Christmas Reading: Part 3

Christmas may be over, but I'm one of those people that doesn't mind letting the holiday spirit linger a bit. After spending so much time and effort preparing, I hate to let it just disappear in a day. If you remember, I'm also very stubborn about not letting Christmas creep in until I've thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated Thanksgiving, so that is definitely a contributing factor. Lucky for me, the Christmas Spirit Challenge runs through Little Christmas/the Epiphany in early January, so I don't feel completely odd squeezing in one last holiday post in the midst of everyone else doing year-end wrap-ups and whatnot. You may not want to read any of these now (I did read them all before Christmas), but there's always next year!

You Better Not Cry, by Augusten Burroughs
Series? No
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Date: 2009
How did I get this book? borrowed from library
My Rating: 3 of 5 stars
GoodReads | Author | Publisher

This one was just OK, but I do wonder how much of my indifference can be attributed to the narration of the audiobook. I typically love when an author reads their own work, but I found myself wanting to rip my hair out as Augusten stretched out each word and sentence to an absurd degree as if speaking to someone he is not quite sure can understand him -- or is perhaps hard of hearing. It got a bit better in the later stories, but it really was infuriating. And ironically, an additional production problem was not leaving enough extra seconds of silence at the end of each story. Each new one began with a title, but it ran so quickly from the story before that it was sometimes difficult to realize we had moved onto a completely different topic. For example, a bewildered Augusten waking up to realize he'd had a tryst with an elderly Santa directly followed a story from his childhood and it took some rewinding and replaying to realize just exactly where one story ended and a (completely!) different one began. Despite the irritating narration which was in full force for the very first story, it is actually one of my favorites -- Augusten as a child confusing Santa and Jesus was truly hysterical.

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The Worst Noel, by collected authors
Series? No
Publisher: Harper Audio
Date: 2005
How did I get this book? purchased
My Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
GoodReads | Publisher

As I'm finding with many other humorous holiday collections, this one is a bit hit and miss. Taken as a whole, it was quite good, but there were only a few real stand-out stories. Having just finished my own Christmas cards, I absolutely loved the one by Marian Keyes about this particular holiday tradition which is approached with a mix of nostalgia and obligation. It's a bit sad to realize just how true it is, but the truth is what makes it so damn funny. Another story that really had me laughing was one in which a young artistic couple realize they don't know each other very well when they exchange presents they each hate. There were more Jewish stories about Christmas than I anticipated, but that is not necessarily a bad thing -- just unexpected. Of all the Christmas humor books I've read this year, this was definitely my favorite.

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The Father Christmas Letters, by JRR Tolkien
Series? No
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Date: 1976
How did I get this book? borrowed from library
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars
GoodReads | Publisher

This was a lovely little treasure I found out about from Riv over at Bookish Realm. It is a collection of letters Tolkien wrote to his children as Father Christmas (with illustrations) and would be an excellent addition to any child or family's Christmas collection. Each year Father Christmas shared a bit about his life at the North Pole and relayed what happened during the year. The North Polar Bear is his greatest helper, but also a bit of a nuisance and a trouble maker. There are goblin wars and all kinds of other adventures. The letters do not exactly portray the North Pole as I remember it from stories and legends, but it was nice to find a new perspective after all these years -- especially one that actually dates back to the 1920s & 1930s!

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The Christmas Kid and other Brooklyn Stories, by Pete Hamill
Series? No
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Date: 2012
How did I get this book? borrowed from library
My Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
GoodReads | Author | Publisher

Be warned, this book is NOT all Christmas stories. Other than the title story, there are very few that actually are related to Christmas, but I still think this was a wonderful book to read around the holidays since it is brimming with nostalgia. I never lived in Brooklyn, but my grandmother did and I've grown up hearing stories from her life there. Many of the stories collected here are heart-breaking or even downright depressing, but certainly not all. The title story was truly fantastic and I completely understand why it was used as such. There is a bit of vigilante justice and violence, but there is also plenty of love, friendship, camaraderie, and community. There are stories from several different eras and I really enjoyed the mix. The narration was excellent (complete with Brooklyn accents) and I will definitely be listening to this one again.

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These books count toward my reading goals for:
2013 Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge

Christmas Reading Part 2: A Christmas Carol

I read this book along with fellow bloggers Riv & Sam. And my friend Christy recently read & reviewed it as well!

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
Series? No
Publisher: Dreamscape Media 
Date: 1843; audiobook published in 2012
How did I get this book? Borrowed from library
My Rating: 5 of 5 stars
GoodReads | Publisher

I touched on my nostalgia for this classic Christmas tale in my previous Christmas reading post. The first time I read it I was 16 years old and in Ms. Sweeney's honors English class. Ms. Sweeney is definitely one of the best English teachers I ever had. That woman knew her stuff and she had extremely high expectations of us girls. She was the kind of teacher who pushed her students beyond anything we thought ourselves capable of and we were better for it in the end. Her class was seriously challenging and her exams struck fear in the heart of anyone who dared to skim, skip, or let their mind wander during class. When she gave us her "just checking to make sure you did your homework" quizzes, it was like she knew you started glazing over on page 162 of the reading assignment, so she made sure to ask for the details of that exact portion. Just getting the gist of what was going on was not enough, Ms. Sweeney taught us the importance of thinking critically about what we read. While I am a big fan of quality over quantity, Ms. Sweeney didn't have much choice in the matter since this particular "honors" class was required to cover both American lit and British lit in one year. We got two year's worth of English classes crammed into one and you know what? I remember more of what I learned in that one year than all of my other English classes combined. Seriously.

Anyway, my little trip down memory lane does have a point. You see, the year I took Ms. Sweeney's class and she assigned us A Christmas Carol it was like her little Christmas present to us. Having struggled through the first semester reading much more difficult texts, this little novella was a real treat. It was an easy read and helped get us in the Christmas spirit instead of being just one more thing to get done before we could enjoy our holiday break. Being a Catholic school, I'm sure the moral lesson it teaches was also a consideration, but there is something about this story that really resonates, especially at Christmastime.

I was so happy to realize all these years later that the magic of this story is still there. I'm always afraid that any book I remember with such fondness might fade a bit upon re-reading, but that couldn't be further from the truth in this case. I opted for the audio version this time around, so I could "read" while shoveling snow and doing other Christmas-ey activities around the house. The British narrator was just delightful and I couldn't have been happier with my second experience of this story. I probably wouldn't recommend audio for a first-time read, but for a re-read it worked out perfectly. I will definitely not let another 12 Christmases pass before I re-read this one again!

As a final note, this was truly the perfect book to (finally!) ease my way into tackling my Classics Club list. Yes, it's a novella. Yes, it's short. But it was the perfect reminder of what I already know, but sometimes forget: classics don't need to be intimidating, dull, or feel like a chore. Classics are not all alike and for all the ones I may not care for, there are plenty of others sure to be just as delightful as this one. I'll have to channel my inner Ms. Sweeney when I choose my next selection!

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This books counts toward my reading goals for:
2013 Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge
The Classics Club
Back to the Classics 2013: a 19th Century classic

Classics Club #1

 

Christmas Reading: Part 1

Every year I get nostalgic for the Christmas of my junior year of highschool when we were assigned Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol which I vividly remember reading in my parents' living room next to the glittering tree. I loved it so much and completely forgot it was even homework. Every year, I say I'm going to re-read it and read other Christmas books, but I never find the time, so deciding to try audiobooks this year is working out splendidly for me. Many of these are short no matter what format you read them in, but I'm practically flying through them. It's so nice to read this many Christmas stories during such a busy season. I haven't gotten to A Christmas Carol yet, but am planning to read it next week along with my blogging buddy Riv over at Bookish Realm and another blogging blogging buddy of hers, Sam over at Tiny Library. 'Tis the season!

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson
Series? Yes, The Herdmans #1
Publisher: Harper Children's Audio
Date: First published in 1972; audiobook published in 2005
How did I get this book? borrowed from library
My Rating: 5 of 5 stars
GoodReads | Publisher

I first read this book in the 6th grade, and reading it as an adult, I completely get why it was assigned at my Catholic grammar school. It's a very entertaining story about the Herdmans, a family of miscreant children who know nothing about church or Christmas and participate in a pageant for the very first time. It teaches morals and values while also telling the religious story of Christmas. The shenanigans the Herdmans get into are interesting enough to hold kids' attention and the lessons aren't stuffy or preachy, but they are most certainly there. In addition to the story itself, I would be remiss not to mention how incredibly good the narrator's performance is. This audiobook is the perfect example of how a great narration can make a story even better than it is in print. I don't generally read children's books quite this young, but this one has made me want to read the other two Herdman books! I just read that the author passed away over the summer, but I'm sure this very special book of hers will live on for a very long time.

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NPR Holiday Favorites, by Susan Stamberg
Series? NPR has other collections, but not technically a series
Publisher: HighBridge
Date: 2008
How did I get this book? borrowed from library
My Rating: 3 of 5 stars
GoodReads | Publisher

I'm not exactly sure why this is considered an audiobook, but apparently it is -- it's filed with the audiobooks in the library and has an ISBN and everything, but it's really just a collection of holiday broadcasts from various NPR shows. My feelings are split on this one. There were quite a few heart-warming stories that I really enjoyed, but some of the others that were supposed to be funny fell a bit flat for me. David Sedaris' Santaland Diaries is always a good one, but I skipped it on here because it isn't the full version. I listened to it on his Holidays on Ice collection instead. In total, it's only about 2 hours long, so it was definitely worth listening to even if every story didn't hit it out of the park. And I do think it would be nice to listen to in the car while travelling for the holidays.

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Holidays on Ice, by David Sedaris
Series? No
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Date: March 5, 2013
How did I get this book? borrowed from library
My Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
GoodReads | Author | Publisher

I listened to this audiobook for the first time 5 years ago, and I could have sworn it was funnier. I love humor books, but I'm starting to think David Sedaris' writing isn't exactly my brand of humor. I did laugh a bit, but each story seems to be hit or miss for me. Santaland Diaries, Sedaris' story about working as a Macy's elf, is a classic and still quite good. Six to Eight Black Men is offensive at times, but a mostly funny account of some Dutch Christmas traditions that seem pretty absurd. Jesus Shaves was definitely my favorite story in the whole book and it isn't even about Christmas! In this story, Sedaris is in a French class where he and his fellow classmates give halting, literal translations in an attempt to explain Easter to a student who is unfamiliar with the holiday. Christmas makes only a very brief appearance, but this story is the shining jewel of the collection and Sedaris' narration of it is outstanding. Unfortunately, most of the others were just OK this time around. Not a waste of time, but overall this re-read was not as good as I had hoped it would be.

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These books count toward my reading goals for:
2013 Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge

The Post We've All Been Waiting For -- BOOKSHELVES!

I say "we" because I know many of you have been wanting to see photos of the rest of my bookcases, but I've just been dying to get my precious books out of boxes. The fact that I can finally write this post and share the end of this project with you is very exciting for me. Almost six months after moving in, I am finally, officially, fully unpacked. YAY! It's a good feeling I tell you, a very good feeling indeed.

I've already shared my kitchen cookbook bookshelves and my bedroom nightstand bookshelves, but let's be honest, this barely scratched the surface in terms of "reading" books (as opposed to cookbooks, which are clearly my other obsession). The remainder of my collection is now in the "living room" with a small number also residing in the den. They say a house is not a home without books, but clearly a room is not a room unless it has a bookshelf -- in my house, anyway!

Let's start off with the last two tiny shelves in the den. First, I have a small bookcase that fits mass-market paperbacks perfectly. Instead of taking up space on shelves that easily fit much larger books, I put a few authors I have a lot of books for in this format here:

A $5 yard sale find!

Then I have another small bookcase I'm using for reference books (home/gardening/crafting), Nick's Star Wars & Yankee books, and coffee table books. I use our coffee table as a work station, so no room for them there! The piles on top are library books, so those are not there permanently.

This one they were giving away at a yard sale --
the man couldn't hoist it into my car fast enough!

Now onto the really good stuff! Our living room has officially been dubbed the "reading room" by my aunt, and I can't say she's wrong. I didn't really want a formal living room because I know that even while entertaining, everyone will gravitate toward the couch in the den anyway since it's right off the kitchen. I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on living room furniture that wouldn't really get used, so I asked myself how I would really like to use this room and, of course, the answer was to have a quiet place to read. To facilitate that, I went all out and got this ridiculously over-sized reading chair and ottoman. Heaven. Pure heaven. If only I had more time to curl up in it!

Please ignore the "construstion corner" on the left
filled with supplies for our many homeowner projects!

Other than the big-ass reading chair, the only other furniture in this room is the bookcases (Hence, "reading room.") I do want some additional seating eventually -- maybe a pair of high-back chairs or a bench under the window, we'll see -- but I don't want to overcrowd this room because someday I may move my desk out here.

My dad wanted to build us bookshelves, but wood-working is a new hobby for him that he'd like to do more of when he retires, so we decided a giant bookcase was a bit too big of a project to start out with. So we went with these shelves from IKEA instead which were the perfect balance of quality and value for us. They are actually 3 separate units from the HEMNES line installed to look like a custom corner unit. They are made of solid wood and I challenge anyone to find solid wood bookcases for a better price. Granted, the back is not wood, but I'll take that compromise since it is pressboard which is much better quality than just cardboard which I've seen on other units. I had to put them together, but at this point I am a pro at that kind of thing!

No one was more surprised than I was to realize there actually would be a few free shelves -- room to grow!

They are obviously not built-ins, but they fit into the space we had perfectly -- next to the fireplace, but not too close; filling up most of the wall, but not so much that it looks too over-sized.

I love that little wine rack I found at the Christmas Tree Shoppe -- its latest addition is this adorable bottle my aunt brought as a house-warming gift:

How freakin' cute?!

As for organization, I decided to divide up by general categories and then go alphabetically by author. So on the left I have adult fiction:

In the middle, I have the end of the adult fiction, books-about-books, memoir/non-fiction/misc....

and classics.

And on the right, I have all the young adult/middle grade books.

Looks like the collection has already grown --
1 more shelf filled since I took the earlier photos!

And I couldn't resist creating a special Harry Potter shelf. My husband had the original hardcovers on his nightstand bookcase, but I wanted to display our collection all together. Also, we remembered he had lent out a few of "his" books that won't fit on his bookcase once they are returned if we didn't do some re-arranging.

So our official collection includes all 7 hardcovers, the (newly arrived!) 15th anniversay paperback set, a British paperback edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone I picked up while in Scotland, the 2-book set of school books (Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages), a regular edition and special collector's edition of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and the rather frightening looking thing on top is The Monster Book of Monsters which isn't an actual book, but a gift from Harry Potter World from Nick's parents, which certainly fits the theme!

This might sound really cheesy, but our house feels so much more homey to me now that I have the reading nook and bookshelves set up. What can I say, I'm a book-lover through and through!

The Bookman's Tale

The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett
Series: no
Publisher: Viking Adult
Date: May 28, 2013
How did I get this book? free Advance Reader's Copy from the publisher via ShelfAwareness for an honest review
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
GoodReads | Author | Publisher

When a review copy of this book arrived on my doorstop, I nearly shrieked in excitement. Bypassing many other books, I placed it on the very top of my To-Read pile and I am happy to say it most definitely earned that coveted spot.

Part literary mystery, part tragic love story, and part ode to the written word, this book was everything I hoped it would be and more. A still grieving Peter Byerly finds a Victorian portrait that looks strikingly like his late wife Amanda and sets off to a find out more about it's origins. Along the way, he ends up on the trail of an even bigger mystery -- the question of whether or not Shakespeare's plays were actually written by Shakespeare of Stratford, or if they were written by another writer under that name.

One of the things I really liked was how the narrative switched between different points in time. A lot of the book is told from the present as Peter is trying to solve the mystery, but other parts go all the way back to Shakespeare's time and trace through the centuries following the historical aspects of the story. Yet another thread of the narrative follows Peter's relationship with Amanda from when they first met. It was heartbreaking to know she would inevitably die, but their relationship was really something special. Peter has social anxiety, but Amanda brings out the best in him and they are truly a perfect match. The bond they share is so touching and beautifully written, I will not soon forget this pair.

In addition to the actual love story, this book is suffused with the love of books. If you are a book lover (as so many of us are), Peter will feel like a kindred spirit. I know this book has found a special place in my heart and I'm sure it will resonate with other lovers of the written word as well. I can't recommend it highly enough.

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This book counts toward my reading goals for:
2013 Books About Books Challenge
2013 ARC Reading Challenge

Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores

Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores by Jen Campbell
Series: Not per se, but there is a 2nd volume out in the UK
Publisher: Overlook
Date: Sept. 13, 2012
How did I get this book? borrowed from library
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
GoodReads | Author | Publisher

WARNING: This book will cause uncontrollable laughter. Do not read in public if cracking up in front of strangers is something that embarrasses you. If you are supposed to be doing something else, but want to surreptitiously read a book instead, don't choose this one because you will totally get busted. Don't hide this one inside War & Peace and expect to get away with it. Seriously. You've been warned.

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Words can hardly express my love for this book! I first heard about it when Kay of It's a Book Life shared a link to an excerpt featuring 10 different snippets in one of her bookish news posts. I knew right away I had to read it and immediately put in a request at my library. Two days later I picked it up and had to force myself to not read it in one sitting because I wanted the enjoyment to last just a bit longer. I had been plodding though a bit of a slow book and this was just the break I needed. I brought it with me to my grandmother's house Mother's Day weekend and some of my more bookish relatives were laughing along with me as I read out some of my favorite passages. My aunt took it up to bed with her and finished it that night!

It's a slim volume and anyone who loves books and bookstores will get a kick out of it. If you've ever worked in a bookstore, other retail establishment, or any job that deals with the public, you will get a kick out of it. If you're amazed by the foolishness that comes out of people's mouths sometimes, you will most definitely get a kick out of it. A few of the anecdotes in the chapter 'Customers Behaving Badly' were more appalling than funny, but all of them will leave you have shaking your head and asking yourself, "How could someone really say that?!" You will appreciate your neighborhood booksellers all the more after reading this one, that's for sure. Read. This. Book. Just do it, because I can't imagine you would possibly regret it. :)

Oh, and the author also has a Tumblr that will make your day if you're a book lover.
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This book counts toward my reading goals for:
2013 Books About Books Challenge

More Bookshelves!

It's been over a month since my first house/bookshelf update, so I think it's about time for a follow-up. If you thought nothing else could possibly go wrong (like we did!), that is unfortunately not true. Not to be a Debbie downer, but owning a house can be a real bitch sometimes. Seriously. On the upside, our basement has stayed dry and the sewer has remained clear -- thank God for small miracles! But on the downside...

1. On multiple occasions I have heard the tell-tale buzz of a bee. Cue the panic, heart palpitations, and shrieking. Ugh. I hate bees. I really hate being the only one home to deal with a bee, but such are the hazards of working from home. I know they are good for the environment and all, but they do not belong in my house. They belong outside in the environment, not freaking the living daylights out of me because we are in enclosed quarters together. At least they're not honeybees so I guess I don't have to feel too bad about being a bee-killer.

2. The laundry room has proven to be even more of a disaster than we thought. Not only did we need to run a new hot water line and clean/repair mold damage, but when we went to replace the floor and pulled up the insulation underneath, we found roots and leaves mixed in with the insulation. If you're thinking that roots and leaves on the inside of a house is a bad thing, you would be correct. It is a very bad thing. Turns out the sill and one of the floor joists is rotten and the great outdoors just creeped it's way in. Two months ago, I didn't know what a sill was. Come to think of it, I kind of wish I still didn't! We're getting that fixed this weekend though so the wall doesn't just crumble or collapse on us one day. (I said it's a bitch, didn't I?)

3. And the latest thing we spotted was some mysterious roof damage. Our starting-to-get-old-but-is-totally-fine-for-now roof no longer seems to be totally fine. No leaks yet, but we want to get this figured out before that happens.

It really is amazing how a home in "average condition" with a few issues to be addressed can so quickly start falling apart. It's almost like the house knew the old owners wouldn't bother to fix anything so it held itself together as long as it could and now that we're here, it's breathing a sigh of relief and saying, "I can relax now, these new people will take care of me if I break!" OK now that I am anthropomorphizing my house, I think it's time to move on to the fun stuff...

Despite all this craziness, bookshelves just make me happy. My dad would like to build us some bookcases for the living room, but he's helping us with so many other things (::cough:: fixing the laundry room floor ::cough::), that it's not really on the horizon yet. But I still have a few new photos to share.

First, we have a second cookbook bookcase in the kitchen. Yes, I have more than one bookcase just for cookbooks. (You can see the first one here. I've shuffled things around a bit, but they are still both full.) Ironically, we are so busy with house stuff I am mostly making grilled cheese sandwiches these days, but hopefully some more adventurous recipes will be in my near future.

And then we have matching bookcases in the master bedroom we are using in place of nightstands. We came to this "design" decision for purely practical reasons. Do you have any idea how much nightstands cost at a halfway decent furniture store? Way. Too. Much. They are like half the price of a dresser, but with only a fraction of the storage space. So I asked myself, what do I really need a nightstand for? To hold a lamp, a box of tissues, a cup of water, and a book or two. So swap in short bookcases for nightstands and voila! They can hold all those things plus waaay more than just one or two books. Did I mention that bookcases make me happy?

Also, we really need curtains...

My husband's side has some of "his" books. The Nicholas Flamel series, The Mysterious Benedict Society, Septimus Heap, I Am Number Four, & various Rick Riordan books. Harry Potter and Dan Brown are only there temporarily, because those will definitely be in the living room someday. We'll probably swap those out for the original Percy Jackson series which my aunt is currently borrowing. 

Then there is my side: 

I've used the top shelf for (mostly) review books.

The rest of the top shelf and the entire bottom shelf is dedicated to the non-review books I currently want to read the most. The tip of the TBR iceberg, if you will. It's a mix of new releases, recent acquisitions, next-in-a-series, and books I've chosen for various challenges. My side will definitely get shuffled around a lot more than my husband's!

It may be a while before the rest of our books come out of boxes, but I'm really happy with what we have so far. I'm a little afraid to see how many more bookcases we will need -- by the time this is complete, I really may have my very own library!

Top Ten Tuesday (#14): Bookish Memories

Top Ten Tuesday is a regular feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and this week we're taking a trip down memory lane. I don't have any "I met my all-time favorite author & now were BFFs" kind of stories, so I'm going all nostalgic on you guys today. I hope you have some warm and fuzzy bookish memories too :)

(Update: I cannot believe I forgot about #9, so I just had to squeeze it in after the fact. When I first started writing this, I didn't think I could come up with 10, but apparently I was wrong!)

Image from Amazon.

1. Reading A Story a Day 'Til Christmas with my parents and brother as a kid. This wasn't a long standing tradition since we were probably only both at "let's read bedtime stories together" ages for a few years, but it's still a very happy memory. (Note to self: I really need to look for this book the next time I visit my parents. I actually think we had two different volumes. I hope we didn't get rid of them...)

2. Reading by nightlight because I didn't want to get caught staying up past my bedtime. Yup, I was one of those kids. Forget all the other sneaky things I could have gotten myself into, I just desperately wanted to read one more chapter. OK, maybe two.

3. The Scholastic Book Fair. Please tell me you had these at your school as a kid. I looked forward to them so much it was kind of ridiculous. This was obviously the beginning of my book buying obsession. Of course at the age of 10, I had quite limited funds (and room in my backpack), which was probably a good thing.

4. Speaking of Scholastic, I have to include the Scholastic Book Club flyers. Do you guys remember those?! In the days before this thing called the internet enabled you to click a few buttons and have books magically appear on your doorstep, this was pretty much a third grade bookworm's dream. I filled out a form, gave my teacher some money, and then I got the latest Baby Sitters Club book delivered to me at school. So. Awesome.

5. One thing I really miss now that I'm an adult is reading a book cover-to-cover. As a kid, I remember settling in with a Nancy Drew mystery on a weekend or a rainy summer day and just reading the whole thing straight through. And on a really good day, I'd read another!

6. In high school, I was always the first one up in the morning, so I would make myself something for breakfast and curl up on the playroom couch with my latest non-school-related book. I went to Catholic school and wore a uniform, so getting ready didn't take much time and I always thought I had time for a few more pages, even when I really didn't.

7. Now I know a lot of teenage girls like to go shopping at the mall and my best friend and I were no exception. What I'm not so sure about is if all the other teenage girls always made a stop at the bookstore. We were both readers, so we often swapped books and recommendations and it was always fun to browse the shelves. The day we realized the B. Dalton at our local mall was closing for good was a very sad day. How can a mall not have a bookstore?!

8. It was a little bittersweet, but I'll never forget lining up to buy Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at midnight with my husband (he was my boyfriend then -- can you see why I married him?), one of his friends, and my best friend. It's what all the cool kids were doing. Seriously. Well, my kind of cool kids anyway.

9. Speaking of the cool kids, you want to know what this cool kid did on her 21st birthday? She went to An Evening with Harry, Carrie & Garp with said husband and best friend. Judging by the crowd, the excitement, and the general atmosphere, you would have thought it was a rock concert, but it was actually a series of readings and Q&A sessions with JK Rowling, Stephen King, and John Irving at Radio City Music Hall. My husband bought us the tickets and took the two of us since our birthdays are only 2 days apart. Forget going to a bar and getting legally wasted, that was one of my best birthdays ever.

10. And all this Harry Potter talk brings me back to the day my little brother came home from school and was practically jumping out of his skin and begging me to read the first book. "Christine you have to read this book. It's sooo good. And it's not just for little kids. I swear you're gonna like it." He must have been 10 which means I would have been 14 and not all that likely to believe him, but luckily I did. Best. Book Recommendation. Ever.

Fast forward a few years to when my brother was 14 and Order of the Phoenix was published. He started it, but didn't like it as much as the earlier books, so he stopped after a few chapters and pretty much abandoned reading altogether. I was so mad because he got me started on the series and I wanted to talk to him about the ending so badly! Which leads me to my final bookish memory...

11. It's almost 10 years later and I never was able to convince my brother to read the rest of Harry Potter (or anything else, for that matter). Every year our family takes a beach vacation on the Jersey shore (not THAT Jersey Shore. Ew.) which is perfect for some relaxing summer reading, but nothing I tried ever worked. I'd ask him what books he wanted me to pack for him and he'd just make the "I know you're my sister and we're related, but you really are crazy" face at me. But recently he told me his latest job (which involves a lot of sitting around and monitoring a sign-in book) is so boring he might have to take up reading again. I was hopeful we'd talk about books again one day, but I wasn't holding my breath. Then I got a text from him: "Finished my 3rd book. The parents are reading frauds there are no books in the house." I couldn't help but smile and reminded him they go to this place called the library. It only happened yesterday, but I don't think it's something I'll forget anytime soon :)

1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up

1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up, by Julia Eccleshare
Source: Borrowed from the library
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
GoodReads

OK I know I'm already "grown-up" and anyone reading this blog probably is too, but hear me out before you skip over this post. I was looking for some inspiration for my Classics Club list, so I went to the library to borrow 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. While I was there, I spotted this children's version I didn't even know existed. I decided to check them both out, figuring it would also be fun to flip through and revisit my childhood a bit. Little did I know just how much of a gem it would turn out to be!

There are people all over the place blogging about the adult version and I was so eager to check it out. But as I started browsing through it, I just wasn't feeling most of the selections. To me, there seemed to be a bias toward certain authors whose books earned multiple spots at the expense of others I expected to see, but weren't listed at all. There were plenty of well-known, excellent books, but overall it wasn't what I was hoping for. I guess I wanted to be excited or inspired by (nearly) every book, and I just wasn't. I'd still be curious to see how many I read over time, but I have zero interest in actually trying to read them all.

But then I cracked open this kids' version and was delighted to find such a wide-ranging and truly fantastic selection. THIS is the book I'd really like to read may way through. Forget the grown-up list, they're letting the kids have all the fun! It's split up by age group, so anything in the 0-3, 3+, and 5+ categories I'm more likely to read with my (as yet non-existent) kids someday, but the 8+ and 12+ sections are filled with really great books that my "grown-up" self would love to read. I do think some of them are a little above the age range they're listed for, but if you're using this as a book guide for an actual child, use your best judgement of their maturity and reading level.

The other interesting thing I discovered was almost every book I was already considering for the Classics Club is listed in this volume! I was well aware several of them fell into the genre of "children's literature," but there are many others I wouldn't necessarily have categorized that way. No matter what your age, the books on this list will make you a more well-rounded reader. You'll find a lot of "typical" classics in addition to more "modern classics" that have already proven they themselves worthy, despite the fact they haven't been around for decades (or centuries). I'll be interested to see if this volume gets updated and reprinted over the years like the adult book has and what new titles might earn a spot in the future.

So, what to do with all this information? I'm going to post the list and keep track of what I've read, of course! (You can find it here, or on the tab up top.) I highly recommend getting your hands on the actual book though, since browsing through the list is way more fun when you can look at the book covers and have additional information at your fingertips. But be warned, there do seem to be spoilers in some of the reviews/blurbs -- they're not giving everything away, but the descriptions are pretty detailed. So if you don't want to know anything about a certain story beforehand, you may want to proceed with caution!

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Coming soon: my Classics Club sign-up post and list -- can you tell I like lists?!