Stories Come Alive in the Telling

"Stories were different, though: they came alive in the telling. Without a human voice to read them aloud, or a pair of wide eyes following them by flashlight beneath a blanket, they had no real existence in our world. They were like seeds in the beak of a bird, waiting to fall to earth, or the notes of a song laid out on a sheet, yearning for an instrument to bring their music into being. They lay dormant, hoping for the chance to emerge. Once someone started to read them, they could begin to change. They could take root in the imagination, and transform the reader."

John Connolly, The Book of Lost Things

Book Challenge Update

My 2013 book challenge is going well. I have already read 23 books this year. If I keep the same pace I will pass my 100 book goal around August. While I am glad that my challenge is going well, being able immerse myself in the pages of novels is the greater reward.

Reading opens our eyes to the world around us. What have you been reading lately?

Book Challenge 2013

I read 88 books in 2012. You may remember I originally created a goal of reading 50 books in 2012. I completed my goal on October 1, 2012, so I challenged myself to 35 more books by the end of the year.

Here is a list of the books that counted toward my achievement.

1: The Treasure Is the Rose
2: Fresh Brewed Life
3: The Historian
4: Dance in the Desert
5: The Woman in White
6: Phantastes
7: Inner Simplicity - 100 Ways To Regain Peace And Nourish Your Soul
8: The Christian Atheist
9: Heaven Is for Real
10: Northanger Abbey
11: Classic Novels
12: Crazy Love
13: The Scarlet Pimpernel
14: Fish!
15: The Swan Thieves
16: Gateway
17: Keep It Real
18: City of Fallen Angels
19: Clockwork Angel
20: The Frenzy
21: Pretty Dead
22: I Am Number Four
23: The Arm of the Starfish
24: Water for Elephants
25: The Power of Six
26: Messenger
27: Lost Voices
28: Misguided Angel
29: Crafting The Personal Essay: A Guide for Writing and Publishing Creative Non-Fiction
30: Lost in Time
31: The Age of Miracles
32: Eleventh Grade Burns
33: Christian Mythmakers: C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L'Engle, J.R.R. Tolkien, George Madonald, G.K. Chesterton, and Others 2nd edition by Hein, Rolland published by Cornerstone Press Chicago Paperback
34: No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog [Paperback]
35: The Night Watch
36: Pegasus
37: Quiet
38: Divergent
39: Delirium
40: The Thin Man
41: The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Prose Poetry: Contemporary Poets in Discussion and Practice
42: Clockwork Prince
43: Beastly
44: American Gods
45: The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips from Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field
46: Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
47: The Immortal Rules
48: Writing Magic
49: Robin McKinley: Girl Reader, Woman Writer (Scarecrow Studies in Young Adult Literature #41) [ ROBIN MCKINLEY: GIRL READER, WOMAN WRITER (SCARECROW STUDIES IN YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE #41) BY Perry, Evelyn M ( Author ) Nov-16-2010
50: Seafaring Lore and Legend
51: Pandemonium
52: The Day Watch
53: Beyond the Writers' Workshop: New Ways to Write Creative Nonfiction
54: Insurgent
55: ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
56: Myth and creative writing : the self-renewing song
57: The Cambridge companion to creative writing
58: Defusing the Angry Patron
59: MFA in a Box: A Why to Write Book
60: Empowering Your Library: A Guide to Improving Service, Productivity, & Participation
61: Son
62: The Iron King
63: Organizing Your Craft Space (05) by Packham, Jo [Paperback (2006)]
64: The Casual Vacancy
65: Everything You Need to Know About Creative Writing: But Knowing Isn't Everything?
66: Sea-Thrift: A Fairy Tale (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press) Ill edition (authors) Radford, Dollie (2008) published by Dodo Press [Paperback]
67: Cupcakes and Cashmere: A Design Guide For Defining Your Style, Reinventing Your Space, And Entertaining With Ease
68: The Rise of Nine
69: Monstrous Beauty
70: The Iron Daughter
71: Fairy Tale
72: The Brides of Rollrock Island
73: Men Who Wish to Drown: A Tor.Com Original
74: The Sharp Time
75: The Iron Queen
76: City of Lost Souls
77: The Iron Knight
78: The Art of the Moment: Simple Ways to Get the Most from Life
79: Library Management Tips That Work (ALA Guides for the Busy Librarian)
80: Tithe
81: Art of Doing Nothing, The: Simple Ways to Make Time for Yourself
82: Valiant
83: Training Library Staff And Volunteers to Provide Extraordinary Customer Service
84: Warm Bodies
85: The Lost Prince
86: Ironside
87: Beautiful Creatures
88: Creating The Customer-Driven Library: 1st (First) Edition

My goal for 2013 is to read 100 new books.

Reading

"If everything you read is easy, accessible, straightforward and familiar, you're not doing it right. You don't have to like everything you read but it sometimes pays not to give up too soon: some exceptional pleasures take time to understand, to learn to like."

Heather Leach, Everything You need to Know About Creative Writing

The Great Gatsby and Catch-22 Sweepstakes

I love F. Scott Fitzgerald's writing style. One of my all time book covers is The Great Gatsby (I am excited for the 2013 film simply for the visuals). And now Simon and Schuster and Out of Print have teamed together to offer The Great Gatsby and Catch-22 Sweepstakes!

Enter by November 6th for a chance to win!

I Read Banned Books

I got this idea from Wondra of Wondra's World. Today is the last day of the 30th Banned Books Week. According to the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIC), ban attempts have been made on at least 46 classics novels on the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century.

Here are the books I have read:


1. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses, by James Joyce
7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
9. 1984, by George Orwell
11. Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
15. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
16. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
17. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
18. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
23. Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
24. Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
25. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
26. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
27. Native Son, by Richard Wright
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey
29. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain, by James Baldwin
38. All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren
40. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
45. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
48. Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
49. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
53. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
55. The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie
57. Sophie's Choice, by William Styron
64. Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence
66. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
67. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
73. Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs
74. Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
75. Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence
80. The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer
84. Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller
88. An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser
97. Rabbit, Run, by John Updike

I have read 18 of the 46 listed; quite a few of the other titles are on my to-read list.

I don't want to imagine a world without the classics.

Read

Keeping with the Banned Books Week theme, I love this wooden sign by Scott Snyder of banished.

The maple sign can be stained in a variety of finishes. It would be perfect in a professor's office or next to a bookshelf filled with lots of books!

Libris

Book Challenge Completed

I mentioned that I had a dilemma to my book reading challenge. It's appropriate that I reached my book reading goal during Banned Books Week.

Here are the books that count towards my goal.

Goal Completed (10/01/12)

1: The Treasure Is the Rose

2: Fresh Brewed Life 

3: The Historian 

4: Dance in the Desert 

5: The Woman in White 

6: Phantastes 

7: Inner Simplicity - 100 Ways To Regain Peace And Nourish Your Soul 

8: The Christian Atheist 

 9: Heaven Is for Real

10: Northanger Abbey 

11: Classic Novels 

12: Crazy Love 

13: The Scarlet Pimpernel 

14: Fish! 

15: The Swan Thieves 

16: Gateway 

17: Keep It Real 

18: City of Fallen Angels 

19: Clockwork Angel 

20: Pretty Dead 

21: The Frenzy 

22: I Am Number Four 

23: The Arm of the Starfish 

24: Water for Elephants 

25: The Power of Six 

26: Messenger 

27: Lost Voices 

28: Misguided Angel 

29: Crafting The Personal Essay: A Guide for Writing and Publishing Creative Non-Fiction 

30: Lost in Time 

31: The Age of Miracles 

32: Eleventh Grade Burns 

33: Christian Mythmakers: C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L'Engle, J.R.R. Tolkien, George Madonald, G.K. Chesterton, and Others 2nd edition by Hein, Rolland published by Cornerstone Press Chicago Paperback 

34: No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog [Paperback] 

35: The Night Watch 

36: Pegasus 

37: Quiet 

38: Divergent 

39: Delirium 

40: The Thin Man 

41: The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Prose Poetry: Contemporary Poets in Discussion and Practice 

42: Clockwork Prince 

43: American Gods 

44: Beastly 

45: The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips from Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field 

46: Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist 

47: The Immortal Rules 

48: Writing Magic 

49: Robin McKinley: Girl Reader, Woman Writer (Scarecrow Studies in Young Adult Literature #41) [ ROBIN MCKINLEY: GIRL READER, WOMAN WRITER (SCARECROW STUDIES IN YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE #41) BY Perry, Evelyn M ( Author ) Nov-16-2010 

50: Seafaring Lore and Legend  


How many books do you think I will finish this year?

Read {Banned} Books

In honor of Banned Books Week (September 30th - October 6th, 2012), let's flood the bookstores and libraries and buy controversial classics! Or participate in a Banned Books Virtual Read-Out.

I read banned books pinned in the page; via Stick Em Good

Information is power. Reading stretches us; it helps us see the world in new ways.

Don't let someone tell you what to think.

Read {banned} books!

So Little Time

I have been preoccupied with my training. It has been a long time since I have been encouraged to learn. The beauty of my job is I will never stop learning. Libraries offer so much free data and information to the public; they're such a valuable resource. As Frank Zappa said, "So many books, so little time".

It is nice to be challenged.