List #663: 5 Books I'm Going to Read (or Finish) Soon

List #663: 5 Books I'm Going to Read (or Finish) Soon

1. The Campus Trilogy (David Lodge)

2. The Magician King (Lev Grossman)

3. The Information (James Gleick)

4. The Heroes (Joe Abercrombie)

5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Sherman Alexie)

List #662: Things I Read as a Teen or Young Adult That I Didn't Like

List #662: Things I Read as a Teen or Young Adult That I Didn't Like

1. Ethan Frome (but Age of Innocence was pretty good)

2. Beloved

3. Gary Paulson (sorry Minnesota, I couldn't get through 'Dogsong' either time)

4. Slave Dancer

5. The Tortilla Curtain (sorry Carleton College New Student Week Reading... at least you picked Persepolis a few years later)

List #661: Thoughts on "The Baby Sitter's Club"

List #661: Thoughts on "The Baby Sitter's Club"

List #661: Thoughts on "The Baby Sitter's Club"

1. In the age of "Bronies", I don't feel being a BSC fan besmirches my manliness.

2. I started when book 1 came out and read the first 40 or so

3. Stacey scared me because she had Diabetes and had to take shots

4. The Super-Special about summer camp was the 2nd most influential book in making me want to go to summer camp, which despite my lingering bitterness, was pretty important to me on the whole

5. One of the most enraging interactions I've had with a colleague in my profession involved her specifically dissing the BSC as trash. I had to give the "BSC #1 was the book that hooked me on reading, and I'm here where I stand today as an 'effin' School Librarian because of that" (minus the 'effin' part) and just walk away before I had to get my gat'.

6. The graphic novelizations by Raina Telgemeier are really good.

7. I never saw any of the movies. Movies rarely live up to the books.

List #660: 5 Book Series I Enjoyed in my Youth

List #660: 5 Book Series I Enjoyed in my Youth

1. The Baby Sitters' Club

2. The Dragonlance Books (I started with the Heroes trilogy, but my all-in-one "Chronicles" is one of the best christmas presents I ever got)

3. Encyclopedia Brown

4. The Hardy Boys

5. The Lord of the Rings (was scared by the cartoon of The Hobbit in 1st grade, so I resisted it until it was forced upon me in 5th grade. Can't imagine life not having read it)

List #659: 5 Book or Reading Related Experiences of My Youth

List #659: 5 Book or Reading Related Experiences of My Youth (6th grade or younger)

1. Being told I wasn't allowed to read under a tree during open field as a camper / being laughed at by cabinmates for wanting to read before lights out (because I said that I came to camp, in part, to relax and read)

2. Winning the Read-A-Thon for my school in 3rd or 4th grade

3. Writing and making books (with wallpaper scrap covers) in 1st and 2nd grade

4. The first book I ever read alone: "Monsters Come in Many Colors" ~Kindergarten?

5. Trying to read "The Silmarillion" as a 6th grader (and needing an extra encyclopedia/compendium to 'get it.'... still one of my favorite books. Glad I challenged myself)

List #658: 5 Books That Were Important to Me as a Teen

List #658: 5 Books That Were Important to Me as a Teen

1. Catcher in the Rye (I purposely read it before it was assigned for school. I liked it less as I got older (and actually 'understood it')

2. This book of Ayn Rand quotations (because it was really useful for debate)

3. Miles Davis' Biography

4. The Drake Raft Field Trip

5. Les Miserables (because it turned into a super fun project)