41 -- XVI

Day 41 -- Book 41  
XVI -- Julia Karr

It's the future. 2150. Turning sixteen is still a right of passage for young ladies, but it has morphed into something different. Something dangerous.

Nina's life is turned upside down when her mother is suddenly killed. On her deathbed, she tells Nina that her father is still alive and that she has to get her sister's baby book to him.

Nina and her sister move in with her gran and pops. She is led on this mission to continue her mother's work and discover the truth.

Iron Fey Giveaway (Books 1-3)

Enter to win The Iron Fay series Books 1-3 Here

40 -- Mockingbird

Day 39 -- Book 40
Mockingbird -- Kathryn Erskine
(mok'ing-burd)

Caitlin's brother was killed in a school shooting. Her father is having a difficult time dealing with his death. Caitlin doesn't know how to help until she finds the word Closure.

Caitlin is determined to help her father gain Closure. Along the way, the school counselor helps her relate better with people and try to become a friend to others. See, Caitlin has Asperger's. Empathy and emotions do not come easily to her.

39 -- The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

Day 38 -- Book 39
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda -- Tom Angleberger

Dwight is an odd young man. Mainly because he carries an origami Yoda puppet in his pocket. Ready at will is he to dispense advice to those who ask it.

This book follows several students at McQuarrie Middle School and their ideas of Origami Yoda. How powerful is he? Can he predict the future?

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda does come with instructions for making an origami yoda. 

Book #2 - Darth Paper Strikes Again will be published sometime this year.

38 -- White Cat

Day 37 -- Book 38
White Cat -- Holly Black

Cassel Sharpe wakes up on the roof of his school, not sure how he got there. Sleepwalking? He keeps dreaming about a white cat. She tells him that he's cursed and that he's the only one who can remove it.

Cassel must learn who he can trust. Even his brothers, who have looked after him since his dad's death and his mother's incarceration, are in question.

Book #2 - Red Glove comes out April 5, 2011

Daughter of Xanadu Giveaway

Confessions of a Bookaholic

37 --The Odyssey

Day 36 -- Book 37
The Odyssey -- Gareth Hinds

Homer's Odyssey transformed into a graphic novel. Follow Odysseus' journey home after the Trojan War. There are several things trying to stop him along the way. He meets people, gods, and creatures. He is lucky enough to be helped by many gods.

(This is probably the only way I would have ever read the Odyessey. I thought the language was a higher level then most graphic novels.)

36 -- Sweethearts

Day 35 -- Book 36
Sweethearts -- Sara Zarr

Jenna Vaughn has transformed herself from Jennifer Harris,  the cubby kid that everyone made fun of into the popular girl that no one can live without.

Jennifer never really went away though. She never stopped thinking about her childhood friend, Cameron Quick. Cameron and Jennifer were inseparable until one day he disappears and Jennifer is left to think he's dead.

Fast forward a few years and Cameron shows up at Jenna's school. Together they confront their memories of Cameron's abusive father.

35 -- Suicide Notes

Day 36 -- Book 35
Suicide Notes -- Michael Thomas Ford

Nothing like waking up on New Year's Day in a psych ward. Because Jeff slit his wrists, this is how his year starts. He knows how to tell his therapist, "Cat Poop" what he wants to hear. He refuses to bond with the other teens in the group because he's not like them.

Jeff does come to terms with his suicide attempt and his sexuality.

34 -- Vixen

Day 35 -- Book 34
Vixen -- Jillian Larkin

Vixen follows three young ladies through Chicago during the 1920s.

Gloria is engaged to a Chicago socialite, but dreams of singing in a speakeasy with the black piano player she's become quite fond of.

Clara, cousin to Gloria,  is a New York transplant with a seeded past trying to start a new life.

Lorianne, friend of Gloria, wants Marcus, but Marcus wants Clara. She also had a fling with Gloria's fiance.  Shhhh...don't tell.

Being Behind

I am now officially behind on my reading. I'm going to blame my foot.
Yes, you read that correctly. I am blaming my foot on my lack of reading. I guess you'd like an explanation. Fine.

Sometime in November, I did something to my foot. No, I don't remember what. Maybe I dropped something on it. I could have kicked something hard with it. Or, as my father likes to say, I have soooo much stress in my life it went to my foot. A MONTH later, when I had time to go to the doctor, I discovered that I have a stress fracture in my left foot. It's by the the toes, so bending my foot hurts. As the doctor discovered when he pushed on my foot and asked if it hurt. Really?!? Why do doctors feel the need to test what you've already told them?

Fast forward to a month later of wearing a lovely orthopedic boot. (Lovely. Huh? Try not to be too jealous.) I have my days feeling that I can take that thing off and not put it back on. Friday, I was putting together a bookshelf at school. As I was dumping the pieces out the box, they landed on my broken foot. (It's a good thing my library aids were at lunch and there was no one around to hear me scream and cry like a baby.)


Still wondering how this effect my reading capabilities? I have been taking pain meds off and on since Friday. Tylenol makes me sleepy, so my prescription of Tramadol makes me loopy, then sleepy. The words on the page seem to move around while I'm trying to read them. It's really not nice. Hench me not reading much lately.

I stand by my decision in blaming my foot. Actually, I don't stand. I'm going to sit by decision. It hurts to stand.

(I'm also medicated while I write this. Forgive me if it lacks making sense.)

33 -- Moon Over Manifest

Day 33 -- Book 33
Moon Over Manifest -- Clare Vanderpool

2011 Newbery winner

Abilene Tucker has been sent to live in Manifest, Kansas with her father's friend, Pastor Shady Howard. Manifest is a town with a past. Abilene is determined to figure out how Manifest and Gideon, her father, have a connection. How does Gideon fit into Manifest's past? Moon Over Manifest divides it's time between 1917, World War I, and 1936, the Great Depression.

32 -- Amy & Roger's Epic Detour

Day 31-- Book 32
Amy & Roger's Epic Detour -- Morgan Matson

Amy's mother is already in Connecticut waiting for Amy to get there from California. Mom has mapped out Amy's trip, and given her the emergency credit card. One problem, Amy doesn't drive. Enter chauffeur Roger, a family friend that's headed to Philadelphia. Roger and Amy set off from California. They decide not to follow mom's directions and take their own path. Their journey leads them down a road of discovery in understanding themselves and each other.

Giveaway Real Live Boyfriends by E. Lockhart

Confessions of a Bookaholic is giving away Real Life Boyfriends by E. Lockhart Enter Here

Clique Series Giveaway

Confessions of a Bookaholic is giving away the ENTIRE Clique Series Enter Here

31 -- Crescendo

Day 30 -- Book 31
Crescendo -- Becca Fitzpatrick

Continuing saga of Nora and Patch. In this installment, their relationship is in jeopardy. He's her guardian angel, but can't get too close to her because the archangels are watching. He could be sent to Hell for having the feels he does towards her. Enter Scott, a Nephilium, Nora uses him to make Patch jealous. But there's something else about him that Nora can't quit figure out. Patch begins to pay attention to Marcie, Nora's archenemy. Oh, and Nora keeps seeing her dead father around town. Can't wait to finish the series!! Book #3, Tempest comes out this fall.

Win a signed copy of The Secret Year

Here

30 -- Hush, Hush

Day 29 -- Book 30
Hush, Hush -- Becca Fitzpatrick

Nora gets stuck with the mysterious, but ever so sexy, bio partner in school, Patch. She gets the feeling that he starts following her. He's always there...where he shouldn't be. He knows things that he shouldn't know. Nora is drawn in by him, but can she trust him? Thank goodness for the internet and Nora searching "Fallen Angels" to give her a hint into Patch's life.

29 -- Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

Day 28 -- Book 29
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer -- Lish McBride

College dropout and fast food worker, Sam is thrust into a world he didn't know he belonged in. This is where Douglas comes in. He's a necromancer who has one of his thugs beat up Sam and sends him the undead head of a coworker. (Poor Brooke!) Although Sam is new with his powers Douglas knows that Sam is more powerful then he is. Douglas captures Sam and keeps him in a cage with a werewolf/fey hybrid. Together they must find away out.
LOVE the titles of the chapters...named after songs.

28 -- Hold Still

Day 27 -- Book 28
Hold Still -- Nina LaCour

Caitlin is dealing with the suicide of her friend Ingrid. Ingrid left her journal for Caitlin to help her understand the decision she made in taking her life. Along the way, she meets the new girl, Dylan, and tries to make her Ingrid. It's difficult to make the adjustment when your friend is gone. Caitlin learns that she can make it through the help of Ingrid and her friends.

27 -- Dark Song

Day 26 -- Book 27
Dark Song -- Gail Giles

Ames' life is being turned upside down. Her dad has lost his job because he stole money from his clients. Mom, The Commander, is being her control-freak self. The family packs up and moves from Bolder, Colorado to Texas to be with her grandparents that she had been told were dead. In Texas, she meets Marc, a twenty-two year old neighbor. Ames and Marc get intimate. Her parents find out and plan to press charges. Marc and Ames plan to get revenge.

26 -- The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, and June

Day 26 -- Book 26
The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, and June -- Robin Benway

Three sisters who rediscover their powers in high school. April can see the future. May can literally disappear. June can read minds. Put the three together, and those around don't have a chance. They go through the typical angst of high school but use their powers to prevent, or try to prevent, certain things from happening.

25 -- Paranormalcy

Day 25 -- Book 25
Paranormalcy -- Kiersten White

Evie works for the IPCA (International Paranormal Containment Agency). She tracks down paranormals. She can also see through glamours. This is as close to normal as it gets for Evie until Lend, a shape shifter, shows up. He has her questioning everything she is use to.

24 -- They Called Themselves the KKK

Day 24 -- Book 24
They Called Themselves the KKK -- Susan Campbell Bartoletti

The history of the Ku Klux Klan from the very beginning. There are accounts from Africa Americans who encountered them, their attacks on schools, churches and people across the United States from Reconstruction to present.

23 -- Plan B

Day 24 -- Book 23
Plan B -- Charnan Simon

Lucy has her life planned out. Luke, her boyfriend, will receive a full scholarship to the University of Texas in Austin. She will follow along a year later. They'll graduate, get teaching jobs, get married and have babies. Lucy's plans change when she discovers that she's pregnant. She feels alone and confused.
Read from NetGalley.com. Will be published March 1, 2011.

Choosing a Book

I've always been a reader. My tastes have changed over the years. I think I was destined to become a librarian.

In junior high, I will not disclose the dates, the following will date me anyway, I read all of R.L.Stine's Fear Street series. I knew when they came out. My mother knew when they came out. Only because I told her, since she was my only way to getting the books. I could wait a day, but after that, I got angry. (I'm a natural redhead. I can, and sometimes do, have the temper that goes with that.)

In high school, I moved on from the scary, creepy world of Fear Street to the opposite end of the spectrum. I read romance novels. Not just any romance novels. I read a set of historical fiction romance novels. They were sappy not graphic. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the publisher. They all had the same type of covers. There were two published every month. Again, I knew what days they came out. They never lasted until the next month though.


Today, I'm a middle school librarian, grades 6-8. That's my target audience. I read what they would read.

I've been told by my husband that I'm rude to the sales staff at bookstores. If this is the case, I truly apologize. It is not my intent to be rude. It's just that I take my job seriously. If I'm in a bookstore, then I probably know exactly what I'm looking for and do not need to be interrupted by the staff wondering if I need help picking something out. The answer is always NO! Besides, you don't know me.

For me, choosing a book is a personal matter. I'm not always going to read what someone suggests. You've got to know someone to give them a book. You need to know what they like and what they find interesting.

I've learned not to be so picky in my reading materials. With my job, I need to be well-read. (Yes, this even means reading Zombie books that I really have no interest in. No offense to those who write zombie books!)

I'm the type of librarian who stands back and watches. I see the kids who just wander the shelves and have no clue what they are looking for. That's when I'll ask if they need/want help.
Twice this week, I've had students come into the library looking for books.

The first young lady came in, wandered around before coming to my desk. She asked if I'd recommend a book for her because she really liked the last book I picked out. (Karma Club by Jessica Brody) This was a big deal. This girl is NOT a big reader. Man did she put me to the test. So, I pulled some other books for her, nothing quite like Karma Club though. (Three Black Swans by Cooney, Dirty Little Secrets by Omololu, and Sweetheart of Prosper County by Alexander)

The second young lady is one of my 8th grade library aides. Again, she came up to me and said, "Will you pick out a book for me? I like what you choose." She had just finished reading The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams. (A powerfully AWESOME book!) She chose The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting and Willow by Julia Hoban.

I think about times like those when I wonder what I'm doing. Neither one of those kiddos was a big reader. Yet, they seem to be turning that around. Is it me? Heck no! It's the authors who have written the stories. I'm just the person who makes the suggestion. There is a book out there for everyone. Some people just haven't found the right one(s) yet.

Delirium

Delirium by Lauren Oliver is one of the books on my "To Read" list.
Here she's giving away 5 autographed copies of Delirium.

Can't wait to read it!

Catching Up

Day 18 -- Book 17
I Am Number Four -- Pittacus Lore
Aliens. Numbers One, Two, and Three are dead. Number Four knows this. He knows that he's next. He's given himself a new name, John Smith. He and Henri, his adviser arrive in Paradise, Ohio for a new start. There, John meets a girl and has a best friend...things that are new to him. Things go great until alien conspiracies start floating around. John's cover is blown and the bad guys are after him.
The movie will released February 18, 2011.




Day 19 -- Book 18
Sucks to Be Me -- Kimberly Pauley
Mina has always known that her parents are vampires. Now, she must decide if she wants to become one too. She's enrolled in "How to be a Vampire" classes and her uncle Morty is guiding her along the way. Which will she choose?
There is a sequel called Still Sucks to Be Me.





Day 20 -- Book 19
Matched -- Ally Condie
The Society runs everything. There's no reason not to trust them. They choose your ideal mate, the number of children you'll have, when you die, and other life decisions. Cassia trusts them. Until she receives information about her match. The face of her long time friend Xander appears on the screen, but there's a glitch and the face of Ky shows up on the screen for an instant. The screen goes blank and it makes Cassia wonder if there was a mistake. Only, the Society doesn't make mistakes. Do they?




Day 21 -- Book 20
Dash & Lily's Book of Dares -- Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
Dash finds a red notebook on the shelf in his favorite bookstore. In it are several dares. He accept the dares left by Lily and leaves some in return. This process goes on for several days before Christmas. They try several times to meet. There are misunderstandings. Both Dash and Lily wonder if the person on paper is the same person in person.






Day 22 -- Book 21
Split -- Swati Avasthi
Jace has driven all night from Chicago to New Mexico. He has $3.84, a split lip, a black eye, and a secret. Jace was kicked out of his house and beaten up by his abusive father. His mom gave him the address to his brother's in New Mexico and promises to meet him there. Jace is taken in by his older brother Christian. They have quite a lot of history to sort out before their relationship can move on.




Day 23 -- Book 22
The Lying Game -- Sara Shepard
Emma is a goody girl. She does what she's suppose to, gets good grades, etc. When she is accused of taking money from her foster mother's purse, things go from bad to worse. A video of what appears to be of her murder surfaces. She finds a long lost twin sister, Sutton, on Facebook. They decide to meet. Emma arrives in Arizona only to be abducted by Sutton's friends. There's a bit of mistaken identity. Emma tries to tell them she's not Sutton. She even goes to the police. It appears as if Sutton and her friends have a game going called The Lying Game. Each lie has to be better then the previous one. They assume that Emma / Sutton is just playing along. And she is since she received a note that tells her to pretend to be Sutton or she's next.
This is the first book in The Lying Game series. Book #2 - Never Have I Ever comes out August 2, 2011.

16 -- Lightning Thief : The Graphic Novel

Day 17 -- Book 16
Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel -- Rick Riordan

A graphic telling of the popular book The Lightning Thief.

15 -- Becoming Billie Holiday

Day 16 -- Book 15
Becoming Billie Holiday -- Carole Boston Weatherford

The life of Billie Holiday told in poems.

14 -- You Are Not Here

Day 16 -- Book 14
You Are Not Here -- Samantha Schutz

Annaleah and Brian only "dated" a few months before he died. She is left alone dealing with her loss. Annaleah visits Brian's grave daily, ignoring her friends who want to help her through this time.

13 -- Anna and the French Kiss

Day 15 -- Book 13
Anna and the French Kiss -- Stephanie Perkins

Anna has been shipped off to an American boarding school in Paris, France. She leaves behind her friend Bridgette and her could have been boyfriend Toph. She soon meets Mer, Rashmi, Josh, and St. Clair. She is attracted to St. Clair, but he has a girlfriend. Can friends become something more? And what about the girlfriend?

12 -- Choker

Day 14 -- Book 12
Choker -- Elizabeth Woods

Cara has some problems. She's in high school and is dealing with social awkwardness that most adolescents deal with. She's finally getting some friends in her track teammates. Things are going alright until her childhood friend Zoe shows up. Mysterious things begin happening about the same time. A classmate is found drowned in Cara's building. The school's popular girl, Alexis is missing. Does Zoe's appearance have anything to do with their death and disappearance?