My Own Little Book Corner

Vote here for the state of Louisiana and our children could receive 50,000 new books to read! You can only vote once a day, but you can vote everyday until the end of the contest on July 31st. Please help put Louisiana in the #1 spot!

Check out Paperback Swap . This is a place to get rid of books you no longer want, and to get some new ones to read. Condensed version - you sign up and post 9 books. You then recieve 3 credits that can be used to order 3 books. (Each book is 1 credit whether paperback or hard cover. The exception - books on tape are 2 credits.) Your books are listed and can be ordered by others. Your cost is in mailing books that others order. These are sent Media Mail and most books cost $2.13 to send. When the person you sent a book to recieves it, you recieve a credit and the cycle continues. If you sign up, use me as a reference (jantalk) . If you do, I will recieve a credit, which I will return to you. So, you can get 4 credits to start your trading. Be warned - this is an addictive site and you may find yourself at the post office more than ususal,, but it's well worth it.

Summer was always a season of reading for me growing up. Those were the days that Jackie and I could go to the library, browse, get our books and then take them home and read. Now there are reading incentive programs to encourage summer reading. Most libraries have them and a few bookstores. (If you have children in grades 1 - 6, check out the program at Barnes & Noble . For reading any 8 books and keeping a brief journal, your child can get a free book. Not a bad deal. ) Of course the library programs are always good too. I'm participating in the one with the East Baton Rouge Parish Library . They made it easy for adults - read 3 books, record them with a brief summary and turn it in for prizes. The prizes that made me sign up were a $5 certificate for the Recycled Reads sale and a cookie on a stick from Cookies by Design . If they had only had a coupon for CC's it would have been perfect - a book, a cookie and a cup of coffee. What more do you need?!

Here's the latest book reviews (trying to keep it short and sweet): "The Goodbye Summer" by Patricia Gaffney This is the story of a few months in the life of Cadie Winger. These months find her living alone for the first time in her 32 years of life as her grandmother moved into Wake House, a place that those who do not need intensive medical care, just a little help, can go and live together. Caddie quickly makes friends with the residents, visiting them and helping them to record their biographies among other things. There's more than one goodbye in the story, but the main goodbye is Caddie’s goodbye to her old self. 4 stars "The Virgin's Lover" by Philippa Gregory The follow up book to “The Queen’s Fool” this chronicles the time in England when Elizabeth became queen. A tale of politics and love as Elizabeth and Robert Dudley become close companions in both areas. Those around them see the pitfalls – the largest being that Dudley is married and that