The Power of Six Aliens... can destroy, um, the other Aliens?

The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore

The Power of Six picks up where Lore left the audience in I am Number Four. The Lorien Legacies are the stories of the Lorien aliens that have come to earth to save the humans from the Mogadorian alien race. Where I am Number Four leaves off we pick up with an introduction to number Seven. Who like Henry, Sam’s Cepan or guardian, is in constant hunt for others. She knows from the three scars that one, two and three are dead and she has her suspicions that John Smith is number Four. After the battle at the school in Ohio, John (Number 4), Sam and Six are running not only from the Mogadorians, but from the human authorities as well. It doesn’t take Four and Six long to realize that the charm that protected them is gone and that the only way to survive is to find the others. The Power of Six is the theme of the book, to get the remaining Six Lorian Legacies together for the epic battle that is soon to come.

I try not to be too hard on Young Adult fiction. I know that the writing will be good but not too in depth for young readers to be able to enjoy. But I do hope for something with a little more depth than low education banter between the characters. Simple sentences with no complex thought, and maybe a little more thought behind character development.

The author did not do a good job of capturing the essence of a teenager. It sounded like an adult writing what he thinks a teenager would say instead of actually finding out what a teenager would say and replicating it. There is a point where an adult no longer is able to capture that spirit or tenacity and must do research. I do not know any15 year olds that say “Wicked” or ‘“Sam, you’ve been nuts since the first time I met you,” I kid.’ Wow, that’s a good one, you really got him with that comeback. I just think that John Smith (Number 4) is supposed to be this cool, hot alien savior that is starting to become what he’s supposed to and he says these totally dorky off the wall sayings like he’s 40 instead of 16.

Another issue I had was the fact that there was no tone differences in characters, Six, Four and Sam they all sounded the same. Although Four (John Smith) was the main character I did not feel as if I knew him better than any other character. No insight to his feelings except for his lust for 2 girls. Character development was weak. From the words that were said, if the author didn’t say who was saying them, I had no idea who was talking. I want to read a book that I know the characters so well that there can be no “I said” or “Six replied” or “Sam questioned.” Everything that each character said could have come from all three of these characters and the audience could just make up whoever they wanted to say it.

As with I am Number Four, the battle scenes are well thought out and thrilling. I was on the edge of my seat and had no idea if the characters were going to be safe. Whenever an author breaks the rules by killing off an important character you know that no one is safe and that he could kill off any character he wants. The author is in control of the story instead of allowing the audiences feelings dictate where the story is going to go.
I enjoyed the new character of Seven or Marina and the introduction to Ten. From the beginning we knew that there was a second ship, but the introduction to Ten was a surprise and we will be continued to be surprised as the story continues by events that we have not been introduced to. Marina is a fighter even though unskilled due to her Cepan’s fear and loathing attitude for what she’s been through. Marina is a survivor and I love how her story has started to develop and I hope that it is not ruined in the third book.

What do you think? Have you read this series and will you continue to? Keep reading my friends!

Is Anyone Listening? What's the Point of Speaking if no one is Listening?

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

A nightmare. Melinda Sordino starts her freshman year but it’s more like a walking nightmare. It’s worse than not having friends, she is absolutely alone. Melinda has pissed off every student in her new high school, but it wasn’t her fault. Slowly throughout the book we piece together the events that took place on that horrendous night that turned her entire life upside down.

I had been seeing this book pop up in the blogosphere and the cover absolutely intrigued me. When I saw Speak on my friend Kathy’s (The Literary Amnesiac) bookshelf I had to borrow it.

The very first time I picked it up, I knew that it was going to be one of the saddest books I have ever read. Although the book was very sad and it was a struggle to watch this poor helpless girl fall deeper into the trap of depression, it was also empowering. It was fascinating to watch this girl healing from such a horrible action of hate and selfishness.

The entertainment world wants us to view high school on a level more like Glee or Vampire Diaries, where the main characters biggest fear is not getting into the college they want or falling for a hot vampire and struggling with the impacts of those decisions. This book lets us into a real world situation that is a lot more realistic than slushies in the face or being hunted by a half breed vampire/werewolf. The world of safe high schools is over (or never existed), where bullies are real and the fact that every high schooler is dealing with or knows someone who is dealing with cutting, thoughts of suicide and disorders that are detrimental to their overall wellbeing. This book lets the audience into the head of a fictional but very real 9th grader who is having a rough time for trying to get help. If adults would listen more maybe these children that are experiencing real pain, would speak up more.

I loved how Anderson wrote this book. Written in first person, we are enclosed in Melinda’s thoughts. She is trapped and therefore we are trapped. No one offers help, they just force solutions on why Melinda changed so drastically in such a short time. There were very few spoken words, the book was mostly filtered through Melinda’s thoughts. When Melinda did speak, the reader was ready to listen. There was also a lot of symbolism in this book. I believe that the author uses everything around Melinda to symbolize how miserable and alone she was. From the book the class is reading in English (The Scarlet Letter), to the lack of school mascot, to the art assignment of drawing a tree. It was fascinating watching this story unfold in so many different facets. I’m not sure how Anderson can write like she is a freshman in high school, but with all of my experiences of being a youth pastor’s wife, she did a fantastic job of getting into Melinda’s head.

I don’t think that this book is for everyone. Although I do believe that all middle school and high school teachers should read this. It was not a fun read, but it was inspiring. If you have read it, you’ll have to let me know how you feel afterwards. Keep reading my friends!

Introducing Sirius Black!

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

This is the third book in the Harry Potter series, as with my other blogs so far for Harry Potter, if you have not read the series and do not enjoy SPOILERS then don’t read this blog. I have written these blogs more for people who have read the series and love them or people who will never read them (what a sad existence).

This is my absolute favorite book in the series. There is just something special about the new found relationship between Harry and Sirius. I love that he has someone in his life that doesn’t want to be around him because he’s the famous Harry Potter, the boy who lived. It’s more of a family love; Sirius loves him like he would love a nephew. It’s hard for me to put into words exactly why I love this relationship so much, but if I had to sum it up, it would be in the last couple of pages. Harry, Ron and Hermione are on their way to King’s Cross from Hogwarts and Harry receives an owl. When he opens it up, it’s a letter from Sirius with an extra letter giving him permission to go to Hogsmeade next term. When I finished the book for the first time, I remember running into the living room of our apartment at the time and squealing to Simon how wonderful the book was and how much I loved Sirius Black. Memories…

Sirius Black is my all time favorite Harry Potter character (If I can’t pick Harry himself). I love that he is very much the dark wizard that is after Harry during this entire book. This is the only book of the series that Voldemort doesn’t make a physical appearance and therefore Sirius is the scapegoat for the bad-guy of this book. The reason I love Sirius is that after 13 years of prison and quite frankly, hell. He still wants to get to know Harry. The example of this is that he immediately invites Harry to live with him, which of course makes the audience’s heart happy. Knowing how happy it makes Harry is a great feeling, “Some sort of explosion took place in the pit of Harry’s stomach.” The poor kid had never experienced happiness in this way that he couldn’t even think of how to describe it. I love it!

Another character that must be mentioned is the headmaster. Dumbledore is not all knowing, but he sure knows a lot. An enjoyable factor for me is that he knew exactly what was going on the entire time Hermione and Harry were going back in time to save Buckbeak and Sirius, but had no idea that Sirius, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew had turned themselves into Animagus’ when they were under his supervision at Hogwarts. Within the first three books, it just doesn’t seem like much get’s by him. He always seemed to know when things were going on with any of the given characters. Of course the biggest example of this in Prisoner of Azkaban is mentioned above when he tells Hermione to turn back time and save 2 innocent lives.

I’ll end with this thought. The first time I read this series, I sat on the edge of my seat. Literally I was scared to death that Harry was going to get caught in one of his many rule breaking adventures, but I still kept reading. It’s funny how I am definitely not usually up for adventures, but I am so into the many adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermione. Harry gets into so much trouble it’s hard to even believe he gets away with it all, but he does. Professor Snape of course is very hard on Harry. He is overly harsh with him in class, he’s so stern with him when he meets him in hallways and anywhere Harry’s not supposed to be. Although I am not a Snape fan, I almost have to agree with Snape as an adult that follows the rules. Harry is always out of bounds, going in areas he’s not allowed, breaking the rules or just an overall disregard for authority. But I still love Harry like he’s my BFF.

Well that’s it literary friends. I hope you enjoyed! Keep Reading my friends!

It's the End of the World as we Know it!

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

What an intriguing pick for Book Club this was. When Lydia announced her book choice, many members moaned, while I rejoiced. I had not heard of this book before, but it sparked my interest. With all of the women of book club being so different, it’s fun to jump into new genres and read books that I would have not known about without one of my fellow book-clubbers pointing it out. After all of that rejoicing I did at book club some months ago, I guess I should just throw it out there and confess that I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would.

As an oral history of the Zombie war, the entire book was reports of survivors from around the world. These personal stories made up how the audience learned what happened during the war. The issue I had with the way the book was written was that the author/interviewer did not return to the reports from earlier sections. Each section had new people and we did not learn about how stories ended until the last couple of pages. These goodbyes were from some of the survivors that were interviewed in preceding sections and were not enough to appease me.

There were times when the book was a little slow. It did not take me a long time to finish the book, but when I put it down, it was difficult to pick it back up. It was such a depressing subject matter, who wants to read about the end of the world as we know it? I mean the whole earth is decimated by this horde of our loved ones and friends. These monsters aren’t faceless creatures (well unless his face was eaten off by his attacker); these are the neighbors of the victims of this war. Even though the stories do not go into details of people being attacked by someone they knew before they were infected, I can only imagine that it happened, and often.

Overall it was an interesting plot and was executed well. That being said, I had to wonder if the zombies were really some political propaganda instead of the living dead. Like some ploy to get the reader to recycle more or some other world issue that is heavy on the author’s heart. Maybe not, maybe it is actually about the walking dead or Zack. On a completely different note, I will probably not go watch this movie, December 21, 2012; I will probably not be at the movie theater waiting in line for the midnight show to watch Brad Pitt take on the undead. I can use my imagination and picture how this movie will probably be very scary. Even though what I’m about to say is very contradictory to the usual, I could leave my imagination at bay while reading this horror book because this book was about people surviving and not really about zombies. I would usually say that the opposite is true that reading is more alive than screen, but I think actually watching the zombies on the big screen would be too much for me to handle. We’ll see…

I think I’m going to take my friend Josh’s advice and read something happy now. This book was a little depressing. Anyone else read this book? If so, what did you think?

'Tis a Great Book

Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt

First memoir! How exciting. I love being introduced to new genres of literature. It makes my heart happy, especially when I love it. Frank McCourt’s first memoir focuses on his childhood of growing up poor in the lanes of Ireland. He takes us on a heartbreaking journey of growing up in the worst poverty that any middle class American can imagine. I hear of children starving in America because of their parents poor decisions, but this goes beyond a level of poverty and need that I have not seen the intimate details before.

Angela’s Ashes being my first Memoir I had to do a little research about the genre. I needed to know what makes this type of writing different from an autobiography. The closest definition that I found is that a Memoir only talks about a certain span of time in a person’s life written in first person usually and has a beginning and an end. An autobiography is from birth to old age. I absolutely loved McCourt’s insight and writing style. The book was interesting and fun to read from page 1 to page 460 (!).

This was my great friend Claire’s first pick for book club. She chose well and we are thinking that this may be the only book that all members have liked. The library has the next 2 memoirs by McCourt, ‘Tis and Teacher Man. I am going to continue the story. Its ironic how someone can let you into the intimate details of his life and I will never meet him or let him know about me, it’s like a one sided friendship. What avid reader can stop in the middle of the story? I feel as if I know Frankie on such a personal level that I will probably miss him if I don’t continue. I will put it on my long list of books to read!

Have you read a Memoir before? What have you read and did you like the style? Let me know, I’m interested to see if other memoirs are as great as this one. Keep reading my friends!

Hungry in the Dark

Hunger: A Gone Novel by Michael Grant

Three Months later the kids under 15 are stuck in the bubble of the FAYZ and they are out of food. An all day meal may consist of jar of gravy or pickle relish. Not only are the Perdido Beach kids hungry, but the Coates kids are starving too. Caine has been MIA since the Thanksgiving battle and falling deeper in to the Darkness’ web. Sam is under so much pressure that he’s about to crack while keeping it all together. The other kids in “leadership” are trying to see where they fit in to the puzzle of the FAYZ. In short, it’s falling apart.

“Hungry in the Dark” was a dual concept. While I was reading Hunger the characters that had been put under the Darkness’ influence felt his anguish and hunger. Caine, who was totally out of it for 3 months, kept saying the phrase in his comatose state over and over, “Hungry in the Dark.” Then as the Darkness spread his touch, other characters were talking about it. The dual concept comes in when the plan unfolds that the Coates kids want to turn off the power to Perdido Beach. Not only is it going to be dark, but the kids are going hungry and practically out of food.

Two areas of the books have me pondering, first, Little Pete’s dreams. There is some connection between the Darkness and Little Pete and it is not clear yet what that will be. I know more now than I did before that Little Pete is going to be having the biggest role to play in this series. It will have something to do with his dreams and it’s going to be huge (bigger than in Gone, which is big). Second, I am stunned by Lana’s role with the darkness, I know that it has a tight grip on her and even when her plans backfire on her, the audience has to wonder how deep does it go? Will Lana ever be “normal” again? Can she recover from being with the Darkness so many times and so intimately? We’ll see as the series continues.

Some food for thought: Why couldn’t these kids get it together sooner? Why are they unable to think ahead at all? Are all teenagers this thoughtless? Of course when I was under 15 years old, was over 15 years ago now and I’m baffled by how brainless they are. There is no forethought at all, but then I think about the average student we had in our student ministry and I remember how they acted and I keep thinking that Grant has hit the nail on the head. It has absolutely driven me crazy with the absolute mindlessness that these kids are exhibiting and then I remember, oh yeah, they are just kids and can’t think past what’s in front of them. I’m glad that they are starting to grow into some leadership. I’m interested to continue the series and see what happens.

I have no complaints about this series thus far. Grant has put together a good story with interesting characters. Hunger has some better character development than Gone did. I felt the characters strife during the entire book and knew that things were getting worse and how they can see the impending doom. I have bought the third book Lies and I’m very interested to see how the story continues and who will conquer. I am also thinking that there is some type of twist of events in this next book, I can feel a controversy coming. We’ll see, continue reading my friends!

POOF-- Freedom!

Gone by Michael Grant

Poof. Not, I wake up in the morning and everyone over the age of 15 has been kidnapped in the night, but POOF, in front of Sam’s very eyes, his teacher poofed. Not only his teacher, but other kids in his class and his mom have just literally vanished before his eyes. Not only his mom, but the only people left in a 10 mile radius are gone without a trace. Not only have people vanished, but the kids that are left are starting to experience changes, supernatural changes.

Gone was a thrilling count down. I had no idea what we were counting down to, but I was glad that I was a part. The intriguing story begins on the day that people disappear. There is confusion and no adults. Of course everyone is looking up to School Bus Sam to save the day to step up and be the leader he seemed to be born to be, but he just walks away. As bully’s rule the day and the troubled private school kids come to rein the city, Sam, Astrid and a few others try and figure out exactly what’s going on. As the story continues they realize that maybe they don’t want to know the truth.

This was my pick for book club. I picked for the month of August and I really wanted to read a book that I already owned, so I brought a list to see what people had read and what people hadn’t. I brought a list of 5 books, all of them had been read by at least one person, so sad. So, I mentioned Gone, I knew it was YA and not all adults are crazy about that genre of literature like I am, so I didn’t know if it would go over well. This book was recommended to me by my past mentor and now friend Melody Tryon. She has great taste in literature and we usually read and agree on most of the same books. She said to me, if I liked The Hunger Games, then I would definitely like Gone and the series.

One thing I enjoyed about the book was that the characters were unpredictable. I would assume that I knew what was going to happen next, but then it would change. Now, I’m not saying that everything was unpredictable, I knew that Lana was going to be a healer. But I have no idea what’s going on with the darkness character that’s controlling the coyote’s. I can’t even guess. I have no idea why some kids have developed powers and why some haven’t or why they started developing them before the FAYZE or why some kids powers are stronger than others. I have no idea where everyone disappeared to or if they are alive or dead.

I enjoyed Gone and I’m in great anticipation to continue the series with Hunger. Keep reading my friends!

Sisters United to Destroy Good Ole Dad!

The Secret Life of Prince Charming by Deb Caletti

A karmic quest. This is what 3 half sisters set out to do, right wrongs and learn truth along the way. Quinn finds out that her father, who she consistently defends and tries to find the best in, while overlooking his eccentric and selfish tendencies, has stolen items from many women and kept them as trophies over the years. The sisters set out to return the items, behind their father’s back. All the women in Quinn’s life have been hurt and distrust men, and Quinn is starting to agree when her steady predictable boyfriend dumps her for another girl. The main idea that Quinn tries to uncover is the truth even if the truth hurts.

I picked this one up at Books A Million. We have a semi-new section in our local BAM that has isles of new books for clearance prices. I bought this book for $2.95. I was pumped, I had seen Caletti’s name in the YA section for quite a while and this was the opportunity to give her a chance. Of course this is not my natural go to genre of books to read, but I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy this pick.

I’m such a fantasy nut. I have enough of real life, I don’t need to read real life too, but I was glad that I made a switch for this book. This was a charming story about a quest for truth about love. I enjoyed the great character interaction and I was so glad to see some real life situations with real life consequences for decisions made by the characters. The book was not all happy endings and everything is wrapped up nicely in the end, almost nothing gets on my nerves more than that. There’s just not a whole lot to say about books like this. It is yet another book that I would add to the “beach reads.” Not a book that will rock your world, but if you are looking for something entertaining and fun to read, it’s a good one.

Keep reading my friends!

Fresh Air Does the Body Good

The Secret Garden by Fances Hodgson Burnett

An epidemic hits Mary Lennox’s home in India killing her parents and the servant who raised her. Bitter and contrary, Mary moves from house to house until a blood relative is found in Yorkshire England. During her first few months at Misselthwaite Manor she is lonely and bored. Martha, one of the servants teaches Mary to dress herself and tell Mary that she needs to go outside and get fresh air from the Moor. Since Mary was spoiled and a terror, she was not fun to be around, but the more she was around Martha, the more she liked her. During her stay at Misselthwaite, she hears mysterious noises at night. She knows that it’s crying and Martha swears that it’s nothing. During the nice days Mary starts to go outside and walk amongst the many gardens, this is where Mary meets Ben Weatherstaff and discovers a secret garden that is rumored to be where the master of the house’s wife died and in his mourning he locked the gate and buried the key. As she grows more curious she learns not only more about the secret garden, but also the crying she has heard several times. She finds that there is a boy her age lives in the house and he is a crippled weak boy named Colin Craven who has a bad temper and is not fun to be around, just like Mary was before the magic took over her. She also meets Dickon the animal charmer who is also Martha’s brother. Many adventures ensue and many things change during the course of the book, but you’ll have to read it to find out more!

The Secret Garden is the September book club pick. I have never read this classic and is yet another great stride to getting more classics under my belt. I enjoyed the language of The Secret Garden. It was fun reading the proper children learning to speak Yorkshire. They would try it and the townies would love hearing them try. One statement that was made that I loved was talking about Colin and Martha said, “He’s been spoiled till salt won’t save him.” I loved this and when I read it, I laughed out loud.

I enjoyed several aspects of the book, first I like how Mary had to transform from being a rotten child with bad manners and crazy notions to growing into a child that learns manners. Then there is a role reversal between Martha who teaches Mary some basic truths about being a good child and therefore, Mary was able to teach them to Colin. Another aspect that I liked was how openly the character spoke of each other. When Mary first started her journey after becoming an orphan, she was told that she was ugly and they would explain to her how she was ugly. Martha also told Mary that she wasn’t as ugly as she was before. It’s funny how I would never dream of telling a 10 year old that they are ugly. My question is, is it cultural between Europe and America or is it a different time and no one talks like that anymore no matter where the setting is.

A fun game that I came up with while reading the Secret Garden, is statements made in classical literature are funny when taken out of context. I leave you with a couple of my favorites, enjoy!
“Children that feels like young wolves an’ food’s flesh an’ blood to ‘em.” Susan Sowerby
“I don’t want to be queer!” Colin Craven
So, what are your thoughts, do you want to read The Secret Garden? Did you read it ever so long ago and need to be reminded of the beauty of a child’s mind? Keep Reading my friends, keep reading!

I'm sad, wanna cuddle?

Astrid & Veronika by Linda Olsson

Veronika, a young writer, escapes the pain of recent life events to Sweden. She moves into a rental home next door to Astrid, an elderly recluse where the unlikely friendship blossoms over the course of 9 months. Slowly they both open up and trust each other with their deepest secrets. This is a thought provoking, tear jerking, joyful and remorseful story from the heart that takes real life circumstances (and sometimes not so real) and puts them down on paper. I can’t even imagine the pain that has come from these women’s experiences and watching the healing take place as they reveal their hearts to each other was a special event to watch.

Veronika speaks of memories and how she feels that she can only remember the bad things that happen instead of the good and the bad. It was funny to me that Veronika states that her mother always told her that she didn’t have a good memory. The funny part to me was that people who have bad memories never realize it themselves, but they have to be lead to it. They also have a hard time admitting it because what they do remember is clear enough to them. I admit that I am a person that believes I have a great memory and am told by almost everyone that I don’t. I have recently pondered why this is so, and I have concluded that I have an excellent long term memory, but my short term memory is horrendous! I can relate to Veronika on this matter!

*Spoiler Alert* Throughout the story the author regularly speaks of the idea of “not lasting.” Every situation that is good in both of the characters there is a thought behind it that it cannot last. When Astrid had her little girl, she spoke of it not lasting, how can your relationship with your baby not last? Well, if you kill your baby, it won’t last. I was very confused why she did that by the way. Same idea is present with Veronika and her lover. It can’t last, and then he died.

Foreshadowing is sewn throughout the story. Veronika speaks of the sea being her enemy before we even know anything about her story. She speaks of always hating it, but knowing that the love of her life loved it, she wanted to be near him and he wanted to be in the ocean. Things didn’t fare well with them.

First question, was, what was with the cuddling? Second question, did Astrid kill herself? Third question, was Veronika happy for Astrid in the end? This book was very odd and intriguing at the same time. I probably would have never heard of it if it wasn’t for book club. It was an interesting read, I wouldn’t say I recommend it, but I wouldn’t say it’s the worst book I’ve ever read either. So, have you read it? Do you want to?

"We are two people. Not that much seperates us. Not nearly as much as I'd thought."

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This is a story about three women, different in every way, age, race, and social standings, but they are working together with one goal in mind, equality. A book about writing a controversial book in the middle of a racial war, the unity of this bond is the story of The Help.

When I first started reading The Help, I posted on facebook that I was reading this book. I wanted to know which of my friends had read it or wanted to. I was astounded by how many comments that post received and how many people had read or wanted to read the book, or wanted to see the movie when it came out. I also received a wall post from my cousin Mary Catherine prompting me to ask my dad about the maid she and her 5 siblings had while growing up. From that wall post, I asked my dad about Tine and he told me the story of the broken crystal lamp. My dad was born late in life to my grandmother. His oldest sibling, Clint was 25 when my dad was born and was already married with one child. I grew up playing with my second cousins who were my age and I did not understand that their parents were my first cousins and not aunts and uncles. I didn’t understand as a child why my cousins called my Uncle Clint grandpa, he was uncle to me and my brothers. I loved going to Aunt Martha and Uncle Clint’s house, there was always something to do. Either we would play with my second cousins or play down in the basement, but we always knew to stay out of Uncle Clint’s way. He was always kind, but he expected children to be respectful and to always say “sir or ma’am” and be obedient. Dad would always lecture us on the way down to Warren, AR where my aunt and uncle lived about minding our manners and behaving ourselves, and don’t be loud or break anything. So, the story is that my dad, being so young, would go play with his nieces and nephews during family events. When I asked him about the story my cousin Mary Catherine told me to ask him about, I found out that my dad, a non-trouble-maker from birth accidently broke a lamp shade. He was following the other kids down the stairs and swinging over the stair banister, when he swung his leg over, down came the crystal lamp. Tine saved the day and replaced the broken lamp shade without my Uncle Clint finding out. I can only imagine what punishment Tine saved my dad from. Dad also told me that either Uncle Clint or Aunt Martha would go to the “black part of town” pick Tine up and bring her to the house at about 6am, then she would work all day, and then they would take her back home around 6 or 7pm that night. He also told me some other fun stories about how Tine would take care of the kids and protect them from getting in trouble from their dad. While reading The Help, I can almost picture what my aunt and uncle’s house looked like.

I personally enjoyed how many important events took place during the course of the book. From the beginning of the zip code for mailing items with the post office, to the assassination of the President Kennedy, many events that have shaped America took place over these very few years. The author paid much attention to detail and I appreciated Stockett’s inclusion of those events. On the Civil Rights movement, it’s interesting how just 40 to 50 years has made such an amazing difference in the equality of people in America, if you would have asked my Uncle Clink in 1964 if we would have a black man in the white house, what do you think he would have said? I’m not saying it’s equal or anywhere close to perfect, it’s just changed a lot because of the people who stood up for their rights.

As a southern woman, it was very natural for me to pick up on Minny or Aibelene’s accent. I saw an almost immediate decline in my accent and grammar while reading The Help. I found myself saying “ain’t” which is not a word that I ever use. I also found myself using words completely incorrect. Is and was, were not used when they were supposed to be and I know that I sounded crazy and uneducated. Of course I already have an inclination to speak incorrectly because I’m southern and I am around some really crazy accents on a daily basis working with the public of East Texas and Arkansas.

So, what did you think? Did you read the book? See the movie? What did you think? Do you have any stories about your family in the 60’s?

How does this story end for Sam, Grace, Cole and Isabel?

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

The end of a series is always bitter sweet. I feel like I’m saying goodbye to a sweet friendship that I have come to love over the time that it takes to read the books. I started with Shiver, not knowing anything about it, except that the literary blogging world was going insane talking about it. Every blogger was reading it and loving it. So I picked it up, then I waited for Linger, when it came out, again all the rage on the blogosphere, then I waited again, finally Forever is here.

Grace has now been a wolf for two months. Two months that Sam has not been a wolf. Sam has been under investigation for Grace’s disappearance and maybe even murder. Sam has been walking around trying to act like nothing is wrong, when everyone he has ever known and loved is now a wolf in the woods outside his adopted father’s home. Sam is displaced and going through all of these trials without Grace and Beck. He has Cole, the suicidal rock star who spends all of his waking hours trying to be like his dad the scientist and find a cure for the werewolf issue. Even though Sam did not shift for the first time in 10ish years, he is still is not living without Grace.

Of course this is a book that you have to remove all logic and just read. There is no infection that is acting like malaria and makes you turn into a wolf during the cold months of the year. But, if you can look past that, this is a great story. One of love, passion, friendship, and a world of asking questions even when it hurts and it’s hard to hear the answer.

I have heard many people say that they did not enjoy this book or even the one preceding it (Linger) as much as Shiver the original book. I can appreciate their comments and as a lover of books and literature, I will have to respectfully disagree. The magic of the first book was something of another world. It was magical, it was moving, and it had a beautiful ending. The second book still had the magic, but it didn’t have that spark that the first did because Sam and Grace were already in love and that was what was so great about Shiver, the love story. Now here comes Linger it’s all about figuring out what’s going on, what’s causing this and how can we stop it. Grace has had some of Sam, now she wants it all, marriage, family, everything. I can see why Shiver was everyone’s favorite, but Linger had some great stuff in it and Forever was a great end to the story. The way I see it is that I love these characters. Sam, Grace, Isabel, and Cole all of them have a special place in my heart and I think that is why I have nothing bad thing to say about the books, it’s because I love these fictional friends.

Stiefvater has a way with words that I have been in awe of since Shiver. She uses analogies like they are a long-time friend of hers and they don’t even mind being used by her because of their special relationship. One of my favorite lines is about the middle of the book. Grace has recently shifted back to human and she wakes in Sam’s bedroom before him for the first time ever. She walks to the basement with the coffee pot and looks around Beck’s library and just visually takes in the room. She sees the tidy shelves of books and guesses that there must be over one thousand books in the library and in her head she makes this comment. “I wanted a library like this by the time I was Beck’s age. Not THIS library. A cave of words that I’d made myself. I didn’t know if that would be possible now.” I just think the way Stiefvater words this idea is so beautiful. A cave of words that I’d made myself. It’s a true enough statement. I love inheriting books, but my most precious books are the ones that speak to me and maybe no one else likes them or reads them, but for this time and this place in my life, I loved these words and this book and it spoke volumes to me. I can see what Grace dreams of, a library of her own that she has put together. Love it!

As discussed in the previous Shiver blogs, these books are very emotional for me. I have rolled my eyes, laughed, and cried with every one of the characters. This series takes you on such a rollercoaster ride of emotion in such a short time that I hang on every word.

Well I guess that is the end of this blog. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. What did you think of the ending? What do you think happened if there would have been one more chapter?

"ssss ssss ssss" I can speak Parseltongue

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

(Spoiler Alert- I have the liberty to talk about any of the HP books in this blog, if you have not read all 7 novels and get sort of mad when endings or major events are ruined, do not read this blog, if you don’t care, read on)

Random Question for my readers, have you ever watched The Simpson’s? Settle down, just listen to where my thought process is going with this. Let’s say you have watched the Simpson’s. Have you then noticed a theme with the show? For instance, when the show starts, there is something that happens, Homer gets stung by a bee, something of that nature, that first action always has a reaction. Because Homer got stung by a bee, he did a certain action that had another reaction and by the end of the episode, you can’t really remember why he’s in court on trial and if you do look back, it’s all because he got stung by a bee.

Here’s where I’m going with this. In Chamber of Secrets, Harry starts his second year of Hogwarts, but before he leaves the Dursley’s he is visited by a strange creature, a house elf named Dobby, this first action has a ton of reactions. Dobby had been intercepting Harry’s mail in order to stop him from going back to Hogwarts, because dangerous things are going to happen at Hogwarts this year. When the letters do not have the outcome that Dobby had hoped for, the entrance to Platform 9 ¾ is blocked and Harry and Ron can’t get through to catch the train to Hogwarts. This action has the reaction of Ron and Harry stealing the Weasley’s enchanted car, this reaction gets them in trouble and instead of expelling them, Dumbledore gives them detention where Harry first hears the bodiless voice and Ron polishes the trophy with the initials T.M. Riddle. So, therefore when Harry ends up with a diary with those initials, they know that T.M. Riddle was at school at the time that the Chamber was opened the first time fifty years ago. Do you see what I’m saying about the chain reactions? It’s hard for us to remember that all of this started with a house elf ruining Aunt Petunia’s pudding for her guests.

With this being the second book of seven, the audience is still new to this magical world and therefore there are several very important introductions in this book that Harry and the audience did not know about or had not met in the first book. The first important introduction is to Dobby. If you have only watched the movies and not read the books you will have no idea how large of a character Dobby is. He loves Harry Potter very much and would do anything for him. That’s all I’m going to say about the subject because this is only book two and we’ll see more adventures with Dobby as I continue the series. The second introduction is to Polyjuice Potion.

The idea of Polyjuice Potion is a novel concept. How often as a young adult did I want to be someone else? Just to walk in someone else’s shoes to see how they fit, maybe only for a day. The Polyjuice Potion was a very complex Potion that took quite a bit of time to make, therefore it was not an off the cuff sort of plan. As a rule of thumb, second years should not be able to make this potion, although Hermione is not a regular second year witch, she is constantly known as the smartest witch of her age throughout the books and that is why it is not surprising that she is able to make such a complex potion for extracurricular activities. To use this particular potion, one would need to put a lot of plan and thought into it in order for it to work. By using this potion, Harry and Ron sneak into Slytherin house and find out a bit of information that gets them closer to know who has opened the Chamber of Secrets.

The last introduction is to Ginny. We shortly meet Ginny in The Sorcerer’s Stone, but Ginny is a Hogwart’s student in Chamber of Secrets and we get to see her interacting, even though strangely, with other characters and it’s very cute how she interacts or doesn’t interact with Harry.

It cracks me up that in these books, these school age children are able to do things and figure things out that adults with more training and magical powers cannot get done. The Chamber of Secrets was lost for thousands of years and all of a sudden, 3 school age children crack where it is, how to open it and what dangerous creature has lived in it all of this time. Just shows what a sense of adventure and love for each other will do.

Well I could go on for pages, but I won’t. What did you think about Chamber of Secrets? How many times have you read it? Do you think this story is important to the whole series? Leave a comment!

Good or Evil, Which Shall They Choose?

Passion by Lauren Kate

We last saw Lucinda Price hurling herself into an announcer leaving her backyard full of death, destruction, war and her angel soul mate. No, I’m not kidding, this is where Torment leaves us hanging before Passion picks up. Passion is the third installment of the Fallen series and I have to be honest and say that I really have been waiting for it’s release date. As I’ve stated in previous blogs, Fallen was not the best book, but I had already bought Torment as well so I continued to read. The second book was definitely better and I started to get hooked. By the end of Passion I’m ready to close this story and see how it ends, but that is the extent of my excitement. I have mixed emotions, because it was good, but I feel like it could have been better and it was missing something. I’m just not sure what it was missing.

Passion, starts with the dark side, meeting up at a horse race and we find that they have disappointed Satan and he’s ready to step in and do the job right. We also know that Luce is running crazily from previous life to previous life looking for answers to the age old question of why Daniel and Luce are tied in this eternal cycle of love and death. I feel for the first time in the series the audience is introduced to the relationship and we finally get to see what’s so special about this love. We finally get to look at it with new eyes and hope for the best in the end. We’ll all keep our fingers crossed for Daniel and Luce.

Just jumping right into my opinion of this book in the series, I found the view of the author about the Fall of Lucifer interesting and how that came about. I also found it intriguing how she interwove “free will” and “predestination” throughout the story. Were the characters really choosing their own course or was it written before time that all this happened before and all of it will happen again. It’s thought provoking how one minute the characters were talking to each other about their “choices” and then the next moment they are almost being dragged to the next stop in the adventure as if they had no choice in the matter at all. I’m very interested to see how it all plays out in the end.

There was also some confusion about God in this book. Either He is almighty creator of Heaven and Earth, or He’s not. In the end there are some short scenes with God and the language gave God much reverence. Such as, not even the angels could look upon His glory seated on His Throne. They could not even utter His name because the glory was too much for a created being, they only referenced Him as “The Throne.” Yet shortly after that, “The Throne” was surprised by the action of one of the characters and later on the same page, “The Throne” sounded tired. He’s either one or the other. He can’t be both.

Overall, I am enjoying this series. I look forward to Rapture, the fourth and final book, but am I holding my breath until Spring of 2012? Nope.

Thoughts? Have you read this series, if so, what are your thoughts? If not, have I totally turned you off to reading it, or are you curious to form your own opinions? Keep reading my friends!

The Beginning

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter has become more than a story, more than a book or movie, it has become a pop-culture phenomenon. Never before had I heard of stores opening their doors at midnight to release a book. Never before had a child of age eleven wanted to read a 400 page book, let alone thousands of young children. Not only have the books rocked the nations, but the movies are hugely popular. Over 6 Billion dollars grossed in the theaters worldwide for the first 7 movies. And of course the books have sold millions of copies in many different languages.

Besides the world loving Harry Potter, I, Charity Knighten, love Harry Potter. He’s just a wonderful character. He’s not someone that the reader will fall in love with, or someone that will give you obsessive thoughts. He’s almost like a best friend. The audience meets Harry (of course we’re on a first name basis) when he is ten years old and knows as much about magic as the audience does. He receives his letter to Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, much to his aunt and uncle’s chagrin, and his world is changed in such a huge way that in seven years it will be hard for him to recall a life without magic.

I’m not going to recap the book, this blog is more for the Harry Potter lover’s, not someone looking to see if they should read it or not, you just should read it. Consider this your spoiler alert as well, you have been warned.

While reading this book for the third time (yes, you read that correctly, the third time) I came across 3ideas that I wanted to discuss in this blog. First, Rowling drops these tiny hints that you would not be able to pick up the first time you read the book. In chapter seven, Harry is at the start-of-term banquet and he is looking around the Great Hall with great wonder. His eyes land on Professor Snape, their eyes meet and suddenly there is a searing hot pain in Harry’s scar. Because of the way Rowling tells us what happened, we have no other reason to believe that it was anybody else causing him pain besides Snape. We have already forgotten that he’s speaking with Professor Quirrell.

Next, I love the way Rowling brings ideas back to our memory. At the train station back in London, we hear a joke between the Weasley twins and their mother about blowing up a toilet and sending her the toilet seat. During the last chapter the Dumbledore tells Harry that the twins had tried to give him a toilet seat as a get well soon present. I think its genius how she interweaves jokes, relationships, and ideas throughout the book so the audience looks back and think, “Wow, really? I should have seen that coming, but I didn’t.”

Lastly, Rowling introduces what seems to be an insignificant idea into the story and later it becomes one of the most important parts of the book. One example of this is when Harry and Ron are stuffing themselves with sweets on the train ride to Hogwarts and Harry is introduced to his first Chocolate Frog with trading card. This card just happens to be the card that solves the mystery of the Sorcerer’s Stone. I know the first time I read this I had no idea that this card was going to be so important. This is just a treat in Rowling’s writing.

Well that is all for right now. I don’t want to dive too deep in the series, I just wanted to talk about The Sorcerer’s Stone. Stay tuned, I’m going to complete the entire series, it may take me some time, but I’m looking forward to it.

To Bare One's Soul Could Take More than Just a Drawing

Never Let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Set in England in the late 1990’s, we meet Kathy H. as a carer for over 11years. We learn that Kathy loves her job, but has plenty of time to look back over her short life of 31 years. Her job has hard parts but is still fulfilling to her, even while she has no choice. As Kathy looks back, the audience goes with her back to her childhood, we get to know her and her friends that she grows up with. We learn about the odd ideas that are taught to them at Hailsham, the place where they grew up. We meet Ruth and Tommy and grow with the deep connection that the characters feel.

This author did an amazing job. The writing style was breath taking. I enjoyed thoroughly how he would introduce an idea, an idea that the audience has never heard of before, helps us learn to accept the idea, then plainly states what we were starting to understand when he first introduced it to us. There is no easy way to explain this, you will just have to read it to see what I mean. I would love to write some day, but I know that I could never write like this. I would get to excited, and I would ruin the whole thing by a couple of misplaced words.

I also loved that this book was not set in the future, but in the not so distant past. The ideas that were thrown around were not easy to swallow and the thought that this was happening across the ocean less than five years ago and had been going on since the fifties was a fantastic edge to the story.

With all of the parts of this story that I liked, I absolutely loved the idea of Norfolk, the place where all of the lost items are found. It was comical to me that when they were children, they made such a big deal out of the little area on the coast just because the guardian teaching social studies didn’t have a picture of it. Then you bring this idea to real life and I think of lost items of my own, items so dear to me that even 9 years later it still brings a crushing feeling to my chest. I wish there was a place like Norfolk that we could all go to and find the lost items of our lives. In the story, I loved Tommy and Kathy finding that tape in Norfolk. Most of all, my favorite was the very last paragraph of the book.

On a printing style thought, I didn’t understand the designation of the “parts” of the story. Usually there is something artistic about dividing a book up, but if there was something there, I missed it. The only thing I can come up with is that part one was Hailsham, part two is the Cottages, and part three is the ending. If I got it right, there doesn’t seem to be anything artistic in it and I may need to slow down and re-read.

Thank you for reading. I enjoyed the June book club’s choice and I was excited to go to my second meeting. Leave me a comment, if you have any thoughts!

Another Maximum Ride Novel

Max: A Maximum Ride Novel by James Patterson

Max is the fifth book in the Maximum Ride series, and much like the preceding books, Max is about the awareness of the pollution that humans are contributing to the earth. The Maximum Ride novels are a young adult series about 5 kids that were mutated with bird DNA and have small bone structure and have grown wings. They can fly, but besides that, they are normal kids, trying to save the world and grow up at the same time. In Max, the flock is helping the CSM, Coalition to Stop the Madness raise awareness of pollution and the environment by performing public air shows. By this time, the flock has grown very popular with sightings, public fights with the bad guys, and of course, Fang’s blog.

Since finding her real Mom, Max has been desperately trying to get to know her and her half sister Ella, she is with her all of the time, but when her mom is kidnapped, the flock has to try anything to get her back. It is discovered that she is under water and the US Navy helps the flock track her down. During their adventures, Max finally has a real first date with Fang, but all progress is lost when the young Dr. Brigid Dwyer comes back on the scene and continues to flirt heavily with Fang, much to Max’s disapproval. Before the end of the book, Max confesses her love for Fang, and there is still a hope that their young love will blossom.

Again, the main point of this series has turned into an environmental stance. I am very turned off by preachy books, so therefore, since the story line started to change, so has my interest in the series. There are two more books out at this point, and I have very little interest in continuing the series. The writing is just not that good and the story line has gotten weaker instead of stronger with time. The only thought of continuation is because I know I can get them for free from the library, and of course I hate leaving something undone. The next question that comes to mind, is this series ever going to end? Is Patterson going to keep it going forever? If so, I’m going to have to just stop while I’m ahead. If I knew there was only going to be 2 or 3 more books, I would probably continue, but thinking about the series going on and on makes me a little tired. I just can’t do it. There are too many wonderful books out there that wouldn’t feel like a waste of my time.

So, any thoughts, should I continue the series? If so, why? Happy Reading!

Fate...Pondering the Idea of It

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I am slowly trying to read the classics. As a lover of literature, it is usually assumed that I have read many classics and have a library of first editions behind a thick panel of glass on a beautiful antique bookshelf. Well your assumption is wrong, and it would probably surprise you that I have never read any of the classics, until after college. So, it’s a new challenge that I have given myself to read as many classics as I can. We’ll just say it’s a bucket list item (the only one on the list thus far, I plan on living a real long time). Of course close to the top of the list was Jane Eyre. Ever since I read Wuthering Heights, I knew that I wanted to read Jane Eyre too. With Wuthering Heights being one of my all time favorites, I knew that her sister’s book wouldn’t be too much of a stretch. Now I wish the Bronte sisters would have written more. Even though their genres and writing styles are very different, they both were excellent authors and I loved both of their books.

With most classics, it’s hard not to know some things that are going to happen. From time to time you hear about classics because people assume that a person that loves to read as much as I do, has read them, therefore, I’ve heard things about Jane Eyre. Dramatic turns in the story, people being left at the alter, and other rumors have been said or I’ve read about them in other books. Luckily things were very different than what I assumed, from these whispers. I kept being caught by surprise because I didn’t know that the changes in the story were going to happen. Without getting into details that would ruin the surprises for you, know that I often didn’t realize that how the story was going to change until it did. And therefore, I loved it!

I loved Jane’s character, she was multidimensional and everyone that met her loved her. What is funny about that, is that the book revolves around people that don’t love her because of who she was born from instead of getting to know her and who she was growing up to be. One surprise was that the book watches Jane Eyre grow up, and this was a great way to capture her personality and character. When she was spending her first winter at school, I couldn’t help but feel absolutely horrible for her. She was miserable, and Bronte helped the audience feel her pain along with her. And of course the story of love that transcends and overcomes all obstacles. Even though the audience doesn’t know where the story will end, the idea of love is interwoven throughout the entire story. It makes you ponder fate in a whole new way.

All of that to say, if you are looking to grow yourself and read a classic, I think Jane Eyre is a great place to start (or continue). The book was a fast read and it was easy to understand, with the occasional word to look up, since it was written in the 1800’s. I suggest it for readers of all ages.

Let me know what you think, leave a comment!

Remembering Loves From Lives Before

My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

So after many years of searching and pining over finding a book club, I have finally found one. I have had friends in other cities talk about their book clubs and I have always been a little jealous because that is so up my alley. I went to my first book club meeting on May 20th and guess what? I didn’t even finish the book. They graciously let me stay in the club, but I gave my word that I would do better next time.

My Name is Memory was the first book I was charged to read in the “Olive Books, book club” and I finished it just a few hours shy of the deadline. I am glad that I took the time to finish it before I charged on to the next read.

Daniel moved to Lucy’s school when they were both juniors in high school. Even though they didn’t share but a few words during the duration of their high school career, Lucy was drawn to him. She spent those two years dwelling on how he would react to all of the different things she did, from the clothes she wore, to the food she ate, she would fantasize about how Daniel would react to her daily decisions. On the evening of their senior party, Daniel actually talks to her, but to her surprise, she doesn’t like what he has to say. He explains that he is a special boy, he is just like the rest of the human race in the fact that all souls are reincarnated and brought back to earth many times to fulfill each soul’s purpose. But he is special in the sense that he can remember each life no matter how long or short. In his first life he was a soldier and the audience went along with his older brother and a few others to burn down a village that had been hiding their tribe’s enemies. He burned down a few huts and came to another and could not get it to start. He met the eyes of a girl that would haunt him the rest of his lives. He burnt the hut down and watched her die. Throughout the centuries to follow he would find this soul even though she would look different, his soul was destined to find hers. His older brother from his first life was also in and out of Daniel’s life. He had darkness about him that Daniel could always recognize and evil precedes him in all of his different lives.

Let’s start with the dislikes, I found myself confused during the first few chapters because I could never figure out where the story was taking place. There was a header that would say a city and a date, but not a lot of further explanation was given after that. After a while I got used to it or I just gave it a little more thought, either way it became less confusing as the book progressed.

I also found some of the “surprises” not surprising. A better way of stating that, is there wasn’t much that was introduced that took me by surprise. I don’t want to go into a lot of detail with that because I’m just not in the mood to give spoilers. All that to say, you probably won’t be sitting on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what’s going on, pretty self explanatory.

Now for what I enjoyed; there is a suspense that comes with reading a book that the audience knows all the different sides of the story and the other characters do not. I personally write in first person and often gravitate to books written in the first person, but it was a nice change of pace to read a third person piece.

One tiny detail that I just had to bring up is the fact that Daniel actually facebook stalked her. He not only stalked her in the story, which has become this romantic notion in young adult literature, but he checked up on her status changes, which cracked me up.

The last idea that I wanted to talk about was the whole remembering idea. I first of all do not believe in reincarnation and so this became a fantasy novel for me from the beginning. But I did enjoy that Constance, one of Lucy’s former selves made her remember. She felt so passionate about Daniel that she not only left herself a letter, but made Lucy remember through dreams and visions. I like the idea of that kind of love that goes beyond time and space. Even when you can’t remember, love makes you remember. It’s a neat concept.

So, what did you think, did you read My Name is Memory? Did you enjoy it? Who was your favorite character?

Another Endless Night

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

As the title says, this great read is a story about an interview freely given by the Vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac. With few interruptions, Louis gives his story from his transformation to immortality to present. He speaks of the struggle of good and evil along with stories of love, hatred, loss and acceptance. The story of Louis is one that many have read and seen. In this story we meet Louis in New Orleans, where the vampire Lestat changes Louis for selfish reasons of money and property. A rocky relationship from the very beginning Louis hated Lestat. That hatred did not change but only accelerated when Lestat changed five year old Claudia. As time continues the three of them do not age, but relationship strains during that time and things change.

Of course, everyone saw Interview with the Vampire in the early 90’s. What with Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, I was not the only teenager having a vampire fetish. When Twilight wasn’t even a twinkle in Stephenie Meyer’s eye, Anne Rice was racking in the funds with a top grossing movie and almost 20 years later selling more copies to new vampire lovers. There is something about the immortal blood suckers that brings in a crowd. Of course there were a few points that were very different in the book and the movie (from what I remember about the movie). One item was that Claudia was supposed to be 5 years old. In the movie, a very young Kirsten Dunst was probably around 12 or 13. Which is fine, we still get the point that Claudia is very young in body but growing old in her mind. Also, there were key points that were not discussed in the movie, but were pretty forefront in the book. I know that changing a book into a movie must be incredibly hard, and I do think they did a great job. The main difference is the ending. Where I was expecting Lestat to return with all of his glory, we see him withering away in a broken down house with rotting animals surrounding him with flies and other sick decorations.

Anne Rice has a way with words that I have not read before. She has this detail about her writing that was very impressive. That is probably why she’s a world famous author. There was a sentence that I wanted to share. “It was as if this night were only one of thousands of nights, world without end, night curving into night to make a great arching line of which I couldn’t see the end, a night in which I roamed alone under cold, mindless stars.” To me, this is a great explanation of a miserable vampire. To be forced to live out every night alone and hating what you are and thinking that everything you do is evil. Louis felt trapped in his own existence but was not brave enough to end it himself.

Overall this book was a great read, so vampire friends, have you ventured out of the teen vampire books to an adult series or book? If so, what have you read? I say that you cannot be a true vampire fan without getting to know them all: up next is The Vampire Lestat, then? I hope Dracula! Thanks for reading!

Certain Tattoo's are just a bad idea when you don't want to be noticed

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist that made it big by chance, has been offered the job of a lifetime after being convicted of a crime he committed against one of the power names of Sweden. During this project he is introduced to Lisbeth Salander, an introverted researcher, whose part of the story is only beginning to unfold. With aspects in the story changing and constantly moving, there is a dangerous turn of events and crazy things happen than can only be read in the book itself.

While reading the first part of this trilogy, I couldn’t believe how crazy graphic it was. I’m not one to turn from a novel with some well written… um, scenes… but this book went a little further. It was something that wouldn’t shock you to be in a movie, but to read it with one’s own imagination, I couldn’t get over it. Now saying that, I also completely know that it was necessary to put graphic scenes in this book so that further into the series you read, you understand exactly what is going on and why the characters react to certain situations.

Lisbeth Salander is the girl with the Dragon Tattoo. She is introverted and we learn little about her throughout the book. She bases her morals on her own standards and what she thinks is right and wrong. She is described as a woman of 23, but most people see her and think she is fifteen. She has multiple tattoos on her body and she has been diagnosed by the courts to be incompetent to take care of herself. For this reason she is under guardianship. What used to be a come see your guardian whenever you need him, turns south when said guardian is discovered to have had a stroke and it would more than likely kill him. A new guardian is designated for Salander and she is left searching for answers. Salander is a well written character that only gets more interesting as the story goes along. I wanted to get to know her, but felt that she wouldn’t let me in. She was a mystery not only to the other characters, but the audience as well. Very interesting writing.

Mikael Blomkvist, a reporter that seems to always make the headlines himself. He has the craziest relationships and interpersonal relationships that I have ever read. He has had a 20 year relationship with Erika Berger and the relationship didn’t stop for college, love, or even their marriages to other people. It is old news that they have an ongoing affair that even Berger’s husband knows about and condones. He also meets Vanger and another affair begins. He is definitely a male whore.

This book was a very hard read for me. The first 100 pages or so, I couldn’t get into the story, I didn’t understand what was going on or what the book was even talking about with all of the legal jargon and my lack of knowledge in Swedish history and judicial processes. I knew that I had to keep reading because I had already bought the second book. I finally got to the point of no return within the book and had to keep going, I had invested too much time. It got great at the exciting part of the book and I knew that I wanted to finish it. I can’t remember how long it took me to read this particular book, but it took me 5 months to read the entire series. It usually takes me a week or so to read a book. I even took a break in between book 2 and 3 in order to rest my brain. At the end I was glad that I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and it is just the beginning of a great story and series. Read on my friends, read on. If you have begun, keep reading!

Three are Dead and I am Number Four

I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

John Smith has never found a true home. He has been moved by his guardian Henry every few months to keep him safe. John is a fifteen year old alien from the planet Lorien, who has always been running from the enemy race of the Mogadorians. When John was very young he escaped from his home planet with 8 others like him along with their Cepans, or guardians. They make up the Garde. These aliens have special powers that were given to their race from their home planet because of the special care they respected their planet with. The Mogadorians came to Lorien and destroyed it for the planet’s natural resources. They have their eyes set on Earth now. When they left their home planet, John and the others had spells placed on them that only as long as they were not together they could only be killed in their number order. The book opens with the death of number three and John being forced to leave another home because Henry has been charged with keeping him safe. John and Henry move to Paradise, Ohio and start a new life with expectations that they won’t be able to stay long. Of course, this is where the action takes place and John refuses to leave just wanting a normal teenage life. You’ll have to read it to get any more details.

I enjoyed I am Number Four. It was pretty action packed and had all of the qualities of a good book. A little action, a little romance, little alien feuds, everything I look for in a story. I liked the inventiveness of the story. There are so many stories being duplicated in young adult literature that sometimes you pick up a book and think, which book is this going to rip off? But this was a very interesting premise and I enjoyed the story line a lot.

As the audience, I felt so sorry for John. I wanted him to have what he longed for. He just wanted a place to fit in and find a group of friends and the poor guy’s hands start glowing in his first class of his first day at a new school. That’s just the beginning of things going from bad to worse. He has the pressure of knowing that he has been and is still a target for an entire race of aliens that want to kill him. He knows that’s he’s next on the hit list. And there is a predicted 5 more books to follow this one. I fear that poor John is going to run into a lot more trouble as the series continues.

Sadly it’s been too long since I read the book for me to remember any critiques I had. It was a good young adult book and I look forward to the continuation of the series.

So, what did you think? Have you read it, or watched the movie?

The Gift can also be a Curse, read on to see for yourself

The Gift by James Patterson

Whit and Wisty Allgood are still in trouble with “The one who is the one” and the government, The New Order. Since they were taken from their home, imprisoned, and continually on the run for their very lives, the Allgood’s keep learning new things about their abilities and the enemy’s abilities too. They have also found themselves as leaders of a revolution against the government that is trying to take away books, art, and even people’s imaginations. As the hunt for Whit and Wisty continues, they are both having inner struggles that could lead to more than just their capture and death, but the death of the revolt.
The Gift was ok. I read Witch and Wizard a while back, maybe when it first came out and was excited to hear that The Gift was out. While I was reading, this segment in the series ran a little slower than the proceeding book. By the end I was glad that I read it, but during I thought that it moved slower with a little less action than the first. By the end the characters hit some crazy times and it made it better.

The only problem with this series is that they are not memorable. I read it and picked up another book and now I really can’t remember what I liked and disliked about it. That is not usual for me, so I went back and read my blog for Witch and Wizard, and the craziest thing, I couldn’t remember what happened in it by the time I wrote my blog. So I came to the conclusion that it must not be very memorable.

Well if you have read the first, you might as well continue in the journey with Whit and Wisty, but if you haven’t, then no worries, there are other great books out there that you can read and remember later. If you’ve read it, leave me a comment and let me know what you thought!

Is there a battle coming?

Torment by Lauren Kate

Lucinda Price is on the move. Daniel is moving her to a safe school in California called Shoreline. With so much baggage following her she’s excited about getting away and spending some time with Daniel, except for Daniel is just dropping her off and Luce doesn’t know what he’s up to. She wakes up to a horrible roommate, surprises with who her classmate and teachers are, and no Daniel. As it becomes clear that Luce has many enemies and she’s only made a few friends, the outlook of how her life has changed is not good. She learns about a new power that she has and decides to go against her teacher’s wisdom and starts to learn about her past lives through the Announcers. She also learns that there is something going on with Daniel and Cam, something that she doesn’t know about and Daniel won’t open up to her. Trouble doesn’t stop there, she also realizes that she really likes her new friend Miles and he likes her more than just a friend as well. Will Daniel come back and save the day? Or does Luce even want him too?

At the end of Fallen, I was upset, I had been misled and lied to by all of the blogs I follow and I was upset. I didn’t care about any of the characters and I thought the book lacked an overall depth. But, Torment was a different book all together. I couldn’t believe how much depth came into this story where the other lacked so greatly. I also cared about the characters. Kate explained more Luce’s feelings about Daniel and about how strange it was that she didn’t know him, that she didn’t have a real relationship with him, but something from their past keeps them together. She still can’t understand how or why they are supposed to be together.

There were a lot of unanswered questions in this book, I don’t see how the author can answer them in a new book, but we’ll see. I don’t think I’ll be totally in love with this series, but I was really upset at the end of Torment when it finished, I wanted to follow Daniel into that announcer and go get Luce out of the shadow. I also loved Miles. He was such a better character than the others and he also got to know Luce and spent as much time with her as he could. I didn’t get that from Daniel because he was trying to stay away from her in this lifetime.

I am looking forward to seeing how this whole life started. How did they fall in love and not only fall in love but how he fell. Which side he will choose and what is the consequence to his choice? If he chooses Luce does that mean he has to be a demon? If he chooses good does that mean he has to stay away from her forever?

Well, let me know what you think about this book, series, or my blog. Thanks for reading!

Falling for Mr. Right... Or Not So Right

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Luce, a seventeen year old girl who felt she was losing everything when she was transferred to Sword & Cross Reform School. She just didn’t realize that it was the beginning of a whole new life for her. Her first day at S & C, she meets two guys, Cam the good looking sweet guy and Daniel the broody silent type and both have motives behind knowing her. When moved she not only has to give up her best friend and family, she also has to give up her cell phone and freedom upon entry in the boarding school from hell. All her life she has been followed by shadows that have haunted her, they only seem to be more present in her life since the move. They not only bring a coldness that chills her to her bones, but they also seem to bring bad omens. As she continues her short time at Sword & Cross she gets to know her love triangle more intimately. She is happy to have the affection of Cam, but is always drawn to the dark and mysterious Daniel. She makes a few friends and a few enemies, and she finds out more than she knew was possible as the story progresses. There is another world out there that she never knew existed, or did she?

This book was very disappointing to me. I read many fabulous reviews on this book online and I have been looking forward to reading it for at least a year. There was much lacking in the story line and in details. The area of lack is in the details and description in the action of the story. I found myself having to reread sections because I was lost from not knowing exactly what was taking place. Another disappointing factor in this book was that I didn’t have a deep attachment to any of the characters. The author could have killed them all and I wouldn’t have cared, actually it could have made the story better if more people would have died. I also didn’t have a deep attachment to either of the guys in the book. I didn’t care if she ended up with Cam or Daniel. She gave me no reason to like Daniel more than Cam and therefore I didn’t care who she was with in the end.

I have decided to continue to read the rest of the series just in case it gets better. Stay tuned for more developments on the second book, Torment. Thanks for reading.

Reduce, Reuse, RECYCLE

Maximum Ride: The Final Warning by James Patterson

The American Government has tried its hardest to get the flock to come to a regular special school where they can learn more about them, but they would still have some freedom that “the school” didn’t give them, i.e. growing up in dog crates. Max and the gang quickly turn down all offers, except when Max’s new found mom offers an option to help scientists do research down in Antarctica. The flock decides to give the research a try and have a small amount of time where they don’t feel hunted or pursued in any way, of course it wouldn’t be much of a book without a little action, so they are captured once again and offered to be auctioned off. Max during this time realizes her higher purpose when saving the world, she should actually be saving the world from global warming. As she continues to work out her plans she is learning more about her purpose all of the time.

If I thought the last book had a hint of environmental propaganda, that’s all that this fourth installment is about. Max goes to congress to get things changed, which is so not like her. I hope that something changes or the end of this series is going to be a major disappointment. A flock of mutant kids running from evil scientists, that’s something I can jump on board with, but them having a mission to save the world from people not recycling, is not my cup of tea.

Max and Fang are still not together, I have high hopes for the fifth book, I hope I’m not disappointed. I don’t have much to say about this one. I have since taken a break from the Maximum Ride and moved on. With the sixth installment coming out later this year, I’ll read Fang (currently at the Texarkana Library) and Angel, to come out in February 2011, whenever I get a chance. Because of this book, I'm in no hurry. What do you think? Is this story the best you've ever read or is it slowly dying a slow painful death?

You’re reading Fang’s Blog. Welcome!

Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson

Max and the flock have missed death and miserable science lab lives once again, they now have another member in the flock, Total, the talking dog. In this third book of the Maximum Ride series, there’s trouble in paradise and the flock breaks up. Max and Fang get into a huge fight and decide to go separate ways. Max, Nudge, Angel, Total, and Ari (the Eraser with an expiration date) decide to follow a lead to Europe, while Fang, the Gasman and Iggy go to the West Coast to see what they can make happen with Fang’s blog. As his popularity gains advancements, he believes that kids can take down these evil corporations and live a normal life.

In this particular book the reader will start to pick up on the hints of Environmentalism. One thing I do not appreciate is a preachy book. I didn’t realize that this series was headed in that direction, and it made me sad. Adults are ruining the world one aluminum can at a time. Well the action and the story are still good, so I will keep reading.

During the split up, Max realizes quite a few things about herself that she may not have been able to learn with the whole gang together. She knows now that nothing should separate them, the flock should always be together. Also, some of the flock members are mutating and getting a new power, which is interesting, they are not only flying bird kids, but now they can do extra-ordinary things. You’ll have to read the series to know what I’m talking about.

This was a great book, kept the story going, still loving Max and Fang and look forward that that story continuing the develop. There is a lot of give and take and I love watching the characters grow and mature in their part of the story. So far all three books have taken less than 6 months, but it’s been an interesting ride.