Four More Days!

Awraight people!

Time to get busy and give away some pecans and a southern book!

April at Cafe of Dreams won the autograph copy of Finn by Jon Clinch in the Name Your Blues contest with this entry Moody An Lovin Mama! Congrats Gurl!

The last time my hubby drew names for the pecans was July 11, so I'm way behind. Shame! I need to draw four names, and I thought I would go ahead and draw for this coming Friday's too.

1. #46 Jmnlman at Strategist's Personal Library
2. #12 Becky at Becky's Book Review
3. #35 TX Mommy at Too Many to Count
4. #37 Patti at Books Make Life Better
5. #24 Mary at Bookfan

Congratulations Y'all!

Four More Days!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/08/four-more-days.html

Confederates in the Attic (copy)

Was it possible to fall asleep in 1997 and arise in 1865? Tony Horwitz stood frozen in awe by his second-story bedroom window. Rubbing the sleep away from his eyes, the dream persisted. Below, on his manicured Virginia lawn, Rebel forces seemed to be winning as the Yankees backed away from the sea of gray. Then, without the slightest warning, the spell was broken by a brash director yelling “Cut!”

Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz, is the result of this early morning invasion. After winning the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1995, Horwitz moved to Waterford, Virginia, to focus on an unrelated book project. It was this spontaneous Civil War scene in his front yard that awakened distant boyhood dreams.

As a child, Horwitz delighted in spending time with his Poppa Isaac and the book of Civil War sketches. The obsession continued to grow as little Tony listened to his father read every night from a ten-volume set The Photographic History of the Civil War.

Horwitz writes, “For me, the fantastical creatures of Maurice Sendak [Where the Wild Things Are] held little magic compared to the man-boys of Mathew Brady who stared back across the century separating their lives from mine.”

Out amongst the morning revelers that day laid another man who grew up dreaming in blue and gray. Robert Lee Hodge, a waiter during peacetime, displayed a rare talent for rolling over and playing dead. Literally, Hodge was being paid by the movie company to do the “bloat,” a maneuver he learned through studying Mathew Brady’s famous Civil War photographs depicting death from battle aftermaths.

Horwitz recalls, “Hodge clutched his stomach and crumpled to the ground. His belly swelled grotesquely, his hands curled, his cheeks puffed out, his mouth contorted in a rictus of pain and astonishment. It was a flawless counterfeit of the bloated corpses photographed at Antietam and Gettysburg that I so often stared at as a child.”

It is the friendship between Horwitz and Hodge that provides comic relief throughout Confederates in the Attic. Readers will find the humor sustains their disbelief during the racism encountered as an uncivil war between black and white emerges.

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Confederates in the Attic (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/08/confederates-in-attic-copy.html

The Ghost Map (copy)

Innocence and ignorance opened the door to death. It is almost poetic that the same home, the same household, the same family even, would open and close the door to the worst cholera epidemic ever seen on England’s shores. How could the Lewis family have known?

On a blustery English morning in 1854, an infant girl was born to Thomas and Sarah Lewis. Baby Lewis was rosier, hardier, and—as her parents prayed—more determined to stay within the realm of the living. The previous year the Lewis’s suffered the loss of their infant baby boy. This baby girl showed promise.

In late August, healthy Baby Lewis developed diarrhea. During breaks in her daughter’s illness, Sarah dutifully cleaned her diapers in tepid water, and slung one bucket out the back window and the worst of it she took to the cellar and threw into the cesspool. Not an unusual practice in Victorian London’s Soho neighborhood.

On the 28th, after suffering three straight days, Baby Lewis began to show signs of improvement. Sarah thought to give her chap-lipped baby a little water from the refreshing pump just 10 feet from the Lewis’s front door on 40 Broad Street. Four hours later the baby’s symptoms violently returned. The doctor was called, but it was too late for Baby Lewis; her last diaper was filled with clear liquid and little pieces of rice.

In the late summer air of London’s Victorian streets, many professionals believed miasma to be the culprit. Dr. John Snow had his doubts. Snow had worked with gases, becoming the first professional anesthesiologist to use ether safely. He believed for a gas to be effective it must be delivered to the lungs in concentrated doses.

Before microbes were discovered, poisoned miasma was blamed for many a disease. For instance, the mosquito born malaria was thought to be caused by “bad air” for it derives its name from the Italian “mal aria.” It was the same year as England’s cholera plague that an Italian discovered the comma shaped microbe “Vibrio cholera.” Unfortunately, the Italian’s paper on the microscopic parasite went unnoticed.

Snow, along with another amateur sleuth, The Reverend Henry Whitehead, proved the disease to be waterborne. Both men went door-to-door during and after the tragedy ministering and asking the question. Did you drink water from the Broad Street pump?

The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson will have you unraveling the mysteries of a Victorian enigma.

Note: Fifth book for Joy's Non-Fiction Five Challenge.

The Ghost Map (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/07/ghost-map-copy.html

Wrap It Up!

Hello Southern Travelers!

I'm currently in the Northern Woods; far, far away from the maddening heat and humidity of Mississippi. So, contact with my wonderful bloggy friends (you, you, and you) is limited.

I thought I would go ahead and place the wrap-up post and Mister Linky for those of you who ran through the challenge like hot butter.

Please, write a lovely post on how the books moved you, possibly made you sweat, or bored you to tears. Then leave the post specific URL on Mister Linky. And, as always,visit around!

Reminder! The Name Your Blues contest ends tonight at 12:00 am sharp!

Note: The first Holiday Inn opened in the Berclair area of Memphis in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson.

Wrap It Up!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/07/wrap-it-up.html

Twinkie, Deconstructed (copy)

Have you seen the movie WALL-E yet? I will try not to tell you too much if you have not. WALL-E is a garbage robot left on planet Earth to clean mass amounts of debris while humans wait on spaceships for the all-clear to return. Seven hundred years have gone by since the human mass departure and WALL-E is practically the only robot still functioning.

He remains operational by removing parts from others of his kind, and has a little cockroach friend for companionship. Like curious humans, WALL-E is attracted to shiny small objects he finds in the trash heaps. In his small garbage truck he has quite the cache with jewelry, toys, plastic cutlery, etc..

Although WALL-E is solar powered, his little friend cockroach needs food. On this barren Earth, what is a roach to eat? Why a 700-year-old-Twinkie! WALL-E seems to have collected those, too.

I bet you are nodding your head and saying, “well, yeah,” right now. This urban legend is widely known, but Steve Ettlinger, author of Twinkie, Deconstructed, claims the soft sponge cake has a shelf-life of 25 days. Although, it is true, without preservatives it would not last past a day.

How does one man come to write 268 pages on the sweet all-American snack? It was a hot summer day and dad was enjoying the creamy delicious treat while his son stood nearby eating ice cream. As was Ettlinger’s habit, he flipped the package over to read the ingredients aloud. When he was finished his son innocently asked, “Daddy, what’s polysorbate 60?”

It was at this point Ettlinger realized he had a problem. He enjoyed fielding questions from his son, but this one stumped him. Did it come from the fruit of a sorbate tree? Was it a distant cousin of soy beans? Could it be a new vitamin on the market? For that matter, is polysorbate 60 in the ice cream his son was currently eating?

Ettlinger writes a chapter for each ingredient found in a Twinkie-like cake. The company, that makes Twinkies, refused him the full recipe and its trademarked name. They only work with writers “who are merely reminiscing about their sweet childhood memories.”

Follow along on Ettlinger’s quest as he dissects the ingredients to explain what is grown, made, and mined.

Note: Fourth book for Joy's Non-Fiction Five Challenge.

Twinkie, Deconstructed (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/07/twinkie-deconstructed-copy.html

Name Your Blues Contest!

About four years ago a man named Porkchop moved to town. We didn't think anything of his name other than he didn't look like a porkchop. When pressed he would say, "that is just what they call me."

A couple months later, hubby comes home from a long day at work and proclaims he wants to be called Cornbread. Says he was inspired at work while telling his crew about Porkchop. Not to be out done I decided I liked the name Apple Sauce 'cos it sweetens the meal.

When the three of us meet on the street, we become the Supper Plate Blues Band! :D

Time for the name your blues contest! Put on your thinking caps and develop a blues name. One you would be proud of, one that says a little sumpen 'bout you. You may use a blues name generator. Once you've decided on the essence of your personal blues write a post and enter on Mister Linky. The drawing will be this Rainy Monday the 21st of July!

One winner will receive an autographed copy of Finn (newly released in pb) by Jon Clinch!

Note: The folk art is by Allen & Mary Dee and titled Our Lady of the Blue Plate Special!

Name Your Blues Contest!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/07/name-your-blues-contest.html

Defining YA Fiction

What is your definition of young adult (YA) fiction? I define YA fiction as books written for ages 14 through 24 that might contain offensive language, sexual content, alcohol/drug abuse, and adult situations. Because 14-year-olds tend to be less mature readers than 23-year-olds, these books also vary as to the age within YA they market. For example, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson targets 12 to 16-year-olds while Feed by M.T. Anderson best serves 16 to 24-year-olds.

In Speak, Melinda Sordino commits the worst faux pas in all teenage history. She calls the cops at the last summer party just a week before school starts. Her freshman year is wrought with pain as friends abandon her, and the older high school students are mean. Adding to her misery, she has lost her voice and takes all the abuse quietly.

SPOILER! The reader learns Melinda is raped by a popular senior at the party and this is why she calls the cops. This realistic story contains language, sex, and substance abuse all hallmarks of the young adult category. By making the heroine 15, the author is attracting readers who are younger or the same age. It is unusual for a reader to gain interest in a main character that is younger than them. I call this the step into my shoes and walk around theory.

In Feed, Titus travels to the moon with his senior friends during Spring Break and finds the experience sucky. This is Violet's first visit to the moon, and she is in awe as she walks around observing other teens drink and be merry. Titus notices Violet's non-participation and he is intrigued. He follows her to the bar where she plays with a purple liquid in zero gravity, and he finds himself totally turned-on.

SPOILER! Titus and Violet fall in love, but are torn apart as Violet's feed begins to malfunction. The corporation refuses to fix her feed because she lacks purchasing power and thus her life slowly runs out. This science-fiction dystopia contains language, sex, substance abuse, and death. The author is marketing to a more cerebral young adult for there is a whole slang language readers will have to interpret in order to follow the story.

I use the word might in my definition of YA fiction because a book might also be free of any of the taboos. These taboo-frees are usually classics such as Little Woman and Moby Dick. They belong in the category because they contain polysyllable words and can be slightly harder to read and follow.

How do you define young adult fiction?

Defining YA Fiction

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/07/defining-ya-fiction.html

Friday Night Pizza and Winners!

Friday, June 27, I was sick.

Friday, July 4, I was lazy.

This Friday I have no excuse!

I owe you 3 new pecan winners!

Lena of Reading Obsession, IceDream of Reading in Appalachia, and UnfinishedPerson of Just a (Reading) Fool have won the weekly pecans!


Please, visit and congratulate them.

Friday Night Pizza and Winners!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/07/friday-night-pizza-and-winners.html

Have a Favorite?

Oops!
Thanks Dar of Peeking Between the Pages!

Have a Favorite?

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/07/have-favorite.html

Mister Pip (copy)

We called him Pop Eye. Well, that was until he came to teach our class. Not that he paid us children any attention. His huge eyes sitting on his head, not within, were constantly probing over our heads at the trail beyond. It was only during especially sad occasions that he took notice of us and encouraged our participation.

During his sad days, Pop Eye would dress in his white linen suit and sport a ridiculously red clown’s nose on his already bulbous attachment. From the trail that came from his home, we saw him pull his wife, Grace, in a wagon. I avoided his sad eyes while entertaining Grace’s lively ones. She stood within the wagon, leaning on a little railing, and waving to us children. It was like a mini-parade and we kids were eager to follow along with the circus.

Like I began, we called him Pop Eye until he came to teach our class. The year was 1991, and war between the rebels and the redskins was waging on our little island. Most visiting islanders scurried atop boats or crammed into planes (the lucky ones, the rich ones, the white ones) fleeing for safety. After generators fail and electricity ceases, does the last of our teachers also join the departure.

It was normalcy our parents sought, as we were shooed to the school house in late November. Here, we were greeted by Pop Eye. He waited for us to find our seats and settle in before he spoke. I had never heard his voice and was pleasantly shocked to hear a gentle, calm sound—unlike all those white men that worked at the Copper mine.

“My name is Mr. Watts,” he said. “I know some of you call me Pop Eye. That’s okay, too. I like Pop Eye,” he said with a smile. We were shamed as Mr. Watts continued, “I will be honest with you. I have no wisdom, none at all. The truest thing I can tell you is that whatever we have between us is all we’ve got. Oh, and of course Mr. Dickens.”

Out of the less than 60 people who inhabit Bougainville, I have never met a Mr. Dickens. It is a white man’s name, and Mr. Watts is the only white man on the whole island. Who is this Mr. Dickens? We kids were eager to know and came early to school the next day.

Mr. Dickens is none other than author Charles Dickens, and the children are read a chapter a day from “Great Expectations” in Lloyd Jones’s novel “Mister Pip”. As seen through the eyes of 13-year-old Matilda, the narrator, we have front row seats to humanity.

Mister Pip (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/07/mister-pip-copy.html

The Invention of Hugo Cabret (copy)

He stares at the old man through the five in the clock face. From his position above, the old man looks to be taking inventory. He knows it won’t be long before the old man begins to doze, but he wonders if the old man has started to notice things missing. Little things really, he doesn’t like stealing and only takes what he absolutely needs to finish his automaton.

Hugo is alone now. The automaton is all that is left of his previous life. His mother died when he was a wee boy, but he spent many happy days with his father. As museum mechanic, Hugo’s father made sure Hugo had a mind for gears, pulleys, and springs. If not in school, he brought Hugo along with him on all repairs.

Their favorite thing to work on together was the automaton. Someone had stored the lifelike man in the museum attic after it broke, and the father and son team took it on as a mission. Hugo’s father would draw its small pieces and parts in a notebook as he disassembled the work. From this notebook, he hoped to turn around and put it back together with clean pieces and parts and have a working machine.

The automaton was a little man sitting posed behind a desk with his arms raised above the desk. In his left hand resided an ink well and in his right a pen. If things worked correctly, after being wound the automaton would write something on a sheet of paper placed underneath the arms on the desk. Father and son dreamt of those words.

Ah, the old man was asleep. Hugo quickly climbed down from the attic, slipped into the alley, ran across the road, and shimmied into the cracked air grate. From there, he silently made his way to the toy booth, and his goal. He could see the old man still sleeping as he slowly moved the air vent cover.

His prize in reachable site, he outstretches his arm to grab the little blue mouse. The old man suddenly comes alive and grabs Hugo around his wrist and begins to yell for the station inspector. Hugo is doomed! If the station inspector discovers he is alone it will be straight to the orphanage and good-bye automaton. He must talk fast!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick is a 500 plus-page picture book that won the American Library Association’s prestigious Caldecott Medal for 2008. This is a must read-aloud amongst any and all fathers and sons, but mothers and daughters are welcome.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/07/invention-of-hugo-cabret-copy.html

The Stars in Anaheim are Big and Bright!

I realize after I publish this post,
I will no longer get sympathy from you wonderful readers!
All of these were taken this morning,
and I had to immediately return to the hotel for a shower.
My hair is literally wringing wet with sweat!
Notice the red blotchy neck and chest;
plus, pasty pale face.


Oh, but don't tell the writers!
This first photo is handsome and young Brian Selznick,
Holding his 2008 Caldecott Medal Winner,
The Invention of Hugo Cabret!


Second up is the lovely Ellen Levine and handsome Kadir Nelson!
Their book Henry's Freedom Box is a 2008 Caldecott Honor! The book is right above Miss Levine's head on the poster.

What is missing is the photo of handsome Christopher Paul Curtis!
I'm not sure what happen, but the photo is no where in memory!
His book Elijah of Buxton won the Coretta Scott King Award
and the Newbery Honor for 2008!

All these books will be given to the Como Public Library
to be handed to the big readers of the summer of 2008.

This last photo I am being totally greedy!
I wanted Sherman Alexie's book all for myself!
I booktalked his The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
and fell in love with main character Junior.

Oh, and Dang if Mister Alexie isn't handsome, too!

The Stars in Anaheim are Big and Bright!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/06/stars-in-anaheim-are-big-and-bright.html

California is the Place I have to Be!

Day two and I am still alive but barely. I'm extremely weak and finding it really hard to stand in lines. I blogged a conference meeting, but I didn't publish it thinking it a little unreadable. I'll clean it up when I clear up.

I attended the Outstanding Books for College Bound yesterday, too. I took a day quill sort of gel tab. I couldn't get the second one down, and after 5 minutes I was feeling almost human. Funny thing, my tongue stung. We did some great work and don't have to meet today! They both loved Devil's Teeth! It is such a fun book and I feel worthy to be included in the Science and Technology section.

I must tell you about my dreams last night. I'm sure it was my fever and the close proximity to Hollywood, but I dreamt about different sitcoms and their perfect endings. So, every dream was a different sitcom, and I would wake up with the perfect ending. After 12 of these I figured I had done the whole fall line-up and had nothing else to do. That was around 2:45, the rest of my dreams made no sense so I figure the fever must have gotten real high. I feel I may have lost 10 lbs in sweat. Oh, sweaty, delusional me!

California is the Place I have to Be!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/06/california-is-place-i-have-to-be.html

Review Outside the Mainstream

RUSA CODES
Focus on Collection Management and Technical Services
Collection Development

As a librarian, I use the typical tools to order books and other materials for the library. These tools include a subscriptions to Booklist, Choice, and Library Journal. I also like to read The New York Times Book Review in which writers are asked to review each others' works.

Since blogging, I now will order a book based on a trusted blogger's recommendation. This is rather radical behavior for a librarian. I am currently sitting in this conference room wondering if any others rebels sit near.

Ah, the room is silent. All waiting with coffee breath. Our leaders are Kevin King from Kalamazoo Public Library, Dr. Bob Holley from Wayne State University, and Jane Jorgenson from Madison (WI) Public Library.

Kevin, first to speak, advocates a handful or websites and blogs.

Diamond Bookshelf - Largest distributor of comic books. This web page has a list of starter collections with discounts for first time users. They provide an area for reader reviews, list of bestsellers within Graphic Novels and Manga, upcoming releases broken down by age group, and a new releases. They cater to commercial sellers, but they also like us librarians.

Comics Worth Reading - Graphic Novel, Manga, and comic book recommendations, news, and reviews with attitude by Johanna Draper Carlson. This female blogger slants her reporting to the snarky and funny side. Kevin says, "Girls are starting to really enjoy comics." She provides a list of her reviews of comics written by women.

No Flying, No Tights - Is a librarian's blog with reviews for graphic novels. Robin Brenner breaks her reviews into age appropriate comic books. Site was last update April 14, 2008, and the posts says it is being renovated. Stay tuned...

Artbomb.net - A Graphic Novel Explosion. Pull the Pin! An independent comics site, Jessica Abel (Queen of Indie Comics) provides a PDF on how to read a graphic novel.

Comic Book Resources -CBR Message boards, upcoming comics, news, and great place for reviews. Kevin says, "Comic book collators are of the same genetic code as librarians." The audience snicker as they agree.

Newsarama - Editor, Kevin Smith aka Silent Bob, provides snarky commentary, interviews, and editor's choice.

Note: New York City hosts a comic convention and librarians can go for free the first day!

Kevin ends with this advice, "The best place to go [for buying suggestions] is the local comic store and chat with the book store guy or fangirls." It is better to flip through and see the boobies before you purchase from BroadArt and spend money on pre-ship processing.

Jane, second to speak, is the administrator of MadReads blog. She began by asking us if we use the normal book review tools such as Booklist, Library Journal, Kirkus, etc. Did we use New York Times Book Review or Entertainment Weekly as alternatives? She offers up some blogs and web sites as more alternatives.

Book Slut - The blogger writes reviews for fiction and non-fiction. She post daily with book news, interviews, and review; plus, provides an archived database.

Book Sense name changed to Indie Bound- A web site run by independent book sellers provides a monthly newsletter, reviews by bookstore owners, archived, and lists like summer reading suggestions.

SF Site - Lots of reviews, best list, awards list, archives, forums (not that active), and interviews.

Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind - A professional literary critic for mysteries and true crime.

The Mystery Reader & The Romance Reader - Both web sites functional since the 1990s, they contain great content, regular reviews, starred reviews, sub-genres, etc..

Dear Author - Six women run the cite (one is an Asst. Atty General in Iowa). They provide multiply reviews, lots and lots commentary, Nora Roberts likes to pop in and chat. Great for buzz!

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books - A group of snarky women who are very sensitive to non-romance readers. Their blog generates 4-5 hundred comments a week!

All about Romance - This web site has over 8000 reviews that are searchable through a database. There have been 30 -40 reviewers over the years with a rating system. They no longer review books which generate four Ds or an F.

Reading Rants (web site) & Bookshelves of Doom (blog) - Reviews for teen books.

Library Thing - Shelfari - Good Reads - All provide user (laymen) generated reviews.

Dr. Bob Holley, the last presenter, is an avid gamer and collector of PC games.

He begins, "If you want to buy games for your collection it is difficult!" Which platform are you going to collect? Wii Playstation, Atari, Mac, PC, etc.? Different PC games function with different operating systems such as Dos, Vista, etc.. Console games come with one machine that does all the work for just a couple of games. The DEMAND for popular games such as half life and tomb raider can be expensive!

In Dr. Holley's research he has found that there are two different levels of quality in the gaming industry. Level one includes producers such as Blizzard, Capcom, Sierra, Sony, etc.. Level two includes clones of popular games in which reviews may be hard to find.

General Issues w/ reviews of computer games - Dr. Holley stops to emphasis, "Bad games are more annoying than bad books or CDs." Reviewing games must take into consideration age aprropriateness, ratings, digital rights, content descriptions, and genres.

Entertainment Software Rating Board - Warning! They do not play the games, they rely on the producers of the games to rate them. These ratings are not supported by ALA.

Gamespot.com - All these are supported by the gaming industry and have daily newsletters! Carries all the major platforms for one stop shopping. The site is browsable with review pages, teen reviews, unreal vs. real, summary info on technical issues, list of dealers, and prices.

IGN - Is an independent online reviewing source. (At this point, I began to get really sick. The chills were causing my legs to shake even though I was anchored by a hot laptop. Dr. Holley, although an accomplished speaker, began to slur in my mind. You will find I didn't give him the same focused attention. Sorry, Dr. Bob!)

Moby Games- An excellent game review and documentation site that is librarian friendly. They discuss older games and second tier games; plus, provide information for those libraries interested in building a historical collection.

Publications outside the norm include Yahoo and PC Gamer. Dr. Holley states, "PCs are declining and consoles are becoming more popular." Normal tools such as Library Journal are now reviewing games.

BIG *Thumbs Down* to Amazon (I didn't get why, sorry)

All sites have free access with downloadable playable demos, video shots, and movies clips.

Dr. Holley also advises the use of sales figures to see what is popular. Pole your community to see if a Wii collection is feasable. Another barrier to collecting games involves the processing of these items. For example, PSP cases are different than CDs with some as big as postage stamps. Downloadable games are too hard to circulate. Replacement costs tend to be pricier than the new cost. Sometimes it is better to wait to buy b/c new games are way expensive. The trend is to see it offered for say $60 then half price at $30 then a jump to bargain price at $5. Sometimes one can get older releases for just shipping and handling...

If you do collect games, you will find quirks that drive the price up. For example, historically rock groups have written and played for certain games and nothing else. These are expensive to collect.

I want to thank all the presenters for there time and talents. The program was timely, informative, and fun!

Review Outside the Mainstream

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/06/review-outside-mainstream.html

Live from Anaheim!

Hello All!

I'm coming to you live from the Anaheim Conference Center in beautiful California. Oh, and of all the things, I'm sick! Fever, headache, sore throat, aches, sweats, and all I wanna do is sleep! Nice to be on the road while sick!

What do you do if you get sick away from home and by yourself? What about all the money you will lose if you have to return home? I left the house at 12:00 pm and got to the Disneyland Hotel and into my room at 8:00 pm Californie time which was 10:00 pm at home. Trust me, all the cute little mouse ear fixtures and piped "It's a Small World" elevator music got a piece of my mind last night!

Yea, yea! Buck it up!

Okay, my reporting may be fuzzy and on the hostile side, but I'm willing. Lord, if I drool, I'll short circuit my laptop! Can someone let me have a couple of aspirins?

Live from Anaheim!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/06/live-from-anaheim.html

State of the Mule Contest!

This is all SFP's fault of Pages Turned! Last year during the challenge, she posted a Dead Mule Alert! I was rolling on the floor laughing because it was so true, but something I never thought about! Mules don't fair well in southern literature. According to Jerry Leath Mills' paper they can fall from cliffs, drown, suffocate, meet with bigger vehicles, freeze, hang, etc.

Now, not all mules meet with a violent death. Some do succumb to old age and some go through a whole southern story unscathed, but it is your job to tell challengers how the mule is gettin' on.

Contest Rules:

1.) Find the Mule!
2.) At the bottom of your review type, State of the Mule - Death by (choose from Mills' list) - Page #. These reviews may have been written a month ago i.e. Mudbound. That is okay, just attach the above note to the bottom of your review. If mule is mentioned, but befalls no harm, just say Fine and add page number.
3.) Book must contain a mule to enter!
4.) You may enter as many times as you find said mule, but only one entry per book!
5.) You need not be a Southern Reading Challenger to participate!
6.) Link back to Contest!
7.) Enter Mister Linky with review specific URL, but don't say title or page number just your name. We want everyone to do a little work!
8.) Contest ends 12 am Central time August 15th!

So, Maggie! What are we playing for?

A first edition Dirty Work by the late great Mississippian Larry Brown worth 100 dollars! Autographed copies are worth $500, but I would be a fool to give one of those away! Actually, I'm probably a fool for giving this one away, but it was a donation from my boss!

State of the Mule Contest!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/06/state-of-mule-contest.html

The Botany of Desire (copy)

For the past few late nights, I have awakened to the sound of my own gnashing of teeth. I throw the covers off, grab my book, and head for the kitchen. Within the crisper are Fuji apples with my name written all over one of the light golden-pink orbs. A few minutes of slicing into halves and carving out the core, and I am seconds away from relief.

Michael Pollan, author of The Botany of Desire, is less interested in the health benefits from apples, but rather the sweetness in which they have evolved. He could care less that I choose the apple to ease my ache, and more that I choose it for its firmness. In his writing he points out “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” was a marketing ploy growers dreamt up to keep the temperance movement at bay.

Ah, but I am getting ahead of the story. Pollan starts with the adventures of John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) and his quest to bring apples to America. Even during pioneer times, John was seen as an oddity. He did not like the company of others and preferred to be in the wilds, bedding down under the stars. Instead of a scow to transport his seeds, he lashed two dug-out logs together and filled one with heaping amounts of apple seeds then sat on the other side to balance. The contraption, resembling a catamaran, was seen often afloat with its napping captain.

Mr. Chapman was essentially an early-American land speculator. He bought land on the many tributaries of the Ohio River, and commenced to establishing apple orchards. The land had to meet his specifications first. It had to be flat, clear of brush, approximately two acres, and near the water’s edge. By the time settlers moved into the area his orchards were 2 years old, and he sold the seedlings for six and a half cents each.

Here is the story most children’s books omit. Apples were not to be eaten, they were for drinking! Sugar did not exist in frontier America. It was hard cider the pioneers made; although, hard is a term coined in the twentieth-century. Before refrigeration, all cider was hard because pioneers did not have a way to keep sweet cider sweet.

This is just one of the many stories in The Botany of Desire by Pollan. His main point being our relationship with plants determines their survival. Through four different examples (apple, tulip, marijuana, and potato) he proves mankind is swayed by sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control. At three a.m., I am swayed by relief and a good book.

Note: Third book for Joy's Non-Fiction Five Challenge!

The Botany of Desire (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/06/botany-of-desire-copy.html

B + R = 1PSP2!

Maggie Moran presents "Blogging + Reading = One Perfect Summer Program"
Originally uploaded by msulibrary1

B + R = 1PSP2!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/06/maggie-moran-presents-reading-one.html

Blogging + Reading = 1 Summer Program!

Maggie Moran presents "Blogging + Reading = One Perfect Summer Program"
Originally uploaded by msulibrary1

This was my first experience in front of peers and I have to honestly say I tanked! My 47 minute run in the comfort of the video conference room at work became a 27 minute nightmare at the mini-conference. I got scared, I made no sense, I lost them after 5 minutes, and I tripped over every word (or just plain said the wrong word) than what I was thinking. It reminded me controlling planes when I had a rush and I would transpose numbers. For example, I would be talking to UPS123 and I would say Brown tail 321. I'm an idioto! Chalk it up to experience and move on, right. It's funny, but it is the same program in which I hated my article in May. :P

No need to comment. I'm just venting and will hang my head and Press On!

Blogging + Reading = 1 Summer Program!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/06/blogging-reading-1-summer-program.html

Third Review Linky!

proud of y'all!
The wrap-up linky will be posted in a couple of days.

Third Review Linky!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/06/third-review-linky.html

Sunday Delta Drive!

Hello Folks!
I'm on a little Sunday drive with Miss Maggie today.
We are visiting a Mississippi Catfish Farm around Tunica in the Delta.
Behind us is a catfish pond, I'm guessing around five acres.
The pond is grouped with three others of the same shape and size
and remind me of football fields filled with fish.

At this farm they process the fish on site.
The photo displays an open sided barn with screens on both sides.
Inside are tables with sinks, running water, and waste buckets.
The fish are beheaded (like me), skinned, and cleaned.
The remains are gathered and sprayed onto the surrounding fields.
Once packed the fish commute to a plant, half-mile down the road,
where they are further subjected to batters and spices then frozen.

This gaped tooth machine turns the water
so all the little fishys get fresh oxygen.
This is the Battle Farms "Pride of the Pond" Facility.
The farm is family owned and operated.
We purchase naked pieces for good ole southern fishfrys here!

Note: The Catfish Industry is in Trouble!

Sunday Delta Drive!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/06/sunday-delta-drive.html

Way 2 Go - Amanda!

Amanda - the newbie challenger and voice of Scarlett in the Bell Jar - is the winner of the autographed copy of Mudbound!


Congrats Gurl!


I'm still not sure why that man is hugging the buoy! Is he trying not to blow away or pulling the boat back to the dock?!? What's up with his madness!?!


It's funny, but there are people finishing the challenge while others such as Amanda are just getting started. There are also all kinds of levels going on within participants' readings such as only Christian, pure Literature, just mysteries, or sticking strictly to modern voices. I Am Having A Blast!


On a house cleaning note, those of you just joining can get back to 1st review, 2nd review, etc. through the link underneath the SRC 2008 button in the sidebar. The challenge doesn't end until Aug 15, so do not panic! Just remember Pretty Pecan Easy!

Author Jon Clinch offers two signed paperbacks of Finn for more contest! Those of you finishing early might want to keep checking back for chances to win these and a couple more Mudbounds. The Dead Mule Contest will feature Larry Brown's first edition of Dirty Work worth $100. Mr. Brown died early in his career and his works are creating a stir in the collecting world. A signed first edition of Dirty Work is currently selling at $500! This copy was donated by my wonderful boss at NWCC.


Guys, you do realize I am a librarian. I do not accept money to promote any books I talk-up! I purchased Mudbound after reading a Jackson, MS bookstore's blog reviewing an ARC. It sounded so good I ordered it off Amazon.com that day and read my own copy - I have the receipt - when it arrived around the first week of May. Hillary Jordan contacted me through LibraryThing after reading my booktalk. I then had the brass to ask for an autographed copy to give as a prize for the SRC. Not only did she say yes, she donated five! That's a nice lady! Please, I'm not hyping a book. It deserves every word of mouth praise or not it generates. The BIGGEST social problem in the South is racism, and any story that gets the discussion started in such an honest manor is number one in my book!

Way 2 Go - Amanda!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/06/way-2-go-amanda.html

Sense of Place Ends Today!

That's
Right Folks!

12am
the Contest is officially Over!

It wouldn't be fair to those who have finished to extend the time. If you don't get a chance to enter, do visit those who participated. There's some good stuff out there!

Congrats,

SusiQ at
Blogging My Books!

You are this weeks winner of the Pecans!

The Artwork is by Ouida Touchon and is titled Fourplay - Pecan.
Click here for more of her work.

Sense of Place Ends Today!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/06/sense-of-place-ends-today.html

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (copy)

Junior Spirit has problems. He was born with water on the brain or hydrocephalus. He almost died as an infant when they drained his brain. The resulting side effects are many with the most distinct being seizures. Thankfully, they occur less often as he ages.

Other problems are minor, but still major to a kid who would like to be invisible to bullies. Let’s see. He stutters and lisps plenty of times in the same sentence. His eyes are different sizes with one being far-sighted and the other near. Plus, he has 42 teeth, 10 more than regular kids, which gives him a distinct (talking with his mouth full) appearance.

To add to his health problems, Junior’s circumstances are bleak. His mother is an ex alcoholic, but his father still goes on benders. At least he is a happy drunk, his best friend Rowdy isn’t that lucky. Rowdy’s father is the mean kind who likes to take it out on the family. Junior and Rowdy happen to be founders of the exclusive Black-Eye-of-the-Month Club for various reasons.

Possibly the most debilitating problem for Junior is money. The family is poor. His father’s mother, his mother’s mother, and on and on from the time the white man settled America, have been poor. Not only his family, but Rowdy’s too. For that matter, the whole reservation is poor.

It is during Junior’s first day in Reservation High School that the water in his head boils over. See, he has looked forward to Geometry class for years. The idea of drawing shapes and deciphering problems is intriguing to his cartoonist mind. It is while receiving his textbook for the class it happens. He opens the book to see his mother’s name, her maiden name, on the inside cover. A name she has not used in 30 years!

Quiet Junior, gentle Junior, smart Junior has had it! The offending book is sent arcing to the front of the class where it meets Mr. P’s face. Junior Spirit has lost his.

Junior’s spirit quest begins the following week 22 miles away from his home. He has been accepted into the mostly white Reardan High School. Unfortunately, this places him at odds with the tribe. They begin referring to him as Apple—red on the outside, but white within.

Junior is going “off the rez” in this heart-wrenchingly delightful book by Sherman Alexie. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian will have teenage boys all over the country clamoring for more.

Note: Just a (Reading) Fool's point of view!

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/06/absolutely-true-diary-of-part-time.html

Brief Encounter!

The Morans took me out passed Tunica to show me a duck hunting club. If you look passed my noggin you will see a dock unfurling into a swamp. This here is the Beaver Dam Club's dock and jonboat.

We weren't alone on our travels. Over my left shoulder, in the green muck, poises a rather subdued water moccasin. Reminds me of one of my favorite new funny authors, Mark Childress, and his One Mississippi cover art.

Brief Encounter!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/06/brief-encounter.html

Um, Staurday Night Pecan Winner!

Congrats Bookfool of Bookfoolery and Babble!

First the pecans flew to Canada, then on to New Zealand,

took a turn at England, and zoomed down to Portugal.

This week they are going to my own state! Pshew!

So, who really has the largest pecan?!?

Um, Staurday Night Pecan Winner!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/06/um-staurday-night-pecan-winner.html

Friday Farm Tour!

Time for a trip to the Delta!
The Morans want to show me off to the local planters.

Behind me is a cotton field.

The cotton is planted on a little hill called row. The furrow between rows is called middles. Every year the planter uses the same rows so that new plants can benefit from past nutrients.

This is upland cotton or Gossypium hirsutum. It grows best in areas of high humidity.

Friends, this is an historic year.

All over the Delta cotton fields are changing.

See this beautiful wheat field. For over a century this field yielded cotton. The owner, in planting a

different crop, has lost his rows and middles.

The plan is to plant soybeans in this field after the harvest; thus, gaining two yeilds from one field in a season.

I'm not sure what this change from fiber

source to food source says about the current economy.

Friday Farm Tour!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/06/friday-farm-tour.html

Classic Crews (copy)

When you read, do you see family members in the characters? For example, in reading a boy’s coming-of-age story, I might substitute my brother for the boy. The character and my brother may not share mannerisms, voices, and thoughts; but, if they have one common trait, I relate to the character and thus the book.

My father, the best living character I know, has eluded me when reading. There are times when I catch a glimpse of him in books. The calm sage-like quality when riled as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, and the controlled strictness over my brother and me as Lt. Colonel Bull Meechum in The Great Santini, are a few hints into his psyche.

This weekend I came closer to reading my father than ever before. Through a copy of Classic Crews: A Harry Crews Reader by the title’s author, I face my father over and over again. I know what you are thinking. Father’s Day has prompted my thoughts. Well, yes and no. Dad is on my mind, but it is a coincidence I find an author who writes like he knows him.

The book, a mixture of fiction and nonfiction, is a sampler of the author’s tremendous talent. The first story read was originally published in Playboy. “Fathers, Sons, Blood,” opens with the death of Crews’ four-year-old son, Patrick. The toddler was afloat in a neighbor’s swimming pool. Crews ran three doors down, scooped him from the water, and began mouth-to-mouth. His little boy’s body would not take in the breath. It was later found Patrick had thrown up in an attempt to breathe and his wind pipe was obstructed.

Crews admits to spiraling into a pit from which he saw only two options: die or go crazy. Sleepless nights, zombie days he writes, “I must have caused it. I must have been too strict or too unresponsive or too unloving or….”

Enter Uncle Alton. Upon hearing the news, walks straight out of his tobacco field during harvest to be with his sister’s son. Crews’ father had died when Harry was not yet two and Uncle Alton raised him as his own. After the funeral with most mourners gone, Crews joins Uncle Alton under the oak tree. Uncle Alton drops to his heels, lights up a smoke, as Crews follows.

It is in their manly conversation squatting under a shade tree smoking, I see my Dad. Both men, Crews and Uncle Alton, demonstrate the same mannerisms, voices, and thoughts my father would surely use.

My friend Paul says, “Crews is a helluva writer,” from which I add, my Dad is a helluva man.

Note: Second book for Joy's Non-Fiction Five Challenge!

Classic Crews (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/06/classic-crews-copy.html