The Reading Room is a weekly update on books I'm reading and planning to read, posted on Tuesdays. It was inspired by the feature On Myshelf at the blog All by Myshelf.

Starting this post off with a slightly off-topic (but still related) subject: every year, the public library hosts an auction to raise money. They put on a dinner, take donations, and then whatever people pay for the items goes to the library. It's a really great event, and this year, since I'm volunteering at the library for my graduation project, I was there to help out - which mostly consisted of folding 130 napkins and setting 130 place settings the night before and then hovering around incase anyone needed anything that night.

Anyway, here's the part that ties into my reading update: as I was helping to set up some things for the silent auction, I came across this lovely box that someone had put together and donated, filled with a blanket, snacks, a book, a candle, and several other things. During the auction I put in a bid, luckily won, and came home with, among other things, my own copy of The Help. My aunt (a fellow book nerd) told me that it's a fantastic read. I can't wait to start it.

I also added two books from the school library to my reading pile this week: The Curiosities by Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff, and The Dragon Heir by Cinda Williams Chima. I've already started The Curiosities and absolutely love it - it's so unique, and of course, Maggie Stiefvater is involved, so it's guaranteed to be fantastic. I haven't started The Dragon Heir, but I can't wait to find out what happens next - The Wizard Heir left a lot of questions unanswered.

That's it for this week. Spring break soon, though, which means even more time for reading.

~blackandwhitedreamer

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. A new topic is posted each week, and blogger share their top ten in the category.

Top Ten Books I Recommend The Most

"Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal. And you become convinced that that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book."

10. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

By Douglas Adams

9. The Demon King

By Cinda Williams Chima

8. Clockwork Angel

By Cassandra Clare

7. To Kill A Mockingbird

By Harper Lee

6. The Alchemyst

Michael Scott

5. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

4. 1984

By George Orwell

3. The Hobbit

By J.R.R. Tolkien

2. The Book Thief

By Markus Zusak

1. The Scorpio Races

By Maggie Stiefvater

~blackandwhitedreamer

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. A new topic is posted each week, and bloggers share their top ten in the category.

Top Ten Books I Just HAD to Buy...but are still sitting on my shelf unread

Only a top five this week, which I consider quite an accomplishment - then again, there are far more books than that sitting unread on my shelf, but most of them have been gifts, not something I've been overwhelmed with the desire to buy. 

5. Trickster's Choice & Trickster's Queen

Tamora Pierce

It was Tamora Pierce. There was absolutely no good excuse for passing up two books by Tamora Pierce. And there's even less of an excuse for having not read them yet. I've owned them for over a year now, and just been so distracted by other books (not all of which have been as good as I know these will be) that I haven't gotten around to them yet. 

4. Grimm's Fairy Tales

It was on sale at Barnes & Noble for some really ridiculous price - around five dollars if my memory is correct. And sure, while most of the stories I'm probably familiar with already, I've never read the original versions of all of them - which completely defeats the purpose of owning this book. 

3. Here There Be Dragons

James A. Owen

Like Tamora Pierce's Trickster books, this was a story that looked incredibly promising, a book I've owned for over a year. And again, I have no valid excuse. 

2. Night and Day

Virginia Woolf

College bookstores are wonderful places, filled with every piece of classic or well-known literature you could imagine (although sometimes overpriced.) It was in just such a place that I picked up this book, choosing it at random because a friend assured me that "anything by Viriginia Woolf would be fantastic." Then I started reading the introduction, which did nothing but talk about how this was one of the worst novels Woolf had written. I've been putting off reading it ever since, even though I can't imagine that it's anything other than wonderful. 

1. Pathfinder

Orson Scott Card

In 2011, I was willing to risk overweight luggage in order to buy this book in a Key West bookstore and bring it home. I ended up buying it later, but this book was one I was absolutely dying to get my hands on - and I still haven't read it. That's a big problem. 

Feeling completely guilted into reading these books at the first available opportunity,

~blackandwhitedreamer