The Son of Neptune – gosh it’s nice to see Percy again, even if his memory is shot for most of the book.
I’m liking the idea of the Greeks, Romans and Amazons joining force. Annabeth isn’t gonna screw it all up, is she?
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I loved Origami Yoda so it’s not much of a surprise that I loved Darth Paper Strikes Back, is it? I always worry a little bit about a second book in a series, after loving the first book so much but there’s nothing to worry about this one. I really, really loved the “bonus game included” bit. Brilliant. Clever. Oh so awesome. Even Harvey comes through in the end. I liked that.
Looking for a good ‘tween gift at the last minute? Buy both books and some awesome origami paper.
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My mother buzzed me to tell me that I should read Reading Jackie: Her Biography in Books – so I reserved it, even though my TBR list is huge. TW read it first, as usual, and ranted a good bit about the author and about Jackie, too.
I didn’t find much to rant about, the author’s tone at times is a bit troubling – he’s a man, after all, but I’ve read worse. Jackie – well, she was born in the late 20’s. Is it any wonder she didn’t want to be known as a brain? Her husband, the President, didn’t want her to be politically active – which also makes sense, look where that got Hillary decades later? Onassis was a dick, duh. All in all, I’d say there’s not much to complain about when you dig into who she was and what she did (or didn’t do.)
Looking at Jackie through the books she published at Viking and then Doubleday was interesting. I’ve only read a handful of them and now I find myself thinking about reserving a few more from the library. Maybe I’ll start with the Tiffany books, just for fun?
Interesting book – if you’re at all interested in Jackie (and who isn’t, right?)
Oops! I finished Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children ages ago and forgot to write about it. How I could have forgotten is beyond me. It took me so long to get to it, after wanting to read it for – forever and then it was so freaky good, freaky being an understatement here.
TW wouldn’t read it – the photos freaked her out. I can see why. This is a book that could give you nightmares, if you’re inclined to nightmares about freaky people (which I’m not.) What brilliant idea to take these odd photos and write a story, about kids (mostly), around them. Super smart. Interesting plot. I’m dying to know what happens next – though I’m a bit troubled by Jacob and Emma. I almost didn’t want there to be a sequel because I’m not super comfortable with their relationship.
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Goodness these three non-fiction books were long! At one point I told TW I would come watch a movie once I finished this book. She said “that’s another baby book, why haven’t you already finished it?” I showed her why… there were a ton of words in that thing and all three of them were like that. A little surprising since the non-fiction genre can sometimes be light on words – particularly when they’re heavy on photos, as these three books were.
First, my favorite of the three – and maybe my favorite from this year’s non-fiction lists, Kakapo Rescue. You’re shocked, aren’t you? I am not a bird person and spend a considerable portion of my life cursing RJ’s cockatiel and counting down the days until it moves out of my house. I hate that bird. Kakapo’s, however, COOL and totally should be rescued. How fascinating. I want to rescue Kakapos!
Next, Hive Detectives – this is the story about the honeybee problem. Unfortunately, no real solutions – just a solid reporting of what happened and what scientists (and bee keepers) are doing to figure out what happened (and prevent it from continuing). We need bees so I hope they figure it out soon.
Last but not least, Unspeakable Crime. This is the story of Leo Frank and Mary Phagan. What happened? What didn’t happen? Interesting read. I’m glad I didn’t live in Atlanta in 1913. Or anywhere in 1913, really.
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Three things about Ivy & Intrigue:
– I’m glad I didn’t read it when it first came out. Reading it close to Christmas and close to the next book made me happy.
– Lauren Willig should have written one holiday novella every year, in between books. That would have been awesome.
– I cannot wait for the next book (even if it is titled badly – a garden is not a flower!)
I almost did not reserve Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick. I’ve got more than enough to read and more, more, more than enough YA to read and I just didn’t believe it was going to be THAT good. But after reading other people’s posts about it, I figured what the hell and reserved it.
It was that good.
The college essay questions at the beginning of each chapter were a nice touch. A very nice touch. In fact, perfect.
There must be a sequel and Sassymonkey said something about a movie. It will be an awesome action movie (no vampires!)
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Sad, sad, sad. Also, did I mention Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze is sad? I think it’s miss-titled, too. Otherwise – good book. I liked the drawings a lot. I’m not sure whether middle graders will really love this book – sad, sad, sad – but I definitely did enjoy it. Except where it made me almost cry.
It was the blanket that did me in.
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I put off reading Under a Red Sky because I thought it was going to be boring. I thought it was going to be something other than what it was – which means I didn’t know it was going to be more of a memoir than a historical look at Romanian Jews after WW2. (The darn sub-title that says it’s a memoir of a childhood in communist Romania is missing from the cover of the book.)
Because it was a memoir, it wasn’t boring at all. It was interesting and just a little sad and scary. The only thing I wish was that we had a few more chapters – what was it like to finally reach Israel? But then I’d probably want a few more chapters about heading to America.
I’m very glad I read this one and I’m sorry I waited so long.
The last of the YA Cybils. Hurrah! Even better – I really liked this one. After the first “chapter” aka journal entry of Scrawl, I didn’t think I would. It starts off with a boy writing about bullying another kid and leaves off in the middle of a sentence. The beginning of the next chapter aka journal entry does not pick up where the last chapter starts. I was confused. I thought maybe there was more than one kid writing. A couple more pages into it and I was hooked.
The first three pages though – rough, and if I was a woman who quit books early, I might have quit.
If you’re a woman (or a teen, since this IS YA fiction after all) and tend to give up early – don’t. Stick with it. The pay-off is worth it.
I don’t suppose this won the Cybil … nah, couldn’t have. Too bad. I’d have voted for it.