A Snowy Day is the Best Type of Day for Book Recommendations!

So I know I originally started this blog to review bookstores & libraries, but there’s just something about snow that makes me want to get out a hot cup of Chai Tea or Hot Chocolate, snuggle up in some fuzzy pajamas with my cats, and crack open a new book.  So since I am doing exactly that, I figured I could give some great snowy-day book recommendations!  I’m only going to review a few of my favorites, and I’ll try to stay away from largely popular books; I’m sure we have all read plenty of reviews on Harry Potter or Dan Brown.  So without, further ado, here are the books I will be recommending/reviewing:

Young Adult Fiction – The Legend of Holly Claus by Brittney Ryan

General Fiction – Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Thriller/Mystery – The Poet by Michael Connelly

The Legend of Holly Claus is actually a book I bought a very long time ago at Baldwin’s Book Barn – it is one of the reasons I distinctly remember that bookstore.  Sometimes things like that just stick.  Holly Claus is – obviously – Santa Claus’s daughter, if the last name didn’t fill you in.  She is born with a terrible curse of a frozen heart and is also the reason all of Forever (where Santa Claus lives, clearly) has its gates frozen shut.  Determined to break the curse, she travels to New York with her animal companions to undergo a long series of adventures and meet new people, trying to learn more about herself and her curse.  I’d say more, but I don’t want to spoil anything.  This book is truly a great magical read, especially near Christmas-time or when there is snow on the ground.  Looking through the book a little more – it’s been years since I have read it – it might be closer to a children’s genre rather than Young Adult – think along the lines of Percy Jackson or Inkheart age-range.  However, this is the type of book I really feel like you could read at any age, and still experience the magic and "delightfulness" of the writing.  If you have young ones at home, this is also a great book to read out loud, although it is pretty long.

            Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is actually the book I am currently reading, so I can’t give too much information on it.  Basically, a young man named Clay ends up working at – wait for it, - Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, and notices that very strange characters show up in the late hours of the night.  Furthermore, he is instructed not to touch any of the books, and to not look inside them.  When Clay does happen to take a look inside the books, he finds that the books don’t contain words, but codes.  Together with some friends, he embarks on a journey to figure out just who Mr. Penumbra is, why his books are the way they are, and what is the connection between everything.  If you like books that have codes in them or books that will keep you on your toes and are fast paced, I highly recommend this book.  It was hard pretty hard to tear my eyes away from the page to take a break and write this post!   And at just under 300 pages in paperback, it’s a quick, easy read for a beautiful snowy day.

            The last book I want to recommend today is one of my all-time favorite books: The Poet by Michael Connelly.  Honestly, even if you weren't a fan of Michael Connelly, I would recommend this book to you.  It is SUCH a fast-paced thriller/mystery/horror book that you will never put the book down until it is finished.  Because this book throws you so many curve balls, I’m not going to tell much of the plot since it is constantly changing.  Basically, there is a killer on the loose who leaves weird Edgar Allen Poe pieces as his signature.  Reporter Jack McEvoy tries to work with the homicide cops on the case to try and find the killer.  Note: if you don’t like gore or horrifying situations/murders, this isn’t the book for you.  However, if you like a good thrill like I do, then you will be hooked into this book from the very beginning.

            So those are my 3 snowy-day recommendations!  Sorry I don’t go into much detail, one of my biggest pet-peeves are people that write book recommendations and then end up telling you everything that happens in the book.  I like the thrill of opening a new book, and not knowing where it is going to take me; much like not knowing what you will find in the next bookstore/library you go into.  So there’s that. 

Stay tuned for later this week (weather-permitting) where I will review the University of Pennsylvania Libraries!

What I'm Trying to Do

I grew up as a bookworm.  As early as I could, every book, magazine, or even cereal box that I could get my hands on, I would read.  I would go to the library and be told to put back books because it was over the maximum amount allowed to be borrowed at one time.  I devoured every book I ever came in contact with, not caring if it was Pixie Tricks, Captain Underpants, or the Magic Tree House.  I wrote stories in my pink Britney Spears themed notebooks, and never once assumed I would be anything except a professional book reader & writer - if that was even a thing.  As I grew up, my tastes matured and I moved on to bigger, and more "important" books like The Lovely Bones, The Kite Runner, and Stephen King.  I've read the "angsty" teenager vampire & werewolf books, I've read all the major fantasy series such as Harry Potter and A Song of Ice and Fire, and I've read as much Classical Literature as my schedule allows, especially if it is written by Alexander Dumas. And yes, I read on both e-readers and in print.  About 18 years later from reading my first book, I'm still reading as much as possible with just as wide a selection, although I'm not too sure Captain Underpants was ever really my type.

So naturally, here I am, an Accounting Major at West Chester University. Yeah, I'm not quite sure how that happened either. 

However, I have decided that all hope is not lost: I can still redeem myself, and the little 5 year old girl who wanted to be an author still has a fighting chance.  You see, here's the thing.  I'm not just a bookworm, I'm a bibliophile.  And if you think that sounds wrong or dangerous, you probably don't know what it means.  A bibliophile is simply a person who loves books, admires them, collects them.  To be more exact, I like looking at books and smelling books and finding cute small bookstores to wander and waste hours in.  I read them too, I swear. So, lying in bed late at night a week ago, I had this crazy idea to travel around the country and see as many bookstores and libraries that I could.  I'll be starting with local bookstores within a few states, and hopefully be able to expand farther and farther. Better yet, why not start a blog to share these places with other readers?  I know I can't possibly be the only one that loves looking at books, and finding reading nooks in bookstores and libraries.  It also didn't hurt that a class I'm taking (the only one in my schedule unrelated to Accounting) requires us to do an individual project that combines technology and our own personal interests.  But really, this is something I should have started a long time ago.  

I am located in Pennsylvania, so if you know of any libraries/bookstores that you just absolutely love or would like to learn more about, drop a comment or a message and just give me the name!

A picture of my own book reading nook in my apartment.

Later this Week - Baldwin's Book Barn, Location: West Chester, PA