The Red Pyramid - Rick Riordan

Since I now have almost unlimited access to books at my school's library, I grabbed one that I've been wanting to read but wasn't sure I wanted to purchase: The Red Pyramid, by Rick Riordan (author of the Percy Jackson series, which I really liked).

Photo credit http://www.rickriordan.com/my-books/kane-chronicles/books/red-pyramid.aspx

This is part of a newer series by Riordan called The Kane Chronicles - this is the 1st book and there is one more out, with a 3rd one coming next spring. I've only read the 1st few chapters, but so far it seems very similar to Percy Jackson, but with ancient Egypt instead of Greece. It should be a fun, easy read so I'll let you know how it is!

Exciting News...

So I know it's been ages since I've posted anything, but I just have not had the time for much reading this summer and I've been crazy busy because....... I was recently hired as a school library media specialist! Woot woot! So instead of reading I've been trying to figure out just how to be a librarian, lol! I'm only going to be working 3/4 time so I'm hoping to use some of that extra time at school to do some reading since I'll have unlimited access to books :)

Ender's Game

We just finished listening to one of Jason's favorite books on audio book - Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. I was very resistant to reading this book because it seemed very very sci-fi (I generally prefer fantasy to sci-fi) and I was afraid it would be too difficult to follow, but listening it definitely held my attention. I have to say, I loved it! It's set in the future and Earth has been involved in a war with an alien force called the Buggars. Children are monitored and certain children are selected to go into space to battle school to learn military tactics to fight the Buggars. Ender is thought to be the most brilliant military mind of the age and is kind of the "chosen one" to beat the Buggar army - and he's only 6 years old when he leaves for battle school. The story chronicles his life at battle school, his training to defeat the Buggars, and the rigors of battle school in general. It was very futuristic and rather eerie at the same time. It was published in 1985, but Card predicted a lot of different technologies. For example, the children in battle school use "desks" that are essentially the same as laptops. People get their information from "the Nets," which is essentially like today's internet. Pretty crazy stuff - I wonder what else could be predicted from that book! There have been talks of an Ender's Game movie for decades now but it's never come to fruition because the Hollywood execs want to make the character of Ender older, but Orson Scott Card won't consent to it. It is essential to the story that Ender is an innocent child, so I hope Card holds out for a studio that will honor his wishes. I would love to see a movie of this! Highly recommended, something everyone should read in their lives!

Photo credit: http://blastr.com/2010/09/enders-game-film-is-back.php

Cookbooks

Who knew that cookbooks could be so entertaining to read? Since we moved, we don't eat out as often so I started looking through my cookbooks and Taste of Home magazine to find some new things to try. This week I've been reading through them constantly! The other night I found a recipe for homemade tortilla soup that was really good (I found it in the Better Homes & Gardens book, you know the red and white checkerboard one?). Today I started in on the actual Taste of Home cookbook - everything looks amazing, I'm just not sure my culinary skills are quite up to snuff for some of it yet. Anyway, that's what I've been reading a lot of this week. Here are some of my favorite cookbooks, enjoy :)

I just love this one, called Cheap, Fast, Good!, by Beverly Mills & Alicia Ross. It's all very budget friendly and meals you can make in under 30 minutes. Our personal favorites are the sausage pepper pasta, loaded baked potato soup, and the thrifty chicken with broccoli skillet, mmm......

I'm also a big fan of the Better Homes and Gardens one, especially for baking. This is where I learned to make fruit pies that so far everyone has loved! Honestly, what housewife doesn't have this cookbook in her kitchen? If you don't, you should. We actually got two of these for our wedding, and I hadn't even registered for it. Apparently people know their stuff... :) It's a great place to start - I love that it has a glossary of terms and all kinds of information that other cookbooks might just assume you know. Definitely a good teaching tool.

I like the Taste of Home Cookbook, but things in it are slightly more advanced/fancy than I normally get with my cooking. I think a lot of the stuff is meant more for entertaining than every day stuff, but there are still some yummy looking recipes in it. I haven't made much out of it yet, simply because I haven't had the time to really peruse through it, but that's actually what I'm doing now (It's currently sitting open on the couch next to me and is what inspired this post!). One big plus with this cookbook? It came with a free year's subscription to Taste of Home magazine! I love the magazine version, I've found a lot of good things in it and I always look forward to getting it in the mail. I liked it enough that I even started paying for it - I'm currently on my 3rd subscription, and it's really reasonably priced. Generally around $10.00 for the year I think.

Another Taste of Home publication, the Simple & Delicious cookbook is pretty similar to the Cheap, Fast, Good one that I posted above. It has a lot of great simple recipes in it that are nice for a quick meal, and it also has some really yummy fast deserts in it :) Our favorite thing that I've made out of this one so far is the spicy hamburgers - we don't even make regular burgers anymore, we like them so much, and our friends seem to like them pretty well too!

So those are my favorite cookbooks - I've actually been having a lot of fun trying out new recipes since we moved. Before we moved I never seemed to have the time or energy to branch out much, but now that I'm subbing and home a lot more often I figured why not? My husband and I were just talking that over the summer we want to make goal to see how many new things we can learn to make before school starts. We'll see if it happens, but it could be a fun summer project for us to do together since we'll both be home. He likes to cook too, so hopefully we don't gain too much weight! Lol! What are your favorite cookbooks?

Audio Books

My husband and I have recently discovered that with all of the driving we do (we're 25 minutes from work and 30-40 from the nearest decent shopping!) that we really love listening to audio books in the car. Most public libraries in Nebraska have a service called Overdrive where you can "check out" and download audio books to play on your iPod. The downside is that it still has a somewhat limited collection and it's been so popular that there always seems to be a waiting list for different titles, but it's been a great way for us to experience a new book together for free :) We recently just finished The Hunger Games (I've read it before but he hasn't, and he loved it!) and he has been bugging me about getting the next one ever since. It's currently all "checked out" and there's a pretty long waiting list for it, so for something short to fill in the gap I downloaded The Boy in Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. I know they recently made a movie of it, but I really haven't heard much about either the book or movie. Has anyone read it or seen the movie? I'm interested to hear what you think!

Percy Jackson and the Olympians - The Last Olympian

Since the 4th Percy Jackson book was so good, I decided to just go ahead and finish up the series with the 5th book, The Last Olympian, and I wasn't disappointed! It was maybe a little predictable (I noticed a lot of similarities to Harry Potter throughout the entire series), but it was still fun to read. I think I would have enjoyed reading these books more if I would have followed them from the very beginning like I did with Harry Potter. The anticipation really adds to the enjoyment of the story in some cases, and I also read these books so fast back to back that it seemed like the characters aged in super fast motion, lol! Overall, I would definitely recommend this book, the story is thrilling and very funny at the same time. I actually laughed out loud quite a bit - like literally lol'd. I've noticed a lot of my 5th and 6th grade students reading these, so they're really popular. There are a couple of other series books by Riordan, and one is actually a spin-off of Percy Jackson called the Heroes of Olympus that is just coming out. I think I'll read the 1st one (The Lost Hero) and hopefully follow the series as it comes out (The second book is due out this fall). Now maybe I can get back to Darkly Dreaming Dexter, it might be nice to read an adult book for a change... or will it?

Percy Jackson and the Olympians - The Battle of the Labyrinth

I managed to get to Target over the weekend, so I put off Dexter and read the next Percy Jackson book. I started it on Sunday, and finished it by Monday night, it was just as good as the others. Possibly my favorite so far. In this book, there is a growing threat that the Titan army will attack Olympus, and the evil lord Kronos will bring an end to Western Civilization as we know it. It's up to Percy and his friends to figure out what they're up to and warn Camp Half-Blood in time! These books follow a similar pattern as the Harry Potter books, with the characters aging one year with each book. This is the 4th book in the series, and the characters are now 14 - the perfect age for a cute little teenage love triangle to begin surfacing. I'm anxious to see where they take the next one! Speaking of the next one, since I'm going to Lincoln this weekend I'll be able to pick it up. Next on my list - Percy Jackson and the Olympians - The Last Olympian.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Since I still need to get to a bookstore to buy the next Percy Jackson book (and who knows when that will be), I might start reading another one that I just ordered from Amazon. Are you ready for this? It's not a children's or young adult book - not by a long shot! (Pauses for gasps). Shocking, I know... Alright, how many of you out there are fans of the hit show Dexter on Showtime? Right, me too - hubs and I are completely addicted, thanks to Netflix, and we recently caught up on all of the seasons. Little did I know, it was a book series before it was a t.v. series! So, in addition to the next Percy Jackson book, another one on my reading list is now Darkly Dreaming Dexter, by Jeff Lindsay.

If you're not familiar with the books or the show, Dexter works as a blood spatter analyst for Miami Metro Police forensics. The catch? He's a serial killer, who lives by a code - he only kills really bad people. (I told you it wasn't a children's book!) The series follows Dexter as he tries to lead a normal life and blend in with society, all while keeping his "dark passenger" satisfied. There isn't a single episode of the t.v. series that hasn't dropped my jaw or made me scream because of insane plot twists and crazy murder mysteries, so I have high expectations for the book! We'll see....l

Percy Jackson and the Olympians - The Titan's Curse, pt. 2

So, nearly 2 months later, I finally got around to finishing it: The Titan's Curse. School has been crazy busy, and still is for that matter, so it took way longer to read than it really should have. I have to say, this was probably my favorite one so far. New characters were introduced in the series that were way fun, and there's an interesting revelation about one of them at the end that dropped my jaw! I can't wait to see where the author goes with it! I can't say much more than that, other than read the series. They're fun books, and unless you're crazy busy with school like I am, they're a quick easy read with lots of suspense and humor. I would give all 3 of the books I've read so far a 4 out of 5 stars. Up next on my list, I figure why jump around: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth. Part of the first chapter was at the end of the 3rd book, and it already has me hooked. Stay tuned for more!

Percy Jackson and the Olympians - The Titan's Curse

I just started reading the 3rd book in the Percy Jackson series - The Titan's Curse. So far, so good - action packed right from the start. I haven't gotten very far yet, but I think it's going to be a good one!

On a side note, I just started my classes for the semester, and it looks like more of the reading I have to do this semester is from textbooks. (Don't worry, I won't subject you to textbook reviews!)  Hopefully I still have time to keep up with my personal reading. Blah.

Birth of a Blog

I realized yesterday that I read a lot of books last year. I mean a lot. Getting my Master's degree in Library Media Science = a lot of time spent reading. Time to read for pleasure is something that I lost when I first started college in 2004, and it's something that I have been rediscovering my love for since starting my Master's this year. As I sat here, trying to list all of the books that I read in the last year, I realized that I couldn't remember them all. I felt I needed a way to document the books that I read this year and a way to remind myself of them. So, this blog was born! This will be a way for me to look back at my favorite books and share them with all of you!

I can't promise that I will always read something new to post about because I am notorious for re-reading my favorites over and over and over. (Just thinking about how many times I have read the Harry Potter books makes me smile). But I like to reflect upon what I read, even if it's something that I've read before, because you can always discover something new about it. Also, I'll warn you now that most of the books I read are children's/young adult literature. Once in awhile there will be an adult title thrown in the mix, but since I'm an elementary teacher I'm always looking for what students will like and ways to use them in the classroom. Not to mention, I'm what I like to call a series book whore. I can never seem to get enough from one book, and with a series I don't have to give it up as quickly.

With all of that said, I feel that it is important for me to list some of the books that I read in 2010 because I discovered some really great titles. Enjoy!

My Top Picks from 2010:

The Hunger Games series, by Suzanne Collins. This series includes 3 books: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay. This was definitely my favorite find this year. I read all 3 books in about 2 weeks, and it only took me that long because I had to wait until I could get to a bookstore to buy the 2nd and 3rd books! Think post-apocalyptic America run by a government that doesn't care for it's people, and a teenage girl determined not to be used as a pawn. Throw in gladiator style games, and you have the formula for a book you can't put down! Highly recommended!

Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, by Rick Riordan. I've only read the first 2 books (The Lightening Thief and The Sea of Monsters, but I'm hooked! It's very similar to the Harry Potter series, but with Greek god's and mythological beasts instead of witches and wizards. I'm looking forward to finishing the series this year and checking out other books by Riordan. Too bad the movie was a disappointment. Not completely terrible I guess, but a disappointment none the less.

Bud, Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis. Such a heartwarming and funny book! Bud is an abandoned boy searching for his father during the Great Depression, and the only possessions he had are kept in a ratty old suitcase that he takes everywhere with him. He has his own set of rules to live by ("Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself"), and they get him into all kinds of mischief. Highly recommended!

The Giver, by Lois Lowry. This wasn't a new read for 2010, but it's an old favorite. I can't even begin put this book into words, but here it goes: Jonas is a young boy who's world is perfect. No pain, no sickness, no poverty, and no choices to make. Jonas is selected to become the next Receiver of Memory, and it is only then that he discovers the true joys that life can hold. If you haven't read it, do it. Right now. I'm serious, you won't regret it.

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg. Another book that wasn't a new read but an old favorite. The artwork in it is beautiful and it just begs to be used as a writing prompt. In fact, I'm pretty sure my 7th grade teacher used this as a writing prompt for us, and that's where I first discovered this book. There is very little text, only short captions for each picture. The pictures are of very strange things or dreamlike things. The captions are just enough to get your imagination started, and you can just let your mind run wild with this book. Check it out!

Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco. Although I've read quite a few of Polacco's books, this is one that I've missed over the years. It's set during the Civil War. Two young soldiers, Pink - black soldier and Say - a white soldier strike up a friendship when Pink rescues Say and takes him home to his mother, who nurses him back to health. Eventually they are ripped apart when they are captured and sent to Andersonville prison, but Say survives and is able to pass on the story of their unlikely friendship.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum. Of course, I already knew the story from the movie and reading the book as a child, but it had been so long since I had read the original version that it was fun to read it again.

The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling. It wouldn't be right for me not to include my all time favorites. I don't even remember which ones I read this year, but I know I read several of them. The all read as one big story to me, so I just figured I should include them all. How was the 7th movie you ask? AMAZING!

The Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I told you I am a series book whore. The writing maybe isn't the greatest, but the story is entertaining. If you like these books, check out The Host, also by Stephanie Meyer.

Jumanji, by Chris Van Allsburg. I just love the illustrations in Van Allsburg's books. They are so imaginative and fun to read!

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. I didn't actually read this one, I downloaded it in audiobook format and my husband and I listed to it on our 5 1/2 hour drive to my parent's house for Christmas. I thought I would have a hard time staying alert for this, but Dickens is actually really funny, not to mention it was a nice way to pass the time on a very long and boring drive.

Okay, I think this post has gotten long enough. I know there are more books that I read last year that I could include, but I need to move on to other things today. Like dishes. And laundry. Blah. The next books on my reading list include the next book the the Percy Jackson series, The Titan's Curse, and I would also really like to read the entire Chronicals of Narnia series instead of the few random books I have read from it. Stay tuned folks!