59 posts tagged “jfic”
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I posted this at my summer vacation blog and don't feel like
re-writing. I have a backlog of books to blog most of which are sitting
on the front seat of my car. First, yes, of course, I read Harry Potter this weekend. I got home from my weekend around three yesterday afternoon. I said hello to the parents, picked up my copy of the book from my bed where they had put it for me, grabbed a blanket, bowl of popcorn, huge mug of Bengal Spice and hunkered down in the family room until dinner. I heart J.K. Rowling. She did a wonderful job with the last book, the finale, the end. I couldn't have told you what I wanted from the book before I read it, but this was everything it should have been. Loose ends were tied up, I got closure and I fall down on my knees in gratitude that one of the few spoilers I read was wrong. I am going to read all seven straight through now, just because I can. No waiting for the next one to be published, no holding back because I don't want to know what's going to befall our intrepid heroes. Just as an aside, I can draw a lot of parallels between Harry Potter and my other favorite fantasy series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I've seen written that Harry is the courage, Ron is the heart and Hermione is the brains; much like Buffy was the courage, Xander was the heart and Willow was the brains. Having to sacrifice yourself willingly was a theme in Buffy as well as Harry Potter and the idea of love being stronger than death is apparent in both series. SECOND, I am on librarything. It's a book cataloging site and now they're offering pre-release books for members to review. AND I GOT ONE!!!! They've sent me a copy of the Guardians by Ana Castillo. I can't wait!!! Except I'm crap at writing reviews. Just look at my book blog. I don't review, I spew my thoughts without editing (though some reflection is done beforehand) and I don't even doublecheck for typos and mistakes. | |
| Originally posted July 23, 2007 | |
YAY! Tomorrow when the war began by Marsden is the first in a series!!!
I read the second one and have the third at home, but I'm not sure if
I'll read it. I have a bunch of other ones to read as well. And this
weekend is...
But, I was ecstatic to find that there were a bunch of books about
Ellie and her friends. Even if I don't read them, it's nice to know
they're there.
Originally posted July 18, 2007
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I'm not usually frightened by ghost stories and even though I read this
one all the way to its resolution, it still creeped me out. I do
frighten easily. I suppose it's because I have a hard time holding on
to rational thought. Anyways, nasty little boy start playing mindgames with his neighbors by crawling through the ventilation shafts in his apartment building. Old man at the end of his life, yadda, yadda, yadda. Think they become friends? Anyways, there is a ghost in there and it was scary. Only for daylight hours. I don't think I've read Melvin Burgess before. His other books don't really pique my interest, but this one was good. What? You want to know the title? Oh, sure, The Ghost Behind the Wall. Pretty much sums it up! | |
| Originally posted July 16, 2007 | |
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I have seen the tv show on MtV, maybe? I find it obscene. This book
written by two women Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman was nice and
fluffy with some incredibly humiliating moments that truly a girl
should never have to go through, especially when the Carrie moment was
meant for someone else. Fluff, fluff, fluff but still better than Evanovich (outside of Stephanie Plum) and Cabot. | |
| Originally posted July 14, 2007 | |
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Thinking about this book still makes me tear up. It was published back
in 88 and is about two high schoolers. The girl wants to be an actress
and the boy wants to be a musical star. Their mothers went to high
school together and they were born on the same day and have been best
friends ever since. Boy gets killed by a drunk driver, girl falls apart. Great story, laugh out loud funny in some parts. I cried. Not as much as I would have if I wasn't at work, but yes, of course, there was a class in the library. | |
| Originally posted July 14, 2007 | |
A fairly unsympathetic protagonist turns out to be a pretty cool chick by the end. BernadETTE is on the debate team and because of her test score ends up on the school team for a trivia contest, think It's Academic for Michigan, but somebody cheated to get her school into the contest. Was it the principal? Her sexy, British, porsche driving English teacher? Or perhaps the school librarian? Or is it just all in her head? Along the way, she actually makes some friends, nearly loses one and has to determine what really is the right thing to do in a very grey area.
It's a pretty funny (ha-ha) book, too. There's one line that really
cracked me up, but now I can't remember it. A little flirty romance,
too, that's cute. I'd recommend it to anyone. Teen People called it a
"light breezy read", but while it's not heavy lifting, there's a little
more substance to it than say Meg Cabot...
Originally posted July 10, 2007
I always forget that this word means Miracles. I just think of the movie the Milagros Bean Fields War (which I never actually saw). Quite a few (all right, two off the top of my head) of the books that I've read this past weekend deal with adolescents figuring out their place in their family mostly because they do not biologically belong to both parents.
This story, Finding Miracles, by Julia Alvarez is a lovely story about
a family finding its place and the the main character figuring out her
whole self, in terms of her, her family and the country of her birth. I
cried.
Originally posted July 8, 2007
Gordon Korman wrote his first book when he was in middle school. (I can't remember if I've already blogged about him or not) It was very funny. I have enjoyed most of his books since then. His series' on everest (or some high peak), deserted island and kidnapped/arrested parents are a little too fluffy, but not as fluffy as some of the other crap out there. He's just a couple of years (scratch that, just looked him up on wikipedia), eleven years older than me, and I've never met him. But, when I heard that he got married, I was crushed. ;)
Anyways, Born to Rock is great. Kid's father isn't quite who he thinks
it is. Another good book for the principled criteria of the learner
profile. Quite a few funny scenes and just a good family/love story.
Originally posted July 8, 2007
| I love Apocalyptic fiction. I know I've said that before, but it's worth repeating. I was really excited to pick up Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden (the second Australian author of the weekend). I appreciate how the narrator, Ellie, really thought about the consequences of her actions and considered what it meant to take a life and what it meant to be human. Excellent, excellent story, but I hated that it ended the way it did. Oh well. Maybe some student will want to write the further adventures... | |
| Originally posted July 8, 2007 | |
Little murder, little football, abusive stepfather, throw in a whack a
mole stand, a pretty girl and you've got Nothing to Lose by Alex Flinn.
I've been trying to find the fiction that will appeal to the teen boys.
The head librarian who recommended Zusak also recommended Flinn. It was
a decent mystery, though most adults will peg what really happened way
before the end of the book, but the journey is one well worth taking.
Good characters, interesting plot lines, hopefully, I'll find some
takers tomorrow!
Originally posted July 8, 2007
