What's on your bookshelf?

Libby: My brain is either on transmit or receive, rarely both; so I'll tell what Adam (just turned 8) is reading. He doesn't really like to read -- some of you may remember his "A lot of books are really boring" comment. He "hates" Harry Potter and finds Star Wars "boring." But, urged by his parents, and having to keep a reading journal for school, he DOES read -- and right now he is:
* on page 13 of GEORGE'S SECRET KEY TO THE UNIVERSE, a book by Stephen Hawking and his daughter. He doesn't really like this book, though he does like the sidebars that explain things about science very, very clearly: black holes, gravity, CONCEPTS. not just facts.
* near the beginning of The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. He's not enthusiastic about this, either, but likes it better than story part of George.
What does he like? The Magic Treehouse books -- so far this summer he has read 5 -- and books about sports, like WINNING SEASON -- DUNK UNDER PRESSURE, which he lent to me. I find it heavy going. His father has promised to buy him a wii if he reads and writes book reports that contain a beginning, middle, and end on 6 books.

As for me, I was reading a lot -- rereading the Patrick O'Brien series, too many children's books to list here, but now I'm into my writing and thus,  on transmit.

Grace: I have SHUG by Jenny Han, which I began when I was attempting to write Year of the Tiger. I only started it, but from what I read, she completely nails that "tween" voice. I'm actually glad I put Year of the Tiger on the shelf as I'm not convinced I could have written that age group as well or as expertly as she does.

I bought the paperback because of it was better for my budget, but I admit I like the hardcover cover image better. I'm always interested when they change images for hardcovers...but perhaps I will talk about that in another post.

Softcover (that I have):
Hardover (that I prefer):

Elaine: I’m currently reading Jane Mayer’s The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals.

I have also been sporadically reading sections of Ralph Fletcher’s Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem from the Inside Out.

In addition, I have a stack of nonfiction books that I’ve been using for reference while I’m working on a collection of poems.

P. S. I just picked up a copy of Sergio Makes a Splash!

Alvina: Last week while on vacation I read/finished only my second book all year: Graceling by Kristin Cashore. It's amazing, about a world where certain people are born with a special gift, or grace, and they're also born with different colored eyes to signify that they are graced (the heroine has one blue and one green). The grace could be something as innocuous as being a skilled swimmer, or cook, but the heroine's grace is in killing. The writing is strong, the action compelling, and the romance sweeps you away.

What's funny is that I remember seeing the listing in Publisher's Lunch a while ago and forwarding it on to Grace saying, "Look! It's our spawn!" Who knew how much I'd actually love the book.