her “brown skin,” this book could have been about a middle-schooler of any ethnicity. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but may be something potential readers want to know. With several pop-culture references and its use of technology, this book, the first in a series, can feel a little dated at times, as well as somewhat insubstantial. Cute, but I bet I won’t remember it in a year. (202 pages/2 hours)

Thanks to Mother Reader for a weekend full of books. I enjoyed my first time doing the challenge, and will be back next year.