What Have I Been Doing??

Yes, I know, you are probably all wondering what I have been doing and why I have not been posting! Well, shockingly, I have been reading. I have finished 5 books since I last wrote. Yikes. I'm up to 19.5 hours, which was exciting when I beat last year's total of 12, and I have read 7 books (3 graphic novels). I still have over 12 available hours and am hoping to get in at least 5 more hours to hit 24. The caffeine has kicked in so I'm pretty confident. Also, I decided to take myself out of the $2/hr sponsoring and just match the total that I get in donations and sponsors. So we'd be up to $77x2=$154 and then there are three other people I've heard from that will donate but haven't specified an amount yet. So it's going better than I hoped instead of worse than I feared.

So what have I been reading? The two graphic novels that I haven't posted about are Iron West by Doug Ten Napel and City of Light, City of Dark by Avi and art by Brian Floca. I think I took out the Ten Napel one last year but didn't get around to it.

It's classified as a sci-fi western. The sci-fi part I'm cool with, but the western part I don't really do. So even though I love everything Ten Napel (Bad Island, Ghostopolis, Creature Tech), it got off to a slow start for me. However, once it hit Sasquatch, I was hooked. That character, or the way that the main character interacted with him, was hilarious. I like that Ten Napel's drawings have a typical him look to them -the strong jawline, the facial expressions, and the only as much detail needed and no extra. If you haven't read any of his books yet, I would start with a different one, like Ghostopolis,unless you are a Western fan, but if you are a fan, don't put this one down right away because it takes on a life of its own.

The other graphic novel was a surprise to me. I went down to the YA section of graphic novels specifically for this challenge and saw the Avi book. I was surprised and figured I would have read it already because I used to read everything Avi. (If you can't already tell, once I like an author, I read everything by that author I can get my hands on). I fell in love with Avi back in 5th grade, so it'd be surprising if I hadn't read this one.

But, I didn't know Avi had written anything classified as a graphic novel, nor did I know what that meant til a couple of years ago. Having Brian Floca illustrate it could only make it better. I think he did Moonshot, of which I have a print of a picture that I adore. It started off with more words than pictures, but I gave it a chance. Once you get past the pre stuff and get to Chapter 1, it picks up and gets interesting. Floca shines the most when he gets full page spreads and doesn't have to work around dialogue, but he definitely adds to the story. Turned out I hadn't read this one ever and it was from 1993! Also, it seems to be the first work Brian Floca did, as the biographical note says he was working on illustrations for a second book. I kind of felt like I was reading something sacred, the beginning of Floca's career taking off, literally, since airplanes are part of this story and one is on the cover.

I think it's a different Avi but still takes place in the past like many of his books, though I couldn't call it historical because it seems like he made up this long ago world in New York. I was engrossed in it, though, from beginning to end. Definitely a pageturner.

I'll write about the others I read - The Anybodies, The Nobodies, and Lexapros and Cons next time around.

Love and Leftovers Review and Thoughts

Wow, I just finished Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay. It was in verse which I used to hate and am starting to see as a viable way to write books, and this one was beautiful. It seemed true to what people feel when they like a boy and don't know if they are falling in love or not, and there were some points where I thought ah ha! That's what it means to be falling in love, but when I'd go back to look for that passage, I couldn't find it. It was like a fleeting thought, just like knowing that you're in love can be a hard thing to figure out, and the thought may be fleeting.

I did mark a few passages that I really liked and thought got to the root of looking for love and possibly finding it and how to know the difference between lust and just wanting a body or being lonely and what it's like when you have passion - "love, conversation, understanding, and the physical stuff - all stirred together" (289). I think that starts to get at it. It's more than hormones and just getting a fix; it's liking someone for their adorable ways that no one else sees and forming a deep friendship and listening to your heart, as abstract as that is.

Have I figured it out yet? Well, I'm not very good at that abstract stuff, but I think I'm on my way with this one guy and thanks to this book. This book gave me chills at the right moments and made me confused when the characters were confused and made me want to start the book over again as soon as I had finished it. I'm not as good as expressing my thoughts as Sarah Tregay, but I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes reading about love and any teenager out there who is confused or who is in high school, because I think this book captures a typical high schooler experience very well.

I'm up to almost 3.5 hours, or $14 so far. Next up is the Anybodies, a wonderful book by Julianna Baggott or N.E. Bode, the first of three.

Level Up by Gene Luen Yang

I finished my first book! Well, it was a graphic novel, but I made it about half way through Love and Leftovers before I needed a break from that. I switched to Level Up about a boy who loves to play video games but has parents that want him to be a doctor. He goes back and forth before he chooses one of them and realizes it's himself that he should please and not his family. I'd heard a lot about it a year or two ago, and it's definitely good. The pictures are recognizable as the NES Nintendo system and other games and the cover is like a controller. I think the art and story are equally good. Now I'm going back to Love and Leftovers with Milanos cookies and still my Wild Cherry Pepsi.

Starting the 48HBC!

Here I go! I'm starting with Sarah Tregay's Love and Leftovers, a Wild Cherry Pepsi, and a turkey sandwich. As of now, I have a $20 donation and 4 sponsors besides myself for a total of $4/hr for Mr. Sharp's school library! But check out my previous post if you'd like to help out, too. The children would greatly appreciate it! Just leave a comment below or contact me by email or twitter (see below post for contacts). Thanks and good luck to everyone!

Welcome back to Bookotomy!

I know it's been a year since I posted, as the last time I wrote was about the 48HBC and that's why I'm writing again! Let me give you an overview of the 48HBC, or 48 Hour Book Challenge. This year it is running from June 8th-10th/11th.

Within 48 hours of the weekend (you get to pick which consecutive 48 hours work best for you), you read as many hours as you can. You also get some blogging time and networking time to tell others what you are reading and see what they've read. For every five hours read, you can network (Twitter, blogs) for one hour. Last year I read the minimum for prizes, 12 hours. This year I know I have more time and I have been planning for this the whole year. (Really, I have been that excited). I know what snacks and caffeine to get, I know that an audio book is a great addition, and I even have a nook from the local library to help me out/sneak in time possibly at my brother's graduation. Now, do you have to read for 48 hours? No, definitely not. Last year I think three people did and got showered with prizes. My goal is 20 hours this year, 24 if I can.

You can learn more about the 48 Hour Book Challenge, hosted by MotherReader at her FAQs section. There is also her most recent post about it where you can see the prizes she is trying to get and asking anyone if they can donate any as well. Also, although a year out of date, here is all the information about it.

Now that you know what I'm in for this upcoming weekend, let me tell you about my "charity." I met this wonderful teacher, Colby Sharp, last year who is really into reading. He gets up on desks to tell students about reading (scroll down on his blog and look at the vodpod video on the right hand side). On his blog, he told us about the unfortunate state of his school library and it really touched me. The Mr. Schu he mentions is actually the person who first got me into graphic novels, and now I can't get enough of them. I think every student deserves the chance to read graphic novels and see the magic in them. I wanted to help.

Then, for a class I was taking, we had to do a leadership project. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to meld the project and my desire to help Mr. Sharp's school library. I went through several ideas to try to raise money for the library at Minges Brook Elementary School in Battle Creek, Michigan, but they all fell through. Well, when I get passionate about something, I get determined, too. So I decided this would be a great way to raise money.

I am asking if you can sponsor me per hour read for as little or as much as you'd like - $0.25/hr, $0.50/hr, $1/hr, $5/hr - whatever you can give. My goal is 20-24 hours. You can also give a specified amount as well. Then I will collect all the money I get and use it to buy graphic novels for Mr. Sharp's school library.

As an incentive for anyone to give, I am going to be giving away a copy of one of the books I read during the 48HBC. Right now I am planning to read Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay, The Anybodies, The Nobodies, and The Somebodies all by N.E. Bode, Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos, and Level Up, a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. I will randomly pick one person and he/she will get to choose one of the books I read to get a copy of! (What I read may change, and the person will pick from the books I end up reading.)

I am on Twitter @muellerspace and my email address is kcmuel AT gmail DOT com. You can comment right here on an amount you would be willing to sponsor me for or contact me in either of those ways. I will then give you an address where you can send the money at the end of the challenge.

I know the students at Mr. Sharp's school, Mr. Sharp, and I will be grateful for any amount you can give, and want you to know that students will benefit from the power of reading for years to come. Thank you!

48HBC Finale

If this was the 24HBC I would have done quite well. Unfortunately, having work, then more work, then a broken down car in 95 degree heat 30 minutes from my parents right before the construction, then dehydration, then a party all on Saturday, a key day, really killed my time. I knew I wouldn't get to read between 8 am and probably 1 am on Saturday, so about 17 hours, but I didn't know I'd have such an eventful day to completely wear me out either. So in my 2nd 24 hours I read 54 minutes.

But in my first 24 hours I read 9 hours, and 57 minutes, and networked 1 hour and 9 minutes.

So my total time is 12 hours even I just realized. I was aiming for 12-15 hours, and this is my first year, so I'm plenty pleased.

I read 5 books - the ones I posted on and also The Pull of Gravity by Gae Polisner, Calamity Jack, a young adult graphic novel by Hale, and Ten by Lauren Myracle. I figure you're 10 in 5th grade, so it fits the requirements.

I already can't wait for next year and really enjoyed the networking and checking out other people's blogs and twitter accounts! Thanks to everyone for their support and commenting on my posts!

48HBC: Wednesday Wars

Update: Currently at 7 hrs, 52 min of reading/blogging time and 1 hour, 9 min of networking time, for a total of 9 hrs, 1 min as of 17 hours into my start. (I'm using a stop watch to keep track of my time so a)I don't have to remember when I started/stopped reading and b)because I'm kind of anal like that and want to be exact.) I feel quite accomplished. I'm on my 4th book right now.

My second book for today was The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt because I've been hearing so much talk about Okay for Now by Schmidt and read that one of the characters is originally in The Wednesday Wars. I really like to read previous books about people (when I know about them) before the next book.

This book made me wish I had paid more attention in high school English when teachers talked about themes and symbols and "crap" like that. Now that I'm reading more advanced books, I'd like to understand them as well. If I stop and think about what certain parts of the book mean, I can come up with a meaning, but usually when I ask someone else, they come up with what I think of as a better meaning. There may be no wrong or right (contrary to HS English teachers' beliefs) but some meanings are better than others.

The Wednesday Wars talks a lot about Shakespeare, and I'm sure that the author put in the specific parts and plays to make some type of symbolic connection. It makes the book that much more interesting. I thought this book was powerful because it talks about the Vietnam War and a relationship between authority and students, specifically one teacher - Mrs. Baker - and one student - Holling Hoodhood. She hates his guts at the beginning, as he puts it, but she does warm up to her here and there. Schmidt makes some smart moves in this book by making you think all is "swell" when the next chapter, walls (or the ceiling in this case) come tumbling down. He writes a shocker or two into the book as well.

One main theme of the book is being who you want to be, not what someone else wants you to be. Holling learns this early on through The Merchant of Venice but doesn't apply it until much later. On page 48 he says people trapped a Shakespeare character into being a certain way without allowing him to "be anything except for what he was." This plays into the story within Holling's family throughout the book.

There are many parts I found to be profound and many great Shakespearean lines in this book. I highly recommend it and look forward to Okay for Now.