Wings

Posted in Books by

Book: Wings by Aprilynne Pike

Publishing Info: Published by Harper Teen; 294 pages; hardcover

Goodreads Summary: Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful–too beautiful for words.

Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings.

In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue, romance and danger, everything you thought you knew about faeries will be changed forever.

Wings is another fairy story, and I liked it.

It was a typical fairy novel, in the sense that she’s around 15 when she found out.  She was placed with her “family” when she was 3, so it was nice to see she wasn’t a changeling.  And fairies in this book are more plant-like!  It was refreshing to see such an interesting twist on fairies, instead of going with the stereotypical fairies most books have.  I can believe that fairies are more plant-like, bloom, and have children by pollination.

At first I wasn’t sure about Laurel, because all she did was complain about how she wanted to be home-schooled instead of going to a public school.  As it wore on, she (thankfully) got less annoying.

And no novel is complete with a little love triangle.  I can honestly say that I don’t like either guy.  Tamani knew Laurel before she was placed with her parents, and they were even best friends…before she was given a potion to forget that part of her life.  He was annoying and his focus on her friendship with David got to be really annoying.  As for David?  He wasn’t very developed in this book, and I get the feeling he only wanted to help her because she was the new girl.  Is it too much to ask that at least one of them be mildly interesting?

It gets a 3 out of 5.  I liked the twist on fairies, and it was a pretty easy read.

Sarah’s Key

Posted in Books by

Book: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Publishing Info: Published by St. Martin’s Press; 294; Hardcover

Goodreads Summary: Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family’s apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.

Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France’s past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl’s ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d’Hiv’, to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah’s past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.

I’m so torn about what to think about this book.  I love Sarah’s half of the book, and didn’t really care about Julia’s half, other than to find out what happened to Sarah.

Sarah’s half was powerful and compelling, and I wanted to know more about what happened to her, her parents, and her brother.  I felt for Sarah, and I want to know more about the Vel d’Hiv roundup.

What lost me, though, was Julia’s story.  I didn’t really care about her or her marital problems.  And the connection between her and Sarah?  It didn’t feel very believable.  It’s almost like de Rosnay decided that the only way to connect the two women was to have Julia’s in-laws live in the apartment that Sarah’s family lived in.

The ending was especially annoying, and I didn’t really care that Julia was divorced or living in New York.  It was no surprise that she named her 2nd daughter Sarah- the second Julia found out she was pregnant (and not sure if she wanted to keep the baby) I knew 2 things.  One, she would keep it, and two, her baby would be a girl so she could name her Sarah.

Anyway, it went from a really interesting and captivating story, and turned into something completely stupid once Sarah got back to her old house.  If only de Rosnay had focused more on Sarah, instead of having Julia figure out what happened to her…

I really wish I could give it 2 different ratings- one for Sarah and one for Julia.  But since I can’t do that, I’ll give it a 3 out of 5.

Extras

Posted in Books by

Book: Extras by Scott Westerfeld

Publishing Info: Published by Simon Pulse; 417 pages; hardcover

Goodreads Summary: Fame

It’s a few years after rebel Tally Youngblood took down the uglies/pretties/specials regime. Without those strict roles and rules, the world is in a complete cultural renaissance. “Tech-heads” flaunt their latest gadgets, “kickers” spread gossip and trends, and “surge monkeys” are hooked on extreme plastic surgery. And it’s all monitored on a bazillion different cameras. The world is like a gigantic game of “American Idol.” Whoever is getting the most buzz gets the most votes. Popularity rules.

As if being fifteen doesn’t suck enough, Aya Fuse’s rank of 451,369 is so low, she’s a total nobody. An extra. But Aya doesn’t care; she just wants to lie low with her drone, Moggle. And maybe kick a good story for herself.

Then Aya meets a clique of girls who pull crazy tricks, yet are deeply secretive of it. Aya wants desperately to kick their story, to show everyone how intensely cool the Sly Girls are. But doing so would propel her out of extra-land and into the world of fame, celebrity…and extreme danger. A world she’s not prepared for.

This is the final book in the Uglies series, and while I liked it, I didn’t like it as much as the other three.

I think part of it is the fact that it felt tacked on.  Like an afterthought.  I had low expectations, because the series was originally a trilogy.  Perhaps that is why it feels like an afterthought.  It certainly doesn’t feel like a part of the series.

That being said, I liked that we got to see what life was like several years after Tally took down the old ways.  And it was interesting seeing life in a different city.  And using fame and reputation to decide who gets what?  It’s an interesting concept, especially with people trying to gain fame, and what they’ll do to get it.  I almost wished that Westerfeld had focused on that, instead ending up in Singapore trying to figure out what the metal cylinders are for.

Tally was interesting in this book, because she wasn’t a main character.  I liked seeing her through the eyes of someone else.  She came across a lot harsher, more violent, and more mentally unstable than she seemed in the first 3 books.  Given everything that’s happened to Tally, it wasn’t a surprise.

And what didn’t I like?  It didn’t draw me in the way the rest of the series did.  It was slightly more boring than I expected, and the new characters weren’t particularly interesting.  I just couldn’t care about about them.

Overall, it gets a 3 out of 5.  It was well-paced, and enjoyable, but missing that something special the other books had.

Every Soul A Star

Posted in Books by

Book: Every Soul A Star by Wendy Mass

Publishing Info: Published by Little, Brown Young Readers; 322 pages; hardcover

Goodreads Summary: Told from three very different perspectives and voices, this compelling and humorous novel weaves an intricate story about friendship, dealing with change, and discovering one’s place in the universe.

I’m not really sure what to think of this book.  I liked the 3 different voices, but the characters weren’t engaging enough for me.  They were all pretty typical, but I can see younger teens and even tweens liking them and relating to them.

I liked that 3 kids, who wouldn’t have met otherwise, all came together to witness a solar eclipse.  Ally was pretty sheltered, since she lives in a campground in the middle of nowhere.  Her parents decide that they want Ally and her brother Kenny to experience life in the “real world.”  It’s strange that after a good 10 years in the middle of nowhere, her parents suddenly decide that their kids need to be around kids their own age?  But then again, them moving means that Bree has to live in a world that’s completely different than the one she’s leaving.  Bree seemed really spoiled, but she seemed to mature a little throughout the book.  Jack was the most interesting of the 3, and it was nice to see that they’d still be friends, even after going back to their lives.

I found the astronomy aspect really interesting, and it was done a way that wasn’t boring.  I even wanted to know a little more, and I’m glad there were some resources at the end of the book.  I totally want to see a solar eclipse now.

It started off a little slow, but then the pace started to pick up.  Overall, it was pretty well-written, and well-paced.  And I liked that I knew who was narrating without having to look at the chapter title.

It gets a 3 out of 5.  It was a little younger than I expected, but still enjoyable.

Here’s What I Found

Posted in Podcasts by

Remember when I said I was looking for some new podcasts?

I found some!  I have no clue whether I’ll like them or not, since I haven’t started listening to any of them, but I found a bunch that seem really interesting.  There are so many, though, that it got a little overwhelming, but for now, I think I’m good.

I downloaded one on the history of children’s literature, which seems really interesting.  It covers everything from fairy tales to poetry to Disney, and I can’t wait to listen to it.

I came across one that’s about zombies in literature.  I knew I had to listen the second I saw zombies.

And the one about mythology looks pretty cool.  It looks like it mostly focuses on Greek mythology, but that’s okay, because Greek mythology is really interesting.

The last one I wanted to bring up for right now is the sociology of mass communication.  While I find the role the media plays in our lives interesting, there are so many other things that play a role in our lives, so I may have to go looking for a few more…

I found everything in iTunes, under the iTunes U section.  They have podcasts, both audio and video, and it looks like they have actual courses.  But I haven’t look at any of them, so I can’t say for sure.  But it’s all very exciting.

I can’t really think of anything else for today, so I’ll be back tomorrow!

Specials

Posted in Books by

Book: Specials by Scott Westerfeld

Publishing Info: Published by Simon Pulse; 384 pages in hardcover

Goodreads Summary: “Special Circumstances”:

The words have sent chills down Tally’s spine since her days as a repellent, rebellious ugly. Back then Specials were a sinister rumor — frighteningly beautiful, dangerously strong, breathtakingly fast. Ordinary pretties might live their whole lives without meeting a Special. But Tally’s never been ordinary.

And now she’s been turned into one of them: a superamped fighting machine, engineered to keep the uglies down and the pretties stupid.

The strength, the speed, and the clarity and focus of her thinking feel better than anything Tally can remember. Most of the time. One tiny corner of her heart still remembers something more.

Still, it’s easy to tune that out — until Tally’s offered a chance to stamp out the rebels of the New Smoke permanently. It all comes down to one last choice: listen to that tiny, faint heartbeat, or carry out the mission she’s programmed to complete. Either way, Tally’s world will never be the same.

Specials is the 3rd book in the Uglies series.  I think this one is my favorite one in the entire series.  It’s been so interesting to see how Tally has changed during the series, going from an Ugly to a Pretty to a Special.

While physical beauty is an important throughout the series, and especially important in the first two books, it wasn’t so important in this one.  The power of choices and the individual was pretty important- Tally always seems to overcome whatever surgery is performed on her.  And while beauty is skin deep is an important message, our choices andwhether we can overcome things is just as important.

It got me thinking about how we’re conditioned (or socialized) to act and behave.  And that there is a price to freedom, whether we realize it or not.  And I like the idea that we need to take care of the environment instead of destroying it.  It was there, but very subtle.  Westerfeld does a great job of making you think.

It was well-written, and I’m impressed with how relevant the themes are.  It gets a 5 out of 5.

For The Love Of History And English

Posted in General by

I love history.  So much, in fact, that I will read it on my own.

See, me reading history, on my own, for fun, seems to confuse some people.  And me reading for fun seems to confuse people too, especially if I’m reading anything that’s an “English class book.”  An “English class book” is basically my phrase for books that are considered classics…basically, anything you’d probably read in an English class.  It’s almost like I have to be reading it for a class, because people apparently don’t read Pride And Prejudice or Dracula for fun.  But I really need to read more classics, because there are a lot of books that I haven’t read, and I feel like I’m missing out on some books I feel like I need to read at least once.

Like The Diary Of Anne Frank.  I have NEVER read it, and I swear I’m not making this up.  I don’t think we even read an excerpt of it.  1984?  Never read it either.  Lord Of The Flies?  If you guessed that I haven’t read it, you guessed right.  I definitely need to read some of these books, but if I don’t like them, that’s fine, because the goal is to at least try to read them.

But back to history.  It’s true, I don’t have a degree in history.  And I don’t have one in English either.  Nope.  My degree is in sociology.

A lot of people think I studied English.  I understand that, because I like writing, and I read a lot.  Sometimes, it is entertaining to see people’s reaction when I tell them I studied sociology and not English.

On rare occasion, someone thinks I studied history, because I like reading Tudor history.  Someone even asked me once why I studied sociology, and not English or history.  Since I really like history, and I really like reading, it would make sense to study it, right?

Not exactly.  See, I love reading, and I find history really interesting.  But I know that those are 2 things that I will continue to do.  It’s not that I like sociology more because I have a degree in it.  It’s really that I know I don’t need any kind of encouragement or pushing to do it on my own.  I guess you could say that I’m a self-learner…I have no problem doing it on my own.

I do wish that I had the chance to take more history and English/literature classes.  There were more than a few that looked interesting.  But with an entire section of iTunes that’s devoted to podcasts posted by universities, I’ll be able to “take” some classes.  While there are a lot of classes that don’t seem to be posted, there are still more than enough podcasts for me to pick from.  Plus, they’re free, I can listen to them at my own pace, and I don’t have to do any homework or assigned reading.  I’ve looked it before, but wasn’t too interested.  But it’s time to listen to something new, I think, and I might as well see what’s out there.  I’ll definitely talking about them in the near future.

Sharing Is Caring!

Posted in General by

Here are some more blogs I thought I’d share with everyone.  I’ve come across them pretty recently, and they are pretty cool.  It’s actually occurred to me that I should probably add all of the blogs I read to Google Reader, since there are a lot of them.  It would be nice to have them all in one place, instead of going to each blog…

Meadowbrook Farm is pretty cool.  It has recipes and lots of photos.  I like the photos, they’re pretty!

Black*Eiffel also has some cool photos.  For some reason, I’ve been looking at a lot of photo blogs lately.

I also The Drifter And The Gypsy.  It’s mostly photos of different things that inspire the blogger.

I came across The Freedom Experiment because I saw a link to a post on gratitude on another blog I read.  I’m not completely sure about, but I’m intrigued enough to keep reading it for a while.

The Party Dress has some pretty cool party ideas.  I haven’t looked at the magazine or store, but the blog is really cool.

I think the last one for today is pretty light, which is another photography blog.    The photos are so pretty…

I think the next time I do one of these, I need to focus on the wordpress blogs I like.