To know me is to look at my bookshelves....

Juvenile Fiction

1. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary - the book that started it all. Read this in Kindergarten (the second time - I had to repeat this grade due to a move that included losing my school records). Re-reading this book a couple of years ago helped me gain patience when dealing with my kids because it reminded me that little people need understanding as much (or more so) than they can understand at the time. Ramona was NOT the chose one, she was not the popular or fashionable one, she was the rest of us and that was okay with her. 

Middle Grade/YA

2. Double Love (Sweet Valley High #1)/Secrets (Sweet Valley High #2)/Dear Sister (Sweet Valley High #6) created by Francine Pascal - I bought the first two books in the series the summer between first and second grade. My mom didn't notice that these books were rated for sixth grade (12 years) or older, she was just happy I was entertained by myself. The third book has the first "intimate" scene I have read (at age 8 - what would Ramona think?) and it has stayed with me long after I have read a ton of racier stuff - the scene where Bruce Patman gets to second base with Elizabeth Wakefield is by now the stuff of SV legend. I ended up reading any book in the series I could get at the school and public libraries and then moved on to the first eight books of Sweet Valley University by the time I hit 13 years old. 

And because everything is new again, I now listen to two podcasts that go book by book through the series and we (podcast hosts and listeners alike) think - WHY DID I READ THIS STUFF? So much toxic masculinity....

3. The Fowlers of Sweet Valley (Sweet Valley Historical Sagas #3) created by Francine Pascal - this book is special to me because it was my first historical romance book and it told the story of events in French history from the French point of view without adding in American or British biases into it. This is where I learned about French resistance during the World Wars - not my history books/class. I became a bit of Francophile in my teens and ended up taking five years of French (8th - 12th grades) because of this book. 

4. Kristy's Big Idea (The Babysitter's Club #1) by Ann M. Martin - this book started the series that was 180 degrees from Sweet Valley and the idealized California life in the 1980s. Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, Dawn, Jessie, Mallory and the others were much more relatable to a kid growing up in NJ and PA. And surprising for kid lit in the 1980s, really diverse - disability/medical conditions (Stacey has diabetes), Asian-American family (Claudia and her family, including her grandmother who was in the internment camps of the 1940s) are just two examples of how Martin gave real girls a voice within the series.

Classics

5. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare - for me this is the story of Benedick and Beatrice and the rest of the cast is just there to witness their awesome banter and saving Hero. This is the play that made me realize I really love the enemies-to-lovers trope.   

I haven't been a professional bookseller all that long, but its still easy to get jaded about all the arcs that come in every month, but sometimes something like this book happens!

As a thirty-something woman who read everything he could get his hands on growing up, and that included Sweet Valley High and Baby-sitter's Club, this book is pure nostalgic gold. And while they might not have been great, sometimes those pink and lavender covers had some meat in them! Heck, I still will look twice at any old Apple Paperback, etc. title at a book sale just in case its offers up some vintage goodness.

This will be a lot of fun and I'm hoping Quirk is planning on a boy-series retrospective, too.

Romance Bingo square - Twins

Oh, Sweet Valley High, how I adored you back in the late 1980s and through the 1990s! The twins, their family and friends, the town of Sweet Valley, California was everything I had hoped my teen years would be. My favorite twin was Elizabeth; she was good and kind and going to be a writer! She and Todd were meant to be together 4EVER! My favorite side character was Lila Fowler.

Well, I was eight when I first read this book, so cut me so slack.

Re-reading this book at 37, and OMG, this book does not age well. Liz and Lila are still my favorites, but now that is like saying my favorite Real Housewife show is NJ; the sane stuff amongst the shit show is pretty easy to spot and stick to. Yet, Liz does not have a backbone whatsoever; she had fortitude of a doormat. And I can't believe just how much Jessica was as an emotionally exhausting character. You could make a drinking game of just Jessica's personality traits that were repeated ad nasuem (take a shot every time she uses "hundred and thirty-seven" or chug a drink when she starts a crying jag - you will be on the floor passed out drunk in no time). But Todd - holy crap, was he this fucking dumb as a box of rocks or what? Seriously, what did Liz see in him? I'm actually glad Liz dumped his ass in the Sweet Valley University series and got with Bruce Patman (as played by Zachary Quinto in my head) in the newer series - she deserves so much better than dull as a dish rag and just as smart Todd.

The plotline still holds up though; the battle for SVH's football field is realistic for a YA contemporary. The side plotline of a possible affair within the Wakefield marriage was stupid and if Steven would get his head out of his ass he could have put his sisters' fears to rest long before the end of the book. Steven seemed so mature to me back in the day, now he is just as stupid as Todd and emotionally stunted as Jessica - a real gem.

Well, I got some reading challenge mileage revisiting this mess. Glad I stopped myself from buying more than this first book.

I have come to the last of the winter 2017 edition of 24in48 read-a-thon with a time total of 17 hours. I am damn proud of myself. I am going to spend most of tomorrow night writing reviews and updating my progress reports for each of my challenges. I have read longer and more books in this go-around than in any other read-a-thon to date. Here is what I read:

1. Finished Lowcountry Bordello (Liz Talbot #4) by Susan M. Boyer for Romance Bingo - Love is Murder

2. March Volume 2 by Rep. John Lewis et al for Pop Sugar prompt - book with pictures

3. Prom & Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg for Romance Bingo - Young Adult

4. Double Love (Sweet Valley High #1) by Francine Pascal and Kate William - for Romance Bingo - Twins square and Pop Sugar prompt - Loved as a child

5. Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan (audiobook) for Pop Sugar prompt - Book about food

3 out of the five books completed were from the library.

This weekend is a five-day vacation for my son, due to school being closed (for students; teachers are still at work due to training requirements). This comes after last weekend's unexpected four day weekend (Friday was a snow day - the 1/2 inch of accumulated white stuff totally was worth closing school...and Monday was a holiday). And the kids are now on countdown to their respective birthdays. Just saying, keep me and my sanity in your thoughts.

This weekend is also the winter edition of 24in48 Read-a-thon. I found that breaking up my reading into four hour blocks is easiest to accomplish (3 blocks per day) and allows me to sleep. I'm going to try and knock out a few Romance Bingo squares and Pop Sugar prompts, so I went with some quick reads for the TBR:

1. March Volume 2 by Rep. John Lewis

            I read the first volume last year and my library just got this volume in; fingers crossed that volume 3 has at least been ordered. Pop Sugar prompt: book with pictures.

2. Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg

           A re-telling of Pride and Prejudice for YA Romance square. My first attempt at filling this square didn't end with a HFN or HEA (OOPS!), so it was disqualified in my opinion. This time, I read the last few pages to ensure this book did have a correct ending before I borrowed.

3. The Sun Trail (Warriors: Dawn of the Clans #1) by Erin Hunter

    Pop Sugar prompt: book with a cat on the cover. Found this while looking for a YA romance book.

4. Double Love (Sweet Valley High #1) by Francine Pascal and Kate William

            Double time: meets Romance Bingo square for twins and Pop Sugar prompt: book from childhood. First read this book when I was eight (a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....New Jersey in the 1987).

For those of you participating in 24in48, good luck on your goals and I hope you have fun!