Up next for review....

I will be reading Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer by Katie Alender for my next book review.  It is a newer book for our shelves and I figured that I can combine my love of historical fiction, biographies and thrillers.  I'm hoping that it can deliver.

On another note, I was looking at books to order before my budget deadline sneaks up on me and I went to the New York Times bestsellers site.  I am happy to report that we currently have 8 out of the top ten YA novels!  I will be ordering the other two as soon as I can.  We also have 2/5 of the "also selling" books, so I'm pretty pleased with my fall selections this year.

If you have any books that you would like to have in the library, please stop by my office for a chat.

Happy Reading!

My first Review...

The first book that I chose to review for the blog is Asylum  by Madeline Roux.  This was one of the books that piqued my interest from my cataloguing pile.  It was especially interesting because it came in around Halloween and I love to read scary stories around that time of year. 

Synopsis: " For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, a summer program for gifted students is the chance of a lifetime.  No one else at his high school gets his weird fascinations with history and science, but at the New Hampshire College Prep program, such quirks were all but required.  Dan arrives to find that the usual summer housing has been closed, forcing students to stay in the crumbling Brookline dorm- formerly a psychiatric hospital.  As Dan and his new friends Abby and Jordan start exploring Brookline's twisty halls and hidden basement, they uncover disturbing secrets about what really went on here...secrets that link Dan and his friends to the asylum's dark past.  Because it turns out Brookline was no ordinary psych ward.  And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried." (from book cover)

Right away, the concept of this book intrigued me.  Living in Weyburn, where we had a world-famous psychiatric hospital (the term "psychedelic was coined here) and hearing all about the ghost stories people had about it, I was eager to read a book where I could picture everything happening.  The setting of the story is what caught my attention and Roux did a good job of describing it in the book.  Very familiar, yet very eerie.  I think that anyone picking up this book could picture the campus and the atmosphere of it.

The character of Dan was well done.  I do wish that the relationship between Abby and Jordan was developed a little more.  As the book goes on, their behavior is affected by the things they are thinking and experiencing and I found myself wanting to know more about what they were doing and about their thought process.

The "ghost story" aspect was very creepy, but I would've liked more carrots dangling and more information given to me as the story went along.  When I read mysteries I like to be fed a few nibbles to get me interested in the big finish.  I did find that a lot was alluded to, but I didn't find out a whole bunch until the climax of the book and the end. The way that Roux used the real-life pictures through out the book also added to the story.  Being able to see the pictures that Dan was describing was very cool.

I was looking to be creeped out and to figure out a mystery and in the end, that's what I got.  I enjoyed the book and I would recommend it to anyone that is into horror or thrillers.  The book is available in the library right now and I would love to hear from anyone that's read it.

Happy Reading!

3 years and counting....

Happy New Year! 

It was slow in the library before Christmas break, and surprise, it is still slow in the new year.  Because I've been waiting on a few book orders I made in December, I've been trying to figure out what to buy next.  I have a lot of budget left and so I started looking at YA blogs for suggestions about books that we don't already have in the library.  So, when I signed into my account to start following some good YA blogs, I found that I hadn't posted on this site for three years!! Three years! I guess I got lazy. 

Before the break, I had read some really interesting YA books that we had in the library.  They were new books and I had made a note of them while I was cataloguing.  So, as my New Year's resolution (one that I might keep) I'm going to write some of my own reviews in the hopes that someone may read it- a pipe dream, I know.

If you happen to stop by and read one of my reviews, please leave a note and better yet, if you've read the same book I'm reviewing, please tell me your thoughts.

Happy Reading!

New Books!

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a great Christmas break and is getting ready for finals.

I don't want to disctract anyone from studying for their finals, but we do have some new books in and I wanted to let everyone know what we have. There is something to suit everyone's taste.

Our new titles are:

The Scorch Trials- James Dashner
Torment- by Lauren Kate
Elixir- Hillary Duff
Fallout- the newest in the series by Ellen Hopkins
Night Star & Dark Flame- Alyson Noel
Stolen- Lucy Christopher
Virals- Kathy Reichs (the author of the books that inspired the TV series Bones)
Linger- Maggie Stiefvater
Half Brother- Kenneth Oppel
The Gift- James Patterson
Witch & Wizard- James Patterson
Sugar & Spice- Lauren Conrad
Before I Fall- Lauren Oliver
Zombies Vs. Unicorns- various authors, a collection of fantasy and horror short stories
Revolution- Jennifer Donnelly
The Book of Spells- Kate Brian
Monster High- Lisi Harrison
This Lullaby- Sarah Dessen
A Bend in the Road- Nicholas Sparks
A Walk to Remember- Nicholas Sparks
At First Sight- Nicholas Sparks
Five People You Meet in Heaven- Mich Albom
The Rescue- Nicholas Sparks
The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Stephen Chbosky
Someone Like You- Sarah Dessen
The Truth About Forever- Sarah Dessen
Fallen- Lauren Kate
Just Listen- Sarah Dessen
Birth of a Killer- book 1 of a new series by Darren Shan

These books will be on a display table in the front area of the library for a while. Please stop by and have a look!

Happy Reading,
Miss Bell

Welcome Autumn!

Well, October is upon us and therefore we are fully into fall. The weather has turned around quite nicely and we are enjoying beautiful weather. Let's hope it continues for a while!

I did promise a review of Kate Morton's book, but I must confess that I have been side-tracked by my new Nintendo DS game; Professor Layton and the Unwound Future. Yes, I am sad to admit that your librarian loves, love, loves, Professor Layton games and I find them quite addictive! So, I have put my night-time reading off in order to help Layton and Luke solve the mystery. I think that I'm coming close to the end, so I'm sure that I'll be back at my reading by the weekend.

Mrs. Harder has been with us now for over a week and she has been busy! She is creating some really cool bulletin board displays for the library and she's got a couple finished already, so come and have a look. One is 3D, which is really neat. I'm hopeless at bulletin boards, so I'm so glad she enjoys doing them. She is doing a fantastic job, so please pop in and introduce yourself.

I will be getting the Halloween display with scary stories organized this week, so if you are a person who likes a good fright, stop in and sign out a book that will keep you up at night!!

Have a safe and fun Thanksgiving weekend and enjoy the beautiful fall weather!

Happy Reading,
Miss Bell

What a crazy month!!

September is almost over and it has been a busy month for the library! As I mentioned in my previous post, I went to Chapters in Regina and I did my first large book buy for the year. Since then, I've been so busy cataloging and getting them ready for our readers to borrow. We have put half of them out on the display table and the other half are just about ready for circulation so check back often.

Another great thing that has happened at the library is we have a new Library Technician, Mrs. Sheila Harder. Today is her first day and she is doing a fantastic job. She will be training for the next week or so, so drop by the library and say hello.


I also want to mention a book that I finished reading this month called "The Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton. Ms. Morton is an Australian writer and this is her second book. It is set in Australia and on the Cornish coast in England. It also bounces between different time periods.

"On the eve of the first world war, a little girl is found abandoned on a ship to Australia. A mysterious woman called the Authoress had promised to look after her - but the Authoress has disappeared without a trace.

On the night of her twenty-first birthday, Nell O'Connor learns a secret that will change her life forever. Decades later, she embarks upon a search for the truth that leads her to the windswept Cornish coast and the strange and beautiful Blackhurst Manor, once owned by the aristocratic Mountrachet family.

On Nell's death, her grand-daughter, Cassandra, comes into an unexpected inheritance. Cliff Cottage and its forgotten garden are notorious amongst the Cornish locals for the secrets they hold - secrets about the doomed Mountrachet family and their ward Eliza Makepeace, a writer of dark Victorian fairytales. It is here that Cassandra will finally uncover the truth about the family, and solve the century-old mystery of a little girl lost." from www.katemorton.com

It is a nice mixture of mystery, historical fiction and a quest. I really enjoyed reading it and even though it is not classified as Young Adult Fiction, it is a very good read and I highly recommend it. I'm reading Kate Morton's first book "The House at Riverton" and so far it is very good as well.

Happy Reading,
Miss Bell

And....We're Back!!

Welcome to another school year at the lovely Weyburn Comprehensive. I would especially like to welcome the new grade 10 students and anyone else who is new to the building! I hope that your time here is productive and fun.

We had a rocky start-up this year and I had a lot of trouble with my library program. I forgot that I got an upgrade to a higher edition and I acidentally deleted my administrator and librarian accounts when I was deleting students from last year- whoops! Thanks to our techies and the people at Kelowna Software, we are now up and funny and fully functional.

A big change to our library is that we will have a new librarian soon. Our previous library tech resigned over the summer and is pursuing other employment opportunities. We wish her the best of luck!!

On Friday and I am heading into Regina to do my large Chapters order. I always buy a lot of new books right at the beginning of the school year so that if you are a reader, you have lots to look forward to through out the semester. I do order fiction later on, but this is always the first big push! By next week look out for our New Books signs and the display table that we will have set up to showcase our new arrivals. If you have any book suggestions, please come by and see me and I can add it to my list!

Thanks for reading,
Miss Bell