It's Bloggiesta time! I've got a pretty free weekend to devote to blogging, so here's hoping I get a lot of my to-do list accomplished. I'll be crossing things off as I go.

This is my tentative to-do list for this weekend:
- Update review links on my reading challenges page Complete!
- Catch up on writing reviews Complete!
- Clean up email inbox Complete!
- Prep blog posts for next week Complete!
- Check out a few mini-challenges from previous Bloggiestas Sort of complete! I'm working on getting Google Analytics working with my blog.
- Possibly create a Twitter account?? (I'm not sure I'm ready to commit to this one yet, but I'll consider it!) I decided to pass on this one this time. I'm pretty sure I'll give in at some point, but I didn't have time to figure that out this weekend!

Yesterday was my first Library Day of the summer!! I've been so good so far this year, reading books almost entirely from my own collection. But now that summer is here, I have time to drive 45 minutes to the big libraries and partake of all their bookish goodness!

A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck (For my Newbery Reading Challenge, which I am so behind on!)
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (Ditto)
A Passion Denied by Julie Lessman (Third book in a series I absolutely love.)
The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg (I've been wanting to read this book since I first heard about it. Hooray for libraries making that happen!)
The Dress Shop of Dreams by Menna van Praag (Mm, magical realism.)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (I'm not usually a mystery reader, but I have heard so much raving about this series. I finally decided to try it out.)

The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley (I'll read anything she's written!)
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (Loved Harry Potter, hated A Casual Vacancy. I convinced myself to give Rowling on more chance. . .)
The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart (This book just looked fun.)
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo (I've been waiting forever to finish this series!)
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab (I love London, and it's got to be even better when there's four of them, right?)
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach (My token nonfiction book. :)

It's time for summer Bloggiesta! There are a few things I've been meaning to do on my blog, but I've been waiting for a Bloggiesta weekend. It's just more fun to do blog maintenance with other people!

This is my tentative to-do list for this weekend:
- Update review links on my reading challenges page
- Catch up on writing reviews
- Clean up email inbox
- Prep blog posts for next week
- Check out a few mini-challenges from previous Bloggiestas
- Possibly create a Twitter account?? (I'm not sure I'm ready to commit to this one yet, but I'll consider it!)

Now it just remains to be seen how productive I will be!

I'm not really one to follow new releases or the next big book. But I do have a few books on my to-read list that will be released later this year, so I guess those books will be my Top "Ten" list for this week!

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee (Surely this book is on everyone's most anticipated release list, right? If not, it should be!)
The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows (Technically, the release date is today, but I'm still counting this one. Otherwise, I would only have 5 books on this list!)
The Other Daughter by Lauren Willig (I love Willig's Pink Carnation series, but I haven't read any of her stand-alone books yet. I'm looking forward to this one.)

Luther and Katharina by Jody Hedlund (I'm Lutheran. I can't resist reading this book.)
Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine (The cover, the title - everything about this book is calling my name!)
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (Paris and bookshop? Enough said.)

It's summer!! Friday was our last day of school. Time for sleeping in, the chance to get things done that I normally wouldn't have time for, and lots and lots of reading! Bring on the books!

Sorcery & Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer (Loved this book in so many ways!!)
The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis (I like this book more and more every time I reread it.)

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (My college roommate recommended this book to me, oh, about 10 years ago. I'm finally getting around to reading it!)

Wednesday is my first Library Day of the summer. I'm certain to come home with a stack that is twice as large as I could possibly read before the due date, but that's half the fun! I'm so excited!

Not knowing what to do with our recent Memorial Day holiday, my husband and I decided to go for a drive. We ended up going along the edge of Michigan's Thumb (if you're not sure what I mean, just look at a map of Michigan. We're conveniently shaped like a hand, with the thumb on the right side.) and checking out a few lighthouses. Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state. Just in one day's driving, we were able to see three of them!

Okay, so this isn't a lighthouse. We happened upon this when we stopped at a roadside park. It is the White Rock, about half a mile from shore in Lake Huron. It was a sacred spot for the Native Americans and an important navigational guide for the French fur traders.

Harbor Beach Lighthouse, built in 1885.

The Pointe Aux Barques lighthouse, built in 1848. It was also a lifesaving station which trained and housed men who would rescue sailors from shipwrecks.

The Port Austin Reef Light, built in 1878. The weather didn't quite cooperate, and we got quite drenched walking close enough to see this one. Thankfully, the sun then came out and dried us off!

How does Bill Bryson do it? Every time? I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of work and research time that would go into a book like One Summer: America, 1927. What organizational system would you need to keep track of all of the people and facts and connections between them? How would you choose what and who to talk about when? And how would you do so in a manner that remains interesting – fascinating, even – for more than four hundred pages? And not just fascinating, but humorous. I laughed out loud several times when reading this book.

You would certainly need be a talented writer to pull all this off, and Bill Bryson has proven time and again that that is exactly what he is. One Summer: America, 1927 is no exception. It is well-researched, well-written, and extremely memorable. I’m still spouting facts I learned from it weeks after reading it. I had heard of many of these people and events prior to reading this book, but I had no idea how much happened during the summer of 1927 – or how connected these people and events turned out to be.

I was hooked from page one and delighted until the very end. This book is a fascinating look at life in America in the 1920s. You don’t even have to be a history buff to enjoy it. You just have to like a good story. And Bill Bryson has indeed provided us with one of those once again.

Find it on: Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Better World Books

I thought this topic was going to be hard. I was wrong. What turned out to be hard was narrowing it down to just ten! Here are the ten I picked, but I have a much longer list if you want to check it out. ;)

The Silver Chair (and the rest of the Chronicles of Narnia) by C.S. Lewis (I love the recent movies of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, not so much. (Green mist? Really?) It would be awesome if the same team that did LWW would make the rest of the Narnia books into movies.)
Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer (I've read a lot of Heyer's books, but I think this one is my favorite so far because of all of the witty dialogue. It would make a great romantic comedy!)
A Skeleton in God's Closet by Paul Maier (What if someone discovered the skeleton of Jesus?)
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (Thursday Next books as movies? That would be amazing!!)
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (This would make such a good movie!)

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (A bookish adventure movie.)
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (These should be the next big YA movie blockbusters, right? First Hunger Games, then Divergent - now the Grisha!)
The Menagerie by Tui Sutherland & Kari Sutherland (Surely CGI effects can handle griffins. Kids would love this movie - and so would I.)
Hood by Stephen Lawhead (The King Raven series is essentially a plausible version of Robin Hood, set in Wales. Who doesn't like movies about Robin Hood?)
Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen (I love the genre of magical realism, and I think it could translate to a movie really well.)

It's the last week of school! And it's June! In honor of that, I have to post a video of my favorite song from Carousel, mostly because the title is just so appropriate for today. Enjoy! :)

The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais (I honestly did not like this book as much as I expected to. But I hear the movie is really good, so I'm still looking forward to watching that.)
Ivy Days: Making My Way Out East by Susan Allen Toth (If you like memoirs or college settings, this would be a good book for you.)

Sorcery & Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer (The only thing that could make Georgette Heyer novels any better would be to add a sprinkling of magic. Enter this series. I am loving this book so far!)

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis (Since it is now June, it's time for the next book in my Narnia reread!)