Tag: TBR

Library Love

On my weekly trip to the library yesterday, I saw and bought this bag which goes to the public library foundation. It’s one of those Bring Your Own Bag iniatives that encourage the use of recyclable and reusable bags in place of plastic bags. I’m really glad to have bought it since the money goes directly to the library and up to this point, I’ve been using one of my purses or a plastic bags (namely the ones I have from the LCBO; the government-controlled alcohol chain in Ontario) to carry my books to and fro every week. I often carry a lot of items from the library and normal plastic bags are ineffective any way.

I love my public library; I spent summers there as a child, and I have been going every week for years. I often take out way more than I can handle which is sad and rather addictive. Right now, I’m on a particularly lending streak as I have 36 items separated into four piles in my house. The pile above on the right is all twelve of the books for the Book Awards Challenge, some of them are the library’s, a couple are mine and a couple are a friend’s.

My reading was severely neglected last week because I was reading fanfiction. Sometimes, it comes over me especially now that I’m rereading Harry Potter. Speaking of which, the pile on the left has Books 3 and 4. I’m listening to the audiobook for 3 now, but I’ll mostly read it after I do some knitting and patterns browsing.

Lots of books must be read this week especially since I start summer school next week.

Link: Hot Library Smut – Completely and utterly work safe.

Books Books Books

Nothing like coming home to your books. I got home from work two hours ago. It was a very hot and humid day, but it rained a great storm when I was at work (which was thankfully not too busy). The evening was cool from the rain and the air was beautifully fresh. I came home, and I saw the above pile of books on my printer as if to say “Welcome, home.” instead of “You’re disorganized for putting a big pile of books on a printer.” I made this pile today after getting a lot of these books from the library.

As you can see, most of these books are for the Book Awards Challenge. I’ve decided to read Street of Riches instead of The Tin Flute because I am going to read the books in French and try to make room for some French Milan Kundera as well. I may still read TTF in the near future though. The pile on the left has the first three Harry Potter books stacked on top of my copy of Toni Morrison’s Beloved.

As a testament to my messy but manageable style, there are another two small pile of books on this desk as well, not to mention the twenty library books perpetually on the floor beside it. I need to clean my desk, but the books always remain where they are on my desk, in my life.

Here is my list for twelve award winning books to be read between July 1 2007 to July 1 2008 for the Book Awards Challenge. I’m confident I’ll complete this challenge because I have a couple of the books in my house and couple of which are also Newbery. I have provided a long list of prospective books for additional reading in the challenge.

  1. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (Booker Prize)
  2. Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje (Giller, Governor General’s)
  3. Street of Riches by Gabrielle Roy (Governor’s General’s)
  4. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (Newbery)
  5. A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nany Willard (Newbery)
  6. Complete Poems and Plays by T. S. Eliot (Nobel 1948)
  7. Beloved by Toni Morrison (Pulitzer, Nobel)
  8. Beowulf: New Verse Translation (Costa/Whitbread)
  9. Neuromancer by William Gibson (Hugo, Nebula)
  10. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (Newbery)
  11. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (Pulitzer, NBCC)
  12. Little, Big by John Crowley (World Fantasy)

Bonus Books:
Bel Canto by Ann Pratchett (PEN/Faulkner, Orange)
The Color Purple by Alice Walker (Pulitzer)
Eucalyptus by Murray Bail (Miles Franklin, Commonwealth Writers’) – I remember trying to read this years ago when it was first published; I managed one chapter, so we’ll see how far I get this time.
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (Hugo, Nebula)
The Poetry of Pablo Neruda (Nobel)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich: A Novel by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Nobel)l
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (Commonwealth Writers’) – I own this, and it is big.
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson (PEN/Faulkner)
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (Pulitzer)
The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck (Pulitzer, Nobel)
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields (Pulitzer, NBCC, Governor General’s)
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (Giller)
The Pearl and Cannery Row by John Steinbeck (Nobel 1962)
All the Names by Jose Saramago (Nobel 1998)

Here is my reading list for the Summer Reading Challenge (June 1- August 1). Almost all of it is young adult or children’s lit which is funny and also will give me a slightly high chance of actually finishing the challenge.

  1. The Tiger in the Well by Philip Pullman
  2. The Tin Princess by Philip Pullman
  3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
  4. Watership Down by Richard Adams
  5. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
  6. Rereading: Harry Potter Books 1-6 by J. K. Rowling for the HP Read Along
  7. Rereading: Twelth Night by William Shakespeare

In other book news, I have read little because I have been distracted by dreaming about future knitting patterns. I will read today. Yes, I shall.