My Excuse For Not Writing a Post

This weekend wiped me out. It was incredibly fun, but I am exhausted, and I don't have the energy to write a big post. But I want to post a group post for February before I do anything else. So I'm taking today (Sunday) and tomorrow (Monday) off. I'll do my regular Teaser Tuesday on Tuesday, and we'll see from there. On my break I'll do some of the drawings I didn't get to for PBM and do some super-reading. Right now, I'm trying to scramble for March Merriment because all the books arrived and they look a lot longer than I was expecting. Usually this would make me happy, but when I'm going for speed, long books aren't necessarily what I want. I'm currently in the middle of Unexpected Magic (a book of short stories, very fun to read), Airman (a reread, just as good the second time), and The Tough Guide to Fantasyland (hilarious).

And here's my schedule for the rest of this week (if I publish it, I have to stick to it):

Monday - rest day

Tuesday - Teaser Tuesday

Wednesday - February 2011 Group Review

Thursday - All the PBM stuff in 1 giant post, plus whatever I've done for PBM since February

Friday - Hopefully an in-depth review, but probably not. 

In my absence from this blog, I encourage you to check out my other blog, The Bookbird and the WordGirl. Read my post about it here, or visit it here.

Oh, and also please vote in the poll (over there ----->). There are only six votes so far, and I'm pretty sure I know everyone who voted. If you don't remember the books, you can either go back to older posts or wait for my post-PBM post on Thursday. Thank you!

January 2011 Group Review

The Clockwork Three
by Matthew J. Kirby
1 January 2011
see my review here

A Conspiracy of Kings
by Megan Whalen Turner
1 January 2011
see my review here

House of Many Ways
by Diana Wynne Jones
2 January 2011
see my review here

A Girl Named Disaster
by Nancy Farmer
2 January 2011
I was so sure I'd already posted a review of this, but I can't find it, so I'll do another. Well, first of all, let me say that Nancy Farmer is an amazing author. Really amazing. All of her other books were wonderful (see my review for the Sea of Trolls trilogy here) and so much fun to read. This one however, was not quite as good. I'm not sure why, but I didn't really care about Nhamo, the main character, until about halfway through the book. After finishing, I was glad that I read it, but I doubt I'll reread it for a while.

Eyes Like Stars
by Lisa Mantchev
3 January 2011
This book was a bit different from the usual kind of stuff I read, but it was interesting in its own way and kept me turning the pages. Not a lot of action (action as in action movies - there was plenty of action as in plot), but plenty of great characters. Beatrice Shakespeare Smith lives at the Theatre Illuminata, which is special because it is where all of Shakespeare's characters live in corporeal form. The two simultaneous plots are of Beatrice (Bertie) finding her place as part of the Theatre, and a love triangle between Bertie, Ariel (The air spirit from The Tempest) and Nate (a minor character, also from The Tempest). Overall, it had its ups and downs, but I ended up liking it.

Graceling
by Kristin Cashore
3 January 2011
One of my favorite books. I gave a copy of Graceling to a friend for her birthday, and not only did she read it in under three days, she immediately checked Fire (the prequel) out of the library, read it just as fast, and started on Graceling again. I'm hoping she will do a review of Graceling and Fire for a Friendsday Wednesday coming up. Katsa is totally amazing, and all the twists and turns of the story combined with Cashore's amazing writing come together in a wonderful story that I highly, highly recommend.

Heroes of the Valley
by Jonathan Stroud
5 January 2011
Not my favorite book all time, but it did make me chuckle in a few places. I was rereading it, so I took my time with the story. I didn't feel like I had to know what would happen next. It made for a nice change, but it did drag on a bit. Still, it was good enough to reread. I'm planning on rereading it again sometime in the (probably not too near) future.

Fire
by Kristin Cashore
6 January 2011
I personally thought Fire was as good as Graceling, but some of my friends disagree with me. It's the prequel, but it has an entire different set of characters except one, who doesn't show up too much in either but is a keystone for both plots. The two books will be tied together in the third, not yet published, which will be called Bitterblue.

The Thirteenth Princess
by Diane Zhaler
10 January 2011
A retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. Nothing too horrible happens, which was a nice break after Graceling and Fire, not that horrible things happen in Graceling and Fire-- gahh, never mind. Just read them.

Across the Universe
by Beth Revis
13 January 2011
WriterGirl convinced me to read this book. I trust her judgement on books, and she kept talking about how wonderful this book was going to be, so I went out and bought it the day it came out. I must say, I was not disappointed. Not in the least. It had so  many layers of wonderful, with more and more the deeper I looked. I will definitely reread. [EDIT: A wonderful review of this book is at the blog Here's To Us.]

Castle in the Air
by Diana Wynne Jones
17 January 2011
see my review here

Little Sister
by Kara Dalkey
18 January 2011
I had medium-high hopes for this book when I bought it. I knew it wasn't going to be bad, since it had been recommended to me personally by WriterGirl (yay!), but I don't remember being overly excited about it. Of course, that may be me remembering wrong. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out that this was a great book. Even in the most fantastical of situations, the characters felt so real and so easy to connect to. It's pretty short, and I really recommend it. I especially like the ending, which I won't give away, but I will say that Dalkey did a great job with it. The one thing is that it's now out of print, so you would have to get a used copy or see if your library has a copy. It's definitely worth the trouble though. I'm planning on rereading it in the future.

Uglies
by Scott Westerfeld
21 January 2011

Pretties
by Scott Westerfeld
23 January 2011

Specials
by Scott Westerfeld
26 January 2011

Extras
by Scott Westerfeld
28 January 2011
I really enjoyed this entire quartet, but I'm not going to write a review for them now. I will (very hopefully) write a review for them later. I may need reminding.

The Metamorphosis
by Franz Kafka
29 January 2011
I read this in English in January and February. I'll post my project on it as soon as I get it back. I'm guessing that will be sometime next week. I'm guessing you've heard of The Metamorphosis. If you haven't, I'll try to sum it up in one sentence:"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect." (That's the first sentence of the novella.)

Enchanted Glass
by Diana Wynne Jones
30 January 2011
Not my favorite DWJ, but not bad. An entertaining story.

The Heavenward Path
by Kara Dalkey
31 January 2011
The sequel to Little Sister. It ruined the ending a bit for me, but redeemed itself by being almost (but not quite) as good as the first. If you enjoyed Little Sister, I would recommend The Heavenward Path.

If you're interested (and don't feel like counting), I read 19 books in January, 1 short of completing March Merriment. If I can read 19 books in January, I can totally do 20 in March. I know I can.

House of Many Ways & Castle in the Air

by Diana Wynne Jones

House of Many Ways
Start Date: 2 January 2011
End Date: 2 January 2011
404 Pages (Paperback Edition)

Castle in the Air
Start Date: 17 January 2011
End Date: 19 January 2011
383 pages (Paperback Edition)

The front and back covers of these two books are very unclear as to what order they're supposed to be read in. (I obviously didn't think to look it up before I read them.) I read House of Many Ways first, and Castle in the Air second, but I found out after finishing both that it was supposed to be the other way around. Not that it really mattered though. Each focuses on a different set of main characters, with Howl, Sophie, and Calcifer as minor characters. These books were a bit disappointing because I was expecting something of the caliber of Howl's Moving Castle, and they didn't quite reach that caliber.

I liked the main character in House of Many Ways, and the story was fun, but it didn't draw me in like I was expecting it to, which was disappointing. However, I liked it better than Castle in the Air, which was not a believable story, even within DWJ's fantasy world.

Castle in the Air was quick and lighthearted, but a bit too perfect for me. It felt like even when something bad was happening, you knew that it wouldn't be that bad because everything always turned out so perfectly. Also, parts of it put me in mind of a Disney movie, especially Aladdin. (The main character has a genie and a magic carpet, and goes to rescue his love, Flower-in-the-Night. Sounds like Aladdin to me.) Of course, there are many other clever and unexpected twists and turns, but all in all, it was a bit too sweet. I'm guessing I'm just out of the intended age group for these books, which is why I wasn't quite satisfied with them.

I'm still writing my group review of everything since January. It's obviously taking a while. I'll try to finish by tonight, but it'll realistically be posted tomorrow.

A Change of Plan

I've decided to keep the poll open until the end of March, and start the heavy revising in April. That will give me time to concentrate on March Merriment and give all you lurkers time to cave and decide to vote. (I know you're there! I'm not just posting into empty cyberspace... am I?) Coming up will be a post that includes everything I've done so far on all 26 books. It'll be a looong post, but several people mentioned to me that this might be a good idea. So. That's the plan.

And now I must start writing my overly long post about all the stuff I've been reading recently. But yay for finally getting back to reviewing! I'm obviously not going to be able to review every book I read during March Merriness, but I'm going to try to keep up as best I can. And I'm planning on doing another group review at the end of March for all the books I didn't get to.

Until later,

March Merriment - The Lineup

Getting ready for March Merriment (a little late for preparation, but better late than never). Here are the books I have on my shelf or in the mail:

The Maze Runner, by James Dashner
Supposed to be creepy but so good - I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Silver Phoenix, by Cindy Pon
WriterGirl has recommended this book several times, as well as including it in the YA fantasy showdown. Based on her previous recommendations, I'm guessing this is going to be great.

Eon, by Alison Goodman
Also included in the YA Fantasy showdown. Not really sure what it's about or whether I'll like it, but it's worth a try.

Flight (Volume Two), by Kazu Kibuishi
I liked volume one and it's a quick read. Perfect for MM.

Sapphique, by Catherine Fisher
Devoured Incarceron in a night and a day. I'm hoping Sapphique will be just as good.

The Tough Guide to Fantasyland: The Essential Guide to Fantasy Travel, by Diana Wynne Jones
A guide to all the chiches of fantasy writing. It sounds really funny, and since I'm going to be doing some fantasy writing myself on The Bookbird and the WordGirl, why not?

Book of Enchantments, by Patricia C. Wrede
No reason for getting this except I like Patricia C. Wrede. :)

Secondhand Charm, by Julie Berry
Julie Berry's other book, The Amaranth Enchantment, was short and sweet, and I'm betting I'm going to need a bunch of that in the coming month.

Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary (Fablehaven), by Brandon Mull
I've read this before, but don't remember all the details. This is the kind of series where I'm glad I don't remember much, because I get to rediscover it when I reread it, like now.

So that's it for now. More will be coming throughout March, or I might reread some old favorites instead. I don't really have a plan right now. But I will come up with one! Eventually.

I'm going to do a post of the stuff I've been reading for the last month later today or possibly tomorrow.

 Until then,

P.S. Please please vote on the poll for favorite PBM book! I ran into the unexpected problem that all the voters so far like different books. (Silly me, didn't see that one coming.) Thank you!

A Project

This is going to be a quick post, but I wanted to say that I started a creative writing blog with my friend The Politick. We're writing a story together, switching off every few paragraphs. Let me say now that I have absolutely no idea where the story is going to go (that's part of the fun). The new blog is called The Bookbird and the Word Girl. We just started writing the story yesterday, so you should scroll down to part 1 (by The Politick) before you read part 2 (by me). New posts will be coming every day, so keep checking back!

March Merriment!

So PBM is over, February is done, and everything is back to how it was in January. Except that after the craziness of February, March seems a bit empty. So I am instituting a challenge for myself for March. I am going to read 20 books in 30 days. Having read that last statement, you're probably thinking, she's finally gone crazy! Picture Book Marathon was enough work, but now she's gone too far! Well, don't you fret. I'm planning on reading a lot of graphic novels and shorter books because for English I'm going to be reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which is going to be... erm.... R rated. (I don't really like R rated books. Bad things happen.) So I'm going to read a lot of light and fluffy stuff. In addition, at the end of March, I'm going to do a giveaway of however many extra books I read (past 20). So if I end up reading 40 books, I'm going to give away 20. Except I won't end up reading 40 books, because I'm unlikely to read more than a book a night. My normal speed is a book every 2 or 3 days, so I'm going to be sprinting a bit. Yay for challenges! This is going to be fun. So much fun.

P.S. I spent way too much time trying to think of a name for this event. Just saying.

Teaser Tuesday, 7th Edition

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I am doing a slightly different version of Teaser Tuesday. Since I go through books so quickly, I'm going to put a quote from any book I've read in the past week.

***

The Disappearing Spoon (Note: I'm taking so long to read this book that I'm no longer going to put a quote from it. Just assume from now on that I'm not done with it.)

"'I know how he seems, that he doesn't care about anyone, but I know him. We've fought together.'"- Incarceron, by Catherine Fisher

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz -I'm reading it, but it's a bit R rated, so no quotes for Teaser Tuesday. I'm trying to keep my blog content appropriate for all readers.

 "Mr. Smith was reasonable too, except when he had to clean ketchup off the carpet. He lost his temper and shouted, 'Do that again, and I'll spank you, mumps or not!'" - Unexpected Magic, by Diana Wynne Jones

The Seven Facts Award

I've just won my first ever blogging award! It's called the seven facts award, and I received it from Allegra of Here's to Us. Thank you so much, Allegra! It's so great to know that someone who I've never met face-to-face actually reads and appreciates this blog.

Here's how the award works:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to his/her blog.
2. Write a post about the award, in which you share seven facts about yourself.
3. Share the award with fifteen worthy bloggers.

So, seven things. Hmm....
I'm not sure if this is obvious at all from my previous posts, but I'm a little... *ahem* paranoid... about posting stuff about myself on the internet. But here goes anyway:

1. I have five overstuffed bookcases in my room.
2. I avoid books that I think will make me sad or upset.
3. I don't think I'm very good at creative writing, although my friends tell me otherwise.
4. I love languages - I take Latin and ancient Greek, and hope someday to learn German, Italian, French, and ASL.
5. I love challenging myself (taking difficult classes, participating in challenges like PBM, etc.)
6. I've never been able to decide on a favorite color.
7. I love to sing.

And I don't even have fifteen people to pass this on to, because most of the blogs that I follow are writers' and illustrators' blogs, and I'm way too intimidated to make them share seven things about themselves. So I'm sticking to two. Two is a good number. (Yes, I know I'm pathetic at fullflling the requirements of this particular award, but I'll improve with time.)

1. Curious Sparkplug
2. The Secret Adventures of WriterGirl

Until tomorrow, or tonight if I need to procrastinate my studying a bit more,

Picture Book Marathon Wrap Up

Well, it's March. As incredibly busy as I am, I do miss writing the picture books every day. But I've decided to go on the the next step of PBM - revisions. On the sidebar (over there ---->) is a poll where you can choose your favorite books from February and I'll revise the top 3-5 (depending on how many I get to) during March. You can select multiple answers, and the poll is open until Sunday night at midnight. If necessary, I will extend it up to a week, but I want to get started.

I had a ton of fun during PBM. I really want to thank Lora Koehler and Jean Reagan for organizing the whole thing - without you guys there's no way I would have done this. Your daily blog posts were great for inspiration, but they mostly reminded me that there were a few hundred other people doing this along with me. Also, I want to thank Cathy Cronin, Kate Higgins, and Sherry Meidell for your stories about working on the marathon, keeping me motivated because I knew other people had stuff going on in their lives too and they worked through it. Julie Olson, Will Strong,  and Jed Henry inspired me with their beautiful illustrations every day, and Nathan Hale's drawings and daily posts convinced me to do the marathon in the first place. Thank you all. Also, I know these thank yous are getting waaaaay to long, but I just wanted to mention how great my friends and family were, supporting me all the way. There. That's it. No more!

So please vote and I'll post again soon!