My Bookshelves

After seeing the wonderful vlog that The Story Siren did of her bookshelves, I was inspired to do something similar of my own. I have been teaching my students how to use Photostory 3 for Windows so that is the tool I used. I decided to go without my narration (because I can't remember where I put my microphone and didn't want to go looking for it.)

I hope that you enjoy it.



In case you are wondering why we start and end in the office. Here is the story.

The authors starting with A used to be in my Family room, letters continued into the Master Bedroom, and the end of the alphabet was in my Office. However, the Family Room shelves were overcrowded and I needed to shift books around.

After packing away the very old TBR books (which are more the 8 years old), I had space in my Office.  I could have moved everything backwards but decided to work smarter, not harder. I shifted the leftover recent TBRs that didn't fit in the two bookcases in my living room to the end of the Office shelving. Then I shifted from the end of the alphabet until I had filled two of the three bookcases there. The first bookcase in my Office now holds the As and some of the Bs which gave me room to spread out the rest of my crowded Family Room shelves without greatly disturbing the books in the Master Bedroom.

BTW, I am not a big beer drinker. We had to pack up my HS Media Center last fall so that the ceiling could be repaired and new carpeting laid and a local beer distributor gave us bunches of boxes to use. They are really a perfect size for loading with books. You can get lots of books in a box and can still lift the box. I brought some home when we unpacked because I knew I had to reorganize my book collection.

The plastic crates in the closet (and a few more) used to hold my recent TBR books but I could never find anything. The crates weren't well organized and what I wanted was usually in the bottom layer.

I do have all my books listed on my LibraryThing account (username kmartin802) and I have set up a collection for those books that are in storage by box. So, if I decide I need one of those books, I can find out just which box it is in.

I am feeling so organized. What do you think?

Edited to add:

Oops, I forgot about this pile. These are new adult books that arrived during my Christmas Break and unread story collections. They will not be sitting on that chair in my living room by Monday but right now I don't know where I am going to pile them.

Ok, got it! Here is a revamped picture of the top of my entertainment center in the living room. I hate blocking my boy and girl reading but that will encourage me to read those books faster.

Comment Challenge 2010

I have decided to participate in this challenge and become more active in the blog world. I read a lot of terrific blogs but I don't think I give enough comments. I want to find great blogs to follow and make new connections.

Mother Reader and Lee Wind are hosting this challenge. Click on their names to find out more about the challenge.

Now, off I go to read and comment.

Splash Award

I received my very first blog award today and I am amazed, honored and humbled.

The Splash Award, it is given to alluring, amusing, bewitching, impressive, and inspiring blogs.

I was chosen by the amazing Elie at Ellz Readz

Rules:

Put the logo on your blog/post.

Nominate & link up to 9 blogs that you pick for this award.
Let them know that they have been splashed.
Remember to link the person that nominated and awarded you.

I look at so many wonderful blogs that it is hard know who to choose. However, these are blogs that have inspired me. I nominate:

Karin Librarian at The Book Jacket

Jill at The O.W. L.

Jo at Once Upon a Bookcase

The Girls at Smart Girls Read

Kara at Reading Cause I'm Addicted

Amanda at That Teen Can Blog!

Nicole at WORD for Teens

Again, thanks to Elie for nominating me for this wonderful award.

Review: Fired Up by Jayne Ann Krentz

Fired Up: Book One of the Dreamlight Trilogy
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Publication: Putnam Adult (December 29, 2009)

Amazon product description: The New York Times-bestselling author presents her latest Arcane Society novel and introduces the first book in the Dreamlight Trilogy-the story of a curse that spans generations, and the love that can heal it. . . .

More than three centuries ago, Nicholas Winters irrevocably altered his genetic makeup in an obsessionfueled competition with alchemist and Arcane Society founder Sylvester Jones. Driven to control their psychic abilities, each man's decision has reverberated throughout the family line, rewarding some with powers beyond their wildest dreams, and cursing others to a life filled with madness and hallucinations.

Jack Winters, descendant of Nicholas, has been experiencing nightmares and blackouts-just the beginning, he believes-of the manifestation of the Winters family curse. The legend says that he must find the Burning Lamp or risk turning into a monster. But he can't do it alone; he needs the help of a woman with the gift to read the lamp's dreamlight.

Jack is convinced that private investigator Chloe Harper is that woman. Her talents for finding objects and accessing dream energy are what will save him, but their sudden and powerful sexual pull threatens to overwhelm them both. Danger surrounds them, and it doesn't take long for Chloe to pick up the trail of the missing lamp. And as they draw closer to the lamp, the raw power that dwells within it threatens to sweep them into a hurricane of psychic force.

My Thoughts: This is a guilty pleasure book for me. I am a long-time fan of JAK. I remember buying her book Corporate Affair, which was one of the first books in the Silhouette Desire line, in my local Waldenbooks in 1982. I liked it so much that I haunted my local used book store to find her earlier titles and added each new book to my "must own" list. My LibraryThing tells me that I have 149 books by her on my shelves. I always pre-order her books and drop everything and read the new book when it arrives.

This book is a typical "damsel in distress meets a hard-boiled detective who takes her case" story. Only the damsel in distress is no damsel. Jack Winters in a paratalent who is afraid that his development of more psychic talents will either drive him mad or force the Arcane Society to have him killed if he cannot locate a lamp created by an ancestor.

Chloe Harper is the hard-boiled detective (with a heart of marshmallow) who takes the case. She is also a a very strong paratalent who deals with dreams. If the legends are right she can work the lamp with Jack to control his gifts. However, Nightshade is also after the lamp. They need to avoid or defeat Nightshade while learning how to control the Burning Lamp. They are also fighting a powerful attraction to each other. Chloe had chosen celibacy after a series of bad relationships and feared her psychic gifts would never let her sleep with a man. Jack is determined to change her mind.

This was a good romance and fun to read. It is also the first in a trilogy that will cross all of JAK's pseudonyms.

Challenges: RYOB Challenge

Contest! Contest! **Contest Closed**

The Bookette is having a contest to give away two ARCs of Ondine by Ebony McKenna because she now has more than 150 followers. Click on the link for your chance to win. And check out the blog because it has a lot of interesting stuff.

Contest! Contest! **Contest Closed**

Jenn at Books At Midnight has just done an interview with Mari Mancusi, author of the Blood Coven series,  and is running a contest too. Mari Mancusi will give a winner a signed copy of any of her books. Clink the blog name to read the interview and enter the contest. You can also read Jenn's review of the newest book -- Bad Blood -- here.

The Blood Coven series sounds like it would really appeal to anyone who likes vampires and romance. I am looking forward to trying the series.

YA Review: Hearts At Stake by Alyxandra Harvey

Hearts At Stake (The Drake Chronicles)
Author: Alyxandra Harvey
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers (December 22, 2009)

Product Description from Amazon: On Solange’s sixteenth birthday, she is going to wake up dead. As if that’s not bad enough, she also has to outwit her seven overprotective older brothers, avoid the politics involved with being the only daughter born to an ancient vampire dynasty, and elude Kieran Black—agent of an anti-vampire league who is searching for his father’s killer and is intent on staking Solange and her entire family.

Luckily she has her own secret weapon—her human best friend Lucy—who is willing to defend Solange’s right to a normal life, whether she’s being smothered by her well-intentioned brothers or abducted by a power-hungry queen. Two unlikely alliances are formed in a race to save Solange’s eternal life—Lucy and Solange’s brother Nicholas, and Solange and Kieran Black—in a dual romance that is guaranteed to jump start any romance-lover’s heart.

Even fans of the genre who’ve seen it all will find a fresh read with kick-butt characters and family dynamics that ring true for all brothers and sisters—vampire or otherwise.

My Thoughts: I liked this book and am eager to read the further adventures in The Drake Chronicles. Each chapter is told from the viewpoint of either Lucy or Solange. For the first couple of chapters, I had to keep looking back to figure out who was talking. But once I got into the story it was easy to separate the two girls. Lucy is a girly girl who is being raised by unconventional parents (They go to ashrams, eat tofu, and do other new agey stuff.) but Lucy has a temper and a really smart mouth. Solange is a vampire daughter with seven very protective older brothers. She doesn't like fancy stuff and would prefer to work on her pottery. That they are best friends is very clear.

It was fun to watch the relationship grow between Lucy and Solange's brother Nicholas. I liked that their relationship is changing as they grow up. Solange says that it is a family joke that Lucy's first words were "Nicholas is bugging me." The relationship between Solange and Kieran is also interesting to watch. They start out as enemies but the relationship grows closer when they have to trust each other.

This was a very exciting book and a good romance too.

Challenges: 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge, RYOB Challenge, 2010 Debut YA Author Challenge