2013 in Books

I've been neglecting my scrapbooking again, although in truth this is a layout I've been working on off and on over the last month.

I love reading, but I realized at the beginning of last year that I had really neglected that pastime, so I resolved to read at least one book a month.  I did far better than that and ended up reading almost two a month, which still pales in comparison to what I used to consume, but I'm definitely on the right track.

I stamped a bunch of the library cards from Lawn Fawn's Check This Out set, and recorded the title/author and then my thoughts about the book.  I also rated them on a scale from 1-5, with 5 being the best.

The little pockets are a Taylored Expression die, and the papers are older, from October Afternoon's 9 to 5 collection and Studio Calico, Yearbook.   Those big numbers are fussy cut from a Yearbook sheet and then I went over the sketchy lines with a Micron pen to darken them a bit.



It's kind of an eclectic mix of papers, but it's fun, bright and I like the balance.

Hoping that this is just the first in a series of layouts like this that I make.  Interestingly I realized that I mostly read non-fiction and newer books (mostly because I normally go to the new book section to pick out my books these days....it's just easier and more out in the open when there are two girls to wrangle).  All the fiction books I read this year are part of series' that I had started a while back, and most of them were kids' books.  It's not that I'm opposed to fiction books for people my age.  There's stuff that I really like, but I often feel it's kind of a shot in the dark, and if I'm going to read something sad/depressing/dark, I would prefer that it's because it's a real story....I don't know, more inspiring or acceptable if it's real I guess.

Oh, and if you're wondering which books I gave a five star rating to, here they are:

A Fort of Nine Towers by Qais Akbar Omar
The Astor Orphan:  A Memoir by Alexandra Aldrich
The Council of Mirrors by Michael Buckley
V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton
Isaac's Army by Matthew Brzezinski
The Favored Daughter by Fawzia Koofi
An Ordinary Man by Paul Ruesesabagina

That's all for today.  Have a great day!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  October Afternoon - 9 to 5 collection; Studio Calico - Yearbook Collection; CTMH - Colonial White Cardstock
Stamps:  Lawn Fawn - Check This Out
Ink:  CTMH - Chocoate
Other:  Taylored Expressions - Library Pocket Die; AC - Amy Tangerine Daily Thickers; Scor-tape; Pigma - Brown Micron Pen