Over the weekend I got an unexpected burst of industriousness and decided to do my taxes. Weird, I know. I don't know if it was the late hour I was doing them at, my early morning class, or complete stupidity, but once I finished inputting all my numbers I saw that I did not have a refund coming back like I expected, but instead owed the state of Illinois $1,300.

Cue heart attack.

After wondering briefly to myself whether or not I could pound on my chest to keep my heart going and call 911 at the same time, I took a couple of very deep breaths and went back to the computer to see if I could figure out what the problem was. It took a few minutes, but I did figure out where I screwed up. You'll be happy to know that I do not owe $1,300. Whew.

I've learned my lesson though. Slacking has kept me alive for many years. I owe it to myself (and to slacking) to continue being a slacker.

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Hi. My name is Kelly, and I'm an ADD reader.

Or at least this week I have been. I've admitted to reading more than one book at a time on several occasions, but this week I've been really bad about doing that. Out of the five books I have started this week, only one is completely finished while another two I have a couple of chapters to go on. To be fair, the two I have only a few chapters left to read would be finished if I would have had power on Wednesday night (an SUV smashed into a pole right near my apartment in the LG. We had no power for about six hours.).

The one book I did finish reading was Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell. It was a forensic mystery that I read for my RA class, and while I enjoyed it I don't think I enjoyed it enough to motivate me to read other titles from the Kay Scarpetta series. Although now that I have read my first forensic mystery I think I would like to give Kathy Reichs a try. I'll need to work Deja Dead into my reading schedule soon.

I am almost finished with The Oldest Kind of Magic by Ann Macela, a paranormal romance that features practitioners: a group of people who use magic and spells to do their everyday jobs. The main character, Daria Morgan, is a burned out management consultant. Taking a lengthy break from work after three difficult cases, all Daria wants is to relax and recharge her magical battery. CEO John "Bent" Benthausen, however, is in desperate need of her services. Normally an expert at turning around troubled companies, Bent finds himself struggling to turnaround his company's latest acquisition. Initially Daria refuses to take Bent on as a client, but when things at the company turn ugly and threats are made against her, Daria can't help but get involved. But getting to the bottom of what is troubling Bent's company is the least of Daria's worries. You see for Daria there is the little problem of the soulmate imperative, an ancient force that brings a practitioner together with their soulmate (whether they like it or not). When it appears that Bent might be her soulmate, Daria is faced with more than one challenge. Does she really believe that the soulmate imperative exists? And if it does how does she explain that to Bent?

There is so much about this book I am enjoying: great lead and supporting characters, fresh twist on a paranormal element, a touch of suspense. The Oldest Kind of Magic has a little bit of everything to please most romance readers, but what pleased me the most as a reader (and I know this is going to sound strange) was the pacing of the story. It felt natural, not rushed. And that in itself was incredibly refreshing. My only complaint is that I want more practitioner books, but according to the author's website her next book will not be part of this world. Grrr.

The other book I am almost finished with is The Butcher of Beverly Hills by Jennifer Colt. Identical twins Kerry and Terry McAfee have nothing in common except their looks and the business they run, Double Indemnity Investigations. As a favor to their aunt they agree to help her socialite friend Lenore recover the $10,000 Lenore's husband Mario absconded with. That should be simple enough to do, right? But a little digging shows that there is more to the story than just the missing money, and as dead bodies start to pile up the twins realize that they've gotten themselves into a situation that they may not survive.

A Chick Lit mystery with strong characters and lots of humorous dialogue and situations, readers who enjoy light mysteries like the Stephanie Plum books will enjoy this one. This book is the first in a trilogy, with the second installment (The Mangler of Malibu Canyon) available in June. Consider that a heads up if you are working on your summer reading list. I know the sequel will be making mine. :-)

Now it's your turn. What have you been reading this week?

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Today The Krafty Librarian has a post discussing the new iTunes U. It is an interesting post and I encourage anyone who is teaching or taking classes to check it out.

While Krafty encourages librarians to not let the podcasting train pass them by (which I totally agree with), this post mainly caught my interest as an educator. I've been teaching for almost six years now, and in that time I have taught my classes in a variety of ways. I've had students in person, I've taught students via teleconferencing, and I've taught students online. While each variation has had its pros and cons, it seems more and more that students prefer to have remote access to course materials. With students able to download and listen to lectures whenever they desire, is the in-person class a thing of the past? Also, now that there is a video iPod how long will it be before instructors are asked to record not only an audio version of their lecture, but a video one as well?

Looks like I need to dig out the digital camera and brush up my video production skills.

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Tonight is my Reader Advisory class. Woooooooo! Okay, that was a scary Ric Flair moment there. Sorry about that.

Anyway, tonight the genre we will be discussing is Mystery. I read a type of mystery that I normally wouldn't read, so it has left me with a whole bunch of questions I normally wouldn't have. Funny how trying new things does that. For this week's discussion I read Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell, the first book in her Dr. Kay Scarpetta series. Because I'm the lazy blogger this morning, here's the blurb from the publisher:

Under cover of night in Richmond, Virginia, a human monster strikes, leaving a gruesome trail of stranglings that has paralyzed the city. Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta suspects the worst: a deliberate campaign by a brilliant serial killer whose signature offers precious few clues. With an unerring eye, she calls on the latest advances in forensic research to unmask the madman. But this investigation will test Kay like no other, because it's being sabotaged from within and someone wants her dead.

For a forensic mystery it wasn't as gruesome as I was expecting it to be. There were lots of detailed descriptions, but none of them were stomach churning (so that was good). This book was originally published in 1990, and to me it hasn't aged well. Initially when I saw a mention of a floppy disk or new fangled technology called DNA I thought to myself, "How cute. Look how far we've come." But as the story went on and I got more involved in the book, every mention of the outdated science/technology they were using was jarring and took me out of the story (which is probably not the reading experience the author intended me to have).

Which leads me to my big question of the day (the one my students will be hit with later tonight): whenever we talk about genre fiction we normally talk about the conventions and definitions of that genre. Acknowledging this, are there certain genres or subgenres that will not stand the test of time because of the conventions placed on them? Publishers, booksellers, and librarians love to slap a genre label on a book because that is what helps us sell it. Are we doing these books (and subsequently our readers) a disservice by making books meet certain requirements to be considered a forensic mystery, a cozy mystery, etc.? Or maybe we should take those conventions into consideration when it comes to making a recommendation. For example, while I might recommend Patricia Cornwell to someone who enjoys watching CSI, after reading Postmortem I would probably suggest they start with her newer novels because of the aging factor (even though the books she writes are a series).

I've got questions people. Lots and lots of questions. And absolutely no answers.

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Today the American Library Association announced their 2006 award winners. Among the authors/books honored:

• Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins was awarded the John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature.
• The Hello, Goodbye Window, illustrated by Chris Raschka, was awarded the Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children.
• Jacqueline Woodson was awarded the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults.

What has me doing the happy dance though, is that John Green was awarded the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults for his novel Looking for Alaska. I loooooooved Looking for Alaska. If you like YA literature and haven't read it, get yourself to a library and check it out. You won't be disappointed.

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A friend sent me this link, and I just have to share. Every wondered what your favorite author's work space looks like? Check out The Writer's Cave. After seeing Jennifer Crusie's desk, I don't feel so bad about how messy mine is.

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Today's post kicks off something I hope will become a regular Friday feature. Each week I will attempt to share whatever I've been reading. Some weeks will be better than others as the books I am reading for my RA class will impact my leisure reading.

This week in particular has not been a spectacular week for reading, but I'm very happy with the novel I managed to finish last night. After waiting forever for a copy to become available, I finally got my hands on Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris. Grave Sight is the first in a series of books that are centered around Harper Connelly, a young woman who was struck by lightning as a teenager and now has the ability to sense dead people. Not only can Harper sense a corpse, but she can also relive their last moment. Harper, with the assistance of her step-brother Tolliver, makes her living by using her gift to locate the dead for a fee (making her a pariah in most people's eyes). In this introductory novel Harper is called to a rural town in Arkansas to locate the body of a missing teenage girl, but before she knows it Harper and her brother become entangled in the investigation of a string in deaths.

Overall I enjoyed Grave Sight. While the strange relationship between Harper and Tolliver is one I am looking forward to seeing explained/fleshed out in future books, it is the voice of the main character that I think will resonate the most with readers. Harper is so honest and straightforward in how she views the world around her, that a reader can't help but be drawn in by her. My only complaint about the book would be that even after finishing the book I felt like there was still so much about Harper Connelly that I didn't know. Stuff I want to know. Which is probably the author's intent, as it guarantees that I will be reading the sequel when it comes out later this year. :-)

What have you been reading this week?

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Last night was my first night teaching this semester's Reader Advisory class. It was a bit odd at first as over half the students had just been in class with me a few weeks ago. Usually they get a quarter off from me before they have me again, but this switch to semesters pretty much means all Kelly all the time for some. Poor students. At least I'm nicer in this class than I am in the Reference class.

Overall they appear to be a nice group of chatty kids, so it will be interesting to see how the discussions compare to the discussions I had with last year's group. I don't like to play favorites, but it is pretty hard to beat last year's RA class. That was hands down the best group of students I've ever had.

There was one strange thing about the class though. I have a guy in it who is the spitting image of James Frey. Seriously. I kept glancing over at him every few minutes. He probably thinks I have Tourette's, but I couldn't help it. I had to look. Must get that under control before next week's class when we discuss mysteries. I'll let you know how that goes. :-)

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I resisted the urge to post about the new season of 24 yesterday, so I could wait and talk about the full four hour premiere all in one post. If you are a fan of the show and haven't had a chance to watch all four hours of the new season yet, stop reading now. I don't want to spoil the beauty of all things Jack for you.

There was so much that happened in the first four hours (heck, the first fifteen minutes!), that I could in no way even attempt to recap what happened. If you want recap action, I highly suggest you go here. What I will do, however, is share with you some of the highlights:

1) Chloe got a booty call! And yes, it is a little suspicious that this happened the night before all hell breaks loose, but we'll assume Spencer isn't a CTU mole -- yet. Poor Edgar though. You just know this is breaking his heart.

2) Remember how much we all hated President Logan last season? We get to hate him now even more now. He reminds me of petulant toddler or Jan Brady. How dare David Palmer get assassinated today, it was suppose to be my special day and he just ruined everything. David, David, David. Why does he get all the attention?

3) As much as I hate President Logan, I am loving his crazy wife. In a mere four hours we've already seen a selection of Martha's greatest hits: Don't like your hair and make-up? Dunk your head in a sink full of water. Secret Service won't let you have your way? Tell them you will have them and their family eating dog food out of the can. Need access to a secured room to swipe a transcript and some flunky won't give you his access card? Unbutton your blouse and threaten to scream rape. Martha might be crazy, but she knows how to get stuff done.

4) There is a new Kim in town, and his name is Derek. We need the cougar from season two to come back and eat him stat.

5) Best line of the premiere: ""You're going to tell me what I want to know. It's just a question of how much you want it to hurt." Runner-up: "The only reason you're still conscious is because I don't want to carry you." I need a calendar of Jack Bauer-isms

6) The Jack Love is back, and everyone is feeling it. Chloe sees Jack and immediately runs to give him a hug. Audrey hears Jack's voice on the phone and gets all schmoopy faced. Wayne thinks that Jack is the one who killed his brother, yet minutes later he's distracting agents so Jack can escape. Even Derek who hates Jack at the beginning of the day (because Jack is probably shagging his mom) can't wait to jump into Jack's arms for a teary eyed "thank you for saving my life and I want you to be my new daddy" type hug. What can cause such a turnaround in only a few short hours? The Jack Love -- it's that powerful.

And the characters are not alone in feeling the Jack Love. Mike posted a selection of haikus on his blog in honor of the show's return. It should be noted that Mike is the straightest of straight men, but he did admit to me last night on the phone that if given the opportunity he would spoon with Jack Bauer. That is the overwhelming power of the Jack Love. You've got a better chance of resisting The Borg than you do the Jack Love.

Four hours down, twenty to go. Sadly, they will fly by way too fast.

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On Wednesday, Angie W. kicked up quite the controversy over on Romancing the Blog with her post, A Question of Credibility. In the post Angie raised the question of credibility on review websites as well as on Amazon. It is an interesting post and I encourage everyone to read through it and the resulting comments.

In addition to spawning a lot of discussion on RTB, the topic has trickled over onto several other blogs including Dakota Cassidy's, HelenKay Dimon's, and Karen Scott's just to name a few. Even Candy over at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books joined in. I've neglected commenting on this topic what with my obsession with all things Frey, but I want to put my two cents in on this topic before it completely fizzles out.

I'm not going to debate the merits of reviews on Amazon or any other website that has reviews. Outside of my job where I am required to read reviews as part of my collection development duties, I normally do not consult a review before reading a book. Many years ago I got burned by a reviewer on Amazon who gave away a huge plot twist in a book I was going to read, and I've stayed away ever since. I am however interested in reading reader reviews after I've finished a book, mostly to see if readers took the same things from the book as I did.

What interests me most about this topic though is this: Why do real reader reviewers (not the readers who post solely out of spite) waste so much time and energy on something they hate? I'm not saying a person doesn't have the right to express their opinion, because they totally do. What I don't get is why people bother finishing a book that they absolutely hate. Unless your job is to review books, there is no need to finish a book that you think sucks donkey butt. There is a time and place for forcing yourself to finish a book you can't stand, and it is called college.

I'm probably in the minority, but when I read a bad reader review I don't really pay attention to their complaints about the book. All I can do is wonder why did they waste their time with it. There are so many good books out there to choose from, it makes me feel sorry for those people who punish themselves by reading a book they don't enjoy. The need to make yourself miserable is just something I'll never understand.

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I couldn't help it. I was compelled to tune in to see James Frey on Larry King Live last night. Actually, I missed the original showing as I was driving back from a meeting, but I caught it on the 11:00 p.m. replay and was highly entertained. A few thoughts:

1) Was Frey sedated before his appearance or is he still feeling the impact of all the drug and alcohol abuse? Either way, his overly calm demeanor and inability to express any real emotion was creeping me out.

2) How embarrassed was he having his mom sitting next to him and defending his actions? I know if I had been on Larry King Live to defend myself and my mother was sitting next to me, I would have been incredibly embarrassed. I probably would have been in a lot of pain too as I am 99.9% positive that Carol would have me face down on the desk, apologizing to Larry, Oprah, and readers across the world as she twisted my ear. For an old woman she is surprisingly strong.

3) Was anyone really surprised that Oprah supported him? If he goes down so does part of her "reader advisory" street cred. Which reminds. I was talking about this situation with one of my co-workers yesterday, and she wanted to know when Oprah was going to go on Larry King Live (or any show) and justify her ability to recommend a book. I know that she said that she bases her recommendations on her connection with the written word, but I believe the world deserves a better explanation than that. After all, a recommendation from Oprah means a lot more than a recommendation from me, the Smart Bitches, Super Librarian, Nancy Pearl, or whoever (not that I would class myself in the same category as these people -- they are way cooler). She has a power that a librarian can only dream of having, and as the world of Spiderman has taught me, with great power comes great responsibility.

4) Favorite Quotation #1: "Memoir -- the word literally means 'my story.' A memoir is a subjective retelling of events." Thank you for the definition Mr. Frey. I've got one for you. Subjective: modified or affected by personal views, experience, or background (taken from Merriam-Webster Online) . Please notice that the word fabricated is not used anywhere in the definition.

5) Favorite Quotation #2: "A memoir is within the genre of nonfiction. I don't think it's necessarily appropriate to say I've conned anyone. You know, the book is 432 pages long. The total page count of disputed events is 18, which is less than 5 percent of the total book. That falls comfortably within the realm of what's appropriate for a memoir." Seriously? You want to boil genre classification down to a mathematical equivalent? Can I do the same thing with all my non-fiction titles? I think Frey managed to turn my off of reading a biography, autobiography, or memoir ever again. While I am willing to accept the recreation of conversations that are more than likely not 100% accurate, the creation/fabrication of entire events to make yourself look better (or in Frey's case more like a badass) is sickening to me as a reader.

6) Best moment of the night: Frey did seem to come to life late in the show when he pointed to other authors who have experienced that same claims as him, namely Jerzy Kosinski who fell under heavy scrutiny when The Painted Bird was published (people making accusations that Kosinski had not experienced the Holocaust). Without missing beat Larry said, "And then he killed himself." Tee-hee.

I'm done. No more ranting from me. Promise. :-)

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I usually don't post about television shows (unless it relates my boyfriend Jack Bauer), but I wanted to mention that James Frey will be on Larry King Live tonight. I don't know how hard hitting Larry's questions will be, but there is bound to be a plethora of uncomfortable moments.

It'll be so good.

And before I forget, Oprah's pissed.

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It's probably considered old news by now, but if you haven't made your way over to The Smoking Gun to read their in-depth investigation into the veracity of James Frey's A Million Little Pieces then please do so. It's an interesting read that raises one big question in my mind: where does this leave Oprah's Book Club? It was a shock when Oprah picked a contemporary selection years after saying “It has become harder and harder to find books on a monthly basis that I feel absolutely compelled to share.” Now that the truthfulness of the book she selected has come under fire, will this put Oprah off contemporary authors once again?

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Over the weekend I went out with a friend of mine to return/exchange Christmas gifts and to spend some of the lovely gift cards that have been burning a hole in my pocket. My friend Debbi is by the far the biggest reader I know (which is say something), and after our excursion on Saturday I've decided that it is dangerous to be in a bookstore with her. Between the books I had already planned on getting and the ones she kept point out to me, I went home with way too many new titles. Some of the titles among my book booty were:

Bitten and Smitten by Michelle Rowen
Heiress for Hire by Erin McCarthy
My Favorite Witch by Annette Blair
Size Twelve is Not Fat by Meg Cabot
The Trouble with Magic by Madelyn Alt
Truth or Dare by Lori Foster
Valentine's Day is Killing Me by MaryJanice Davidson, Leslie Esdaile, and Susanna Carr
Willing by Lucy Monroe

There are others, but my brain can't remember them right now. All I can remember is the pile of books sitting on my sofa table and thinking as I went to bed last night, "Where the heck am I going to put these?" Either I do some weeding or but a new bookcase. Any bets on which one I end up doing? :-)

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How is it 2006 already? While 2004 will go down in my memory as the year I went to Egypt, I think 2005 will have to go down as the year I lost track of time.

As I'm gearing up to teach what will probably my last two classes with the college, I'm hoping that 2006 will go down as the year I started a new chapter in my life. With the majority of my friends buying houses, getting engaged, starting new jobs, or having babies (to those friends let me remind you that Kelly is a lovely name for a baby girl) I have a feeling that 2006 is going to be an exciting year for all.

In other news, although I have been very much the absentee blogger I have a favor to ask. If anyone has read Gena Showalter's Awaken Me Darkly could you please drop me a line? I finally read it over break (and loved it), but I'm having a hard time figuring out what genre to put it (the best I've come up with so far is SciFi Chick Lit) and need to pick someone's brain. Mine's been picked clean.

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