Showing posts with label kristin m.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kristin m.. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Librarians' Line-Up: Best books we read in 2014

As we begin 2015, we're reflecting on our favorites from 2014. We are an eclectic readership, so hopefully there's something for everybody here!


The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore
My favorite book I read in 2014 was Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore. This book, which is a mash-up on The Merchant of Venice, The Tragedy of Othello, "The Cask of Amontillado." It is also a sort-of sequel to Moore's earlier book, Fool. It's rare that a book be so smart and funny. It was well-written, filled with literary references, and hilarious. Even if you aren't familiar with the Shakespeare plays (and Poe story) it is loosely based on, this book is awesome.
~Cailey W.


Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie 
This is the best Sci-Fi novel that I’ve read in years (at least that wasn’t written by Charles Stross). Lots of really interesting stuff about AI (Artificial Intelligence) and different cultures, and multiple overlapping storylines. And lots of stuff blows up, which is essential in good science fiction.
~John F.

My favorite book this year was G. Willow Wilson’s 2010 memoir, The Butterfly Mosque. Wilson tells her story of moving from the USA to Cairo and converting to Islam. It’s an incredibly thoughtful book and, as it turns out, I had a lot of feelings about it, so this blurb turned into a full blown review, coming soon. 
~Meredith T.
The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang
Earlier this year I put The Shadow Hero on my Summer TBR list, and I loved it. While it may not have been the most thought-provoking book I read this year, I kept returning to it in between reading other books. It tells the story of Hank, a powerless shop boy who is pushed into super heroism by his well-intended but overbearing mother. He trains in martial arts and eventually becomes The Green Turtle, the first Asian American superhero.
~Marilyn  

Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews
My favorite book of 2014 was "Burn for Me" by Ilona Andrews.  This is the beginning of a new series by my favorite authors - Ilona Andrews is a husband and wife writing team. It is a very entertaining and engaging paranormal romance featuring magic users... and a slow-burn romance. A great, quick, fun read.
~Mary P.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
I think I'll have to go with Station Eleven as my favorite--so much so that it compelled me to write a post about it. But I also have to say that I'm reading Harry Potter again, and I'll tell you it's just as good the third time around!
~Amanda D.

Grace's Guide: The Art of Pretending to Be a Grown-Up by Grace Helbig
Anyone who is an avid YouTube viewer like me has likely heard of the hilarious vlogger Grace Helbig.  Much to my delight, Grace published a book this year called Grace’s Guide: The Art of Pretending to Be a Grown-Up.  Full of personal anecdotes detailing Grace’s many misadventures, this book is a sidesplitting must-read for millennials.
~Ariel

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Contemporary gothic fiction is one of my favorite genres and The Thirteenth Tale is a great example of it.  When Margaret receives a letter from the famous author Vida Winter requesting Margaret to listen to and record the details of her mysterious childhood, she reluctantly accepts. The book jumps between the time in which Margaret is listening to the story while simultaneously dealing with her own personal tragedies, and the true story of Vida Winters past. Both taking place in old estates, the book is full of mystery, ghosts, and family secrets. There is a lot of backstory in the first part of the novel so the plot builds slowly, but I am happy that I stuck with it because it turned out to be a beautiful and heartbreaking story about the love between siblings, childhood trauma, and being forced to grow up too fast.
~Ragan

This book taught me not to judge books by their genre! Although this is a science fiction (stress on science) novel, it was the perfect combination of humor, science, survival, and character building all set at a speedy pace. I was surprised at how hilarious the main character could be and I thought the story was incredibly interesting and fun.
~Kristin M.

And what about you? What was your favorite book in 2014??

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday: Reading Goals 2015: The Year of Quality!

Happy Top Ten Tuesday! As we prepare for the new year, we're discussing our reading goals for 2015. This may be more than 10 (or less, depending on how you look at it). Enjoy!

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme started on the Broke and the Bookish blog.
They set the topic, we make the lists. Visit their site to see more on this topic

Reading Goals 2015: The Year of Quality!

I read a whole lot of books in 2014, but I started feeling a little guilty when I realized I hadn’t read a lot of literary books. Now I’m a book snob, but I’m not the type to only read the most literary of books with difficult language and complex themes. Those books are hard to read! But it’s important to challenge oneself, so I will be reading books that have pushed the limits, tried new things, and are notable.
Here is a listing of what I’m thinking:

Read Award Winners (such as):
Americanah by Chimamand Ngozi Adichie (National Book Critics Circle Award, 2013)
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (Orange Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award, 2001)
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson (PEN/Faulkner Award, 1995)
Redeployment by Phil Klay (National Book Award, 2014)
Modern Classics (such as):
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Classics:
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

But what’s a year without some fun! Reading is a way for me to escape the drudgery, so I’ll always pick up a book that’s just for fun. Here are some new releases I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on next year:
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. I will proudly tote this book along with me because Ishiguro’s past books Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go are modern masterpieces. He has a nostalgic and weighty way of writing. I’m looking forward to reading his newest release about a couple on the search for a son they haven’t seen in years.
First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen. Although I’ve only read one other of Allen’s books, I’m excited for this continuation of the Waverley family’s tales. Allen writes magical realism books that give you just a hint of magic within our reality and they’re usually the kind of books you want to hug and snuggle up with while drinking apple cider. They’re a delight.
The Price of Blood by Patricia Bracewell. The sequel to Shadow on the Crown, this series is about the 11th century Queen Emma who came from Normandy to marry a Saxon king. I enjoyed the time period and Emma as a main character and I’m curious to see what happens to her in the next couple of books! (See my review of the first book here.)

And of course:
Re-Read the Harry Potter series. Then watch all the movies!!!

Do you have any reading goals for 2015?

~Kristin M.

Friday, December 19, 2014

"Let yourself be gutted. Let it open you. Start here.”

Advice columns can be fun to read. They can also be vapid and seem inconsequential. When I picked up the book Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on love and life from Dear Sugar, which are compiled letters from The Rumpus, an online magazine’s advice column, I thought ‘well I’ll just read an entry or two and then turn it back in’. Little did I know that Sugar, the pen name for author Cheryl Strayed who wrote the responses to readers’ letters, would be so heartbreaking, honest, inspiring, and lovely that I wouldn’t be able to put the book down, reading several columns aloud to friends and over again to myself.

What I was taken aback by, and what was addressed in the book in between chapters, was how well each letter to Sugar was written. The letters sound very well thought out, beautifully penned, and each individual voice rang clear. The letters asked Sugar for advice on all sorts of issues like love, marriage, family, financial problems, forgiveness, etc.
Perhaps my favorite letter was about a young man who is currently in college, homosexual and living with parents he is dependent on, but who look at his sexuality as a sin. He lives under their roof and has been sent to a camp to “heal” his homosexuality. In his parents’ house he must keep his true self a secret and even at that his parents don’t trust him. His double life has him confused and financially unable to abandon a family that, although painful to deal with, is still his family. He asks Sugar for advice on how to proceed.

In many of the letters, I’d think ‘Oh man, how’s Sugar going to deal with this tough one?’, and then she would say the most candid, beautiful response. For example, in her response to the above letter she says, “love based on conditions such as those set forth by your parents is ugly, skimpy, diseased love. Yes, diseased. And it’s a kind of love that will kill you if you let it, sweet pea.” She goes on to tell this young man to get out of this toxic living environment no matter what it takes. The sincerity and care, yet slap-you-in-the-face honesty that Sugar uses throughout her responses is refreshing and sometimes hard to read, but this is not a woman who minces words when trying to get to the root of her reader’s problem.
Books that are typically in the self-help/advice section are not normally something I pick up, but damn it if this one didn’t knock me on my butt and make me analyze myself and the world around me.

Pick this book up. Read one chapter. Read a handful. Read them all. There’s a little something there for all our aching souls.   

~Kristin M.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Houston, We Have a Problem

This gal (pointing her thumbs at herself) is not a “sci-fi” reader. Then she ventured off to Northeast Ohio Regional Library System's ‘Back to the Book’ workshop with her pal Cailey. This workshop’s theme was sci-fi, and I listened to John Scalzi, a prolific sci-fi author and entertaining speaker, talk about the science fiction genre and all the awesome books and people who follow it. One of the books he mentioned as a great one from this year was The Martian by Andy Weir, a new author. 

Mark Watney is an astronaut. Through a series of unfortunate events, he gets left on Mars. His NASA team thinks he is dead, and because of a giant storm on Mars, the team must leave or risk their lives. So there Mark is, helpless and completely alone on the red planet. Luckily, Mark is a very smart, innovative man (as one would hope a NASA astronaut would be) and with the supplies and shelter left from the mission he’s able to figure out how to survive, until the next mission to Mars… in four years. Luckily for Mark, someone from NASA notices he’s still alive and that’s when the fox chase begins.

The book starts as a series of logs from Mark. He outlines what he’s doing daily, problems that occur, and the crappy ‘70s disco music and tv shows he watches because that’s just about all he has for entertainment. There are a lot of technical details in this novel, but even I, a math/engineer layperson, could get through it (or skip over it). Mark’s narration feels realistic. Even though he’s in dire straits, he still maintains his sense of humor. I found myself laughing out loud when reading his sections. Weir did an amazing job of forming characters who feel like they could walk off the page and have a conversation with you. I loved Mark and wanted to buy him a beer and talk about engi-nerd things with him.

Once NASA figures out they left a man behind, sections of the novel begin looking at the happenings at NASA, along with Mark’s team who are on their way back to Earth. I enjoyed getting a little bit of everyone’s perspective and knowing what was going on behind the scenes while Mark was stuck on Mars. The rescue becomes a worldwide issue, even getting a show called “The Mark Watney Watch” every day of the week on CNN. I really enjoyed that Weir went so far as to put the social spin on Mark’s rescue. NASA not only had to worry about the rescue, but also about how the public was viewing their attempts. It added more depth to a novel that is layered in and of itself.

This was one of the best books I have read in a while. It was fun, technical, humorous, detailed, and at the end, thrilling. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys science, space, survival stories….or fiction in general! It just won the "Best Science Fiction Book" Goodreads Choice Award too! 

Oh also, this is slated to become a major motion picture, so read it before it gets ruined by Hollywood.

~Kristin 

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Librarians' Line-Up: Books I Recommend to Everyone

Working in a library, we are always recommending books to people. There are some books though, that we recommend over and over again. So why not collect them here and put them out in the internet for all to see (and then hopefully read these books that we recommend)? 

My go to book for recommendations is Jhumpa Lahiri's Pulitzer Prize winning collection, The Interpreter of Maladies. Lahiri has really cornered the market on moody, melancholic stories of those who straddle two cultures - immigrants forced to navigate the traditions they've inherited, and the new world in which they currently live. Really, I'm pushing the first story, "A Temporary Matter," which might be one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful things I've ever read.
~Meredith

Used as one of the source texts for HBO’s The Pacific miniseries, this is arguably the best memoir of the Second World War. Sledge was a civilized guy and he managed to stay that way through some of the heaviest fighting in the Eastern Theater. A story of real heroism told by a real American hero.
~John

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
I know we've talked about it before, but the book I recommend to everyone is Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh. The book really has something for everybody in it, and is just so funny. I've read it through completely twice, and had to buy it for myself to flip through whenever I need it. The (intentionally) bad art is amazing, and the stories she tells are relatable and hilarious. Trust me on this, you want to read it. (By the way, how have you not read it yet?)
~Cailey

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
Feminism is a buzz word these days. I see it all over the internet, in articles, and on the lips of celebrities. If you are a feminist or are interested in the matter, please, please, please read Woolf's series of essays, which are much more readable than her novels. It is strewn with wisdom about being an individual, writing, history, feminism, and (my favorite) food. "One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." She speaks to my soul.
~Kristin

I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone! This book is about a book store owner so if you love reading books about books this is for you. A.J. Fikry starts out as an unlikable character but his dry humor and witty voice grow on you and you soon love him and all of the other rich characters in the story. I hate to describe a book as heartwarming but… it was heartwarming. Give it a shot!
~Ragan

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Everyone needs to read Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. Teen Sophie is resigned to live an unextraordinary life at the family’s hat shop, until the evil Witch of the Waste casts a spell on her, turning her into a little old lady. Her life gets even more exciting when she meets the mysterious wizard, Howl, who roams across the country in a (wait for it…) moving castle. Uncomplicated and incredibly charming, this story has long been near and dear to my heart. If you have seen Hayao Miyazaki’s animated adaptation, I highly encourage you pick up the book—the plot is very different—and in my opinion much more interesting.
~Ariel

Earlier this year I was incredibly excited to hear that Kamala Khan, a 16 year-old Muslim girl from New Jersey, would be taking over the title of Ms. Marvel in Marvel comics. I eagerly scooped up the first issue and have been telling everyone I know to read it ever since. No Normal is the collection of the first 5 issues which cover Kamala’s origin story and follow her as she struggles with her identity as a Muslim teenager living in America as well as her newfound superpowers. And for those of you who may not be too familiar with comics, it’s a great first title for non-comic readers because there isn’t too much Marvel lore weighing the story down.
~Marilyn

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
I recommend I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga to pretty much everyone I see. It is a teen book, but is very engaging, has great characters, and will hold an adult’s interest. As an action-adventure mystery, it has universal appeal. The storyline continues on with two additional books which are just as good as the first. The I Hunt Killers/Jasper Dent trilogy is one of my favorite series and I would recommend it to anyone.
~Mary P.

Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins is a great coming of age story, and a quick read, as it is technically a children’s book, but that’s never stopped you before (Harry Potter). Set in the 1960s, it’s got great setting, fun characters, and come on, who doesn’t like a good coming of age story?
~Amanda

And you, dear reader? What book are you constantly recommending to others? 

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Top 10 Books on my Winter To-Be-Read List

Happy Top Ten Tuesday! Today's topic is books on our winter to be read list.


Top Ten Tuesday is a meme started on the Broke and the Bookish blog.
They set the topic, we make the lists. Visit their site to see more on this topic

Winter is a wonderful time for cuddling up in your favorite seat, looking out the window, and thinking ‘Thank God I have this awesome book and don’t have to go outside!’. 

So here are the awesome books I will be reading this winter:

The Martian by Andy Weir. This is kind of cheating because I’m currently reading this book, but it is so excellent so far! Mark gets left behind on Mars after a sand storm. His crew mates and the rest of the world believe he is dead, so Mark has to figure out how to survive and make it until the next NASA mission to Mars. The main character, although in a dire situation, still keeps his sense of humor and there are a lot of places I’ve laughed out loud. If you liked “Castaway” and “Apollo 13," or if you’re a human who enjoys books, please read this!

The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg. This is a nonfiction piece about Afghan girls/women who are presented as men and raised as men temporarily. Since Afghani culture does not look highly upon women, these daughters are raised male and then expected to eventually return to their female roots, but while male, they have more opportunities. The book sounds fascinating and the writer meets and follows the lives of women who have been raised this way or are currently living as men. 

Villette by Charlotte Bronte. I do love English classics and Bronte’s Jane Eyre is a favorite of mine. So because winter makes me brooding, I figured I’d give Ms. Bronte’s other work a read. This is the story of Lucy who becomes a teacher at a French boarding school, and then (shocking) must decide if her freedom is more important than the love of a man. A very modern woman in a time when women were married or were considered pathetic, lamentable creatures. 


Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas by Stephanie Barron. Christmas reading and Jane Austen! What a happy combination. Oh except for that part where this book is a murder mystery. Not so happy for the dead guy. 

The Price of Blood by Patricia Bracewell. The first book in this series was Shadow on the Crown. It is historical fiction about Emma of Normandy, the bride of Athelred of England. It takes place in 1000 A.D. and I enjoyed hearing about this century, the lives of the people, and especially the choices and cunning of young Emma. I cannot wait to see what happens to Emma as Viking hordes descend on England!

Museum of Mistakes by Julia Wertz. Wertz is hysterical. Julia Wertz is a great graphic novelist whose sardonic stylings make for good fun. Whether she is talking about her time as a waitress, or relaying conversations had with friends and family, her life experiences make an easy and entertaining read.

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon. I recently read Outlander (yes I gave into the hype) and loved it. But since these books are tomes, I decided I needed to give myself several months in between each book in the series. I am very much looking forward to throwing myself back into 18th century Scotland though! More kilted men? Yes please!

Neil Patrick Harris: Choose your own autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris. Things that are brilliant: this autobiography. Thank you Mr. Harris for using a well-loved version of writing to write your autobiography! I cannot wait to lay my greedy little hands on this and cheat until I get the ending I want. Very clever.

My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins. This is a collection of short stories by Young Adult authors. They are all holiday themed and are fun little romps. Rainbow Rowell wrote the first story, so I’m excited. Holly Black and David Levithan are also contributors, so if you’re a YA lover, give this book a look!

Emma by Alexander McCall Smith. There is a project right now to have contemporary authors reimagine Ms. Austen’s masterpieces, and the delightfully pushy Emma is being rewritten by the king of current cozies, Mr. Alexander McCall Smith. I’m excited to see what a modern day Emma looks like to him and how she fares in our society. (This is a cheat as well since it technically isn't out until spring, but I'm so excited!)

~Kristin M.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Top Ten Places Books Have Made Me Want to visit

Top Ten Places Books Have Made Me Want to visit: Ariel and Kristin pair up to take on this topic!

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme started on the Broke and the Bookish blog.
They set the topic, we make the lists. Visit their site to see more on this topic
Combined:
We would both LOVE to go to Hogwarts with the caveat that we were students and could actually attend school, ride the Hogwarts Express, and be chosen to be in a House. How awesome would it be to actually see Hagrid’s cabin, go to a Quidditch game, and explore the secret passages!? Pretty freakin’ awesome is the answer.

Kristin:
They are playing with a blown-up pig's
belly! Ahh, to be that resourceful.
The Ingalls' cabin in Little House in the Big Woods. Laura Ingalls Wilder was my favorite when I was a kid. I’d run outside and down to the creek, make a fishing pole out of a stick and twine, and pretend like it was pioneer times. I would love to spend a day with Laura and her family in the backwoods of Wisconsin. To hear one of Pa’s stories and his fiddle playing after a long day of smoking meat and playing with a blown up pig’s stomach, would make my life.

Ernest Hemingway’s Paris from A Moveable Feast. Post-WWI, 1920s Paris with the "Lost Generation" and before it became uber expensive. I want to go to Shakespeare and Company, the little cafes, and potentially run into the Fitzgeralds and Gertrude Stein. Think "Midnight in Paris" and you know exactly what I'm talking about!

Fairyland or Fairyland Below from the Fairyland series by Catherynne Valente. I fell in love with this children’s series, that is currently moving into its fourth novel, a few years ago. Fairyland is eccentric, a little dark, but still completely fun! Imagine, if you will, a cross between Wonderland and Oz and you’re on the right track.

Prince Edward Island from Anne of Green Gables. Oh to see the Lake of Shining Waters and the orchards would be so fun. The Anne of Green Gables series is so delightful and she makes Prince Edward Island, an actual island up in Canada, sound so idyllic that I’ve often wished myself into the meadows. Some day maybe…

Ariel:
London Below from Neverwhere. London Below is a vaguely creepy, parallel-dimensional version of London in Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. If you’re an anglophile like me, you’ll enjoy experiencing the city’s landmarks in a whole new way. (A trip to London Above would be just as incredible, and a bit more—you know—possible.)

Willy Wonka’s factory from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I think this one is pretty self-explanatory. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book, and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate!

The Shire from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I always thought Bilbo Baggins' hobbit hole (a.k.a. “Bag End” to nerds like me) had a nice bed-and-breakfasty feel to it. If you tire of the countryside vibes of The Shire, you know that Rivendell is just a short trip away! Hopefully no wars break out during your stay…

New York City. Okay, this one might not seem to fit with the theme. (And, honestly, I’m cheating a bit by including it in the list, because I actually have visited NYC before.) But there’s a twist! My tour guide would be Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye. You can follow his adventures using a map provided by the New York Times, found here.

The Emerald City from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. My favorite color is green. That’s pretty much the only reason why I’d go there.

And you, dear reader? Where have books made you want to go?

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Please sir, don’t ban my books!

So this week that we call “Banned Books Week” happens once a year in September. During this time we celebrate our right to read. And since I have the stage for a wee bit, I’m going to talk about banned books and why we, as a library, as individuals, as a collective refuse to ban books, even if their content is grisly and hard to stomach.

 
Why do people ban books? Great question! I cannot assume to know everyone’s motivation, but there are some overarching themes.
 
-People don’t want a book with “questionable” material to end up in the wrong hands (unsuited to the age group).
-They are morally offended by the content.
-They do not see the value.
-Swearing, violence, sexual content; often referred to as “adult content”.
-Anti-religious
 
There’s this great quotation from Oscar Wilde that says, “The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.” What a brilliant quote. We cannot fear our own shadow. We live in a crazy crazy crazy world and barring ourselves off from the injustice in society does not help us. By taking away material from children, like The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, because the content is hard to handle and it is felt that children should not be exposed to it is not a good excuse. As much as we’d love to tell our children that there aren’t really monsters, there are. Wouldn’t we rather have them experience monsters in books first? Books that we can read with them, talk about with them, explain content to…with them? This is the way we prepare our children and ourselves for what may be encountered, to the frights that could happen, that have happened in the world we inhabit.

Now of course there are exceptions to banning material. Of course we don’t want bodice-buster romances in an elementary school library! There are materials that may be too mature for some age groups, and we recognize that, but just because one parent objects to a book, does not mean that parent should dictate what other people’s children are allowed to read.

“But Kristin,” you say, “just because a book isn’t in a school/public library doesn’t mean it can’t be accessed elsewhere.”

There is truth to that, unknown person that I just made up to ask questions and make statements as though you were an outside objector. Here in Ohio, we are lucky to have a stupendous library system where libraries throughout the state share materials through inter library loan systems like SearchOhio and OhioLink, but this does not take place in other states as readily as it does here. Perhaps the only library a child or adult has access to is the one in their hometown or at school. Sure there are Amazon and book stores as well, but some people don’t have the luxury to purchase books.

The library is, in my humble opinion, one of the last truly democratic institutions we have. Everyone is welcome into a library no matter their age, sex, racial background, or beliefs. Anyone can peruse the multitude of materials available at their fingertips in order to better themselves, further their interests, or for their entertainment. Just because one voice is louder than the others does not mean that should be the only voice heard. For one person who objects to a material, there are several other people who will not be heard: people who may have strong connections with the material being banned, who find a voice louder than their own in the book, who discover a little piece of themselves, who find someone to connect with. This is why we believe in people’s right to read, in their right to make choices for themselves. This is why we don’t ban books. Some may object, but our libraries will own material that offends, that is difficult to read, that has questionable content. Because at the end of the day, we feel everyone has the right to choose what book brings them solace, understanding, a cause, confidence, or just plain old entertainment.

~Kristin M.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday: Characters I'd Want at my Lunch Table

Happy Top Ten Tuesday! Today's back-to-school themed topic is "Characters I'd want at my lunch table." See below for a list of characters we think are awesome. Who would you want at your table?

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme started on the Broke and the Bookish blog.
They set the topic, we make the lists. Visit their site to see more on this topic

I would like to spend time with Barbara Gordon; she's just your friendly, neighborhood librarian who also moonlights as Batgirl. So, we could hit the mall, split a cinnabon, and then fight crime - you know, normal librarian stuff.
~Meredith T.

I would like to have Spenser from Robert B. Parker’s A Catskill Eagle (and a lot of other books) at my lunch table. He’s a right guy who could face down any bullies, and or savage them with his rapier wit.
~John F.
  
While I personally do not think that I was ever cool enough in high school to have sat with my favorite characters, I would have loved to have sat with Kate Daniels (Magic Bites) and Rachel Morgan (Dead Witch Walking). Both Kate and Rachel are kick-butt, can-do, magical characters. Kate Daniels is a hard working mercenary in a post-apocalyptic world where magic is making a comeback in, well, waves. Rachel Morgan is a Runner, which is a bounty hunter/investigator for magical beings, who is on the outs (as in they are trying to kill her) with her local police force. The last book, Witch With No Name, (#13) in the Rachel Morgan series is coming out in September and the Kate Daniels series, while still ongoing, has just finished a major story arc in its latest book, Magic Breaks (#7). They are two of the coolest, baddest babes around and I had nowhere near the street cred to have sat with them, but I would have liked to.
~Mary P.

Marian from Barbara Cooney's Roxaboxen would be at my table. She established the city of Roxaboxen, a makeshift town built from the imaginations of children and stones from the desert. I grew up with this book, and Roxaboxen represents all of the best things about growing up in a close knit neighborhood and was the inspiration for many of my childhood adventures. Marian was the glue that held Roxaboxen together and I think we would have gotten along very well. 
I'd also want to have Alphonse Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist. He lost his body after he and his older brother attempted to bring his mother back to life using alchemy, leaving his soul bound to a suit of armor. He’s already an accomplished alchemist at the age of 13, and is easily the most compassionate character in the series. I’d love to have a friend who could fix anything that’s broken and help you with your science homework. Plus, who wouldn’t want to have lunch with a giant walking, talking suit of armor (even if he can’t actually eat anything). 
~Marilyn W.

Beth from Rainbow Rowell's Attachments would be a great lunch buddy! Beth is a pretty normal woman, holding down a job, going through boyfriend troubles, and living life as a 20-something. She's funny, thoughtful, intelligent, and a good friend. We would get along famously!
~Kristin M.

Even though the first Harry Potter book was released 16 years ago, Hermione is still one of my favorite female book characters. She is strong, brave, and not ashamed of her intelligence. I would definitely want her at my lunch table in the hopes that some of her awesomeness would rub off on me!
~Ragan S.

Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter series would be at my table for sure. She first appears in the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and is a prominent figure in Harry’s group of friends from there on out. I love her eccentricity and optimism—plus she’s in Ravenclaw, so you know she could help out with your homework!
~Ariel J.

I'd want to have Violet Baudelaire of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events at my lunch table. She's inventive and would be very entertaining to sit with each day. I'm picturing her creating little gadgets and inventions out of lunch bags, silverware, and milk cartons. Of course her siblings would have to be with us, so let's hope that Sunny isn't feeling particularly aggressive that day (she bites).
~Cailey W.

I don't picture specific characters sitting at my lunch table, but when I look across the cafeteria, I picture Draco Malfoy doing magic to impress Abby Normal, who's only tolerating school to get in with the Cullens (she's totally on to them). Margo Roth Spiegelman is saying something witty to the popular kids, while Zuzana plans out her next big art project. But really, I'd like to take a hint from Claudia and Jamie Kincaid and maybe skip school for the day and head to the museum. Or maybe the library.

~Amanda D.

Who would you want to hang out with?