In My Mailbox

I actually got books in my mailbox this week! Ok, actually that happens fairly frequently for me which is nice. They just usually aren't YA books. In My Mailbox was created by The Story Siren and it explores the contents of what arrived in your mail this week! So, what did I receive you ask?? Well, just a few, but they were good ones, at least from my love of romance perspective.


Tempt Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas. I'm going to read this book for review for A Romance Review, a romance site I review for.







I also received With Seduction in Mind by Laura Lee Guhrke, the upcoming book in her Girl Bachelors series. Again, for review.





I also received Not Quite a Husband by Sherry Thomas for review, for Romance Junkies.

As for YA, I'm finishing up A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn. It's cute, but not my favorite of her books. Talia remained a bit too spoiled for me during the course of the book.

I've been busy preparing for my program this week, a hardware jewelry program. I hope it goes well. This will be week four of the summer reading program and I cannot believe it. That means, after this week, only four more programs left this summer which seems so hard to believe! I spent months planning for this event, basically since I was hired in February, and it will be over in a blink of the eye. I'm already planning for something different. I'm hoping to have three YA authors speak at my library this fall/winter, not in person, but just by webcam, but I hope it works out. I'm also helping to plan my city's "All Reads" program. The library is having a fairly big name author come and visit. Last year it was Amy Tan, this year, well I can't quite say who it is yet, but she is quite well known in the literary world. I kind of wish we would get a fun author in the future, not someone who writes about heavy topics.

Anyway, four day week this week, which is always a plus! I am excited for the three day weekend. As much as I enjoy my job, it's nice to have the breaks in there.

Catch Me I'm Falling

I love musicals. So much. It's certainly not an unknown fact about me but probably on this blog it is. Lately I've been obsessed with Next to Normal. (If you haven't heard the soundtrack yet, I highly recommend it.) I love the combination of storytelling and music that musicals represent. Whether the classics or some of the new musicals that are coming out, I just love to listen and be amazed.

Another love of mine is Harry Potter. LOVE LOVE LOVE. So, when I saw this well, let's just say, I kind of died of joy a bit.



Yes, a Harry Potter musical. Watch, laugh, and enjoy!

I'll see my friends, gonna laugh 'til we cry
take my Firebolt, gonna take to the sky
NO WAY this year anyone's gonnna die, and it's gonna be totally awesome

It's the kind of thing that will make you smile on such a sad day. RIP Michael Jackson (you had my heart during the 1980s!) and Farrah Fawcett. Unexpected and both too young.

Contests Galore!

There are SO MANY YA contests going on right now. Here are just a few and some books I'd really love to win:

The Story Siren has a giveaway going on for Front and Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. Loved the first two books, highly anticipating the third.

Green Bean Teen Queen has a contest going on to win a copy of Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson. I still haven't read this book, must win! Maybe, lol.

Then, there are all kinds of contests going on over at YA Carnival hosted by Shooting Stars Mag.

And one more! Cupcake Witch (love the name and the new layout!) has a spring cleaning contest going on which includes Gayle Forman's If I Stay which is phenomenal. I wants! I've read but I need to buy my own copy still.

So, go, enter! Live long and prosper! Win!

Feeling a bit adult...

Must send a big thank you out to Green Bean Teen Queen for all the guy recommendations. I'm going to start with those and work my way into other things. It's so weird because the teen boys I do know, the ones in particular who participate in my TAB, all seem very much into "girl" books, particularly Tamora Pierce. I think this is great, but it's been like pulling teeth to get them to give me other recommendations.

To switch topics, I've actually been reading several adult novels lately, most prominently Dennis Lehane's Shutter Island because I'm really excited about the movie coming out in October. Here's the trailer if you haven't had a chance to see it yet. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio whom I adore not only because he is hot but also because he's a fabulous actor, but is directed by Martin Scorsese, and it has Mark Ruffalo whom I also really like.



It looks fantastic! For my book club, I need to read Valley of the Dolls so that's another adult book. And I'm waiting anxiously for Michael J. Fox's book, Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist to finally fill my hold request. I also really like Michael J. Fox, in a big way. Not sure what to expect but I think it will be good.

I was in a fun bookstore in Boulder, CO, today, looking amongst the many books and my friend and I had a blast looking at Fuck the World by Bodhi Oser. Not really appropriate for the teen crowd though I know they'd get a kick out of it. I couldn't help it, I was giggling like crazy. Yes, I'm immature, I admit it.

Other things to get started on: The Georgia Nicolson Reading Challenge. I've never read any of these books (yes, shame on the Teen Librarian) so now I have a great excuse to have some fun. I have the first book waiting for me.

And that's all that is up in my reading world right now. Can't believe the weekend is mostly come and gone.

Searching for a few good books...

I want to beef up my YA nonfic collection with some fun books. However, nonfic is one of those areas where I still do not do a lot of reading in, much as I want to and should. So, if you have any NONFIC YA titles that seem to be flying off your shelves, pleas share!

I also really need to read more boy books. I have been tracking my reading very closely lately since getting this job and I realize I read a heck of a lot of fiction that is very much girl orientated, whether in theme, characters, even plots. Is there a must read guy book out there in the YA world I am missing? I recently finished Jerk, California and loved it immensely. Interesting and insightful characters, a bit of a romance, but even still, I felt the issues addressed in the book were more universal than all guy.

So, suggestions please! I subscribe to a plethora of listservs but sometimes I think that makes it harder just because I have constant book suggestions coming at me and I need a few that just really stand out.

Week 2 of summer programming underway

Well last week's teen summer programming kick-off proved to be a big success, particularly at one of the branch locations. 65 teens and tweens showed up, and even though the library markets the events as "teen" grades 6-12, we decided to let the younger kids stay since a few had older siblings attending. Nonetheless, it was quite successful. I think gaming is becoming a bit old hat at libraries but if the teens are still showing up for it, great!

This week is a mystery type program and I hope it's fun. Deciphering clues and then finding them in the library. Should be interesting. I am very interested to see what kind of numbers the branch who got 65 teens last week will get this week. Me, I'm just hoping for a good turn out.

My library is not doing the "Express Yourself" theme this year. The publicity and marketing department at the library came up with its own and while it is equally kind of generic as "Express Yourself" it was a lot of fun helping the PR department come up with the designs and logos we would use for the program this summer.

Have you had any really successful teen programs this summer so far? I'm happy when the teens are having fun truth be told but it's also a numbers game at my library which isn't always quite so fun.

As for reading, I'm starting The Perfect Couple by Brenda Novak, which I won in her recent online auction for Juvenile Diabetes. I'm also finishing up The Chosen One. Reading is seeming like such a luxury thus far this summer. Busy, busy, busy!

Excitedly reading...

Yes that's right, I'm reading Catching Fire!! I have a friend in New York who sent me a copy she picked up from BEA. I'm so excited because well, for one, I totally forgot to even ask her to do this, so it came as a complete surprise, and two, it's CATCHING FIRE! I've been waiting. I've only read a few chapters so far but I'm liking it immensely, if that's prosaic enough for you. Unfortunately this weekend has been uber busy with social engagements, which were tons of fun, but part of me really wanted to get back to my book.

I'm also about to start Valley of the Dolls because it's my book club's upcoming pick. I've never read it so it should be interesting I think.

Phew, I'm going to go read now. It's been a good weekend but exhausting!

Interesting article about YA fiction from the Wall Stree Journal

It was, like, all dark and stormy discusses the dark nature of YA fiction. The article discusses The Hunger Games, If I Stay, Th1rteen R3asons Why, and Wintergirls as examples. (All books I've read! Go me, staying on top of the "trends" I guess.)

I think the article's most salient point is that:

Right now, though, the motif of impending disaster—about a job that will be lost, a house that will be foreclosed, a case of swine flu that will sweep through the nation—looms large in our culture, and it may be no coincidence that the dominant ambiance of young-adult literature should be that of the car crash about to happen.

Of course, to buck this trend there are plenty of lighter, less intense YA stories being published that are just as fabulous as the darker tales. I just don't know if they don't get as much press because the media and well, much of the world at large, seems to focus on the darker news. Watch your local news, there are very few stories of good news given attention.

The article also remarks:

In fact, the genre is more uplifting than the fizzy escapism that long dominated the young adult marketplace. Today’s bestselling authors are careful to infuse the final scenes of these bleak explorations with an element of hope:

I would heartily agree. I'd much rather read realistic stories where it doesn't necessarily end in happily-ever-after, but ends with a realistic ending, that is not necessarily all good or all bad.

Though I don't agree with this:

In the end, these investigations of personal disaster are much less depressing than the “Gossip Girl” knockoffs which initially seem frolicky and fun but are actually creepy and morally bereft and leave you feeling utterly hopeless.

As someone who has read a few Gossip Girl type novels in my time, I don't feel utterly hopeless at the end. I like the "soap opera" factor of these stories as quick reads that I don't have to devote much brain power towards. That is their allure for me, and that doesn't make them bad or any more depressing than any other type or story.

Anyway, food for thought!

Not a YA but for the romance reading fans out there...

Talented romance writer Victoria Dahl is hosting a contest for a chance to win ALL FOUR OF HER SUMMER RELEASES!!

I have to tell you, Victoria Dahl is one of the best new romance writers out there right now. She is writing contemporary romance which I love because there are not enough romance authors writing contemps anymore. Plus, she is a ton of fun! You should check her out on Twitter, she is VictoriaDahl (simple right?).

I was lucky enough to be able to read an advanced copy of her July release, Start Me Up, and WOW, HOT AND ROMANTIC! And then there is of course, my favorite book of hers, thus far, a great historical called A Rake's Guide to Pleasure. Despite its somewhat overdone title, this book is fabulous.

So yes, if you like romance at all, I heartily recommend her!

Books I brought home from the library this week...

To add to my ever growing book pile, I brought home several books this week. As usual, I'm excited to get to them, I just hope I can do it in a timely manner. Perhaps this is a conundrum every librarian faces.

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams. Synopsis:

Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated polygamous community without questioning her father’s three wives and her twenty brothers and sisters. Or at least without questioning them much—if you don’t count her secret visits to the Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her meetings with the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her. But when the Prophet decrees that Kyra must marry her 60-year-old uncle—who already has six wives—Kyra must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family.

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han. Synopsis:

Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer — they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

Probably going to start this one today. I hope it's a lighter summer read. I like the cover.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Probably don't need to provide a synopsis for this one. I'm probably one of the few remaining teen librarians out there who hasn't read it yet. I don't read fantasy books too often and I've just put this one off but I finally decided to go for it. I have a feeling I'm going to really like it once I read it. I don't necessarily buy into hype all the time but so many good opinions from bloggers I respect as being honest about books can't be wrong.

Save the Date by Tamara Summers. Synopsis:

Victoria Finnegan to marry Kevin Ork in the Rose Bower of Cynthia Flair Botanical Gardens
Sunday, June 17, 3 p.m.

Dress: very flowery.

Yay.

Paris Finnegan is marrying Jiro Kuan on the beach at Huntsville National Park
Saturday, August 11, 1 p.m.

Dress: Um . . . she's not really making me wear overalls, right???

Hideous bridesmaid dress fitting #6

Calm Victoria down

Try not to kill Paris

Try not to think about wedding planner's hot son

Do not date wedding planner's hot son

Stop kissing wedding planner's hot son!!!

I'll be able to get through this one quick I'm sure. It just sounds like a fun, romantic summer read.

I have book club next week and I think I'm going to try to convince them to read Th1rteen R3asons Why as our next selection. So much to talk about and I really want to talk about it! Plus hey, I'll have already read it which will save me time in my crazy summer programming schedule. Which reminds me, my library's teen programs start next week!

The first program I'm putting on is a Game Fest, a two hour gaming party where there will be multiple screens and multiple games going on, along with prizes and refreshments. I hope I get a good turn out. I'm really excited to see how programs go this summer. I know gaming is nothing new in terms of programming anymore but I think the interest level is still there, and particularly in communities, such as mine, where it's a lower income level and I suspect not all that many teens have gaming systems. Or maybe they do, but not a variety of games.

The teen summer reading program has also started off with a bang. I've heard a few remarks from teens who remember me visiting their school so that's good news. I made an impression! Or maybe the $50 Visa gift cards we are offering as grand prizes did the trick, who knows?

And a final plea: to those with Catching Fire, please share! LOL! Reviews, thoughts, anything. I need something to tide me over until September. I was going to try to hold out buying these books until they all come out in paperback, but that may not be happening. I went to Barnes and Noble today intending to pick up Twenty Boy Summer and THEY DID NOT HAVE IT! I was agog really because I've found this B&N store to put out books early, by several days, and I know its release date is past so it should have been there. Next time I guess.

Working tomorrow and I have a feeling it's going to be a busy Sunday. Now, off to read!

A book meme for all the readers out there.

Saw this over at Becky's Book Reviews and it sounded like fun and it makes me think about what I have read in the past.

“This can be a quick one. Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.”

1. Matilda by Roald Dahl (I reread this book several times a year to this day.)
2. Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary
3. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien
4. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling
5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
6. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
7. The BFG by Roald Dahl (can you tell I'm a big fan?)
8. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
9. Fathers and Son by Ivan Turgenev
10. Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas
11. Kristy's Great Idea by Ann M. Martin (I was a HUGE ANM fan despite the ghostwriting of the later books. I even met her twice. Still have all my BSC books too.)
12. Homer Price by Robert McCloskey (particularly the donut machine story)
13. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
14. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
15. After the Night by Linda Howard

Lots of children's books on there. Not a big surprise I suppose considering I'm a YA librarian. I remember having those books read to me in elementary school. It was fantastic. And in fourth grade I built a donut machine like Homer Price's and then our group also bought donut holes to send through the machine.

Two romance novels also, again, not a big surprise for me. Actually all of these books are relationship based which may be why I like them all so much.

So, what are YOUR 15?