Reading something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue
I just got back from the opening night of FOReveRENEver, the 18th annual exhibit of the children’s illustrators’ group I’m part of, Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang INK). It’s a tribute to Rene Villanueva, (1954-2007) prolific writer of Filipino children’s stories, playwright, and even a television writer for Batibot, once the Philippines’ local counterpart to Sesame Street.
Just a little over a month before Christmas, and there are oodles of great books out! I’ve been trying to avoid bookstores for a past few weeks because the temptation to do some early Christmas shopping (for myself) is too overpowering.
But just in case you want to make this old bookworm really happy this Christmas, here’s the wishlist:
I’ve thrived on a steady diet of trivia books since childhood, because I’ve always been a sucker for useless information.
The compulsive book-finisher that I am, I like trivia books because I can read them in fits and starts, and I don’t have to worry about losing the storyline. They’re also great for cleansing the palate in between books, warding off boredom in the middle of a book thats difficult to finish, or getting some breathing spac (erm, procrastinating much?) while taking on a tedious task — in my case, that’s often writing, or painting.
I just finished four of these books around roughly the same time: Lang’s Compendium of Culinary Nonsense and Trivia by George Lang; The Book of General Ignorance (A Quite Interesting Book) by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson; The Monopoly Companion by Philip Orbanes and Rich Uncle Pennybags; and How to Become Ridiculously Well-Read in One Evening: A Collection of Literary Encapsulations compiled and edited by E.O. Parrott (books #162-165 for 2009). Continue reading “Trivia, trivia”
Surprising revelations are in store for 39 Clues treasure hunters as Scholastic’s landmark multimedia action-adventure series comes out with the sixth volume, In Too Deep, in the race to uncover the Cahill family legacy.
Jude Watson (a pen name for Judy Blundell) returns with her second book in the multi-authored ten-book series. Watson previously penned the fourth volume, Beyond the Grave, which led the series to jump on to the US national bestseller lists, hitting the highest bestseller list ranking for the series to date on USA Today.
In In Too Deep, Dan and Amy Cahill find themselves in the Pacific, where the adventure takes them out on the Australian surf, then deep into the Australian outback, and eventually in the tropics of Indonesia.
Continue reading “More Cahill secrets revealed in “In Too Deep””
If there was one author I would recommend to every household library, I’d definitely recommend Roald Dahl. With dozens work under his name — children’s stories for early readers and middle readers, children’s poetry collections, short story anthologies, novels, memoirs, autobiographical essays, cookbooks, film scripts, and even guidebooks — each member of the family will find a book to enjoy.
I’m a big Roald Dahl fan, and I grew up reading his books, from the classic children’s books to the collections of twisted tales (which I really really love!). For the last 24-hour read-a-thon, I made sure to include some Roald Dahl books in the lineup. His books are quick reads, and they never fail to crack me up, so I included three books this time around: Fantastic Mr. Fox; The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me(both I hadn’t read yet); and Esio Trot (which I have not read since high school), books 159-161 for 2009.