Let's Give This One More Try

If I had a personal secretary, a chef, a housekeeper, a nanny and a driver, I might be able to read everything I want to read, blog about it and get everything else done as well.

Enough whining! We recently completed a book fair at my school. Always a hard time for me, because I can't help buying new books. And I always spend more than I should. It's a good thing for the school though, as the proceeds go to the library.

So now, of course, my to read list is even longer than before.

Here are just a few titles I've added:

The Postcard by Tony Abbott
The Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse
Palace of Mirrors by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Kenny & the Dragon by Tony Diterlizzi

And I'm currently reading Alfred Krop and the Seal of Soloman, 48 Liberal Lies About America (That You Probably Learned in School) and Bones: An Alex Deleware Novel.

I'll let you know how they turn out.

What are you reading? Please post and let me know.

Is it possible to read too much?

I recently signed up for a website called GoodReads.com. A friend sent it to me. It's a way to keep track of books you have read or intend to read, see what your friends are reading and get reviews on books. There is also lots of book related trivia - for those of you who like that sort of thing.

I sent the site out to some friends and they signed up. One thing they did not realize is that everytime one of your friends posts on the site, you get an email. For someone who reads a lot, that means I post a lot and then of course there's the catching up. I'm sure there's a way to turn off the emails. I don't mind getting the emails, but apparently, my reading buddies do.

In fact, I've come to the conclusion that I must talk too much, about everythign, especially books. And I'm thinking of crawling inside my world of books and staying there. It's not like I've been very good about keeping this blog up to date anyway. And recently, when something really bad happened to me, I realized I had no one to turn to - no one that is that wouldn't find me annoying. I guess that's because my friends are the book characters who accept me for who I am and even though they never call and ask me if I want to have coffee or see or movie - at least I know that don't just like me for when I agree with them or can perform a service for them. OoooooHHHHH - someone's having a lonely pity party. Guess I'd better go check out the self esteem/self help section of the library.

TTFN - at least until I decide whether or not my book opinions or worth sharing.

Sunrise Over Fallujah

I just finished this book. The writing is typical Myers - wonderfully well written. The man tells a compelling story. However, I was disappointed. While working on my MLS I had read Myers' Fallen Angels. Having liked that book I was looking forward to this one. Maybe it's because I'm a military spouse. Maybe it's because Fallen Angels was historical fiction for me and Sunrise Over Fallujah is current fiction. I just feel that on this one, Myers did not quite get the whole story. I do not believe war is glamorous. I was not looking for a hooah war story, but I do know that our soldiers have had positive interactions with the Iraqi people. It would have been a more balanced story if Myers had included that. When I started reading the book, I did not think that Myers was trying to make a political statement about the war, but maybe I was wrong. And, I sure wish the members outside the military community would get the terminology for Non-Commission Officers right. They are not noncoms. They are NCOs and anyone who has bothered to do a little research would know that. Ok - sorry. That's a personal pet peeve. If you can put aside your own thoughts about the war, this is a good book to read. As I said the writing is excellent. Maybe for my children, reading Sunrise Over Fallujah will be like my reading Fallen Angels

Getting Away is Deadly

I just finished Sara Rosett's latest Mom Zone Mystery - "Getting Away Is Deadly." Though Sara's character, Ellie, is an Air Force wife, I find that she experiences many of the same military spouse challenges as me and my fellow Army wives. While in the military, you have housing rather than a home. You frequently say goodbye to good friends. The military may ask you where you want to be stationed, but it really doesn't matter what you want. And FRGs, no matter the duty station or the branch of service, can be a challenge. However, murder is not a common occurrence in my routine. But, I do love mysteries. The aforementioned similarities make it easy to connect with Rosett's books. She's an excellent story teller. I enjoy seeing if I can beat Ellie to the solution. So far, it's about even. And the organizational tips are a plus. Maybe someday I will get around to using them.

Other titles in the series: "Moving Is Murder" and "Staying Home Is Killer."

What's on your summer reading list?

100 Days and 99 Nights

The second season of Army Wives (cable network’s highest rated show – so they say) has started and I find myself reading more military related books. My husband is big into military history, but I’m ore into military fiction, especially military family fiction.

I recently read “100 Days and 99 Nights” by Alan Madison. It is about a second grade girl who has to survive 100 days and 99 nights of her father’s deployment. It was a good read and I will recommend it to my students who have military parents. However, I was surprised to learn that the author was inspired to write the book after talking with children whose parents have been deployed. As a military spouse with children, I didn’t find the story to be typical of military kids. In the book, Esme’s father is an Army Sergeant. My experience has been that most real world Army deployments last much longer than 100 days and 99 nights. My husband assures me that it is possible for an army deployment to be a short one. I was also confused by the difficulty the children had in finding ways to help the war effort. Their teacher tells them about how children during WWII helped support the war effort. For some reason the children seem bent on finding the exact same ways to show their support, even though there are more modern ways of supporting the war effort than trying to buy bonds or gather scrap metal. Over the years since the Iraqi war started, there have been so many news stories of children and young adults finding wonderful ways to support the soldiers (greeting card drives, care package drives, sock and book drives, etc). I was surprised that these were not included in the book.

However the book does hit one issue right on target: the difficulty that children go through when a parent is deployed. Even for a young girl with a “can do attitude”, deployment is rough. Madison’s story shows these challenges and how children can work through them. He doesn’t try to make out like it’s easy, nor does he try to make out like it’s impossible.

While on the military book kick, I just started Sara Rosett’s latest Air Force wife mystery – “Getting Away is Deadly”. If you like mysteries and want some insight in to the life of a military spouse, her books are good, fun read.

And, even though I prefer fiction to non-fiction – I’ve also started “Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq” by Kirsten Holmstedt. I’ve just started it, but I suspect it will put my small every day challenges into perspective.

What are you reading?

National Teacher Day

Today is National Teacher Day, part of Teacher Appreciation Week. If you can read, thank a teacher.

Just Checking In

Ok, so I don’t exactly have the blogging thing down pat yet. It’s not that I want to go weeks without posting. It’s a matter of time. Or rather it’s lack of time. As an elementary school librarian, mother of two, and a military spouse who is active in the FRG, I feel I barely have enough time to read, much less blog about it. But, I promise to try to do better.

I’ve been listening to Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I have a copy of the book, which I read about 16 years ago. However, I thought this time around I would try the audio version. Rand’s writing is superb, but this story line is driving me nuts. It’s hard to find truly likeable characters. It’s full of what some characters in the story refer to as looters. Those who feel they deserve the benefit of someone else’s work without doing any work themselves. That’s a rather simplistic description, I know. Maybe "looters" is not the proper term. I guess these characters are more like parasites, living off a host they despise and hope to ultimately destroy. The book is a much darker read than I remember.

Thank goodness I’m reading several other more enjoyable books as well. Mo Willem’s latest pigeon book is finally out: The Pigeon Wants a Puppy. This is a great book to use with children who think they are ready for the responsibility of a pet, but really have no clue what is involved.

Tomorrow (May 6th) is the release of the latest installment in the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series by Rick Riordan. If you have 3rd, 4th, 5th grade and up students in your home, I’m sure you already had this date marked on your calendar. I promise to talk more about Percy later. If you like fantasy, Olympic gods and good verses bad, then you really should check out this series.

Please post and let me know what you are currently reading.