( 90 )
This book pissed me off. I felt used at the end, like I’d been pushed and pulled through an emotional for a couple hundred pages to be smacked over the head with one last big tragic stick then the afterword is the author blowing sunshine up my skirt. Yea, not so much. I won’t be reading anymore Picoult unless my book club makes me.
Or the library gets volume 2 of the Wonder Woman graphic novel she wrote, I actually liked that 
( 89 ) Percy Jackson & the Olympians, book 3
Reading the second book in this series taught me that I actually prefer these in audio and went back to listening for this one and the 4th in the series. I don’t know if it was just because I was listening to it instead of reading it, but it was much better than book 2 in the series, though it did start a bit weak.
The MC in this series is 12ish in the first book and I probably wouldn’t recommend them for a kid who is younger than 9 or 10, but at that point I definitely recommend them, at least the audio version
( 88 )
This is a short story/novella set in the world of His Dark Materials and tells the story of how Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison met. And, yet again, confirmed in my mind that these are not for kids. Nothing in it a teen wouldn’t get in a locker room or cable tv, but still… I am, apparently, getting conservatish (I made that word up just now…it’s conservative for people who are afraid to admit they’re becoming conservative) in my old age. As with “The Amber Spyglass” was excellently narrated by the author with a full vocal cast.
( 87 ) His Dark Materials, book 3
Finished them all, and still don’t think this is a kid’s/YA series, despite having a young protag. I liked this better than the last two, but that may have had more to do with the great quality of the audio version I listened to (narrated by Pullman himself with a full vocal cast, really, really, good). Beyond that, well, I’m being a coward and ignoring any and all potential theological discussion regarding this series.
( 86 ) – His Dark Materials, book 2
Wow. The shift from the Golden Compass to this book is just… Wow. This is SO much more adult. I would probably not let my child read this til she was a couple/few years into the double digits.
Reading this you immediately see what the hue and cry about this series being anti-religion was about.
“It is the Magisterium, the Church. For all its history–and that’s not long by our lives, but it’s many, many of theirs–it’s tried to suppress and control every natural impulse. And when it can’t control them, it cuts them out…That is what the Church does, and every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling.”
I was expecting it, after all the fuss last year, but it was still such a blunt force, ugly statement that I was a bit thrown. BUT, and this is a huge but, I went into it expecting a religious controversy, particularly since there was so little of that in the first book in the series.
It was a good book, but I don’t think it should be shelved in the “Y FIC” section just because the characters are young. This is a grown up book.
( 85 )
I’m sorry Candy, but it was just a book. Not a bad book, but certainly not worth all the hype.
I will say, though, that I thought the line of poetry that the title is derived from was used poorly. It would have resonated with me more had it been used all throughout the book, but it was missing completely from the 1st section, and horribly overused in the last. But maybe that was just me.
It was a book. Not sorry I slogged through it, but won’t read it again (and doubly glad now that I skipped The Kite Runner !)
( 84 )
The Twilight Saga, book 4
I was surprised how much I didn’t hate this, after all the word of mouth on this. I think calling this the 4th book in a series written as a trilogy pretty much says it all.
“They’re selling well, didja leave enough plot holes room to squeeze one more book out?”
I read this whole series, start to finish, and, looking back, I just don’t care for it. It’s not out and out bad, like, say Douglas Clegg’s vampire series, but it’s not good either. It’s just too darn angsty for anyone over the age of 13, I think.
FWIW, though, I did like the fact that she kept it clean. Someone on another blog I read called “Twilight” teen vampire porn and I had to disagree. It’s angsty, and they kiss, but that’s pretty much it. In all honesty, as racy as almost all vamp fic has gotten in the last 10-15 years, I rather liked that it was so squeaky clean.
( 83 )
Read this one aloud to J over the past 4 weeks. She tried to act cool, but I could tell she really enjoyed it. More later, I’m tired.
( 82 )
I don’t like memoirs. Really.
I loved this book, though. It made me cry, dadnabbit, but it was worth it. I don’t know why I liked it so much, I think because he put so many things that are simple and commonsense out there in an entertaining and humorous way. I feel like I can’t do it justice, but am glad I read it.
( 81 )
Septimus Heap, book 2
I actually liked this one better than the first one, probably because I didn’t see the whole of the ending coming from Chapter 3 this time. Possibly because I read it instead of listening to it…? If you have a child who wants to be into Harry Potter, but still has trouble comprehending the vocabulary and jokes (like mine), try Septimus Heap. The books are thick, but smaller than a standard hardback, easier for small hands to hold. Will probably get a set of these for the small person over Winter break.
