Book Club

There is too much work/life cross over going on right now.  I need a break.  You know the type of break that lets my chin heal from its adolescent explosion of stress acne.  Yeah, yowzas.

One thing that keeps me sane is making time for reading.  There is something so calming about letting my mind wander into a book that does all the thinking for me.  Why is it that when you feel overwhelmed or busy it's impossible to find time for reading?  Anyhow, here is one of the last books I have read.

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo is the sequel to the teen fantasy novel that I read over the summer.  The last time I read a few books in this genre, it almost made me mad about how predictable it was.  This book had more action and took more turns than I expected.  This is really one of my favorite teen fiction series that I've read in a long time.  Yet again I must give this warning:  The third book of this trilogy is not yet published!  If you don't like waiting in between books, don't pick this one up until next year or so!

Monday Book Club

I’d like to start this post by noting that I’m the person that reads the last chapter first.  This is not always the case.  If the book is too slow, I like to read the last chapter or last few pages of the book.  I want the end to be dramatically different from the beginning, because that tells me the journey will be exciting.  If the ending is similar to the beginning of the book, I’m not interested in reading it.  I need more development in the middle.

I read, I Only Mark the Hours that Shine by Edith Bouvier Beale, because I'm a Grey Gardens fan.  I would recommend it to the fans.  Just keep in mind it is written by an 11 year-old girl and is boring at times.  Little Edie's journal does give you a sweet insight to her extravagant lifestyle and enduring love for her mother.  I do want to leave you with the last sentence written in her journal for the year 1929.  It won’t give anything away, but I think it really captures the essence of Edie…

Monday Book Club

Shards and Ashes is a collection of short stories by a group of dystopian teen fiction writers.
Some I enjoyed very much, and some I skimmed.
I did enjoy reading short stories that I didn't have to invest a lot of time in.  I think it allowed me to stretch my imagination and let me be open to more unusual settings.  I enjoyed Veronica Roth's story (the author of Divergent), as well as stories by Margaret Stohl, Kami Garcia, Beth Revis, and Carrie Ryan.
This would be a good beach read.  I'd recommend it to the casual reader interested in dystopian teen fiction, who has nothing better to read.

Monday Book Club

I listened to this book last week.  It got recommended to me by the Lawrence public library.  "If you liked Hunger Games you'll like Legend."
Well, the more I read teen post apocalyptic fiction, the more silly and predictable it is.  Legend has an interesting setting, yet the characters where underdeveloped.  It was a fun listen and relatively short.  I listened to it while editing photos.  I'm glad I didn't invest the free time it would have taken to read it.

Monday Book Club

I may have been last on the boat to read this thriller, Gone Girl.  Yet as a Missourian, I definitely had some hometown pride while reading it.  A chapter even takes place in Ladue, where I work!

Gillian Flynn wrote a compelling scenario that could have taken multiple paths.  The path she chose kept me on my toes and guessing along the way.  To be honest, that rarely happens, and I enjoyed it immensely.   I recommend this book to anyone seeking a quick read thriller.

If you want to know more about the books I like, friend me on goodreads.com!

Monday Book Club

I've been reading some graphic novels.  It is something I have had almost no exposure to and just walked in the library and picked some.  I also looked at some lists on goodreads.com.  Here are the ones that I actually liked.  There are a lot of weird ones....

This graphic novel is by Jim Henson!  I just watched Being Elmo a few weeks ago and now have a new found respect for all things Jim Henson.  It's a fascinating story told with very few words.  It seemed like a dream.

I've always been a fan of the movie Great Expectations, but had never read the book!  I found that in the graphic novel section of the library there are a lot of classic books adapted into comic books!  I love the story.  The illustrations are haunting, which is so fitting for the book.

This is a famous graphic novel, that was even made into a movie.  (I still need to see it)  It's basically a coming of age story about a girl who grows up in war torn Iran.  I like that she is a girl who was interested in the world around her, yet still wanted cool shoes and talked back to her mom.  It was a very real story.  Great for upper elementary school girls!

Monday Book Club

The Maze Runner
by James Dashner

I saw this book on a few lists that compared it to The Hunger Games, only it's for boys.  I was curious and thought I would give it a try.  Finding similar lists is the reason I read Divergent, so why not try another.

I know Divergent wasn't written especially well, but I think the Maze Runner is a little worse.  I also realize these are children's books so I shouldn't be shocked that I felt smarter than the protagonist.  I was often frustrated that the main character, Thomas, couldn't put two and two together and figure out what was going to happen next quick enough.

Over all, I enjoyed the plot and the idea of the book.  I'm looking forward to the next one, which I can finally pick up from the library tomorrow!

I am a critical reader but my ratings on books for goodreads.com are usually based upon how much I enjoyed the journey of reading the book.  I gave The Maze Runner  4 stars.

Book Club

I've been reading these Really dorky high school girl books.

Pretty Little Liars.

There is an ABCfamily TV show based off of them.

It's my guilty pleasure I know that I've mentioned before.  But now I've read book 1, 2, 3 and 4...

it's almost embarrassing.