Birthday Books/Rants

A reader's birthday is not complete unless she gets books. (Oh dear God, I originally wrote that sentence with "they" in place of "she" and then realized I had just taught my seventh graders this past week not to mix up numbers when using pronouns. You cannot have the singular "reader" and use "they" as the pronoun. Wow...the years I teach grammar, it haunts me. The years I don't, I forget everything I know.)

Anyway, September 7th was my birthday and my mother-in-law gave me a Barnes & Noble gift card. She knows if she gives me money, I'll pay bills or put gas in my car, which drives her nuts. She is all about the fun, surprise, and getting a nice present of birthdays and Christmas. I'm the opposite, practical-to-a-fault type. However, she knows and I know, that there is no way I will turn down or be unhappy with a Barnes & Noble gift card! It's a win-win present!

In between all the events and errands of the day I was able to stop by B&N and spend my gift card. It wasn't difficult. Well, the actual buying wasn't difficult. I spent free time throughout the week pouring over my wishlist on paperbackswap and the top titles of my TBR list. THAT was difficult! But here's what I ended up with:

Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, by Piper Kerman. It's a memoir and the basis for the Netflix original series. I had been thinking of taking up the series on Netflix and when I found it was a book, of course, I had to read it first. Luckily, B&N had the original cover...I loathe movie covers. Although movie covers probably draw otherwise uninterested people to a book, I am all about the book first and always buy the original cover (or a redone cover from later editions). So, you can sympathize with me when I got home, took a good look at the book, and found a red square at the top right of the cover that reads "Now a Netflix Original Series." Gahhhhh! What the hell! This is NOT the series cover! Save that crap for the series cover. Leave the original unblemished. I'm debating emailing the publishers...really. Is nothing sacred?


City of Fallen Angels, by Cassandra Clare. This is #4 in the Mortal Instruments series, now well known because of the movie of the first book, City of Bones. I read the first four of the series at least three and four years ago...way before a movie was considered. When I bought a boxed set of the first three, I was unaware that three more books and a trilogy of prequels were on the way. That's six more! Why do they sell a boxed set of anything when they know darn well more books are coming? What a waste! (Don't get any ideas Suzanne Collins!) So I've read this one, but needed it on my shelf. I have students interested in the series, so this one will go straight to my classroom library. And I'll reread it and the first three as soon as the last book comes out in 2014.

Crossed, by Ally Condi. This is another one that will go straight to my classroom shelf. I have Matched there already and figured it's about time I got the next book in the trilogy. (I'm in the middle of collecting at least five different series of books for my classroom, my main source being paperbackswap. Can't beat $3 a book for just shipping!) However, I realized this could possibly be a problem! I have Matched because it was a book list choice for the reading festival my school's gifted program attends. They give me the books afterwards to put in my classroom. A trend I'm noticing is that if they have the first book one year, they use the second book the next. For example, I have Divergent from last year and will get Insurgent this year. Oh please, no double copies! I'm emailing the gifted teacher to make sure!

The World's Strongest Librarian, by Josh Hanagarne. This was a splurge, even with the gift card, because it's hardback, but it's just a nice book. It has an unusual shape (long as a big hardback, but narrower) and the cover has an unusual roughish texture. I've heard this one praised over and over, especially among the blogs I follow. So, no rant here...not yet ;)

Oh and watching The Great Gatsby for the fourth time, I realized all the monograms around Jay Gatsby's mansion could be mine! We have the same initials! So I've printed and laminated a few of these and hung them around my classroom! They're also the screens on my iPad, personal computer, and laptop at work too!

Ahhh, despite the busyness of the day and the many rants of a bibliophile, nothing says Happy Birthday like a quick stop at B&N and a salted caramel mocha frap. Any fun bookstore trips lately?