How did Mozart really die? Was he poisoned? And by whom? And why? Mozart’s Last Aria is about Mozart’s sister and her efforts to find the answers to those questions – and in the process, we see Mozart as a bit of a radical feminist, which was kind of nifty. Fun little whodunit and Madame Mozart is fabulous, as are all of the female characters in the book. The guys aren’t bad, but it’s the women who are best – much like in The Magic Flute…
Snow – 1.25.12
The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt
TW and I argued over who put this one in the library bag. I’m sure I did – she’s sure she did, even though she did not bother to read it and was going to return it to the library without reading it (or without giving me a chance to read it. I rescued it from the return bin and I’m darn glad I did. The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt was the perfect late night read last night, after finishing John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars.
The scrapbook images were fun. The scrapbook text was a lot like a diary, which made it an actual book to read. I liked it. I even liked the happily ever after ending for the Vassar feminist of the 40s.
The Fault in Our Stars
I hate kid cancer books. Kind of like the kids in The Fault in Our Stars hate cancer books, ok maybe not like they do – since I’m not a kid with cancer, but still – hate them. I just hate them.
The only redeeming value in this one (and it’s a big redeeming value) is that John Green wrote it. That pretty much says all you need to know. And all I’m going to say since I don’t want to give any spoilers or anything remotely spoiler-ish.
The kids are great. Their parents are nicely written. The stupid author, who is so NOT John Green, is well done. I loved the wish genies. IN the heart of Jesus – brilliant. And yes, I even cried a bit at the end – even though I was SURE I wouldn’t.
The Taker
The Taker is excellent, I’m glad I read it and didn’t just return it to the library because it wasn’t on my original TBR list. It’s not about vampires, but about people who become immortal through alchemy. I’ll admit the first couple of chapters had me rolling my eyes about a vampire book that doesn’t have vampires, but it’s better than that. Really interesting and I’m excited about the second book in the trilogy, coming in June. When I finished the book last night, I was left wondering a lot of things – about Adair and Lanore and Luke.
Bad Girls Don’t Die
Bad Girls Don’t Die was pretty creepy. All of those dolls. * Shudder *
And fire. There was fire. And fire has been freaking me out lately.
I’m not sure I really understood the need for the Carter storyline but I didn’t hate it, really. I found the missing father more troubling. The reaction to his accident by the girls and their mother – weird. And I don’t think it was related to the evil doll, either.
Creepy. Weird. But a quick, fun read.
Addie on the Inside
I almost didn’t read Addie on the Inside because I didn’t love The Misfits enough to really want to read any more of Howe’s books in the series. But, then again, Addie is a good strong female character so… I figured what the heck. And, I think it’s No Name Calling Week, or will be next week? Right, next week, Timely.
And now I’m glad I read it.
Told in verse – nicely done verse – it’s a super fast read and a bit of a page turner, too.
All of the normal stuff. Middle school sucks. Bullies suck. And sometimes bullies are bullies because they’re trying to survive their own kind of hell. Being queer in middle school sucks. Trying to start a Day of Silence program in middle school sucks. Dealing with annoying teachers in middle school sucks. Dealing with race issues sucks. Heck, everything about middle school pretty much sucks. Addie knows all of this but that doesn’t really make it any easier to deal with the middle school suckage (or suckers, for that matter.)
Ganymeade
I couldn’t have asked for a better book, (or author), to kick off my Steampunk Challenge – Ganymeade is fabulous. I might be a little bit biased since I actually spent a good bit of my summer vacation hanging out at the Friends of the Hunley museum way back before it moved to North Charleston. (Err, actually it was way back before the Hunley was found, now that I think about it.)
A submarine is a great steampunk machine – brilliant idea and brilliant idea to have the crew of the Naamah Darling fly it/drive it/sail it.
As much as I’m looking forward to seeing Boneshaker made into a movie, I feel like Ganymeade might be even better. The Hunt for Red October meets Night of the Living Dead – steampunked? Brilliant, right? I’m also looking forward to see what happens next in Seattle.
The Dragon of Cripple Creek
I saw The Dragon of Cripple Creek cover in a recently reviewed spinner on our library website and it looked interesting – so I reserved it. Cute little middle grade fiction book about a girl who is crazy for gold – and what happens when she convinces her dad to take a detour so they can go on a tour of an old gold mine – and she takes a detour away from the group. She finds gold and a dragon and sets off a modern day gold rush.
… So that’s where gold REALLY comes from. Cool…
Steve Jobs
I’ve never been an Apple fan girl. I come close when it comes to my iPhone, though. There really isn’t a better phone and my appreciation of the iPhone helped me begin to understand the Apple fan girls and the Cult of Mac. Reading the Steve Jobs biography made it even easier to grok. Reading the biography even made me more of a Steve Jobs fan, even if he was an asshat.
Fascinating read – fascinating guy – fascinating company.
And those Ultrabooks at CES… bah, Apple did that shit with the MacBook Air and I wanted one. I still want one. The new Ultrabooks are obviously going to be cheaper than the Macbook Air but… I might just break down and buy the Apple version because Apple did it first.
Maybe I’ll turn into an Apple fan girl some day.