Last Book of the Year!

Great way to finish off the year: Whip It by Shauna Cross.
I've been wanting to see the movie since October, but it was an extremely pleasant surprise when I walked into our soon-to-be-closing Borders (SALES GALORE) and discovered that there was a book! So I had to get it. I just knew it would be great. And reading the first few pages as I waited for my brother to get out of the mob known as Gamestop, I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED.
The story is told by the ultra-cool Bliss Cavendar, a suffering artist, basically. She is an Indie-punk girl through and through, who lives as though she's in a retro movie and loves anything and everything gothic-punkish-AWESOME. So right off the bat she's my kind of girl. Her mother, however, disagrees; she thinks Bliss should be a beauty-pageant winner. You know, Miss America, the whole shebang. Bliss STRONGLY DISAGREES. And what's more, Bliss lives in Bodeen, this tiny hick town on the outskirts of Austin, Texas. Austin, of course, is the center of cool around there, so Bliss wants to get away from home as soon as she can drive.
And then as if by fate she hears of a roller derby. She sneaks out with her best friend Pash and has the time of her life-- so good, in fact, that she decides to try out for the team. She ends up making it onto the Hurl Scouts, these B*A* skaters who have a naughty girl scout theme. With the other girls on the team Bliss makes it to the top of her game, being everything she wants to be.
But in order to keep doing this, she has to lie to her mother, because there is no way her mom would let her go! So between trying to hold down two lives, she may somehow lose all that she has. SUCH A GOOD STORY.
I loved this book. But is it possible to love a book and not the author? This is just my opinion, so ignore the following if you don't like my personal thoughts...
Bliss has this incredible voice throughout the story, if you know what I mean. She just speaks like a crazy teen, but it's insane what pop-culture references pop up in her vocabulary. I just love her sense of humor and how she tells the story, it's half of what made the book so good for me. It's like Juno's telling the story, in a way. SO GOOD, right? But then when I read through the interview with the author in the back, it just seemed like the author was trying to hard to sound hip like her character. I almost want to call her up and go, "Hello, you're not sixteen! Your character is, and you can speak like that through her, that's why we like the book. But a twenty or thirty-something woman? No. Please don't, sorry." But maybe she just came off wrong in the interview. It could just be me. I love how she writes, though, I just don't love her. It's like Michael Jackson: everyone loves his music but they're not so crazy about him, even now. ♠♠♠♠♠

IT'S THE RAPTURE!!!

That's what this book, Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, is about: the time when Christ comes back for all his faithful followers and leaves the rest to face judgment. So yes, besides being a slightly science-fiction-y thriller, this book had a lot of highly religious stuff in it. Just a warning, because even I was caught off guard by it.
Anyway, the book starts off on a plane. This pilot, Rayford, is flying it and thinking about cheating on his wife with his young flight attendant, Hattie, when suddenly she tells him "People have disappeared off the plane." Well, how can people just disappear off a plane? Rayford wonders. Then he goes back and discovers it's true: people are gone from there seats, way too many to just be in the lavatory or something, and they left their clothes behind in piles right where they were sitting.
Rayford lands the plane in Chicago then goes home, desperate to know if his family survived. Sadly, his wife and son seem to be gone. However his daughter is still alive and she's on her way home from college.
This is when Rayford starts doing his research and discovering they had warning signs for this happening in the Bible all along: it's the Rapture. And sure enough, all the people who were taken were the good-hearted, Christian people.
So Rayford teams up with a journalist who was on that fateful flight, his daughter, and a left-behind minister to try and survive the Rapture as born-again Christians. The only problem is.... *dun dun duuuunnnn!!!* the Antichrist. He's on the rise, and Rayford and his team can't afford to be taken in by his deception.
This book was good in all thriller respects, but the thing I don't like is that it made it seem like to survive Judgment Day, we must all be Christians. And I get the point about living a good life and praying and all of that, but seriously, it was like the authors were saying, "IF YOU DON'T BECOME CHRISTIAN YOU COULD BE LIKE RAYFORD!!!" and it kind of ruined the book when it got all preachy like that.
But it's also a very powerful book, and although it exists more as a story instead of a book containing answers like The Shack for instance, it makes you think about your life and Would you survive the Rapture? ♠♠♠

CABOT ALERT

For the record, her name is pronounced Meg Cabot like 'habit'. Some people seem to have a bit of trouble with that fun fact.
So this book was called Size 12 Isn't Fat, and it was one of her adult novels. I swear, though, ALL of her novels are really good, chick-lit wise. And this one was no exception.
Meet Heather Wells, former teen pop star, now size 12 dorm (excuse me, residence hall) advisor:

"What gives? Normally I wear 12s... but I tried on the 12s, and I was swimming in them. Same with the 10s. Which is weird, because I haven't exactly been on any kind of diet lately-- unless you count the Splenda I had in my latte at breakfast this morning.
But I'm pretty sure the bagel with cream cheese and bacon I had with it pretty much canceled out the Splenda.
And it's not exactly like I've been to the gym recently. Not that I don't exercise, of course. I just don't do it, you know, in the gym. Because you can burn just as many calories walking as you can running. So why run? I figured out a long time ago that a walk to Murray's Cheese Shop on Bleecker to see what kind of sandwich they have on special for lunch takes ten minutes.
And a walk from Murray's over to Betsey Johnson on Wooster to see what's on sale (love her stretch velvet!): another ten minutes.
And a walk from Betsey's over to Dean & Deluca on Broadway for an after-lunch cappuccino and to see if they have those chocolate-covered orange peels I like so much: another ten minutes.
And so on, until before you know it, you've done a full sixty minutes of exercise. Who says it's hard to comply with the government's new fitness recommendations? If I can do it, anyone can."
(pg. 2)

That pretty much sums up Heather. She's not unhealthily overweight, she's just big. And she's comfortable with her size, it's not like she has a problem being that way.
Unlike other Meg Cabot books, though, this is a murder mystery. A comedic murder mystery, but still.
In Heather's dorm (sorry, residence hall) a girl is found dead at the bottom of an elevator shaft. Everyone (including the cops) says she must have been drunk and gone elevator surfing on an adrenaline kick. However, Heather thinks otherwise because with her feminine wits she knows: GIRLS DO NOT ELEVATOR SURF!!! IT'S ALWAYS THE STUPID FRESHMEN GUYS!!!
So now, with her awesomely cute detective friend and roommate that she's partially in love with but he doesn't know it yet, Cooper (is that even a proper sentence?) she decides to solve the case.
The problem is if the girl WAS murdered, it means it had to have been an inside job because nobody could have gotten the elevator key or gone up to the girl's room without being noticed.
And then when ANOTHER girl is found dead with pretty much the same circumstances, things get worse for Heather. In fact, the killer seems to be hunting her, and while he conveniently drops a potted plant on Heather's ex-boyfriend, it's just not fun and games anymore.
LOVED this book. I had my suspicions about the murderer, but I only figured it out right before it was revealed in the book, so good job on that factor, Meg Cabot. And of course it had the Cabot flair, like all her other books, which just makes me want to read more. ♠♠♠♠

"Dr Strauss says I should rite down what I think and remembir and evrey thing that happins to me from now on."

And so begins the classic book known as Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. We read an excerpt out of this book last year in English, and it intrigued me so much that I just had to find the whole book and read it.
After I was done, I was AMAZED at how much they had cut out of the school version. They cut out everything about Charlie's personal life and ALL of the controversy going on with him and his parents, which to me is half the story.
So here's the full story: Charlie Gordon is 32 and retarded. This is the 60s, by the way. His teacher from the adult learning center says he should be part of this experiment which will give him an operation to make him smarter, like normal person smart. So he does it, and it's a success!
Charlie seems to be able to pick up numerous concepts that it takes other people a whole lifetime to learn. And his brainpower is increasing exponentially, so much that it's scary.
But just because he is growig intelligentially doesn't mean he is growing emotionally. When it comes to personal matters, he is still as childlike as ever and as naive as a four-year-old.
And then the bad effects start catching up with Charlie: turns out the experiment may have a reverse effect.
There are also many interesting subplots in this book, which really make it worth the read. Some of these are Charlie's parents; as he gets smarter he starts to remember more of his childhood and sees truly what his parents did to him. Another would be the mouse, Algernon. The scientists who performed the operation on Charlie actually did this experiment on Algernon first, so Algernon and Charlie form a special bond that can't be broken the whole story.
This book is a classic even though it wasn't written all that long ago. It's easily understandable for kids/young adults/ANYBODY in the present, but it relates to times back then when this would have been a WAY futuristic story rather than something that could really happen today. And, of course, it has just the right dose of heartbreaking humanity that makes you want to cry. ♠♠♠

This Night's Foul Work

This book by Fred Vargas (who is a girl) is the first French murder mystery I've ever read. And I hope it's not the last, because this one was really good. I gotta check out her other books.
This Night's Foul Work was mainly about Commissioner Adamsberg. He's head of the Serious Crimes unit of the French police, and he's fighting to take the case of two supposed drug dealers being found with their throats cut. So normally it would go to the Drugs unit, but Adamsberg just doesn't want to let it go because of a couple of unusual things about the body. For one, they have earth under their fingernails. Why were these druggies digging, and where?
Adamsberg is surrounded by help: his right-hand man, Danglard, who is brilliant but has a drinking problem; the large and big-hearted Lieutenant Retancourt who saved his life on another case; and the smart pathologist, Ariane, who Adamsberg is partially atrracted to. Then there are a few foes, one of which includes the newest lieutenant to the Serious Crimes unit, Veyrenc. He has something against Adamsberg, and Adamsberg needs to find out what it is before it's too late. That in itself is a minimystery within the story, which took some surprising turns.
And lastly, there are a few suspects. The main suspect is this psychopath serial killer escaped-from-the-asylum nurse, who may be killing people to get back at Adamsberg for putting her in jail. Then there are also a few other suspects along the way, including Veyrenc. But in the end, the culprit is the last person I would have ever thought it to be, which is the mark of a very well-written mystery.
But now I'm thinking I'm going to order the other Commissioner Adamsberg mysteries off of amazon of something because they're sort of unique; not only is it a fast-paced wonderful murder mystery, but it has some supernatural elements which you don't normally find in police stories because the authors like to keep them grounded in real life so everything makes sense. I liked that it had the best of all thriller characteristics, though, it made for an interesting story.
And best of all it had some great dry humor. Adamsberg is sort of absent-minded and his colleagues really don't understand his methods for solving crimes sometimes, so it's a great surprise when as they're making fun of him behind his back he pulls this miracle out of his butt and solves the case. And it has great aspects of France, too. There's lots of cultural references and French stereotypes, making the book even more involved and teaches you a lot about territories in Europe.
It's one of those books you want to tear through so you can find out what happens but you can't because at the same time you have to relish every sentence. ♠♠♠♠

Aw, How Cute!

That was pretty much my impression of Smashed Potatoes by Jane G. Martel. This book was a compilation of all these little kids writing recipes. It's so cute because it's in little kid language, like for your typical ingredients list:

"Skabbetti
41 sausages as big as your ear
41 meatballs not as big
41 orange potatoes or tomatoes
41 skabbetti
41 clean oil"
(pg. 1)

Isn't that priceless? The whole book is full of stuff like that.
Another thing I liked was in the recipes, the kids included random information. Like this kid wrote a recipe for plain fish and he says,

"I know a fisherman has to go in a boat all night to catch the fish on his fishin' pole. It sure is a hard job all right."
(pg. 23)

It's just so cute! I got this book at the thrift shop and I don't think it's on the book market... it's like a specialty book that somebody printed as Christmas gifts for a class, like a private publisher or something. But still, it's so cute, I'm glad I was lucky enough to stumble upon this treasure. And I feel bad for whoever lost it, because if they had a kid who wrote something in the book, then they lost a priceless memory.
And it was written in the 70s, too, so all these kids are all grown up and teaching their own kids how to make basketti and plain fish. Amazing how time passes like that. ♠♠♠

New Series! By One of My Favorite Authors!

OMFG (Oh My Fred and George) Scott Westerfield is awesome! We all know him as the genius who wrote the Uglies series, but one of his nont-so-well-know series is the Midnighters series. I got the first book, The Secret Hour, from my school library to read over break, and wow, was it good!
It probably seemed even creepier to me because I read the majority of it at like eleven o'clock last night after swim practice and nobody was awake and it was really dark and my dog kept barking in her sleep, so all in all there was some definiter creepy vibes going on while I was reading.
The whole idea the book is based around is really cool and unique, though: basically there are actually twenty-FIVE hours in a day, not twenty-four like we all thought there were, and only certain people get to live in that 25th hour... those who were born at the stroke of midnight on the dot. They call themselves the Midnighters, and for an hour the world freezes for all of us nonmidnighters and they get to live in a special hour while time is seemingly stopped. So this is what a basic scenario in midnight-land is, from the point of view of the newest midnighter, Jessica:

"A raindrop hovered right in front of her nose. Jessica leaned nearer, closing one eye and peering into the little sphere of motionless water. The houses on the street, the arrested ksy, and the wholw world was there inside, upside down and warped into a circle, like looking through a crystal ball. Then she must have gotten too close-- the raindrop shivered and jumped into motion, falling onto her cheek and running down it like a cold tear."
(pg. 25)

Doesn't that seem amazing? So beautiful and pristine and clear, but at the same time like something out of the Twilight Zone.
The only thing is, just like humans live in 24 hours of the day, there are certain creatures that live in the other hour that humans miss out on; these are known as darklings, and they are BAD NEWS. They used to hunt humans way back in BC times when the day was 25 hours for everyone, but now they just kind of deal with the midnighters and are only a nuisance, like spiders. Until Jessica Day discovers she is a Midnighter. Then the darklings become surprisingly hostile. And it's up to the other Midnighters to figure out: why do the darklings want Jessica dead so bad?
Yes, there are other Midnighters. Jessica first meets Rex, Dess, and Melissa when she moves to Bixby, Oklahoma and discovers the new midnight. Rex is a seer, and can see all things that have been touched by midnight or alive in midnight. Dess is extremely good with numbers and patterns, and she is able to come up with tridecalogisms (words that have thirteen letters, I'll explain more later) that scare the darklings off. And Melissa is superpsychic; she can't touch anyone or it's too much of their thoughts to handle, and she has to wear headphones with loud music all the time at school to block out the noise of hundreds of kids' simultaneous thoughts.
There's also one more Midnighter, one that doesn't get along with the others as much: his name is Jonathan, and he can fly! Well actually his power is just a lack of gravity so he is extremely buoyant in the midnight hour. And he can bring others along to fly with him, and Jessica discovers...

"Flying was beautiful. The pale blue streets glinted like rivers beneath them as they crashed through high, wind-borne columns of autumn leaves. There were birds up here too, their wings outstretched in arrested flight and angled to catch the frozen winds. The dark moon glowered over them, almost risen all the way, but it didn't seem to crowd the sky as oppressively as it had last night. From up here Jessica could see the band of stars that stretched around the horizon, bright pinpoints whose white light hadn't been leached blue by the moon."
(pg. 184)

Again, SO COOL. Scott Westerfield does a very good job painting this story with words, making it seem like you're actually there. It was so real for me as I was reading this.
Another cool part of this book was the numerology. Like I said Dess was good with numbers and patterns, but what I didn't mention is that the darklings are scared of some numbers and patterns. Like thirteen? That's the ultimate number no-no for them. And they also hate steel, so if you name a piece of steel with a thirteen-letter word, that piece of steel can become a weapon to kill darklings with. That reminds me:
tridecalogism=thirteen-letter word. Dess made the word up.
There are lots more secrets to be discovered about the Midnighters, and there's probably just as much more in books 2 and 3. I need to find those. ♠♠♠♠♠

Tunnels

You know, my brother said this book sucked and it was mega-boring. BUT IT WAS REALLY GOOD! I couldn't leave it unfinished last night, I had to stay up, fighting off tiredness just to see what happens at the end. Major page-turner. So if you are a fan of cliffhanger mystery books, add Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams to your Barnes and Noble list.
The book is about this kid named Will. He's an outsider in his family, from interests to appearances. He looks like an albino while his family has dark hair, and he enjoys digging huge elaborate tunnel networks underground while his mom is a TV addict and his sister holds the family together. The only person who even partially gets him is his father, who digs not for fun but to discover things. So he's kind of using Will's passion for his own good. Will also finally lets another boy, Chester, into his life, and Chester is impressed with all the digging he's done. Together they start digging faster and making more progress.
One day Will's father disappears, however. Will does some investigating and discovers his father may have been on to some major important discovery, and he wants to figure out what his father had found.
Now Will finds that everything right down to his identity is not what he always thought it was... it seems like everyone he knew was keeping this huge secret from him regarding what he finds while he's digging one day. I don't want to give anything away because what they find is the major shock of the book, but you gotta read this. The whole idea behind the story gets pretty insane, but it makes you wonder... do we really know what goes on miles underground?
The authors did a great job of making this book kid-friendly. Yes, it is not your average size for a favorite kid's book, seeing how it's kinda long and only Harry Potter books can get away with length like that. But it flew by, like I said it was a one-day read for me. I really enjoyed the plot too because you never knew what was coming. And now I'm scared there's a whole town under my backyard, so it really makes you think.
Great story with realistic characters. I don't know what my brother was talking about. ♠♠♠♠

Vampire Series Challenge 2010

Oh boy, did they create a good challenge for me! I'm excited about this one. Of course I will reread some books, but I can't wait to get ahead in the House of Night series and Blue Bloods series with this challenge. So many choices...
Signups are here: http://readerchallenges.wordpress.com/vampire-series/
And I can't join at Vampire Newbie level because they don't allow rereads and I need this challenge to force me to reread my favorite vamp books, so I'm joining at Level 2: Vampire Addict. I have to read two books and they can be rereads as long as they're about vampires. Can't wait.

1. Vampire Academy by Rachel Mead

2. Thirsty by M. T. Anderson

CHALLENGE COMPLETED

Buy One Book and Read It 2010

Seems easy enough, I already have the buying book thing down. I'm joining at Level 2, which means I buy six books and read them before 2010 is over. For more info and signups, go here: http://www.myfriendamysblog.com/2009/12/buy-one-book-and-read-it-2010.html
List will be posted as I get to it. Thank gawd for challenge crossovers.

1. Suspicious by Nora Roberts

2. If You're Reading This, It's Too Late by Pseudonymous Bosch

3. The Day of the Djinn Warriors by P. B. Kerr

4. Being Nikki by Meg Cabot

5. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells

6. Fear Street Collector's Edition #12: Cheerleaders by R. L. Stine

CHALLENGE COMPLETED

KASHWAK=NO-FO

Stephen King has done it again. With this book, CELL. The inside cover proclaims, "There's a reason CELL rhymes with HELL." With a statement like that, you know you're in for an intriguing read. At least that's what I was thinking when I picked this book up in the school library.
The storyline turned out to be like that movie, The Happening, only with phones instead of plant chemicals. And about ten times as creepy and gory.
Clay, an average guy with an almost-ex-wife and a little boy named Johnny, is in Boston on business. Actually a job interview. He gets out of the interview feeling great and wants to call home to tell his boy how he got the job. He's gonna have to waitl, though, because unlike most Americans he refuses to own a cell phone.
So he's standing in line by the ice cream truck, waiting to get a celebratory cone, when he sees a man biting a dog's ear off. And then the lady in line right in front of him who was talking on her phone a second ago suddenly jumps at the ice cream truck guy and starts attacking him! And a second later, the two teenage girls behind him are exactly the same!
These events of horrific violence start what is known nation-wide as The Pulse, where everyone with a cell phone goes insane and starts killing each other. Clay bands together with a few other cell-phone-less stragglers and together they start following the signs. Guess what they say? KASHWAK=NO-FO.
Turns out Kashwak is an Indian reservation where there is no cell reception whatsoever. Seems like it would be safe, right? Clay thinks so, but he could be wrong...
Now what Clay and his friends are calling the "phone-crazies" are flocking together like birds and seem to share one collective consciousness. They all act together and they're somehow developing telepathy. How far will things go before Clay is completely in their control? You're gonna have to read this fast-paced novel to find out.
I've been noticing more and more how Stephen King will take childhood poems and nursery rhymes and weave them through his book to make them creepier somehow. And he does this with nonsense phrases too, like Kashwak=No-Fo. That's found throughout like half the book and it has an ominous feel to it. It's a neat method of writing, which is probably one of the reasons why we keep reading his stuff.
I enjoyed reading this book because the events were so unexplainable and yet terrifyingly realistic. I mean, a mass attack through cell phone could happen. And he also uses a couple of creepy characters to make you FEEL how scary it is, to the point that I was almost scared to sleep last night. Lucky I had my dog in my room with me.
One last note: watch out for the Raggedy Man. ♠♠♠

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

First of all, HATED THIS BOOK. The first time I read it last year, anyway. Just a boring, depressing read about schoolboys who go all homicidal and crazy over a shell.
Or at least that's what I thought when I read this last time. But this time we had to read it for English class, and we delved deep into every nook and cranny of symbolism the book had to offer. The colors? War or nature. The conch? Society structure. The boys? Good and evil. See what I mean?
The basic story is a bunch of boys in World War 2 land in a plane crash on a deserted island, no human life to speak of. There are pigs that are huntable on the island, but one of the oldest boys, Ralph, quickly becomes leader and figures out that they need a fire for a signal so they can get rescued. They use a conch shell at assemblies so they can keep it orderly. However, things still get out of hand especially when another boy, Jack, tries to gain control and get more kids to hunt with him. The problem is when all you do is hunt, there's no time to focus on the other aspects of staying alive. It turns into an all-out power struggle between these two boys, and all the other kids are forced to choose sides. Things get WAY out of hand, as in... MURDER!!!
The book is also an allegory for society, or so my English teacher said. It shows how humans, when put in an environment with no social guidance or rules, will revert to primitive, barbaric chaos. And they do, the boys have no problem proving that.
I gotta say I liked this book better the second time around because I got it better, but I still didn't like it much especially because we got sick of taking practically ten minutes to read a page and note everything that could be of value later in the story. ♠♠

MUAHAHAHA, Evil Genius!

Yes, that's the name of this book, Evil Genius. By Catherine Jinks, as a matter of fact. The line on the front of the book screams out, "WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T GET CAUGHT", and it turns out that seems to be the message throughout the entire book. Also on the cover, note how white pattern seeming to spiral backwards into oblivion is binary code! How cool!
Cadel Piggott is a boy genius. Not of the Jimmy Neutron variety, however. His specialty is systems, preferably computer systems. In fact when he was seven he got hold of a computer and caused enough trouble for the police to have to interfere, and his adoptive parents end up taking him to a psychiatrist to help him. The psychiatrist, Thaddeus, is very agreeable to Cadel's intentions; he let's Cadel use his computer as soon as his parents leave and also gently helps him see his full potential in manipulating people and controlling systems. In fact, Cadel sets up an entirely fake online dating service, matching people up with fake partners and making money off of the whole scam.
He even falls in love with one of his clients from the service, who's supposedly 29 and way out of his league but also as mathematically gifted as Cadel and quite a genius. Their letters are entirely in code and for the most part it's really sweet, how close they get although they never meet.
But things are definitely not as they seem, especially after Cadel starts attending a school for higher thinking, basically a school of evil. It turns out his whole life has been a lie, and although he knows he was adopted his parents, or who he thought were his parents, may not be looking out for him after all. And his so-called girlfriend from his dating network? She's not as she seems to be in her emails. All in all, Cadel's in for many big shocks as he unravels the puzzle that has become his life.
This book is pretty good. It looks like a kids book, maybe of the Artemis Fowl variety on first glance, but it's a bit of a strong read for little kids and it actually is a very grown-up book about a kid. I give major credit to the author for finding such a unique approach on evil, because it gives a whole new side to the cliched villain stereotype.
Thank god my boyfriend got me this book, because it was really good. Now I gotta loan it back to him and make him read it, that's how good it was. ♠♠♠♠

The Last Juror (Or Should I Say The Random Editor?)

The title of this book by John Grisham is misleading once you read it. Because it really doesn't come down to the last juror, it comes down to one of the jurors and her dear friend, also the newspaper owner/editor/writer, also the main character telling this story.
His name is Willie Traynor, and he grew up in a detached family... being someone with a shallow home life, he gets a big shock when he moves to very rural Mississippi to take over a small town weekly newspaper.
Here's the story the back of the book advertises: Danny Padgitt is put to trial for raping a killing a widowed woman with two small children. It's pretty clear he did it in a drunken rage, so in spite of his schmoozy lawyer he is convicted of the crime. Now the jury has to decide if he deserves the death penalty or not. But there's a hung jury and they can't decide, so no death penalty. Nine years later (somehow) Danny is out again, and now jurors are dying, one by one. Hence the title.
Now here's the story: Willie Traynor is reporting this case but at the same time slowly becoming accustomed to Mississippi ways and how things work in a town like this where the roots run deep. His new friend, Miss Callie, helps him discover all this. Miss Callie is a black Southern woman, only not the sterotype you hear about so much. She has impeccable manors, lives mainly off her garden, has a huge family, is registered to vote, knows Italian, and is generally a well-educated and unique individual.
Willie quickly realizes this. He also realizes although the Constitution says you can put whatever you want in your newspaper, that doesn't mean the residents of small-town Clanton will let you.
The story takes place over about a decade, and to tell you the truth, the whole murder case takes a backseat to Willie's story.
But don't think this is a bad book because it's not a complete legal thriller; there's still ton of that, plus it's way interesting anyway. Willie has many strange adventures and many quirky anecdotes to tell you of his time living in Mississippi, just listen and read and you'll enjoy this book. It makes you feel nostalgic for your home where your roots are in a way, too.
I think I enjoy John Grisham's writing more when he writes from one person's point of view only. Because A Painted House and The Last Juror? Loved those. But his others, such as The Firm or The Pelican Brief, weren't as good to me because they jumped between so many characters that I got a bit confused and never really connected with the story. But this one? Good. Good story, just don't go into it thinking it's going to be an extremely fast-paced murder thriller, because it is a thriller, just not roller-coaster scary fast. It's a rambling country thriller. ♠♠♠♠

*hypverntilates* HUNTED! WAS! REALLY GOOD!

So Hunted? You know, fifth book in the House of Night series by P. C. and Kristin Cast? REALLY FREAKIN' AWESOMELY GOOD. It took me forever to read this book for some reason, what with all my extracurricular crap going on PLUS finals, but I finished it while hacking up a lung because of the cold I have. Too much personal information? Right then, on with the book.
So we're back with Zoey the vampyre fledgling... not a full-grown vampyre, but the only fledgling with a filled in Mark on her forehead and a special connection with all five elements needed to complete a vampyre circle. She is hiding underground in tunnels with all her friends because the principal of their school, Neferet, has joined forces with this extremely evil fallen angel named Kalona. Who is now appearing in Zoey's dreams, seducing her in frightening ways. Zoey is trying to put a stop to Kalona's evil ways and stop a full-on humans-against-vampyre war from happening, which is harder than this simple sentence can ever make it seem.
So what with the whole saving-the-vampyre world thing on her plate, you'd think Zoey had enough on her plate, right? WRONG. She also had three-- count 'em, three-- potential boyfriends.
First there's Erik, a supremely hot adult vampyre that Zoey was dating before, but they broke it off because she cheated on him. Now he says he loves her enough to forgive her, but he's acting really possessive over her and bossy, which Zoey WILL NOT put up with.
Secondly there is Heath, Zoey's old boyfriend back from when she was human. They used to be Imprinted, or specially bonded by Zoey drinking his blood, but that bond broke when Zoey cheated on HIM, too. (This sounds like Zoey's kind of getting around, but if you've read the whole series it's not like that, I swear.) But now he's back, and after being forced to drink his blood, Zoey Imprints with him AGAIN, so that makes two guys who love her.
The third is Stark, a fledglings who died and has now come back to life as a Red Vampyre Fledgling, which is a different kind of fledgling. He has almost no humanity most of the time, but around Zoey he's almost human... is he willing to give up his violent uncaring ways for Zoey?
So with all this going on, it makes for a really good story. So pick up Hunted for a fast-paced action-ish vampyre romance awesome magical read. ♠♠♠♠

VEGETABLES ROCK! (Do They Really?)

Vegetables Rock! is the main title, but here's the complete one:
VEGETABLES ROCK! A Complete Guide for Teenage Vegetarians by Stephanie Pierson
And it was. A complete guide, that is. Witty, with tons of options, this book was everything the other vegetarianism books I've been reading were not. The author goes over EVERY detail the other two books went over, so I'll skip the boring nonfiction part.
What was good was the way it was written: easy to enjoy. Any teenager can pick up that book and go, "Well yes, the print is small, but look, it feels like they're talking to me without making me feel like a baby. I'm kinda liking this!" Isn't that what we should all feel every time we read? Unfortunately that rarely happens with nonfiction books, especially with ones targeted towards teens and young adults; the author tends to make the reader feel like a five-year-old, to put it bluntly.
But this book was great, not only offering every bit of information you could possibly want but making it all sound interesting and fun, and without bullying the reader into it, makes vegetarianism seem like a natural way of life.
So it was great!
And lastly, the recipes. About a third of this book was recipes to get the teenage vegetarian started. Because yes, it is hard knowing how to eat and what to cook to get the right vitamins and stuff you need daily; but these recipes are easy and fun. The other books only had like five or six recipes, but this book (approximately 200 pages long) was a third full with recipes! It made a wonderful change from the old "Hummus. Noodles. Grilled Tofu." Here we saw some depth, from somebody who obviously knows what they're talking about.
So bravo, veggie book. ♠♠♠♠

Summer Sisters by Judy Blume

WOW, this book was INTENSE. It's another one of those books where the main character seems to be falling about and slowly deteriorating, and it makes you sad to watch because all the other characters are growing up and the main character is gonna hit a breaking point and you just don't know when and--- whew. Calm down, Ali. Take a deep breath and think of ponies.
But I CAN'T think of ponies after reading this book! It starts off with two girls, both twelve: Vix and Caitlin. Caitlin is the rich popular girl and she chooses Vix, the girl from the poor family with four kids, to spend the summer with her on St. Martha's Vineyard Island in her dad's house.
Caitlin and Vix slowly grow up over the years, always returning to the Vineyard every summer together... summer sisters, explaining the title. Their ideals change greatly; Vix finds herself gearing towards success and falling in love with one special guy on the island while Caitlin sleeps around and proclaims she doesn't want to die old; she'll go young.
Then, on the summer Vix turns eighteen, everything bad happens. She gets drunk and cheats on her boyfriend, but her still loves her; and then her brother, who had muscular dystrophy, died. It was very truamatic for her, but she was able to overcome the depression at college, where she communicated with Caitlin mainly by postcard and phone calls late at night. Because Caitlin, meanwhile, was seeing the world, giving Vix vivid stories about the people she met, what she did during her days...
So the girls are still in touch as they move through their careers and Vix's breakup with that longtime boyfriend. However, Caitlin seems to be getting more and more distant. Vix is worried for Caitlin, but doesn't know what to do. The closer you get to the end, the easier it is to see this story can't end well.
In spite of that ominous summary, it was a VERY good book. I loved it so much... Judy Blume has always been a great author for all ages, just look at her other books. This was actually the first of her adult books I have read, but I am looking forward to reading more.
She writes wonderfully in first person at every aspect of these girls' lives; when they're kids she channels their thoughts, desires, and needs perfectly, and as they grow up she knows just how to develop the personality traits they showed hints of in childhood.
A wonderful book with a great, twisting plot. LOVED IT. ♠♠♠♠♠

Can You Spot The Recurring Theme?

Another book on being vegetarian. And yes, from the school library. This one is:
Everything You Need To Know About: Being a Vegetarian by Kim Serafin
This one had most of the same information as the last one... what was different was the tone.
By the way the author of the book wrote, you got the feeling that if you had any misconceptions about the whole going-vegetarian process then you were WRONG, WRONG, EVILLY WRONG. HOW DARE YOU THINK THAT ABOUT US VEGHEADS??? etc. It kinda made me feel like all teenagers were supposed to be dumb on the subject of vegetarianism, like, "Thank God we wrote this book for you so you can be healthy now, instead of poisoned by the evil meat industry!" Like everyone is really assuming about vegetarianism (which some are) and that everyone needs to be taught about it (which they do, if only so they can understand and tolerate people with special dietary needs) but also that anyone who isn't vegetarian is going to be pretty unhealthy and we should all start early in life on becoming vegetarian (which they're not, and some of us shouldn't).
Also it made me feel like if I became vegetarian, I'd have to face a lot of adversity to get people to accept how I eat. I don't find that at all... I have a vegetarian friend and my mom's vegan, so there's no problem getting people to accept how I eat and make adjustments. And it makes me feel like life is always going to be hard for me if I make this choice, even though the food's good and it'll be benficial to everyone in the end. But it's not hard, you just have to have a bit of self-control and the will to do it!
In summary, this book was not as good as the last one. Yes, it contained TONS of information, but the underlying messages toward readers were not as helpful. Note to all future writers: if you're going to write a good book, make sure you don't make the reader feel stupid in it. ♠♠

I'M STARK RAVING MAD!

Over Stark! James Stark! (spoofing James Bond, ha.)He's the newest character in this fourth installment in the House of Night series by P. C. and Rachel Cast: UNTAMED.
Zoey the vampyre is back, and things are worse than ever. This book would equivilate to The Half-Blood Prince in Harry Potter terms, that's how much the tension builds.
First off, Zoey is trying to keep her circle together, which is becoming difficult because her friend Aphrodite recently lost her earth powers which means she can't be earth in the circle rituals (there are five elements which Zoey and her friend represent in ceremonies: fire, water, air, earth, and spirit; Zoey has special ties to all five, which make her super-special). But now Stevie Ray, Zoey's best friend who was said to have died, is back as a new red fledgling and she's got her earth powers back.
Aside from all that, the principal of the school (who is FREAKIN' EVIL) seems to be getting stronger. Even with the High Priestess of all vampyres stepping in for a while at their school doesn't seem to be doing any better. So Zoey enlists help from her grandmother, who is Cherokee and therefore possesses Cherokee magic that could help them.
Then Aphrodite has a troubling vision: a poem that seems to be saying when somebody rises, the dark demon will rise again. But who is the dark demon? Zoey's grandmother answers this... it's Kaluna, the vampyre's equivalent of Lucifer the fallen angel. He's seriously evil and he pillages women for fun, basically. And since vampyrism in the House of Night series is matriarchal, this means serious bad trouble for Zoey, an especially special female vampyre fledgling.
And also James Stark is introduced. And yes, he exits the story rather quickly, but he may be back...
Again in this book, a big theme was magic and religion. I love how the authors show how religions like Catholicism and vampyre magic can coexist and work in harmony. In fact, the Virgin Mary is compared to the vampyre goddess, Nyx, many times throughout the story. Now some people may find this offensive, but I'd just call those readers "People of Faith" and hope they move on. I think it's cool how vampyrism can be so spiritual in this book instead of all about bloodsucking and immortality *hint hint*. ♠♠♠♠

2010 We Didn't Start The Fire Challenge

Interesting... these challenges just keep getting more and more unique. In this one you just look at the lyrics of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire" and pick a few books about topics in the song.

I'm joining at Fiction Bronze Level, so I'm going to try to read five books from the song. I don't expect to finish this one, but I'm gonna try.

Signup:http://bookwormsarah.blogspot.com/2009/12/we-didnt-start-fire-challenge-2010.html

1. Animal Farm by George Orwell (Joseph Stalin)
2. Kingdom Keepers: Disney at Dawn by Ridley Pearson (Disneyland)
3. 
   

2010 Chick Lit Challenge

Yay, Chick Lit! Awesome genre. Hope Nora Roberts counts, I got a crapload of those stashed away and I can read em in January. The goal for this one is 8 chick lit books for 2010. I should tell Cara about this one. Here's the page (http://bookaddict4life.blogspot.com/2009/11/2010-chick-lit-challenge.html) if you want to sign up.

1. Suspicious by Nora Roberts
2. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
3. Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot
4. Malice by Danielle Steel
5. Runaway by Meg Cabot
6. Every Boy's Got One by Meg Cabot
7. Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler
8. Love and Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson

CHALLENGE COMPLETED

Fire & Ice Historical Fiction Challenge 2010

Here's a simple one: Read one historical fiction book once a month for a grand total of twelve books all of 2010.
Guidelines here: http://www.icewarmth.com/2009/11/fire-ice-historical-fiction-challenge.html
List will be posted when I read one each month.

Horns and Halos Challenge 2010

Yay, new challenge! I'm going to be reading four books for this one.
The thing with this challenge it you read books about Angels or Devils/Demons. Really cool, huh? Your level is chosen by what type of books you read, not how many... So I'm at Garden of Eden level because my books are half angelic, half devilish.
Here's my list for this one, the first two are rereads...

The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom
The Wish List by Eoin Colfer
Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
I'll repost the list as I finish the books below.
Go here for guidelines and signup: http://myflutteringheart.blogspot.com/2009/12/horns-and-halos-reading-challenge-2010.html
Okay, here's my REVISED list:
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Album
The Wish List by Eoin Colfer

CHALLENGE COMPLETED

Vegetarianism for Teens by Jane Duden

Okay, so the author has a weird last name. It's like Dudley only with a few letter changes. Huh.
ANYWAY, this book. It was a nonfiction book I checked out at the school library just because. And I found it pretty informative.
It was definitely targeted towards teens, with tons of information in easy to read format.
The book talks about the different types of vegetarianism, why people become vegetarians, how to deal with eating out and at other people's houses if you are one, etc. Like I said really informative and it really helps you understand all aspects of this diet.
Especially how you need to really plan what you eat if you're going to become vegetarian, because you need vitamins that are most commonly found in animals, like b12 or calcium. However, it turns out vegetarians have about 1/9 the chance of being obese as opposed to the standard meateater. Isn't that kinda cool?
And the reason a lot of people in other countries have already adopted vegetarianism is because where they live meat is really expensive, and they get it on rare occasions, so they eat plants and grains by default. Or they're religious and don't want to eat any of the living creatures on earth because, you know, they live too. Or they do it for health benefits of which there are many. Or a combination of these.
So yes, informative book. Slightly condescending with all its fake scenarios of vegetarian teenagers surviving in daily life, but it got the point across. ♠♠♠

Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge 2010

Another challenge! I'm going to be reading off a huge list of the top 25 most recommended-on-blogger books... I'm only joining at Level I, though, meaning I read five books. Since I'm picking off a list, I can put what I am going to read. So the books below are the five I am PLANNING to read, not the ones I may end up reading. THAT list will be posted at the very bottom later on.
Go here for more info on the challenge, and the signup page... http://readingwithtequila.blogspot.com/2009/11/2010-book-blogger-recommendation.html

LIST TO BE READ:

1. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
2. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
3. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
4. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
5. 11 Minutes by Paulo Coelho

LIST OF BOOKS THAT HAVE BEEN READ:

1. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
   

What's In A Name? 3 Challenge (2010)

This is a challenge I can't wait to start on! It's so creative and so specific... I'm gonna have to hunt for the books I need to fill the requirements. Should be fun! Here are the requirements, I'll post what I use for each when I figure it out.

1. A book with a food in the title: Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
   
2. A book with a body of water in the title:
   
3. A book with a title in the title: The Princess Bride by William Goldman
4. A book with a plant in the title:
5. A book with a place name in the title: School's Out-- Forever by James Patterson
6. A book with a music term in the title:

You can go here for the signup page!

http://whatsinname3.blogspot.com/2009/11/welcome-to-challenge.html

Jumping Off Swings

Jumping Off Swings is a relatively short book written by Jo Knowles. Despite its shortness, however, it was an intriguing read, the story of how one teen pregnancy can bring these four people and their families together. And by four people, I mean the four narrators that the author switches between to tell the story. I'll list 'em and their basic info, and you'll see how they all tie in.

Ellie- the girl who gets pregnant at a party. Sure, she's slept around a bit in her life with a few different guys, but this time she has the lasting result of it. She doesn't know how she's going to deal with it, especially because she feels like nobody loves her. That's how she wound up in the situation in the first place.
Caleb- the boy who has loved Ellie like a sister since third grade. He doesn't think he loves her than any more than that, though, and when he finds out about Ellie's predicament her does the best he can to help. His mother, Liz, is also a key part in this story, helping Ellie through her pregnancy every step of the way.
Corinne- Ellie's best friend who has been there for her since they were little. She's never has quite as much experience as Ellie so she's a bit naive and has trouble undertsanding Ellie sometimes, but her sister had an abortion so she's good at planning out what needs to be done for Ellie. She also starts to see how nice Caleb is, and thinks there may be some sparks there, but she feels guilty for being in love when her best friend feels so alone and desolate.
Josh- lastly, the father of the baby. He slept with Ellie at the party and now she's pregnant. He's even more hurt because she didn't want to tell him, she didn't want him involved in any way. Somehow, though, he feels he has to see his baby before they give it up when it's born. Josh is also dealing with an alcoholic father and a mother who is never home. Then he finds out something that changes his life, that makes it seem like history is repeating.

Four teens, one hopeful story. And one love story.
It was interesting how the story played out with so many different perspectives in the book, but it was well-written and it was good it was the length it was; it made it a perfectly sized quick read with a really touching story. And there's a hopeful message to be read out of this book, but you'll have to find it for yourself.
The other cool thing in this book was how these kids are all dealing with adult problems like pregnancy and alcoholism, but every time things get tough they do something completely childish that people really need to do more often to rediscover the magic in life. Like they'll make snow angels or even *hint hint* jump off swings, just to feel like a kid that has hope for the future again. It made the book really sincere and it was a neat, nostalgic effect because we all remember those days, back when you could lose yourself on a playground and swing life away.
Now I gotta give this book back to Holly; it's hers and she hasn't read it yet, I'm so disappointed in her for missing this great book! ♠♠♠♠

CHOSEN

Things just keep getting more and more complicated in Chosen, the third book in the House of Night series by P. C. and Kristin Cast. (As you can see, I'm slowly becoming obsessed with this series, I'm zooming through them!)
Anyway, Zoey is having a lot of BOY TROUBLES in this book (that's right, smell the drama coming). First there's her vampyre boyfriend Erik (and don't think this is Twilight, because Zoey's a vampyre too) and she likes him A LOT and they have a lot in common, physically and emotionally. *hint hint!* Then there's Heath, Zoey's exboyfriend from when she was human. The thing is, she drank his blood so now they're Imprinted, meaning they have a special bond that makes sucking his blood almost a religious experience for Zoey, that's how good it is. So she can't exactly cut ties with him either, even though she wants to. Lastly there's Loren (gay first name, huh?) Blake, the poet/part-time professor living at the House of Night school. He seems to have a thing for Zoey too, only he's much older and much more experienced, and there's something almost dangerous about him.
Zoey is also trying to help her undead friend Stevie Rae, who died as a vampyre but is now alive again only she's lost her humanity. It seems to be an impossible task to hide Stevie Rae and keep her alive with what little sanity she has left.
Meanwhile she's keeping her whole three-timing guys thing and the Stevie Rae thing secret from her boyfriend Erik and her best friends: Erin, Shaunee, and Damien (plus Damien's new boyfriend, Jack). That's a lot of pressure for one fledgling vampyre, and sooner or later she will crack.
The suspense was definitely upkept in this book, and it was still told in a perfect teen voice from Zoey's point of view. She takes everything with sarcasm and even when there's dangerous situations she still retains her personality, so yes, the book was good. And aside from all the deep character development stuff that I love, the plot is just plain GREAT. There are also some good romantic vampyre scenes in here, for those who are interested. Just a warning. ♠♠♠♠

Toads, Beetles, and Bats.

That is a quote from this book, The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt. Actually, it's a quote from Shakespeare, but that works into this book. Let me explain.
Holling Hoodhood (WEIRDEST. NAME. EVER.) is in seventh grade and his teacher hates him. How is he going to survive Mrs. Baker? Plus his dad really wants him to live up to his high expectations and he just doesn't see how he can. And on top of all this Mrs. Baker is making him read Shakespeare outside of class and they discuss what he reads afterwards. So Holling works his way through The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, and other plays and overall, it sort of betters his understanding of humanity.
Bigger picture: This is Long Island, 1967. There's a lot of change going on outside of Holling's small world, like atomic bombs, the protests against racism, the war in Vietnam, and maybe even the mysteries of girls.
With Mrs. Baker's help, Holling discovers more about ideals and people and just plain living than he ever thought he would in seventh grade.
I especially love the way this book is written; first person from Holling's point of view. It makes it good because while he's describing his horrible teacher or how he acted in certain situations, you can tell when he's exaggerating or lying which gives Holling the childish quality we expect from him in the beginning. I also love Mrs. Baker, because she helps Holling without letting him know she's doing it and she's fine with being the hated teacher as long as Holling learns. She also has a few tricks up her sleeve that make her all the more intriguing of a character.
Good story, quick read. I'm glad I picked this up on a whim out of the school library. ♠♠♠♠

Oh Yeah, Neferet? SO Not Dumbledore.

I am referring to my post on Marked, the first book in the House of Night series by P. C. and Kristin Cast (Betrayed happens to be the second). I said there were a lot of similarities between the Harry Potter series and this vampyre series. Which there are...
... So it makes sense that Neferet, Zoey's supposed mentor and headmaster of the House of Night vampire school which Zoey attends since she is now on her way to becoming a full-fledged vampyre, would be the Dumbledore to Zoey's Harry Potter, right?
WRONG. In Betrayed, we see how there is seriously something wrong with Neferet. She has some strange connection to the vampire-zombie things that have been roaming around. And by vampire-zombies, I mean vampyre fledglings who were witnessed to have died and are now back, roaming around with major redeye. Really creepy; they actually scare me. So Zoey is trying to figure out this conundrum, but she's also got a lot more on her plate: she's the new leader of the Dark Daughters, her school's equivalent to student council, she's cheating on her vampyre boyfriend Erik who is away with her human exboyfriend Heath, and her friends have discovered THEY have powers too, and each friend has a power tied to a specific element. Things just keep getting stranger and stranger at the House of Night, don't they?
I love how Zoey makes some unexpected allies throughout this book, while she also has to cut ties with those she KNOWS are bad for her. Like she starts to take advice from her ex-mortal-enemy, Aphrodite (yeah, remember her? The meanie popular prat?) and she also forms bonds with a human detective from the police force investigating mysterious disappearances...
Things just get better and more suspenseful through this series, I love the twists and turns. And yes, some plot twists I could see coming, but others, such as the whole Heath plotline, were totally unexpected. And while Zoey deals with normal teenage problems, she also has zany crises like how to deal with the fact she longs to drink her human boyfriend's blood and he actually wants her to.
All in all, a great book and I'm so looking forward to reading the rest of this series. I gotta see what Zoey does next. ♠♠♠♠♠

101 Fantasy Reading Challenge 2010

This reading challenge looks good, I haven't read good fantasy for a while. You get to choose your own number of books, so I'm going to choose to do five. I'll look over the list later, but here's where the rules can be found. http://www.abibliophile.com/?p=1735

Awesome Author Challenge 2010

More challenges! This one started here: http://athomewithbooks.blogspot.com/2009/10/awesome-author-challenge-2010.html

All I have to do is pick three authors that are supposed to be great and that I've never read anything by before and then read at least one title from each author. Now I just gotta think of authors I haven't read anything from before... I'm thinking Danielle Steel and Ira Levine for starters.

1. Danielle Steel: Malice

Young Adult Reading Challenge 2010

http://alainereading.blogspot.com/2009/11/2010-ya-reading-challenge.html
Guidelines are above! Basically it's the same challenge I joined in 2009 for the most part, and I joined at the level of Mini again, meaning I read 12 books. This is SO going to cross over with the library challenge, which is great.

Suspense and Thriller Challenge 2010

This one looks cool, I love suspense and thriller! And because so many books these days are suspenseful and/or thrilling, there's practically an endless variety to choose from. And twelve books will be fun and help me suspensefully and thrillingly expand my reading horizons. Basically it's 12 books in one year, for any other guidelines just follow the link.
http://www.bookchickcity.com/2009/05/thriller-suspense-challenge-2010_01.html
The list will come as I read.

1. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (ghost/twin/plain out haunting thriller)

Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge 2010

It's not 2010 yet, but I'm getting a headstart on signing up for challenges! This one should be easy since I'm joining at Mini level... I only have to read 25 local library books. That's like two loads from the library, easy enough.
For the challenge signup page, here's the link... http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/2009/11/2010-support-your-local-library-reading.html
There ya go, my list will be posted here later on when I get said library books from said library.
Update: all my library books are listed on 100+ reading challenge. Needless to say, it's WAY more than 25.

CHALLENGE COMPLETED

100+ Reading Challenge 2010

Yep, I'm doing this challenge again! It's not 2010 quite yet, but when I start finishing books in 2010 this is where the list will be posted. Go here for the challenge page to sign up: http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/2009/11/new-2010-reading-challenge-100-reading.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JKayesBookBlog+%28J.+Kaye%27s+Book+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

It's the same as last year, a hundred books or more read all in 2010. It's gonna be great.

1. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
2. Notes From The Dog by Gary Paulsen
3. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
4. The Wastelands by Stephen King
5. Disney at Dawn by Ridley Pearson
6. Skullduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
7. Animal Farm by George Orwell
8. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
9. Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
10. Just After Sunset by Stephen King
11. Don't Eat This Book by Morgan Spurlock
12. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
13. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
14. Losers by Matthue Roth
15. Things You Either Hate or Love by Brigid Lowry
16. Bounce by Natasha Friend
17. Invisible Threads by Annie Dalton
18. Carpe Diem by Autumn Cornwell
19. The Shining by Stephen King
20. Margaux with an X by Ron Koertge
21. Beating Heart: A Ghost Story by A. M. Jenkins
22. Repossessed by A. M. Jenkins
23. Dramarama by E. Lockhart
24. Wizard's Holiday by Diane Duane
25. Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Valde
26. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
27. Amanda Miranda by Richard Peck
28. Teen, Inc. by Stefan Petrucha
29. Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
30. Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell
31. Once Upon a Day by Lisa Tucker
32. Don't Cramp my Style by Lisa Rowe Fraustino
33. Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson
34. Totally Joe by James Howe
35. Please Don't Kill the Freshman by Zoe Thorpe
    
36. Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
37. Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks
38. Fly on the Wall by E. Lockhart
39. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
40. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
41. Letting Go of Bobby James, or How I Found My Self of Steam by Valerie Hobbs
42. Glass by Ellen Hopkins
43. Crank by Ellen Hopkins
44. Dingo by Charles deLint
45. What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
46. So Yesterday by Scott Westerfield
47. Impossible by Nancy Werlin
48. When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt
49. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
50. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
51. Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce
52. Harry Potter y la Piedra de Filosofal (HP#1 in Spanish) by J. K. Rowling
53. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
54. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
55. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
56. City of Masks by Mary Hoffman
57. City of Stars by Mary Hoffman
58. Right Behind You by Gail Giles
59. Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck
60. Crunch Time by Mariah Fredericks
61. Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
62. Vote for Larry by Janet Tashjian
63. The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian
64. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
65. Queen of Babble Gets Hitched by Meg Cabot
66. Every Boy's Got One by Meg Cabot
67. Queen of Babble in the Big City by Meg Cabot
68. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
69. Frostbite by Richelle Mead
70. The Box and Other Stories by Richard Matheson
71. Under The Dome by Stephen King
72. Losing Forever by Gayle Friesen
73. For Now by Gayle Friesen
74. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
75. Nicola and the Viscount by Meg Cabot
76. Runaway by Meg Cabot
77. Being Nikki by Meg Cabot
78. Happy Face by Stephen Emond
    

Heroes in Greek Mythology

This was a random book I checked out from the school library because we're reading The Odyssey in English and I'm going through a Greek mythology phase right now, I guess.
But this book turned out to be a bit less informative than I hoped, because it had only about six or seven different tales; there are thousands more I want to read!
I think basically Karen Bornemann Spies wrote this book as an easy-learning book for elementary school kids, too, because at the end of every chapter there are comprehensive questions. But then at the beginning of each myth there's a long introduction about where this story originated in mythology, so it sends of mixed signals about who this book is for: mythology analysts or fourth grade nosepickers?
I'm a bit confused. Still, the book has some good information and it was short and the print was large. ♠♠

The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening

As you can tell, I've been keeping up with my vampire reading. In fact, that's actually my plan: start a bunch of new vampire series just so I know what the heck my friends are talking about at lunch.
No, I'm not watching the TV series of this book series because I heard they're nothing alike and I really only want the book version. But everyone else I know watches it, and at least now I know who they're talking about when they go "OMG STEFAN'S SO HOT!!!"
*ahem* Anyway, The Awakening starts off with Elena's(the main character) diary entry, where she admits to feeling like something bad will happen soon. In fact, anything but happens: she meets Stefan at school that day, the handsome stranger who ignores Elena, even though she's pretty much queen of the school. Sounds like Edward and Bella reversed, huh? Slowly Elena and Stefan begin to bond, though... actually it happens more a quick transition from "I-hate-your-guts" to "I-can't-stop-kissing-you."
Then Stefan reveals that he knew someone like Elena a long time in his past, named Katherine, and that she turned him and his brother Damon into vampires in Renaissance Italy because she loved them both too much to live without them. Then she killed herself because she couldn't bear to cause strife between them.
So now Damon and Stefan hate each other's guts. And Elena, the human, seems to be in love with them both, which is a major deja vu.
But the real question is, who is attacking people in the cemetery late at night, leaving bloody ruins?
After reading Marked, this book was a bit of a downfall and a slightly cliche vampire story, like the many that are now out there thanks to Twilight. (GOD I NEED TO SEE NEW MOON SOON!) Still, this series is cool in the way how the whole story is taking place around a time paradox so far, and I can't figure out: How will Elena avoid making Katherine's mistakes? ♠♠♠♠
I also apologize for having the TV series picture substitute as a cover pic; this picture looks exactly like my book except mine says The Awakening below the title. I couldn't find that pic on google and I'm too lazy to take my own. =)

Vampyre with a Y?

That's pretty much what I thought when I started reading this book. It was like when I started reading the Sweep series and learned they spelled "magic" with a "k" so it was "magick". Funny thing, the English language.
Marked by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast is a vampyre book. And yes, it has a Y. I I can get over it, you can too. It starts off with a teenage girl named Zoey walking down the hallway of her school and realizing there's an undead vampyre standing by her locker. Weird beginning, especially with all the connotations of vampires we have thanks to Twilight and Dracula, right? Especially because we expect that vampyres keep absolute secrecy in all cultures. But WRONG. Vampyres are easy to identify by the marks on their forehead in this world, and that's what happens:
You get Marked. Basically a Tracker vampire (NOT JAMES) comes when you're a teenager and marks you. Then you're left with the condition known as vampyrism, which means you start turning into a vampyre or your body rejects the change and you die. So there's a chance you could go either way, which is kind of scary.
One way to better your odds, though, is to go to the House of Night school, of which there are many worldwide. This is what Zoey does, because she really has nowhere else to go; her parents pretty much tossed her out and although her Cherokee grandmother is ultrasupportive she feels she belongs at the House of Night.
But foul things are happening there, especially Zoey discovers Aphrodite, your typical bully/popular girl has it out for her. Zoey gets sucked into this cultlike thing called the Dark Daughters and finds out she has strong, unheard-of-for-a-kid-vampyre powers tied to all five elements: earth, wind, fire, water, and spirit. She's also seeing ghosts and extremely addicted to human blood, which shouldn't be happening because that symptom comes later in the process of the Change.
So Zoey is special. Nothing too hard to deal with, right?
There were also a lot of similarities between this and one of my other favorite series, Harry Potter. Look at this...

House of Night=Hogwarts. Kids that develop a special difference that sets them apart from others go here to develop that difference and embrace it.
Zoey=Harry Potter. She has incredible powers that are unheard of, just like how Harry surviving that death curse was unheard of, huh?
Zoey's parents=Dursleys. They throw her out because she's a vampyre now; how much more Dursleyish could you get?
Nala the cat=Hedwig. She attaches herself to Zoey, like when Hedwig and Harry form that special bond.
Aphrodite=Draco Malfoy. She's even got the pale blonde hair, along with the evil.

But unlike some instances when similarities to another series make a book worse, this just made them better. And it's a completely different take on vampyrism which I totally love. In conclusion, the House of Night series is pretty much a Harry Potter story written on Twilight characters by a Meg Cabot-type author. In short, everything I love about reading in general. I haven't found a good series like this in a long time, and despite all the similarities I have found, it is still VERY original and should be another vampyre favorite sooner or later. ♠♠♠♠♠

GLBT Challenge 2010

So I'm joining this challenge for 2010...
Sounds pretty interesting, thought it would be good for expanding my reading horizons. I'm only joining at Lambda Level, meaning I have to read four GLBT books by December 31st, 2010. I have so much other stuff going on I figured I don't need a whole new MEGACHALLENGE but I'm gonna do this one next year, so yay!
For challenge information, go to: http://glbt-reading.blogspot.com/2009/11/glbt-challenge-2010.html
My reading list will be posted below as I come up with it.

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
Totally Joe by James Howe

Yet Another Sue Grafton Mystery

I gotta say, these are starting to bore me a bit. I just finished K Is For Killer, which is the 11th in her A-Z mystery series, and it didn't quite thrill me.
It's kind of a weird case; this girl named Lorna drops dead in her home and her mother thinks she was murdered so she hires detective Kinsey Millhone to prove it and find the killer. It turns out Lorna was a prostitute on top of her normal job and her sisters knew about it, as did everyone else in Lorna's life besides her ignorant parents. And basically a few people are guilty of committing a few crimes again Lorna because of their dislike for her.
It wasn't exactly the most exciting mystery I have ever read. In fact, it wasn't even exciting for a Sue Grafton mystery. Although this could be due to the fact that I started this book before reading New Moon and finished it after, so I lost pace a bit, but still. I just kept getting confused and in the end I can say this: I know who did it, I just don't know exactly why, and what's more, I don't think it matters. But yes, they did find the killer, and HE GETS AWAY/GETS KILLED BY THESE MAFIA PEOPLE, whatever you want to believe. I'm leaning toward the HE GETS KILLED BE THESE MAFIA PEOPLE option.
Still, the storyline was pretty good until I started getting bored and lost in the plot, and I guess it's pretty enjoyable if you like mystery more than I do. This book will never EVER live up to S is for Silence, though. And plus, they hardly spend any time in Rosie's place, which sucks because she rocks!♠♠♠

A Good Speed-Reread

I just reread New Moon by Stephenie Meyer in preparation for the trivia contest I'm entering at school tomorrow to get my ticket for the party in the library on Thursday. I forgot how much I honestly loved the series; sometimes when the hype gets too big I tell myself it's not as good as when there was only Twilight and it was a single book with a good love story, but then I reread New Moon and realize HOW COULD I LIVE WITHOUT JACOB BLACK??? I love him!!! I'm sad to say I'm leaning away from Team Switzerland at the moment towards team Jacob. Actually, I'm starting a new team: TEAM MIKE!
For those out there who truly, honestly, do not know the plot (people who live in boxes or under rocks or in dumpsters) here's a brief one... I've described this book in so many y!a answers that I'm a bit sick of it.
Bella and Edward's relationship is going strong when she gets a papercut and Jasper almost eats her on accident. This convinces Edward he needs to leave for Bella's own good, so he does, and he was WRONG; Bella goes into a downward spiral until she is lifeless, barely a person anymore. She slowly starts to wake up as she starts fixing up old motorcycles with her buddy down at the Quiluete reservation, Jacob. (Why's she fixing up the cycles? Because when she does reckless things she hears Edward's voice.) But suddenly Jacob starts acting weird after a mysterious fever. Bella finally confronts him and discovers he and a few of his buddies are now WEREWOLVES; and they're designed to kill vampires. Why the sudden transformation: VICTORIA (from Twilight, the redhead vampire) is back on the hunt, and she wants Bella because Edward killed her mate, James. Now the werewolves are keeping Bella safe.
And that's not all: after a HUGE misunderstanding, Edward ends up thinking Bella committed suicide and he tries to kill himself. Then it's a race against time as Bella travels halfway around the world to stop him so they can be together again.
And lastly, Bella has the best epiphany of ALL TIME. Unfortunately I cannot put it here because of copyright stuff. I wish I could though, because it's amazing.
All in all, great reread. Not the best reread ever, I mean it didn't make me cry like The Deathly Hallows, but I honestly think New Moon is my favorite out of the whole series which is weird because most people HATE New Moon seeing how Edward's gone for most of it. But I like it because it introduces Jacob and we get to see more of the Quileute side of Forks, and how Bella can't live with vampires AND werewolves, but she can't live without them both, either. ♠♠♠♠