Mondays with Megan: A Zombie-Filled Weekend

Good Monday to you all. I for one had a busy and zombie filled weekend. As the whole vampire craze runs its course I have been turning to other supernatural being to satisfy my reading needs. I am not a huge fan of faeries and some of you may recall how I feel about werewolves (for a refresher check the posts archives for “I’m Right, She’s Wrong), so naturally I have turned to the Undead. This weekend I watched Shaun of the Dead and started reading The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan, which is a companion book to The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Companion book, you say? It’s not exactly a sequel, but there are references to the characters and situations from the first book. Otherwise, there is a whole new cast with entirely new undead issues. So far I am enjoying this book and I recommend the first one as well. If serious zombie books are not your cup of tea you may be interested in some “zombie light” fare. My favorites are the first two books in Stacey Jay’s series about a teenaged Zombie Settler. Check out You Are So Undead to Me and Undead Much? for humor, romance, and action-packed zombie fun. I also recommend the Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks, full of useful tips on how to deal with an undead uprising. Think about. It would be a shame to be caught unprepared.

I just reread the reading goals that I had for the week…the only one I accomplished was reading The Spellman’s Strike Again by Lisa Lutz. This is the fourth hilarious book in the Spellman series and I couldn’t put it down with all the drama, mystery, romance, intrigue, and of course snarky humor. I also breezed through Confessions of a First Daughter by Cassidy Calloway which was cute and sweet (you can read a summary of these books on the next page, my reading list) and After by Kristin Harmel. After was touching and sad and made me realize I needed to take a break from books about dead parents. Hence, zombies!

On board for this week: Finish The Dead Tossed Waves and The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Start the next Jacky Faber book on CD, Under the Jolly Roger. I would like to start A Spy in the House as well, but I have a busy week ahead, so we’ll see.

Well fellow readers, that’s all for now. Happy reading!

˜Megan

Mondays with Megan (on Tuesday…oops): The Hunchback Assignments and When You Reach Me

My Monday got off to such a rocky start (thanks to lack of  sleep, my bum knee, an overactive imagination, and a power outage!) that I needed to rewind and start over! Of course, I still managed to forget to blog yesterday. So, let’s have another “do over.”

The best part of the weekend? The official first day of Spring! Spring Break, baseball, and reading on my porch are all right around the corner. Speaking of reading, I managed to get a lot done last week.

I finished The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade on audio. This is the first novel in a series featuring Modo and Flavia, two young spies in Victorian London. In my opinion, that alone is interesting, but throw in the fact that Modo is a shape-shifting hunchback and his mission is to stop a group of mad scientist from turning orphans into government destroying automaton and you have quite a story! Fans of steampunk should enjoy this new series. What is steampunk, you ask? Check here for more details.

I also picked up the 2009 Newbery Award winner, When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I am always interested to see what other people consider to be a “distinguished contribution to American literature for children.” Sadly, I was not impressed. I did enjoy the little jabs at Dick Clark and his lack of visible aging, but I am not sure young readers today would appreciate the humor there. There are many references to A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle and I finally decided that readers are better of just reading that if they are looking for a book about time travel.

Wow, I just realized this is getting pretty long! So, I will continue this tomorrow. I still need to tell you about The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson, The Daughters by Joanna Philbin, and the other 2 books I read last week.

Currently listening to: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Currently reading: The Spellman’s Strike Again by Lisa Lutz
To Read: A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee, Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor and Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson

Happy Reading

˜Megan

Mondays with Megan: Middle School Musical

It’s Monday! Time to check in with me…tired Megan. This whole time change business can be tough. Heading to work in the dark this morning felt like a dirty trick! But now I’m here and have lots to report. First, I would like to congratulate all the middle school students who were in the musical revue Pirates. I went to the Friday evening performance and it was 30 minutes of rip-roaring pirate fun. The show was laugh-out-loud funny and the music and singing was awesome. There are some very talented students over at the middle school. I know a lot of time and work went into the show and it really paid off. Hats off to the pirates!

Moving right along. Tomorrow is another video game day. Stop in after school for snacks and video games including the new Wii Resort game pack!
I still have to reschedule the CD Disco Ball craft and there is space available so if you are interested please contact me! I have been working on a practice/demo disco ball and I must say, it’s a bit tedious, but the end result it totally cool.

As for the reading, when I wasn’t at the theater or snipping old CDs into little pieces, I managed to meet all my reading goals for the week. I finished the audiobook Curse of the Blue Tattoo by L.A. Meyer and had to wait for the next one in the series, Under the Jolly Roger. I LOVE this series! It has been the greatest find of 2010. The library has all of the books and I have recently added the audiobooks. I highly recommend the audiobooks. The narrator is phenomenal. While I am waiting for book 3 I checked out The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade. So far I am enjoying this new steampunk offering. Modo is a deformed orphan who is adopted and trained as a spy in Victorian England. His first mission is to learn more about the Clockwork Guild, a secret group that threats the government with its scientific discoveries and machines. I should finish this week and then it’s back to Bloody Jack! I also finished The War at Ellsmere, a manga-inspired graphic novel by Faith Erin Hicks. I enjoyed this “Mean Girls” meets fairy tale story. The ending made me think there were/would be more, but I have yet to find a sequel. It’s too bad, I would like to see more of Ellsmere. I also finished Ann Rinaldi’s The Letter Writer,a historical fiction novel about Nat Turner and his slave Rebellion. Finally, I spent all weekend reading my secret advanced readers copy of a much-anticipated book. I can’t tell you what it is yet, but I am bursting at the seams to talk about, so hopefully soon!

To read this week:
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade (audio)
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson (debut author)
Dirty Little Secrets by Cynthia Jaynes Omololu (debut author)
That should keep me busy!

Happy Reading!

˜Megan

Mondays with Megan

It’s that day of the week again…Monday. What a gorgeous sunny Monday it is. Almost nice enough to make me forget about my annoying crutches…but enough of that.

I know most people watched at least some of the Academy Awards last night, but since I hadn’t seen any of the movies I skipped it. Instead I watched Whip It, the  roller derby movie with Drew Berrymore and Ellen Page. It was very cute and I must admit the roller derby action was pretty cool. In fact, it inspired me to check out Cleveland’s own Burning River Roller Girls.

Over the weekend I finished up Jen Nadol’s The Mark, which is the first book in a series from this debut author. It was smart and serious and challenged me to think. What would I do if I could see when a person was going to die? Would I want to know if today was my last day? I am looking forward to Cassie’s story continuing.
I also finally got my hands on Ally Carter’s new book, Heist Society. Fan’s of the Gallagher Girls series will not be disappoint! If you haven’t read her first series I highly recommend you check it out. This new series features Kat Bishop, art thief, and her unusual family. Once again Ally Carter delivers a smart, funny, action-packed adventure starring one tough teenaged girl. What a great weekend for reading and it is only going to get better. I was lucky enough to get a hold of an advanced copy of a book that I am so excited to read! Sorry, can’t tell you what it is yet…how mysterious 😉

So, the reading list for the week looks like this:
To Finish: The Letter Writer by Ann Rinaldi and The Curse of the Blue Tattoo by L.A. Meyer
To Read: Exciting New Mystery Book and The War at Ellsmere by Erin Faith Hicks

Happy Reading

˜Megan

Text a Librarian

According to a recent survey Americans text almost twice as much as they talk. I know I do! So in keeping up with trends Rocky River Public Library now offers a new Reference service: TEXT A LIBRARIAN! Need info on the go? Let us help you. To get started all you have to do is text the keyword askrrpl to 66746. Don’t worry, your number remains private. All we see is an anonymous User ID number.

I personally think this is such a neat service. In fact, I used it last week while I was on vacation. Visiting the Red Lodge Carnegie Library made me wonder how many Carnegie Libraries there were in the US.  I whipped out my phone and texted my pals at the library and had an answer in a flash. This service is not for answering long detailed questions, but to settle a bet, get directions, or find the name of that song that is on the tip of your tongue texting is great way to get a quick answer.

Text Me!

˜Megan

Mondays with Megan: The Mountain Defeated Me

Oh boy, where to begin…it’s been 2 weeks since I last posted and so much has happened since then.

The good: I went on vacation! I packed a bunch of books (A Match Made in High School by Kristin Walker and Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers are the 2 I managed to finish) and headed out west to visit my sister. It was beautiful and relaxing until the last day…

The bad: I went face to face with a mountain and the mountain won. I took a nasty spill while skiing and for now I am hobbling around on crutches. Annoying, but I have been given a wonderful opportunity to literally put my feet up, relax,and read (and an excuse to not shovel all the snow we just got).

The bummer: I have to postpone this week’s Teen program. Trash Art-turning scratched CDs into disco balls-will be rescheduled, I promise. Stay tuned for the new date.

But let’s not dwell on all that. While I was in Montana I got to visit the local library. It is a tiny Carnegie Library, which means that it was built with funds from steel tycoon and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Between 1883 and 1929 Andrew Carnegie funded 1,689 libraries in the United States alone. More than half of these libraries still function as public libraries. Seeing their little library really made me appreciate Rocky River’s lovely library! Our “little library” is HUGE compared to my sister’s library in Montana.

Currently Reading: The Mark by Jen Nadol
To Read: Heist Society by Ally Carter and The Midnight Charter by David Whitley

Happy Reading

˜Megan