The Dreaded Act of Suitcase Packing

I am oudda here again. This time it’s a trip south to speak at the PA School LIbrarian’s Association conference. My homies.

Not sure when/if I’ll have Internet from now until Sunday. Think of me fondly while I’m offline and read a couple pages in a book. For fun.

As a matter of fact, let’s make that the question you can answer for me: what are you reading now? Is it any good? Why/why not?

45 Replies to “The Dreaded Act of Suitcase Packing”

  1. On my bedside table: Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Guide to All Creation. Very cleverly-written book that is bascially about how animals have sex and why.

    I just finished Black Hole, which I recieved as a birthday present, which was good because I’ve been wanting to read it since it came out. It’s by Charles Burns, and is definitely one of the weirder graphic novels I’ve ever read, but very good.

    I’m reading Welcome to Higby, by Mark Dunn, the author of Ella Minnow Pea, which was great. I’m only a little bit in, but so far I’m feeling like the reviewers, which is that it is a brilliant chracter study. That man knows and loves his characters, and it just makes the novel such a joy to read.

    I also just devoured Crazy, and I forget the author right now, but it’s a new release, non-fiction, partially about how one family dealt with their adult son’s descent into serious bipolar disorder/possibly schizophrenia, partially about the wretched state of state mental care in the this country. It grabs you. I started by reading the first few pages when I was shelving and I just could not walk away from it.

    I wish I was reading King Dork! I want to read that SOOO badly. Every time I go into work we’re out of it! Maybe I’ll check again today.

  2. Just finished The Princess Diaries, but I’ll keep my thoughts to my own journal, ’cause I know the YA world is a small one.

    Currently rereading Julie of the Wolves, for a paper I’m writing on ecocritical pedagogy, also known as “talking to kids about stuff.”

    Next on the list is Beasts of No Name, if only because I haven’t read a grownup book in weeks.

  3. Domestic Manners of the Americans (1832) by Frances Trollope, mother of Anthony Trollope and a good writer in her own right. She puts in the most interesting details, with the occasional measure of hauteur and snark, but doesn’t bore you.

  4. what I’m reading

    Jerry Spinelli’s WHO RAN MY UNDERWEAR UP THE FLAGPOLE? It’s made me laugh out loud twice so far, and is bizarre enough to be interesting, but still believable. Not too far off the kooky end. I’m a Spinelli fan, but, then, I’m a fan of many kids’ authors.

  5. I’m about halfway through “This Side of Paradise” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It’s not the best book I’ve ever read but its not bad – sometimes with books from that period I feel like I’m missing some cultural link that would help me understand the character and the plot.

  6. Finished Just Listen and Charmed Thirds this past week and I absolutely loved both of them. And right now I’m re-reading The Kite Runner while also reading Little Women for my Women’s History class. The Kite Runner is fantastic (even the fifth time around) and I like Little Women, but like any book, it’s not quite as good when it’s required ;).

  7. I just finished The Hours and i loved it. Why? because i loved the way it’s structured. and it’s a very thought-provoking book. you should read it if you haven’t already. the movie is decent too.

  8. I started reading The Mermaid Chair a couple of weeks ago, but then was sidetracked by all the reading I had to do for exams (in a weekend I read through Sula, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Man Walks Into a Room, Book of Illusions and the first third of Glamorama. Boring grown up books for boring college classes! lol), so I’m looking forward to picking that up again.

    Next week I start my “Harry Potter and Culture” class so I’m probably going to re-read The Sorcerer’s Stone again this weekend, since that’s my least favorite of the series thus it’s been years since I’ve read it.

    I also want to start reading Scott Westerfeld’s Pretties and Uglies. My next paycheck is totally going towards some awesome YA lit.

  9. I’m reading Louisa McCormack’s Six Weeks to Toxic, about breaking up with your friend. It just came out and is great.

  10. feminism!!

    Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions by Gloria Steinem

    I don’t know why it’s taken me 22 years to read some Gloria– she is my hero!!

  11. I’m reading THE GUARDIAN by Nicholas Sparks. I like how it has some suspense and mystery to it, unlike his other books I’ve read. I can’t put it down!

  12. books i’m reading

    right now i’m reading the scarlet letter for AP English. it’s very interesting. and i’m reading fever 1793 for AP US History (i do my booktalk on it next friday). but other than that for fun i’m reading the diary of anne frank just because i love that book. yeah. i hope it goes well at the conference in hershey. i want to come but i don’t know if i can because, well, i’m not a librarian unfortunately. what time do you finish speaking (if you get this before you leave)? maybe i can come if you get done in the afternoon or something. maybe. cross your fingers. -ash

  13. I’m reading “The Second Summer of the Sisterhood” by Ann Brashares. Allow me to just say…I LOVE THE SISTERHOOD. I love the series, IMO they’re amazing books. I’m hoping to get up to the mall this weekend so I can pick up a copy of “Geography Club” by Brent Hartinger, but that’s sort of a doubtful at the moment as I can’t get ahold of the person I’m supposed to be going with.

  14. Books

    I’ve been reading THE FIRM since…I don’t know when.
    I got JUST LISTEN for Easter though, so I read that. I liked it. The characters were so funny and real…I mean that’s how people actually act, you know? Word. And it did that thing you were talking about a few months ago where all the characters changed in some way. Then we had to read NIGHT for English class which made me incredibly sad. So now I guess I have THE FIRM left. The problem with THE FIRM is that I can only read about two chapters at a time because I end up getting bored whereas with most books, I read until someone makes me stop to eat or something.

    My English teacher from last year (who is my yearbook sponser) is making her ninth graders read GREAT EXPECTATIONS, and after listening to them read it out loud while working on one of the yearbook pages today, I realized I really wanna go back and read that book again. I loved it!

  15. I’m reading The Rainmaker right now, as prep for next year English Pre-IB/AP II. I love it so far, and on a grand totat, my friends have had to pull me out of the way from walking into so many things. I’ve always been attracted to the lawyer type things, and my personal view on books is….If it’s interesting, read it. :] I’m a fairly simple one to please.

    Lately I finished Just Listen and I loved it. I think it’s because you know…it’s one of the few YA books (excluding your books of course) that I really feel like “Yeah, that could happen. No, wait…this has happened! Awesome.” :]

  16. my books right now

    Well besides the book I’m reading for school I’m reading THE NOTEBOOK BY Nicholas Sparks. I had saw the movie that was based on the book and my rule is if you like the movie that means the book is even better. I like it because It’s a romance but not to the point where it’s like uhh TMI it’s more like the awww kind of romantic. Which is the best kind.

  17. I am only reading 4 books at once now, which is better than usual for me 🙂
    The one i picked up most recently is Dante’s Purgatorio. I do not quite understand what’s going on in the book, but that’s sort of the fun of it – it’s like life, where i have no idea what’s going on.

    I *love* the book’s vivid imagery, and the time management is very cool – particularly the way everything in the book seems to match up to certain celestial events. I am less happy with the book’s language, its lack of plot, and i wish the characters would interact more.

  18. Re: Great Picture

    naw, it’s not me, i’m a flute player actually. it’s Evelyn Glennie (one of my heroes) and i found the picture on google and added the text 🙂 btw. i like your picture too!

  19. I’m reading Crank by Ellen Hopkins at the moment. It’s a very good book so far. It’s completely different from anything I’ve ever read before because the story is told in poetry, which is cool.

    And I just recently finished reading Stephen King’s latest novel, Cell. It’s a pretty good read. I liked it a lot overall.

  20. “As a matter of fact, let’s make that the question you can answer for me: what are you reading now?
    Is it any good? Why/why not?”

    At the moment I’m currently reading two books. =)

    1) Speak [Platinum Edition, which I just picked up a couple weeks ago.]
    And yes, hehe, it’s good! =) I read it every six months, because though I have not experienced what Melinda went through,
    I feel as if she and I are the same in some ways. I feel as if I almost connect with her. =)

    2) The Pursuit of Happiness by Tara Altebrando.
    I’m enjoying this book as well. I’m not too far into it, but I’m liking it so far. The main character is “believable” and “real”, and the plot catchy and interesting – as it deals with both loss and love.

  21. I’m reading Healter Skelter. My boyfriend told me I should read it like, 3 years ago, and he let me borrow it, and I just started it a few days ago. Its amazing, its terrifying. The horror that happens and the stupidity of the law enforcement. Its a good book, in a messed up way.

    Have a good trip Laurie!

  22. I’m reading Roma Eterna by Robert Silverberg, and so far I love it. But then, I’m very interested in Rome, even though this novel doesn’t focus on what really happened, but what might have…

  23. Thanks

    I just want to thank you for coming to Chadwick school and talking about Speak to me and my classmates. You did a great job. Keep up the good work.

  24. Middlemarch and it is fantastic!! I can’t believe I didn’t read it sooner, and I am having dagger thoughts toward a professor who discouraged me from reading it. He stinks.

  25. reading

    I’m reading Green Angel by Alice Hoffman. I picked it up at the airport in Denver on the way home from WA,DC. It’s pretty short, so it’s an easy read, but it’s powerful. I enjoyed it immensly. It’s dark, but it has such a glow to it.

    I recommend this book as a short, good read.

    JJ

  26. Two great books…

    Just finished Just Listen which is another AWESOME Sarah Dessen book, and I’m into a Philippa Gregory kick.
    I LOOOOOVED The Other Boleyn Girl and now I’m reading The Queen’s Fool which is also awesome. Historical fiction…mmm, that’s how I like my history 🙂

  27. I am reading Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. I just started it but it is pretty good so far. I just finished reading the Da Vinci Code. That book was amazing. Dan Browns use of history, symbology and the style he used to write it made it one of the most interesting books that I have ever read. Definetly one of the best books I have ever read.

  28. I’m reading “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” for a paper on its political interpretations.
    I like it, because of all its hidden meanings you can decipher and essentially make your own theories to what Baum is really talking about.

  29. right now i am reading your book fever 1793 and it is so good ! i love it! it is so interesting and im going to read it again when im done !

  30. Nothing to do with your topic, again…

    Hello. I know this has nothing to do with your journal topic, again, but I have a question/favor to ask you. You know how we talked about my Senior Quest? Well, I’ve decided to change the topic to the process of getting writing published. This topic obviously interests me way more than Suicide, and my English teacher said that this will possibly make this process easier to complete.

    I need a mentore to guide my way through the presentation and ideas how to draw their attention in. I thought that there’d be no better person than you, but the only problem is that the presentation is due in about 2 weeks.

    I haven’t fully decided if I am going to change my topic yet, but let me know if you are willing to do this or have the time because I know you’re busy. Thank you! 🙂 Hope you’re doing well.

    -Sara

  31. I’m reading Vanishing Act, by Jodi Picoult, which is good, because all of her books are. I’m also reading Sky Walking, by Tom Jones. He’s an astronaut, and it’s basically an autobiography of his work as an astronaut. I’m also working my way through the Imponderables series by David Feldman. They’re very interesting books that answer the little questions in life. For example, the one book that my grandma gave me that started me on them is called Do Penguins Have Knees?. I am also on and off reading Breaking the Time Barrier, by Jenny Randles, which is about time travel, but it’s not a novel; it’s nonfiction. I’ve got a ton of other books too that I just got at the library that I really want to read. They’re so random; I got two books about Einstein, and some short stories, and some stuff by Orson Scott Card, and more. Now that my AP’s are done, all I want to do is read!

    ~Karen
    (A fan of yours who wants to go to MIT, but is afraid of it now.)

  32. Book I’m Reading

    I am currently reading Sula, by Toni Morrison. Actually I just finished it, but I don’t understand it that well so I guess I’m going to have to reread it. It’s a really good book because Toni Morrison has a great writing style and it’s just…interesting.

  33. well i just finished “geography club” which was really good and now i want to go find the sequel to it. but in the mean time i’m reading “not the only one: lesbian and gay teen fiction” or something like that. it’s a collection of short stories and it’s really good so far.and i recently finished “Just Listen” which was beyond amazing!! i<3 sarah dessen books!!

  34. Reading

    I’m reading “Speak!” Yes, it’s VERY good- it’s my new favorite book and I’m not even finished. Well, I read the ending because I got the platinum edition where there was an interview with you. I saw you saying the book wasn’t just about rape and I flipped! I read ahead to the part where she recalls the whole thing.

  35. Book

    “As a matter of fact, let’s make that the question you can answer for me: what are you reading now? Is it any good? Why/why not?”

    Just finished Speak, actually. It was truly awesome. My friend lent the book to me, and I spent two hours outside on our trampoline just now reading it. I got too cold, so I went inside. All I can think about right now is Melinda. I know exactly how she felt. Even thought I’ve lived threw none of it. My friend doesn’t understand why she did some of the things she did, like when she threw up when Andy was twirling her ponytail, she says if that had happened to her, yeah, she’s be freaked out. But she wouldn’t actually throw-up. I said to her that I would. I got in trouble today for reading during an educational video. It was kinda annoying. I couldn’t stop reading it, though. Then I took it outside at recess, but I didn’t get to read because I was watching a four-square game and freezing. Anyway, the book was awesome.

  36. Writer’s Contest

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  37. I just finished Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson aka you. I’ve read it many times.

    I am also doing a very large report on it in my english class. I wrote report papers about you, about Kate Malone, about how you use your own life experiences in this book, 2 poems relating to the book, a report on collee statistics base on the essay thingie on your website, and now I have to do a painting/photogragh/something.

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