Brain Jack is a creepy, cool book. Creepy because who wants a computer taking over your head or super hackers taking over your computer? Cool because computers can take over your head and hackers can do really amazing things.
The best part was when “Ursula” killed all of the spam in the world. I cheered out loud. It would almost be worth it… almost.
Great book from the Cybils YA SciFi/Fantasy shortlist.
After we finished listening to Forge, I decided to grab Fever 1793 on audio since we’ve never read it – and because I was amused that Matty Cook was the main character. She was briefly mentioned in Forge when Mrs Cook had to return home to help her daughter in law with new baby Matilda Cook.
I was disappointed that Mrs Cook from Forge had already passed away before Fever 1793 took place but it was nice to see King George the parrot again – however briefly.
I liked the book a good bit. I liked Matty. I liked Eliza. I’m very glad I did not live in America in 1793 – yellow fever was (is!) horrible!
When TW read The Mockingbirds, she griped a lot about it. Said it was a horrible, depressing book. So, I thought I was in for trouble when I started reading it this morning. Once again, I find myself wondering if TW and I read the same damn book.
Sure, a book about date rape is never going to be light and breezy but it wasn’t nearly as horrible and depressing as it could have been. I liked it. I’m not a big fan of vigilante justice, so I did struggle with that particular storyline. I’d have liked it better if Alex had been able to go to adults a lot sooner than she did but that’s not the story that was being told here. I’d recommend it to teens and I can see why others who’ve read it were giving it good reviews.
The new version of Girl Wide Web is on Michelle’s syllabus so I thought I’d try and reserve it from my library- no luck, they only had the original version. I thought what the hell and reserved it. It was interesting but in a dated sort of way.
Remember when BlueJeanOnline started, and how cool it was to have a magazine written for and BY girls. Yea. The essay focusing on BlueJeanOnline was interesting, in a historical kind of way. BlueJean has been gone for quite some time now. I remember when Gurl was new and interesting – look at it today, not so much new or interesting. And when AboutFace.org started, thankfully it’s still going strong.
The internet moves quickly and these essays are good reflections of how girls were using the internet and are good jumping off points for anyone who wants to dig into how girls use the internet today.
I’ll be interested in hearing what Michelle thinks about Girl Wide Web 2.0. I wonder if she’ll let me borrow it once she finishes with her class.
Damn Rebecca James. Just damn her. She introduced me to the Skinned Trilogy. We discussed the first book quite a bit. I told her that I liked the idea but that I pretty much hated the book until the last 50 pages. She nodded her head like she understood (but who knows whether she did or not…) Many months went by and I started doing catch up with series I had started. So I reserved the next book and I read it and I pretty much hated it until the last 50 pages. I told RJ. She nodded and acted like she understood. I reserved the next book, Wired, and over the weekend I mentioned it was on the library cart and said “but I assume you’ve already read it since you’ve read everything.” Her response, “No, I’ve only read the first one.”
What? I read this series because I thought SHE WAS READING IT and we could maybe ya know, discuss it and stuff? SHE ALWAYS READS THE FULL SERIES.
So I suffered through both of those books (except for the last 50 pages of each) only to find out… whatever.
I read Wired anyway and guess what – I liked it better than the first two books. I liked Lia Kahn much better all the way through this one. I also liked Judd better. And… I liked the ending. Too bad RJ hasn’t read them all.
TW was alllllll excited about The Monstrumologist and not just because Yancey mentions Devil’s Millhopper in the beginning. (We love Devil’s Millhopper and if we ever leave this godforsaken place I would be happy to live very close to the Devil’s Millhopper again – but that’s another post entirely.) I almost took it back to the library unread because I had a whole bunch of books due back and I needed to be really selective about which books I chose in order to get through as many as possible and The Monstrumologist isn’t exactly a short book. Also, sometimes when TW is really really enthusiastic about a book, I don’t love it. Heh.
But, it was the last book due back on Monday (which is today) and I had nothing else I was dying to read instead – so I picked it up. It was late and it started slowly, well after the Devil’s Millhopper part. I had a hard time sticking with it for the first 50 pages. I really think it was just because I was tired because shortly after that, I was hooked. I was cursing out loud at “the monstrumologist” and cursing even more loudly out loud at “Corey”.
And now I’m dying to read the second book (which TW already read but I had to take back UNREAD.) I think I’ll reserve book two sooner, rather than later. I wonder what these would be like on audio… scary or not so much? Hmmm maybe we’ll find out when we get to book three.
Also, Mr. Yancey, if you stumble across this… TW wants to know if you live in Gainesville. Or at least in Alachua County. I think she might want to meet you in person. Maybe at Devil’s Millhopper if we ever leave this godforsaken city we live in now.
This was something I picked up after seeing it on a book blog – I just wish I remembered which book blog. I almost didn’t read Anna and the French Kiss because of the damn cover. It looks a little to YA pretty girl romance-y for me. I decided I’d give it a try after reading the first couple of chapters over TW’s shoulder one night – I got sucked into the idea of a story about a girl whose parents send her to Paris to attend the School of Americas in Paris for her senior year. She doesn’t want to go. She wants to stay home. In Atlanta. With her friends. Doing normal things. Watching her brother.
Once she arrives, she starts out a little too timid for me. She doesn’t leave the school for a week. She doesn’t order hot food at the cafeteria for ages because she doesn’t speak French. Wah. Poor thing. Your situation is what you make of it.
Good thing she found nice people who forced her to go out, I guess. I’d have liked it better if she’d have grown her own backbone and made her way like a strong young woman but whatevs.
It’s not that I didn’t like her friends – I did. It’s not that I didn’t like the guy she falls for – I did. All of those things could have happened with Anna being just a wee bit stronger and a wee bit more self-sufficient. I’d like to think young women who read this are going to read Anna’s character and roll their damn eyes at her wimpyness – while still enjoying the cute love story.
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Yay! Our first audio book of 2011 – we started it in 2010 and finished it today. Forge is the second book in Laurie Halse Anderson’s Seeds of America series. We listened to Chains a few months ago and while we didn’t love, love, LOVE it – we liked it. I figure we’ll read along until we decide we don’t like them at all. After listening to Forge, we aren’t anywhere near that point. We liked Forge much better than we liked Chains. Curzon is a good character – and his storytelling and thinking process is stronger than Isabel’s was in the first book. Or, maybe the storytelling was tighter? Halse Anderson found her way and simply improved? I don’t know what it was but it was excellent and I’m dying for a book three.
When I went off looking for book three, I saw Fever 17 – I believe I read that but am not 100% sure and since the main character is mentioned in very brief passing, in an amusing way, towards the end of Forge, I decided to go ahead and reserve this one on audio while we wait for book three. I think we’ll be amused by it.
I’m not sure this was the best book to finish up the 2010 reading year. It was… kind of depressing. The Girl with the Mermaid Hair was about a screwed up family – a “perfect daughter” who wasn’t starving but she was seriously sabotaging herself. And, there was an evil magic mirror involved too. It all ended well. Or pretty well. But it was rough going for awhile.
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I think I picked up The Beef Princess of Practical County because I liked the title and the cover. I can’t remember seeing it blogged anywhere or recommended by anyone. It’s a nice little book about a girl whose family has a cattle ranch in Indiana. She’s 12 and this will be the first year she raises her own calves and takes one to the fair – which means the heartbreak of sending her calves to slaughter… sniff, sniff.
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