31 posts tagged “books”
1. Buffy. Oh gosh, I know. I made fun of Emily and everyone who likes this show for oh so long and then bam, Stephenie Meyer forces me to develop a non creepy obsession with Vampirism. Jess got me seasons 1&2 for my birthday but I am already through season four. Its just plain awesome. I am still very embarrassed.
I do find this picture a little creepy though. There are just too many muscles here. Spike is HILARIOUS though. Love it.
2. The Killers and Keane, especially these two songs.
3. Madeleine L'Engle:
I am currently reading A Swiftly Tilting Planet, the third book in the Wrinkle in TIme series and I just bought A Circle of Quiet which is the first book in an adult fic series, I guess. Very excited.
I resolved to read 52 books in 2008. I got off to a pretty good start, and can honestly say that I have enjoyed all of my reads up to date.
Since my last conquest, Jemima J, I have not been able to get into anything. I have started four books and none, none have captured my interest.
I need some recommendations. I loved the Gemma Doyle Trilogy and it has been difficult to find anything that captures my interest as much as that. We like magic, I guess.
Ah yes. This book rocked my world. It was like watching an awesome makeover reality show, and not being able to turn the channel because you are so obsessed. I loved, well, really like Jemima. The whole Internet dating thing cracked me up and her unhealthy weight loss made me nervous. I love how glamorous Jane Green makes her sound in her new body. I totally saw the thing with Brad coming, though. Great book. Bought a bunch of other Jane Green this weekend because I loved her writing style.
This book is both from the perspective of Jemima and a voice that talks directly to the reader. For example, she would say, "Oh should I tell you more about so and so..." it was awesome and kept the book constantly moving and changing.
I have read some great books this year and everyone I wanted to recommend this to has already read it!
Overall Rating: 4.8/5
She had me right up to the end but I could have used some more Ben time.
Yet another take on the singles scene, and from yet another British writer, this jaunty novel has one slightly new focus--the Internet as a dating device. "Bored, fat and unhappy" Jemima Jones is a hack writer on a small London paper, whose weight precludes both promotion (which she richly deserves, because she's smart) and getting together with the man of her dreams: kind, modest and gorgeous reporter Ben Williams. The Web opens a new world to Jemima, and when she begins an online correspondence with L.A. gym owner Brad, identifying herself as JJ, her friend Geraldine encourages her to send Brad a doctored photo of what she would look like if she were thin. Jemima joins a gym, goes on a diet and even becomes a blonde, preparing to accept Brad's invitation to come to L.A. Lucky JJ: Brad turns out to be a hunk, and the sex is great... but JJ senses that something is wrong. Meanwhile, Ben has become a celebrity "presenter" on British TV, but while the whole country goes gaga over his looks, he too feels that something is missing. By the time several coincidences produce a dreams-come-true ending, readers are fond of plucky Jemima, but somewhat tired out by her adventures. Green's determination to provide texture results in too many scenes that brim with London and L.A. local color, but fail to add verve to the narrative. Outside of Geraldine, who, surprisingly, is both beautiful and a true friend, the other characters tend to be stereotypes: Jemima's roommates, airheads on the make; the predatory female TV producer; the editor who offers Jemima a promotion once she is blonde and svelte. Though the concept is clever and nicely handled, the broad humor lacks true comic brio. (As the online initiated would say: it's not LOL.) Green does, however, capture the nuances and neuroses of the singles scene with a gimlet eye and an uninhibited voice. A bestseller in England, the book should also hook female readers here as they relate to Green's frank comments about body size and social acceptability.
I am so excited for all of these titles! I went as far as to add them to my Google calendar!
March 11th- Roomates Wanted by Lisa Jewell
May 6th- The Host by Stephenie Meyer
June 3rd- When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris
June 17th- This Charming Man by Marian Keyes
August 2nd- Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
NERD ALERT!
Kate's first love disappeared on her when she was a teen and she finally has the chance to make him "regret his entire existence." The book switches back and forth between the present and past starting in the 7th grade and heading up to post college, alternately. I related to Kate both as a preteen and as an adult. All about growing up.
From Amazon.com:
IT HAS BEEN A YEAR OF CHANGE since Gemma Doyle arrived at the foreboding Spence Academy. Her mother murdered, her father a laudanum
addict, Gemma has relied on an unsuspected strength and has discovered
an ability to travel to an enchanted world called the realms, where
dark magic runs wild. Despite certain peril, Gemma has bound the magic
to herself and forged unlikely new alliances. Now, as Gemma approaches
her London debut, the time has come to test these bonds.
The Order - the mysterious group her mother was once part of - is grappling for control of the realms, as is the Rakshana. Spence's burned East Wing is being rebuilt, but why now? Gemma and her friends see Pippa, but she is not the same. And their friendship faces its gravest trial as Gemma must decide once and for all what role she is meant for.
*contains spoilers*
I have never cried while reading before, and I have told my friends that I don't understand why people do. I cry in all movies but with a book, you control the tempo. You can stop whenever you please. Simply close the book and try again later, that is how I roll. However, I shed a few tears at the end of Sweet Far Thing. When Kartik died and in the end when Ann and Felicity got what they really wanted, I was very emotional. I am so very glad Libba decided to make both of their characters good in the end. Ann irritated me so much in the first two books, but really held her own in this one, especially towards the end, when she had to stand up to Pippa. I felt like she was always ready to abandon Gemma for the others but in the end that proved false. Felicity could have gone either way right up to the very end because of her love for Pippa, but I was happy to see that she got her inheritance and intends to live as she has always wanted, free and daring, and out from under th hold of her father. I also appreciated how she wrote Circe's character. At work I always tell people that this trilogy is a mix between Harry Potter and the Twilight series, and Circe was Snapelike in my opinion.
I am sad that these books are over. I look forward to reading whatever Libba Bray writes next, but can't imagine a character being a strong, confused, and brave as Gemma. Love her. Definitely one of my favorite characters of all time. I think it is important to remember that a young woman can be powerful and challenge authority, but still long for love and romance.
Final Rating: 4.5/5
I think this book could have easily been written into two installments. Not only because it was 800 pages but because SO much happened. I can't really remember what happened at the beginning of the book.
Rebel Angels is the second book in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy. I finished the first, Great and Terrible Beauty, earlier this month and was not intending to read this one so soon. I read a few other books then found myself wondering what was going to happen to "the Order." Ashley was also reading them and told me how they all get better. It was true. This one was so much more exciting than the first.
I love how it is a girls Sci/Fi that is based in the late 1800s. It combines so many different things; romance, adventure, fantasy, and history. This makes for a very exciting sequel to Great and Terrible Beauty that had many twists, some more predictable than others, but still left you wondering. The creatures in the other realm are described so vividly that I was freaked out and had to stop reading before bed because I kept having weird dreams. I also enjoyed the progress, or lack there of, made between her and Kartik, and didn't like Simon from the start. He's no Kartik.
*Spoiler Alert*
Well, kind of. I am curious to see what they do with Felicity and the information we have learned about her father. They keep hinting that she won't be able to avoid evil influence and eventually will turn out to be a bad seed. I hope they don't end up going that way with her character because I would like to see someone with her bad experiences grow up and overcome them. I think YA lit needs a character like that. She is already a strong woman with few weaknesses, but certain things she says and her hunger for attention and power could overcome her.
We shall see...
From Amazon.com
In this sequel to the Victorian fantasy A Great and Terrible Beauty,
Gemma continues to pursue her role as the one destined to bind the
magic of the Realms and restore it to the Order--a mysterious group who
have been overthrown by a rebellion. Gemma, Felicity and Ann, (her
girlfriends at Spence Academy for Young Ladies), use magical power to
transport themselves on visits from their corseted world to the
visionary country of the Realms, with its strange beauty and menace.
There they search for the lost Temple, the key to Gemma's mission, and
comfort Pippa, their friend who has been left behind in the Realms.
After these visits they bring back magical power for a short time to
use in their own world. Meanwhile, Gemma is torn between her attraction
to the exotic Kartik, the messenger from the opposing forces of the
Rakshana, and the handsome but clueless Simon, a young man of good
family who is courting her. The complicated plot thickens when Gemma
discovers a woman in Bedlam madhouse who knows where to find the
Temple; Ann shows signs of being enamored of Gemma's loutish brother
Tom, and their father's addiction to laudanum lands him in an opium
den. A large part of the enjoyment of this unusual fantasy comes from
the Victorian milieu and its restrictive rules about the behavior of
proper young ladies, as contrasted with the unimaginable possibilities
of the Realms, where Gemma has power to confront gorgons and ghosts and
the responsibility to save a world.
You Suck is a sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends which I finished earlier this week and adored. I bought this book awhile ago, without knowing that it was a sequel, having never read any Moore before. I started reading it one day and was immediately turned off by the second page when I read this:
"You had sex with me while I was unconscious," Jody said
"That's not the same," Tommy said. "I was just being friendly, like when you put a quarter in someone else's parking meter when they aren't there--you know they appreciate it later, even if they don't thank you personally."
Yikes. Back in September, at my first attempt of this book, this totally freaked me out and that is where I stopped reading, but this time around...well...I think that it is so wrong but also oh so funny.
Fast forward to December when I finally give in and start reading the Twilight series. Finishing the three books in a week (1500+ pages) kind of unleashed a new, not perverted, interest in vampirism, and I decided to give these Moore books another try.
You Suck was even better than Bloodsucking Fiends because of the introduction of Tommy and Jody's minion, Abby Normal. Her narratives in the book had me cracking up. She is 16 and wow, so hilarious. Definitely the funniest book I have ever read, if not the funniest thing ever, period. I loved it!
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
The ending was sort of lacking compared to the rest of the book.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Moore's latest (after 2006's A Dirty Job)
is a cheerfully perverse, gut-busting tale of young vampires in love.
Nineteen-year-old Tommy is a bewildered hipster recently relocated to
San Francisco from Incontinence, Ind. His sarcastic redhead (and
bloodsucking) girlfriend, Jody, brings him into the fold of the undead
("I wanted us to be together," she says). Tommy, understandably, has
mixed feelings; vampirism has its perks (you can turn to mist, live
forever and the sex is awesome), but sunlight is death and blood hunger
makes you do some pretty foul things. Also, the duo is hunted by
Elijah, the ancient vampire who "turned" Jody and wants her back, and a
band of Safeway stock boys/amateur vampire hunters known as the Animals
(with whom pre–dark side Tommy once rolled). With the assistance of
their devoted minion, goth girl Abby Normal, whose hilarious diary
entries form part of the narrative, Tommy and Jody evade their
pursuers, feeding at night and conking out at dawn, all the while
learning how vampirism complicates love. Moore writes with the jittery
energy of a brilliant, charming class clown, mixing sex and gore and a
potty mouth with a goofy-sweet sensibility to deliver laughs on nearly
every page.
This was my first try at Christopher Moore and I must say that I quite enjoyed it. There were parts that were um...a little...interesting? or creepy? or plain sick? Not really sure what the right word is but I would recommend it to people who have read other Moore or maybe Palahniuk, and people who are perverted with strong stomachs. Like myself. Not my mom.
I also would not recommend it to Bry. Well I was trying to recommend it to her and then she told me that she hated it and had returned it to Powell's for store credit. Shut down.
Overall rating: 3.5/5
Tommy is kind of annoying.
From Amazon.com:
Here's something different: a vampire novel that's light, funny, and
not at all hackneyed. Between scenes of punks bowling frozen turkeys on
the graveyard shift in a supermarket, or snapping turtles loose in a
loft and gnawing on designer shoes, this novel has comic charm to
spare. But it also packs an appealingly downbeat message about the
consumer culture: Becoming a vampire has given the twentysomething
heroine "a crampless case of rattlesnake PMS"--a grumpy mood in which
she realizes that she can dress to the nines as a "Donner Party Barbie"
and still end up disillusioned and unhappy, just another slacker doing
her own laundry and watching sucky TV 'til the sun rises.
Already started You Suck: A Love Story for #4. At this pace I will read...well...more than 52 books this year.
Now I can add it to my Goodreads.com page. Thanks Cori. I can see a new obsession on the horizon. Great.
I finally finished my book last night. After hearing Jenne and Ashley say "don't you think it ended abruptly with you know who?" I just couldn't take it anymore. You would think that trying to read on our lunch break at a bookstore wouldn't be the most impossible thing in the world, but it is a challenge.
Oh I have also decided on a new format for my book reviews, they will include the synopsis from Amazon.com so that I don't have to try and do it myself. That way I can just write what I think, and who I would recommend it to, along with any other useless tidbits I decide to include for your reading pleasure.
Great and Terrible Beauty
by Libba Bray
Amazon.com description:
It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to? |
||
| I was hesitant to start this book, like the Twilight series, but someone who's taste I am finding are more similar to mine that I thought highly recommended it. Thanks Emily! I liked it as soon as I started, and was frustrated that it took me so long to finish. It was not because of a lack on interest but a lack of time. I admired Gemma's wit and her bold attitude when she arrived at her new school. Something, that for most of is, is impossible. I was upset when she was still, despite her efforts to not give the popular girls the satisfaction, overcome with that need to belong and "be looked at." This eventually led to the recreation of the order and all that follows is comforting, confusing, and dark. Also...Kartik is hot and this will make a great movie.I would recommend this to anyone looking for science fiction, with a female main character. Golden Compass and this trilogy are both great examples of strong heroines that young girls can relate to . Both include a fantastical world that is far beyond our reality, but what the girls are going through is relate able. There is nothing, well there is some nakedness and some steamy dreams, but nothing that would be too risky for girls over 12. Love it. It is definitely a good one for people who are looking for something after Harry Potter or Twilight.
| ||
My Groups
-
50 in 365 Updated: 1 hour ago
-
NaNoWriMo Collective Updated: 2 days ago
-
Kid's and YA Literature Updated: 2 days ago
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
