Book Review: Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


First of all I must confess that I did not know about The Century Trilogy until I read a review of the second book. (Librarian FAIL). So I immediately got my hands on a copy of Fall of Giants, which actually languished in the back seat of my car for a couple of weeks until an audiobook version became available to me. After that I went liberally between the two. Follett is an amazing storyteller and I am ashamed to admit that I have only read one other of his books. His characterizations are masterful, though I must say that had I not become a fan of Downton Abbey, I might have not held so much interest in certain parts of the story. In any case, reading Fall of Giants has made me want to go back to examine the historical events that make up the backdrop of the book.
To anyone who finds the length of the book daunting: don't worry about it. It reads quickly and is not tedious at all. Listening to parts made me slow down and pay attention as well.




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Book Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could, because I'm very reluctant to give something 5 stars. I probably wouldn't give it 5 stars though, because I thought it was a bit drawn out at times, but maybe that's because we needed a bit of a run-up to the action. And yes, there is plenty of action. But also large amounts of introspection, which I appreciated after finishing a reread of the Hunger Games trilogy. In my opinion, I think this series has quite a bit more depth and I'd love to see these books dissected in a high school or even college-level literature or psychology course. Heck, you can even use the books in history or science!

And when you think there's no way these authors can engineer yet another ending that leaves you howling at the last page...yes, one will be waiting with baited breath for the next book.

One small spoiler: Roth has plenty of time to get us invested with these characters. But I have to say that one of the characters that really hooked me wasn't introduced until nearly the ending, it only took a few pages, and I'm sorry we won't see more of him.


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Book Review: The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


My timing on this book was great, as I was reading it during the London Olympics. Plus I've been on the Jack the Ripper tour, and have had a drink at the Ten Bells, so it was great to have that frame of reference so readily in my mind. Rory as a character is your typical YA character that is a bit annoying (which in my opinion is what makes a good YA character). The school references of "prefect" and "Head Girl" will be familiar to those who've read the Harry Potter series.

There's great tension in the book and a wonderful plot twist, and just as I was beginning to think that this was a great stand-alone book, oh, the ending! Really really loved the ending.




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The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I loved the atmosphere that Erin Morgenstern created. The summary on the flap may have been a bit misleading for me, but I enjoyed the book all the same. It was subtle and flowy, and I loved the characters and how you needed to pay attention because each person is important! It was a beautiful book and while I didn't want the story to end, I loved how the story ended.




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Finally, a loaf to be proud of!

For the past couple of months I've been experimenting with recipes from the book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. I've made several basic boules, which definitely don't go to waste in our carb-loving household, but I was looking for something more. I wanted to be able to make a good loaf for sandwiches, and the small boules just weren't enough. So I turned to the white sandwich bread recipe in the book, which was good, but my loaves just weren't turning out big enough for sandwiches, or at least they weren't looking like what I used to buy at the store. Now, the dough recipe says it's enough to make 3 loaves. Well, my first attempts to piece the dough into thirds yielded smallish loaves that did not fill my loaf pan more than halfway like the recipe said. So, this last time I decided to take the remaining 2/3 of the dough and bake it all at once. I also finally got myself an oven thermometer, and lo and behold, yes, my oven temp was off too. Had to dial the oven up to 355 to get the thermometer to register 350. The result? Yes, it's good, but not so good that I need the pic to be this big. Darn you dropbox!

2 Weeks In

So, it's been 2 weeks. Among other things, I've completed an accident and incident report, for a patron who fell outside of the building, asked a teenager to leave for the day because of his unacceptable behavior, and set off an alarm for a fire exit. I've also performed 4 storytimes, which I must confess is more than I did at my old branch in the past few months (and Children's Services was my responsiblity!) I'm really enjoying the baby storytimes. It's amazing the wealth of information I've found online in planning. I need to give a huge shoutout to Storytime Katie, whose blog I discovered sometime last year when researching flannel board stories. I never did get a chance to make a collection of flannel stories at my old branch, so I plan to remedy that here. Maybe one day I'll be able to make a contribution to Flannel Fridays! In addition to flannel stories, Storytime Katie is a great gateway to other storytime blogs. Seriously, there's several years-worth of planning in these blogs! We just hired several new Youth Services Librarians and so I will definitely share this wealth of knowledge with them.

A Day in the Life of a New Library Manager

Welcome to the Balboa Branch of San Diego Public Library! Yesterday was my first official day as new manager, so I thought I'd mark the occasion with a blog post a la "Library Day in the Life" style.

11:00 am - Arrive just on time. Had stopped to get a fruit tart for the staff. As I was pulling onto the freeway, a familiar car zoomed by me; it was a friend/colleague who later confessed she had been watching The View and thus was late leaving for work.

11:15 am - Evening Aide calls out sick, but welcomes me to the branch. I claim a locker for my own (I don't have an office), and my purse barely fits in it.

11:30 am - I'm helping with the holds list. I find all the items on my pages but two.

12 noon - Finally check email after Outlook is finished creating a local copy of my mailbox. Thursday's meeting is cancelled. I have a conversation with the staff about the daily goings on at this branch, seems pretty laid back.

12:30 pm - We are open; staff comments at the unusually large amount of patrons waiting to get inside. Did I bring them with me from my old branch or something? I don't recognize anyone. I sit at the one information desk out on the floor, which is situated in the Children's Area. I kind of have a view of the Circulation Desk and the rest of the library, but there is a wall that obstructs my view of the adult Internet computers. My first two questions from patrons are about computer usage.

1:45 pm - Troubleshoot one of the printers in the workroom. I delete the other printers that we don't have anymore.

2:25 pm - Played Internet cop (time usage, not porn). Helped a patron with the copy machine. She told me the "other branch" gives 5 free copies which I highly doubt.

2:45 pm - Troubleshoot the color laser printer which my predecessor said hadn't been working for weeks. I unplugged and replugged the data cable, which was my fix for the same model at my last branch. Printer spits out about 25 jobs.

3:00 pm - Dinner! I take a back road behind the shopping center which spits me out further than I'd intended. I note all of the apartment complexes and make a mental note to see if they have a place where I can post flyers. Check on the new Panera; it's not open yet. Settle for hot wings and potato wedges from the supermarket deli counter. Find the back entrance I was looking for.

4:00 pm - Introduce myself to a couple of families who were expecting Miss Donna. As it turns out, one dad I spoke to had visited my old branch, where I'd given him plenty of advice on the neighborhoods in this part of San Diego. He noted that while this branch has a good collection of books, it's really not a place to sit and read a book with your child. I totally agree and the issue is already on my list.

6:00 pm - Covering the Circulation Desk. I place a request for a patron who wants the DVD Borat. Confer with one of the clerks about the status of Library Aide hours. There is a hiring process coming up.

6:30 pm - Asked the teens at the computers to quiet down.

7:00 pm - Reworked a flyer, checked email, submitted events to the online calendar.

7:55 pm - Logged off my computer and am rewarded with a blue screen.

Overall impressions: The pace is slightly slower than my last branch, but steady. Internet computers in use all day. Children's Area definitely needs some thought. Staff is pleasant and hardworking and definitely don't need to be micromanaged.

I think I'll stay.

New Beginnings

Yes, a bit of a cheesy title, but sometimes I'm cheesy like that. I start at my new library tomorrow, which reminded me that I really wanted to share what the teens at my old library did for me on my last day:

They are a great bunch. A bit rowdy when I first started there, but I turned them all into volunteers, and my boss relaxed the "No Food or Drink" policy so they didn't have to hide their fast food anymore, and all in all it's turned out to be a great relationship. They took care of prepping crafts and setting up and breaking down tables and chairs in our meeting room. They are a bit apprehensive as to who my replacement will be, and even devised a test of sorts to see if said person will be suitable. Gotta love 'em! And on the knitting front, I have finished the first piece in the massive amount of baby knitting that I have set for myself this year.

The pattern is Baby Yoda Sweater, knit in Encore Worsted. For my friend Hazel who is expecting a girl! I have plenty of yarn leftover so there will eventually be a matching hat. But I've moved on to project #2, a blanket which is coming along nicely.

'Tis the Year of Baby Knits

A couple of years ago, I decided that all of my friends would get a knit hat on their birthday. It was to be the year of knit hats. Sadly, I only gifted about 3 before that plan fell apart.
This year however, I have deemed the "Year of Baby Knits", because various friends have conspired to bear no less than 6 (yes, SIX) babies by the end of summer. Thank goodness baby knits are, for the most part, tiny and easy to knit.
In the queue so far:
For baby H, a Baby Yoda sweater and Berry Hat (because I know I'll have leftovers from the sweater).
For baby R, a stripey blanket that hopefully will come out Mossimo-ish looking, and a boobie hat.
For babies J (twins!), hat and bootie sets if I can squeeze it all out of one skein of Malabrigo Rios. If not, I'll do the booties in Mal Sock since I have a skein in the same color.
For baby L, a boobie hat, a cardi (pattern TBD) and a newborn hat and bootie set.
For baby A, a  boobie hat, a baby rasta hat, and a blanket (pattern TBD).

It is risen!

Yeah, I thought this blog was dead too. But, I have things to say, dammit, and here's a place to put them. So hopefully I'll do a better job of updating. If I don't, well, that means I'm not doing a very good job of keeping track of certain things I want to keep track of. First of all, the sock yarn blankie is a thing of the past. Oh, I still have the 3 squares that make up what was to be the blankie, and I have lots and lots of minis ready to be knit up, but I've abandoned the sock yarn blankie in it's mitered stated for the Beekeeper's Quilt. I actually have a good number of hexipuffs knitted up, and am trying to keep up with the 366 in 2012 challenge on Ravelry, although I've fallen horribly behind. Secondly, I've recently become obsessed with baking my own bread. It started with me pulling out my old breadmaker, and using it to make not only bread but pizza dough (we have homemade pizza on Fridays now), to the purchase of a cast-iron baking "stone" and the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day method. I've found it very satisfying but need a place to put all of my baking notes, hence, the resurrection of the blog. Thirdly, I'm happy to announce that I've accepted a promotion to Branch Manager at San Diego Public Library! I will be managing the Balboa Branch, located in east Clairemont. I'm excited to be embarking on this new adventure, being the mistress of my own domain, so to speak. So there we have it. And I do hope there will be another post shortly.