Monday: More Required Reading!

Note/disclaimer: Okay, each post this week will feature its "day of the week" as most of them are being composed on Sunday and it will be easier for me to just hit "Publish" when I get the occasional online moment at the PLA conference. I have considered going to the Goodwill Computer Store, getting a flash drive...But I digress. (Update on Monday: Yeah, probly not. I've squandered my time doing useless things like browsing in the Seminary bookstore...plus I chatted with a neighbor who has a Katrina survivor dog for like 20 minutes.) Doing two loads of laundry as we speak (one in the washer, one in the dryer).

Oh, and I'll be blogging this week on the plablog. You'll have to figure out which one is me because I'm using my first name (and it's not Sarah Louise, I know you are sooo shocked!)

Found on Library Things blog: (linked from Jean Louis Picard to Stationery Queen to A box full of letters to Library Things blog (Yes, you have just seen my self serving desire to keep a record of how I got there b/c I'm not updating the template until April): Library thing has more JK Rowling books than the total # of books that Thomas Jefferson gave to the Library of Congress after the first fire.

This is the continued required reading from Joke's Blog and clearly shows my obsession, since Joke, Babelbabe, and Gina all finished their lists in one post and I already have committed to two more Mondays beyond this week...

Young Adult (13+)
*Jacob have I loved by Katherine Paterson. (This blog bears the name of the protagonist, Sara Louise) It is a book that brings me great hope and it takes place in the Chesapeake Bay. Um, and it's REQUIRED. If you want to understand the essense of me, you have to read this book. Or listen to the audio, which I highly recommend. I have read/listened to this book over 10 times in the past year. No substitutions will be accepted.

Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt. (and the entire Tillerman cycle) My dad discovered the first book in this series, Homecoming, in the New York Times Book Review. I have loved these books ever since. Part of why I went to my alma mater, Washington College is b/c I fell in love with the Eastern Shore of Md through these books. This book I've read more than the first one, but I've been reading it yearly since I was 13, so you can see how momentum would work.

Jackaroo and its companion book, On Fortune’s Wheel. (also by C. Voigt) Wonderful fantasy without the dragons.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton I HAD (as in, it was required) to read this in library school. It is so wonderful. You must read it. Haven't seen the movie yet.

My Life as a girl by Elizabeth Mosier. This is one of those books I’m not sure I want to share with other people because I like it so much.

Briar Rose by Jane Yolen. This is a book about a 23 year old woman. Before chick-lit, there weren’t very many books that were about 23 year olds. Besides that, it takes place partially in Poland and revolves around a fairy tale. Besides, it has amazing quotes of P.L. Travers, the woman responsible for Mary Poppins, who wrote an amazing book on Sleeping Beauty. (and I just made my first correction on Wikipedia!!) (B/c "On the Sleeping Beauty" is non-fiction, not a novel, as it was originally classified.)

The Trouble with Thirteen by Betty Miles. If you ever feel crappy, this is the book. I mean, thirteen is a really bad year. And this is a really good book about that.

*Bloomability by Sharon Creech. This girl has to move overseas and live with her aunt and uncle in Switzerland. It’s really great.

A couple of kooks and other stories about love by Cynthia Rylant These stories are just wonderful. (and when I read it, I sent a postcard to CR and she sent me one back!!)

Okay, I am realize my descriptions are personal anecdotes, not descriptive of the plots…but pressed for time and on my blog, WHY they are required for ME, this is what you get.

And packing has commenced, but waiting somewhat on laundry...I had four hours of sleep last night, AGHGHGH!

And thanks to Joke, Psalm 46:10.

Over and out and back to prep for Baaston-town!