24 Hour Read-a-thon

Dewey over at The Hidden Side of a Leaf is hosting the 24 Hour Read-a-thon, which will take place starting at 9 am PST this Saturday. I can't participate this time (stupid work and awesome Jimmy Buffet tribute band concert), but I will be acting as a cheerleader and reading in my free time. Visit the main page to get more information or to sign up; there are prizes available for participants!

Summer Reading Extravaganza Day 2: Summer Reading for Children

Yesterday we talked about what we would be reading, but what will your kids be reading? You definitely want them to use some of this free time they have on books! We need suggestions for all age groups! If you don’t have kids, you can still share some of your favorite books from when you were kids, that you read to your grandkids, or your nieces and nephews. Today is the time to talk about books for kids from age 0-18!

Disclaimer: I don't have any kids myself, so all of these recommendations are based on what my students read at school.

The most popular series for my sixth and seventh grade boys was Hank the Cowdog. It's about a dog who is head of security on a ranch. There are quite a few books in the series (Powell's has 52 available, although there weren't that many at the school's library), and some of my students read the same one multiple times. The graphic novel-lite Diary of a Wimpy Kid and its sequel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules was also a huge hit with the middle school boys.

My female middle school readers tended to like series set in high schools, such as Gossip Girl, Sweet Valley High, and The Princess Diaries.

The middle schoolers also really enjoyed Mildred D. Taylor's books, especially Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, but that might be a little too heavy for summer reading. Ditto for the Twilight saga; each book is 500 - 700 pages! Other popular books for middle schoolers: The Uglies Trilogy, Harry Potter (of course!), The Warriors, The Guardians of Ga'hoole, Artemis Fowl, The Clique, and anything by Gary Paulsen.

Visit The Friendly Book Nook for more fun summer reading for children!

Jodi Picoult giveaway

The book madness continues...a few people suggested Jodi Picoult novels for summer beach reads, so I did a little Googling. Turns out, Heather at Book Addiction is giving away five of her novels. Go here to be entered in the contest.

Summer Reading Extravaganza Day 1: Fun Summer Reads

Welcome to the Summer Reading Extravaganza! Our goal today is to get a bunch of reading ideas to help pass these hot summer days!
So we’re asking…what’s your favorite beach read or what’s in your beach bag?

Summertime is when I usually break out the chick lit or YA novels. Last year, I reread the Harry Potter series (who am I kidding, I do that pretty much every year), and before that it was Jane Austen. This year, I'm participating in three different reading challenges (the 1% Well-Read Challenge, A Midsummer Night's Challenge, and, starting next month, the Book Awards II Challenge), so I have a few books in my to-be-read pile specifically for them.

Those books aside, I love Amanda Grange's historical romances; I just read Captain Wentworth's Diary while at the beach earlier this month, and I'm looking forward to Edmund Bertram's Diary, even though he's my least favorite Austen "hero." I've also moved recently and have found a ton of old books that I read when I was younger (the Baby-sitter's Club series, Sweet Valley High, random choose-your-own-adventure novels), and I've enjoyed reading them again. My sister's picking out the ones she wants to keep, and the rest will be going on BookMooch later this summer.

Other books that I'd like to read this summer (based on recommendations from friends and other reading blogs): The Baum Plan for Financial Independence, Gifted, The Green Glass Sea, and The Clique Summer Collection (don't judge!).

Visit The Friendly Book Nook for more fun summer reading suggestions!

Cunning, ain't it?

I finally got around to adding the pompom ball up top. Yay! This one's for Fran, but I'll be making more for Dragon*Con later. My next project is an amigurumi penguin for Ashley, who's moving into the apartment complex this weekend.

The Sunday Salon - 22 June 2008

This is my first Sunday Salon post, and it's a little late because I had work and a birthday party to attend today. So, I didn't get to do much reading today.

This week, I finished:
The Open Shadow, which is registered on BookCrossing and free to the first person who asks me for it
A Midsummer Night's Dream, which I haven't reviewed yet because it's part of the A Midsummer Night's Challenge

I'm currently reading:
The Yiddish Policemen's Union - It's not for a challenge or anything, I just really like Michael Chabon. I'm on page 197; I keep getting sidetracked by other books, so who knows when I'll actually finish this one. BoingBoing has a good review of it.
Lords and Ladies - This is the second part of the A Midsummer Night's Challenge. I'm enjoying it so far, but it's a bit confusing because I'm not terribly familiar with Disc World and there are quite a few characters I don't know. I love Terry Pratchett, though.

Still to-be-read:
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - my June 1% Well-Read Challenge book
Rant - Chuck Palahniuk is one of my favorite authors and this came out in paperback recently

Are you ready to celebrate?

I don't know what's more awesome: the fact that the Phoenix rover found water ice on Mars, or that it has its own Twitter page to keep those of us stuck on Earth up-to-date.

Of course, naming a trench "Dodo-Goldilocks" is pretty cool, too.

My first Instructable, Part 2

So, yesterday I posted about my veggie Mexican lasagna recipe on Instructables. Today I check my e-mail, and guess what?



My recipe is being featured on the home page! I am so, so psyched about this. Tiffany came home just after I got the e-mail, and she was amused by my enthusiasm.

Now I'm off to get ready to go to a movie. With a boy! This day just gets better and better...

Summer Reading Extravaganza!

The Friendly Book Nook is hosting a Summer Reading Extravaganza! Each day next week, they will be posting a topic about summer reading that I will then be posting about here on casual dread. There are prizes, too, so go sign up! You don't have to write a blog yourself to participate, as long as you comment on what others write.

My first Instructable!

Tiffany and I have pretty much gotten settled into the new apartment. We were supposed to have some friends over for dinner tonight, but they had to work and canceled on us. Then Tiff decided to go to Athens with another friend. She invited me to come with, but I chose to stay home and cook the Mexican lasagna that we were going to have for dinner. And then I published it on Instructables! It's my first Instructable, so I'm very excited about it. Check it out here.