This is my very first Stacking the Shelves post, and it's a good week for it! I'm usually lucky if I can get to a bookstore once a month. Yesterday, I went to three! I met my mom for afternoon tea and a day of book shopping. Does life get much better than that?

Five Little Peppers Abroad by Margaret Sidney

Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland (yes, I know I just reviewed that one, but I listened to it as an audiobook. I still can't resist the feel of the real book in my hand, especially for only $5!)
The Turquoise Ledge by Leslie Marmon Silko
The Genesis Enigma by Andrew Parker
Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson
Maphead by Ken Jennings
The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

And all off the bargain shelves, so no book cost more than $6. I love good deals.

Brainiac by Ken Jennings
The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs

Many thanks to Harvey for propping my books up so I could take pictures. Now I just need to find some time to sit there and read them!

One of the things I've been looking forward to most about starting a book blog are the plethora of reading challenges out there. You can get me to do just about anything if you call it a challenge (especially if it involves reading, and absolutely not if it involves heights). I've been keeping a list of those that I would love to participate in, and it's time to unveil that list! So here goes. . .

Classics Catch-Up Challenge hosted by Quirky Bookworm

I'm starting six months late, but hopefully I can get the ones for July - December read.

Back to the Classics Challenge hosted by Sarah Reads Too Much

Can you tell I'm trying to be a good English minor and not give up on the classics just because I'm done with college? Not to mention, I love reading classics, and I own quite a lot that I haven't read yet.

Mount TBR Reading Challenge hosted by My Reader's Block

Because I buy books that I want to read, and then just let them accumulate dust on my bookshelves. Time to give those books some love.

Color Coded Challenge hosted by My Reader's Block

I'm debating about this one. It sounds like a hard one to jump into halfway through the year. I can only think of one book I've read with a color in the title. . . I may have to do some more investigating before I commit.

Books About Books Reading Challenge hosted by Just Justice

Who doesn't love reading books about books??

European Reading Challenge hosted by Rose City Reader

Travelling (especially in Europe) is one of my all-time favorite things to do. Reading about those places is the next best thing.

How Many Pages Will You Read? hosted by Abducted by Books

The minimum level for this challenge is 15,000 pages for the year. Yeah, I'm already past that. . . One challenge complete!

A to Z Challenge hosted by On the Wings of Books

I think I've been looking forward to this one the most. You can read by author's last name or by title. I'm thinking I'll try both (nothing like being ambitious from the get-go!). I've read 52 books so far this year. What are the odds they will line up alphabetically on both lists?

Reading Challenge Addict

You saw this one coming, right? A challenge about reading challenges? Sign me up!

I may have bitten off more than I can chew. . .or piled up more than I can read. . .but that's all right. I love a good challenge! I'll be posting about each one of these challenges in the coming days as I figure out how far along I am in each of them. I'll also be creating a page to keep track of my continuing progress (at least, I hope there's continuing progress).

Any other suggestions? Are there any amazingly awesome reading challenges out there that I'm missing out on? Let me know, so I can give them a try, too!

Any high school English student can tell you that writing has one of several purposes: to entertain, to persuade, to inform, to describe, etc. But the best books encompass more than one of these. That’s what makes historical fiction such an enjoyable genre, and Clara and Mr. Tiffany such a good example of it.

Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland takes place around the turn of the 20th century in New York City. Clara Driscoll is head of the women’s department in the studio of Louis Comfort Tiffany, known for his stained glass. The book covers about fifteen years, and therefore, covers a lot of history. The issue of labor unions and women’s right to work is raised several times. Immigration and the living condition of immigrants is a foremost issue for awhile. Clara even witnesses the very first drop of the Times Square New Year’s ball! The reader also learns about the complicated process of making stained glass and the innovative techniques that Tiffany developed in this area. Through it all, we learn much about Clara Driscoll, Agnes Northrup, and the rise and fall of Louis Comfort Tiffany – all of whom were real people. It is the best of historical fiction: a novel that puts you in the time period and allows you to live there for a little while.

While reading this book (or rather, while listening to it; this was my first experience with an audiobook, which is a topic for another time), I was able to visit the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows on Navy Pier in Chicago. This museum houses examples of stained glass from all time periods, but has a couple of displays of Tiffany stained glass windows. Compared to the rest, it’s easy to see why Tiffany stayed at the front of his field through his many innovations. Seeing these windows in person helped the story to come alive even more. I’ve included some of my pictures below, so you can also enjoy these beautiful windows!

This is a question I have always wanted to know the answer to. Apparently, so did Jessica over at Quirky Bookworm, because she posted two links for reading speed tests today. I just couldn't resist trying them myself!

The first test I took said I read 318 wpm with 91% comprehension. Not too bad, considering it was a nonfiction excerpt. I would imagine I am not alone in the world of reading when I read nonfiction more slowly than fiction. The second test, which was a fiction sample, gave me a result of 511 wpm with 100% comprehension. It also told me how long it would take me to read some well-known books, IF I could keep up that same reading speed. Turns out it would only take me 19 hours and 9 minutes to read Tolstoy's War and Peace. Well, if that's the case, why have I abandoned the effort twice, after only reading a third of the book each time? Surely I can persevere for 19 hours! Can we factor the very confusing and all-too-similar Russian names into that statistic, please? Sorting those out probably tacks on another hour. . .or two. . .

So how fast do you read? Anyone feel like tackling War and Peace with me? (A 19-hour marathon reading session? Nope, still don't think I'd make it.) Click on the links to take the tests. Share your results, if you like!

Walter Moers has a lot - a plethora, a veritable bounty! – of imagination. Let’s just establish that from the beginning. And not a single page of The 13 ½ Lives of Captain Bluebear  passes without him exercising that imagination. Repeatedly. Complete with goofy drawings. I thoroughly enjoyed this book in all of its relentless ridiculousness.

“A bluebear has twenty-seven lives. I shall recount thirteen and a half of them in this book but keep quiet about the rest.” Surely that’s got to go down as one of the greatest opening lines in fiction. Especially when he continues, listing creatures as diverse as the Mountain Maggot and the Troglotroll. The story follows the Bluebear from his “birth” (really he just wakes up and realizes he is floating in a walnut shell straight towards a giant whirlpool) to his education (in the Nocturnal Academy of Professor Abdullah Nightingale, he of the seven brains) to his adventures traversing through a Bollogg’s head (well, what else are you supposed to do when the Bollogg leaves his head in the middle of a mountain pass?). Each of the bluebear’s lives is crazier than the next.

If there’s a deeper meaning to this book, I didn’t find it. And you certainly don’t need to in order to enjoy it. It is 700 pages, so it’s a bit of a commitment. But there are plenty of illustrations scattered throughout (and a few BOOM!s that take up a whole page by themselves), and overall, it’s a pretty quick read. If you enjoy Dr. Seuss or Shel Silverstein, you will enjoy this book. If you don’t enjoy either of them, the odds are good that you will still enjoy this book. After all, who can resist a few Minipirates or a gelatine prince of the 2364th dimension?

Welcome to Smiling Shelves - where heavily laden bookshelves smile, not sag! After all, one can never have too many books. I've been enjoying others' book blogs for several months now, and I'm eager to dip my own toes in. I've always loved reading and writing, so this blog is a natural extension of my passions. Check back frequently for book reviews, challenges, and other bookly things!

Now, let's slowly open the cover of this new venture (savoring the moment), and begin reading . . .