So I had a hard time finding enough books (or any) to match with one book or author. Instead, I went with a theme. If you like your books and your authors a little zany, then this is the list for you!

The Chronicles of Kazam series by Jasper Fforde (Fforde is one of the zaniest authors out there, but this series for young adults is especially fun.)
The Jeeves books by P.G. Wodehouse (Anything that can go wrong probably will, and in the absolutely funniest of ways.)
The Menagerie series by Tui & Kari Sutherland (What if all the mythical creatures were real and you discovered that they live in a wildlife refuge in your town?)
The Arkadians by Lloyd Alexander (Adventure packed and filled with characters that are all just a little crazy.)

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs (You have to be a little zany to even attempt this, let alone write about it.)
The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers (This book is so weird that it's kind of confusing.)
Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson (Pretty much any of Bryson's travelogues could fit in this category.)
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein (Zaniness and books! It doesn't get any better than this.)

Things are finally starting to calm down from the beginning of the school year and various weekend activities. I actually read almost an entire book on Saturday! And I took a two-hour nap. That is the sort of weekend I need. Must be the introvert in me. :​)

Top Ten Thursday - My Fall TBR (Yeah, it was supposed to be Top Ten Tuesday, but I kind of missed it. . .​)

Goodnight June by Sarah Jio (Very enjoyable read)
The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages (Middle grade novel about life at Los Alamos during World War II. Really interesting and well-done.)
​Faith of My Fathers by Lynn Austin (Biblical fiction at its best.)

The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game by Mary Pilon (I'm actually not such a fan of Monopoly, but this is the sort of nonfiction book I love.)

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer (Time for a treat!!)

Okay, so I know it's Thursday. I missed Top Ten Tuesday. This week has been just a little crazy. But I wanted to do this topic anyway, so I'm going to. I hereby declare today Top Ten Thursday!

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer (Because of library due dates, I neglected the Birthday Month Challenge over the summer. So that's what this book and the next two are for. I need to get caught back up!)
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (For the Victorian Lit Challenge)
America the Beautiful by Ben Carson (This is our book club book for October.)

The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir by Leslie Marmon Silko (For the Color Coded Challenge. And because it helps to visit someplace warm mentally as the weather is getting colder and colder outside.)
The Real Boy by Anne Ursu (I loved Breadcrumbs, so I bought this book last year. But I haven't had a chance to read it yet!)
Grave Consequences by Lisa Tawn Bergren (Second book in a series I discovered last summer.)
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Okay, this would be about the fourth time I've read this book. But fall always puts me in the mood for another reread.)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Yeah, definitely not planning to finish this one in the fall. But it's on my 31 in 31 list, and I need to start reading it sometime. Now is as good a time as any!)

Second week of school complete, and another busy weekend - book club and a family gathering. And (of course) I have come down with my first cold of the year. Hooray! (That was sarcastic. . .)

Summer Reads I Want to Reread
Should/Should Not - The Martian by Andy Weir
My 31 in 31 List (My goals for the next year!)

Emma by Jane Austen (Finally done rereading this beloved book for the read-along!)
House of Living Stones by Katie Schuermann (If you like Jan Karon's Mitford, you would love this book.)
Dragon on Trial by Tui & Kari Sutherland (This series just keeps getting better!)

I just realized as I was looking at Goodreads, that all three of my reads this week were five-star reads! It's been a good week!

Goodnight June by Sarah Jio (This is definitely a book for book lovers!)

The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages

Last year, when I turned 30, I thought about creating a list of things I wanted to do before my next birthday. Yeah, that didn't happen. So now I'm 31, and I thought I would go for it this year. (I was also inspired by Allie at A Literary Odyssey who posted her own list a few months ago.)

Here is what I'm hoping to accomplish by the time I turn 32:

1.  Read War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.
2. Ride my bike on the entire rail trail by our house to the end and back (20 miles total).
3. Visit ten more Michigan lighthouses (as part of an ongoing goal of visiting them all).
4. Finish our upstairs remodel and finally move into our new master bedroom.
5. Write letters of appreciation to my pastor and our Board of Education.
6. Read 50 books from my own shelves.
7. Go to a Detroit Tigers game.
8. Plant a vegetable garden.
9. Go to a Pentatonix concert.
10. Go to a Piano Guys concert.
11.  Write a short story.
12. Get my piano tuned.
13. Clean out our bedroom closet (including giving away clothes I don't wear anymore).
14. Start a Little Free Library.
15. Visit Greenfield Village.
16. Try Brussel sprouts.
17. Take at least five organ lessons.
18. Write two devotions for our church's Advent devotional book.
19. Incorporate at least two ideas I learn at a teacher's conference into my classroom.
20. Get my clarinet cleaned and polished.
21. Create (and use) a Twitter account for Smiling Shelves.
22. Try 20 new recipes.
23. Fix the hole in our comforter (this involves sewing - yikes!)
24. Instead of just making fun of 10 grammatical errors, actually tell someone who can fix them.
25. Visit the Creation Museum.
26. Go on a high ropes course (definitely afraid of heights).
27. Learn "Game Day" by Jon Schmidt on the piano.
28. Buy or rent a violin and start learning how to play it.
29. Finish my bookish decorating project that I started months ago.
30. Watch Casablanca (the one time I tried, I fell asleep pretty early on).
31.  Clean my library, including dusting every single book. 

There are my goals for the next year of my life! I'll post updates periodically, mostly to keep me motivated. I guess I'd better get busy! This is going to be fun!

   -  It swears. A lot. And I know there are those that say, "If I were stuck on Mars, I would swear too!" I get that viewpoint. But the problem is, he's not the only one that swears. There's plenty of swearing from other characters as well. I hate filling my brain with that.
   -  This book is a time-sucker. Make sure you have time to devote to it, because you are not going to want to put it down. Which leads to neglecting things, like your job. . . or your spouse. . .
   -  Parts of it are written as journal entries. Personally, that worked for me, but it's not a style that works for everybody.

   -  There's a movie coming out in a few weeks. Quick, read it before you see the movie!
   -  If you are looking for a character with a unique voice, you can do no better than Mark Watney. His journal entries read like he is talking to you. And astronaut nerd though he may be, he's a pretty funny guy.
   -  You actually kind of learn something about science and Mars. That's always a nice bonus.
   -  The plot. The incessant plot that keeps you turning the pages. This book is so hard to put down!!
   -  It literally keeps you guessing until the very last page.
   -  Mark Watney is a character that you simply have to root for. He's so well-written, you're pretty much given no choice. Who knew you could cheer so hard for potatoes to grow?

In all the reviews I read when I was trying to decide, the swearing was what put me off the most. And the swearing definitely did bother me throughout the book (I still think it would be a better book without it). But at the end of the day, I am glad I decided to read it. I'm glad I met Mark Watney and was so thoroughly drawn into this story.

Please share your thoughts and comments, whether you've read The Martian or not!

I'm not really a rereader. There are few beloved favorites that I will reread repeatedly (Chronicles of Narnia, Anne of Green Gables, Jane Austen's novels). But I don't often reread anything published recently.

There were a few books that I read this summer, though, that I know I will be rereading someday. And if I thought they were that good, then they probably deserve another shout-out.

The Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. Okay, I actually read the first two books last summer, and finished the series this summer. But I loved that last book so much that I know I will be rereading the entire trilogy sometime.

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. I've read her YA, but this was my first of her adult novels. And I'm happy to report that it was just as satisfying as her YA (which hooked me so completely). I will gladly revisit these characters anytime.

The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan. I couldn't stop thinking about this book for nearly a week after I finished it. If I hadn't had so many other library books to read, I probably would have picked it up for a reread right then and there. Since I didn't, I'll have to wait for another trip to the library or for the inevitable day when I will buy my own copy.

The first week of school is complete! It went very well, and I'm looking forward to week two! This weekend was fun, but far from relaxing - a local town's festival, a wedding, and a birthday party. Whew!

The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (I love this Newbery winner.)
Emma: A Modern Retelling by Alexander McCall Smith (Wasn't as terrible as I feared, but it wasn't great, either.)

Emma by Jane Austen (Last week of the read-along!)
House of Living Stones by Katie Schuermann (This is a book about people who work in a Lutheran church, and since that describes most of my book club - including me - we decided this was a perfect pick for this month!)

Dragon on Trial by Tui & Kari Sutherland (I've been waiting to get my hands on this book for a long time. Now I just need to actually read it before it's due at the library!)

My husband and I took a road trip to the East Coast this summer. We spent several days in New York City. One of the highlights of our time there was visiting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. To honor the sacrifices made as we pass another anniversary, I thought I would share some of our pictures of the memorial.

(Warning: This review is going to be rather rave-like.)

Everything about this book is amazing. Seriously, everything. I don’t say that often, so you know it’s true.

I do have to temper that, however, by saying that this book may appeal to only a small audience of bibliophile word nerds, like me. So if that description applies to you, then by all means, read this book.

Ella Minnow Pea (say her name out loud, and you’ll get a hint of the wordy wonders to be found in this book) lives on the island of Nollop, off the East Coast. The island was founded by Nevin Nollop, the creator of “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” He’s so looked up to on the island, in fact, that they have created a monument to him and his amazing sentence. And then one day, the Z falls off. The Nollopian High Council declares that the letter Z is henceforth banned from use in speaking or writing. Since the novel is an epistolary novel, you can imagine how that affects the story. And then when you discover that Z is just the first of the letters to fall, you can look forward in delight to the language hijinks that will ensue. And let’s give Mark Dunn all the credit he’s due – this must have been a progressively difficult book to write.

Let me repeat that this book is amazing. Hopefully I’ve convinced you of that. The word geek in me was jumping up and down at each page, and surely I can’t be the only one who was affected by this book in this way.

Word lovers unite, and join Ella Minnow Pea!

Find it on: Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Better World Books