ngtjill: Book Review #1

…in which I rave and rant about two books on my challenge list and rave about one of my favorites EVER.

So far I’ve only read two books on my list for the challenge (way to go, Lindsay, for already having 3 done!).

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Katsa was born with a Grace to kill.  At the age of 8, she strikes a man in self-defense and unintentionally kills him.  Because her parents have died, she is under the control of her uncle, the King Randa of Middluns, and forced to grow up serving as his torturer/killer.  Nearly everyone fears her.  She does her best to do good among the seven kingdoms, and when the book begins, she and two other members of Randa’s court secretly rescue the kidnapped grandfather from Lienid.  Then she meets Prince Po from Lienid, who also has a Grace, and her life begins to change.

I loved this book!  I think it’s kind of like a cross between The Hunger Games and The Lord of the Rings – but it’s still unique!  If that makes sense…  But really, it’s awesome!  I read all but 3 chapters yesterday, and it’s not a short book.

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

One day pathetic Ed Kennedy stopped a bank robbery.  After that he receives his first card in the mail with three addresses on it.  He soon learns that it’s up to him to go around solving the problems of the people on the cards.

I read Zusak’s The Book Thief about a year ago and hated it.  But my older sister loves it and told me after reading When You Reach Me that I might like I Am the Messenger.  Um, NO.  I hated this book too.  Lindsay, I think this book is on your list, so you should go ahead and try it, but I just hate Zusak’s style of writing.  It seems like he’s trying too hard to be a good writer.  In grade school, did your teacher ever tell you that when writing, you can mix long complex sentences with short sentences to create surprise or sarcasm or just a variation in your writing?  Zusak uses way too many short sentences and it REALLY annoyed me.  Also, Ed is a total loser through most of the book, and yes there are some good moments, but it mostly just annoyed me.  I almost quit reading.  I know this book is popular – it’s an Abraham Lincoln Award nominee (IL award) – and some people do enjoy it but not me.  So Lindsay if you do still read it, definitely review it.  I’d be really interested to know if you liked it!

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Ok, so this isn’t even on my list for the challenge and I haven’t even read it lately, but I kept being reminded of it while reading I Am the Messenger.  Extremely… is one of my all-time favorite books (and it’s my favorite adult book)!  It’s amazing.  You know how you might read a book one time & love it?  That happened when I first read this about three years ago.  Then I read it again a year ago to see if I still liked it – yep, still amazing!

This book takes place after 9/11/01.  Nine-year-old Oskar has lost his dad in the attack, and one day he discovers something that leads him on a mission all around NYC.  Mixed in with Oskar’s story are two other stories that eventually all connect.  The reason I kept being reminded of this while reading Messenger is that the writing style seems similar – yet were totally different.  Foer’s writing is beautiful, funny, etc etc etc.  Somehow he succeeds where Zusak failed.  As I was telling my old roommate last night who’s about to start reading it, this is the only book I have ever dog-eared and underlined lines.  I think it’s always kind of risky telling friends about books/movies/songs/etc that you truly love because they may hate it (at least I feel that way), but I really want everyone to read this.  Ok, I’m done gushing now.  :)

- Jill

Isn’t It Ironic?

Is it considered irony if you decide to use your “Buy 1, get the second 50% off” coupon for Borders on When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead and Graceling by Kristin Cashore, go to THREE Borders stores because none of them have Graceling, end up buying When You Reach Me and The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan, only to come home and find out you received an ARC for When You Reach Me in the mail?

But on the bright side, I saw the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile while driving home today.  

- Jill

Take A Visit To The Underland!

There has been a lot of hoopla at my library surrounding The Hunger Games.  We picked it as the first book for our book club this summer and we ordered way too many copies.  We have been lending out the extras to as many people as we can and have started something of a movement.  After I managed to snatch up a copy of Catching Fire at ALA, everybody at the library was ecstatic.  It is currently on its 8th reader and will move on to one more person in town before making its way off to my mom, dad and sister.

Since the book is so popular, we just recently purchased Suzanne Collins’ first venture into series fiction, the Gregor the Overlander books.  I have had people telling me for a while now that I need to read them, and they were very popular at my old library, but I had a strong aversion to reading them.

I refuse to read most books about animals, because, let’s face it, the animals in children’s books usually end up being abused, abandoned, hurt, and most often killed.  I DO NOT like to read about things like that.  So I have not read Sounder, The Yearling, Where the Red Fern Grows, or any of those other classics.  Well, I knew from hearing Suzanne Collins speak, that the Gregor books were all about war, but she couldn’t kill off people to illustrate her point, so she substituted animals.  Ummmmm, yeah……..everything about that statement made me not want to read those books.

But, I was having Suzanne Collins withdrawal, and I got curious.  I decided to read the books super fast so as not to become attached to any of the characters and just read them to know what happens.  Of course, the books were really good and so it was impossible to read without getting attached to the characters.

Quick synopsis of what the books are about:  Gregor is a regular New York kid whose Dad disappeared a few years ago.  He lives with his Mom, Grandma, and two sisters in a tiny apartment.  One day his little sister Boots is sucked into a vent in the laundry room and he follows her into the Underland.  The Underland is filled with giant Cockroaches, Bats, Spiders, and Rats.  There are also humans, who are constantly fighting against the rats for survival.  Gregor is sucked into this world and finds himself chosen as “The Warrior” who will help the humans.

Let me just say that I LOVED THESE BOOKS!!!!!!!!  I never thought I would fall in love with a giant cochroach (or crawler as the Underlanders call them) but if anyone can make that happen, it is Suzanne Collins.  (I love you Temp!!!!)  The characters in the books are so well drawn and she really does great things with the interactions between the different species.  You can also see the promise of things to come in The Hunger Games.  One of my favorite characters was Ripred the rat, and he is like the precurser to Haymitch.  Also, Gregor could be compared to Katniss.  His emotions run high, he makes mistakes, sometimes he makes you mad, but he is willing to do anything for his family.

My Sweet Temp

Now, I will warn you, I did love these books, but there were times when they were hard for me to read.  Hundreds Thousands of animals die in these books.  Now you might think that it wouldn’t matter to you if rats and roaches were dying all over the place, but trust me, you totally will.  I cried my eyes out at least once in every single book.  When I started reading the first one, the prophecy at the beginning said there would be a quest and 4 of the questers would die.  Okay, I thought, I can handle four characters dying over the series.  Oh wait, nope, that’s four characters in the FIRST BOOK!!!!  So just a little heads up about that.

Somewhere I had heard that fans were really mad about the end of the series.  I think I know what they are upset about, but I was completely satisfied with the way it ended.  I don’t want her to write any more about those characters because I like the way it ended and it gave me great hope that she can finish off The Hunger Games trilogy in a great way.

So, if you need something to read, definitely pick up this series.  There are five books, and each one is better than the one before it.  I loved the 5th one the most.  They read really quick so don’t be intimidated by them.  So if you are waiting anxiously for Catching Fire, pick these up to keep you busy until September 1st.

Jen

Being Nikki review!

I was lucky enough to win an ARC for this a few months ago from the one-and-only Meg Cabot.  (I so love ARCs.  There’s just something awesome about a new book coming out and knowing you’re one of the few who get to read it early.)  For those of you who haven’t read Being Nikki, you should!  Well, first you should read Airhead, which is the first in the planned trilogy.  Just to catch you up — in Airhead, Em is a teenage girl who, instead of listening to her younger sister go on and on about supermodel Nikki Howard and her hot friends, would rather be spending time playing computer games with her best friend/secret love Christopher.  Em’s life completely changes one day when, at the opening of a Stark supercenter (which Em competely despises since Stark and their spokesmodel Nikki Howard are taking over the world), a huge television falls on her.  When she wakes up in the hospital, she discovers her brain has been transplanted into Nikki Howard’s body.

In Being Nikki, Em is still pretending to be Nikki Howard, fulfilling the model contracts for Stark, living in her loft, dealing with her so-called boyfriend, and all other baggage Nikki had.  Add to this the fact that Em thinks Stark is spying on her, her best friend/secret love has turned into a rebel since he believes Em died and she can’t tell him because her family would get in major legal trouble, and Nikki’s long-lost older brother has showed up looking for his mother, and Em can hardly keep it under control.

Being Nikki started a little slow for me, but it definitely picked up.  Em is still settling into Nikki’s life, and trying to figure out how to balance what she wants from her old life with what she has in her new.  The parts dealing with Christopher and the problem of Nikki’s missing mom were interesting and help the overall plot of figuring out the whole Stark issue.  The worst part about the book is the way it ends — leaving you READY for the third book Runway, which unfortunately won’t be out for awhile considering she’s currently working on writing it.  Meg Cabot, what are you doing to me??

- Jill

Jen is Done!!!

Even though my time isn’t technically up until 6:30 tonight, I am definitely done.  This challenge has wiped me out.

Since I am very excited to get back to my normal life of watching tv and being an all around lazy fool (and lounging around in my brand new air conditioning) this will be brief.

Last night:

9:16-9:41 Blog blog blog

9:41-10:57 Finally finished The Lincolns!!  Huzzah!!!

When I read the quote on the 2nd to last page about Mary Lincoln (something about a crazy woman lurks inside) I couldn’t help but think of the story Candace Fleming told that went along with it.  The story was perfect and touching and too long to go into here, but it was one of the things that made me love her (both Mary Lincoln and Candace Fleming).

9:40-11:41 Specials by Scott Westerfeld  (opinion below contains spoilers)

Ugh.  So glad to be done with these books (I am NOT reading Extras).  This quote pretty much sums up how I felt about the main character Tally: “This was the final price of her massive ego.”  Yep, that was my entire opinion of her, just one big massive ego.  I also didn’t like how everyone thought she was so awesome because she could think for herself and she changed her own mind.  But really, when you think about it, she only ever changed because of the BOYS around her.  She never thought for herself, she needed help from the guys in the story to help her realize what she needed to do.  It was pretty much the opposite of the classic beauty and the beast story.  She changes for the better because of the men around her.  Great message.  Also, I was really pissed off at the ending.  I would have been much happier if Tally would have wasted away in that tiny cell for the rest of her hundred years.  Yeah, that’s right, I can be cruel to fictional characters.

11:41-1:00  And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

1:45-2:16   “”            “”

This was a rather broken up reading experience first because I ate lunch in between and also because my landlord came over to install my window air conditioner.  He’s a very nice guy but not a great landlord.  He hasn’t cashed any of my rent checks and he totally knocked over and chipped one of my pitchers while trying to install the air conditioner.  Thank God that’s over.

Anyway, I loved this book!!!  The beginning was very slow and I almost stopped about 13 pages in, but then they got to the island and things took off.  I don’t usually like horror movies, but reading this book felt like watching one.  It was super suspenseful and I had no idea what was going on.  Very very good.

2:33-4:00  Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

I have wanted to read all of Sarah Vowell’s stuff ever since I saw her extra feature on The Incredibles DVD (she played the voice of the daughter Violet).  She comes across as a little crazy in the book, but crazy in a good way.  It is all about how she travels to different places that deal with the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley.  It is hilarious and informative and all around awesome.  I’m not done with it yet, but I’ll hopefully finish it soon.  I also have two of her other books checked out too so I am looking forward to those as well.

So not including this last blog (which is just too much math for my brain to handle), here are my totals

Total books:  7.5

Total hours: 20 hours 12 minutes!!!!

Yea!!!  I think all my math is correct, I can’t vouch for it right now because I am a little loopy, but now I am going to go eat a Buster Bar from Dairy Queen and lots of potato chips.

Jen

Jen’s 2nd Day Update

A lot of things got in the way of my reading today, but hopefully I am not completely done yet.

This morning I went to lots of garage sales in the rain (yea for a new pretty cat carrier!) and then got a new driver’s lisence (yea for looking like a drowned rat in my picture!!).  There was also a lot of other unnecessary running around in the rain as well (Amber, I bought some of that Be Curly stuff!!).

Unfortunately as the morning wore on I started to feel very icky.  Yesterday I had a really bad sore throat that I attributed to one too many classroom speils about the summer reading program.  Well last night it was really terrible and today I started to get the all-around-exhausted-icky-malaise feeling that comes with actually being sick.  This is not good.

Anyway, to quit rambling, here is what I accomplished today.

Throughout the Day (3 hours 7 minutes)–Percy Jackson The Demigod Files audiobook

This morning while I was out and about and then tonight while I ate dinner I listened to the inbetweeny Percy Jackson book of short stories.  I found it relatively amusing and I always like to see what my favorite characters are up to.  I don’t think I got the whole experience by listening to the audiobook because I think there are portraits of the characters in the actual book, so I am sad that I missed those.  Thank the Gods for being able to listen to an audiobook to break things up!

1:13-2:19 Mates, Dates, and Inflatable Bras by Cathy Hopkins

This book was okay.  It didn’t really have much substance and the characters didn’t really resonate with me but I am so glad that I read it because I adore the name Nesta!!!  And anything British-y is fine by me.

2:19-4:46 Had to take a nap…..darn sickness catching up with me.

4:46-6:36  Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris

I liked this book a lot!  It is right up my alley.  I totally have a weakness for fairy tale/princess stories.  I loved that it was told from the guy’s point of view.  Now I need to get my hands on the 2nd one.

6:36-7:31  Ate dinner and finished the Percy Jackson audiobook (not counted in time since audiobook was already listed)

7:31-8:26  Continued The Lincolns by Candace Fleming

Still liking this book a lot.  One thing that really hit me was that I would not have wanted the Lincoln family to visit my library.  Apparently Mary and Abraham let their kids do whatever the heck they wanted and they totally would have gotten a mean librarian glare from me.

8:26-8:41 Blogs and stuff

Then I was interrupted by my mom calling, which was a nice break and now I am blogging again.  I think I will keep reading a little while longer, but I don’t know how much longer I can go tonight.  I don’t plan on waking up real early in the morning, but I know I can make my goal of 15 hours.

Totals so far:

4.5 books (still working on the Lincolns)

7 hours 13 minutes counted today (including blogging and audiobook) so far and with the 6 hours from yesterday that makes 13 hours 13 minutes……….oooooohhhhhh, unlucky way to end the day…..must read some more!

Jen

P.S.  I know I said I would read Specials today, but it just didn’t happen, we will see about tomorrow.

Here I Go!

I am officially starting the 48 Hour Book Challenge right now!  Here are the books that I have lined up:

A Few Agatha Christie Mysteries

The first few Mates, Dates Books

A Couple of Iowa History Books

Pretties and Specials by Scott Westerfeld

Airhead by Meg Cabot

And several more books that are two numerous to count.

Here is some evidence of my weekend agenda:

Wish me luck!!!!

Jen

48 Hour Book Challenge….Here We Come!!!

This is just a quick post (hurridly thrown together over my lunch hour) to let everyone know that all four of the NerdGirls………..that’s right, all four of us………..are going to be participating in MotherReader’s 4th Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge.

There are many specific details of the challenge, but basically the goal is to read for as many hours as possible during a 48 hour period.

I am planning to start reading at around 7:00 tonight (I have to go out and get treats and milk in order to sustain me) and keep reading until I fall asleep.  Tomorrow is going to be rough because it is the Friends of the Library Garage Sale Days and I have been looking forward to it forever.  So I am going to be out and about all morning and won’t get to read till the afternoon.  I toyed with the idea of checking out an audiobook and listening to it on my walkman (I know, I don’t have an ipod), but I just moved to the community and don’t want to appear stand-offish whilst meeting my neighbors.

So, this weekend Jill, Amber, Lindsay and I will probably post about our progress and then put up a post when we finish with our final statistics.  My goal is to read at least 15 hours.  I was going to go for 20, but I think I need to be realistic.

Anyway, good luck to everyone else participating and I hope to get a lot of good stuff read (must go stock up on things when I get back to work).

Jen

Terms Inspired by Children’s Literature

Today one of the blogs I read led me to this:  ”A Glossery of Terms Inspired by the Ladies of Children’s Literature“.  It’s so great I only wish I’d thought of it myself.  Go check it out.  For real.  I’ll wait.

…

Back?  My favorite is probably “Kishi Style”.  Mostly because I totally loved (and still love!) the BSC.  I also love the phrase “Golly-Up” but honestly I’m not sure I’ve ever read Harriet the Spy.  Pretty sure I saw the movie though.  With Michelle Trachtenberg and Rosie O’Donnell, if I remember correctly.  (Just checked–I was totally right.  P.S.  Jen– Gregory Smith was totally in this too!  Did you know that?  I know you have a passionate love for Everwood.)

Anyway, I’ve thought of a few of my own terms to add to the glossery:

Don’t Be So Judy:  When someone is extremely moody. Not a good moody. A bad moody.

Ex. Geez, Becky, so what if it’s a gloomy day outside. Don’t be so Judy.

 

 

 

Jo-ing It Up:  To shed properness and unexpectedly become a tomboy

Ex. Today was picture day at school, but at recess while the other girls stood around in prissy dresses, I Jo-ed it up and played baseball with the boys.

 

 

Go All Eeyore:  Similar to “Don’t Be So Judy”, use when someone is being pessimistic ALL the time

Ex.  When I told my brother about the picnic on Saturday, he said it would probably rain.  And if it didn’t rain, then there would probably be a lot of bugs.  I told him not to go all Eeyore and just get excited already.

Note: I’m bending the original rule to include male characters.

 

Sped Off in His/Her Blue Roadster:  To leave in a hurry, presumably to find a clue to solve a big mystery

Ex.  When Jane heard about the big sale at the mall, she sped off in her blue roadster to investigate.

 

 

Being an Anne:  To surprise someone by being a girl when he or she was expecting a boy

Ex.  My cousin’s baby really surprised her parents and the doctor by being an Anne.  I guess they won’t be using the name Michael after all.

 

 

 

Got any more to add??  It’s fun!

- Jill

Quick Review….”Miles to Go”

Last night I started off my week by reading Miley Cyrus’ engrossing biography called Miles to Go.  That has to be the most fitting biography title I have ever seen.

I checked it out just for kicks, but I really learned a lot of interesting things.  If you can sift through all of the inspirational hooey (not to knock inspirational stuff, but to me it is mostly just hooey) there are several juicy facts found inside.

1.  Miley and Emily Osment did not get along at all during the first two seasons of Hannah Montana.  WHAT!!!!  I was horrified and saddened to read this.  Lily is my favorite character on the show, and it hurts to know that her friendship with Miley was all “fake.”  Okay, I know they are acting so it really is fake, but still.  Apparently things were really awkward until they started shooting the movie and now they are the best of friends.  At least it has a happy ending.

2.  I didn’t know that Billy Ray wasn’t originally scheduled to play her dad.  I thought the whole show was built around the two of them, but I was way wrong.  The whole first part of the book is about the multiple auditions she had to go through to get the part.  According to the book, Billy Ray getting the part was based on an offhand comment made by her mother.  The audition stuff is really great to read.  Apparently they wanted a 16 year old girl to play Hannah……imagine how different that would have been.

3.  Miley’s sixth grade experience was just as hellish as the rest of ours.  She writes about being bullied repeatedly by several girls in her school.  They tormented her at lunch and even locked her in the bathroom once.  I don’t know why I was so surprised by this.  I guess I pictured her childhood being filled with sunshine lollipops and rainbows.

4.  She has lots of sweet things to say about her “Prince Charming.”  (Not her current illegal prince charming, but her first one.)

5.  She struggled with really bad acne during the second season of the show.  I totally can’t tell at all when watching the show.  I can’t even imagine how awful it must be to have to go through things like that while the whole world is watching.

Anyway, I found the book to be an entertaining and quick read (There are even full color pictures!!!).  It is rambling in some parts and filled with lots of the aforementioned hooey, but it really does sound like it was written by a 15 year old.  That may sound like a bad thing, but it lets me believe in my mind that she actually DID write this book herself and didn’t have too much “help” with it.  So if you are a fan of Hannah Montana or Miley it is definitely worth your time.

Jen