Ahern, C. (2009). Thanks for the memories. New York: HarperCollins.

ISBN: 0061706248

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Cover art. (2009). Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.hclib.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=neh&tg=UI&an=295528&site=novp-live

I think I have cured my reader's block.  This week I spent more time online reading about reading then I actually did reading!  I have added a few more books to my list and also figured out a method to my reading madness for the summer.  This summer Sacramento Public Library is giving away an iPad2 for the grand prize for the adult summer reading program.  I could really use a free iPad2, so why not let the the library summer reading bingo cards lead my reading this summer. 

Based on what I've read so far, I need to read a biography next to complete a diagonal on my first bingo card.  I have a couple memoirs on my list, but not biographies specifically (I'm not sure it matters, but I wouldn't want to lose the iPad2 on a technicality). So, I went hunting for a new biography to read.  I revisited NoveList this week to help a friend of a friend find books for her 4th grader and had forgotten how much I enjoy exploring NoveList.  Back to NoveList I went today after I finished reading A Dog's Purpose.  I am not a huge of nonfiction, but I do enjoy narrative nonfiction and went looking for a narrative biography.  I found a few, but the one I was most interested about is In The Garden of the Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson.  I had read another book by Larson a few years back, Devil in the White City.  I listened to it and loved the way Larson integrated historical details into the story of a serial killer in Chicago in the early 1900s during the World's Fair.  For me I know that listening to a book like this is better for me, kind of like watching a documentary or listening to someone tell me a story.  This leads me to a bit of dilemma... I am listening to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn at the moment.  I've heard great things about it and am enjoying it, so I didn't want to ditch it.  It also fulfills a square on my bingo card "read a classic", but that isn't in the row I am working on at the moment!  I remembered my friend, Amy B., gave me the paperback of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn about a year ago and it has sat on my bookshelf sense then.  Dilemma solved, I will read the paperback of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and listen to In the Garden of Beasts; making sure I finish In the Garden of Beasts first, which shouldn't be a problem since I have lots of things to keep me busy, but allow for audiobook listening.

What are you reading/listening to next?  Have you read either of the books I mentioned above?

A peak at what YourNextRead.com recommedation interface looks like.I've recently finished two books I really enjoyed: Cutting for Stone and The Cookbook Collector. I was so excited about not taking any classes this summer so I have time to read and listen to books, but last week after finishing a book I had been meaning to read for a while I have reader's block.  What is readers' block you ask?  I define it as not wanting to read anything on my to be read list and not finding anything new to read that excites me enough to do nothing but read.  This is a real problem for me because I am usually the one people go to when they are looking for something interesting to read.  It was one the favorite parts of my job as a librarian to help match up readers with books.

Enter this morning's quick check of Facebook and Twitter where I found Lifehacker's article, How to Create an Awesome Summer Reading List.  Lifehacker offers up some great suggestions; some I've tried, but others I hadn't heard of.  Of course it suggests looking at your book list and asking your friends (which I haven't done yet).  It also suggests exploring websites like Amazon.com, LibraryThing, Goodreads and other ones I had already explored.  A new one I plan on checking out this afternoon is Your Next Read, which allows readers to enter a title of a book they like and it will recommend (I know a word that isn't usually used in readers' advisory, but it is used on this site) other books to try.  I look forward to exploring the site further.  Don't worry librarians the article also suggests visiting your local library for ideas.

What is on your summer reading list?  Are you revisiting the ones you didn't have time for this winter?  Taking the recommendations of your friends or trying something new and unlike anything you've read before?

As a library student, sometimes I feel pressure to have a well organized bookshelf.  I know the Dewey Decimal System and shouldn't my home library reflect that.  After we moved, I put off organizing the bookshelves for months because I wanted to be very organized, but the shelves that I have are a bit limiting because of the spacing of the shelves.  Also, after the move, my bookshelves were required to hold more then just books due to our limited storage.  I settled on a subject and size organizational method that works for me (and sometimes Joel, but most of the time he just asks me where his books are).  Check out this ammusing video with a few whimsical ideas for sorting your books!

I discovered the video on Unclutterer.

How do you orgainze your bookcases?  By subject? Author?  Color?  Size?