Meet My Shelves

As I write a blog that often focuses on books, you can probably surmise that I read a lot. Since I read a lot, you can safely assume I have a lot of books. Well, I do. I have a lot. Like.... A LOT. Like... bordering on having a hoarding problem. Someday I am going to have a house with a library in it, and my books will have their own home. Until then, they reside on bookshelves. How many bookshelves do you have in your house? I have eight. So altogether that is 40 shelves. Plus the hundreds of books on my nook and the books by my bed. I have a lot of books.

So anywho, I've decided that every once in a while, I will share one of my shelves. It is kind of like getting a little peek into my psyche. You can see which books I hold dear, how I order them. Personally, when I go into someone's house, I immediately look for their bookshelves. You can learn a lot about a person from their bookshelves. 

So meet one of my bookshelves...

This is the first bookshelf when you come into my apartment. It holds part of my classics collection. Each book has a story. Well, most of them do. 

From left to right...

The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition (This is the hubby's edition of Alice.) 

The Illustrated Children's Bible (This is a Rand MacNally edition. I picked it up at used bookstore right after I found out I was pregnant. I'm still on the look out for the Illustrated Children's Bible I had and loved as a kid.)

Shakespeare: The Complete Works (No dust jacket, I've had this forever but I don't remember when I got it.)

Great Works - Locke, Berkeley, Hume (This is from back in the day when people had Great Works delivered by mail order. I think this may have come from my mom's best friend's house. But as I don't think anyone there knows how to read, I don't think it is missed.)

Dune by Frank Herbert (I've never read this, it is one of the hubby's favorites.)

Gray's Anatomy (Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics) (I got this for the hubby this past Christmas since he's my favorite nurse.)

The Complete Novels of Jane Austen (Got this as a birthday present from my cousin Amanda years ago. I've lost the dustcover.)

The Adventures and the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (Leatherbound, no idea where it came from, but the pages are awesomely yellowed and it smells that delicious book smell. I just took it off the shelf and sniffed it Yum. Apparently this version is out of print, it was from Octopus Publishing.)

Gramercy Classics Lewis Carroll: The Complete Illustrated Works  

The Chronicles of Narnia Boxed Set (This was hubby's when he was a kid. I had a big paperback with all of them in the same book, but we consolidated our books and mine went to the used bookstore.)

Gone With the Wind l (My favorite book of all-time. I had three copies, but I consolidated and this is the only one left. It's the prettiest. No idea where the dustcover went.)

Common Sense, The Rights of Man and Other Essential Writings of Thomas Paine 

Sherlock Holmes' The Complete Illustrated Novels (I bought this at the American University in Cairo bookstore when I was studying abroad. It still has the AUC sticker on it, and I probably won't ever take it off.) 

Dante's The Divine Comedy (Just a regular copy, nothing fancy. Does anyone know where I can get a copy that has the original Italian on one side and a translation on the other side?)

So there ya go. What does this bookshelf say about me? I'm a book hoarder who can't give up any book that has any sort of story related to it? Yep. Sure does.

Here's my Amazon bookstore with the books on this shelf. Some of these are different but similar to the editions I have. Some of the editions are out of print or just hard to find.

Pin It

Children's Book Review - Night Night Blessings

My son and I loved Night Night Blessing by Amy Parker. Sometimes children have a rough time trying to figure out how to thank God or understanding what prayer is for. This book makes it simple for smaller children to understand. The characters are sweet and adorable, and sincere in their thanks to God. The book is religious without being preachy. You could go along with the story and have your child say what they are thankful for each night.

The images in the picture are absolutely gorgeous. My son loved them. Every time I turned the page, he would point at the little children and smile. The pictures are soft and muted colors, not bright and crazy. This makes it an ideal bedtime story.

For a children's book, I give this book 5 stars.

I received this book free from Booksneeze. I was not obligated to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are mine. Pin It

My first book review - Daughters of Isis

Have you ever read a book that was so bad, you just couldn't finish it? I genuinely hate when this happens. I want to love every book that has ever been written. But in this case I just couldn't.

The first book that I selected to review for Dorrance Publishing Co, was Daughters of Isis. The book has a great premise. Three women discover that they are descendants of Cleopatra's secret daughters. They discover that they possess great abilities which they must use to defeat a great evil. Really, the story was there. It was just so poorly written that I just couldn't get to it. I blame the editor more than the author.

To begin with, the book jumps from present to past tense for no reason. The parts that are written in the present tense just seem awkward. "As so and so was walking to the door, someone else was dancing to a jig while pouring milk down the drain." It just seemed like it would've been less awkward to say "As he walked to the door, she poured herself a glass of milk." I think the author was trying to make you feel like you were right there in the story by using the present tense, but it just didn't work.

Then there was the level of detail in the story. Sometimes the author would go through crazy excruciating detail describing something that was absolutely mundane. One of the examples I can think of is when one of the characters becomes head chef and is making his demands regarding his new restaurant. The author went into ridiculous detail describing what each and every demand was. This had nothing to do with the story! The head chef wasn't even a main character! There was a complete lack of description in other areas. Two characters who barely had any interaction with each other all of a sudden decided they were falling in love. Since when!? You've barely even spoken to each other!

The final thing that bothered me was the extreme suspension of disbelief. I understand that this is a fantasy novel, so the magic and the monsters didn't bother me. What bothered me was this. The three women are distant distant descendants of Cleopatra. Cleopatra died in approximately 30BC. These women are living in modern day. If they were that distantly related to her, they should be in various different parts of the world. But they are not. They are cousins. All with the same last name. In order for that to be true, there has to be some serious inbred stuff going on. I just couldn't understand how the author could be so much detail on something like what the kitchen looks like and not think about the geneological impossibility of their existance.

I'm really sad that my first book review was a negative one. I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't. I give it 1 star and that 1 star is only for effort.

Pin It

Top 100 YA List

My favorite genre of books is historical fiction, but I find myself going to the YA books a lot of the time too. I found this list of the top 100 YA books over at Hooked to Books. I'm going to strike through all the ones I've read.


1. Alex Finn – Beastly
2. Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones
3. Ally Carter – Callagher Girls
4. Ally Condie – Matched
5. Alyson Noel – The Immortals
6. Anastasia Hopcus – Shadow Hills
7. Angie Sage – Septimus Heap
8. Ann Brashares – The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 
9. Anna Godbersen – Luxe (only the first, the rest are on my to-read list)
10. Anthony Horowitz – Alex Rider
11. Aprilynne Pike – Wings (1, 2, 3)
12. Becca Fitzpatrick – Hush, Hush (1, 2)
13. Brandon Mull – Fablehaven (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
14. Brian Selznick – The Invention of Hugo Cabret
15. Cassandra Clare – The Mortal Instruments (1, 2, 3, 4)
16. Carrie Jones – Need (1, 2, 3)
17. Carrie Ryan – The Forest of Hands and Teeth (1, 2, 3)
18. Christopher Paolini - Inheritance (1, 2, 3, 4)
19. Cinda Williams Chima – The Heir Chronicles (1, 2, 3)
20. Colleen Houck – Tigers Saga (1, 2)
21. Cornelia Funke – Inkheart (I just read the first and I didn't like it enough to want to continue with the series)
22. Ellen Hopkins – Impulse
23. Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
24. Faraaz Kazi – Truly, Madly, Deeply
25. Frank Beddor – The Looking Glass Wars (1, 2, 3)
26. Gabrielle Zevin – Elsewhere
27. Gail Carson Levine – Fairest
28. Holly Black – Tithe (1, 2, 3)
29. J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
30. James Dashner – The Maze Runner (1, 2)
31. James Patterson – Maximum Ride (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
32. Jay Asher – Thirteen Reasons Why
33. Jeanne DuPrau – Books of Ember (1, 2, 3, 4)
34. Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
35. John Boyne – The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
36. John Green – An Abundance of Katherines
37. John Green – Looking for Alaska
38. John Green – Paper Towns
39. Jonathan Stroud – Bartimaeus (1, 2, 3, 4)
40. Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl – Caster Chronicles (1, 2)
41. Kelley Armstrong – Darkest Powers (1, 2, 3)
42. Kristin Cashore – The Seven Kingdoms (1, 2)
43. Lauren Kate – Fallen (1, 2, 3)
44. Lemony Snicket - Series of Unfortunate Events I've read two or three of them, and I'm collecting the set for CJ.
45. Libba Bray – Gemma Doyle (1, 2, 3)
46. Lisa McMann – Dream Catcher (1, 2, 3)
47. Louise Rennison – Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
48. M.T. Anderson – Feed
49. Maggie Stiefvater – The Wolves of Mercy Falls (1, 2, 3)
50. Margaret Peterson Haddix – Shadow Children (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
51. Maria V. Snyder – Study (1, 2, 3)
52. Markus Zusak - The Book Thief
53. Markus Zusak – I am the Messenger
54. Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
55. Mary Ting – Crossroads
56. Maureen Johnson – Little Blue Envelope (1, 2)
57. Meg Cabot – All-American Girl (1, 2)
58. Meg Cabot – The Mediator (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
59. Meg Cabot – The Princess Diaries I read two of these and just didn't have time to continue the series.
60. Meg Rosoff – How I live now
61. Megan McCafferty – Jessica Darling (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
62. Megan Whalen Turner – The Queen’s Thief (1, 2, 3, 4)
63. Melina Marchetta – On the Jellicoe Road
64. Melissa de la Cruz – Blue Bloods (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
65. Melissa Marr – Wicked Lovely (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
66. Michael Grant – Gone (1, 2, 3, 4)
67. Nancy Farmer – The House of the Scorpion
68. Neal Shusterman – Unwind
69. Neil Gaiman – Coraline
70. Neil Gaiman – Stardust
71. Neil Gaiman – The Graveyard Book
72. P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast – House of Night I read the first on audibook and couldn't get into the second.
73. Philip Pullman – His Dark Materials (1, 2, 3)
74. Rachel Caine – The Morganville Vampires I read the first 2, I had no idea there were more...
75. Rachel Cohn & David Levithan – Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
76. Richelle Mead – Vampire Academy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
77. Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Olympians I read the first one, again just too many books in the world to continue the series.
78. Rom LcO’Feer – Somewhere carnal over 40 winks
79. S.L. Naeole – Grace (1, 2, 3, 4)
80. Sabrina Bryan & Julia DeVillers – Princess of Gossip
81. Sarah Dessen – Along for the Ride
82. Sarah Dessen – Lock and Key
83. Sarah Dessen – The Truth about Forever
84. Sara Shepard – Pretty Little Liars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
85. Scott Westerfeld - Leviathan (1, 2)
86. Scott Westerfeld - Uglies (1, 2, 3)
87. Shannon Hale – Books of a Thousand Days
88. Shannon Hale – Princess Academy
89. Shannon Hale – The Books of Bayern (1, 2, 3, 4)
90. Sherman Alexie & Ellen Forney – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
91. Simone Elkeles – Perfect Chemistry (1, 2, 3)
92. Stephanie Meyer – The Host
93. Stephanie Meyer – Twilight Saga (1, 2, 3, 4)
94. Sue Monk Kidd – The Secret Life of Bees
95. Susan Beth Pfeffer – Last Survivors (1, 2, 3)
96. Suzanne Collins – Hunger Games (1, 2, 3)
97. Suzanne Collins – Underland Chronicles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
98. Terry Pratchett – Tiffany Aching (1, 2, 3, 4)
99. Tonya Hurley – Ghost Girl (1, 2, 3)
100. Wendelin Van Draanen – Flipped


So I've read 24 (if I counted correctly). That's not too shabby. I guess if I'm going to teach English to 5th-12th graders, I better get with it and read some more. 


So which have you read? Which did you like? Which did you hate? Which do you recommend that I absolutely must read? Pin It

Winner of the Back to Book Blog Giveaway Hop!

Thank you randomizer.org for the following winners. (I decided to choose two.)

The winner of a Barefoot Book : Lisa from Book Him Danno!
The winner of a book from my home (or a Barefoot Book if I don't have any that strike her fancy) : Megan from Inspired by Fiction!

Thanks everyone for entering! I plan on doing more giveaways in the future. I hope you'll all participate. Thanks again. :) Pin It

Back to Books Giveaway Hop!!

I'm super excited to participate in the Back to Books Giveaway Hop!

Over 300 blogs are participating, so there are many chances to win tons of great books. If you find a blog you love, don't forget to follow it. It makes us bloggers feel like people are actually listening!


So what am I giving away? Why, a Barefoot Book of course! You can choose from any of the wonderful books over at Barefoot Books valued at $19.99 and under. If you have a particular child in mind, I can even help you pick out the best book for them. Open to residents of the US and UK.

If for some reason, you would rather not have a book from Barefoot Books, I will send you a book from my home. My hubby will be very happy to see at least one of my books leaving the premises. I have over 500 books, both fiction and non-fiction. I'm going to make a list on goodreads and post it here. This will be for residents of the US only.

In order to win, simply leave a comment below with your e-mail address! That's it. Pretty simple huh? The winner will be announced on September 8th! Extra entry if you are a follower (just let me know in the comment).

Here's a list of the other blogs participating. It's a long one!
Pin It