Book Review!

A Christmas Carol

Got this free on my Kindle! I think I've read this about 5 times now. But it's a good little book to read to get in ready for Christmas!!

Night by Elie Wiesel

SUMMARY: Night is Elie Wiesel’s masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps. This new translation by Marion Wiesel, Elie’s wife and frequent translator, presents this seminal memoir in the language and spirit truest to the author’s original intent. And in a substantive new preface, Elie reflects on the enduring importance of Night and his lifelong, passionate dedication to ensuring that the world never forgets man’s capacity for inhumanity to man.

Night offers much more than a litany of the daily terrors, everyday perversions, and rampant sadism at Auschwitz and Buchenwald; it also eloquently addresses many of the philosophical as well as personal questions implicit in any serious consideration of what the Holocaust was, what it meant, and what its legacy is and will be.

This book was very good and quick read. I read this book in a couple of days. There were several parts where I had to put the book down because it was so horrible. But it makes you think about how evil Nazi Germany was during WWII. 

The Time Keeper

BOOK SUMMRY:  The inventor of the world's first clock is punished for trying to measure God's greatest gift. He is banished to a cave for centuries and forced to listen to the voices of all who come after him seeking more days, more years. Eventually, with his soul nearly broken, Father Time is granted his freedom, along with a magical hourglass and a mission: a chance to redeem himself by teaching two earthly people the true meaning of time.

He returns to our world--now dominated by the hour-counting he so innocently began--and commences a journey with two unlikely partners: one a teenage girl who is about to give up on life, the other a wealthy old businessman who wants to live forever. To save himself, he must save them both. And stop the world to do so.

This was another "deer camp" read. I also got it from the library on my kindle. I had read several of Mitch Albom's books (Tuesdays with Morrie). This was a book you could finish is almost one day. I really enjoyed it, although it took a little bit to get into and figure out where the story was going. But it had a really good ending, a little teary even if it was a little predictable. I would recommend this to everyone.

Bridget Jones Mad About the Boy!

BOOK SUMMARY: It’s been 15 years since readers first met the charmingly insecure Bridget Jones, and 13 since her last adventure in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Bridget is now 51, and, most readers will be chagrined to learn, a widow. She is also raising the two children she had with the now deceased Mark Darcy and gingerly wading back into the dating pool while working on a screenplay. When she joins Twitter, she obsesses about the number of Twitter followers she has the same way she used to agonize over her weight, which does remains a concern. Bridget begins a Twitter flirtation with a sexy guy named Roxster, who turns out to be only 29. Most of the novel is devoted to the ups and downs of their ensuing relationship. It is fun to revisit Bridget and all her neuroses, but the novel is at its best when Fielding focuses on the challenges Bridget faces as a single parent, including her love/hate relationship with one of her son’s teachers, rather than on the somewhat unrealistic May-December romance.

I snagged a copy of this kindle book from the library. It was my "deer camp" read. I enjoyed the first two book and this was did not disappoint. It was a quick and funny (sometimes serious) read and I enjoyed it from start to finish!

Catching Fire Reread!

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Finished rereading Catching Fire! Just in time to see the movie this weekend!

The Cuckoo's Calling

SUMMARY : 
The Cuckoo's Calling is a 2013 crime fiction novel by J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. A brilliant mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide.

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.
Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, thelegendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.
You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.

I picked up this book mostly because it was really written by J.K. Rowling. (She published it under the name Robert Galbraith, then it accidentally leaked she was the writer.)  I normally don't read crime novels, but this one was actually okay. It has lots of slow moments (Harry Potter was much faster paced) and had a crazy ending. But overall I really enjoyed it. There is a sequel coming out next year, should be good!

The Hunger Games Re-Re-Read!

Trying to do a reread of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire before the new movie comes out. I finished The Hunger Games tonight! Now onto Catching Fire!

31 Days of Halloween

I got this book on my Kindle of 99 cents. It was full of 31 Halloween stories. The stories were drabbles... It's a short story with only 100 word story, no more, no less. It was worth the 99 cents but I'm glad I didn't spend anymore then that....

The Book Thief

SUMMARY: It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement. 

This was one of the best books I've read in a while. It was beautiful and sad... It's being made into a movie that comes out next month. Here's the trailer:

Divergent - Movie Trailer and Book Review

SUMMARY: In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

I really enjoyed this book! It was was a different and fast paced. And the movie should be really good! The series is going to be a set of three books. I've acquired a copy of the 2nd book, Insurgent, from the library. But the final book doesn't come out for another month!! Can't wait!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Finally finished re-reading all the Harry Potter books. Now for the movie marathon!

Book Review

Summary: Blankets chronicles Craig's adolescence and young adulthood, his childhood relationship with his younger brother, and the conflicts he experiences regarding Christianity and his first love. Though written chronologically, Thompson uses flashbacks as a literary and artistic device in order to parallel young adult experience with past childhood experience. Major literary themes of the work include: first love, child and adult sexuality, spirituality, sibling relationships, and coming of age.

I had wanted to give graphic novels a try. I picked this one, because it was one of top graphic novels to start with and it was cheap on Amazon. It didn't take long to read and wasn't at all what I expected, and it kind of left me wanting more... the story didn't feel finished. But still an enjoyable read!!

Book Review

Summary: Eleven-year-old Sam knows that he is dying from leukemia. He has decided to write a book that includes his thoughts on the matter as well as his lists and his questions, particularly those that no one ever answers like, "Why does God let kids get ill?" The author has drawn a portrait of a family coping with a child's terminal disease. Readers meet Sam's mother, father, and younger sister, each of whom is dealing in a different way with his illness. Sam knows that his father rushes off to work each day because he cannot admit to himself that his son is dying. He knows that his mother keeps Ella home from school during an unexpected snowstorm in March so they can have one last sledding day together. But, he does not verbalize this knowledge, just as his parents and Ella don't speak of his death. Sam is a child whom readers would want as a friend and he will be missed when the book is done.

I picked his book up because I saw the movie trailer (big surprise).... I thought it looked interesting. I had to order it because the local bookstore didn't have it. It was more of a children's book, then young adult like I had thought. So, I pretty much read it in one sitting. The book was very good, but very sad (along the lines of Bridge to Terabithia). But it was still a good read. This is a UK movie, so no idea when it will make it's way here...

THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES

Book Summary: When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. 

I picked up this book because I saw there was a movie coming out. I really enjoyed it. It took me a bit to get used to this new fantasy world the author was trying to create. After that, it was a pretty easy read. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about the ending. It had a big twist at the end that I wasn't prepared for! But the movie should be fun.

 

Book Review

Book Summary: For The Only 127 Things You Need, author Donna Wilkinson spoke to more than fifty experts— authorities on the mind, the body, and the spirit—to discover the absolute essential “items” for living a good life. Ever wish you could strip you life down to just the bare essentials—that you could “de-clutter” not just the physical items littering your home but the endless “to-do” lists flooding your mind? But what to throw away? And what to keep? For so many of us, it’s hard to move forward with the important things in life without first “paring down” and “straightening up.” With this complete guide to life’s essentials, it will finally be possible to see the forest for all those trees.

I heard about this book from a minimalist blog I subscribe to. I was excited that the library had a copy. I have to say, I don't know why I try and read "self help" type books. I usually don't enjoy them, and this one was no different. It was probably one of the worst books I've read in a while. It not useful at all. I thought about not finishing it, but I had already invested time in it and I decided to finish it. I was glad to return this book to the library.

Book Review

Book Summary: In Some Notes on River Country, a dreamlike meandering through the landscape in eloquent prose and evocative photographs, Welty's empathetic presence is felt. Taking the reader on an imagined journey, Welty combines the genres of travel narrative, character study, and geographical history to give a grand tour of the region. This brilliant portrait of a place is both elegiac and animated as she shows how much has changed, how much can never be recovered, and how much of the old river country remains in its contemporary incarnation. The essay and photographs explore the Natchez Trace, Grand Gulf, Port Gibson, Vicksburg, Natchez, Rodney's Landing, and other locales, offering insight on their quirky denizens, their significant history, and their entrancing uniqueness.

Another Mississippi author book pick from the library. This was probably my favorite collection of Eudora Welty's photographs. And I also enjoyed the writing in the book more! 

Books Review

Got this book in the Mississippi authors section at the library. It was a fun little book, some of the cartoons I had seen, others were new to me. But still a nice collection from Marshall Ramsey. 

World War Z - Book Review and Movie Trailers

SUMMARY: The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

This was a very interesting book. It was good, but very different from any book I've read before. It was kind of like reading a documentary... I heard it was a fun read, then I heard it was being made into a movie. So I had to read it! Looking forward to seeing this movie, it will be interesting to see how it turns out. Here are a few trailers...

Another Harry Potter Re-read!!!

 Re-read  Harry Potter and the the Half-Blood Prince, 6 books down, 1 to go! Then Teresa and I can have our movie marathon!!!!