Found a poem!

Love it, love it, love it!! :)

nobody but you
by Charles Bukowski

nobody can save you but
yourself.
you will be put again and again
into nearly impossible
situations.
they will attempt again and again
through subterfuge, guise and
force
to make you submit, quit and/or die quietly
inside.

nobody can save you but
yourself
and it will be easy enough to fail
so very easily
but don't, don't, don't.
just watch them.
listen to them.
do you want to be like that?
a faceless, mindless, heartless
being?
do you want to experience
death before death?

nobody can save you but
yourself
and you're worth saving.
it's a war not easily won
but if anything is worth winning then
this is it.

think about it.
think about saving your self.
your spiritual self.
your gut self.
your singing magical self and
your beautiful self.
save it.
don't join the dead-in-spirit.

maintain your self
with humor and grace
and finally
if necessary
wager your life as you struggle,
damn the odds, damn
the price.

only you can save your
self.

do it! do it!

then you'll know exactly what
I am talking about.

For my Papa

Dear Papa,

I found a book that I think you would have really enjoyed. I remember how much you loved Wile E. Coyote from the Loony Tunes cartoons. We used to watch them together when I was little and you and Grammie would babysit me.

I found The ACME Catalog! It shows, in full color with lots of fun descriptions, many of the purchases that Wile E. Coyote made in the cartoons! It was so much fun. My favorite was the bat costume. Do you remember that episode?

I wish that you were still alive so that I could have shared it with you. I think you would have laughed quite a bit. But, I am glad that I was able to enjoy it and think fondly of you. I miss you very much.

Wherever you might be, if you have access to books (and I hope you do), please see if you can find it. Read it and think of your favorite granddaughter.

Love always,
Dawn

books i've read february 2010

2.2.10

• Death by Bikini by Linda Gerber (YA)

2.3.10

• Polo and Lily by Regis Faller (PB)
• Polo and the Magic Flute by Regis Faller (PB)
• Fifty Shoes That Changed the World by Design Museum (A-NF)
• A Shadow Falls by Nick Brandt (A-NF)
• Cat's Eye Corner by Terry Griggs (Y)

2.4.10

• Fifty Dresses That Changed the World by Design Museum (A-NF)

2.5.10

• Pride by Rachel Vincent (A)

2.6.10

• Snake and Lizard by Joy Cowley & Gavin Bishop (Y)
• Orange by Benjamin (GN)
• Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde: The Devoted Friend and the Rose and the Nightingale by Oscar Wilde & P. Craig Russell (GN)
• American Virgin: Wet by Steven T. Seagle, Becky Cloonan, & Jim Rugg (GN)
• American Virgin: Going Down by Steven T. Seagle, Becky Cloonan, & Ryan Kelly (GN)
• American Virgin: Head by Steven T. Seagle, Becky Cloonan, & Jim Rugg (GN)

2.8.10

• Death by Latte by Linda Gerber (YA)
• American Virgin: Around the World by Steven T. Seagle, Becky Cloonan, Ryan Kelly, & Jim Rugg (GN)

2.9.10

• Bear-ology: Fascinating Bear Facts, Tales & Trivia by Sylvia Dolson (A-NF)

2.10.10

• Tempted by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast (YA)

2.11.10

• The Legend of Ninja Cowboy Bear by David Bruins & Hilary Leung (PB)
• Panda & Polar Bear by Matthew J. Baek (PB)
• The Marvelous Misadventures of...Fun-Boy by Ralph Cosentino (PB)
• Buddha #2: The Four Encounters by Osamu Tezuka (GN)
• Today I Will: A Year of Quotes, Notes, and Promises to Myself by Eileen Spinelli & Jerry Spinelli (YA-NF)

2.12.10

• Gone Is Gone or the Story of a Man Who Wanted to Do Housework by Wanda Gag (Y)
• The Festival of Bones / El Festival de las Calaveras by Luis San Vincente (PB)
• Love Is a Special Way of Feeling by Joan Walsh Anglund (PB)
• Hawk, I'm Your Brother by Byrd Baylor & Peter Parnall (PB)
• Extra! Extra! Fairy-Tale News from Hidden Forest by Alma Flor Ada & Leslie Tryon (PB)
• Rabbit Goes to Kansas by Deborah L. Duvall & Murv Jacob (PB)
• Rabbit and the Fingerbone Necklace by Deborah L. Duvall & Murv Jacob (PB)

2.13.10

• Famous Last Words: Fond Farewells, Deathbed Diatribes, and Exclamations Upon Expiration edited by Ray Robinson (A-NF)
• The Silver Door by Terry Griggs (Y)
  

2.14.10

• The Wild Things by Dave Eggers (A)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney (Y)

2.15.10

• Buddha #3: Devadatta by Osamu Tezuka (GN)

2.16.10

• The Weiser Field Guide to Ghosts: Apparitions, Spirits, Spectral Lights, and Other Hauntings of History and Legend by Raymond Buckland (A-NF)

2.17.10

• School of Fear by Ditty Daneshvari (Y)
• Walter: The Story of a Rat by Barbara Wersba & Donna Diamond (Y)

2.18.10

• Buddha #4: The Forest of Uruvela by Osamu Tezuka (GN)

2.19.10

• Buddha #5: Deer Park by Osamu Tezuka (GN)

2.20.10

• Unshapely Things by Mark Del Franco (A)
• The Vampire Hunter's Handbook: A Field Guide to the Paranormal by Erin Slonaker (YA-NF)
• The Witch's Handbook: A Field Guide to Magic by Rachel Dickinson (YA-NF)

2.21.10

• Buddha #6: Ananda by Osamu Tezuka (GN)
• Keeping It Real by Justina Robson (A)

2.23.10

• Wink: The Ninja Who Wanted to Be Noticed by J.C. Phillips (PB)
• The Library Dragon by Carmen Agra Deedy & Michael P. White (PB)
• The Oxford Project by Peter Feldstein & Stephen G. Bloom (A-NF)
• Rosario + Vampire #9 by Akihisa Ikeda (M)

2.25.10

• Buddha #7: Prince Ajatasattu by Osamu Tezuka (GN)
• Sticks and Stones by Beth Goobie (YA)
• Fatal Charm by Linda Joy Singleton (YA)

2.28.10

• Sucks to Be Me: The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (Maybe) by Kimberly Pauley (YA)

02.10 total: 53

6 young adult fiction; 13 picture books; 7 adult non fiction; 7 youth fiction; 4 adult fiction; 12 graphic novels; 3 young adult non fiction; 1 manga

books i've read january 2010

1.1.10

• Revealers by Amanda Marrone (YA)
• Bloggrls: sistrsic92 (Meg) by Cheryl Dellasega (YA)

1.3.10

• The School for Dangerous Girls by Eliot Schrefer (YA)

1.4.10

• Grimspace by Ann Aguirre (A)

1.5.10

• Dead Girl Dancing by Linda Joy Singleton (YA)

1.6.10

• Princess Ai #2 by Misaho Kujiradou, Courtney Love, & D.J. Milky (M)
• Savvy by Ingrid Law (Y)
• Mercy Thompson: Homecoming by Patricia Biggs, David Lawrence, Francis Tsai, & Amelia Woo (GN)
• Princess Ai: Rumors from the Other Side by Courtney Love, D.J. Milky & edited by Rob Tokar, Rie Shiramizu, & Troy Lewter (M)
• Nemi by Lise Myhre (GN)
• Passive Aggressive Notes: Painfully Polite and Hilariously Hostile Writings by Kerry Miller (A-NF)

1.7.10

• Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines (YA)
• Love the One You're With by Annabelle Vestry (YA)

1.8.10

• Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist: Flight of the Phoenix by R.L. LaFevers & Kelly Murphy (Y)
• Inside the Mind of Gideon Rayburn by Sarah Miller (YA)

1.9.10

• I Can't Keep My Own Secrets: Six-Word Memoirs by Teens Famous & Obscure edited by Rachel Fershleiser & Larry Smith (A-NF)
• Dogs & Devotion by The Monks of New Skete (A-NF)
• The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack by Nicholas Gurewitch & the Perry Bible Fellowship (GN)

1.10.10

• Mail #1 by Housai Yamazaki (M)
• Devious by Cecily von Zeigesar (YA)

1.11.10

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: A Graphic Novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir, & Kevin Cornell (GN)
• Tokyo Mew Mew #2 by Mia Ikumi & Reiko Yoshida (M)
• Untamed by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast (YA)

1.12.10

• Royal Blood by Ellen Schreiber (YA)
• PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God edited by Frank Warren (A-NF)
• Mail #2 by Housai Yamazaki (M)
• Tokyo Mew Mew #3 by Mia Ikumi & Reiko Yoshida (M)
• Because I Am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas (YA)

1.13.10

• Never After by Laurell K. Hamilton, Yasmine Galenorn, Marjorie M. Liu, & Sharon Shinn (A)
• 50 Things You're Not Supposed to Know by Russ Kick (A-NF)
• Buddha #1 by Osami Tezuka (GN)

1.14.10

• Miss Smith and the Haunted Library by Michael Garland (PB)
• Polo and the Dragon by Regis Faller (PB)
• Red Handed by Gena Showalter (YA)

1.15.10

• Embrace the Grim Reaper by Judy Clemens (A)
  

1.17.10

• Pretty Dead by Francesca Lia Block (YA)
• Hunted by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast (YA)

1.18.10

• The Cult of Thinness by Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber (A-NF)

1.19.10

• ghostgirl: Homecoming by Tonya Hurley (YA)

1.20.10

• The Weiser Field Guide to Vampires: Legends, Practices, and Encounters Old and New by J.M. Dixon (A-NF)

1.21.10

• Blacklisted by Gena Showalter (YA)
• Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw (GN)
• Jessica Farm #1 by Josh Simmons (GN)
• House by Josh Simmons (GN)
• Skippyjon Jones...Lost in Spice by Judy Schachner (PB)

1.22.10

• How to Be a Cowboy by Jim Arndt (A-NF)
• Bizarre Superstitions: The World's Wackiest Proverbs, Rituals, and Beliefs by Christopher Cooper (A-NF)
• Isis by Douglas Clegg (A)

1.23.10

• Vamped by Lucienne Diver (YA)

1.24.10

• Polo and the Magician! by Regis Faller (PB)

1.26.10

• The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz (YA)

1.27.10

• How to Catch and Keep a Vampire: A Step-by-Step Guide to Loving the Bad and the Beautiful by Diana Laurence (A-NF)

1.28.10

• GoldenGirl by Micol Ostow (YA)

1.29.10

• A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na (PB)
• The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz (A-NF)

1.30.10

• Second Skin by Jessica Wollman (YA)

1.31.10

• Dead Girl in Love by Linda Joy Singleton (YA)

01.10 total: 57

21 young adult fiction; 4 adult fiction; 6 manga; 2 youth fiction; 8 graphic novels; 11 adult non fiction; 5 picture books

total books read in 2009!

2009 total: 655

174 picture books
145 manga
136 young adult fiction
54 graphic novels
52 youth fiction
44 adult non fiction
33 adult fiction
16 youth non fiction
1 young adult non fiction

Not quite as prolific this year. I'm going to blame that on school. :) My best month was April with 91 books and the worst was October with 26. Let's hope I can beat 655 for 2010! ;)

For comparison, I present 2008, 2007, & 2006! 2007 & 2008 were good years--and clearly, you can see I had no social life. :)

2008 total: 1151
380 manga
233 graphic novels
204 picture books
131 young adult fiction
62 youth fiction
47 adult non fiction
42 comics
31 adult fiction
18 youth non ficiton
3 young adult non fiction

2007 total: 1118
433 manga
269 picture books
158 graphic novels
79 young adult fiction
68 adult non fiction
60 youth fiction
38 adult fiction
10 youth non fiction
2 young adult non fiction
1 zine

2006 total: 263
85 graphic novels
84 manga
34 adult fiction
20 young adult fiction
18 youth fiction
11 picture books
10 adult non fiction

Books from Michigan

By the way, I did find that book, Marked. It was not in a black hole. It was in a place I didn't look because I was SURE that I hadn't even stopped there the night I lost it (i.e., the couch in my parents' basement). My dad found it. :) And I finished the book while I was in Michigan.

A funny library story from while I was in Michigan visiting family. The Grand Haven library, the Loutit District Library has recently been rebuilt. I hadn't been in the new library until I visited this time. A friend of my parents' works there. So, one day, when my dad was home from work, we went to the library after lunch. We wanted to see our friend and my dad hadn't seen the new library.

By the way, the library is beautiful! I wish I lived in Grand Haven again so I could go there all the time. :)

Our friend wasn't back from lunch yet, so I made my dad wander with me. And of course, I found some interesting books I wanted to read! I asked my dad if he had a library card and he said no. So I asked him to go get one so I could get some books out! I had read through nearly all of the books I had brought with me. And I found some really awesome doggie art type books (These Were Our Dogs and Lost). My dad, who is the awesomest, went and got a library card. :) Isn't that funny?

So, that was my Michigan vacation. Well, that and the three days I spent in airports because my flights kept getting delayed. I read a lot.

Happy New Year, everyone!

books i've read december 2009

12.1.09

• The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service #9 by Eiji Otsuka & Housui Yamazaki (M)
• Cy-Believers #1 by Shioko Mizuki (M)

12.3.09

• Huge by Sasha Paley (YA)
• The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo (Y)
• Up All Night by Peter Abrahams, Libba Bray, David Levithan, Patricia McCormick, Sarah Weeks, & Gene Luen Yang (YA)

12.4.09

• Zoobreak by Gordon Korman (Y)
• Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter (YA)

12.5.09

• Boys Are Stupid, Throw Rocks at Them by Todd Harris Goldman (A-NF)
• How to Take Over teh Wurld: A Lolcat Guide 2 Winning by Professor Happycat & icanhascheezburger.com (A-NF)
• Bindi Babes by Narinder Dhami (Y)

12.7.09

• Blue Moon by Alyson Noel (YA)

12.8.09

• I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child (PB)
• Which Witch's Wand Works? by Poly Bernatene (PB)
• Little Oink by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Jen Corace (PB)
• Chicken Dance by Tammi Sauer & Dan Santat (PB)

12.9.09

• Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now by Gordon Livingston (A-NF)

12.13.09

• The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading by Charity Tahmaseb & Darcy Vance (YA)

12.16.09

• Suspicion by Kate Brian (YA)

12.17.09

• Political Issues in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Series edited by Dedria Bryfonski (A-NF)

12.18.09

• Lost: Lost and Found Pet Posters from Around the World by Ian Phillips (A-NF)
• These Were Our Dogs by Libby Hall (A-NF)
• Marked by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast (YA)

12.19.09

• Alibi Junior High by Greg Logsted (Y)
• Bleach #29 by Tite Kubo (M)
• X-Men Misfits #1 by Raina Telgemeier, Dave Roman, & Anzu (M)
• Give Up the Ghost by Megan Crewe (YA)

12.20.09

• The Resilient Clinician by Robert J. Wicks (A-NF)

12.22.09

• Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris (A)

12.23.09

• The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (YA)

12.24.09

• Betrayed by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast (YA)
• Devoured by Amanda Marrone (YA)
• The Wallflower #21 by Tomoko Hayakawa (M)

12.25.09

• How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity edited by Michael Cart (YA)

12.28.09

• I Can Has Cheezburger?: A Lolcat Colleckshun by Professor Happycat & icanhascheezburger.com (A-NF)
• Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong by Jen Yates (A-NF)

12.29.09

• Princess Hyacinth (the Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated) by Florence Parry Heide & Lane Smith (PB)
• Wicked: Witch & Curse by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie (YA)

12.30.09

• Spirits, Fairies, and Merpeople: Native Stories of Other Worlds by C.J. Taylor (Y)
• Random House Treasury of Favorite Love Poems, 2nd Ed. revised by Natalia Sucre (A-NF)
• Princess Ai #1 by Misaho Kujiradou, Courtney Love, & D.J. Milky (M)

12.31.09

• The Center of the Universe: Yep, That Would Be Me by Anita Liberty (YA)
• Tokyo Mew Mew #1 by Mia Ikumi & Reiko Yoshida (M)

12.09 total: 42

7 manga; 14 young adult fiction; 5 youth; 10 adult non fiction; 5 picture books; 1 adult fiction