banned books

So I found a great blog about banned books week. (Gotta love the chick manifesto.) If you don't fall off your seat laughing, then you really don't care about people's right to read whatever they damn well choose. Well, that, or you don't have the same sense of humor as me...

wordle

So on wordle you can type in a blog url and it'll make one out of the feed. Here's one of my blog...



Click on the image to see it larger.

Sex, Murder and a Double Latte

Sophie Katz writes mystery novels. And she writes good mystery novels - complete with people being lynched, burned, drugged and decapitated, killed by use of a hatchet, and beaten with golf clubs. Unfortunately for Sophie, it seems that she is starring in her own mystery, quite literally, in fact. Over the course of a few weeks, she starts to notice that a bunch of things from her book Sex, Drugs and Murder seem to be occurring in her own life. Add this to the fact that JJ Money was murdered in a way quite similar to his song On Top and Alex Tolsky committed suicide in the same way as a character in one of his films Silent Killer (though the suicide was a cover for the murder that had actually occurred), and Sophie is worried - to say the least. Lucky for Sophie, she has her friends (Dena - owner of a sex shop, Mary Ann, and Marcus - her hairstylist) to help her to determine if the random coincidences that match her book are actually coincidences at all. If Sophie is going to solve this mystery, she has to start acting like Alicia Bright, the star of her novels, and do some investigating.

Kyra Davis's debut novel is published by Red Dress Ink, which is the reason that I bought it without reading anything about it except the title. I swear by RDI for all of my chick lit needs, so this book was easy choice (ok - I'm actually in a book club devoted to RDI and this was the pick this month, so I retrieved it off of my shelf to finally read). I've read a couple of mystery novels and my mother is an avid fan that likes to inform me of plots in mystery novels, so this book surprised me. Yes, I've read funny mysteries, but this one had me laughing for pages at a time until my stomach ached. I've also read mysteries where the criminal was obvious from the time he or she was mentioned, and some that kept me guessing. I am happy to say that this novel kept me guessing. There were too many suspects (in a good way) and I frequently switched primary suspects (as I'm sure it was intended). I look forward to reading Passion, Betrayal and Killer Highlights and Obsession, Deceit and Really Dark Chocolate, the two follow ups to this novel that also star Sophie Katz. I don't know if ODR is the last book in the series, but I hope it isn't because I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series so I can follow Sophie's missteps as well as find out where her new relationship (or is it?) will lead.

This book was published by Red Dress Ink which means that it is probably appropriate for 20+ but I would actually think that readers in their late teens might also enjoy it.

A-Z Challenge
completed - *Davis, Kyra - Sex, Murder and a Double Latte*
*Ensor, Barbara - Thumbelina, Tiny Runaway Bride*
currently reading - *Eclipse - Meyer*
*Breaking Dawn - Meyer*

I Heart You, You Haunt Me

Ava Bender is in love with her boyfriend Jackson Montgomery. Pretty much, she has been in love with Jackson since she first saw him. Lucky for her, he is just as enamored. But there is just one problem. Jackson was in some kind of accident and died at the end of the school year. Now Ava has the entire summer to look forward to, alone, without school as a distraction. Actually, Ava's not quite alone. She has her parents, her girlfriends and her ex boyfriend all trying to make sure that she is alright and not falling too deep into depression. Them and, well, Jackson is also around. He may be dead, but he still hangs on to Ava and she can feel his presence when she is alone. She can see him reflected in mirrored surfaces. Ava is so happy to have Jackson with her, but it's hard to love a ghost, someone that can't touch her, can't kiss her. Can Ava move on? Will Jackson let her move on? Why does Ava blame herself for his death? What really happened?

Excerpt from pg 69 - Poem titled "The Next Morning"
What if it was
just
a
dream?

Lisa Schroeder's debut novel is told in prose, or a novel-in-verse, if you will. It took me a few poems to get my head around the idea of it, but this was an interesting way to tell the story. Although the poems were short, the average length was a page, they were descriptive enough to help me picture each scene and allowed my imagination to fill in the blanks. Each time that Lisa mentioned a song, which she often did, I could hear it as I read. The song choices gave the scenes ambiance and allowed for a better understanding of the characters who chose each song. I Heart You, You Haunt Me was another book that I opened and did not close until I had read the entire book (true it was a short book - 226 pages of poems - but I wanted to know how Ava would react to her boyfriend's ghostly presence, if she was going to tell anyone what was happening, if she would be able to start moving on). Ava was a character that I could relate to. After losing someone she loved, she did not want him to completely leave her life. She struggled with living in a world in which he was not alive. I think that is something that everyone can relate to. I may not have lost a boyfriend, but I've struggled to understand and move on when relatives have died. Grief can be tricky and I was interested in how Ava handled hers. I definitely recommend this book, though I don't know if it would be appropriate for someone who has just lost someone.

After typing all of that, I realize that this reminds me of the Kissed By An Angel trilogy by Elizabeth Chandler which I have loved since I first read it 10 years ago. I guess it makes sense that I would like I Heart You, You Haunt Me when it has a similar premise. I also look forward to reading Lisa's newest book Far From You (January 6, 2009), another novel-in-verse that sounds just as good as her debut.

A-Z Challenge
completed - *I Heart You, You Haunt Me - Schroeder*
currently reading - *Davis, Kyra - Sex, Murder and a Double Latte*

someday my prince will come

Last week I went to my cousin Tracie's wedding at Oheka Castle. I have to say that it was really cool. Unfortunately, it was raining (cue: Alanis Morrisette's "Ironic"), but that made it interesting. When we got out of the car near the front doors, there were guys with umbrellas that came over to the car to walk us to the door keeping us dry. My mother looked so cute holding onto one guy's arm as he walked her on the cobblestone path. Inside was beautiful and elegant, but I was more focused on seeing my family than paying attention to the decorations. There were rose petals on the seats to throw after the wedding, but first they needed to get through the ceremony. Tracie had eight (I think) bridesmaids and she allowed the parents to bring their kids up with them so there were a few babies and toddlers.

Between the ceremony and dinner, I received voicemail from my sister urging me not to leave a glass slipper behind. No matter how cute a Prince might be, times have changed. These days, cell phone numbers or email addresses can be exchanged. There is no reason to leave my shoe behind if I met a cute Prince. (I love my sister...) Speaking of my sister, after the Best Man, Maid of Honor, and friend of the couple spoke, I wrote down some ideas of things that I want to talk about next year during my MoH speech. I have a lot of ideas, but the thought of formulating them and making the speech seems so final. Like she'll really be married and no longer share my last name. She already does not share my house, my city, or even my county, but, at least, now we still have the same last name.

Anyways, Saturday we looked into wedding flowers and Sunday we went to another country music concert. Ashlee Page, Cowboy Crush and Andy Griggs were the opening acts for the two headliners - Kellie Pickler and Trace Adkins. Kellie was amazing and hysterical. She has stories for all of her songs and talks about her ex-boyfriends by calling them pigs or other things because they cheated. She has this song "Best Days of Your Life" in which she basically tells the guy that the best days of his life are over and gone since they're no longer together. Another song basically says that the couple whose wedding she crashed won't make it a year so they might as well throw "Rocks Instead of Rice." Trace was also good (though not as good since he didn't have Kellie's personality), but he had this tendency for pelvic thrusts. Apparently, after he made the video for "One Hot Mama," his mother was not happy so he showed her "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" before she could see it on tv and get mad. I had tears streaming down my face when he sang "Arlington" and that was the only song that my dad clapped for.

Other news? hmmm. I got my copies of Eclipse and Breaking Dawn from Amazon so I will be reading them and reviewing them soon.

Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang

Madeleine "Maddy" Wirtz, also known as "Monkey" and "Killer,"explores memories of her teens as she reminisces about January 1, 1953 through June 1956 - the time of Foxfire. It's been many years since those fateful months in 1956, Maddy's now fifty years old, but it's almost like yesterday that she was initiated as one of the original members of Foxfire along with Lana, Goldie and Rita. Legs also joined, but she was the leader. She did the initiating, she picked the girls that would join, she was first-in-command. Maddy was Foxfire's original chronicler. She recorded all of Foxfire's secrets, their rules, their adventures, missions, triumphs. She also recorded the bad times, the injustice and the insults. Thirty-some-odd years later, Maddy now reflects on Foxfire's history and tells their story from the first victory to the final plotted task.

An excerpt - the first paragraph of the book:
Never never tell, Maddy-Monkey, they warned me, it's Death if you tell any of Them but now after so many years I am going to tell, for who's to stop me?

This was the first book that I have read by Joyce Carol Oates and I am not sure that I will be reading any others. Although I enjoyed the book (which I read because I love the movie of the same name - starring Angelina Jolie - Legs, Hedy Burress - Maddy, Jenny Lewis - Rita, Jenny Shimizu - Goldie, Sarah Rosenberg - Violet), it just took so long to read. I had started reading this book a few years ago, but for some reason, I had saved my page, but never finished it. I reread this from the beginning this week and it actually took a full week to read. Seriously, I usually read books straight through or I can read them in a few days, but Foxfire was different. I was interested in the story, but I think that I enjoy books with more dialogue. The characters were reintroduced quite often (i.e. Maddy Wirtz, sometimes called "Monkey" and "Killer"), the story was told by Maddy but the point of view in the writing was confusing (i.e. Yeah we were surprised, nobody more than Maddy... page 217 - if speaking as a member of the group "we" then it should be "I" or "me"), and sentences often ran on to create a long paragraph with a lot of missing punctuation. I can understand that the character might not have good grammar, but it made reading the book difficult.

Looking past the flaws and focusing on the storyline and characters, I might read this book again, but next time I will have been forewarned of its awkward writing style.


A-Z Challenge
completed - *Oates, Joyce Carol - Foxfire*
currently reading - *I Heart You, You Haunt Me - Schroeder*

wedding in a castle?

That's right. My cousin is getting married in a castle. Seriously. It's called Oheka Castle (http://www.oheka.com/default.asp). I technically wasn't actually invited for some reason, but since I went to the bridal shower, my Aunt and Uncle were able to squeeze me in. (Since every single person that hears that a wedding is in a castle wants to go, you know.) Well, that is where I will be on Friday... at a castle, seeing my cousin get married.

Do you know how much I feel like I'm stepping back in time and into a book just talking about the idea? "Oh, yes. I'll be heading to the Island on Friday... Visiting a castle of some sort for the happy union." And the attire is formal so my next thought is Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella - "The Prince is Giving a Ball..."

The Lucky Place

Whew... finished. I have refused to give up on reading a book since A River Runs Through It (possible summer reading choice in high school - chosen for Brad Pitt, but given up for fly-fishing), but this one nearly did me in. It's not that it wasn't interesting, because it really was... interesting. Well, first, a description.

Zu Vincent's The Lucky Place chronicles the life of Cassie, a little girl who is trying to find her place in a grown up world without getting lost... again. As the story begins, Cassie is three years old and at the racetrack with her Daddy and brother. As Daddy wins his bets, he drinks, gives away money to the crowd and eventually, when walking up to the window for a payout, he lets go of Cassie and she is lost. Soon Mama meets a new man and Cassie must learn how to have two daddies, Old Daddy and New Daddy. The book is told from Cassie's perspective as she ages from three to twelve and as she matures in understanding of the world.

An excerpt: a short chapter entitled "A Thought" (page 90 - also in the book cover)
Here's what I think. I think having two daddies is like riding the elephant. You don't know until you get up there what an elephant smells like, or how high you will be on the elephant's back. But then you realize. And the basket tips one way and then the other, like you might fall, every time the elephant steps.

When I enter the classof2k8 second quarter contest, this was one of the books that I learned about and was interested in reading. The first chapter captured my interest. Unfortunately, I was not as thrilled by the book as a whole. I completed reading The Lucky Place because I was interested in Cassie's life and what was happening in her family, but books are told in a variety of ways, and this one was told by explaining the scene and the emotions behind it without much in the way of dialogue. For a story about children (eventually there are four main children in the novel), there should be a lot of dialogue. But for some inane reason, these children just understand each other without speaking or scenes between the children are glossed over to get to the adult scenes that are described to the wallpaper.

I think I would have liked this book better if it had used a different storytelling technique, but the storyline itself was good, the characters were easy to picture through their descriptions (as I cue Kate Voegele's "No Good" to describe Old Daddy), and Cassie was easy to root for. I wish I had liked this book enough to think I will read it again, but as least I am happy to have finished it and gotten to the end which was satisfaction (not the very end - slightly cheeseball - but before that).

A-Z Challenge
completed - *Vincent, Zu - The Lucky Place*
currently reading - *Oates, Joyce Carol - Foxfire*

20 questions - was 40 - I shortened it

When was the last time you had your hair cut? last month, I think... or was it the month before that? whenever it was it was when I finally realized that I should not have layers in my hair now that it has become straight (it was wavy growing up and changed but I don't like to acknowledge that)
What are you doing in two days? ummm... hanging out with Rebecca or CVB maybe? Hopefully getting a call from Dr. Robelee about getting into the school psych program late
What do you do when you're stressed out? nothing productive...
Have you ever kissed someone whose name starts with the letter J? John.... before Erika married him, I dated him for a very short time and yes, we did kiss
Ever been in love? unrequited, so it probably counts as no
Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos? I do want a tattoo at some point... possibly the one from Foxfire... maybe another...
Where's the last place you went shopping? checking online... apparently walmart... in Virginia... I guess when I bought The American Mall (cute MTV musical with Nina from Degrassi, Autumn from the OC, and Neil from SYTYCD)
Who was the last person to hug you? my brother thanking me for making breakfast
Who was the last person to call you cute? probably mom...
How long does it take you to get ready to go out? if I'm just going out, I just throw on clothes... if I want to look cute, longer... if I need to shower, an extra half hour (includes 5-7 minutes to blow dry my hair)... if it's dressing up, probably the same amount of time since I can do makeup in 5 minutes or less unless I lose it like last time
What were you doing at midnight last night? reading, or on the computer - checking my open im from last night? I was reading "The Lucky Place" - Zu Vincent
If you could move somewhere else, would you? yes... into my own place... of course, that would sort of take money and income, and self sufficiency
Do you think relationships are ever really worth it? yes...
If you got married to your best guy friend, would you be happy? I actually have told people that we'd probably get married if he didn't date other people since, aside from my family, he is the person I feel the most comfortable around.
Do you remember what you were like a year ago? scared sh*tless at becoming a counselor
Which girl's house was the last you spent the night at? back when she lived here? my sister's! ::wink::
Where is your best friend at this exact moment? CVB is taking a test
Were you happy when you woke up today? yes... I finally woke (nearly) with my alarm instead of sleeping past it for over an hour. I was able to read for a little bit and then make breakfast! If I can get to bed tonight a little earlier, I might ACTUALLY wake WITH the alarm tomorrow!
What's on your bedroom floor right now? too much... the floor it clean, sort of. It's just that the clean floor means that there are banker's boxes all over and stuff on the boxes and my shoes spilling out of the closet a little, and my purses spilling out of the closet since I don't know where to put them...
Does anyone hate you? In the past, I probably would have said yes, but now I don't think that anyone would bother enough to hate me. It's like me, or feel indifferent about me.

Alive and Well in Prague, New York

I admit it, Alive and Well in Prague, New York is not a book that I would have chosen off of the bookshelf on my own. I'll even admit that the only reason that I chose to read it at this point, is to fulfill a letter in the A-Z Challenge.

BUT

I won the second quarter contest at classof2k8.com and won four autographed hardcover books by first time authors. One such book was Alive and Well in Prague, New York by Daphne Grab. I am actually surprised to say that I enjoyed this book.

Sixteen-year old Matisse Osgood is the new girl in the small town of Prague, New York (cue Miranda Lambert's "Famous in a Small Town" as it happens to be playing as I type this sentence). She hoped it would be more like the Prague, but unfortunately, she's more likely to be attacked by a goose than visit a famed museum. Not only can she not visit a museum, but even her art teacher is clueless about art, recognizing that Matisse was named after an artist but mistaking Matisse for Monet; and seriously? How could anyone confuse the two? Prague is hopeless. It is nothing like New York City, where Matisse grew up. Then again, moving to Prague does have its perks. No one at Milo High knows Matisse's secret. Matisse can walk down the halls without receiving pitying looks from all of her classmates. And that suits her just fine. She is happy to keep her secret. She does not want her classmates to know that her dad has Parkinson's Disease. That her family moved to Prague because his doctor does not want him to build sculptures anymore. That she is hiding all of the hurt deep down so that even she might not be able to see it. How long can she keep her secret without being exposed? Will her friends support her when she is?

I really did enjoy this book. It was a quick read, but I became attached to Matisse and cried a few times. During scenes between Matisse and her parents, Grab did a good job of allowing the audience to view both sides. Although Matisse was quick to point out her opinion, her descriptions of her mother were a little bit too adolescent so I could tell that her mother was more likely acting or feeling differently. Parkinson's Disease was well represented in the book as well. True, Matisse's father may act like a ninny (yes, I did just say ninny) throughout much of the book, but he gets to. It's Parkinson's and it's taking over his life.

If you want to read a book filled with lovey-dovey romance? This isn't it. But if you want to read the story of a girl who is learning to be herself and to accept her family as it is, this is a good choice.

A-Z Challenge
completed - *Alive and Well in Prague, New York - Daphne Grab*
currently reading - *Vincent, Zu - The Lucky Place*

Wake

Imagine falling into a deep restful sleep when suddenly you wake in a nightmare. It's dark, and you can feel your body lying on your bed, but you realize that you forgot to shut the door or the window. Although you open your eyes, all you see is this nightmare. You feel your way to the window to make sure it's closed. The nightmare continues so you know you have to move on. You grasp for the wall, the desk, the chair. Maybe sit for a second to try to catch your breath as trembling you stand and continue to the door. Shutting the door, the nightmare fades away. It takes a minute, maybe two, and you can finally begin to breath normally again. In time, your vision clears, but you still are haunted by the nightmare you just witnessed. The nightmare that is still occurring. The nightmare that is being had by someone in the house. It's not your nightmare, you merely fell into it. This is your curse. It has been your curse since you were eight years old, riding on the train, and fell into the dream of a businessman worried about an upcoming presentation. No one can remember that you visited their dreams, but if they fall asleep nearby, and there are no closed doors to block it? Inevitably, you witness it all.

At 17, this is Janie Hannagan's life. Whether she is asleep or awake, if someone else has a dream, she watches it. Scary monsters, sex dreams, falling, drowning, being naked in a crowd. She's seen it all. It's normal. That is, until the nightmares become too strong and she can not hide her reactions. How can she keep her secret in high school when her classmates are falling asleep in class all the time? Who had the nightmare that scared her so badly, in which she seemed to be the the one the monster was after, and why weren't they in their own nightmare? Will Janie ever learn to control the dreams?

Just as Janie falls into everyone's dreams, I fell into Lisa McMann's debut novel and could not put it down until I had completed it. Truly, there are storylines that I hope to see expanded, or ideas that were not fully explained, but I believe that my questions will be answered in either Wake's followup (Fade - Feb 2009 - I can't wait!!!) or the third book (2010). One of the ideas that I wanted explained is hinted at in the short Fade excerpt that follows Wake. I admit that there were a few scenes in which I had to remind myself that the book was YA (I had begun to think of the novel as older because the teenagers are self-sufficient due to parental neglect) as I thought of things that could happen but were less likely to in this genre. This book was a New York Times Best-Seller. I definitely believe that it deserved it, and I think that it is good for my age group (20s), as well as teens.

A-Z Challenge completed - *Wake - Lisa McMann* <- I didn't need it for the challenge, but I wanted to finally read it since I have time and was awake all night... currently reading - *Alive and Well in Prague, New York - Daphne Grab*

Bloom

Lauren is dating Dave, and he's perfect. Together, they're perfect. Everything's perfect... except that she can't really talk to her best friend about what she is feeling, and she feels like an outsider among Dave's friends, and she can't tell anyone that she actually likes to play the clarinet, and she doesn't tell anyone about how her mother left her family when she was six, and her father is never home - but even when he is home - she can only say what she thinks he wants to hear, and she has her mother's grey eyes and is scared to become just like her but can't tell anyone that either, and, and, and...

Everything's perfect, until Evan Kirkland shows up in her world history class and her entire life is thrown upside down.

A quick paragraph excerpt from page 40:
"He looks at me and a smile blooms across his face. A real honest-to-God smile. I feel like I can't breathe."

Elizabeth Scott's Bloom plays off the idea that even when everything looks perfect, it's not perfect. The hottest guy in school falls for the most average girl, she becomes popular, they begin dating, and the story ends. Usually. This story picks up after that story ends. What happens after the relationship begins? How real is the average girl's new found popularity? Is happily ever after ever really happy? Can a perfect relationship last when an average guy is added to the mix?

I really enjoyed this book. Although I consider myself an observant reader, I actually missed a few things, a few connections, that were later repeated and expanded my understanding of some of the characters. Lauren is average; she's not perfect. And that's what makes this book so enjoyable.

A-Z Challenge completed - *Scott, Elizabeth - Bloom*
currently reading - *Alive and Well in Prague, New York - Daphne Grab*

Prep

Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep reads as a memoir. Although Sittenfeld is from the midwest and attended boarding school like her main character, the book is not completely based on her life, as she not so clearly states in the reader's guide following the story.

Lee Fiora attended Ault School in Massachusetts instead of attending her local high school in South Bend, Indiana. She had the idea that the children in the catalogs, the perfect girls and handsome boys, would become her friends and boyfriends. Of course, upon arriving at Ault for Freshman year, Lee was one of the few children on scholarship, and she would not forget it. She yearned to be more like the rich children, but she also had a fantasy that one of the handsome boys would find her crying in her room and comfort her. By the Winter of her Freshman year, Lee had fallen for Cross Sugarman. He became one of her obsessions throughout her four years at Ault.

Prep chronicles Lee's four years at Ault, as told by Lee in her late 20s. Although parts of the book were more enjoyable than others (i.e. Chapter 3: Assassin - following the game and wondering how it would continue and end seemed as much fun as playing it would have been), the book seemed more suited for a younger audience. The reasons that it is not for a younger audience are both the language (words children would not understand, as well as cursing) and the final chapter (Chapter 8: Kissing and Kissing), which was closer to Judy Bloom's Forever than to Meg Cabot's The Princess Diaries.

A-Z Challenge
completed - *Prep - Curtis Sittenfeld*
currently reading - *Scott, Elizabeth - Bloom*

Twilight and New Moon

Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga is quite addicting. It is a quick read in the sense that I did not want to put it down, but it did take quite a few hours to read each book (the first book was 498 pages and the second was 563 pages). I quickly became immersed in the story and read straight through the first two books in the series. ::edit - my review of the next to books is here::

**I tried to give little in the way of spoilers**

Twilight
In a world where monsters are real, Isabella Swan moves to the small town of Forks in Washington. Her parents have been divorced since she was little and her stepfather travels between minor league baseball teams, trying to make it to the big leagues. Bella has decided that it would be best for her mother if she moved in with her father (whom she "affectionately" calls by his first name and usually only sees in the summers) so that her mother can travel with her stepfather. Forks really is a small town, so small that upon beginning classes in January, everyone knows her name. In the new school, Bella receives attention from most of the male population (an experience which is completely new to her). Bella's only male classmate that seems to resist the allure of the new girl is her lab partner, Edward Cullen. Edward intrigues Bella and she soon observes peculiarities in his nature. At a beach party with some classmates, Bella flirts with young Jacob Black, a boy from a nearby town, and learns the story of the Cullens.


New Moon
When the Cullens leave town, Bella is distraught for months. Her father picks up on her troubles, but Bella decides to prove that everything is okay. She calls up friends that she had abandoned in her distress in order to get out of the house. During a trip to Port Angeles, Bella realizes that if she purposefully puts herself into a dangerous situation, she will hear Edwards voice in her head trying to warn her and keep her safe. In order to make this happen more often, Bella acquires a pair of motorcycles and contacts Jacob so that he can fix them and teach her to ride. He becomes her best friend, but nothing in Forks is ever simple for Bella. The danger is real, and monsters exist in many forms. Who can Bella trust when her safety is on the line? And can she ever make the right choice between love and friendship without breaking someone's heart?

I still have yet to read Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, but I think I've picked my side in the Edward versus Jacob debate that I've heard about. Eclipse will have to say a lot if it has any chance of swaying my vote. And at 640 pages (according to amazon.com, possibly including a Breaking dawn preview, though I'm not sure), it does have a chance, though slight.


A-Z Challenge
completed - *Twilight - Stephenie Meyer*
completed - *New Moon - Stephenie Meyer*