Grad School

I have mentioned a couple of times that I am starting grad school in library science this semester.  I start in a little over a week.  I am nervous but excited. Here are the classes I am taking this semester:

Bibliographic and Factual Sources
Information System Design
Information and Society
Organization of Information
Anybody have any advice for getting through my first semester?

What Should I buy?

I have some gift cards racked up to Amazon.  There are quite a few recent books I want and I want some help narrowing them down.  Here are the books I am thinking about. 

So what should I buy?

Books for Sale

I have a bunch of books I need to get rid of.  All are priced as listed.  All are in very good condition and most have been read only once.  I am willing to trade, or to haggle, especially if you buy more than one book.  Prices do not include shipping.  I will give you a very good deal if you buy more than one Nicholas Sparks book.  I am just trying to get rid of books (and maybe be able to host more giveaways!)


501 Must Read Books $2
I am America (and So Can You)- Stephen Colbert- Hardback $5
Portrait of an Unknown Woman- Vanora Bennett- hardback $5
The Heretic's Daughter- Kathleen Kent   $2
Little Giant of Aberdeen County- Tiffany Baker   $2
Gemma Doyle trilogy (Great & Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far     Thing)- Libba Bray   $5 for all 3/ $2 each
Wherever Nina Lies- Lynn Weingarten   $2
When She Flew- Jennie Shortridge  $2
Percy Jackson series #1-4  $6 for all 4/$2 each
The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson #1)  $2
Outlander series (#1-3)- Diana Gabaldon   $5 for all 3/$2 each
The Help- Kathryn Stockett  $5
Wolf Hall- Hilary Mantel  $5
Hunger Games/ Catching Fire   $8 for both/ $5 each
The White Queen- Phiippa Gregory   $5
Cleopatra's Daughter- Michelle Moran   $5
Year of the Flood- Margaret Atwood   $5
The Lost City of Z-  David Grann   $5
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo   $2
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close- Jonathan Safran Foer   $2
Ruined- Paula Morris   $5
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet- Jamie Ford   $2
I Am the Messenger- Markus Zusak   $2
3 Weeks with my brother- Nicholas Sparks  $5
Bend in the Road- Nicholas Sparks  $2
The Rescue- Nicholas Sparks  $2
True Believer- Nicholas Sparks   $2
The Guardian- Nicholas Sparks  $2
At First Sight- Nicholas Sparks  $2
The Choice- Nicholas Sparks  $2
Summer Sisters- Judy Blume  $2
Last Summer of You and Me- Ann Brashares- water damaged; free w/any book
Year of Wonders- Geraldine Brooks  $2
She's Come Undone- Wally Lamb  $2
Art of Racing in the Rain- Garth Stein   $2
Chuck Norris vs. Mr. T- Ian Spector   $2
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt-   $5
The Virgin Suicides   $2

Links I love

I wanted to share some of the links I've come across this week.

As a future librarian, I love this article:  Why The Next Big Pop-Culture Wave After Cupcakes Might Be Libraries. 


My husband and I dream of starting our own used bookstore some day.  This article about independent bookstores is full of inspiration.


Bookstore Bingo: this article and twitter trend makes me shake my head.

Giveaways:
Brimful Curiosities is giving away a book of your choice.

Knitting and Sundries is giving away books of your choice. 
Viva la Fashion is giving away a Target gift card.
Confessions of a Bookaholic is giving away a Sarah Dessen book pack. 
Lovely Rita Ann is giving away a gift card. 
My World.. in words and pages is giving away several prizes.
Bless Their Hearts Mom is giving away Her Fearful Symmetry

Stuff I'm Loving

Wipeout- Fun mindless summer tv.  Is there anything funnier than watching people get thrown from a big ball? The new season has a new twist: people throwing objects at the contestants.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia- This show is hilarious.  The characters are horrible people who get themselves in awkward situations.  One of the best scenes: Danny DeVito wearing skinny jeans.  Think about that image for a minute.  My only complaint: the seasons are too short!

Arrested Development-  One of the best tv shows ever. I'm sad that it got canceled, but a movie is being made (maybe).

Summer fruit, especially blueberries and watermelon.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day to all my readers in America. Have a safe and fun holiday!

Canada Day cake

When we were first dating, I decided to do a party for my husband for Canada Day.  Having only been up here once at that point, I really had no idea what was considered "traditional" Canadian food.  I made poutine, tourtiere, and a few other things.  Needless to say, since I hadn't actually had any of those foods, they didn't turn out too well.

I decided to make a cake for my husband and father in law for Canada Day.  With some of the free time I have had I have been practicing my cake decorating.  Last year, before moving to Canada, I took two of the Wilton classes and really enjoyed them.  I didn't have time to take the last two classes, but I did buy the books for them.  This cake is my second cake done with fondant.  I have tried fondant before a few times but it hadn't worked out for one reason or another.  I thought this time it looked pretty good.  This is marshmallow fondant which tastes a lot better than the packaged stuff.  It's just really sweet, so you wouldn't want to eat a lot of it. 

Cake Journal has a recipe for marshmallow fondant and really good step by step directions with pictures.

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day to all the Canadians out there.  I thought it would be fun to participate in the Canada Day blog party.  I hope to have fun and meet new people!
My name is Amanda and I currently live in Montreal with my husband Nic who is originally from here.  I am from Florida and met my husband in high school.  We both went to Florida State University and after graduation, he decided he wanted to move back up here.  I figured I owed him one since he moved to Florida to be with me.  We have lived here for almost a year and I love it so far.  It has taken a bit of time for me to get used to such a big city since I have always lived in small towns.

I am just getting started on my blog.  Mostly it will be about books, with a little cooking/baking, and knitting thrown in.  There will probably also be quite a few pictures and stories of my cat, Newton, since he is so cute and funny. Not that I am partial or anything.

Half Year Round Up

I have seen several blogs do a round up since we are now half way through 2010.  Last year was the first year I kept track of what and how many books I read. My goal last year was 100, and I met that goal with 102.  This year I decided to up my goal a little bit with 125.  However, I did not know that I would have the plethora of free time that I have had the last few months.  So far this year I have read 90 books.  Since I am so close to my goal, I am going to up it to 150.  Here is my top 10 list of books read this year.  Note: I have read a few series and am counting the series as 1 book.  My list is in no particular order.

1.  The Hunger Games series- Suzanne Collins
2. The Gemma Doyle series- Libba Bray
3. The Lost City of Z- David Grann
4. The Help- Kathryn Stockett
5. Pillars of the Earth- Ken Follett
6. When She Flew- Jennie Shortridge
7. Year of the Flood- Margaret Atwood
8. Portrait of an Unkown Woman- Vanora Bennett
9. The Girl Who Stopped Swimming- Joshilyn Jackson
10. The Heretic's Daughter- Kathleen Kent

Canada Day Blog Party

I am excited to be participating in the Canada Day Blog Party hosted by CanadianMomBlogger.  Go over to her site to read the rules.  One lucky blogger will win a $100 Amazon.ca gift card!

National Holiday of Quebec (La Fête nationale du Québec)

Today is the National Holiday of Quebec.  As I have lived here less than a year, this is my first time celebrating this holiday.  In Canada there is also Canada Day, which is celebrated on July 1st, but in Quebec this holiday is a lot bigger than Canada Day. 

From wikipedia:
The National Holiday of Quebec (French: La Fête nationale du Québec) is the national holiday of the Canadian province of Quebec. A paid statutory public holiday covered under the Act Respecting Labour Standards, it is celebrated annually on June 24, St. John the Baptist Day.
In Quebec, the festivities occur on June 23 and June 24 and since 1978 are publicly financed and organized by a National Holiday Organizing Committee (Comité organisateur de la fête nationale). June 24 continues to be celebrated as a festival of French Canadian culture in other provinces and in the United States.
 

Frustrated

Since my semester ended at the end of April I have had a lot of time to read. That is a good thing, and at first I was really excited. But now I am bored because I have nothing to do. I moved to Canada almost a year ago with my husband. I am technically still a student and am here on a student visa. I cannot get a job off campus until I get an off campus work permit. But I cannot work on campus either because right now I am between schools. I went to one school for two semesters, but am no longer considered a student there because I am not registered. I start my master's program in library science at McGill in September, but since I am not registered there, I am not considered a McGill student either. I applied for an off campus work permit almost 2 months ago and have not gotten it yet. It is just so frustrating! I am bored being at home all day long with just my cat for company. I would like to get a job so that we can move into our own apartment, since right now we are living with my husband's dad. Also, most of the job postings I have looked at require that you be bilingual. I am trying to learn French, but it is hard! I am also lonely because I don't know anybody up here but my husband. I tried making friends in school, but I am really shy. Everything just piled together has been making me feel down lately.

National Library Week

This is the Grande Bibliotheque in Montreal. It is 33,000 square feet and is the National Library and Archives of Quebec. It is one of 67 libraries in the area. It is an amazing building, and the picture does it no justice. It even has a gift shop!

This week is National Library Week. I have always loved libraries, ever since I was little. There is just something about them that makes me happy. I love to walk around looking at all the shelves. I love the smell of books (my husband thinks that is really weird). I am starting graduate school in the fall to get my master's in library science at McGill University in Montreal. I am really excited and nervous. It has been a while since I've gone to a library to check out books, mostly because I previously lived in a small town with a tiny library. Also, for the last year I have been trying to read the books that I already own. I am hoping to start going to libraries soon, especially since there are many in Montreal. I am also really excited to become a librarian.

In honor of National Library Week, Kate from The Neverending Shelf is issuing a challenge. There are two parts to this challenge:
Part 1:
For every comment that this post receives, I will be donating a 1/4 of a book to my local library. This means that for every 4 comments, my library will be getting a book off my shelves. Please limit the comments to something relevant to this post. You can give us tips on how you can support your local library... Tell us what makes your library special... Etc.

Part 2:
Create a post about the challenge. You can telling us about your local library, tips on how you can make your library, etc. and then pass this challenge along to your readers. You can keep the stakes the same, make them less, or even up them.. the choice is yours. Once you have done this, please link your post in Mr. Linky so that others can see what you can done. Additionally, I will be selecting one lucky winner to select 5 books from my shelves or $25 to spend on Book Depository. If you are international, I will give you $25 to spend on Book Depository. You are more than welcome to read the books before you donate... I just ask that you actually donate the books.

I am going to participate in this challenge. For every comment I get, I will donate 1 book to my local library. I might donate more, because I'm a new blogger and don't get that many comments yet. So comment here and go visit Kate's blog and comment there!

My First Post

My name is Amanda and reading is one of my favorite things. I am 23 and am an American currently living in Montreal, QC. I am married to an amazing, nerdy Canadian husband. We have a silly, adorable cat named Newton (after Isaac Newton). I am starting a master's program in the fall to be a librarian and I cannot wait. This blog will probably mostly be about reading, as that is what I do most often. I will also occasionally post about some of my other interests, including knitting, and cooking.