Book #7: How to Bulid a House

by Dana Reinhardt. Tennessee! Power tools! Rebuilding! Houses (duh)! Teens falling in love combined with extreme heat in a Tennessee summer= on hot book.*chortle* Aww-ness happened in this book. The kind that responds to cute things. But it (power tools etc) had amazing interconnected-ness with the rest of Harper's life! Yay :D

Book #6: The Realm of Possibility

by David Levithan. This book was written in free verse, so at first glance it looks like a book of poems. But free verse enabled the author to capture the beauty and individuality of the 20 young people he writes as, and the book was gorgeous. It was such a breath of fresh air from the normal restraints of chapter-formatted fiction, and I loved it. I got the book at the Sonoma County Free Bookmobile, after I went with my church youth group to visit and donate loads of books. The cover was so pretty (turquoise and orange) that I couldn't resist.  Such fun we had! Here's a link to their website : http://sonomacountybookmobile.org/. They're a great organization, and they give away books to people all over Sonoma County who can't make it to the library.

Book #5: The Mysterious Benedict Society

by Trenton Lee Stewart. Ohmigoodness. I absolutely love reading books aimed at readers younger than me. This one was so much fun! What could be better than a gang of unique child geniuses? Plus there's the fact that it involves twins in any way at all... :) Read it! I've been being told to read this book for say, five years? A long time. I finally got around to it, yay me!

Book #4: Year of Wonders

by Geraldine Brooks. Okay, so this was an assigned book for school. But really, I deserve credit for this one. Even though it was about the black plague (ewww), it was an amazing book. I actually enjoyed it, and I though I wouldn't at all... shows to go ya.

#3: Look Me in the Eye

by John Elder Robison. Ohmigoodness. This was by far the best book I've read for school. An eye-opening autobiography of a man with Asperger's disorder, and how he dealt with being different (and brilliant). He designed all those fire-breathing guitars for KISS!! I read this in like 3 hours it was so excellent and engaging. That usually doesn't happen with autobiographies for me.

Other Things I Love

Other than reading, there are many things I love. I feel the need to warn you of these so perhaps you will be better prepared for my ramblings about these seemingly unrelated subjects.

• I love crochet. It is my firm belief that crocheting is not only for old ladies, but something that is beneficial to everyone. Beware though, of the large amounts of money you will inevitably spend on nice yarn. 
• I love baking. Now, at this point, you're probably thinking that I'm really an elderly grandmotherly like woman who feels the need to pretend that she is a young girl. This, I am not. Baking makes me happy, and it's a great way for me to relive myself of stress.
• I also love drawing, it is something that I recently discovered I was good at, and I really enjoy it. 

So there you have it. Consider yourself forewarned of the ramblings that will ensue.

Book #2: The 10 p.m. Question

by Kate De Goldi. I started reading this book about 3 months ago, and decided to dig my heels in and finish it today. So I did. It's such a thought provoking book, but it took me (evidently) a long time to get through it. I love the general British-ness of the setting. British books make me unreasonably happy for some reason. Anyhoo, I really enjoyed it once I got into it. It has such a quirky storyline... which pretty much means I love it.