We in the Kidlitosphere are probably queens and kings of book clutter. I think I must have fifteen boxes of books in my attic, and the few shelves I have available are always overcrowded. It runs in the family; I recently visited my parents’ new home in Ohio and found piles of books everywhere, waiting for new shelves to arrive.

Most of us would probably find we have a tendency to acquire books which then sit around for years and years, never having been read or read once and then never touched again. I’ve recently decided to release my book clutter, and I thought I’d share with you the blog posts that have helped me through the process.

• Bringing your bookshelves back to order discusses how to decide which books to keep.
• 20 Ways to Get Free or Cheap Books, and Give Away Your Old Ones is an excellent list post, and helped me with my dilemma of what to do with ARCs. (I list them on BookMooch and just put in the notes that they are uncorrected proofs. Voila! The books aren't destroyed, but they're not sold/donated in the place of actual finished copies.)
• Read a book and pass it on contains a list of six questions to ask yourself upon finishing a book to help you determine if it's worth holding on to.
• Get rid of that library of clutter lists a few non-profit organizations that would be happy to have your donations.
• How to use Powell's Books for uncluttering describes one blog reader's experience selling her book clutter to Powell's.

Happy decluttering!

I just received an email from my advisor/YA Lit professor with a list for what we’ll be reading this semester.  It’s at least a few books a week (so I’ll be achieving Jo Knowles’s recommended amount!).

Here’s the list with my notations:

Levithan, David. Boy Meets Boy.
Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War. - Own it, haven’t read it.  (Bought it at a library sale.)
Head, Ann. Mr. And Mrs. Bo Jo Jones.
Lipsyte, Robert. The Contender.
Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders. - Read it in middle or high school.
Anderson, Laurie Halse.  Winter Girls.
Frank, E.R. America.
Johnson, Angela.  First Part Last.
Dessen, Sarah. This Lullaby. - Sarah Dessen lives in Chapel Hill and I think both of her parents are professors at the university.  (I think her mom, in fact, is a Classics professor who spoke to my students once when I taught in Chapel Hill.)  It’d be cool if, you know, she came to our class.  She probably won’t, though.
Gaiman, Neil and Terry Prachett.  Good Omens. - Read it a few years ago, and I’m pretty sure Will owns it.
Lynch, Chris. Slot Machine.
Zusak, Marcus. The Book Thief
Blundell, Judy.  What I Saw and How I Lied
Nixon, Joan Lowery.  Name of the Game is Murder.
Meyer, Stephenie. Twilight. - Read it a year and a half ago and gave my copy away.  I wish I’d thought to keep it, but I know it won’t be hard to find again.  (I just hope I can get it used instead of new.)
Jones, Diana Wynne.  The Pinhoe Egg.
Westerfeld, Scott. The Uglies. - Read it a little more than 2 years ago, still have it.  It’ll be good to re-read as I never finished the series.
Myers, Walter Dean. Here in Harlem.
Freedman, Russell. Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Helfer, Andrew. Malcolm X: A Graphic Biography.
Pardes, Bronwen. Doing it Right: Making Smart, Safe, and Satisfying Choices about Sex.
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian.
De la Pena, Matt. Mexican WhiteBoy.
Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese.
Hale, Shannon, Dean Hale and Nathan Hale. Rapunzel’s Revenge.

We also need to keep a journal about these, informal, to refer to during class discussions.  I think my reviewing process here has prepared me really well for that.  Yay!

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Photo by Sister72.

From Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast:

“Welcome to our weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you.”

Here are my kicks, which will cover a couple of weeks:

1. I had last Sunday to recover from what had been a very social weekend, with outings Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night.

2. At the Saturday night event (a party/meeting), I was elected an at large member of the board of the Durham Savoyards, one of only two theatre groups with which I’m currently active.

3. I went to Target on Monday and discovered that Frito-Lay offers a “Smart Pack” giant bag which contains 20 small bags of baked snacks. It’s hard to find snacks that are both easy and safe for my sensitive tummy, so this was a big happy.

4. On Tuesday I flew to Cincinnati where I got to spend the evening with my family, including my dad, who left for Boulder on Wednesday.

5. On Wednesday I spent the day with my mom and brother, and had another food-related glee when I discovered oatmeal in tiny packets sweetened only with evaporated cane juice and maple sugar. (Unfortunately it was meijer store brand, and we have no meijer here at home.)

6. On Thursday my mom fitted me for my wedding dress, which she is making. My top and my bottom and my front and my back are all different sizes, so if clothes are going to be stunning on me they have to be so fitted as to approach being haute couture. The pattern I’d bought for the dress required a few alterations, which my mom expertly made in some muslin to make a second, properly fitted pattern to use before she started cutting the satin she’ll use to make the dress.

7. On Friday, my sister called and asked me to dinner because she didn’t want to go home to her empty house yet.

   Here’s to a new week full of shiny new kicks for all!

The Collaborative Summer Library Program is at it again, with different programs for children (pre-K through Grade 5), young adults (Grades 6 - 12), and adults (everybody else).  I registered through my library, which seems to be applying the young adult program theme to their adult program.  I’m good with that.  I made it my goal to finish 7 books between June 20 and August 10.  Eminently doable, considering I’m about to fly to Cincinnati to see my parents and brother (and have my mom fit me for my wedding dress).  Flying time = Reading time, as does Sitting Waiting to Board time and Standing Outside Waiting to Be Picked Up time.

But not Walking Through the Airport time, mainly because I am not as familiar with airports as I am with other places (my neighborhood, the schools where I’ve taught).

Have you signed up with your library’s summer reading program?  Or has anyone you take care of (children, siblings, pets)?  What’s your goal?

Last year I wrote a fairly comprehensive Summer Reading Round-up. Many of those links and resources are still useful.

Photo by emdot.

I didn’t keep track of any blogging or networking time, because I did so little of it.  Next year.

Total Time Spent Reading: 9 hrs 14 min Total Pages: 1120

Books Completed: Death’s Daughter, French Kiss, Stop Pretending, The Queen of Cool, Accidental Love.

Book: Accidental Love by Gary Soto
Time Spent Reading It: 1 hr 31 min

Another cute, fun read.  (Aside from Stop Pretending, which had me sniffling a good bit, that’s what I was really going for this weekend.)  Marisa, a girl with a penchant for fighting, accidentally switches cell phones with Rene, a nerdy boy from another school.  When they meet to switch back, she realizes she kinda likes him.  This was a very sweet book.  I kind of like this type of romance better than French Kiss - sweet, youngish, with all of the problems externally generated.  (I’d much rather have parental disapproval be an obstacle in a romance than the fact that both of the love interests are incredibly moody, for example.) 

Total Time Spent Reading: 9 hrs 14 min

Even though I technically have another hour and a half in my 48 hours, that’s probably going to do it for me.  I’ll be back with an official summary later this evening.

So I’ve read 4 books in the past couple of days, which is more than I’ve read in the past several weeks.  I’m at the point now where I’m not loving the book I picked up.  Granted, I got sleepy part of the way in and took a nap.  But I’m actually motivated to clean my office/craft room, so I’m going to take advantage of that motivation when I have it.

I was all, “But that’s not reading!”

But you know, this is a FUN thing, so if I need to do something else to keep it fun and not work, so be it.

There’s less than 4 hours left in my time, so I don’t think I’m going to make it to the 12 hour mark, but that’s okay.  I still did a lot more reading than is typical of me on a weekend.  (Though I hope the amount that is “typical reading” for me changes once it’s properly summer.)

Book: The Queen of Cool by Cecil Castellucci Time Spent Reading It: 1 hr 15 min

I really enjoyed this book.  It surprised me in many ways.  I’d never read anything by Cecil Castellucci before, but I know a bit about her (I almost interviewed her once, then decided I couldn’t take the time to do the interview justice) and expected her main characters to be kind of hipstery thrift shoppers with cool glasses and entertainingly affected speech patterns.  You know, the kind of people I like to have as friends.  Instead, I found out that the Queen of Cool was ACTUALLY, you know, cool, like, popular-kid cool.  At first I was disappointed, but as I read on, it was really refreshing.  There are tons of teen books about not fitting in, not being part of the popular crowd, being a nerd and a loser (and let’s face it, the book-reading population probably skews heavily towards the less “glamorous” kids - I know I was horribly unglamorous as a middle and high schooler except for the few times I tried really hard, when I was fabulous) but you don’t get many books from the popular girl’s perspective.  It’s always nice to be reminded that, oh yeah, popular kids are people too.  And then, it’s also nice to read about all the stuff “cool” kids do that you didn’t and not feel like you were actually missing anything at all by being unpopular, because you gave your friends silly awards and did absurd fashion shows from your childhood dress-up box with the boys who were your friends and invented silly games and generally made your own fun.  A good, fast, fun read.  I recommend it.

Total Time Spent Reading: 7 hrs 43 min

I haven’t been keeping up with my blogging/networking, but I think all told it comes to less than an hour.  Maybe closer to half an hour, even.

Next up: Accidental Love by Gary Soto

So since I last posted, I spent a lot of time going to dinner, wandering around stores, hanging out at my sister’s house, and sleeping.

And a little time reading.

Two mini-reviews for you: Book: French Kiss by Sarra Manning (Diary of a Crush: Book 1) Time Spent Reading It: 2 hrs 7 min

It’s a cute, quick read.  It falls squarely in the category of romance, which means there’s not much of a plot besides the romance part.  That made me a bit sad, because romance on its own just isn’t that interesting to me.  I’m much more in favor of adventure with a little romance.  This was just a sixteen year old British young woman bopping around France with a bunch of 19 year olds and having a bizarre, intense attraction to a moody art boy.  If you’re looking for a sweet romance, it’s a good read.  It treads carefully in the department of sex, having the main character emphasize how she knows she’s not ready for it while she’s in the midst of all of these university-aged other kids who are hooking up all the time.  I think it’s a very good perspective. 

After Death’s Daughter and French Kiss, I was ready for something more serious…

Book: Stop Pretending by Sonya Sones Time Spent Reading It: 29 min

Boy, howdy, did this one take me in a new direction.  This is a verse novel about a twelve-year-old girl whose older sister has a breakdown.  It’s based on Sonya Sones’s actual experience when her sister had a breakdown.  It made me cry a lot.  Mental illness is an important issue to me, and reading about it always kinda pokes me in a vulnerable spot and is a bit like pushing down on a bruise - it doesn’t hurt when you’re not touching it, it’s easy to forget it’s there, but then when you do touch it, boy is it intense.  I was so happy to read in the note Sonya Sones wrote at the end of the book that her sister is married and a librarian and stuff.  It was such a nice thing to know, that her sister wasn’t forever stuck in a mental hospital unable to connect with anyone or do anything besides just be crazy.  (I know it’s not PC to call folks crazy but when you’re on the inside looking out, it’s easier to call it like you see it.)

Total Time Spent Reading: 6 hrs 28 min

Next Up: The Queen of Cool by Cecil Castellucci

So I’ve been “participating” for almost 17 hours now and spent less than 4 of it reading.  Oops?

Non-48HBC activities have included sleeping, eating, and trying to find a crochet pattern to make as a present for a friend.  (In the end, I found something in my stash of already-made items to give her, yay.)  Maybe watching Pushing Daisies, too?

I’m just updating as I complete each book.

So, let’s begin the update itself.

Book: Death’s Daughter by Amber Benson Time Spent: 3 hrs 52 min Total Time Spent on Challenge: 3 hrs 52 min

Quick Review: Death’s Daughter is a fun, quick read.  (Less than 400 pages.)  It’s Amber Benson’s solo debut.  It’s supernatural chick-lit, which I’m not sure if that’s an actual genre, but if it isn’t, it should be.  (I know it’s a subgenre of romance novels.)  It read like a less-graphic Mary Janice Davidson novel.  It provoked me to think a lot about the whole … is it a genre?  trope? thing… with 20-something apparently-shallow ladies finding out that no, they’re actually very competent individuals.  For a fun read, it brought in some good weighty themes like family (the inevitably of being part of them, and the ways in which that’s both pleasant and un) and women’s sexuality.  A good time all around.  Expect a more detailed review later.

Next Up: French Kiss by Sarra Manning (Diary of a Crush: Book 1)