What are we talking about today?

I'll get back to theme days once I find a groove of posting regularly. In the meantime, most of my posts are about some variation of books, bikes, buses, or Broadway. Plus bits about writing, nonprofits, and grief from time to time.

This blog is mostly lighthearted and pretty silly. It's not about the terrible things happening in the world, but please know that I'm not ignoring those things. I just generally don't write about them here.

19 April 2014

Q is for Quiet.

It's the A to Z Challenge, where every day I share my favourite book or book series that starts with the day's letter.

Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices & Priorities of a Winning Life, Tony Dungy.

I hate American football, with all that is within me, and I still managed to love this book.







What's your favourite 'Q' book?

18 April 2014

P is for Phantom.

It's the A to Z Challenge, where every day I share my favourite book or book series that begins with the day's letter. You're probably tired of reading that by now, aren't you? Well, I never know when a new person might wander round.

The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Jester











What's your favourite 'P' book?

Runners up: The Princess Diaries, series; The Princess Bride


17 April 2014

O is for On.

It's the A to Z Challenge, where every day I share my favourite book or book series that starts with the day's letter.

And after a few hard days, it's nice to have an easy one!

On Writing, Stephen King











What's your favourite 'O' book?

Runner-up: The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

16 April 2014

N is for Narnia.

It's the A to Z Challenge, where every day I share my favourite book or book series that starts with the day's letter.

The Chronicles of Narnia, series, C.S. Lewis

If we ever have any need for a nursery, it will be decorated in a Narnia theme. I'm not sure if Chadwick knows this, but it doesn't matter. He gets no say in this one. :)






What's your favourite 'N' book?

Runners up: The Night Circus, No Impact Man

15 April 2014

M is for Million. And Mrs.

It's the A to Z Challenge, where every day I share my favourite book or book series that begins with the day's letter.

And it's getting harder to choose as I go along. So I'll go with my favourite method of settling difficult questions and choose more than one.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Donald Miller










and

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats and NIMH, series, Robert C. O'Brien










Tomorrow I'll try to stick to just one. Really. In the meantime, what's your favourite 'M' book?

Runners up: Mercury Falls, Mile Markers: The 26.2 Most Important Reason Why Women Run

14 April 2014

L is for Little.

It's the A to Z Challenge, where every day I share my favourite book or book series that starts with the day's letter.

And today is a doozy. Not only is it a tie, but I can also say I've seen every TV/movie adaptation of the winners and one runner-up, and as many as possible of the second runner-up. We're talking many, many hours of my life spent with these stories, y'all. They are part of my entire being.

Little House on the Prarie, series, Laura Ingalls Wilder

The first book I ever read and I've never outgrown it! I had to reread this series a lot as I was growing up to "get it" as Laura hit different stages of her life-- her wedding, for instance, was not that interesting to 8-year-old me, but 15-year-old me saw things very differently.





And

Little Women, series, Louisa May Alcott

So, true story (I've probably shared this before): I tried to check out Little Women from the school library when I was not really ready to read it, but this wasn't my first Alcott book and I thought I was ready for the really long one. I was not, of course, and the librarian correctly refused to let me check it out. So I went and grabbed the next book off the shelf, Little Men, which is much shorter (and incidentally has a MUCH easier plot-- it was not a bad one for me to read first), and the librarian frowned and said, "I'd rather you read Little Women than read this!" Which kind of scared me off and I think I ended up with The Boxcar Children or something that day. But years later when I finally read the entire Little Women series, I realised that librarian had never read any of them, or at least had a poor memory, as there was nothing even a little bit scandalous in Little Men.

What's your favourite book that starts with 'L'?

Runners up: L books are even worse than H books! Holy library card, Batman. A Little Princess, Frances Hodgson Burnett (when my grandfather watched the 1995 adaptation of this book with me, he cried more than I did); Les Misérables, Victor Hugo.

12 April 2014

K is for Knit.

It's the A to Z Challenge, where every day I share my favourite book or series of books that starts with that day's letter. Kinda.

Today's is another stretch. I have two books on my Goodreads list that start with K, and I didn't like either of them enough for them to be on this list. So, I give you:

At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much, Stephanie Pearl-McKee





Image from Goodreads.




Somebody, please, tell me there are great books that start with K that I'm missing out on!

11 April 2014

J is for Jane.

It's the A to Z Challenge, where every day I share my favourite book or series that begins (ish) with the day's letter.

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë





Image from Goodreads.





(Incidentally, my bicycle is named after Charlotte Brontë, but we call it Sharlie for short. I know, it's crazy.) What's your favourite J book?

10 April 2014

I is for Imaginarium.

It's the A to Z Challenge, where each day I share my favourite book or series of books beginning with the day's letter.

And this one is stretching it a bit. Could have gone under "Chronicles" or "Dragon", but here it is. I don't have many I books on my list.

Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica, series, James A. Owen.




Image from Goodreads.






What's your favourite book that starts with I?

Runner up: The Indian in the Cupboard, series, Lynne Reid Banks.

09 April 2014

H is for Hitchhikers and Harry.

It's the A to Z Challenge, where every day I share my favourite book or book series that begins with the day's letter.

Well, these were always going to be pretty obvious, weren't they? Another tie of supreme awesomeness.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, series, Douglas Adams











This is the British cover,
in case you haven't seen
it before.
Harry Potter, series, J.K. Rowling













Images from Goodreads.

I don't know why you'd need another favourite H book besides these, but I suppose there are a few non-fantasy people out there, so have at it in the comments.

Runners up: Why do so many great books start with H? Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones; The Hunger Games, series, Suzanne Collins. (Yes, I know Howl's is also a series, but I haven't read the rest yet. It got into the runners up on the strength of the first book.)

08 April 2014

G is for Gift.

It's the A to Z Challenge, where I share my favourite book or book series that begins with the day's letter.

The Gift of the Magi, O. Henry





Image from Goodreads.






What's your favourite G book?

Runner up: The Giver, Lois Lowry.

07 April 2014

F is for Finding.

It's the A to Z Challenge, where every day I share my favourite book or book series that begins with that day's letter.

Finding Peggy: A Glasgow Childhood, Meg Henderson




Image from Goodreads.






Not only my favourite 'F' book, but in my top 5 all-time favourites. What's your favourite book that starts with F?

Runner up: Forever Liesl, Charmian Carr

05 April 2014

E is for Earth. And Eats.

It's the A to Z Challenge, where I share my favourite book or book series that begins with the day's letter.

And today is a tie, because I couldn't choose between these two:

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, Carolyn Mackler










and

Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, Lynne Truss









Images from Goodreads.

What's your favourite 'E' book?

Runner up: Encyclopedia Brown, series

04 April 2014

D is for Discworld.

It's the A to Z Challenge, where I share my favourite book or book series that begins with the day's letter.

Discworld, series, Terry Pratchett











I love, love, love this series. The Discworld series has 40+ books, each one better than the last. Night Watch, pictured, is probably my most enduring favourite, but it really depends on the day and what mood I'm in.

Image from Goodreads.

Discworld fans: What's your favourite? The rest of you: Why are you wasting time here? Go read a Discworld book!

Runner up: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

03 April 2014

C is for Chalet.

It's the A to Z Challenge, where every day I share my favourite book or book series that begins with the day's letter.

Chalet School, series, Elinor M. Brent-Dyer










Image from Goodreads.

Discovered these when I lived in Britain & haven't been able to tear myself away ever since. Not the beginnings of my love for school stories, but definitely didn't hurt.

What's your favourite 'C' book?

Runners up: Charlotte Sometimes, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch

02 April 2014

B is for Brief.

It's the A to Z Challenge, where every day I share my favourite book or book series that begins with the day's letter.

The Brief History of the Dead, Kevin Brockmeier










Image from Goodreads.

What's your favourite 'B' book?

Runners up: Bounce, Bridget Jones's Diary.

01 April 2014

A is for Anne. And Across.

Geez, the first day of A to Z and I already have a tie! So not cool!

So, this A to Z series is all about my favourite book, or series of books, that begins with the letter of the day. I couldn't decide between:

Anne of Green Gables, series, L.M. Montgomery










and

Across the Universe, series, Beth Revis










Images from Goodreads.

So! Two fairly different genres to kick us off. What's your favourite 'A' book?

Runners up: Anna and the French Kiss, As the Waltz Was Ending