Mondays With Megan

Welcome back! Did everyone have a nice weekend? I sure did. I spent some quality time with my nephews (I forgot how much fun sledding is), caught up on some sleep, reading and house work.

Last week I did something that I don’t do very often-I gave up on a book. My stack of “To Read” is growing at an alarming pace and this book just wasn’t holding my interest. I am glad I gave it up because I was able to finish Nightschool vol.2 by Svetlana Chmakova (another total cliffhanger ending!), Boys, Girls, and Other Hazardous Material by Rosalind Wiseman, and Undead Much by Stacey Jay.

Boys, Girls, and Other Hazardous Material is by the author of Queen Bees and Wannabes, the book that inspired the movie Mean Girls (which, by the way, is a great movie). The cover is a bit weird and makes it seem like the book is a girly romance, which it isn’t. There is definitely a little romance involved, but mostly it is about a girl trying to shed the mean girls of her past and redefine herself in high school. It deals with racism and hazing and doing the right thing. I really enjoyed Charlie and her friends.

I finally got around to Undead Much by Stacey Jay. I really love Megan Berry, Zombie Settler extraordinaire and this second adventure does not disappoint. Megan is smart, pretty, and can kick some major undead behind, but she is haunted by her past. Someone is out to get her, her mom is keeping a major secret, she is stressing about taking things slow with her boyfriend, and there is a new breed of undead searching just for Megan. Phew! What a week! There is an awesome surprise ending that guarantees another installment in the series. Yay!

This week I would like to wrap up Outlaw: the Legend of Robin Hood by Tony Lee and All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab (I have high hopes for finding a debut author that I like). I also need to plan my reading list for my mini vacation this weekend. Hmmm, so many choices.

Don’t forget about video games tomorrow after school. I bought Wii Resort! Happy Reading

˜Megan

Mondays With Megan: Nightschool by Svetlana Chmakova

Phew! What a busy weekend! Of course, maybe it just felt busy to me because I was at the library the entire weekend. Friday night was the After Hours Game Night here at the library. Me and 12 teens ate pizza and played video games (I did ok at Wii bowling, but I am a TERRIBLE drummer) after the library closed. This was the first time I have ever done anything like this and I have to say, I would do it again. I would do somethings differently, but overall I thought it was a good program.

And of course yesterday was the Superbowl, which seemed to me the perfect time to watch a movie. I watched The Proposal (pretty cute) and tuned in just in time to see some of the post game celebrations. I must admit that it made no difference to me who won, but I am always happy to see the underdog prevail.

With all the video game playing, working and movie watching I didn’t get too much reading done this weekend. I did however, discover a new graphic novel series that I really liked. Nightschool: The Weirn Books by Svetlana Chmakova is a manga-style graphic novel about the things that go bump in the night. Sarah is the Keeper-in-Training at the school for creatures of the night. When she mysteriously disappears her younger sister Alex heads to school to begin a search. In the meantime, something dark and dangerous is preying on the Hunters and no one seems to know what they are up against. Volume 1 ended on such a cliffhanger that I had no choice but to run back to the library (how convenient that I worked all weekend) and snatch up Volume 2. I am sad that I have to wait until April to get the third book.

My book list on the next page is current, so if you would like to see what else I have read check it out. I am almost finished listening to Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer and when I do I am moving on to The Curse of the Blue Tatoo by L.A. Meyer. This is book 2 of the Bloody Jack Series and I am so excited!

On my pile of books to read:
Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves (I am reading it now and it is really weird!)
Boys, Girls, and Other Hazardous Materials by Rosalind Wiseman
Undead Much by Stacey Jay
The Great and Only Barnum by Candace Fleming
Nightschool Vol. 2 by Svetlana Chmakova

Ok, that’s enough for today! Happy Reading!

˜Megan

Checkmate

 How exciting! The Ohio Educational Credit Union has made a generous donation of a marble chess set. Currently the chess board is in the teen room and the pieces are at the Reference Desk. If you would like play please bring your library card or ID to the Reference Desk and we’ll give you the pieces. If you would like to learn how to play chess or improve your game the library has many books on the subject.

Many thanks to OECU! The set is beautiful and I hope it gets plenty of use.

˜Megan

Mondays with Megan

Tomorrow we will be eagerly awaiting the winter forecast from Punxsutawney Phil. He is expected to make his appearance at 7:30 am. Let’s all hope for a cloudy day! Legend has it that if Phil sees his shadow we are in for 6 more weeks of winter weather.

How convenient that this Monday happens to mark not only the start of a new week, but also a new month. This is a wonderful opportunity for me to review my reading goals and assess my progress. You can read more about my goals and my list of books read on the next page.

Goal #1 Read 12 Debut Authors. Check!  I read The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard.

Goal #2 Read a variety of genres. Check! I read one science fiction, two historical fiction, two mysteries, one paranormal romance (only one!), one steampunk/historical fiction/science fiction, two nonfiction, five fiction, and one graphic novel.

Goal #3 Read more graphic novels. Check! Well, I only ready one graphic novel, but that is certainly more than the none that I usually read, so in my opinion I am doing ok. By the way, I loved the graphic novel I picked. The Big Book of Barry Ween by Judd Winnick had me laughing out loud. It reminded me a little of Calvin and Hobbes (but with more swearing). The language is a bit rough, but the adventures of Barry and Jeremy are hilarious!

Goal #4 Read at least 150 books. Check! I read/listened to 15 books in January so I am right on track to read well over 150 this year.

The Top 5 books of January?

1. Fallen by Kate Lauren
2. The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg
3. Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan
4. The Big Book of Barry Ween by Judd Winnick
5. Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer

I can’t wait to listen to the next Bloody Jack book, The Curse of the Blue Tatoo!

Phew! This is getting to be a long post. That’s all for today.

˜Megan