Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!  We'd like to wish you all a wonderful holiday as we share some of our favorite Christmas song with you.

Rachel enjoys the Bright Eyes version of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas."
 
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Rachel also shares my love of 80's music and notes "Do They Know It's Christmas," by Band Aid is one of her favorites.  However, it's kind of scary to look back and see how young everyone looks.  Bono looks like a kid here.



I also love "Christmas Wrapping," by the Waitresses but "Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth," by David and Bing Crosby is my all-time favorite.  It was part of Bing's last Christmas special before he passed away.  The lyrics are just beautiful. 




And once you hear "Christmas Conga," by Cyndi Lauper, you'll never get it out of your head.



Alan is a fan of "Thank God It's Christmas," Nat King Cole's "Christmas Song," and Bing Crosby's "Do You Hear What I Hear?" plus "Blue Christmas" by Seymour Swine and the Squealers.  




Jess P. feels jolly whenever she hears Burl Ives sing "Holly Jolly Christmas" and the Trans Siberian Orchestra's "Christmas Canon."



Jess B. enjoys "Carol of the Bells," as performed by the Barenaked Ladies.



Jennifer P. gets into the spirit with "Where Are You Christmas,' by Faith Hill.



Rebecca T. our Muppet maven loves, "Bless Us All," from "The Muppet Christmas Carol" and also the traditional hymn "O Come Emmanuel,"  she sent me a link to her new favorite version.





And finally Naomi shared her favorite Christmas song, "Either Reindeer," by The Knife and "Christmas Unicorn," by Sufjan Stevens, I had never heard of either of them but they're unique and interesting just like Naomi.




Now, let's hear from you!! What are your favorite Christmas songs?  Please share with us.  

Holiday Treats

We're snowbound this weekend, we don't have as much snow as they got in "The Baby Sitters Club Super Special #7: Snowbound" by Ann M. Martin but it's the perfect weekend to bundle up in blankets and read your favorite holiday store or hunker down to a marathon of your favorite holiday films. I asked the BWOBNY crew to share their favorite holiday tales.




Naomi and everyone in the BWOBNY crew adores "The Muppet's Christmas Carol," a heartwarming and hilarious take on the Dickens' classic

Jess P. also loves the original animated version of  "How The Grinch Whole Stole Christmas," based on the Dr. Seuss' book.  

Rebecca T. said, "it doesn't feel like Christmas until I've watched 'White Christmas' and Jess B. agreed it's also a favorite of hers. 

 Jess B. also gets a kick out of "Donald's Snow Fight," and makes a double feature of it with "Mickey's Christmas Carol."





Jess P. and I always snickered and laughed throughout one of my favorite Christmas specials, "A Very Brady Christmas," the 80's era reunion of the infamous Bunch.  And not a Christmas goes by that I don't commemorate the occasion by reading "Sweet Valley High, Super Edition: Special Christmas" by Francine Pascal and "Olive, the Other Reindeer," based on the picture book J. Otto Seibold. 

Now, we want to hear from you!!! What are your favorite holiday stories? Please share with us.

We Love Thor: Blog Hop Fun

So this week, Amalia Dillin's second book in the Fate of the Gods Trilogy came out! And if you haven't read her books yet, you totally should.
The first book, Forged by Fate, came out earlier this year and you can read Rebecca T's Top 10 Things she loved about it. Then Tempting Fate, a novella showing things from Mia and Adam's point of view came out a few months ago. Now we finally get to read more of the story in Fate Forgotten which came out yesterday! Amalia does such a great job of weaving together the Biblical account with other mythologies from around the world. Especially Thor. Because Thor rocks.

So this is our stop in the Thor Love Blog Hop! You can head over HERE to check out the other blogs who are taking part too.

One of the things we founded the Booksellers Without Borders NY blog on is our eclectic group of Borders family members who add different takes on the books, tv shows, or movies we review. We like to try to do group posts fairly regularly, so we thought this would be a fun time to do that. So here are some of our favorite Thor versions!

NaomiRuth: My favorite is probably Amalia Dillin's from Forged by Fate. Amalia's Thor is so interesting as a character. ... he cares so much about Eve and does the best he can for her. I like Amalia's world-building and how interactions go between the mythologies. ... it's more than just liking her Thor, but liking her Thor in her world.

Jess B: Thor is my second favorite super hero ;) My absolute favorite is Avengers Disassembled: Thor by Michael Avon Oeming. It's when the Avengers have to help fight the Norse God apocalypse and Thor doesn't know if he should be helping fight it or help usher it in. It's sooooo good! Oh!!!! And Frog of Thunder is hilarious! Throgs is the character name and he is Thor, but Loki turned him into a frog; they are hilarious!!!!

Rachelyons: The Beard and I have seen both The Avengers and Thor and absolutely love them! Thor is my favorite superhero after Iron Man. The Beard puts The Avengers on almost every day because it's on Netflix. ... He's been reading Thor comics recently - he just read a part where Thor puts Asgard in the desert and Loki becomes a woman - "typical comic book craziness" he says.

Rebecca T: I'm a big fan of comic book movies, though I'm still a bit intimidated by the comic book world of books. I really do like the version of Thor in both the recent Thor and The Avengers movies and I'm really excited about Thor: The Dark World movie coming out this week! But I never really paid much attention to Thor until I became Twitter buddies with Amalia. Her enthusiasm for Norse mythology and Thor in particular was infectious and I absolutely adore the way she writes his character in the Fates of the Gods series. But my favorite incarnation of Thor is from Amalia and Mia Hayson's Thor in Zombieland serial they took turns writing on their blogs a couple of years ago. You can find all of the links HERE and should be ready for some absolutely hilarious hi-jinks.

Staff Picks

We always had a display of "Staff Picks" in our Borders.  These were books, videos or music that we loved and hoped to share with our customers.  Now, we're taking the section virtual.  In our new weekly, "Staff Picks" feature we share what we're reading and loving with you this week! 

Alan is "in Stephen Hunter's world right now. I just finished his "Soft Target," and am now reading his "Dead Zone." Unfortunately I'm reading them out of order, but I'm okay with it."

Jess B. gives a thumbs up to the vampire saga "Thirst" by Christopher Pike. Albert recommended it to her sometime ago and she finally checked it out.  She loves vampire Alisa's internal struggles. 


 

Naomi is re-reading John Dickinson's "Cup of the World" for the third time. She loves this book especially the world-building and how it has "dream-like qualities to it." 

Rachel finally picked up the children's classic "The Phantom Tollbooth," by Norton Juster.  Her only regret is not reading it when she was younger as she quickly fell in love with this book and can't wait to pass it on to kids. 

Rebecca just finished reading "Dark Triumph" by Robin LaFevers. It's the second book in the "His Fair Assassins" series and it was wonderful. She loved the way the author blends historical fiction with a touch of fantasy and romance  She finds the character, Sybella particularly fascinating and she didn't want to put it down. 
 



Stacey is re-reading the "Harry Potter" series which has become a Spring/Summer tradition for her.   

Finally, I devoured the forthcoming "Accused," by Lisa Scottoline.  I was lucky enough to get the ARC at Book Expo America last week.  The book won't be released in October so until then I highly recommend Lisa's other novels especially my favorites in her "Rosato & Associates" series, "Moment of Truth," and "Courting Trouble."   
 
What good books have you read lately?  Have you read any of ours?  Check back next week for more "Staff Picks" and be sure to share your picks with us!   

Summer Readin', Havin' a Blast...

We finally made it, it's Memorial Day weekend!!  The winter seemed way too long this year but Summer is here!! The entire "T" family consisting of NaomiRuth, Rebecca T and Grammy T are currently enjoying the beautiful beaches of North Carolina.  I checked in with them and the rest of the BWOBNY crew to see Beach Reads they'll be packing this summer.

Grammy T is currently reading "The Negotiator," book 1 of "The O'Malley" series by Dee Henderson with the 2nd book in the series, "The Guardian," in her beach tote for the later in the week.  She also read next month's book club pick, "Through the Ever Night," by Veronica Rossi.   

Meanwhile Naomi has a mixed bag.  She is reading the "Complete Plays of Aristophanes, a Kierkegaard anthology, and random YA and Middle Grade books..." that she didn't get to read during the school year.  Wombly failed to comment, I guess he's working on his tan.

Rebecca T shares her sister's thought and loves reading all the Young Adult novels that she didn't have a chance to read during the busy school year.  She's currently juggling three titles: "Through the Ever Night" by Veronica Rossi, "The Name of the Star" by Maureen Johnson, and "Grave Mercy" by Robin LaFevers.

Jen C. loves to relive her childhood by re-reading her favorite series' such as the "Christy Miller" series by Robin Jones Gunn.

Jess B. took an early vacation this year but she is currently reading "City of Ashes," by Cassandra Clare. 

Rachel always takes "a bunch of classics with me to the beach thinking I'll use that time to be all fancy and intellectual, but I always end up saying 'Camus is too heavy for the beach where's the YA?" She then ends up searching for the fluffiest YA title she can get hands on.
 

As for me, I love re-reading childhood favorites like Jen P.  I also love the "Christy Miller" series but my traditional beach read is my battered copy of "Boy Crazy Stacey," the 8th book in "The Baby Sitters Club" series by Ann M. Martin in which the gang heads to the fictional Sea City, NJ for the first time.  My other favorite summer read is "The Baby-Sitters' Summer Vacation," the second "Super Special" in the series.  And if you'd like to make this your beach read, "The Baby Sitters Club" has just been re-released in e-book format!! 


What about you guys?  What are your favorite beach reads?  Please share with us!!

February Book Club: Beautiful Creatures

So this post is super late, because we have all been super busy! But it's here :)

Summary from GoodReads:
Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

What we thought (with a little about the movie too):

Jess B. - I hated the movie... loved the book. How dare you remove key points and characters and think that it will still work? The book, on the other hand, was passionately tragic... the character flow was just lovely! I have a weakness for witchcraft novels, but this was one of my favorites! I can't wait to read the next one!

Rebecca T - The first time I read this book I was about 3 pages in before I realized it was a male narrator, which was very unsettling. Rereading it was better for me and I appreciate the way the story is told from Ethan's perspective rather than Lena's. I liked the southern atmosphere, though I wish the main characters had been less anti-south. I liked the flashback feature with the locket and some of the interweaving of story elements. However, I found the ending so dramatically anti-climactic that I have less desire to read the second book than might be hoped for. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I am curious and plan on seeing it at some point. A rather mixed review from me :)

Jenn N - I didn't know whether to give my review since I didn't finish the book, but, alas... I picked up Beautiful Creatures expecting it to be told from Lena's point of view as the book's description and movie trailer implied. So, I was thoroughly confused when the book was told from the perspective of Ethan, a young man smitten with Lena. I don't really care for books from a male's point of view and I couldn't get into it. I tried to persevere on this one, but the grim descriptions of the small town were too over the top hick and small town for me to accept as realistic and turned me off to reading further.

So, as you can see, we had very mixed feelings on this book. What did you think? Have you read the books? Did you think the movie did a good job adapting the overall story line? Do tell!

This month we've been reading Sever the third book in The Chemical Gardens Series by Lauren DeStefano. Wither was one of our first books, so this series kind of holds a special place in our bookclub hearts.

702

We're just 12 days into 2013 and I've read 5 books so far.  I'm currently in the midst of book 6.  My overall goal is to read 100 books in 2013.  I missed this goal last year by about 25%.  This  year I'm determined to see it through.  The rest of the BWOBNY crew plans to either meet our exceed last year's goal.

Jess B. is striving to read 200 books this year.  That's about books a week!

Jess P. has set a goal for herself of 25 books.  She thinks most of them will be picture books for little Ana but I hope she finds some time to relax with a book for herself. 

Naomi plans on reading 125 books this year.

Rachel is aiming for 50 but hopes to read more.





Despite being busy with school, teaching, and her other job, Rebecca plans on meeting last year's goal of 150 books.  No one has mastered the art of multitasking like Rebecca-nobody!

All together, that's 702 books between us!   We'll update you on our progress throughout the year and review our favorites with you.  What are your reading goals for 2013?