Hey Boo Books

Welcome to your friendly neighborhood librarian's webspot for book reviews, displays, discussions, & sheer bookwormery  .gr_custom_container_1440460262 { /* customize your Goodreads widget container here*/ border: 1px solid gray; border-radius:10px; padding: 10px 5px 10px 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #000000; width: 230px } .gr_custom_header_1440460262 { /* customize your Goodreads header here*/ border-bottom: 1px solid gray; width: 100%; margin-bottom: 5px; text-align: center; font-size: 120% } .gr_custom_each_container_1440460262 { /* customize each individual book container here */ width: 100%; clear: both; margin-bottom: 10px; overflow: auto; padding-bottom: 4px; border-bottom: 1px solid #aaa; } .gr_custom_book_container_1440460262 { /* customize your book covers here */ overflow: hidden; height: 60px; float: left; margin-right: 4px; width: 39px; } .gr_custom_author_1440460262 { /* customize your author names here */ font-size: 10px; } .gr_custom_tags_1440460262 { /* customize your tags here */ font-size: 10px; color: gray; } .gr_custom_rating_1440460262 { /* customize your rating stars here */ float: right; } Currently Reading... I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest The Night We Said Yes by Lauren Gibaldi Another Day by David Levithan Doll Bones by Holly Black Just Enough Jeeves: Right Ho, Jeeves; Joy in the Morning; Very Good, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse Share book reviews and ratings with Molly, and even join a book club on Goodreads. 2016 Reading Challenge Molly has read 11 books toward her goal of 100 books. hide 11 of 100 (11%) view books

[heyboobooks-blog]

Rebranding

For future posts, hop over to my newly updated blog, Conan the Librarian, at http://conan-the-librarian.tumblr.com !  Thanks for following!

[heyboobooks-blog]

It’s National Library Week!  How does your library bring about transformation in the community?

[heyboobooks-blog]

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

[heyboobooks-blog]

130 books read in 2015, and some real wonders in the bunch.

Molly the Librarians Top 20 Reads (in no particular order) from last year:

Furiously Happy, by Jenny Lawson

The Sweetheart, by Angelina Mirabella

Y the Last Man, by Brian K. Vaughan

Nimona, by Noelle Stevenson

I’ll Give You the Sun, by Jandy Nelson

The Fair Fight, by Anna Freeman

Cress, by Marissa Meyer

Tiny Beautiful Things, by Cheryl Strayed

Roller Girl, by Victoria Jamieson

Carry On, by Rainbow Rowell

The Martian, by Andy Weir

Modern Love, by Aziz Ansari

The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown

The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert

Ms. Marvel, by G. Willow Wilson

Dumplin’, by Julie Murphy

Trigger Warning, by Neil Gaiman

5 to 1, by Holly Bodger

Turn Right at Machu Picchu, by Mark Adams

My Father is an Angry Storm Cloud, by Melissa Reddish

[heyboobooks-blog]

A few light taps upon the pane made him turn to the window. It had begun to snow again. He watched sleepily the flakes, silver and dark, falling obliquely against the lamplight. The time had come for him to set out on his journey westward. Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.

James Joyce, "The Dead," Dubliners

[heyboobooks-blog]

Just in time for the blizzard to hit, I have another Owlcrate (and a backlog of books from previous crates) to hunker down with.  Here’s what I got this month!

Owlcrate January 2016 (Magic):

Worlds of Ink and Shadow, by Lena Coakley

Letter from the author

Ink and Shadow paper doll set

Throne of Glass art print by Evie Bookish

Raven Boys bookmark by Evie Bookish

Patronus lip balm from Geek Fire Labs

Hermione Granger Pop figure by Funko

[heyboobooks-blog]

Rest in peace.

[heyboobooks-blog]

While I was out of the country for 6 weeks, the book subscription boxes piled up!  Here’s what I came home to, and what will be kickstarting my New Year’s reading:

OwlCrate: November (Myths and Legends)

Soundless, by Richelle Mead

Bookmark and temporary tattoos from Richelle Mead

Cinderella tea from Adagio Teas

Castle locket necklace from The Geeky Cauldron

Camp Half-Blood bracelet by The Colorful Geek

Mermaid pocket mirror by My Clockwork Castle

OwlCrate: December (Get Inspired)

Da Vinci’s Tiger, by Laura Malone Elliott

Magnetic poetry set from Laura Malone Elliott

To-Do list notepad by Boy Girl Party

Little Prince magnet by Sandra Vargas

Reading in the Cafe candle by Frostbeard

Reading journal by Chronicle Books

BookRiot: Best of 2015

Nimona, by Noelle Stevenson

H is for Hawk, by Helen Macdonald

Welcome to Braggsville, by T. Geronimo Johnson

The Bollywood Bride, by Sonali Dev

Library card scarf from Out of Print

Banned books heat-sensitive mug from Out of Print

Read Harder bottle opener from BookRiot

[heyboobooks-blog]

Seems accurate... (Via BuzzFeed Books)

[heyboobooks-blog]

What would you do if you were in love with someone who was a different person every day? A person who literally wakes up in a new body each morning? 

This question, weird as it is, is more than hypothetical for Rhiannon. She shares a real connection with A, the shapeshifter in question, but she never knows who A will be from day to day. Boy, girl, beautiful, damaged, unpredictable, unreachable…A could be and has been any of those combinations. Knowing that, can Rhiannon love him (or her?) still, no matter the packaging? 

In this companion to Every Day, Rhiannon gets to tell her side of A’s story. Another Day unfolds over the same timeline as its predecessor, but seen through her eyes. Readers of the first installment of A and Rhiannon’s tale will enjoy reuniting with the familiar characters and events, and those who haven’t read it yet will still find that this version of the story stands on its own. In the beginning, Rhiannon is a lonely girl without a lot of excitement in her life. 

Meeting A changes everything drastically, and she is thrown into romance and existential crisis as she tries to navigate what their relationship means and how they can make it work despite the obstacles in their path. David Levithan is an author gifted at getting into his characters’ heads, and he manages to make a fantastical story into one that feels true. Even readers who prefer realistic fiction will find a lot to admire.

Read alikes:  Every Day, by David Levithan; Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater

This review originally appeared on A Book and a Hug.

[heyboobooks-blog]

It’s easy to paint a picture of World War II-era German soldiers as cold-hearted Nazi bad guys—pop culture has certainly done so time and time again—but of course the members of Hitler’s army were people too. Some were admirable, some were not, and a great many of them didn’t want to be in the war at all. Some, like Georg Rauch, were even Jewish! 

Despite Rauch’s Jewish heritage and his activities in the underground resistance, he nonetheless found himself drafted into the German army and forced to serve in a war that he didn’t believe in. In his captivating biography, Rauch details what his time as a reluctant soldier was like. At the tender age of 19, he served as a telegraphist, foot soldier, spy, and prisoner of war. Despite the odds against him—capture, starvation, labor camps, and crippling illness, to name a few—Rauch managed through wits and luck to survive to tell his incredible story. 

Unlikely Warrior: A Jewish Soldier in Hitler’s Army is a great example of nonfiction for older readers, and it contains a great wealth of primary source material, including nearly 100 letters, photographs, and drawings that Rauch sent to his family from the trenches. Rauch is a very likeable and unconventional narrator, and he has an important story to tell. Even readers who don’t typically enjoy nonfiction will be drawn in by his story, and teachers will be glad to have an offering that fits well into the Common Core curriculum.

Read alikes:  The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank; Code Talker, by Joseph Bruchac

This review originally appeared on A Book and a Hug.

[heyboobooks-blog]

My Little Free Library is officially up and running, and we’ve had a couple of customers so far! I’m very excited to see how this little project evolves, and I hope that my neighborhood enjoys it and uses it often!

To further engage with folks, it also has its own page at Facebook.com/lflpatlane . Come say hi and talk books with me!

[heyboobooks-blog]

Presenting the inaugural collection in my newly installed Little Free Library!

[heyboobooks-blog]

A little book spine poem that I made about adoption this morning.  Why just shelve books when you can get creative?

[heyboobooks-blog]

On Display: Listen Up

In the past couple of years, I’ve really come to appreciate audiobooks, so November’s display pulls some of my favorites for people to check out as they get ready for holiday travels.

Suggested titles:

Furiously Happy, by Jenny Lawson

The Good Lord Bird, by James McBride

The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown

Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Tiny Beautiful Things, by Cheryl Strayed

What are your favorite audiobooks?

[heyboobooks-blog]

At long last, I finished working on my Little Free Library! My husband gave it to me for our anniversary back in May, but life got in the way and I had to delay construction for way too long. Last week, the weather was perfect and I had a few days off from work, so I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. I had a lot of fun with power tools and paint and decals, and I can't wait to get it mounted in my front yard later this week.

[heyboobooks-blog]

Happy Halloween from your friendly neighborhood librarians! Love, Batgirl and pals