Stuff on my head Part 3

How in awe of me are you right now? A helicopter. On my head. I am so cool. I'm not sure if I've ever flown in a helicopter. I think we were going to once. When we were in Hawaii and wanted to take a helicopter tour around the volcano, but we didn't. N and I were there with my dad, and he has issues with flying anyway. Due to the fact that he was shot down in a helicopter three times during Vietnam. I can imagine that giving anyone flight issues, don't you? Still, it's something I'd like to do sometime. Also? Ride a motorcycle. Just FYI.

Last Library Loot for awhile!

This is expected to be my last trip to the library in awhile. I'd really like to read some of my own books but also my reading (and blogging) time will have to be cut a bit short in the next few months as my new university course is starting. But for now, library books.

1. The Silver Donkey by Sonya Hartnett - no real reason for picking this one up, except the name sounded familiar the book itself looked kind of pretty!

2. The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith - I'm trying something new here, and would like to read some books I missed out on as a child.

3. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield - at the same time as rereading some children's classics!

4. Mary Poppins by PL Travers - I'm not sure I've seen the film all the way through, but I thought I'd read the book anyway!

5. Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian - Never read it, am embarassed to admit that I'm not even sure what it's about!

6. Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko - saw this one someone's blog, can't remember whose! Can't even remember if it was a good review or not!

7. A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon - renewed interest in this after a review by Raych at books i done read!

8. The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie - I don't like short stories, but I am determined to read as many as I can to get an informed opinion of this!

So there we have it. I'm hoping they will last me for awhile.

Have you read any of these books? Where should I start?

Friday Finds, my first

To start my first Friday Finds, I bring you this random collection of books that I've added to my TBR list recently.

First up, we have The Trial by Franz Kafka reviewed by Amanda at The Zen Leaf - I've only ever read Metamorphosis by Kafka. I'd considered some of his other works, but I wasn't sure about them. Mostly because it all seems so serious. I was a bit on the fence about whether it'd be a struggle to get through it, or if it'd be interesting enough to sustain my interest. The thing is, I'm not sure that I've ever known what any of his books are about. So when I saw this review, I was quite pleasantly surprised. What really made me want to read this book was reading about Amanda's take on The Trial and she went over a lot of the themes of the book. And that was helpful. I think for me, Kafka would be a bit like I found Shakespeare. Once I had a rough idea of the plot beforehand, I really enjoyed it. Well, I say that before I attempt it, but it's one that I won't continue to discount.
The blurb I found on amazon:

The terrifying tale of Joseph K, a respectable functionary in a bank, who is suddenly arrested and must defend his innocence against a charge about which he can get no information. A nightmare vision of the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the mad agendas of twentieth-century totalitarian regimes.

Next, The Red Tent by Anita Diamant reviewed by Wendy at Musings of A Bookish Kitty I'm really glad that I read this when I did, because shortly after, I found this book in a charity shop. I'd heard of it before, but, like Wendy, I was hung up on the biblical aspect of it all. I was intrigued by Wendy's review. She wrote just enough about the characters and some of the women's traditions to have me intrigued as to what she meant. I wanted to hear just a little bit more, and I realise that when I want more from a review that it means I really must read the book for myself.

Amazon summary:

Her name is Dinah. In the Bible her fate is merely hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the verses of the Book of Genesis that recount the life of Jacob and his infamous dozen sons. The Red Tent is an extraordinary and engrossing tale of ancient womanhood and family honour. Told in Dinah's voice, it opens with the story of her mothers - the four wives of Jacob - each of whom embodies unique feminine traits, and concludes with Dinah's own startling and unforgettable story of betrayal, grief and love. Deeply affecting and intimate, The Red Tent combines outstandingly rich storytelling with an original insight into women's society in a fascinating period of early history and such is its warmth and candour, it is guaranteed to win the hearts and minds of women across the world.


And now, Purple Hibiscus by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie reviewed by Nymeth at things mean a lot. I'd heard general things about Purple Hibiscus and about Chimanda Ngozi Adichie before, all good things. But it was this in Nymeth's review that made me desperate to read this book:

Purple Hibiscus is wise, perceptive, subtle, and perfectly paced. It’s a story of political unrest, of gender and power, of religious fundamentalism, of faith, of freedom, of growing up, and of first love.

Amazon summary:

Longlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize Shortlisted for the 2004 Orange Prize A haunting tale of an Africa and an adolescence undergoing tremendous changes by a talented young Nigerian writer. The limits of fifteen-year-old Kambili's world are defined by the high walls of her family estate and the dictates of her repressive and fanatically religious father. Her life is regulated by schedules: prayer, sleep, study, and more prayer. When Nigeria begins to fall apart during a military coup, Kambili's father, involved mysteriously in the political crisis, sends Kambili and her brother away to live with their aunt. In this house, full of energy and laughter, she discovers life and love - and a terrible, bruising secret deep within her family. Centring on the promise of freedom and the pain and exhilaration of adolescence, Purple Hibiscus is the extraordinary debut of a remarkable new talent.

And also, Who Killed Amanda Palmer with stories by Neil Gaiman reviewed by Nymeth at things mean a lot - I have to admit, I've never heard Amanda Palmer's music. I know next to nothing about her except what I've read on her Twitter feed over the last few weeks. But this just looks like an interesting book. Stories by Neil Gaiman? Sold.

Summary from Amazon:
This book is a companion to Amanda Palmer's new CD of the same name. It has words accompanying each of the pictures she has had taken of herself, written by Neil Gaiman. She's dead in all the pictures, different ways and states each time. So that's the basics, but it leaves me wondering how to describe it to you, if I call it beautiful, it disregards the visceral pictures, the gritty, horrifying pictures of Amanda bloodied in a shopping trolley, or left in a dark alley. If I say it's horrifying, it denies the superb photography of the book, the cadence of Neil's fitting words, the attention to detail in the pictures, and the shots where Amanda lies serene and peaceful. The only thing to do then, is describe it as this: spectacularly unique. Combining the lyrics of her latest album, with short stories by Mr. Gaiman, and photos that seem to have been collected over many times and situations, Who Killed Amanda Palmer is both frightening, absorbing, artistic, and just a little fascinating. It's not a book for everyone, but for Gaiman fans it's a definite read, For Palmer fans it's a sure-bet for a look. And for fans of both - it's an absolute must buy.

Phew, I had fun with that. See you all next week! Friday Finds is hosted by MizB over at Should be Reading.

My Guilt Free Three

I blogged a few weeks ago about a guilt free list. And then even though a few of your posted your lists in comments, I still didn't share mine. Mostly because I forgot, and a little bit because I'm so not in the habit of sharing my crushes. It feels kind of intimate. But I think I'm ready now. Here we go.



First off, we have Enrique Iglesias. I've had a mad crush on him since 8th grade when I went around to a friend's house after school and we watched the opening credits to some silly Spanish soap opera so she could show me this hot singer. I fell in love. I swear I did better in my Spanish classes after that. I totally had a reason to learn my vocab from then on! My friend and I were supposed to go see him in concert, but it never happened after she moved away. Of course then I moved here to England. But a few years ago, N surprised me with tickets to a concert Enrique was doing in London. A dream fulfilled! Sorry the photo is kind of moody looking, moody was all I could find.



Speaking of 'moody,' David Duchovny plays Hank Moody in Californication. I love him in this role as much as, and possibly even more than I loved him as Fox Mulder in The X-Files. It's just so funny. And I can't help it, funny men are so incredibly sexy. Bring on the third series of Californication...



Some would say that I named my child after Joshua Jackson. I do not agree, though it is possible that something was going on subconsciously. Had a major crush on him since those Duck films, it grew during his Dawson's Creek days and now it's just gotten worse seeing him all grown up in Fringe.

Feel free to share your own lists or pass judgement on mine! Either is fine with me :)

Stuff on my head Part 2

This is the donkey that started my collection. N and I were walking around at the mall in Eugene during one of his visits. We wandered into the Disney store, and I saw this beautiful Eeyore dressed up as a butterfly. Nothing I love more than donkeys and butterflies. I wanted to buy it right there and then. N convinced me not to. I don't remember how. Then he said he needed to use the bathroom, and I waited for him on a bench nearby. I kept looking in the direction of the toilets, but when he did show up it was from a different direction. I figured he'd gotten lost and didn't think anything else of it. Later, on the bus, he pulled out the butterfly Eeyore and gave it to me as a surprise.

Reasons to Love the Zoo

Over the summer, we bought annual passes to our local zoo. I love the zoo. A trip to the zoo is always a fun day out. Here's hoping for more days like these...

Stuff On My Head Part 1

The first in my new feauture, I bring you ...the book I'm currently reading, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. About 60 or so pages into it, very good so far. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo, I was kind of pressuring Oldest to take the photo quickly, as the book kept slipping. There is no way I would have passed finishing school. I have no grace and zero balance.

Summary from Amazon: In 1975, in an unidentified Indian city, Mrs Dina Dalal, a financially pressed Parsi widow in her early 40s sets up a sweatshop of sorts in her ramshackle apartment. Determined to remain financially independent and to avoid a second marriage, she takes in a boarder and two Hindu tailors to sew dresses for an export company. As the four share their stories, then meals, then living space, human kinship prevails and the four become a kind of family, despite the lines of caste, class and religion. When tragedy strikes, their cherished, newfound stability is threatened, and each character must face a difficult choice in trying to salvage their relationships.

What's your favourite thing to put on your head? What would you like to see put on mine?

How I Spent My Weekend

I overheard a bit of a conversation the other day, that N was having with a friend of ours. I think he was saying something about how different our lives are after having children. He brought up the fact that once, many years ago he surprised me with plane tickets to San Francisco. He decided we should just go, booked the tickets and we flew out the following week.

It's not the only way in which our lives have changed, this lack of spontanaeity. But it does seem sad sometimes. That everything has to be so planned out and organised with milk bottles for Littlest, and toys in the car in case the boys get bored, and N and I hardly have time to do things by ourselves. So when weekends like last weekend come around, it's just so wonderful to be doing something fun and different!

First, we spent the day at Legoland to watch the Amazing Machines event. Which means monster trucks. Now, we saw the event last year and this year didn't add anything new, but it was still fun in its way.



Then, the following we day, we drove up to Bristol to a kite festival. How cool is that? I'd never been to a kite festival before. In fact, I don't remember ever having flown a kite before. And we bought one for Oldest, and an even littler one for Littlest and we spent a lot of the time either flying our pretty kite in a field, or playing with bubbles. Look at the smiles on those faces.






So even though our lives have changed in a huge way, it's not all a bad change. I remember a lot of time before children was spent lumped in front of the television or wasting time on the Internet. And now here I am, years later with two gorgeous boys who make me laugh a hundred times a day going to weird and wonderful events, having the best weekend ever. My life is good.

Am I a writer?

I was tagged to do the following writerly meme by Keris. I probably would have pretended I didn't see the tag, except she said lovely things about my writing, so I couldn't. I don't really consider my little blog to be 'actual writing' and I guess I probably should. But, I'm my worst critic. So, let's begin.

Which words do you use too much in your writing?

I tried looking for a simple tag cloud generator thing, so I could easily just see the words that I use again and again, but everything in my blog list (now deleted) pretty much destroyed that idea. But I generally write how I speak, and I think that often comes across in my writing.

Which words do you consider overused in stuff you read?

I really couldn't say. There are certain phrases that I read that drive me up the wall, but nothing springs to mind and those things don't generally madden me for long. Maybe I'm not overly observant?

What's your favourite piece of writing by you?

My favourite post that I've written is probably this one, about my dad. I also 'enjoyed' writing about my mother, but I'll always be distracted by other emotions for it to be a favourite.

What blog post do you wish you'd written?

Anything funny. I wish I could be funny, but I will never be funny. I've learnt to accept this about myself, but I do so envy it in other people.

Regrets, do you have a few? Is there anything you wish you hadn't written?

Anything that I have written and regretted on this blog has already been removed. There have been many a deleted post around these parts. Most of the posts that have been deleted were done so for other people rather than for myself. I sometimes overshare and cross lines that affect other people in my life. I toy with the idea of another blog where I hide my identity, but I would miss you all too much for that... (also, too much work!)

How has your writing made a difference? What do you consider your most important piece of writing?

If my writing has made a difference, that it was probably only for myself. I think writing about the complications in my relationship with my mother has made a huge difference in my life, in that's it helped me to move forward within myself. I think writing about some of my other issues, such as poor self-esteem, depression etc has helped in other ways. My most important piece of writing. Tough one. I think this one, about dropping out of high school helped me a great deal. It was good to get this one out of my system. And finally, this post helped me realise a few things, going back to my mom-issues.

Name three favourite words

Is it weird that I don't have favourite words? Because I don't.

...And three words you're not so keen on

Also do not have words I don't like.

Do you have a writing mentor, role model or inspiration?

This is a subject that has been on my mind since Keris tagged me. In answer to this question, she showed a screen-grab on her computer of writerly inspirations/role models. It brought to my attention that growing up, I didn't have any strong female role models. I remember an assignment in high school where I had to stand in front of a class and give a short speech on 'heroes.' I don't have any. And I'd like to. I think my speech back in HS focused on a friend who'd had the courage to seek help in a difficult situation. But aside from that, I want someone to look up to and respect. But I can't think of anyone. Can you lovely people help me out? I'm speaking historically or famously.

In terms of my own blogging world, I do find Meg Cabot to be hilarious, if slightly crazy. I have a bit of a girl-crush on Mama Kat and wish I could be as funny as her. I'd love to be as influential as Nymeth.

In the end though, I'd have to say Keris. She was one of the first blogs I started following and at times when I didn't have access to the internet, I've had N print off her blog at work so I could read it. He still makes fun of me slightly, asking 'so, how is Keris Stainton these days?' And that's OK, even if it's a little embarassing to admit.

What's your writing ambition?

To continue writing on my little blog until I'm no longer happy doing it.

Plug alert! List any work you would like to tell your readers about:

Keris's book, Della Says: OMG! WTF? is published 6 May 2010. All good bookshops. £5.99. Although it's already been reduced on Amazon.

My friend, Hillary's book, Plain Jayne is out 15 January 2010. Here's the link at Amazon.

Do the tagging thing:

How about...

Hillary

Shadowfalcon

Kate

The rules:

If you have time to do this meme, then please link to my original, then link to three to five other bloggers and pass it on, asking them to answer your questions and link to you. You can add, remove or change one question as you go. You absolutely do not have to be what you may think of as a "published" or "successful" writer to respond to this meme, I hope people can take the time to reflect on what their blogging has brought them and how it has been useful to others.

Funny faces

I'm hoping that next week will see a return to regularly scheduled blog posts, but for now. I bring you, Joshua .. and the face that he pulls when he's being told off...


Oh, the hilarity. He's such a character. I wish I could close my eyes on all the bad things in the world too.

Lots I'd like to blog about..

..But, morally, I cannot blog until I've finished my latest assignment. Which was due Tuesday. As in yesterday. So this blogging break, hopefully, will not be long. And by 'blog' I mean actually write blogs, read blogs, or comment on blogs. Be back soon.

My life in literature...

"Using only books you have read this year (2009), cleverly answer these questions. Try not to repeat a book title. It’s a lot harder than you think!"

Here is my life, according to literature (links to reviews):

Describe Yourself: Born Confused (Tanuja Desai Hidier)

How do you feel: Airhead (Meg Cabot)

Describe where you currently live: Small Island (Andrea Levy)

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Dreamland (Sarah Dessen)

Your favorite form of transportation: Howl's Moving Castle (Diana Wynne Jones)

Your best friend is: Ten Out of Ten (Meg Cabot)

You and your friends are: Irresistable Forces

What’s the weather like: Wicked Lovely (Melissa Marr)

Favorite time of day: Breaking Dawn (Stephenie Meyer)

Your life is: A Mercy (Toni Morrison)

What is life to you: Cracked Up to Be (Courtney Summers)

Your fear: The Savage (David Almond)

What is the best advice you have to give: Stop Pretending (Sonya Sones)

Thought for the Day: After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings and Flew Away (Joyce Carol Oates)

How I would like to die: Dancing in the Moonlight

My soul’s present condition: Fairest (Gail Carson Levine)

Biggest regret: Marshmallows For Breakfast (Dorothy Koomson)

Said most often: Are We There Yet? (David Levithan)

Goal in life: Ways to Live Forever (Sally Nicholls)


Saw this over at Rose City Reader and couldn't resist. If you do it as well, let me know. Dying to read other people's answers! And make up your own questions!

The Sunday Salon: When Books Inspire

I recently had an idea to read books from my childhood. I've challenged myself to read two a month for as long as possible. I chose to read The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney as the first book in my walk down My Favourite Childhood Reads because it actually inspired me to begin my own novel. I must have been 12 or 13 when I read this book first. I think I bought it myself from own of those children's book fairs they hold at school. I've read the sequel, Whatever Happened to Janie? but HAD NO IDEA there is a third book called The Voice on the Radio. (I'm devastated. I am now desperately trying to locate The Voice on the Radio!)

It's been a long time since I've read this book. I remember being swept away by it the first time, but I am a lot older now. And as I started it this time around, I was all about making fun of it. The first chapter is all about names, and how the main character 'Janie Johnson' doesn't like her name. She tries to tweak her own name while writing an essay and ends up with Jayne Johnstone, decides that's not quite enough, and goes with Jayyne Jonstone, etc etc. She moans a bit about her parents' boring choice of a name and even remarks 'they could have named her Scarlett or Allegra. Perhaps Roxanne.' Which kills me. She then envies a bit on her friends' names and there's a bit about what she was fantasizing about naming her own children (Denim and Lace) which is all a little hilarious to me.

Then we get to the more serious stuff, in that, she sees a little girl on one of those Missing ads on the back of a milk carton at lunch, recognises herself and starts having flashbacks that don't make sense and starts asking questions and doing some investigating of her own. Meanwhile, she starts a relationship with hunky next-door neighbour, Reeve. There is a lot to laugh about in the writing style of this book, but once the story got going, I totally did get swept away again. I didn't even snigger at the silly inclusion of a Hare Krishna cult in the middle of the story. Nope, I just carried on like that was perfectly acceptable.

I managed to finish the story late at night when I should have been sleeping. I was even a little disappointed that I didn't have the sequel to hand. I'm not saying I'd recommend the book to anyone, but it was easy to remember what I liked about the story itself. I liked Janie's struggles with her morality. She finds it hard to forgive herself for walking away from her family for a stranger with an icecream. Even though she was only three. Plus, I always had a next-door neighbour fantasy. I liked Reeve.

Anyway. I had fun reading this one. It was nice to indulge in a little nostalgia. To my story then. I mentioned the bit at the beginning about names because naming characters was very important to me. And me at 12 agreed whole-heartedly with Janie. 12-year-old-me was very much into the soap opera names. I'd even go so far as to say that 12-year-old-me was very into the soap opera-esque story lines as well. Let me summarise the plot of my story for you here. This is completely based on the line in The Face on the Milk Carton where one of Janie's friends is trying to explain why there are so many kids on the back of milk cartons:

'All it is,' said Pete firmly, 'is divorce, where one parent gets mad and takes his own kid, but he doesn't tell the other parent where they're going. It's never actually a stranger stealing a kid, like on television.'

And just like that, a story idea popped into my head. About a girl, 14, who lives with her dad somewhere. She's been led to believe that her mother died when she was little but comes to find out that is not actually the case! She sees a programme on TV (couldn't use the milk carton idea!) calls a number and before you know it, she's back with the mother she hadn't seen in more than 10 years. Around this time my own parents were going through a divorce so I channelled my feelings for that and had many an argument with my main character and her father regarding his new girlfriend.

And of course, because I was absolutely boy-crazy then, there are heaps of boys tripping over themselves for the attention of my pretty and witty and smart main character. And they all had fabulous names. For example, my main character has two names. Her name when living with her father is (don't laugh too hard here): Francesca Eleanora Smitsgerald. Frankie, for short. She comes to learn the name she was born with is actually Francis Elena Simms. She's heartbroken to have such a boring name in comparison. Her best friend's names are Blair Torrence and Zora Birch. The boys circling around her like flies are called: Aaron Archback, Matt Richardson, Jeff Thorny, and Roger Cunningham.

I wrote 20 pages, front and back, about the adventures of my little Frankie. I had everything planned out in my head, I had my characters all formed and ready, but I never got to the main bulk of the story. I dithered over the minor details. The school where Frankie goes, meeting a new family in the neighbourhood, describing a winter formal dance. And where I stopped? A particularly bad argument that Frankie has with her father. It was after this that she sees the TV programme about missing children and decides she'd rather not live with her dad anymore and calls the number on the screen, effectively changing her whole life. And at the time, I wasn't ready for it. I couldn't get past my own emotions of my own circumstances to carry on with this soap opera. So I never did.

But it has been fun to laugh about it all now. The horrendous names, the boys. There's even a little scene where two boys fight it out a bit over Frankie. The new family in the neighbourhood? Total rip-off of Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews. There's five children, they're all blonde, all have names beginning with A and there are even little twins.

It was all a little funny and sad to read the things I had written at that age. I tried so hard to write through my issues. It may have helped in some ways, but in other ways here I am 15 years later working through the same things just in a different format. I wish I'd carried on writing my fiction. I wrote all the way through high school, had these daydreams about being a successful novelist when I grew up. I think that's still possible, but unlikely at this point. My heart isn't in it like it was as a teenager. And I'm more sad at the fact then you'll ever realise. But I am quite glad that I was able to read books that inspired me, even if they didn't pan out exactly how I pictured it would.

How have you been inspired by reading?

A pretty moment..

Sigh. I'm guessing it must be the same for other people. It can't be just me who looks in a mirror some (most) days and can only see the flaws? The double chin, the messy unwashed hair, the bushy eyebrows, that row of horrible freckles just above the mouth. The horrible uneveness of the face. A completely unremarkable and plain face, with a bit of a miserable look to it, especially around the mouth most days. I can't help but look in the mirror some days and start listing the things that I'm 'not enough:' Pretty, smart, funny, witty. I love how it snowballs from 'I should have washed my hair' to all my failings as a woman, wife, mother.

Is this just me? But then there are those other days. Those other days that come around so rarely, and in fact are not days at all but brief moments in time that appear suddenly and just as quickly disappear. Do you know the moments I mean?

I had one of those moments the other day. I glanced in the mirror in passing, looked at myself, and actually thought 'pretty.' For me, this happens so rarely that sometimes I feel like crying. And on those rare, pretty days I really have to fight to keep those thoughts, try to grab hold of these fleeting positive thoughts about myself and hold on to them for dear life, hoard them and in those other dark days where nothing will ever be good enough, especially myself, I can try to bring them back to life.

But really, this is no one way to live. I'm tired of carrying around these awful thoughts. I'd like to able to like myself, the way I look, the person that I am. I'd like that very much. I think it will take a lot of work, changing the habits and thoughts of a lifetime, but I'm worth the effort.

I'm starting today, right now in fact. As of right now, I'll do what I can to stop the negative thoughts. Be a little kinder to myself in my thoughts. Maybe find some time for some pampering. Think daily of things I actually do like about myself and go from there, I think. Wish me luck.

And so September begins..

The first morning of the first day after my holiday and the first thing I did? I went to the library to pick up new books. Who's suprised? Anybody? Anybody? No? Me either.

1. Black Juice by Margo Lanagan - short stories by the author of Tender Morsels. I'm not a huge fan of short stories but I really liked the cover of this one. I'm hoping for something a little creepy or weird.

2. Emotionally Weird by Kate Atkinson - I think Kate Atkinson has become an author that I admire, but strangely from afar, because I have only read one of her books yet own several more!

3. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale - something keeps bringing me back to Shannon Hale. Had to return another of her books to the library unread but I seem to gravitate to her name without ever reading anything of hers. Odd.

4. Trespess by Valerie Martin - author of Property, which I haven't read. Why do I pick up certain books and not others? I'd really like to know.

5. Runemarks by Joanne Harris - Had wanted to read this for awhile, always been put off by the length of it. Not sure what changed this time around, but here I am, holding my copy of it. Let's see what happens.

There we have it. The first selection of books to begin September. I find my choice of books slowly shifting from the fun and light-hearted to something more serious and grown-up, as we're shifting from summer to fall. Possibly. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

August recap

Lalala... I loved being on holiday last week. But there wasn't a lot of reading being done. August started off really well with some interesting YA reads and then petered off after Cyrano. I had to pick up some old favourites to get me back into the reading mode, had some non-starters (will talk about soon) then got hung up half-way through The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (still unfinished) and then finished with a great one (Guernsey).

1. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
2. City of Ember by Jeanne du Prau
3. Last Chance by Sarah Dessen
4. Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
5. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
6. Cyrano by Geraldine McCaughrean
7. The Valley of the Horses by Jean Auel (re-read)
8. The Mammoth Hunters by Jean Auel (re-read)
9. Unsticky by Sarra Manning (re-read)
10. Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham
11. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B Cooney (re-read)
12. The Guernesy Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows

Favourites of the month? Boy Meets Boy and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Reading plans for September include more of my favourite childhood books, reading some of my OWN books, and library loot, coming soon.

How was August for you?