Friday, August 10, 2007

Bookstacks - July/Aug 2007

I saw this done on another Flick'r member's page and thought "Hey! I like that!" so I decided to keep track of our own reading log the same way ... I only just started with the past few weeks' library hauls, so I am bundling all of those into todays post. There were a couple interim visits I made but didn't get pics and I've already returned those books (I'm usually a quick read!) but here's the few I've recorded so far.

JULY 20, 2007

Top to Bottom

Devil's Footsteps
sorta mystery thriller for my 13yrd old son

PS2 Arena Football
Simpsons DVD
Simpsons DVD

(eh, it's summer)

Cabin on Trouble Creek
!SCORE! This is on my 10yr olds summer reading list and you KNOW how hard it is to get a copy of any of those at the library. You know. Like, DURING summer ;)

The Jane Austen Book Club
I think I recently read a magazine review of this, so it caught my eye

Making a Movie in Premiere Elements
This is for my 13yr old who's recently started "filmmaking" and just got the Adobe program

Idiot's Guide to Altered Art
I have way better books than this here at home, but thought I'd give it a look for kicks

Making Creative Cloth Dolls
THIS book looks realllly cool, and I mean has ALOT of how-to's and photos and super neat stuff inside. It may end up a double-checker-outer

The Miniature HouseThe library had a small (hehe) miniatures display that got me to check this one out

The Kidspace Idea Book
- This ones just for lookin' at




JULY 25, 2007


Top to Bottom:

Michael Crichton's The Great Train Robbery -I got this one for my take-to-jury-duty read, and finished it about 3/4 done while I was there for the day. Pretty good story.


Mabel Riley, A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril & Romance
(pre-teen/young teen) Historical fiction, I loved this one!

How to Buy A Home When You Can't Afford It
I grabbed this in passing when I saw it on the shelf, I didn't read too much it as I just wasn't in the mood to really settle in a "learn" anything yet.

Your Travel Guide to Renaissance Europe
(sort of a kids history book, pretty cool) I was planning on using this as inspiration for some Medieval / Ren artwork ...


Art (kids book)
A kid named Art who makes all kinds of ... art! Cute, colorful.


Wake the Dead (kids book)
Kid who is making so much noise he "wakes the dead" then has to try to get them back in the ground. Fun illustations, a LOT of "dead" puns.


Italian Renaissance Art
Another intended inspirational volume ... I ended up getting sidetracked with another project so I just browsed through the pics and never did anything else ...


The Decorated Journal, Gwen Diehn
I loved The Decorated Page, and hadn't seen this follow-up before - lots more tips and suggestions (including how to make your own book-sewing frame out of an old book) LOADS more beautifully photographed journals and pages - I will probably end up buying this one.


Everything Crafts - Rubberstamping
Kinda ho-hum, wasn't very inspiring (and the color photo pages were not in any sort of order that matched the instructional pages.) Badly laid out overall, I thought.


The Frog Prince Continued, Scieszka/Johnson
Wasn't as good as some of the others but it was cute. I think I just prefer Lane Smith's illustrations, but I didn't care for this story either, really. (I know! I'm not exactly the intended audience!)


Squids Will Be Squids
Probably my favorite Scieszka/Smith book! It's their take on an Aesop's fables type of book - Great illustrations and some really funny little story bits. "Straw & Matches" was so funny, I loved that one most but they are all good.



AUGUST 10, 2007



Top to Bottom
(will add "reviews" after I read these)

Van Gogh
A pictorial biography ...
Pretty good, really concentrated not just on his works but works of his contemporaries at the time & in whatever place he was currently living/working
Understood Betsy
This was a good story - young girl who lives with spinster aunts gets sent off to live with other "less desirable" relatives after an aunt takes ill - I've been reading alot of tween/young adult books lately especially in this pioneer/frontier genre. Really liked this one!

The Midnight Horse
Sorta mystery suspense set in the late 1800s(?I think) - not bad.

Misty of Chincoteague
(I'm on a kick of rereading childhood faves right now)

Marie Antoinette
I dunno if I'll make it through this one, but I've wanted to read a Marie bio ever since I saw Marie Antoinette the movie - which I loved! though no one else did ...
FINI! Boy it took me all the alotted check-out time to read this one but it was worth it. Really detailed, involved retelling of her story from the marriage into France until the very end. Hard to keep names straight (especially when they had like 5 names for each person what with all the random titles) but I was glad I stuck with it.

The Decorated Page, Gwen Diehn
Had to check this out after reading the follow-up Decorated Journal ...
I'll end up buying both of these I'm sure

Leonardo DaVinci
another pictorial biography


That's it for today ... now I have to go do a quick run-through housecleaning before I can settle in with those newest books (ahhhhh now, now - you know you do it too when you realize how late in the day it is - and you've done nothing much around the house - and it shows ... plus I usually feel like I hafta work before reward!)

Happy Reading!
~ gem ~