Let me entertain you, let me make you smile...

Let me do a few tricks
Some old and then some new tricks
I'm very...

Yes, friends, that's right--I'm lucky enough to have received another blog award!  This one comes from Jaime Morrow (check out her recent posts on InstaLove and InstaLoathe--always hot topics!)


So, at this point, I have entirely lost track of the requirements of the many blog awards that seem to be circulating through my blogroll these days.  I do think they're a lot of fun and a good way to point readers at some of the many awesome blogs out there, so I will be naming a few folks (those who I have not recently caused to post lists of things about themselves!).  I will not be doing the List of Things about myself, though; instead, I will be sharing some pictures of my newly re-arranged bookshelves!!!

1)  Lining the top of the shelf, you can see my recently completed collection of Community figurines, from the stop-motion-animated special "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas".  Any other Community fans out there?  Anyone?  Bueller? [Hey guys, think about watching this show.  Especially if you are a Nielsen family.  It's wonderful and could use the help.  Coming back to Thursdays on NBC any month now!]

2) Ok, books for real:  the top shelf here are all of our graphic novels/comics/whatever you would call my beloved Amphigoreys. 

3) When confronted with the great big pile of ALL of our books (mine and Mr. S's--I couldn't have married someone who isn't a reader!) I noticed that the largest single category was--very broadly speaking--fantasy.  So this shelf encompasses everything from Narnia and Harry Potter (on the bottom out of sight, since they take up a whole shelf between them, so they're not needed for browsing) to things that are more properly science fiction or magical realism.  Basically, if it couldn't happen in real life, it's on the shelf.  It's a fun way to feature most of our favorite books in one collection that's easily accessible to guests.

Okay, this is my favorite.  The top shelf here is devoted to signed copies!  Living in New York, it's relatively easy to come across signed stock in bookstores (especially Books of Wonder!  I picked up the signed copies of Shiver, Where Things Come Back, and Across the Universe there this weekend, and it looks like Beth Revis will be coming through again next week to sign A Million Suns, so I'm going to try to go two for two!  Also Marie Lu will be there, so I'm going to try to wrest my copy of Legend away from my students long enough to get it signed.)  Anyway, I've put little arrows next to two of my most prized signed copies:  Mockingjay, obviously--I mean, it's stamped, not signed, because Suzanne Collins had a wrist injury or something, but I actually went and spoke words to her while she was stamping it, and it was amazing.  Also Bridge to Terabithia--I met Katherine Paterson at the Celebration of Teaching and Learning two years ago and she was AWESOMESAUCE. 

Also, bee-tee-dubs:  the orange book?  The one with the little star drawn on it?  That's a book co-written by a friend of my husband's family, Jake Halpern.  It's called Dormia and I recommend it!

And those two very very full shelves?  TBR!!!!!  Uh-oh.  (If only you could also see the inside of my Kindle, you'd have a better idea.)

Ok:  Blog Awarding Time!

(To my student readers:  A few of these links--namely, the Tumblrs--have a wide variety of non-book-related content and I can't guarantee that it's always 100% G-rated.  Read at your own discretion.)

1)  Inspector Spacetime Confessions.  Do Tumblrs count for blog awards?  Well, let's say they do.  While I'm shilling for Community I'll also highlight this creation from fans of BOTH Community and Doctor Who.  (And I KNOW I have some Doctor Who fans reading this!)  Inspector Spacetime is the Doctor Who analog on Community.  It's gotten a handful of mentions and very, very short clips on the show, but then The Internet happened, and now I think it may be scripted through its first season. 

2) Rebecca Behrens.  Definitely a versatile blogger:  her last three posts are about coffee, True Grit, and Groundhog Day.  I mean, come on.  (Also:  I will be adding True Grit to that ginormous TBR!)

3)  Ok, another Tumblr: Hate the Future.  This one is by a college friend of mine, Miles Klee.   Each post is like a tiny little dystopia in a few lines and usually an image.  He's also got a book out that I'm super excited about (I will be McNally Jackson this weekend picking up my copy, I swear!) called Ivyland.

4) I'm Here, I'm Queer, What the H*ll Do I Read?  Lee Wind maintains a really great reading list of books for teens featuring LGBTQ characters, and he also offers thoughts about all things LGBTQ and/or writing related. 

I'm gonna call it a day here--you're all awesome, but I don't want to induce blog award fatigue.  I leave you with this picture from my weekend project to CLEAN ALL THE THINGS AND SORT ALL THE BOOKS.  (Don't be too alarmed--in the middle of that pile is my coffee table.  So it's not all books.)