Needed something sweet today

I've been feeling kind of stressed out lately. So I went to Indigo today and bought myself two picture books. And they helped.

I had read The Quiet Book before and knew I loved it so it was a no-brainer when I slipped that one into my pile. Then I found a table of picture books and picked up A Sick Day for Amos McGee. After it's Caldecott win and all the great reviews I knew I'd love it too.

Back at the office I sat and read them both. Felt much better.

Favourite Books of 2010

 

Of course not all the books I loved in 2010 were published in 2010...but here are my  favourite books that I read this year (not including books that aren't out yet that I read as ARCs). Also not in any order.

I'm going to do a YA list and an adult list simply so I can cheat and list 20 books:

Y/A

1. Matched by Ally Condie
2. Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel
3.It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
4. The Forest of Hands & Teeth by Carrie Ryan
5. Nothing Like You by Lauren Strasnick
6. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
7. Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick
8. The Boyfriend List and all the sequels in the Ruby Oliver books by E.Lockhart
9. Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway
10. Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

ADULT

1. ROOM by Emma Donoghue
2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
3. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
4. The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard
5. Secret Daughter by Shilpi S Gowda
6. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
7. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
8. One Day by David Nicholls
9. The Truth About Delilah Blue by Tish Cohen

Where do I count the 6 Scott Pilgrim graphic novels? Do I need yet another list? I have read a bunch of graphic novels this year...maybe I'll do a list for 2011.

I'm sure the second I hit "Publish Post" I'll realize I've forgotten something great that I read. Oh well.

Duets (not featuring!)

Lionel & Diana 

Back in the day, in my youth, duets were duets. Now they seem to be called a song by one artist featuring another. Like Eminem featuring Rihanna. To me, that's a duet. I get that sometimes one person is doing most of the singing and someone (like, say Akon) is just oohing and aahing in the background - that to me deserves a "featuring" credit. But if you take turns singing parts then sing some parts together = duet.

My all-time favourite thing about duets (and some songs from Broadway musicals) is when the two singers sing different things at the same time. I'm talking about me belting out "Hamburgers with cheese and pickles are delightful" while you sing "Why does it take to get service in this place?!" or something like that.

Some of my favourites old and new:
1. Fozzie & Kermit - Movin' Right Along (everyone was happy to see this one on my facebook page earlier this week. It's a classic from the amazing Muppet Movie)
2. Kenny Rogers & Kim Carnes - Don't Fall in Love With a Dreamer - sure some people prefer Kenny with Dolly or Kenny with Sheena Easton but this one is my favourite. He's stay if she'd just ask him one more time! OMG!
3. Lionel and Diana singing Endless Love. When I sing this one I have to do Lionel's part because Diana is too high and breathy for me.
4. Andrew Belle and Katie Herzig - Static Waves. I wake up in the middle of the night with this song in my head!
5. Court Yard Hounds and Jakob Dylan - See You in the Spring. This has Emily and Jakob doing my favourite singing two different things at the same time thing. LOVE IT. I actually had to stop listening to it because I was becoming obsessed and worried I might start to dislike it from overexposure.
6. Joshua Radin and Ingrid Michaelson - Sky. Lovely.
7. Joshua Radin (again) and Schuyler Fisk - Paperweight - she is an actress and a singer, who knew? I know she's Sissy Spacek's daughter and Sissy sang in Coal Miner's Daughter so maybe they're just a talented family. I can neither act nor dance nor sing so clearly I'm not going into show business.
8. James Morrison and Nelly Furtado - Broken Strings. Mostly because of James Morrison who is amazing and has a great name. I would have loved to have called one of my kids James but was always worried they'd get called "Jim" (which is my favourite name ever) and that would have made him Jim Morrison and well that would be weird, right?
9. NPH and Felicia Day from Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog doing My Eyes - they sing the same things, they sing different things, they sing different lines at the same time then overlap a bit. It is awesome. I love NPH.
10. Elton John & Kiki Dee - Don't Go Breaking My Heart - because it reminds me of being a kid. And I loved it when Elton sang it with Miss Piggy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OX2WErOvD4

Dear Car (aka Quest, aka Baby)

Dear Car,

I'm sorry that I was following too closely behind that brown Saab on October 13th. The rain should have been a warning to me to stay back a bit but I made an error in judgement and you (and my insurance company) paid the price. I was distressed that I smashed in your front end, your front light and your special Kingscross Hyundai license plate holder. 

It was very exciting to be reunited with you yesterday after almost two weeks apart. I admit I was tempted to hug your shiny black hood in the body shop parking lot. Forgive me for restraining myself. I do have something to admit, however: I kind of liked the rental car. Just a little bit. 

At first I found the rental uncomfortable. It had nowhere near the space for my gigantic size 10 feet. I had to be so careful about keeping it clean that I felt awkward putting a Diet Coke in the drink holder and felt weird chewing gum. I found that the first week I couldn't get used to the clock being in the wrong place and the speedometer being on the wrong side - oh and the trunk closed on my head and gave me a bruise. You know what helped eased the trauma of our separation? The CD player showed me the name of the song that was playing! I know! Isn't that awesome?! It was especially helpful as I was playing a CD of mixed songs from my itunes playlist and had basically no idea what they were. And I did like the way the doors locked when I put it into D for drive.

Anyway it took me about a week to get used to the Toyota Corolla from the rental place and now I am finding it a bit of an adjustment getting used to you again - you're bigger and  you smell like air freshener (ick) and someone at the body shop found a sock and a toothbrush in the car and put them in the place where I would normally put my Diet Coke. This has been very traumatic for both of us. I promise to NEVER ever crash you again. Ever. 

Were there morals being taught in Judy Blume books?

I guess there probably were - like don't judge people by their appearances and stuff like that but did I notice when I was reading them? Did I finish "Blubber" or "Deenie" or "It's Not the End of the World" (my personal fave) and think to myself "Wow, I learned a lot" or "Gee I'm never going to look at a girl who is overweight or wears a back brace in the same judgmental way ever again"? Maybe I did, but I don't think books have an obligation to teach something. One of my bookstore pet peeves were customers who wanted to buy books for their kids/grandkids/nephews/etc that "taught a lesson". Seriously, did these same people think the Berenstain Bears were quality literature? (no offence to the BBears, they have their place). I just think there is something to be said for reading for the love of reading and reading to encourage the love of getting lost in a great story.

So there's a reason I'm pondering this all of a sudden. I have been on holidays for two weeks and have spent a big my reading time devouring YA - most of it aimed at girls: "Audrey, Wait:" by Robin Benway, "The Boy Book" by E Lockhart, "Nothing Like You" by Lauren Strasnick, "The Treasure Map of Boys" by E Lockhart, "Gingerbread" by Rachel Cohn - you get the idea. The question nagging at me is - if I had read THESE books 28 years ago when I was 14 would I have made different decisions the rest of my life? Would I have felt more empowered as a girl? Would the situations the main characters in these books suffered through have made me more guy savvy?  Would I have more confidence to be different?

Girls today can read about kick-ass girl characters like Katsa from "Graceling" or Katniss from "The Hunger Games" or about girls like Frankie Landau-Banks who challenge the status quo - I don't remember ANY characters like that from the books of my youth. I read lots of mystery novels where girls wore sweater sets, books set in boarding schools or in large families. I loved the books by Jean Little when I was in junior high, then after the requisite "Flowers in the Attic" stage I found Mary Stewart and Phyllis A Whitney - sure young women solved mysteries but they didn't kick anyone in the head or tell a guy off.

Is it just that we can write about these things in books now - that it's more acceptable because as a society we've come to accept females as fighters or as equals to men (ha, I know not everyone thinks that way) that these books are popular now? If someone had written "The Hunger Games" in 1982 would it have been published? Would anyone buy it? Would the 1982 me read it? I guess I'll never know.

What to Read (and what NOT TO) after Mockingjay

I, like bazillions of others, recently finished Mockingjay & I thought I'd see what the experts are recommending for fans to read next. I saw many of such lists post-Harry Potter and I always found them interesting. True, I no longer work in a bookstore so maybe I don't need the info to help my customers, but I'm always looking for great YA to read.

First: this list is garbage:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-steinberg/just-for-hunger-games-fan_b_686850.html#s128939

AMELIA BEDELIA? I am all for people buying and reading Amelia Bedelia but it's for kids learning how to read!

Here's my list:

1. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

2. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

3. I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

4. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

5. Sabriel by Garth Nix

6. Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

7. The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

8. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

My obsession

Every night before bed I like to play Nine Hole on my Nintendo DS. It is one game on "Touchmaster 3" - it is the only game I play. In the past I've been obsessed by Dice King on Touchmaster 2 and by something on Touchmaster 1 that I've forgotten for now.

I crawl into bed most nights with the intention to read. Sometimes I actually do, mostly I do not. Tonight I found myself negotiating with myself like the opening scene in "Sense and Sensbility" - I'll read for half an hour, no I'll read for 15 minutes then play my game and then perhaps I'll read some more. Ten minutes ought to be enough. Hmmm if I read on the TTC tomorrow I can go staight to my game and that's that.

I'm Liza and I'm addicted to Nine Hole.