Monday, August 31, 2009

August wrap-up

August made for a better reading month than July. Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of them reviewed as I just read them on vacation. Do hope to get some of them reviewed though, because they were just so damn good. Like Normal. And Affluenza. And The House With the Clock in Its Walls. And...

Read:


Fiction:
*The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (Classics '09, RYOB, homeschool)

YA fiction:
*The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci

Middle grade fiction:
*The House With the Clock in Its Walls--from The Best of John Bellairs--by John Bellairs

Fiction graphic novels:
*Janes in Love by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg (Graphic Novels extra, YA Challenge '09)
*Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, and Nathan Hale (Graphic Novels extra)
*Death: At Death's Door by Jill Thompson
*Out from Boneville--from Bone: One Volume Edition--by Jeff Smith
*The Great Cow Race--from Bone: One Volume Edition--by Jeff Smith
*Eyes of the Storm--from Bone: One Volume Edition--by Jeff Smith
*The Dragonslayer--from Bone: One Volume Edition--by Jeff Smith
*Rock Jaw: Master of the Eastern Border--from Bone: One Volume Edition--by Jeff Smith
*Old Man's Cave--from Bone: One Volume Edition--by Jeff Smith

Non-fiction:
*College-Prep Homeschooling by David P. Byers, Ph.D. and Chandra Byers
*Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences by Kitty Burns Florey
*Normal by Amy Bloom
*Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic by John De Graaf, David Wann, and Thomas H. Naylor

Non-fiction graphic novels:
*Pedro and Me by Judd Winick (GLBT Challenge, Non-Fiction Five, Graphic Novels extra)
*A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld

Short stories:
*"Phantom Pain" by Lydia Peelle (100 Shots of Shorts)

Picture books:
*Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess
*The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
*The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean

Watched:

On TV:
*Project Runway
--"Welcome to Los Angeles!"
--"We Expect Fashion"

On DVD/Video:
*The Wire
--"Game Day"
--"The Cost"
--"The Hunt"
--"Cleaning Up"
*Masters of Science Fiction
--"A Clean Escape"
--"The Awakening"
--"Jerry Was a Man"

Created:

Scrapbook layouts:
(Forgive the crappy photo.)
























Crocheted:
One for my Mom. One for Annie. But I'm so in love with this little guy that I want to make one for everyone I know. :D

13 comments:

Staci said...

August was very good for you. I can't keep the Bone Series on my shelves!! The boys really love them.

I love your layout!! I'm going to lift it! :) Those pumpkins are A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E!!!!!!

Melody said...

Looks like a great month to me, Debi!

I love the pumpkin! It's so cute!!

Amanda said...

I love that pumpkins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want one! Can you make me one and send it to me?? I'll pay you! :D

I've heard the House with the Clock in its Walls is really good. I'm considering reading it for RIP. I can't wait to see your review if you have time for it. :) Now that school's going to start and all.

Debi said...

Staci,
Awww, thank you! I'm really loving Bone myself! Even more than I expected to. :D

Melody,
Thanks! And yeah, I gotta admit, I'm pretty happy with my reading this month. :)

Amanda,
I read The House with the Clock in Its Walls aloud to the boys, and all three of us loved it! And I think it's perfect for RIP. In fact, we're going to start the second one tonight.
And would you mind e-mailing me so I can get your e-mail address? (rdagmstevens at frontiernet dot net) I tried to e-mail you from the link on your profile, but for whatever reason (in other words, my own ignorance), I can't get the link to work.

Amanda said...

It is done! I've emailed you. It'll be coming from amandagignac[at]gmail[dot]com. :)

If that book was read-out-loud good, I might just do that with my boys. Or do you think they're too young (5, 7, and almost 9)?

Kim L said...

That's a pretty impressive month! Much better than me, although I did have a really LONG book that kind of slowed me down. That is a cute scrapbook layout. Man, I need to take more time for scrapbooking, it has been a while.

chrisa511 said...

Ha! That pumpkin is so damn cute!!! I love it :D

You had an awesome reading month Debi! I'm hoping that September is a good month for me. I have a good feeling about it, so we'll see what happens. I'm planning on reading the second Bone tonight :D It came in the mail today. I'm sure I'll be ordering book 3 tonight as soon as I finish, lol. Ok...off to finish Fingersmith now!

Eva said...

Affluenza has the best title ever!! And I'm super jealous of all those graphic novels. :D My library doesn't have Janes in Love-i think I might tell them to buy it. (I mean, they have Plain Janes!)

Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog has a pretty awesome title too.

I love that you watch Project Runway! :) And that scrapbook page is too cute. :D And the pumpkin! I love crocheting!

I can't believe you got all that done AND went on a trip. Insanity.

DesLily said...

wow, that's impressive!! All that and you got to see m'babyboy too! hehehe.. but then you always impress me with all that you do!

Debi said...

Amanda,
Thanks--I got it.
Well, my boys are 6 and 8, and they really LOVED it! Max (6), maybe not quite as much as Gray, but then that's often true simply because he's always got ants in his pants, and I think he has a tougher time keeping focused. We started the next one (The Figure in the Shadows?) last night. So far we're really loving it, too.

Kim,
Yeah, I had a long list (for me) of books read, but LOTS of them were really quick reads. Loads of graphic novels. And a few couple books that I'd actually started in July. Throwing a chunkster into the mix always makes for a short list for me. But then quality is like a bazillion times more important than quantity anyway, right?
And yes, you should get back to scrapbooking! And showing off your pages!

Chris,
I have NO DOUBT you'll immediately order the next Bone when you finish this one. In fact, you really ought to save yourself the hassle and just order them all right now! I guarantee you're going to order them all eventually anyway! :D
Can't wait to hear what you thought of Fingersmith! Did you love it as much as Ana?

Eva,
LOL--I did most of while on the trip. :D
We are HUGE Project Runway fans here! Yep, even Rich. And Gray. (Though once school starts, we'll have to tape it for Gray.) I watch soooo little TV these days, and in general, reality TV doesn't do much for me...but Project Runway, well, I a pure addict! Did you watch the All-Star show? Did you agree with the winner? While we all really like Daniel, we didn't think he should have won...we all thought Koto put together a much better collection. Well, except Gray, that is, who wanted Chris to win simply because he loves him so much. :D

DesLily,
Geez...you're making me blush! I always feel like I never get much accomplished at all!

Ana S. said...

Awwww, the pumpkin is the cutest thing ever :D

yay for Bone and John Bellairs :D I'm so glad the boys are enjoying the read-alouds!

Shanra said...

I have to concur, that pumpkin is A. Dor. A. Ble.

That looks like a terrific month, Debi! (Factor in the vacation time and that adjective explodes, I'm sure.)

You're such a talented thing, you know that, Debi? ^-^

Carl V. Anderson said...

That pumpkin is darling! I love it!