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Fruits Basket, Volume 10

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Book: Fruits Basket, Volume 10 by Natsuki Takaya

Pages: 182 (Paperback)

My Thoughts: In Volume 10, there’s a lot going on!  Tohru and all the Sohma’s go to a beach house, and are surprised with a visit from Akito.  I never liked Akito, and my dislike of Akito keeps getting stronger.  Before they go to the beach house, Shigure visits the bookshop run by his ex-girlfriend, who remembers when Hatori was engaged to her best friend.  Shigure manipulates Hatori into visiting her, because…she has a secret crush on him!  Yuki admits to himself that he is in love with her. 

It doesn’t seem like a lot happened, but we learn a lot more about Hatori, and that he wasn’t always so aloof.  Seeing Shigure with a girlfriend is weird, and something that I don’t think of.  It was interesting seeing Akito again, since he so rarely makes an actual appearance.  And we have the typical fan art, which is always pretty impressive, and we learn about the year of the tiger.  And we have all the side notes and the character list at the beginning. 

So it has all your standard stuff in it.  I still love the series, and I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Rating: 5 out of 5.  This volume has filler, but it also moves the story along.  Plus, the artwork is good.

The Dreaming, Volume 3

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Book: The Dreaming, Volume 3 by Queenie Chan

Pages: 192 (Paperback)

What Did I Think? This is my favorite volume in the trilogy.  I was thoroughly creeped out by the end of the book!

We learn about the fairy king, which is told to Amber by Millie, the girl who died in the first book.  There was an orphan girl, who lived in a house with her stepmother and stepsister, and they’d look her into a small cupboard whenever she did something wrong.  To escape from them, she would take long walks into the woods, but her stepmother and stepsisters didn’t like the forest, so they never followed her.  One time, she came across the fairy king, who made her his queen, gave her the same powers he did, and she got her wish of revenge.  She went back home, and transformed them into creatures like herself.  It’s a warning that Amber’s possessed, just like Millie was.  We also learn about the Quinkan, who are shape-shifters who can walk through walls and take on the form of people that they have possessed before.  This is how all of the girls have gone missing, and smoke drives the Quinkan away.  We finally see Mrs. Skeener, who tells Jeanie that the school board decided to close down the school.  Mrs. Skeener gets sent to her aunt’s school, and Mary travels to Australia with her.  However, when they get there, they find that their aunt has disappeared.  The students at the school think Mrs. Skeener and her sister should suffer because their aunt got what she deserved.  Mrs. Skeener attacked the other girls after a trip into the bushlands, but her sister disappears days later.  Mrs. Skeener is eventually rescued, and spends years in a sanatorium, until she learns that her father has died, and the school has been left to her.  The school catches on fire, the students and Mrs. Anu escape, but Mrs. Skeener dies in the school that was her home.  Amber suffers from some permanent memory loss, took up painting, and moved to England, while Jeanie went to college and became a paralegal secretary.

The only thing I didn’t like was the epilogue at the end.  I would have been fine with it out, and it certainly wasn’t the ending I expected.  I expected something more creepy and dramatic than what the epilogue gave.  As much as I love horror (and I really need to start reading it again), I don’t feel creeped out very often.  And this book was definitely creepy.  I liked the artwork, and you could feel that there was something hiding in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to pounce.

Rating: 4 out of 5.  Really creepy, and I felt like it finally lived up to the horror genre.

The Sweet Life In Paris

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Book: The Sweet Life In Paris by David Lebovitz

Pages: 304 (Hardcover)

What Did I Think? The Sweet Life In Paris is a mix of recipes and stories of his life in Paris.  I really liked how he told his stories- they were really conversational, and were not only funny, but pretty honest too.  There are all kinds of helpful hints, about how to act, and about the different ways to order coffee.  That was one of the more memorable chapters, the one where he talks about trying to find a good cup of coffee. 

He does seem to spend more time complaining about the French then complimenting them, and it makes you wonder why he still lives there.  Still, it seems like he’s (kind of) adjusting, and at least somewhat enjoys living there.  But maybe I want to believe he likes living there.  

It was a pretty fast read, especially if you ignore all the recipes in the book.  There’s at least 2 or 3 recipes at the end of each chapter, some of which looked pretty good.  It really reads like a blog, but in the form of a book. 

Also included is a list of places to buy French foodstuffs in the U.S., as well as a list of his favorite restaraunts.  Since this was written a couple years ago, I’m assuming that the info for the restaraunts is up-to-date, but since you can never be too sure, be sure to check online if you’re interested. 

Rating: 3 out of 5.  Interesting, entertaing, and amusing.  I’ve never been to Paris, but if I had, I’m assuming this would have been a lot funnier.

The Hunger Games

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Book: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Pages: 374 (Paperback)

What Did I Think? I loved it!  I’ve heard of The Hunger Games, and a few weeks ago, request it from the library.

In The Hunger Games, the Capitol is very harsh to the country of Panem, which occupies the area that used to be North America.  The Capitol is surrounded by 12 districts, which are kept in line by forcing all 12 districts to send one boy and one girl to fight in the annual Hunger Games.  The Hunger Games takes a total of 24 tributes, all between the ages of 12 and 18, in a fight-to-the-death event televised on live T.V.

We follow Katniss, one of the tributes from District 12, which is the poorest district.  She volunteers to be her district’s female tribute when her 12 year-old sister is picked to be one of the tributes.  The book is divided into 3 sections- the first is about the tributes, the second is about the actual hunger games, and the third is a mix of the hunger games and the post-games stuff.  There is violence, since everyone’s fighting to the death, but I wasn’t bothered by it.  And I thought it was secondary to the rest of the story, which is more about the government keeping the districts in line and squashing any sort of rebellion.

I was utterly fascinated with the idea of The Hunger Games, and how bad things can get.  I especially loved the way it was written- I felt like I was experiencing what Katniss was experiencing, and how chaotic the Hunger Games really are.  I don’t know how to describe what I felt when I was reading the book.  I guess it’s a mix of horror, amazement, and a general feeling of wanting Katniss to make it through.  The idea of a bunch of kids fighting to the death on live tv is morbid…but it’s a fascinating morbid.  Or maybe I’m just really weird and disturbed.  Moving on…I can definitely see why it’s so popular!

You can see the difference between the districts: some are more wealthy than others, as evidenced by the fact the a few of the districts have people who train for the Hunger Games.  It’s those districts that tend to win the Hunger Games.  And even in District 12, we can see the socioeconomic differences between the Seam (the poor section of an already poorer district) and the other part of town.  There’s just so much going on that we don’t see, and I’d like to re-read through a sociological perspective.  Look at me trying to be all smart!  But really, my degree is in sociology, and so it was kinda hard for me to miss.  Actually, it’d be hard for a lot of people to miss, I think, but there was all kinds of issues and stuff in there that I’d like to take a look at.

I wanted to know more about the districts, since not much information was given about each district or about the rebellion.  I wanted to know how and why North America was destroyed and why the Treaty of Treason was necessary.  I’m not sure how this would work out in the book, and for all I know, it could be revealed in the other 2 books.  But then again, the book was more about survival and what’s it’s like to go through the Hunger Games than about the history and how they got there.  There weren’t really any reasons given for why things were the way they were, but I’m (oddly) okay with that.  It does make you wonder what happened in order for something like The Hunger Games to come about.

Rating: 5 out of 5.  I thought it was amazing, and I was only a few chapters in when I requested the 2nd book.  It’ll be a while before I get it- I’m currently at 165 out of 182…which is better than the wait list for Game Of Thrones, where I’m at 223 (out of 226 people).

Fruits Basket, Volume 9

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Book: Fruits Basket, Volume 9 by Natsuki Takaya

Pages: 192 (Paperback)

Thoughts: In Volume 9, we meet a couple of the student council members, when Yuki finds the student council room trashed.  We also meet Kureno Sohma, who meets Arisa while she’s working at a convenience store.  They end up meeting again, and Arisa wonders if she’ll ever see him again.  We also have a flashback to Hanajima’s childhood, which was really difficult because of a psychic power that she can’t control.  She believes she used her power to almost kill a boy; she finally transfers to a new middle school, where she meets Arisa and Tohru.  She starts to learn how to control her abilities so she doesn’t hurt them.  We also meet Kyo’s father!  He insists that Kyo needs to be confined after he graduates, and turns to Kazuma (the man who “adopted” Kyo) for help, but Kazuma says he won’t help confine Kyo.  Rin, who’s out of the hospital, visits Shigure so she can ask him a question.

I wasn’t sympathetic to Kyo’s dad, and I found that I just couldn’t like him.  Honestly, the parents in this series are terrible!  Well, the little we see of them.  They’re either really protective of their kids, or they want nothing to do with their zodiac children.  The only exception would be Kazuma, but it’s partly because he feels bad about the way he treated his grandfather (who was the cat before Kyo).  Although he does care for Kyo, which you can definitely see in the series.

As usual, we have the character list at the beginning, which usually has a new character added to it with each passing volume.  We also have the fan art, the side notes about video games and we learn about the year of the snake.  All in all, this is a really good volume, and shows what could be Kyo’s future.

Rating: 5 out of 5.  We learn more about the characters, and it definitely adds to the story.

Fruits Basket, Volume 8

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Book: Fruits Basket, Volume 8

Pages: 192 (Paperback)

What Did I Think? In Volume 8, Hatsuharu destroys a classroom because he gets dumped by a member of the zodiac.  She ends up in the hospital with injuries.  We meet Ritsu, who worries a lot, and tends to freak out about everything.  Parent-teacher conferences are coming up, so everyone has to think about their plans for the future.  The Sohmas are particularly worried because the curse of the zodiac limits them.  Kyo, Yuki and Tohru celebrate the start of summer by going to a haunted house.  We also meet Rin, another Sohma, at the very end of the book.

I like that we get to meet a new Sohma every volume.  There are so many characters that it would be overwhelming, so the fact that she eases us into such a large family is a really good move on her part.  I also like the pacing of the series- it’s paced pretty evenly, and the plot moves along pretty well.

There’s the requisite fan art at the end, plus we have 2 pages devoted to 2 different years of the zodiac.  One page covers the year of the dragon, and the other page is about the year of the ox.  As usual, I like the artwork, and it something tht keeps getting better as the series progresses. 

Rating: Another 5 out of 5.  My love of Fruits Basket gets stronger with each volume.

Baking: From My Home To Yours

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Book: Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Pages/Format: 514/Hardcover

What I Thought: I kept hearing about this book on different food blogs I follow, including Tuesdays With Dorie, and I figured I might as well check it out from the library.

I loved the random tips scattered throughout the book, and in general, I liked how the the book was organized.  There was a breakfast sweets section, cookies, cakes, spoon desserts, and a few other sections I’m forgetting.  The only issue I had with the organization of the book was that each section had different subdivisions.  Like, the cookie section had one part for bars, and two different sections for cookies.  Actually, a better table of contents would have been helpful.  At the very least, each section could have had a listing of the different categories.

Another issue I had was her usage of the chocolate baking bars instead of cocoa powder and/or chocolate chips.  There’s nothing wrong with the bars, but spending a few minutes chopping up chocolate when I can just use a bag of chocolate chips?  Really?  Granted, she does offer chocolate chips as an option for some of the recipes, but why would I want to buy 12 ounces of chocolate (in bar form) when I can get the same amount in chocolate chips for the price of one bar?  I think she said that the quality of chocolate chips isn’t very good, which is why she prefers to use bars, but I haven’t noticed any difference between the 2.

Like I said a couple paragraphs ago, there were random tips scattered throughout the book, and those were pretty helpful.  With a lot of the recipes, there were different variations you could do, and it had instructions for how to freeze and store the desserts.

Rating: 4 out of 5.  There were a lot of good recipes, but I felt like the table of contents could have been better.  The amlount of recipes and the sheer number of variations and add-ins were slightly overwhelming.

Still, I definitely want to get my own copy, because I loved it.

Fruits Basket, Volume 7

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Book: Fruits Basket, Volume 7 by Natsuki Takaya

Pages: 192 (Paperback)

My Thoughts: Here’s another review of the Fruits Basket series!  We’re now on Volume 7, where we get introduced to another member of the Chinese Zodiac!  We meet Hiro, who confronts Tohru, and he steals her mother’s photo.  Tohru gets it back with the help of Kyo and Momiji, and Kisa makes Hiro apologize.  Hiro distanced himself from Kisa because he told Akito that he liked Kisa.  Akito beats Kisa, and Hiro feels bad.  He tells Tohru that he wants to grow up faster so he can protect Kisa. 

We also learn how Tohru and Arisa meet for the first time and how they became friends.  Yuki’s fan club also make an appearance when they try to find out who will be on the student council with Yuki.

This is another great installment of Fruits Basket.  I don’t particularly care for Hiro, because he is pretty rude, but at least he knows he needs to mature.  Yuki’s fan club is always hilarious, but the president of the fan club is particularly interesting.  She seems to be in love with Yuki, even though she barely talks to him, and doesn’t want to pick her replacement.  I don’t know what to make of this, other than she, and the rest of the fan club, are particularly obsessed with Yuki.  And not only that, but they are pretty starstruck, and remind me of rabid fangirls that you’d see of some celebrity.

The artwork is great, the fanart at the end is cool, and in the sidenotes, we learn that Takaya had surgery on one of her hands, and chronicled her hospital stay.  They definitely add to the coolness that is Fruits Basket.

Rating: 5 out of 5.  It keeps getting better!

The Dreaming, Volume 2

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Book: The Dreaming, Volume 2 by Quennie Chan

Pages: 192 (Paperback)

My Thoughts: In volume 2, we learn more about the school’s history.  Classes are suspended indefinitely, after Millie’s body turned up in Volume 1.  Only 40 students are left behind at the school, plus Ms. Anu, the only teacher left at the school, and the vice-principal, Mrs. Skeener.  All of the girls who went missing (23) mysteriously show up, coming in from the bushlands.

I liked this volume a lot better than the first one, and found it moved a lot faster than volume 1.  It was definitely a lot more creepy than volume 1…and mostly importantly, we learned about the students that vanished.  The first group of students vanished when the school first opened, along with the headmistress at the time…and Mrs. Skeener was the sole survivor of that incident.  She lost her twin sister, and her aunt, who happened to be the headmistress.  This is why Mrs. Skeener didn’t want Amber and Jeannie to be there, especially since their aunt is the current headmistress and got them into the school.  We also learned that Ms. Anu went to the school, and had a friend who vanished. 

There’s all kinds of crazy connections going on, and I’m really curious as to how they’ll all play out. 

The artwork was about the same as it was in the first volume, and it’s definitely creepy, especially the way the school is in the middle of nowhere, and is surround by the bushland.  The school is definitely isolated, and it’s no surprise weird things happen, and that the school has a weird past.

My Rating: It gets a 4 out 5.  I’m really glad I decided to read this volume, and I can’t wait for the next one!

Fruits Basket, Volume 6

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Book: Fruits Basket, Volume 6 by Natsuki Takaya

Pages: 208 (Paperback)

What I Thought: In Volume 6 of Fruits Basket, we meet Kazuma Sohma, who has raised Kyo since he was little, but doesn’t want Kyo to go and live with him because Kazuma thinks Tohru is a good influence on Kyo and has gotten Kyo to open up.  Kazuma takes off the bracelet that Kyo wears: the bracelet is significant because it keeps Kyo’s true form from appearing.  Kyo’s true form is not pretty: a very grotesque, terrible-smelling creature.  Tohru (being Tohru) doesn’t care, and goes running off after Kyo.  He tries to push her away violently, but she refuses to leave until he comes to terms with the fact that she accepts him for who he is.  We also go to Ayame’s dress shop, and meet his assistant Mine. 

Takaya really balances the seriousness and the funny very well.  A good chunk of this volume is serious…and then we see Ayame, who’s over the top.  I liked the volume as a whole, and of the 6 I’ve reviewed so far, this one is my favorite.  Even though Tohru is scared of Kyo’s true form, and is clearly nauseated by the smell, she still goes running after him, and still accepts him for who he is.  It’s a good lesson in accepting people for who they really are, for what they’re like inside, and not to judge by appearances.  People aren’t always what they seems, and if there’s anything that showcases this, it’s Fruits Basket. 

And as always, the artwork is amazing, the sidenotes are fun, and the fan art is really cool!  Plus, we learn about the year of the rabbit. 

Rating: 5 out of 5.  I think most of the 5 star ratings I’ve been giving out have been to Fruits Basket, but it really is that good!