2012 Summer Reading Challenge

I knew it was coming. I just didn't know that I was actually on the right track for the 2012 Irving ISD Librarian Summer Reading Challenge. I should have seen it coming though when I was talking to my friend, Lea, who just happens to be the Director of Library Services, that I was planning to read some of the books from the TLA Lariat List this summer. Since I didn't get the challenge until yesterday I guess Godmother won't really count. Oh, well, darn, now I have to read another book (raising sarcasm sign).

Okay, here is the challenge...lots of choices.

1 - controversial adult book OR  book by one of the authors visiting Irving Public Library this summer

• John Corey Whaley -  Where Things Come Back,
• Beth Revis - A Million Suns & Across the Universe
• Jackson Pearce - As You Wish,  Sisters Red, Sweetly, & Purity
• Andrea Cremer - Nightshade, Wolfsbane: A Nightshade Novel, & Bloodrose: A Nightshade Novel
• Rosemary Clement-Moore -Prom tes from Hell, Hell Week, Highway to Hell, & The Splendor Falls
• Marie Lu - Legend 
• Lori Wilde - Saving Allegheny Green, You Only Love Twice, Addicted to Love, The Sweethearts' Knitting Club, High Stakes Seduction, & The First Love Cookie Club
• Francis Ray - A Seductive Kiss, Twice the Temptation, Undeniable, & Break Every Rule
• Elizabeth Essex - The Pursuit of Pleasure & A Sense of Sin
• Leann Harris - Hidden Deception

2 -  books from the current or past Lariat List OR online books (or a combination of the two)

3 - young adult books with 2011 or later copyright dates OR nonfiction books (or a combination of the two)

4 - recent picture books OR graphic novels - (or a combination of the two)

So, there is a total of 10 books required for the challenge. I'm not sure I can limit myself to only 10! Just going through the lists and the choices I have already made some selections based on books I have wanted to read for some time that actually fit into the various categories very nicely.

You will have to come back to see the choices I make and my opinion of the different books.

Summer Reading

Although my summer will not officially begin until 3:30 Wednesday, I have unofficially declared the start of my summer reading. In the past three days I have read two great books. One from a favorite author, James Patterson, and one from a new to me author, Carolyn Turgeon.

I will start off by saying I read just about everything James Patterson publishes. As soon as I hear a new books is in the works, I go to my calendar and make an appointment to put the book on hold a month prior to the release date. This give me the reminder I need to log into the public library's online catalog and look for the title to appear. If I don't see it the day of the appointment I move the appointment by a few days. I keep this up until I can see the book has been ordered by the library and I can place a hold on it. Obsessive, maybe a little, but I want to be one of the first to read his new book when it comes out.

11th Hour
by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

So anyway, I finished 11th Hour, the latest installment of the Women's Murder Club series. It was a good story, like the rest of his books, but I didn't feel the interaction between the female characters was as strong as it has been in other books.

Cinderellaby Marcia Brown

Cinderella
by James Marshall

Now for a completely different story, a fairy tale actually. I remember reading fairy tales as a child and watching them come to life on the movie screen thanks to Walt Disney. I remember the beautiful illustrations by Marcia Brown's Caldecott winning book, and the comical cartoonish characters in James Marshall's version. I have to admit my favorite Cinderella is the singing and dancing version created by Walt Disney. To this day I love the songs from the movie, "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" and the little mice singing "Cinderelly, Cinderelly" in "The Work Song".

Godmother
by Carolyn Turgeon

I decided this summer I would read some of the great books on the Texas Library Association's Lariat Reading List.  I started by reading Carolyn Turgeon's Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story. I was not really sure what to expect, but I devoured the book in one day. I was completely engrossed in Lil's life working in a New York bookstore and her wonderful secret life behind the locked doors of her apartment. The version of the book I was reading has a Reading Group Guide in the back. The last question is, "Fast-forward six months after the book ends. Where do you see each character? Are they better or worse off than they were before?" I love this question and for anyone that chooses to read this book based on  my recommendation, I would love to hear your response to this question. I do not feel it is appropriate to include my response here as it would spoil the book. The ending is not at all what I thought it would be, thus making it even better because now I get to ponder the above question and create my own true ending to the love story.