Back, After a Long Absence

OK, so I may have been overreacting a bit to the end of NaBloPoMo.

I haven't posted in weeks, largely because I didn't have anything worthwhile to say AND I was tired of daily posting AND I've been snowed under with grading AND I had to study for my final exam in FOG (finished, thank God, and I think I got an A). In fact, I'm still not finished with grading, though I expect to finish up on Monday and turn in my grades at the end of the day.

So in the meantime, Belle tagged me for a Book Meme. And since I'm a sucker for Belle (hey, what can I say? She leaves comments!) and a reading freak, I thought I would give in to the posting temptation.

Here's how the meme works. (Just on a side note, it's only been a short time that I've known what a meme is. Isn't that odd?)

The rules: List five books that you have read in 2007 that you love. These do not have to be books that came out in 2007, but books that you (re)discovered/(re)read in 2007 that have become or are important to you. Link back to the person who tagged you. Tag five others.

I have this funny habit of re-reading books that I love. So although some of these books are old standbys, I re-read them this year. Others were new to me.

Pride and Prejudice. During the summer, I read this book about 5 times. I don't know why I was so enchanted with it, but ... I guess there's a reason it's a classic.

Friday Night Lights. A friend loaned me this one, and I put it in my reading stack but never read it. Then when we were getting ready to leave for our backpacking trip in Maine, I was looking for a small book with small print. I must always have a book on a backpacking trip, and if I can get one that won't weigh much but will last me a week or so, that's good. This one was fantastic, as it brought back so much of my experience as a high-school student and a high-school teacher in Texas, dealing with football players and football coaches and football fans.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I re-read this one, too, several times. Characters make any book for me, and I loved getting closure on these kids.

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. OK, this brings my fantasy freak out of the closet. Kudos to my neices (also fantasy freaks! hi girls!) for directing me to a brand new series! That is long! And has bunches more books for me to read! With dragons!

Which brings me to my final book, Eldest. This is the second in a young adult lit series -- and I both love to and have to read YA lit, because I teach courses in it -- that satisfies my hankering for dragons, heroes, and engaging sets of characters.

This year I also discovered Library Thing (which I'll be using in relation to classes I teach in future) -- you can see most of my library here.

Hmm. Who to tag?

Dr. Brazen Hussy, Eddie, Female Science Professor, Jen, and RV.