Special A, vol. 12 by Maki Minami

This series about a group of over-achieving high school students always make me feel like a total slacker, so I figured staring with this one would help motivate me for a 24-hour project.  I'ts been a few months since I read vol. 11 and I'm very grateful for Minami's cast of characters at the beginning of each book.  I love reading the Japanese names in "real" manga, although the nicknames, honorifics, and switching between first and last names gets confusing.  For example: Hikari Hanazono could be called Hikari by family, Hanazono by friends, Hikari-chan  by her best friend, and Hana-san by classmates who need her help.Four names and variations of those for one character - and this manga has 10 main characters so far.  Add reading right-to-left to the mix and you get why reading manga after reading a "regular" book is like switching to an analog watch after using a digital one.  Sometimes I think I can feel the gears in my brain shifting. :-)

This volume's story lines were pretty convoluted with the main story line (of Kei's grandfather pressuring him to leave Japan and, more importantly, Hikari in order to take over the family company in London) not continuing until the final third of the book.  There's one truly beautiful moment where kids from a rival school threaten Hikari (the heroine) as a way to get to Kei (the hero) as they see her as his only weakness. Kei complete turns the tables on them, leaving the bad guys knocked to the ground begging for mercy. In a great frame series with blazing eyes and flowing hair from both hero and heroine, Kei informs the trouble-makers "Who said Hikari's my weakness?  Hikari makes me a thousand times stronger."  Sniffle.

Read-A-Thon: Starting Out

So at 8 AM I snuggled into my reading pillow in bed with my read-a-thon breakfast of champions: a cup of black tea with cardamom and a bowl of mashed potatoes.  As I clicked on the bedside lamp, I announced to my still-in-bed-enjoying-his-Saturday-morning husband, "The Read-A-Thon is now in progress!"  "Great," he mumbled as he pulled the covers over his head, "Now you better not interrupt me while I cheer you on over here."  Fantastic start! :-)

Read-A-Thon Hour 1 Intro

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Virginia Beach, VA

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Sweet Deception by Heather Snow - it has been so hard to not start this book early!

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
The curried lentil stew I made last night after reading the blogs warning about needing real food on hand. Thank you, read-a-thon veterans!

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
Ummm, I like to read?  Well, you probably figured that out! Ok, I LOVE reading!  And my husband and my son.  And video games and hiking and kayaking, although I do way less of the last two since I started becoming allergic to everything.  S'okay though, I'll ALWAYS have books.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
This is my first read-a-thon, and I'm most looking forward to getting some of these books of my to-read list.  I'm also looking forward to bragging about participating in the read-a-thon. ;-)

It's Tomorrow!! <-again, not a book title

The 24-Hour Read-a-Thon starts tomorrow at 8 AM.  My nook is stocked and ready!

I've had several people ask me how many books I can read in 24 hours of straight reading - I really don't know!  I do have several manga books which are faster reads, so I'll at least read those 5.  I'm thinking of using my completed amount as a base line for raising money in October's Read-a-Thon.  For example, people could pledge a dollar or two for every book I read over my April number.  The Read-A-Thon recommends donating any money raised to literacy programs or your local library.

I do have a scheduled long break in the evening tomorrow because Dr. Who is on at 8 PM - this is date night for me and my husband.  If it's a re-run then I've agreed to keep our date by watching an episode of Black Books, which is perfect as it's set in a bookstore.

I keep telling myself to get some sleep but I know I'll just lie there checking my clock every hour to count down the time to 8 AM.  Squeee!!

Coming Saturday, April 27 <- not a book title!

Next Saturday is the bi-annual Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon.  I'll be participating for the first time and I'm so excited!!   Start times vary by time zone - I'll be starting at 8 am and reading until 8 am the next morning.  At least that's the plan.  My husband swears he'll cheer me on and keep his our son occupied.  I've got my bedside to-read shelf stocked, including 8 "can't-wait-to-read" book.

My bookshelf:

My can't-wait-to-read books are:

• Time Was Soft There by Jeremy Mercer

• Chocolat by Joanne Harris

• Renegade by Lora Leigh

• The Barbed Rose by Gail Dayton

• Sweet Deception by Heather Snow

• A Wild Pursuit by Eloisa James

• Fool for Love by Eloisa James

• Your Wicked Ways by Eloisa James

I want to finish at least two of these completely.  I'm also getting the next few books in the manga series I'm currently reading: Wild Ones by Kiyo Fujiwara,  Dramacon by Svetlana Chmakova, and Special A by Minami Maki.  The idea is to keep myself motivated by having short, fun books to check off the hours with (no Proust here).  I can't wait!

Amazing Grace by Megan Shull

4 out of 5 stars

Excellent, clean young adult fiction that gently covered issues of mental health, teen drinking, and environmentalism.  And it's set in Alaska!  I don't know why but I love Alaska books.  This is weird even to me.... One less than 5 stars because of the requisite teen angst (it is young adult fiction) I'm very very thankful to be past at this point in my life.

The Book of New Family Traditions by Meg Cox

5 out 5 stars

This book is basically a collection of briefly presented ideas for making memories and rituals out of both every-day and special occasions. I especially appreciated the ideas for memorializing a child's first day of school, giving a child both a new privilege and a new responsibility every birthday, and the section for traditions specific to adopted children. I also really like how easy to find event-related ideas are in this book. This one's been permanently added to our family bookshelf.

No Escape by Shannon K. Butcher

3 out of 5 stars

I think anyone who likes romantic suspense will enjoy this book, but I personally thought the suspense levels were too high due to too many people trying to kill the heroine. Because of this, I couldn't appreciate any romantic tension between the hero and heroine. I do like that the author brought up the issue of foster care and the children in it - I just hope readers with less exposure to it than myself come away convinced that good foster parents are desperately needed and can make a world of difference rather than that foster kids will possibly grow up to be murderous psychopaths.

Better Than Peanut Butter & Jelly by Marty Mattare & Wendy Muldawer

4 out of 5 stars

The most useful parts of this book to me were the chapters on the nutritional needs of vegetarian children, list of animal-free protien options, and "quick substitutions" chart.

Clean Food by Terry Walters

3 out of 5 stars

There are numerous unusual ingredients used in this cookbook but the author doesn't tell you where to get them or what they look like and I don't see how using imported specialty items is eating close to the source. Also there are no photographs of either ingredients or finished dishes. I was happy with how many of the recipes were gluten-free and most dishes do sound yummy, like Tofu Pumpkin Pie with Gingersnap Crust which we added to our very small list of dairy- and gluten-free Thanksgiving pie options (our local grocers carries gluten-free gingersnaps).