It's that time of year... time to start compiling the summer reading list. Here's what I've got:

• Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer (currently reading)
• The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
• Inkheart - Cornelia Funke (student recommended)
• Inkspell - Cornelia Funke (student recommended)
• New Moon - Stephanie Meyer (part of the Twilight series... also student recommended... I'll admit, I am shamelessly hooked and looking forward to the movie)
• Lost in a Good Book & The Well of Lost Plots (both sequels to The Eyre Affair which I thoroughly enjoyed) - Jasper Fforde
• Teach With Your Heart - Erin Gruwell (same teacher from The Freedom Writers Diary, which was a much better read than I'd anticipated... of course not everyone has millionaire benefactors helping them out along the way but the student's entries were so emotionally raw it was hard not to feel overwhelmed/emotional with them)

It is seriously needing some fluff pieces. Any suggestions??

Note: I hate reading hard cover books... I almost always wait for them to come out as a trade paperback.

*****MINOR SPOILERS PRESENT******

Many in my family, love the movies -- yet the novels paint a much more vivid and detailed world, so much so that I almost always leave the movies disappointed. Too much is left out. The world of Harry Potter is filled with many minor characters and side stories... and they all play key roles in aiding Harry in his quest to defeat, you know who. The large number of characters and back-stories, at times, make the story a touch confusing to follow but the mastery that J.K. Rowling demonstrates, is in her ability to make all of these seemingly minors characters/story lines converge in importance. Every piece figures into the final outcome... and for that reason, I think that those that do not read the series, will find the ending a touch convoluted.

At times, the plot in the final novel drags -- particularly when Harry, Ron and Hermione are on the run. However, I found the last half to be very very good... from the escape from Malfoy Manor, to the return to Hogwarts, to the final confrontation.

In this last novel, several characters fall. Some of the deaths are more surprising than others. The introduction of the Deathly Hallows is not only key to the final story, but they also give us insight into the workings of a character we thought we knew. We finally discover the truth about Snape. We see characters we thought weak, stand tall. We see characters we thought faultless become human. We find out if the prophecy rings true... "and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives."

Overall a very satisfying ending to a series that I found very enchanting.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards, was recommended as a good read by Ms. Strummer.

I enjoyed it. It was read in two sittings as I did the unthinkable. Half way through, I just keep thinking... 'how can this man live with what he's done' and in a moment of absolute impatience, I read the last chapter.

I won't deny having never done this before -- but in this case, it made it really difficult to go back and finish. After leaving the book on my nightstand for about a week, stuck on page 174, I went back and finished it tonight.

To start off the year, I read, Bergdorf Blondes, by Plum Sykes. I was sitting around LaGuardia Airport, ready to return home. I had a hour to kill so I ventured into the Borders store and looked for something light and trivial. I am prone to intense sinus headaches when flying so I like to read 'fluff' (read, not hard on the brain) when traveling by plane. Usually this entails an OK! or Us Weekly but in the spirit of NYC, I opted for the chick lit with NYC content.

Though I generally enjoy fluff, this piece was just a bit too predictable for my liking. I say pass.

I was tagged to do this by Sam , so here goes...

One book that changed your life?
I can't think of one book in particular -- I have always been a reader...

It started with Nancy Drew and Judy Blume books {RIP Dribbles}, Encyclopedia Brown, Anne of Green Gables, Heidi, Little Women, Choose Your Own Adventures, Chronicles of Narnia {Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the best one} ... to the novels read in high school like, The Old Man and the Sea, Of Mice and Men, Ordinary People, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, Brave New World, 1984 -- to popular literature like Bridget Jones, High Fidelity, About a Boy -- Jane Austen -- chick lit -- then when I became a teacher I started reading a lot of timeless/ageless lit -- Oh the Places You Will Go, The Giving Tree, Ella Enchanted, A Wrinkle in Time, Harry Potter, The Giver, The Bread Winner -- I can go on and on.... I heart books.

One book you have read more than once?
Here are 2:

1) Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen

Ok - I am a huge nerd, I will admit to reading this novel over and over and then on top of that...oodles and oodles of adaptations of it online. One of my most beloved heroines.

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2) Bridget Jones's Diary -- by Helen Fielding
It just solidified my belief that no woman is perfect. Bridget personifies what I like to think of as a "normal" woman. We all have fears, flaws, embarrassing moments...

Sunday 1 January
9st 3 (but post-Christmas), alcohol units 14 (but effectively covers 2 days as 4 hours of party was on New Year's Eve), cigarettes 22, calories 5,424

One book you would want on a desert island?
Hatchet - Gary Paulsen
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Lord of the Flies - William Golding

just in case I a) need survival skills b) find myself on a raft with a tiger c) find out I am not alone

One book that made you laugh?
High Fidelity - Nick Hornby and Bridget Jones's Diary -- see above

One book that made you cry?
Rilla Of Ingleside -- L.M. Montgomery

If you have ever read the sequels to Anne of Green Gables -- this is book 8. I have read this book so often I have had to replace it because the pages were falling out. My new copy doesn't match my very worn out set of Anne books - grrr. It never fails to make me sob uncontrollably.

One book you wish had never been written?
Can't think of one...

One book you are currently reading?
I am currently reading: Rachel's Holiday -- by Marian Keyes

I've read it before but Neil insists that if I am going to fork out $ for books [instead of using a library], I must re-read the small library I currently own. It is the tale of Rachel Walsh, an extremely immature drug addict [she would call her problem 'recreational drug use'] who ends up in a rehab centre. Not that she is overly worried - she thinks it will be like going to a spa. Essentially it is the humorous tale of one messed up girl and how she gets her life back in order. A very easy read.

One book you have been meaning to read?
Under the Tuscan Sun -- Frances Mayes

The movie is my all time favourite feel good/feel better about yourself movie. I can watch it over and over. I have been told that the novel is very very different from the film, but I'd still like to read it one day.

Anna Karenina - Tolstoy

I have started reading this novel a handful of times and have always lost interest part way in -- one day I will conquer this book!

I will tag (the only people I know that might actually do it!)
Morphy
Tim