Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Waiting on Wednesday - The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus)




Waiting on Wednesday was created by Jill over at Breaking the Spine. It's a weekly post for you to share what upcoming books you can't wait for!




This week I am very eagerly awaiting the latest book by Rick Riordan about Percy Jackson and the other Camp Half-Blood characters we grew to love in The Lightning Thief and it's four sequels.




The info about this says it will pick up after Percy has defeated Kronos and goes back with his friends to rebuild Camp Half-Blood. Specifically we will be joining a new generation of demigods, but fortunately it says they will get a little help from our favorite demigods, which would be Percy, Anabeth, and hopefully Grover as well. This is currently set to be released in October 2010. At one time it was listed as October 22, which would have been my birthday, but since then Riordan tweeted that it was actually a week or so earlier.




Now, if only someone would go back and re-do the movie, which messed up soooooo much from the books, that anyone who had read them came out of the theater disappointed. Just ask my students that I read it with in our Greater Gator class. :-)

Friday, July 30, 2010

glee: The Beginning by Sophia Lowell


So, I was very excited to read the prequel to the TV show Glee. And I wasn't disappointed. The only thing I can say that is kind of disappointing is not enough Brittany, she is hilarious on the show, but of course doesn't get much time. Also missing is the sting of Sue Sylvester. Yes, she's in the book, doing the same thing, but it's not quite as good as when it is brought to life in the TV show. In fact, most of the adults are kind of on the sidelines for the book. In the book we see how Rachel gets started with Glee club, as well as many other things like that. We see Mercedes with her crush on her best friend Kurt. We see Finn and find out he is intrigued by Rachel. We also see what leads up to Quinn and her predicament that is on the show. I like that we get to meet Rachel's two dads in the book, and hope that we get to see them on the show this year. It's also nice to get a look into Mercedes's family life, as well as some more insight into Tina and Artie. I really recommend this as a quick, fun read for anyone who loves the show, or in other words, is a Gleek like I am.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Lobster Land by Susan Carlton




I wanted to like this book so much. The author was so nice when I emailed my request to get an advanced copy. She talked about how authors loved teachers and librarians. And when I got the book? I got an awesome little package of goodies wrapped in a pretty bow. Unfortunately, I can't give it my best review.
Sure, I can see how a teen would like it. It's got the angst, the romance, the wanting to get away from parents who just don't understand. But unfortunately it just wasn't my cup of tea. One thing that may have kind of flavored my mood as I read was at the beginning. Now, yes, I know this is from a teenager's point of view, but when Charlotte, our main character, calls John Walsh, the host of America's Most Wanted pathetic, and says he should basically "get over" his son's kidnapping and murder? I just really couldn't stand that. Maybe it's because I was a kid when all that happened and it was a horrible news story that I remember hearing about and feeling for that man and his family.
Some cute things about the story, the character is a "brain". I do like that part. And their parents named them all based on the book Charlotte's Web. Our main character Charlotte, her 4 year old sister is named Fern, and their 9 month old brother is E.B. or as Charlottle calls him, Eb. So that's pretty cute. I do also love hearing about the setting of the book, an island near Portland, Maine. I've never been to this part of the country, but I really would like to. So I enjoyed hearing about the ferry they had to take so they could go to school, and all that. Unfortunately this is definitely a teen book, the f-word is used a bit, and so I couldn't pass it on to my 8th graders in good consious. So, while I think teens might enjoy it, it just won't be one I pass on. And I have a cool, autographed copy too. Maybe I could donate it to a high school library.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Skinned by Robin Wasserman


I'm a bit ashamed to start this blog out by saying, I'd seen Robin Wasserman's books in our teen section for at least 4 or 5 years, yet I'd never read any till just now. I had picked up this very book, and read the back several times, so I was interested in it, just never got the commitment to reading it until I began following her on Twitter.


This was as good as I expected. It reminds me of one of my favorite series, the Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld, as well as a book I just read for the Truman nominees, The Adoration of Jenna Fox.


Our main character is Lia Khan, one of, or maybe "the" most popular girl. Lia has just been in a horrible car accident. Now this is a futuristic world, the cars drive themselves, so this should never have happened. Another thing is that it shouldn't even have been Lia, it should have been her younger sister Zo in the car. Lia should have died, but this is the future remember, they can download your brain and put you into a new body. It's a robot, but very lifelike. Normally, if you have time, you can get your new body to look just like you did. However, because of the abruptness of this accident, Lia's new body is only one that is similar in looks to her. Her family, her friends, many in the world, do not accept this. They are called, Skinners. One boy does stick up for her, Auden, a boy she would never have looked at before this happened. She also must go to support groups for other kids like her, where she soon meets people who take her to meet Jude. Another skinner. Only these skinners don't want to be integrated back into society, they want to be recognized for what they are.


Lia has to decide what she wants to be, who she wants to be. Along the way she learns some sad htings about her family and friends, and her boyfriend.


The ending is a cliffhanger, totally leaves you wanting more. So I was excited to see that the 2nd will come out in paperback in a month I think. I've got my copy ordered. :-)

Thursday, July 22, 2010

The Passage by Justin Cronin


The latest vampire novel. A HUGE book. I kind of wished I had a Nook to read it on as big as it is. Once again the vampires are created by a virus, and in this case a military researched and modified virus. The program is being tested on criminals with no family who are on death row. They are told they are being given a chance to not be put to death if only they help out this project. We also get an idea where the virus comes from through email/letters at the beginning of the book. A young girl who gets dropped off at a convent, Amy, gets picked up to be part of this program. The agent who picks her up, has a past that makes him not sure about bringing this girl into the project. Things go wrong, of course, and the "vampires" escape into the world. Changing everything. At that point we go into a future world where people live in colonies, and as far as we know, this one colony is all that is probably left in the world.


In the end, Amy shows up and leads these people to where there are other survivors/colonies/armies fighting the vampires. I find it interesting where the story goes with how these vampires actually behave, and what happens with Amy. Not sure if it is really left open for a sequel. I suppose it is, but in the end, it'd be nice to just have one story.


It started slow, kind of slow in the middle, and then once the action picks up, the story does too. So I would recommend this if you are into a long read. It gets good if you just hang in there.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Pink Slip Party by Cara Lockwood


Now after reading Bride Needs Groom, I was thinking that most mass market size romance books are more the traditional "romance" style than the chick lit that I prefer. This was TOTALLY the kind of book I enjoy. It had some really goofy parts that made me laugh out loud, as well as the kind of "romance" that I like to read about. I think this is the first book by Cara Lockman that I've read, and I'm sure I only picked it up because it was a strip cover that sounded good, but she will now be added to my list of chick lit authors to check on new books, or past books going to bargain. :-) From the list of her books in the front, I think maybe she writes teen books as well, so I will check those out as well.


Anyway, as you might or might not get from the title, our main character, Jane, has just gotten laid off. So the book is all about her trying to deal with unemployment. She is an art major, so of course doesn't really have a lot of the qualifications needed for many jobs. Soon other people from where she works have been laid off and they come up with a revenge plot on the office supply company they worked for. Where, ironically, Jane used her art degree to design pink slips. Jane had also been dating one of her bosses, and he also dumps her the day she gets fired. Jane's adventures at the unemployment office, as well as with her stoner ex-boyfriend are so funny. And I love the response letters we get to read that are from companies that Jane has applied to, or else from her credit card company saying they won't accept her organs as payment. It reminds me quite a bit of shopaholic in that bit.


I did mark a few parts in this book.


1st she talks about having a crush on her brother's friend Kyle, and how sometimes it is just nice to have a crush and get to flirt, even if it's not going anywhere, although for Jane, it does. I feel the same way. Sometimes it is just nice to have a cute boy to crush on and flirt with, even if you know there is no way anything is ever going to happen, and I am completely okay with that.


However, later, this Kyle, who did kiss her, and she thought was flirting with her, brings to her family's house his ex-girlfriend. So now she wonders if he was really flirting with her or if she can't even read dating signals anymore. Again, something I've been dealing with too. I hate when I think someone is flirting with me, and they totally aren't. It sucks. Of course it has been so long since anyone I would want to flirt with me has flirted with me, that I am pretty much out of practice at those signals, so I was probably completely off track.


Towards the end, when things start to wrap up, she says something that I wonder if it is true and would work for me. She says she's learning to be less critical. That hating things is a lot easier than admitting to what you like. And that if you're critical of the whole world it means in most cases that you're being the most critical of yourself. That last part is totally true for me, I am so critical of myself it's not even funny. However she goes on to say that it's better to put yourself out there and get hurt than to never take the chance at all. And I'm not sure about that one. If every time you've ever put yourself out you've been hurt, when do you learn to stop? If you keep trying, isn't that the definition of insanity if you don't get any new results?


The last page I marked is actually in some questions with the author at the end of the book. When asked where does she get her inspiration for writing humor, the way she talks about her family totally reminds me of mine. She talks about how she and her brother would mimic Saturday Night Live skits long after they wore out their funniness. My family does that too. We have our own "inside" jokes that are often movie quotes, or even SNL skits.


I really enjoyed this book. Will probably loan it to my sister Anna first, as I think the art major thing, and the having trouble finding a job will really be easy for her to connect to.

Waiting on Wednesday - The Fall




Waiting on Wednesday was created by Jill over at Breaking the Spine. It's a weekly post for you to share what upcoming books you can't wait for!




As I get ready to blog about The Passage by Justin Cronin, I remember that I am waiting for the sequel to The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro called The Fall. In the strain, vampires are created by a virus. This is the 2nd installment in what is supposed to be a trilogy. New York city has been taken over by the virus, and soon it will overtake the country and the world. The master's plan to get new world and old world vampires into a war seems to be working. And it is up to our team from the CDC to fight this virus. Our team leader is Eph, who is also dealing with ex-wife, who has been turned, trying to turn their son. They are also relying on help from the holocaust survivor Abraham Setrakian.




Since it's been awhile since I read The Strain, I'm hoping I'll be able to jump in pretty quickly and get back to speed when this comes out in September.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern


Started this book, well, started by following this guy on Twitter because of how funny I'd heard it was, and it is. The book is funny, but has a bit more story to it than you'd think. It makes the quotes a little more heartwarming to read the stories that go with some of them. It's also interesting to hear that the dad is a doctor. You kind of might assume that he's more of a blue collar worker from some of the quotes, but not so. A fun read, I probably should have waited for paperback to purchase though.
Another short blog. Sorry, like I said in the last one, probably not a really good time for me to be doing this. Maybe I'll come back and revisit these another time.

Bride Needs Groom by Wendy Markham


Don't remember when I got this, I know it's mine, because it's stripped cover. My sister returned it to me just recently. I should know that normally mass market romance books are not really the ones I like, but it wasn't too bad. A lot of stereotypes of Italians in it, some fun, some annoying.


Not much to say. Fun, quick read. Not sure if I'll put Wendy Markham on my list of chick lit authors to check for new books by.
Could maybe be the wrong time to be blogging about romantic books as I'm currently feeling a little out of the loop on all this kind of stuff, the chick lit I'm reading right now is pretty funny, so hopefully I'll have a better review for it in a few days.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Adventures of an Ice Princess by Liz Maverick


My latest Chick Lit book. About a girl named Clarissa who gets dumped by her boyfriend, and her friends decide they should all pack up and join an expedition group to Antarctica. Clarissa and her friends Kate and Delilah get to this frozen camp and things don't quite turn out the way they thought. One of the main reasons for going is the old adage that the ratio of men to women is in the women's favor. And when they get down there, it is somewhat true. But the few women that are there are kind of scary as well. Their jobs aren't exactly what they were told they were be, and while Clarissa ends up with more responsibility than she expected, the other two in essence get demoted. But they choose to stick it out because they're trying to help Clarissa through her after break up time. And then once she starts to feel "in the groove", they want to quit, and it is her turn to talk them back into it.


A quick, fun read. And I did mark a part that really stood out to me. Early on in the book Clarissa has a thought that is my exact feelings on the same subject. She isn't a proactive person, I'm not really either. As she says, if everyone insists on leading, who is left to follow? That in essence she is being a good team player by contributing to group dynamics in this way. That's me! I think not everyone is or should be a leader, some of us can be very good, loyal followers.

Supernatural: Bone Key by Keith R.A. DeCandido


As the series is off for the summer, although the rumor I hear is good, that the show is going to be back next fall, I decided to pick up another of my Supernatural series. This is a book by an author who has written for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and so I know I enjoy his books.


In Bone Key, it takes place after Dean has given up all but one more year of his life to save Sam's soul. So of course Sam is doing all that he can to try to get Dean out of his deal, and this is all taking place before as we now know that Dean got dragged to hell by hell hounds and had to suffer, etc, etc. I won't go on about it as it's after this book, so not relevant as I read it. In this book there is an island down in the Florida Keys where a Native American tribe stood its last stand against the white man and their diseases. It is here they gave a sacrifice to give power to their ghosts so that some day they could come back and have vengeance. Of course at the time period of the Winchester boys story that we're at, Azazel has let loose a bunch of demons, some of which have moved down to the Key and are giving power to all the ghosts as they go through their own rituals, which in turn gives power to the ghosts of this Indian tribe. Sam and Dean go down over stories of a girl killed in what to them is an obvious demon ritual. Soon there are tales of a ghost doll killing two people, and Hemingway chasing visitors to his home out, as well as people seeing the ghost of President Truman playing cards.


It's a pretty good read. Not sure as much of Dean's humor is captured in this one as in the last one I read, but I still enjoy delving into this world. Oh, and I did love the bit where they kind of bashed Ryan Seacrest. I do like Ryan Seacrest, just enjoyed this rip on some current type things.

New Blog: Waiting on Wednesdays

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.


In the spirit of just getting started with this meme, I will put up the one book that I am really, really eagerly waiting for. The 3rd installment in the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay.




I have loved this series since I read it last fall when I was helping choose the current Truman book award nominees. I loved it so much, that when my Greater Gator class in the spring decided they didn't want me to read the Lightning Thief to them, I decided to go ahead and read the Hunger Games to them, and get them started on their Truman reading for the next year. They LOVED it! So many of them immediately checked the book out from the library, or purchased both it and it's sequel Catching Fire from the book fair so that they could read ahead as we only read it for 20 minutes 4 days a week.


In Mockingjay we should be catching up to Katniss Everdeen after she has miraculously survived the Hunger Games twice. Unfortunately, we already knew that Katniss was on thin ice from the message delivered to her by President Snow in the 2nd book. And it seems all that has happened this time around has led to unrest in the Districts against the Capitol. Unrest that was just below the surface, waiting for someone like Katniss to give it breath and life. But now all of Katniss's friends and family are in danger, and the Capitol which loved her, the girl on fire, is now not happy with what she stands for. This is what I'm most looking forward to at this time.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Confessions of a Praire Bitch by Alison Arngrim


Like many others my age, I grew up watching Little House on the Prairie in syndication reruns during the summer when I was younger. Nellie Oleson was the character you loved to hate, but you just loved the episodes when she was in it. This is the biography of the actress, Alison Arngrim, who played Nellie. It started out of course with her life before anything to do with the show. It was so neat to read about her parents and what characters they were. It was sad to read about the sexual abuse she endured from her older brother.


Then we get into the time on the show. I had heard that Michael Landon wasn't quite the "perfect" guy he played on the show of course, not that he was a horrible guy or anything according to Arngrim. To hear he was really kind of a short man, and that he was a practical joker, was just so interesting. I enjoyed reading about the friendship between Arngrim and Melissa Gilbert who I just recently saw perform as Ma in the Broadway show Little House on the Prairie at Starlight theater here in Kansas City. I was intrigued to read that Melissa Sue Anderson wasn't quite as friendly and nice as her goody goody character of Laura's older sister Mary on the show. In fact, if she has a biography, I'd be interested in reading it to hear her side of the story.


I do remember when the man who played Percival, Nellie's husband on the show, passed away from AIDS. I remember how active Arngrim had become in AIDS work at that time. But that's not all. When she talks about how there was actually a law that gave incest a break, I was shocked! Amazing to me that anyone ever thought that was okay. The organization was called Protect, and it started basically with one man fighting one state's law from his car with his cell phone. Arngrim became the face and spokesperson for continuing this work in the state of California. And she got this horrible thing overturned. If you're interested in helping this group out, you can go to http://www.protect.org/.


Arngrim has a humorous voice in her biography and it was a quick read that I wanted to pick it up and read during commercials so I got through it quickly once I had some time to read. It is also my current book recommendation at Barnes and Noble, we just need to get a few more ordered in. I was excited to hear last night that my last book rec, Gone by Michael Grant had been a huge seller. Not sure if that's because of me or not, although I do know one friend I teach with had purchased it because of me, it's still cool to hear.


Now not sure what to read next. I want to check out the Passage by Justin Cronin, but I feel like I should go ahead and read my classic, Les Miserables. But then, not sure if my brain is ready for it. Maybe I'll pick up another fun read till I go into the store again to check out The Passage.

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson


Now, I picked this book up because I follow Maureen Johnson on Twitter and she cracks me up on a constant basis. She is so funny. I started following her because another author I do read followed her. So I felt I should read one of her books, because surely it would be just as funny as she is. I was a bit disappointed in that aspect. The book was cute, don't get me wrong, a fun teen read that I will recommend to my students, just not as funny as I was hoping. It's about a girl named Ginny who has lost her aunt. But her aunt was kind of quirky and has left her a quest. She has 13 little blue envelopes to open, hence the title. She must open them one at a time, in the order they are numbered, and she cannot open the next one until she has completed the instructions in each one. Her instructions take her to Europe after her high school graduation I think. She meets a playwriter in college and helps finance his play with money her aunt has left for her. She meets a quirky artist, which by the way her aunt was an artist, and she gets to see all the different places her aunt visited. She is supposed to learn something from each task, and she does, although Ginny is not sure it is quite what her aunt wants her to learn each time. So a fun read.


I'm hoping to read Suite Scarlett next, as it sounds like it might be a bit more humorous, and I ordered a copy of Devilish in to read as well. I need to remember to go buy it when I get my summer school money.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Room for Love by Andrea Meyer


Can't remember why I ordered this book into the store. But the plot of it sounded pretty good. The main character, Jacquie, is a writer for a film magazine, and also of course looking for love. She gets the idea to meet guys by answering their ads for roommates in the want ads. And decides to write an article about all the guys she meets and which ones ask her out, etc. The idea is that you can learn so much about a guy by seeing how he lives. Now Jacquie has her own apartment that she owns. So when she actually meets a guy that she falls in love with, she must lie about her own place, and move in with him. Will he understand when the article comes out? Or is Mr. Perfect really the one for her?


There were many parts in this that I bookmarked, so I'm going to point those out next. I do have to say that she had a guy that worked at the hardware store by her place, and he had a dog, and at the first I thought he was the guy she should end up with. But when I pictured him, I pictured the guy Lynn Kegan, who is a HGTV hunk. But anyway, let me tell you about the parts that I really connected with.



  1. First thing I loved is at the beginning when she talks about playing the MASH game. I totally loved that game! Still play it occasionally when I get bored in meetings. :-)

  2. Later she talks about when she is lugging tons of bags home she curses the guy she hasn't met yet who should be helping her lug it. I feel the same, kind of. I think a lot about how I better just learn to carry stuff by myself, because there may never be a guy to help me with that. This is first also where we meet the hot hardward store guy.

  3. 2 pages later she says she wonders if she jinxed herself by buying an apartment before she had someone to share it with. I wonder the same thing. I know it is a good financial thing to buy your house, but did I jinx myself out of meeting someone by buying my house first?

  4. Another way that she is just like me is that she has always lulled herself to sleep with fairy tale love stories she made up in her head. I do that ALL the time. In fact, not always lulling myself to sleep. Often when I'm bored at work, or driving in the car, I'm creating my fantasy in my head. Be it meeting David Cook and having him fall in love with me, to creating ways to maybe find out that guys in my actual real life are interested in me and they come forward and tell me.

  5. One of the guys she goes to check out his apartment is really hot in a preppy way. Yet he doesn't ask her out. And she wonders the same as I do. Why is those guys never seem interested in her/me?

  6. When she says she's annoyed that her thirties are no different from her twenties. Kind of feels the same for me. Alone then, alone now. Maybe less men even kind of interested now would be a difference.

  7. Just a small thing, but she mentions Kevin Smith! I love Kevin Smith!

  8. Not to give anything away. But her apartment catches on fire at the end, and I laughed at the part where they are talking about what things she probably lost in the fire, and her sister asks what does she think happens to vibrators when they burn.

Anyway, it was a fun book. I'm also in the middle of reading a biography of the actress who played Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie, and it is really good so far. Can't wait to write a review of it.




Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire


I'm kind of embarrassed to say that I kind of dreaded picking up this book. Which is weird. I did like Wicked, but it was kind of a weird book. And so I figured Son of a Witch might be hard to read. But once I picked it up and started reading, it was easy enough to get into and a good enough read. Now I do have to say that as usual, Gregory Maguire is always a bit out there, past where I prefer, but it was an okay sequel to the book before. But now I'm at a quandary. While it was good, I'm not sure if I want to go on and read the next book, I think it's A Lion Among Men. We have the hardcover at the bookstore on the bargain tables for like $5.98, so I probably should go ahead and get it at that deal. But here's what I wonder. As many books as I have to read, should I waste time feeling like I have to finish a series just because I've started it? If I only find it mediocre in entertainment. I mean, yes, once I picked Son of a Witch up, I was involved and interested in it. But it wasn't a book that I thought about picking up and when I could read it again. To me, that doesn't make it a "great" book. In a similar situation, I've been an L.J. Smith fan since I was in high school with the Secret Circle series. I read the first 4 Vampire Diaries books, and enjoyed them, but then when 2 new ones came out, I thought they were horrible, and have decided I'm done with that series. But the Wicked series is so popular, I kind of feel like I should read them all.


Oh well. I'm currently re-reading Eclipse to get ready for the movie coming out next Tuesday at midnight. Now that's a book that I keep thinking about reading instead of blogging about a book I finished or watching the tv shows I've DVRed. :-)


Next on the list is a book by the girl who played Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie television show.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Elephant Run by Roland Smith


I am a HUGE Roland Smith fan. I was first introduced to his writing when he came to speak at my school, and I have yet to be disappointed by a book from him. I will admit this started out a bit slow, I was reading it just during lunch at school, and I think that was the problem. When you pick this book up and just read, you soon get sucked into it. This is another book that really gets you interested in history. Elephant Run takes place in Burma during World War 2. There isn't really a Burma anymore. It is Myanmar now. But this talks about the elephants in that area and tells how the Japanese came in and used the elephants and the people who trained them, the mahouts, to build up their defense. I love the nature that Roland Smith also uses in his books.


I also like that there are literature circle questions included with this addition of the book. Tempts me to use it as a book I read during my Greater Gator class next year. We'll see. I do kind of like to do books that they can read off the Truman list to help the librarian as well.

Weekend in Paris by Robyn Sisman


This is another of my chick lit finds at the outlet bookstore in Osage Beach. It was a cute idea. The main character quits her job after she finds out her boss just wants her to sleep with him, and he calls her a stupid secretary. Well, Molly, was just about to go to a conference in Paris with her boss, which would have been her first time out of her small town. Well, at the last minute she decides to go ahead and use her ticket to go into Paris on her own and just enjoy herself. And, well, an adventure begins. She meets a wild Australian girl who gets her out and introduces her to some fun people. And while out with this group, a fantasy comes true when she meets Fabrice, a handsome French artist. And while she thinks she just wants her weekend in Paris, like most girls, she falls in love. There is a nice side story about how she doesn't know who her father is, as well as her new Australian friend helping her get back at her boss. All in all it ends well, and makes me want to go on vacation by myself like that. And it makes me wonder, would it be really empowering to have someone draw/paint you like she talks about?
There is one part in the book that I marked to talk about. When she gets introduced to her new French friends by Alicia, her new Australian friend, they do a major makeover on her before they go out, fashionable, sexy clothes, and makeup too! I just wish I could have someone do that for me. I have no idea on makeup, and any time I try it just looks like crap. So it always makes me wonder if that would be all I needed to find my right guy? Silly, I know.


Anyway, a fun chick lit!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner - an Eclipse novella - by Stephenie Meyer


Of course I had to read this novella set in the world of the Eclipse novel of the Twilight series. And of course I was done in less than 24 hours. I would have had it read before I went to bed that Saturday night, but I had to get up early the next morning, so I finished it Sunday afternoon.


Bree Tanner is the vampire we meet at the end of Eclipse. She was part of Victoria's army created to come and help Victoria kill both Bella and Edward if possible. As we know from Eclipse, Bree is the only one who survives this fight, because she surrenders. In this novella about her second life, we learn probably why this happens. Bree learns before the rest of the vampire army that just because they are vampires, they won't burn up in the sun. She makes a friend, maybe more, named Diego, and they kind of figure out that Riley, their leader, isn't quite truthful. They are all afraid of the vampire who made them, HER, and they don't know her name. We know this is because Victoria didn't want Alice to be able to pick up her plans, or Edward. Bree has another friend, Fred, who has this power to make people get so disgusted when they are around him that they just avoid him, and sometimes even forget he is there. He helps Bree deal with the other newborns, who as we've learned from Jasper are as violent as possible, and this helps both of them stay alive.


You feel a bit for Bree, as she has hoped that by surrendering she can at least meet again with Fred. We know from Eclipse though, that the Volturi will take care of her, and she won't get this chance.


It was an interesting read, but as what makes the Twilight series is the Edward/Bella/Jacob triangle and relationships, it isn't quite what those of us who are Twilight fans want. We only see Edward and Bella at the very end, and not really much to know about them. But it was still worth reading. And as the Eclipse movie is about to come out, I wonder how much of this vamp army story Stephenie gave the movie makers so that they could include in the movie.

Lies by Michael Grant


This is the 3rd book in the Gone series by Michael Grant. In this book it seems that we may actually find out what is going on outside the dome. It seems as if the parents are outside, all the adults, and they can see inside and kind of see what is going on. One of the "mutants" inside can talk to the parents in her dreams and sees that the kids should go ahead and leave on their 15th birthday when they have the chance. But it also seems maybe that when the kids "die" inside the dome, that they end up waking up outside the dome. So, we're not left knowing after this book if that is the absolute truth or not though. We also meet some new kids who live on an island. They are supposed to be the adopted kids of a "Brangeline" modeled couple. One of Caine's crew knows about this island, and thinks there may be food on it. Well, he's right, these kids living there have a lot of food, and no one but themselves to eat it. The bad thing is, they don't know quite how bad things are being stuck on their island, and one of them is sick. So the oldest one is going to try to fly a helicopter off the island for help.


And of course, the bad guy from before, Drake, who everyone thought was gone, is back somehow, along with another dead girl. So there is another enemy. Plus the "normal" kids are fighting against the mutants, setting fires and beating them up. And we find out that maybe this is all a big "video game" going on in Astrid's little brother Pete's mind. Pete is a mentally challenged kid, autistic, and may not know what he is doing.


I think this left off for yet another book in the series. Because it didn't really end anything, and it seems that our kids still need to get out of the dome.

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan


Wow, it's been forever since I've posted, and I'm actually going to skip a few books I've read since I'm so behind. But I'll jump back in with the new series by one of my favorite YA authors, Rick Riordan. While this had some really interesting stuff with all the Egyptian mythology mixed in, I must say I didn't quite enjoy it as much as the the Percy Jackson series. I think part of it is the way it skipped back and forth between the 2 narrators, who were brother and sister. It got confusing and I don't know, it's just not my cup of tea. I think kids will enjoy it though. And I will of course recommend it to all who enjoyed Percy Jackson.
I know this is a really short post, but it has been a week or two since I finished the book, so I'm going to go on to another book now.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child




Another book that was a strip copy. I picked it up because I love the books Lincoln Child writes with Douglas Preston, and I did enjoy Utopia and Deep Storm.

This was a fun science type book as well. There is a creature in it that was flash frozen in ice a long time ago. It is a strange unknown creature. There are many theories thrown around about it. One I wonder if it is a real theory, that scientists say every so often nature creates a creature that is just to weed out some sort of species or something. I'll have to look that up at some point, because it is very interesting. I don't like how it does talk about Global Warming. Yes, maybe the polar ice caps are melting, but once again, as I've posted before, that happens in nature! So anyway.

Another good, quick read by Lincoln Child. I think there is only one other book by Lincoln Child, Death Match. Not sure what it is about, but I'll have to look it up and check it out. I still need to get back to the series he writes with Douglas Preston that started with Relic one of these days. I do have to note, that as I was looking for an image of the cover for this book, I really like the British cover better, so I posted it above as well.

Monday, May 17, 2010

The Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne DuPrau


I've actually had this book sitting in the bathroom in my 2nd bedroom since shortly after it was published about 2 years ago. This is the fourth book in the City of Ember series. It was about as good as the other ones. I think that maybe I've been reading a lot more teen as opposed to young reader books lately, and so it seemed quite simple to me and made it harder to get through. That is one of the reasons that I hope to read for the Gateway list next year, although I wouldn't mind reading for the Truman list as well. But the Mark Twain list gets more difficult to read for as most of my 7th graders are reading well above that level. Oh well. This was an interesting conclusion to the series. Not sure how well it will lead into another book, but who knows!!

Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris


The latest in paperback in the Sookie Stackhouse series. I have decided that since I own all of the books so far in paperback I will wait until each new one comes out in paperback to buy it, and wait for it, to read it. That way I know that I have something to look forward to at all times, and with the diminishing number of hours I get at the bookstore, I can barely afford to buy anything anymore. And since they seem to be released about once a year, I shouldn't ever get behind where the tv series is at this rate.


But once I picked it up, I was sucked right back into Sookie's world. I do love her back with Eric, and there was lots of good stuff in this book, although in a way, it did pull back in some things that reminded me of the Church in the beginning books. But all in all, it didn't disappoint, and I'm excited for next year when the one that just came out will be in paperback and I can read it.


I've got two more reviews to do tonight, things have been crazy busy lately. So later tonight I'll be back with some more reviews. I've always got time to read, just not always time to blog.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Dating Game by Beverly Brandt


I picked this book up off our bargain tables. The back sounded good, the main character named Lainie is going back to her hometown just in time for her high school reunion and she's hoping to get hooked up with her former prom king who she had a crush on back when she was a chubby computer geek in high school.


The book started out in a way that made me wonder if I would really enjoy it. See, our main character had been married. As I've never been married, I wasn't sure if I would be able to enjoy this. However, she was broke, and I do identify with that. She starts out when her sister asks her ot pay for dinner and she has no way to do it by stealing the credit card of the attractive man at the next table. Well, as she's looking for a job, it turns out that man, Jack is who she will end up working with. As we got into the story, the chemistry and humor between Lainie and Jack totally won me over, in fact reminded me of someone in my life right now. Not someone I think anything will ever happen with, but I felt the same humor and chemistry these two seem to have. Anyway, a funny read, had me laughing out loud at several parts.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull


Believe it or not, I'm really not much of a fantasy reader. Yes, I love Harry Potter, but I tend to stick more to real science fiction, and maybe vampire/monster which are really more horror than fantasy. However, I got this book free from the bookstore. We had an Educator's event and had several copies of this book with a teacher's guide in the back. Our CRM told me I should take a copy since they were free since I am a teacher. So I did, and I read it at school during my lunch breaks. It actually was pretty good.


Basically the main characters are Kendra and her younger brother Seth. One of their grandparents dies and leaves money for all the children to go on a cruise. So Kendra and Seth are sent to their other side's grandparents to stay while they are on the cruise. At first it seems like a really beautiful estate with lots of pretty butterflies and lots of weird rules and people. Their grandmother is supposedly off visiting other family so they are left with their grandfather. Soon it turns out that Fablehaven is not what it seems. There is an old witch tied up in the forest where they are not supposed to go. There's a beautiful pool hidden away also in an area they're not supposed to go. Also, turns out those butterflies are fairies. And you can see them when you drink a special type of milk. Of course Seth just can't seem to follow rules, and this soon lets evil things appear on this special sanctuary for the supernatural.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Obama Zombies by Jason Mattera


Now, you might think with all the books like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, that this is a zombie horror story. You might also think that based on the other books that I read. But no, this is a nonfiction book. I am conservative, and vote mostly Republican, and the full title of this book caught my attention right away: Obama Zombies: How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed my Generation. And what got me was how many of the Obama supporters did seem brainwashed. They couldn't tell me what really about him they liked. In fact, some seemed to overlook the facts of what he didn't support that applied to them personally.


When I picked this book up, it sucked me right in. Had my jaw dropping open as I read of some of the craziness the liberals were promoting, (not flushing the toilet when you only go "number 1"). How disgusted have you personally been when you've walked into a public restroom only to find the person there before you didn't bother to flush. At the time I just assumed they were disgusting pigs, now I know they must be liberals fighting for the environment. But is it just me, or does that just scream filth and disease? Aren't we trying to help countries who don't have running water to help them with their disease prevention? There were parts where I was just nodding my head along with what he pointed out as the behavior of an Obama Zombie as I remembered all the people I knew who had acted just that way. And yes, there were times I thought, good point, but I don't agree completely. And that, right there, is the difference between an Obama zombie, and someone trying to say I'm just blindly following the "right". I choose to question and think about and do my own research on anything someone says unless I already know based on past experience/research what they are saying is true. In fact, I dare any liberal person who reads this blog to go and read this book and then come back to me and refute whatever they don't agree with in this book, and not just argue based on their feelings and emotions as a liberal does, but back up their opinion with facts.


I did mark a few sections in the book I'd like to point out specifically, so here they are:


On p. 47 there is a pledge from Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers that says he pledges to be a servant to our president. A servant? This isn't a king, this is a politician who is supposed to be OUR servant, serving US in office. But then, socialism/liberalism does lead back to the days where government regulates us and tells us how to live and how to spend our money, so I guess this does work for them.


Another point made is that it is a good thing when terrorist states don't like what you're doing. This point is made on p. 72, and I can't explain it as well as Mattera does, so go read it yourself.


On p. 76 he brings up a saying that we use in my Weight Watchers meetings almost every week, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. If we're not prepared for those people who want to destroy our countries, we are destined for more attacks.


Next on talking about global warming and the environment on p. 91, it is discussed about how 6000 "experts" were flown in from around the country to lobby Congress about how much American rely on CO2 in our daily lives. Yet they all flew in on planes. So basically as Mattera says, It's okay for them to fly around the country to engage in activites that they believe in, but they are the first to condemn your own buying choices and lifestyle habits. I guess they were only following Obama's example of burning through 9,100 gallons of fuel to parachute into Iowa to give a speech on Earth day about energy conservation.


Next is the whole thing about redistribution of wealth. One college student made up a petition to put this in another way to think about it. What if we redistributed grades. Some people at the very top of the GPA don't need the extra points, so in the name of fairness and equality, lets allocate those points down the GPA ladder to those people who aren't currently meeting the GPA requirements to graduate. Of course the students didn't agree with that, it isn't fair to take points away from people who earned it. However according to those same people it is okay to take money away from the people who worked hard to earn it? Huh?


There was a quote that was a huge eye opener to me, on p. 146 it is postulated that the total cost of all miliary wars in our nation's history is $6.4 trillion. The war on poverty however, started in 1964 by Lyndon Johnson has cost $16 trillion. And nothing has changed! In fact more people are needing help from the government because of the welfare cycle this started. Read Ruby Payne's book on Poverty and see how this works first hand. The numbers say that in 2007 it would have taken for all households in poverty in America to get out of poverty, $148 billion. That would eliminate poverty entirely. In 2007, do you know how much was spent to try to do this? $550 billion. Shouldn't everyone be out of poverty now? Welfare spending has grown 300% in the past decade, where defense spending has only grown 126%. Obama says the war in Iraq is costing each household about $100 per month. Well, social services across the nation cost each household about $638 a month for 2010!! And actually, go back and look, while Obama says Bush slashed programs to combat poverty, he actually increased welfare programs by 68%, with 2008 spending over $700 billion. So guess in a sense I have a gripe with Bush as well.


And the last thing I marked to make a note of is kind of a trivial thing. But did you know that Jon Stewart is actually Jon Leibowitz? Why go by a stage name? Are you ashamed of your heritage? Yet aren't liberals supposed to be more accepting of everyone? I won't even go into the sections about how people who didn't vote for Obama are called racist, although aren't those people who voted for him because he was black kind of doing the same thing? And all the people who were being sexist against Palin, why is that okay? How does that fit in with Obama making all people equal? And not looking at race or sex or sexual preference? Which by the way, those websites I looked at when I was first thinking about all the candidates showed that Obama did not support gay marriage. So, hmm.


I haven't really gone into what the chapter on global warming talked about, because as someone with a degree in earth science, who has talked to many geologists on this point, I pretty much agreed with all he said. While I feel we should still do things to take care of the Earth, I believe that we are spending a lot of money to do it in a way that hurts us. Also, didn't realize that in 1974 (I was only 2 at the time) that Time magazine ran a story about the big environmental crisis that we were going into an ice age!! How funny!


Anyway, just finished this about 2 hours ago and had to get it blogged so I could pass the book onto my brother who is really eager to read it. And my brother isn't much of a reader. I remember he read Bo Knows Bo for many a book report in middle school, because it was the only book he really ever read enough to talk about.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig


I can pinpoint the teachers who led me to some of my quirky favorites in movies. First, my grandpa. No, he wasn't ever a "teacher" per se, but I do feel that he taught me in many different ways, and shaped a lot of who I am. He was an engineer, and I know it is from him that I developed my interest in astronomy, and probably other science. But whever we visited my Grandpa and Grandma Moritz's house, there was a big yellow book called Why a Duck with a cartoon picture of Groucho Marx's head. It is from my Grandpa that I got my love of all things Marx Brothers. I can even remember him laughing at certain parts of the movies when we'd watch them at his house when we went into the air conditioning during the annual family garage sales.


Second is my 8th grade science teacher/principal. I went to a private school, and so the principal was also a teacher, Mr. Riedl. In fact, he was a science teacher, my current occupation. But I remember watching Court Jester, with Danny Kaye one day at school when I was in 7th or 8th grade. Again, I can remember him laughing loudly at the "Flaggon with the Dragon" part of the movie. From this I became a Danny Kaye fan.


Third was my freshman year, my Citizenship class teacher, Mr. Jarvis. In class he showed us the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy. I remember watching the beginning and thinking, wow, another boring school movie, but still being glad we were watching a movie instead of doing work. But if you've seen this movie, you know it is not a boring movie at all. It is a hilarious look at modern day technology, a coke bottle, and how it can corrupt very simple cultures in ways we can't even imagine.


And the last teacher, leads into this book, my junior year American History teacher, Coach Durham. He showed us Gone With the Wind. I fell in love with it. I wanted to be Scarlett and have all the beaus after me. In a way, I have always felt like Scarlett, in that I never quite wanted what was right for me, and often didn't realize the good thing until it was gone. Of course, the reader that I am had to go out and read the book. And then in the early 90's a sequel called Scarlett was published. And I loved that too, even though the critics weren't huge fans. It made me cry, and I felt so much for Scarlett and all the bad choices she made, again, relating to her in that way at least.


When Rhett Butler's People came out in 2007, I ordered it from the book club I belonged to at the time. It has sat in my bookshelf of books to be read since that time. I couldn't quite bring myself to pick it up. Not sure why, just couldn't. But now, once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. I fell right back in love the with the story. And I loved all the way we got to see into everyone's thoughts in this story. I worried as it started that it would only go up to the time when Rhett got married to Scarlett. Needless to say it followed right on through the end of Gone With the Wind and past. Totally didn't go with Scarlett, and while yes, I do love that story, I do like how this one ended a bit better. I cried, I smiled, I just loved this book. I can't gush enough about how much I liked it. Again, not sure the critics were big fans of this one either, but I loved it. I think I need to get the movie out again and watch it. I loved seeing Rhett's side of the story and his family, and Melanie Wilkes's side, etc.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Drumroll please, and the 100th post is: Your Big Break by Johanna Edwards


Kinda wish I had a more spectacular book that I just loved and could gush over for my 100th post, but oh well.


Your Big Break was my latest chick lit book. It was pretty good, but not the best. The main character is Dani, she works for a company called Your Big Break, Inc. This company offers services such as breaking up with a loved one, or even helping you quit a job. Of course a lot of the guys Dani has to break up with seem to be pretty nice guys, one in particular. However, as you can imagine, one of the main rules is that you can't get personally involved. Dani always seems to get personally involved in some way or other, and tends to kind of be a matchmaker.


The bad thing is that a new client comes in, and wants to dump her married boyfriend, who turns out to be Dani's dad. So Dani is now learning her parents' marriage isn't quite what she'd always thought.


It was a pretty predictable book, and a quick read. I think the other book by this author, How to Be Cool, was better. But it was one that I did want to finish, unlike the one I currently have sitting to read, called the Dating Game. Not sure I'm going to read much more of that. I have finally decided that if it's not good in the first few chapters, then pass it on, because I have so many "to-read" books, shouldn't waste time on it.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer


First, I have to say how disappointed I am right now that due to my current financial situation I'm unable to attend the MASL spring conference where the author of this book, Susan Beth Pfeffer will be. I thought about asking our librarian to take my books to get autographed, but then decided it's just not the same as getting it done myself and then having a picture with the author to show off. I wish when I'd gotten Stephenie Meyer's autograph I'd gotten a picture, and don't remember why I didn't. I didn't get Ellen Hopkins autograph my first year at MASL, I'm not too disappointed about that now that I'm not as impressed with her after listening to her bash on Stephenie Meyer over and over. I have no respect for someone who treats someone else in their field that way just because they don't like their work.


Anyway, back to the book. This is the 3rd in the series that started with Life as We Knew It. In the first book, an asteroid slams into the moon and knocks it out of its orbit, closer to Earth. Of course this causes all kinds of problems, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and all this soon causes clouds to block out the sun. Which leads to cold and electricity soon goes out and plants and people die. In the first book the main character is Miranda, it is her diary we're reading. The 2nd book is The Dead and The Gone, and it is set in New York city with Alex Morales and his sisters being our main characters. This books is in Miranda's hometown again, and we see how life is almost a year later. And soon her father and step-mom and new baby brother show up. Along with them are Alex and his sister Julie.


This was a good book, I didn't want to put it down because I just wanted to know, do things get better now that they're all reunited. But alas, spoiler alert, things don't get better. Some things are worse, some are a little better, but we aren't left in a wonderful feel good mood. But I still think it was a good book.


I didn't know there was going to be a 3rd in the series, so hoping that maybe there'll be a fourth so I can see what happens next?

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Reincarnation by Suzanne Weyn


Funny story, I took this when it was a stripped cover book at the store. Then bought it later at a school bookfair. So I was able to conveniently keep one copy at school to read at lunch, and then, when it turned out to be such a good read, I was able to read it at home as well.


This is the story of two, you might call them star-crossed lovers, people who keep meeting over time as they are reincarnated as different people in different times, and always something keeps them apart, or ends one of their lives right as things are about to start happening for them. It begins with the boy as a Neanderthal I'm guessing, and the girl as a Cro-Magnon. Then they are an Egyptian and a Nubian, then they come back in ancient Greece, and so on and so forth. Almost all the times we see them also seem to be either big historical times, or else very charged with some kind of racial tension. At one point the girl is even reincarnated as a guy, and the guy is reincarnated as a girl.


Fun story, and in the end, modern times, it seems as if they may actually get a chance to be together, although the story leaves off before we could possibly know for sure. But we are left with hope.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Velvet Rope Diaries by Daniella Brodsky


The latest in my chick lit books kept in my bedroom bathroom so I could read during bubble baths. This was a fun read. Anna is the main character, she is working as a secretary/assistant for a horrible boss that she calls Miss Nasty Jackson. She gets fired when she creates a power point talking about all the plastic surgery her boss has had and the gossip column reporter at the paper gets ahold of it, and publishes a lot of the info from it. You think, who cares about a reporter for a gossip column, but it turns out she's dating a big star. But, when she gets fired, she also gets rehired writing a column about New York City nightlife.


AT first she can't seem to get a lead on where to start to find the "new" unfound hip spots. She gets a tip from a woman at a spa, who becomes a friend. But when she goes to this spot, she isn't let in because she has on last year's Marc Jacobs sandals. She gets upset because she gets humiliated by the bouncer about this, and ends up sneaking around and finding a back door to go in. The dark room she ends up in has another occupant, a sexy stranger, who soon becomes her boyfriend, and turns out to be the brother of her new friend who gave her this tip.


Now of course, she has back issues. When she was a young girl, her father died in a house fire, and she feels like she is guilty, that she could have saved him. So we see her going through therapy for this. She also lives with a guy who is her best friend, Ray. It soon becomes evident, that he might think of her more than a friend, and so now she has this great guy she's just met, and must choose between him, and possibly ruining a friendship to try dating her best friend.


There were some pages I marked in the book that I want to share, and here they are:


When she talks about how it's been a long time since she's kissed a guy, she talks about wondering if she'll remember how to do it. I feel this way, only it's been MUCH longer for me.


There's a part where they're talking about Weight Watchers magazine, and it is really irritating to me, because her boss, Miss Nasty talks about how it is overweight women who love to sit at home and read, because they're too humiliated to go out looking like that. HOW RUDE!@!


And finally, this book makes me really want a perm. I hate my straight/frizzy hair, and really wish I could get a perm, a loose one that is available these days. Not one of those godawful ones I had back in grade school and high school.

What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell


So I have to admit that in the case of this book, I didn't look farther than the cover, and wasn't actually quite aware of what this book was about. I assumed being a teen book and with this title it was about a teen issue. But no, it was a bit deeper than that. It is set after World War II is over. Evie's stepfather, the only father she's ever known, returns from the war, and he is immediately getting back into the swing of things and opens up two appliance stores and seems to be doing well. Soon Joe starts getting weird phone calls, and acting weird, and decides to take the family on a vacation right before school is supposed to start, down to Florida. In Florida, they meet a nice couple, the Graysons, that Joe talks about going into business with. Also, a guy named Peter Coleridge shows up. He is an ex-GI who served with Joe. And Evie falls for him. Her mother is beautiful, and Evie feels like an ugly duckling, especially when her mother won't even let her start looking like a teen, and growing up.


One day the Graysons get kicked out of the hotel. It turns out that they are Jewish, and in the part of Florida they're in, they don't allow Jewish people. Evie also finds out from Peter, that he and Joe stole belongings that were found near concentration camps that had no one left alive to claim them. And it is that money he used to start his appliance stores, and he was supposed to have shared it with Peter.


As you can guess Joe is not happy with Peter showing up. So Joe, and Peter, and Evie's mom go out on a boat, right as a hurricane is coming. And, when they come back, one of them isn't there. So that is what was seen, and what gets lied about.


Not too bad a book. I like that it had more substance than I originally thought. It was a quick read though, which is nice as it was my "at school-lunch" read.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Generation Dead by Daniel Waters


This is the book I kept at school to read during my lunch breaks. I got it at the enemy store because they had it in their bargain books for $3.99. It was an interesting story. Kind of my first "zombie" story, other than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.


So, the premise is that teenagers are coming back from the dead. They don't know why, and not all teenagers, and no adults, are coming back. The town our story is set in seems to be somewhat more accepting than other towns, so they have begun to flock to this town. The sad thing is they don't come back just normal, they come back like you'd kind of think of zombies. Slow, trouble moving and speaking. Some come back to families that don't want them, and they have to find out where to live. Some come back though in better condition than others. The main character is Phoebe, who is a goth. Her best friend Adam, is on the football team. One of her best friends from when she was younger, Colette, is a zombie who has come back. Zombie is considered a derogatory term, and so it is like a brand new "race" if you will that is trying to fit in and find out what rights they have.


Now I remember commenting on another teen book a while back about how it is kind of annoying that all books these days must be series. Why aren't there just stand alone books? I can see that this one could be, although it ends with some questions. There is a sequel to this I guess, not sure whether I need to read it or not, we'll see. Anyway, a pretty interesting read. I'll put it on my shelves at school in my classroom for my students to read.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub


Well, I struggled through this book at first. We start out from the viewpoint of a bird, and it kind of stays like that for what I feel is too long a time. I always wonder how does more than one person write a book. In this case, I almost wonder if the parts that I enjoyed and got into were actually the parts written by Stephen King, and the parts that dragged and bored me written by Peter Straub. No offense to Straub, but I am a big King fan, and have rarely if ever had one of his books I couldn't get into. I went ahead and read this, even though it is kind of a sequal to a book I hadn't read, called The Talisman, by these same authors. A friend from the bookstore, Chad, told me I would be okay and not lost. I don't remember him telling me though that it related to King's Gunslinger series. I do have to say that I am not a huge fan of the Gunslinger series. I did have trouble reading those. I have the last 3? that he wrote sitting on my "to-read" shelf, and I haven't yet felt the impulse or interest to pick them up.


So was this a good book? Yeah, the story was good once you got into it. But it doesn't really make me want to go back and read the book before it, or continue in the Gunslinger series. So who knows.


Friday, March 19, 2010

Real Women Don't Wear Size 2 by Kelley St. John


So this was basically just a trashy romance novel, not quite what I consider chick lit, it was strip cover, not something I bought at least. It wasn't bad, just by the end I was a little tired of it. I definitely love the title, as I've never worn a size 2 in my life, not even at my very skinniest time after taking phen-fen. The smallest I've ever worn, was a size 4 pair of shorts from that time period that I still have, just to prove I once wore that size. Although, I'm pretty sure they must have been marked wrong, as I never fit any other size 4's. As the main character in this book, I've just always been endowed with curves, hips and boobs. I inherited from my mom as well as the women on my dad's side also have them. So I was "doomed" from the start. And unfortunately, I've yet to meet the guy who actually feels the way the guy in this book does.


About the only other thing I have to say is that the main character's name was Clarise, which every time I read her name made me think of Silence of the Lambs, which kind of ruined the romance mood a bit.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

2010 Warrensburg Children's Literature Festival




This is a break from my usual book review blogs, yet in a way, I will review an author and her book. First I want to put the link to the webpage that tells about this event:








I have heard about this for the past few years, but not at my school. This is actually more for kids at the elementary grade level, up to about 6th grade. I actually learned about this from the bookstore I work at. It actually seems as if the Park Hill School district goes to this more often than I would guess the NKC school district does, although I could just be unaware since I don't contact our elementary schools much. It takes place during University of Central Missouri's (UCM)spring break, which coincided with NKC's spring break this year. So when an email came on the Missouri Association of School Librarians (MASL) Listserv asking for volunteers, I thought about how I'd like to experience this. As soon as the schedule for this week was up at the bookstore, I emailed to volunteer for the last day of the festival. My confirmation email told me that I would be hosting author Marie Smith for the day.




At first I wasn't sure who my author was. Then one night at the bookstore last week, I was putting away a Roland Smith book, and I realized that Marie was his wife. I met Roland Smith at my school about 8 or 9 years ago when he came to speak at several schools in my district. From that time on I was hooked on his books: Jaguar, Thunder Cave, Zach's Lie, Jack's Run, Cryptid Hunters, etc. Roland and his wife Marie have written several ABC books together: B is for Beaver an Oregon alphabet, Z is for Zookeeper a zoo alphabet, W is for Waves an ocean alphabet, S is for Smithsonian America's Museum Alphabet, E is for Evergreen a Washington State Alphabet, and N is for our Nations's Capital a Washington D.C. Alphabet, the book I purchased and had autographed.




Meeting Marie I was instantly impressed. She was very collected, and knew exactly what she wanted to do. And when I listened to her speak and saw her slides at the first session today, I was even more interested in her. Marie Smith's grandmother was an eskimo. And she comes from a big family, and even has family from Missouri! She loves to bake pies, and fell into writing when her husband asked her to help him write the first alphabet book, B is for Beaver. She was very nice, and interacted with the kids wonderfully.




The last thing I want to say is that I am now inspired to write my own alphabet book. I won't give away what my topic is, but I got tips on how to write it, and already have a lot of my letters figured out. She talked about her publisher, Sleeping Bear Press, and I will try to send them my finished manuscript. I'm hoping I can work and get it done this summer. So I'll be researching and working as I can starting now. She did say the hardest letter was X, and that publishers will completely reject a book if they don't like what you have for that, so I'll be working on finding the perfect word for that.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

See Jane Date by Melissa Senate


This is another strip cover book I picked up a long time ago. I grabbed it because of a made for tv movie on either lifetime or some other women's tv channel by the same title, that starred Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Never actually watched the whole movie. And never could quite get into the book.


But, with my goal to get through all these books I have before I buy any new ones, I went ahead and chose this as my latest chick lit book. And once I gave it a chance, it was a REALLY good read. I should have done more page marking for ALL the good stuff in it, but didn't. So I won't leave you with any quotes. One main thing I didn't like is that the main character smoked, and lost guys because of it. So right there I had a non-connection, probably part of what kept me from getting into it right away. But I do highly recommend the book. Doubt I'll read it again, so since it is a strip cover, I'll go ahead and toss it for now. But I may add Melissa Senate to my list of authors to check for other books by when I have time at the store.

The 4400: The Vesuvius Prophecy by Greg Cox


A tv series that I enjoyed at the start, but at the end it was going downhill, too much conspiracy stuff. The 4400 was a USA network show about 4400 people who disappeared throughout history, and were all returned one day near Seattle Washington. It was assumed at first they were kidnapped by aliens, but we soon learned it was the future who took them. The future took them, and gave them each some kind of ability that was supposed to help save the world. Abilities of all sorts, telekinesis, future telling, and in this case, the ability to cause the ground to shake, volcanoes to erupt. Maia can see the future, she's one of the main characters, an 11 year old girl. She hasn't aged since she was taking many years ago. She sees her new adoptive mother, Diana, on top of Mount Ranier with a man and the volcano starting to erupt. So now Diana and her partner Tom Baldwin, both of NTAC, must find and stop this man. I won't go into all the backstory of the show. Just want to say that if you enjoyed the show, you'll enjoy this visit back with the characters.