Do I Have That Book? Tag

I saw this tag on Kristin Kraves Books forever ago. She always does the most interesting tags! She didn’t tag me, but it was just such an interesting post that I saved it! And then … never got to it. So here we are! This should be interesting because I have a lot of books, but not that much variety. Well, let’s see what happens, shall we?

1. Do you have a book with deckled edges?

Oh, thousands. The first one that comes to mind is Eragon, which I was absolutely obsessed with in high school. Personally I’m not that in to deckled edges (GASP!). I like to play with the pages while I read, and that’s a lot harder to do with deckled edges. But I’m not going to complain about them either.

Soul Ripping Romance Tag

Way back around Valentines Day The Orangutan Librarian tagged me in this very simple yet obviously-I-have-to-do-it tag. If you aren’t following The Orangutan Librarian yet, you are seriously missing out and you need to go fix it NOW. That being said, you are probably going to see a lot of the same things in this tag, because we are too much alike considering we are, in fact, not even from the same species.

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The Rules

• Thank the person who tagged you and create a pingback to the original author – Nel at Reactionary Tales.
• Share at least 5 (but more are welcome) romances that tugged your heart strings. They can be from books, movies, TV shows, manga; anything you can think of! They can be examples of sad tears, angry tears, happy tears or a combination of all three.
• Nominate 5 (or more) people to share their emotional traumas
• (Note: Try not to spoil the story for your readers in case they would like to check out these romances on their own)

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My Favorite Romances

Ron and Hermione

My OTP. Forever. I will fight you to the death on this one, especially if you’re going to try tell me that Hermione aught to have ended up with Harry. Or if you are going to tell me that Harry Potter is horrible.

Six Degrees of Separation: Vanity Fair to Ella Enchanted

Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly blog event hosted by Kate at booksaremyfavoriteandbest. It’s inspired by the 6 Degrees of Separation, a movie game where you attempt to connect actors in six movies or less. But we do it with books!

This month we’re starting with Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray.

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Once again we’re starting with a book I haven’t read! I may have seen the movie many years ago, but if I have I don’t remember it. So this first connection is going to be a little tenuous, but bear with me. Vanity Fair was written by William Makepeace Thackeray, whose name, of course, reminds me of Thackeray Binks from Hocus Pocus! (Is anyone surprised???) Which inspired the all-new book…

Back to School Book Recs

Well folks! It’s official, summer vacation is over. I now have an ENTIRE WEEK of the 2018/2019 school year under my belt, and I am determined to make it a good one.

I heard someone say recently that August feels more like the new year than January, and for me that is so true. I find myself making all kinds of New Year’s Resolutions, about being a teacher and just about life in general. So if your New Year’s Resolution is to read more, or to promote a culture of reading in your family, this is the post for you!

I’m going to be recommending my favorite book for kids in each grade level K-12. I can’t guarantee that each book is going to be right for every kid in the world, but I’m trying to recommend things that I think most kids will like. I’m especially paying attention to books I think would be enjoyed by both boys and girls.

So here we go! Back to school recommendations coming your way.

Elementary

Kindergarten – Hop on Pop

This is kind of a long book, so if you’ve never read anything substantial with your kids before, you might want to ease into this one! I recommend subtly skipping pages in the middle so they feel like they’ve accomplished something big.

What I love about Hop on Pop is that beginning readers can work on their phonics and sight words with the big words at the top of the page, but then parents can read the longer sentences. But by the end of the year they should be able to read everything in this book, with help, of course. I also love how silly and fun this is, perfect for young imaginations! It is impossible to go wrong with Dr. Seuss.

Creatures of the Night Book Tag

I was perusing blogs this morning, and stumbled across this tag on Book Princess Reviews. She linked to the original post from Katytastic on youtube, which (get ready to gasp here) was my first ever booktube video! Might be checking out some more of that later today… I’ll try not to get sucked too far down that rabbit hole, lol.

ANYWAY, this tag seemed right up my ally, so I went ahead and tagged myself.

Basically, you just pick a favorite book featuring each of these monsters. Woo! I love monsters! He we go!

Vampire

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
I actually had a really hard time choosing here, because you all know how obsessed I am with Dracula. But I feel like I’ve gone on and on about that classic enough, and maybe it was time to talk about something different. Also, since it’s not scary, I probably like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter better, if you can believe it.

So for those of you weirdos who don’t know, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is written as Abraham Lincoln’s diary. The author is given the diary by a mysterious person, and is shocked and terrified to discover that it accounts Lincoln’s journey as a vampire hunter. It’s full of actual real-life research and true to history facts about Lincoln’s life, mixed in with the obviously fantastical element that he spent his nights destroying vampires. It’s hilarious, and creepy, and emotional, and everything that makes a novel great, in my opinion. If you like to laugh and you like vampires, I strongly recommend this book!

Feel-Good Books for the Holidays

I don’t like to read Chritmas-themed books. I don’t know, they seem a little hokey to me. Also, they tend to be romancy, which isn’t really my thing.

However, at this time of year I do prefer a lighter read, preferably one that gives me all the warm fuzzies. Bonus points if its set in the winter, but I’m really not going to go out of my way to find that.

So. Here are five books along those lines that I would recommend at this time of year.

1. Landline by Rainbow Rowell

I’m an absolute sucker for Rainbow Rowell’s books, and of the ones I’ve read this has been the most feel-good. It really left me overwhelmed with all of the feels. I loved the realistic adult romance, as well as the family aspect. Bonus points, it’s actually set over Christmas!

Hocus Pocus Book Tag

Because it wouldn’t be Halloween without Hocus Pocus, and I wouldn’t be doing my job right if I wasn’t spreading the Hocus Pocus love, I’ve created my very own blog tag.

Dun dun DUUUUUNNNN!!!!!

I hope you enjoy it! I’ve certainly had fun dreaming it up and creating it.

Rules:

There are no rules. It’s YOUR blog. But if would be nice if you linked back to me, and maybe the person who tagged you too. Share the love folks.

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The Sanderson Sisters

A great trilogy.

It should be a surprise to no one that I’m choosing The Lord of the Rings. I mean, favorite book, obviously favorite trilogy. Do I need to say any more?

Calendar Girls July: Best Fairy Tale Retelling

I don’t think it’s a secret that I love fairy tales and magical stories of all sorts. I have a special place in my heart for retellings, especially movies. Really, any sort of retelling is good by me. 10 Things I Hate About You, anyone? I’ve read a couple of interesting ones, mostly YA or middle-grade, but it isn’t in anyway difficult to pick a favorite.

Top 5 Literary Man Crushes

It’s Man Crush Monday!

Okay, first of all, this was hard for me. I am a married woman and I’ve been with my husband since I was 18, so it has been a long time since I thought about other men romantically! I love my husband, and I wouldn’t trade him for anyone. No, not even for Mr. Darcy. So I had to think back a ways. Prepare to see a lot of the classics.

1. Fitzwilliam Darcy

I know, I know, it’s cliche. But there’s a reason everyone loves Mr. Darcy. He’s charming, he’s got the strong silent type thing going, and we all identify as Elizabeth Bennett. However, I think the reason we really love Mr. Darcy is that, deep down, we honestly believe we can change our man. If there’s something we don’t like about him we think: “If I stick with him, I can fix him. Then everything will be amazing.” Even when it’s not true, we cling to that belief. But Mr. Darcy does change. When Elizabeth points out what an arrogant jerk he is, he looks down deep and recognizes his own shortcomings. Then he goes and changes them, becoming a better person and winning her love. And THAT is why we love him.

Throwback Thursday: Ella Enchanted

Ella Enchanted celebrated its 20 year anniversary this year. Twenty years!!! God, that makes me feel old. But chances are, even if you aren’t in your twenties, you have probably read Ella Enchanted. It is absolutely destined to be a classic.

I first read Ella in the fifth grade, I think. It was a Bluebonnet nominee, and we were encouraged to read as many Bluebonnet books as possible. For those of you who aren’t from the great state of Texas, the Texas Bluebonnet Award book is kind of like any other kids’ book award, except that kids get to vote on the winners, which I think is pretty dang cool.

Anyway, the year 2000 was a pretty good year for Bluebonnet books, and I enjoyed every single book that I read. But when it came time to vote, I didn’t even hesitate.

Ella Enchanted remains one of my favorite books to this day. It’s the book I read in the hospital when my son was born. It’s the book I recommend to a student when they need to borrow a book off my shelf for the afternoon. I tried to get my husband to read it, which was, sadly, not a success. And I can’t wait to share it with my own kids when they’re old enough.