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February 17, 2009 06:58 PM Books I've Read  |   Link
Ten Little Fingers & Ten Little Toes

I've read this book by Mem Fox over a dozen times in one sitting. This is one of B's favorite book at the moment. I actually enjoy the book and wanted to share with "all" my readers that it makes a great baby shower gift. The story is simple, great easy to read, and the illustrations are beautiful. I hope you all enjoy it as much as B & I have.

If you are into Mem Fox, I hope you go over and browse her website. She has lots of resources regarding her books, audio of her reading some of her books, and great resources about "reading" to kids and "how to" write children's books.



July 24, 2008 07:50 PM Books I've Read  |   Link
Baby's Storytime at the Library

One of the activities that B really enjoys is going to storytime at 2 different libraries near our house 2-3 times a week. One is intimate where we sing to each of the children with nursery rhymes, songs, reading, feltboard stories and playtime at the end. The other one gets really packed with many people so we always arrive 10 minutes early and they have lots of songs, nursery rhymes, puppets, bells, scarves and storybooks.

Recently one of our favorite storytime librarians did a presentation at Blossom Birth for the Blanket Babies program series on reading to children and she recommended the following sites for babies and toddlers.

Read to your Baby

Sarog Ghoting, Early Childhood Literacy

More about reading & child development at Zero to Three

These are great resources for parents who don't know what books to get for their kids. I collected many children's books before B was born for my own personal "research"(still submitting my own stories) but now I know I really need to allow myself to share them with B. Also I need to be ok that she'll eventually chew them up...at least the unsigned ones.

I guess for me reading has always been a part of my upbringing. My mom was an elementary school librarian and we always had books in the house. During the summer when she was off, she would take us to the library every few days 1)to cool off since there was a/c 2)get us out of the house because we all had cabin fever and 3)participate in various summer reading programs. I have many fond memories of using the card catalog and then eventually learning how to use the computer to look for books as well as browsing the stacks and magazine racks. I enjoy reading and I hope that I can also instill this love of reading with B.



March 26, 2008 10:11 AM Books I've Read  |   Link
Eat Pray Love

I couldn't put this book down. The author reminded me of my time off in Napa for 30 days and then why we headed off to Hong Kong for several months. Same principles of grow spiritually, physically, intellectually and just enjoying the culture through its people, food, drinks and interactions.



Books I've Read  |   Link
A Thousand Splendid Suns

Pretty rich story weaving intergenerational women in war torn Afghanistan. Very moving and touching, at times I want to close the book because of the vivid depictions of marital abuse, but also wanted to continue to read because of the loving relationships between the women. If you enjoyed Kite Runner, you will enjoy this book as well.



Books I've Read  |   Link
NPR & _Ten Year Nap_

NPR - Fresh Air from March 25, 2008 interviews the author of _Ten Year Nap_ fiction novel relating the story of a stay at home moms who gave up their professional lives to raise their children. I'll be curious to check out the book.



October 24, 2007 09:43 PM Books I've Read  |   Link
Strange Bedfellows

I'm currently reading two books both related to my professional and financial interests. In some way each chapter I read in either book is shaping my own understanding of information and economics/finance. However the challenge is although they represent my "leisure" reading for two of my interests there seems to be potential for overlap of ideas involving how we view information, how we digest it into our experiences, and how they shape our decision making process. I haven't digested all of it yet but I'm feeling there is something in between the lines that are really starting to get the mental/creative juices running around in my head.



August 28, 2007 09:53 AM Books I've Read  |   Link
Books about libraries/librarians

Please email me m at mywhine.com to recommend books for both children and adults that have a theme around libraries, librarians or books. I've been slowly collecting a bunch for Jeli but mostly for me :)

Thanks!



January 29, 2007 02:40 PM Books I've Read  |   Link
I Miss My Family

I just finished Po Bronson's latest book, "Why Do I Love These People?"

After reading each of the profiles of the families that Bronson shares, there were many aspects of my family that made me realize that living far is challenging without them. This really hit home when I read the author's epilogue. Up until my ectopic pregnancy last February, I never realized how much I missed my cousins on both my maternal and paternal sides. Even though I was far away, they all stepped up to give me a shoulder to cry on, and give me a room to share and just be. Their encouragement made me really think that even though we're scattered all over the place, they really mean it when they say they care and were there for me when needed. It touched me deeply.

In the recent past, I spent as much time as I could with my maternal side since I never really got to know them while growing up but the paternal side kind of went off the radar when I left home. I guess it was just that we grew up together that I wanted to just go out there and meet new people.

So now reading this book and spending a little more time with my cousins I know I miss them. This past Christmas it was more evident that I really like how everyone sticks together to really help each other out. A cousin-in-law even shared how many members of the clan helped him out while remodeling his office...or cousins gathering monthly just to shoot the breeze.

Asking for help is not a sign of weakness in a family. If anything everyone wants to help out in any way possible. Even though the G clan is not as wild and crazy(or at least not as much lately but I can't wait to see all of us in Maui) this past gathering but they definitely know how to show the love.

I can also feel this when I talk to my maternal cousins. I haven't seen 2 cousins in probably 10 years and they were just so excited to talk on the phone when I called last week. I'm looking forward to having them out here sometime this summer.

I guess all this time I wanted to go out and meet many interesting people and I forgot to come back to the family and rekindle relationships with interesting cousins.

So here's to all my G & T cousins, I MISS YOU ALL!!!!!



August 04, 2006 09:31 AM Books I've Read  |   Comments (0)  |   Link
Save November 8 2006 for Children's Authors & Illustrators

For all parents and children's authors out there, fundraiser event for Family Connections (the pre-school I volunteer for). Last year was really fun, lots of books to buy, authors/illustrators to sign books and talk about their writing process, and of course the wonderful tearful stories of how parents' lives have changed because of Family Connections.

Children's Authors Event, November 8, 2006
The eighth annual event will be held on Wednesday, November 8, 2006 at the Hiller Aviation Museum from 6 to 9 pm. Three award-winning authors/illustrators will give presentations about their work and will sign their books afterwards.

Family Connections is a nonprofit preschool serving the EPA/EMP area. They are tuition free and rely solely on donations and foundation grants from corporations in the area. From what I remember they do not get any city/county/state/federal funding so all their income is purely from people/corporations giving generously to sustain their operations.



July 29, 2006 10:09 PM Books I've Read  |   Comments (1)  |   Link
Let's Catalog Them Books

Been helping out at Family Connections to organize their preschool library. I've been also wanting to organize all my books. I found this great software and scanner system to catalog my books. It's called Book Collectorz. They are pretty good. If you get the pro version you can export your files into various formats and in the standard edition you can even create an html of your library. The pro edition includes loan manager and even buying/selling/wish list. It's pretty cool and hoping to check into the dvd/cd collection software as well. What's been fun is that I haven't used a library cataloging system in a LONG time. I feel so connected to my librarian roots with this handy tool.

Please support Family Connections build up their library by purchasing something from their Amazon Wish List or other wish list items.



Books I've Read  |   Comments (0)  |   Link
Your Favorite Children's Books

I'm curious to hear from everyone out there about your favorite book. If you're a parent, what are your children's favorite books. Please identify best age range for the book you recommend.

The reason I'm gathering this info is that I have been helping a local pre-school get their libraries put together and wanted to double check for books that we might not already have. I am also doing research for the 3 manuscripts I'm working on and I want to see if my story structure and flow work with the desired age ranges.



May 20, 2006 01:12 PM Books I've Read  |   Link
Book Exchange & Book Lists

I found this UC Berkeley Summer Reading List quite interesting. I was thinking of hosting another book exchange party in the next month or so. You know like last time, bring some books hang out for cocktails and wine and be ready to share something interesting about the book(s) you bring...



January 16, 2006 03:41 PM Books I've Read  |   Link
Children's Lit: Each Peach Pear Plum

No don't get me wrong my reading level is way above preschool but a friend recommended this book and even gave me a copy to contribute to the Family Connections library.

It's really good for preschool age kids learning characters from popular Mother Goose nursery rhymes. Great colorful illustrations that follow the "i spy" genre of books. Rich with images and animals children will definitely enjoy making up their own stories along with them. The text is very east for the listener/reader to follow from frame to frame. I highly recommend it and will probably pick up a few copies for friends and family.

Also very good to read for story telling time for many children.



January 01, 2006 08:08 PM Books I've Read  |   Link
Book Exchange Cocktail Hour

With the weather a bit dreary and being outdoors is a bit wet and gloomy. Its the perfect time to cozy up to a new book with a glass of wine or cup of tea. However in my quest to get to know people better I thought maybe a book exchange cocktail hour might be kind of fun. In the next few weeks I'll be planning a cocktail hour for a book exchange. No particular topic. Bring books you want to unload and appetizer or beverage to share. You take home a book that others want to unload. Great opportunity to meet new people, hear about new books, and share stories about your book adventures.

All leftover books will be cheerfully toted over to the Menlo Park Friends of the Library program.



December 16, 2005 11:55 AM Whine  |   Link
Domestic Life and the Challenge of Not Being Martha Stewart

Wow this past week has been chock full of domestic activities. I just finished a light-hearted book on nesting.

It's definitely a fun book full of ideas, tips, vignettes of women living a domesticated type life and feeling a little bit more accomplished. Of course I realize it all goes out the door when you have kids as I have heard from close friends. However the recipes and short-cuts for entertaining or even gardening will prove useful someday.

So this past week I learned how to make cookie-cutter sugar cookies and with the lack of artistic abilities was able to decorate them for a community outreach activity. I was also able to do various baking activities involving recipes not found on the back of the Toll-House Chocolate Chip bag, banana nut bread, chili from scratch, and corn bread from scratch.

In addition, I was able to hem my own pants which has saved me some good money since I'm shorter than most petite sizes on the market. I'm starting to get a bit more familiar with my sewing machine and can claim 2 successful projects, even though they were just 2 aprons from Sewing for Dummies.

The garden is a mess but will definitely weed and mulch in the next week or so. Will be planning to add lighting and a better system for the fountain. It's been neglected for the most part this past year because of the redesign of the interior which as I speak is short of a couple of pieces of furniture and some lighting. Did manage to borrow a Christmas tree this year, with just 5 ornaments it's kind of sad looking right now, but hope to hit up Ikea or Kmart shortly for more. Feel free to send us ornaments if you have no clue what to give us.

While at times I envy Martha Stewart's abilities at making domestic life exciting and fun, I still fall short of the eye for detail, patience and creativity to really fully pull it off. I don't have all the entertainment ware and haven't even pulled out our nice stemware for get togethers. Although wine or champagne in styrofoam is definitely a path I won't go down.

Do you mind if I just serve salad in a bag sometimes? Or just get the pre-mixed cookie dough? And maybe oatmeal is the only thing good right now while the weather is chilly. I'll probably have to solicit the help of domestic experts shortly to help with adding the finishing touches at home, but for now I'm content and happy to serve up all the meals and doing laundry.



November 03, 2005 02:22 PM Books I've Read  |   Comments (0)  |   Link
Search for Librarian Theme Book Characters

If you've read a book that has a librarian or librarian-type character in it, please write me. I'd like to put a personal collection of children's and adult's books with this theme. Thank you.



November 02, 2005 01:33 PM Information Architecture  |   Link
Friends and Their Secret Projects

Adam of v-2.org is up to some interesting work these days. It turns out he has a new book coming out soon.

Everyware:The dawning age of ubiquitous computing



October 23, 2005 04:40 PM Books I've Read  |   Link
A Book in NYC

Ok, this was something I couldn't pass up while browsing at a children's bookstore in Union Square.

Lisa In New York by Anne Gutman and George Hallensleben
of the Misadventures of Lisa and Gaspard fame.

A great illustrated story documenting my experience in NY this past week.



August 05, 2005 10:03 AM Books I've Read  |   Link
Cleaning out the library

Here are a list of books I'm selling on Amazon.

What Should I do with My Life?

The Sixteen Pleasures: A Novel

Without Reservations: The Travels of an Indepedent Woman

The Millionaire Mind

The Millionaire Next Door

Will be posting more as I get through the boxes of books.



October 16, 2002 06:19 PM Information Architecture  |   Link
Congratulations Christina



October 03, 2002 10:21 PM Information Architecture  |   Link
JJG & Book Launch

Remember seeing that really cool diagram in the IA's cubicle the other day, you know the one that looks like this? Well the brains behind that diagram, just published a book describing the various components and why it's good for your business.

Elements Book Cover
Jesse James Garrett
The Elements of User Experience(2002), New Riders Publishing



December 14, 2001 09:57 PM Information Architecture  |   Link
Fellow GSLIS Alum in Print

Website Redesign Book Cover
My colleague Jeanene Landers-Steinberg, Director of Web Operations for Schwab Learning Foundation has a chapter in Darci DiNucci's new book, Adobe Master Class Website Redesigns.

I would like to also recommend you go ahead and check out Schwab Learning for resources on learning differences.