Getting Settled

I'm a week and a half into classes at school and I'm glad to say that things are going well!

I'm at a dry period in my day now: I had just one class this morning, which I supplemented with going to the gym and are now just hanging out in my room watching Danny Phantom on Netflix.

Other than Spanish this morning I've got two anthropology classes on Tuesday and Thursday paired with a required honors class that I have to take.

And, even better news...

My library card came in the mail yesterday! All I have to do now if pop off to the city and get it validated at one of the libraries and I can start taking out books! This will probably happen over my President's Day break in a few weeks, so I'll make a post about how that goes!

Also, a this-just-in piece of news:

We have a new family member! Her name is Marley, and she's about a year old. She's been adopted from the local pet and animal supply store that has been working with a local shelter to get some of their cats adopted out to good families :) I'm still grieving a bit over the loss of my last cat and longtime friend Whiskers, but it will be nice to have another furry face around and I can't wait to see her over spring break!

More college news later, and next week I'll try and get back on track with my memes and reviews. Thanks for the patience while I get settled in again!

Read like the wind! or, Why My School Library Stinks, or I Get a Library Card, Part 1

There are ten floors, six of them with books: stacks and stacks of them. Within all of these stacks you would have assumed that there was something you could read.

When I first heard that there were ten floors worth of library to explore at my university, I was more than excited (obviously). I brought my own novels from home, sure, but I would have more than enough to read at school, right?

A herd of elusive wild animals...

Unfortunately... wrong. The past few weeks of my winter break I've been stuffing my face with as many library books as possible, from here that is, from libraries that recognize that reading is more than something you just do to outline an essay or write a paper. I've taken out more than 35 items, mostly books, in just a short two-week period. There's no way that I can finish them all, but I like variety.

I have no idea if other school libraries are like this. There's no way that I, lover of libraries since I had first learned to read, had picked the only school in the nation with a library without a single piece of fiction (or creative non-fiction) within those shelves... right?

I'm righting this wrong the only way that I know how: applying for a library card not just from another library, but THE other library. I'm talking about...

The New York Public library! At only about forty minutes away, by train, I figure that once a month I could get a couple of novels out of the library and scratch that itch. Trust me, I love keeping books of my own in my little wardrobe at school, but after a month or so that collection gets a little stagnant. 

Applying for a card was easy enough, there's a form on the website where you choose if you want a card mailed to you or you want to pick it up in person. Depending on which one you choose you go from there and BAM! You enter a state of pure, unadulterated literary bliss (that is, as soon as you validate it).

I've been meaning to visit the NYPL for the longest time and I'm glad that I can go as more than just a tourist when I finally stop by.  But my question is... Why does it have to be like this? I'm excited, sure, but why doesn't my school library at least have a small collection of fiction? There are no local public libraries within walking or shuttle distance (I know, I checked), and not all of the students have cars. There are plenty of clubs and sports to keep us busy, no to mention classwork, but I can't be the only student who's upset at the fact that we can't indulge in fiction every once and a while? I hope not.

For those that have attended college, was your library like this? What did you do about it?

Moving in Day!

I've been lagging in my posts recently, I know, but I have a good reason: college! I move in on Thursday, August 30th, and have been packing and planning and getting all loose ends taken care of before I leave. Posting will resume as soon as things even out a bit, so thanks for your patience!

Five Books I'm Bringing To College

Well, it's finally here. Two weeks from today I'll be piling into my family's Honda, all of my stuff shoved into the back, and we're taking a trip to Long Island for me to start my first year at college!

With so many unfamiliar things coming my way, obviously I'm going to bring comfort objects to help make the transitions. And really, what kind of book blogger would I be if those comforts didn't include books? I've been thinking a lot about it, and here are the five books that will be definitely be starting my new life with me:

1. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

The absolute, 100% perfect answer when someone inevitably asks me, what do you like to read? A strong, entertaining series about finding yourself (and giant machines and fabricated animals, among other things), paired with gorgeous pencil drawings, there's no way I'm leaving this one behind.

2. Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

I don't know why I've been putting this one off for as long as I have, but I have. A perfect read for lazy nights back in the dorm room, I'm also hoping to use my copy to help connect with other bookish nerds in my dorm building.

3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

One of the books that I'm quite guilty about never getting to, now here's my chance! This book has helped bring so much joy to my friends and I'm hoping that it will be a great reminder of who I still have back home.

4. Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer

The Artemis Fowl books have been so important to me for years I can't see how I can head off without bringing at least one! I'm bringing my favorite, book number two.

5. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

For whenever I'm feeling down or need a laugh I checked my library system, thinking that they must have a copy, and was shocked to see that they don't! Well, now I'll just have to bring it with the hopes of converting people to one of the greatest books I've read this year!

New Excitingness!

Less than a week and a half since school let out for me and already so many exciting things have been going on!

Source

1) I graduated today from high school! It was over 90°F , and we were all smooshed together in our polyester robes, but it was amazing! Everything turned out so perfect, and I got an iPhone as a grad gift (a huge upgrade from my TracFone.)  Her name is Hero, like the character from Much Ado About Nothing.

2) Divergent Fans has announced that Lionsgate and Summit have plans to begin the filming of a Divergent movie later this year! I'm hoping for nothing less than a pre-Hunger Games-esque blowout with everyone on the edge of their chairs to find out who plays Tris. I will accept nothing less! They are also the new owners of Insugent's rights as well, so presuming all goes well (and I just know that it well) we should be expecting that a few years down the road as well. You can read the story here.

Source

So, the major questions here are, who do you want to play Tris? Ever since I watched True Grit my go-to girl for book role hopefuls has been Hailee Steinfeld. She has definitely proven herself to have a calm and mature acting style, and can (hopefully will!) bring nothing but greatness to Divergent, whatever role may she take.

Do you have any actresses you'd love to see as Tris? Actors as Four?

Armchair BEA Day 1: Personal Interview

I couldn't even do Armchair BEA last year, much less go to the actual BEA, so I'm excited to be a part of the party this year! If you're visiting for the first time, welcome! All comments are appreciated, and I'm so excited to get to know some of my fellow book bloggers.

Here we go!

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging? 

My name is Emily :) I'd say that I'm a high school senior but I finished all of my AP tests and will be graduating June 21st, so calling myself that doesn't feel accurate anymore. I've been blogging since March 2011, and what got me started was that I had been invited to write reviews for the teen writing website Figment, and I thought that book blogging would be a great way to keep them organized!

2. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?

I am currently reading Stardust by Neil Gaiman for a final AP English project, Hold Me Closer Necromancer by Lish McBride for fun, and Book 1 of the Seven Soldiers of Victory series by Grant Morrison because I want to get more comics into my life this year. 

My favorite books so far have been either I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga or Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

3. If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?

Probably Aziraphale from Good Omens, because he's really cool and owns a bookshop, which is always excellent in my book.He's been around for a while too, so he probably has some great stories.

4. What literary location would you most like to visit? Why?

Ireland, ever since I read the first Artemis Fowl book. From the pictures that I've seen it's a beautiful place, and I've got to get to Europe eventually! So, why not start there?

5. Have your reading tastes changed since you started blogging? How?

They haven't been changed so much as realized. I realized that I like books that deal with complex issues, male main characters, good sarcasm and wit, comics and graphic novels, dystopians with a base in real life (as opposed to just slapping the label on a crappy society). I've found it's okay that I don't like paranormal romance like a lot of other people, including bloggers I look up to, do.

No matter what, there are always books being published, or have been published, that I can read and enjoy, and that the love of the majority doesn't have to be my love. I don't have to read a book that doesn't sound interesting to me just because Book Blogger A, who I love, gave it five stars. 

So, I hope that I'm a halfway interesting person and that you liked reading my responses to the questions. I love and respond to all comments, so feel free to leave a few!

Ta-ta!

Camp NaNoWriMo Approacheth!

The first place that I heard about NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month for those out of the loop*, was on another blog. So, I figured that there was no better place to spread the love than here!

National Novel Writing Month is a month-long (really?) event spanning November where participants write, or at least strive to, 50,000 words of an original story. No previously written content allowed, just you and your imagination for thirty days straight. At approximately 1,666 words a day, nobody said that this was easy.

For one reason or another, some people can't do it in November, and that's totally cool. So cool in fact, The Office of Letters and Light, the brains behind NaNoWriMo, put their smarty-pants heads together and came up with Camp NaNoWriMo with one session in June, another in August. You can do one, the other, both, or save your ideas for November instead. It's all the fun of NaNoWriMo with more bug bites!

I really cannot stress enough how much fun this is. Even if writing isn't your thing, that's no excuse, because I hadn't written a script before I wrote a 100 pages of one with Script Frenzy in April. Even if you don't finish you'll at least walk away with something, even if it's just a few thousand (or hundred) words that, hey!, you may even want to pick up later.

The only question left is, why not? But if that's not the only question left feel free to leave it in the comments or check out the FAQ. Hope to see you there!

*We're the best kind of exclusive club, the kind anyone can join

I (finally) saw The Hunger Games!

Bulbapedia

So tonight, at seven PM, on May 7th, I saw the Hunger Games. In theaters. For the first time. Wearing my mockingjay necklace. Literally all by myself. No joke.

GeekMom

I thought it was a beautifully made movie (the sounds, the setting, and the off-kilter camera work were all stunning), but not my favorite adaption. I felt like people who hadn't read the books would lost (feel free to say something if you weren't, though). It was really nice to be able to recognize things from the book, and I thought some of the book was enhanced by the film.

One of my favorite things was just how beautiful the arena was. You didn't need 3D glasses to appreciate just how green and lively the forest is. I could hear crickets, and doves, and all kinds of forest life, and that made for a better experience than just sticking in some random animal noises. It helped to balance out the tension with some peace.

Hunger Games Wikia

The only two things that I would have changed were Rue's screen time and the showing of the propaganda video. Of course I though Rue's death was sad (though the real sobbing came during the riot scene), but I felt like people who hadn't been touched by their relationship through reading the books may have been confused. Luckily Lawrence's great acting backed it up a little.

Hunger Games Wikia

As for the propaganda, the movie shown during the reaping, I would have put that at the very beginning of the film rather than stuck it in the middle of a scene already established to be tense. The text at the beginning was fine, but I thought that it would have been a nice(?) throwback to when news and propaganda films would be shown in American movie theaters before the show at around the time of World War II. Then, after that, cut to Katniss talking with Prim before she heads out to the woods.

And so there goes the tale of someone who is probably the last person to see the movie in theaters for the first time, a whole 46 days after the premiere!

P.S. More Haymitch next time, please!

National Library Week 2012: My Job, and How You Can Celebrate

Happy National Library Week!

I work as a page at my local library, and can you believe that I head nothing about this wondrous week while working? (say that five times fast)

Even though I now work at the library, it doesn't mean that I stopped reading their books; most libraries get the hottest releases as soon as they're out, and some do beforehand. Curious about a book, but want to check it out before you commit and buy it? See if a library has it. If your library doesn't, see if they'll do an inter-library loan to find it for you. Have extra books? Donate them! Anything that doesn't end up on our shelves can be sold at our book sale, which is still a huge help to us.

My Day

I work as a page, which is that dedicated (not to float my own boat) person that you see pushing carts of books around to be put back onto shelves. I usually get in to work after school and stay until we close at about eight. 

We have a pretty small library, especially compared to some in neighboring towns, and so my day starts with shelving downstairs books: large type, new books, DVDs, and most magazines. I then move onto the upstairs carts: children's books, teen book, adult books, and non-fiction books. 

Before being shelved, books on carts are alphabetized (or put in numerical order if non-fiction) and put away. If a shelf has to be straightened, or books need to be moved because they're too tight (called "shifting"), that's done too. 

After carts are shelved, our jobs depend on whatever needs to be done. The cart in the children's room that houses all of the books people don't want and don't want to put back themselves* are shelved. More shifting in done. Shelf reading (peeking at the call numbers to make sure that books are in order/ put in the right spot) is also done.

We also help patrons to find what they need, and direct them to where they can find the books that they're looking for. We also sometimes answer questions regarding how the library works (for example, books can only be checked out downstairs, even though the children's librarians have the computers to do it upstairs.) On some days we may have a children's program, and in that case I help children with crafts. This summer we'll have a lot of that going on :)

At the end of the day, chairs are pushed in, computer monitors are turned off, and the children's room is tidied. Lost books are put on shelves or carts for the next day. Lights are turned off, and the day has ended!

Writing it out it sounds a little boring, but it all depends on what you make of it. I always bring an iPod to listen to music and books on tape, and time has been flying faster now that the days are longer. I've also gotten close to one of my fellow pages and talk with her during some of the more boring jobs.

Each library is a little bit different, so I can't tell you everything about the job, but feel free to leave questions in the comments section and I'll do my best to answer them!

Overall, I hope that you take the time to appreciate libraries this week :) They're really such a great place, and it upsets me that some people don't get out there enough. If you've been planning a trip for a while, there's no better time to do it!

*I should clarify. This isn't intended to be mean at all; we pages are expected to shelve books! A lot of libraries will have carts off to the side to save yourself the trouble of having to find and put back a book yourself, especially if you are unfamiliar with the library. It also helps keep things a lot neater.

More things to celebrate: 

Monday- 2012 State of America's Report released (with the list of Top Ten Frequently Challenged Books)

Tuesday- National Library Workers Day

Wednesday- National Bookmobile Day

Thursday- Support Teen Literature Day

Wednesday, April 4th to Wednesday, April 11th- National Library Week Six Word Story Contest

If you're interested in showing your support through Facebook, @ Your Library has a bunch of Facebook cover images (assuming that you have the new layout) available for download. Or, you can share your story of how a library has impacted you.

Follow @ Your Library: Twitter and Facebook

And for a happy send-off, a PBS video about the Biblioburro:

Biblioburro - Trailer on PBS. See more from POV.
Watch

Well, It's True

My review from Figment on Death Watch by Ari Berk has been quoted on his website, here. I can honestly say that I meant every word, and if my review has convinced one person to read his book I would consider my work a success!

Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian pre-order

Just placed my pre-order for The Last Guardian, by Eoin Colfer, the eighth and final book in the Artemis Fowl series (and, in my opinion, the best cover so far). It's due out in mid- July, so one can expect a heart-breaking and tear-inducing review at about that time as a series that's been with me for about five years now comes to an end.

What I've Been Up To

These posts will probably become the norm until summer when I can start reading more again (and preparing for college! Yay!) So, without further ado, here's what I have been reading since I last posted:

Finished:
Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer by Derek Landy
Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan
Looking for Alaska by John Green (audiobook)
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (audiobook)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters (audiobook)

And I still have't finished that Eragon audiobook...

(Re) Introduction post

Wow, it has been WAY too long since I last posted! I got a part-time job and have had a lot of school work, so a lot of what I've read these past three months have gone unreviewed. Hopefully I'll be able to straighten myself out and get started again!

What I've read since last posting includes:
The Heist Society by Allie Carter (audiobook)
Skulduggery Pleasant: Scepter of the Ancients by Derek Landy (audiobook)
How the Hangman Lost His Heart by K. M. Grant
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan (audiobook)
Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire by Derek Landy
Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones by Derek Landy
Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer (audiobook)
Skulduggery Pleasant: Dark Days by Derek Landy
Death Watch by Ari Berk
Eragon by Christopher Paolini (almost done with audiobook)
Honey and Clover by Chica Umino (graphic novel)
Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Coil by Derek Landy
Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell (audiobook)

I'm in the middle of a few more.

So yeah, I've been busy! Unfortunately, not all of these will be reviewed simply because it's been so long since I've read them, giving a proper review would be difficult. Heck, all of the Skulduggery Pleasant books will probably be done in one post due to their sheer number.

I will be participating in an In My Mailbox soon, seeing as I've acquired so many books over these past months and I feel compelled to share them.

So, I just wanted a more formal announcement to show that I am indeed still up and reading, albeit busy with with senior year of high school. This blog likely won't pick up again until late January, and even then will proceed at a snails pace due to my multiple AP classes, but thank you for hanging in there if you have!

Peace out!

New job!!!

I started my first (paying) job today, as a page at the public library! Basically, I'm a book monkey: I shelve books, find books, pick up books, push carts around with books on them, etc. I worked for four hours today (and after the first day of school, too!), mostly by shelving books, and there are a few things that I learned should you ever find yourself in one of these mystical places:
-If you question, even for a moment, where a book should go on the shelf, find a cart to put it on. It's been incredibly frustrating trying to find the proper place for a book when everything else around it is out of order because some people just stick in it the last place they thought they saw it. If you do, or actually try to shelve it correctly, you get a high five :)
-Not even the call number system is perfect. I had been looking for a copy of The Iron King a few months ago, and was sad to find that is was listed as "missing" in our catalog. So, I requested it from another library. Anyway, guess what I found in with the adult fiction just because it didn't have a YA sticker on it?
-Mysteries are VERY POPULAR. The newest ones are separate from the rest of the new books.
-I'm seventeen, but even my feet and knees were aching by the end of my shift from having to bend down and put books away every few minutes.

Overall, it's fun to have a job and a paycheck, especially from a place that I've been visiting since I was little. Ooh! And the best thing is that while putting things away I get a good look at all different kinds of books, including our new copy of Plugged by Eoin Colfer! *faints*

I've known for a few months that Colfer had been writing an adult novel after years (over ten, to be precise) of dabbling in children's and young adult fiction while penning the bestselling Artemis Fowl series (my favorite) but I had no idea that it had been published (not that that's strange. I had taken a hiatus from AF for a while and didn't even know the seventh book came out until after I stepped into Border's one day.) I stored it away in my bag to check out later, and I'm really excited! After I finish the seventh AF book, that is.

The tagline reads, "You loved Artemis Fowl... It's time to grow up." *swoon*

More tales from Libraryville are soon to come!