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?!

The Distant Hours

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
Source: Purchased
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
GoodReads

A few words about my most recent literary addiction:
Enthralling
Enchanting
Romantic
Mysterious
Haunting

If you like novels with these characteristics, read Kate Morton's novels.  I cannot say enough good things about her books and I wholeheartedly recommend them.  She never fails to surprise me and I cannot wait until she publishes her next book.  Bear in mind that her writing is not of the happy, feel good type.  Her stories tend to be dark and creepy and not for the reader who needs a happy ending. There are always bright spots in her books and parts of the plot resolve themselves in a happy way, but overall these novels could best be described as tragic.  But, the biggest tragedy of all would be to not lose yourself in these pages.

The Forgotten Garden

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Source: Purchased
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
GoodReads

First of all, I have to say that Kate Morton is my new favorite author.  I can't put a finger on exactly why, but I am finding her books thoroughly addictive.  I am trying to put off starting The Distant Hours because I know it is the only one I have left of hers to read until she publishes her new title next year.  Of the two I have already read, I have not yet decided which I liked better: The Forgotten Garden or The House at Riverton.  Luckily I don't really have to choose and I can happily find a permanent place on my shelves for both of these wonderful books.

The basic premise of The Forgotten Garden is the story of a little girl who travels alone on a ship from England to Australia in 1913.  The girl is taken in by the family of the dockmaster who finds her and raises her as their own, naming her Nell.  On her 21st birthday, Nell's  father tells her the truth and shatters her sense of self.  Nell has an intense desire to figure out who her birth family was and why she was abandoned on that ship all those years ago.  One of the only clues Nell is left with is a white suitcase containing a book of fairy tales written by a woman named Eliza Makepeace.

The book is told from various points of view and over various time periods.  The story is alternately told from Eliza, Nell, and Cassandra's (Nell's granddaughter) point of view.  It takes place 30 years ago when Nell is first investigating her origins, the present time when Cassandra has taken over the investigation after Nell's death, and the early years of the 1900s when all the mysterious "action" is originally taking place.  It was fascinating to see Cassandra and Nell piecing together the mystery while also "going back in time" to see what really happened.  From reading other reviews, I have gathered that many readers did not like all the bouncing around, but I found it intriguing and feel it really added to the story, making it more interesting.

As with Morton's previous novel, this one also had all sorts of twists and turns.  Even when I thought I had it all figured out, there was always at least one more curve ball thrown my way, keeping me on the edge of my seat until the very last page.  But unlike The House at Riverton, after finishing this book, I still had a few unanswered questions in my mind.  I spent a good hour flipping back and forth, looking up various passages and piecing together a few of the more minor mysteries.  I just couldn't shake the feeling that I was missing something.  Upon further examination, I found there were indeed a few small connections that had slipped under my radar.  I normally would not have done this, but I really enjoyed playing detective after the fact.  Trust me, the details I was looking up were not the main thrust of the story-line; Morton wrapped up the primary mystery/secret in a very satisfactory way.  But for anyone who likes to read in between the lines, there were a few other things to be discovered.  If you were slightly more astute than I, or if you read this book over less time than I did, maybe you would see these things the first time around.  Either way, it was an excellent and enjoyable read that I will treasure for a long time to come.

The House at Riverton

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
Source: Purchased
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
GoodReads

It's killing me that I don't know anyone who has already read this book because I am dying to talk to someone about the ending!  The overarching plot line is the suicide of a young poet witnessed by two sisters, Hannah and Emmeline. Grace, now an elderly woman recounting her days as a servant in the girls' home, harbors a sense of guilt and we know there is more to this story than meets the eye.

As the book continued toward its conclusion, I could not put it down.  It was a little slow going at first, but once I kept reading, I just couldn't stop.  This is what you would call a gothic mystery, set in 1920's England and filled with family secrets, an old country house, and an almost unbearable amount of sadness and death.  But, it also contains some brilliant bursts of happiness that I truly enjoyed reading.  We know from the very beginning where the book will end, we just don't quite know how the story is going to get there.

I give this book exceptionally high marks because I was not able to figure out the narrator's secret until the very moment the truth is revealed.  As a reader, I love being surprised and hate it when I see things coming from a mile away (in a book with mystery elements, anyway; I am still a sucker for predictable romances).  That being said, there is more than one surprise in this book and one of the more minor ones I did figure out pretty early on.  I'm fairly sure that most readers who are half paying attention would also figure out the same secret I did.  This is not the type of book to have a happy ending, but the grand finale is grand indeed and just might leave you breathless.  You'll have to read it yourself to find out because I'll never tell!