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-Jess

6.3.10

My Problem With The Sisterhood

Before I went to work yesterday, I started watching Gilmore Girls. I absolutely love that show, and I started thinking about the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. From the movie I then went to the books. I absolutely love those books. I think Anne Brashares is a genius for writing them, because I can connect to every character in them. But, I asked myself, why did she write a fourth book? I mean yes it tied up loose ends about Kostos and, B does truly commit herself to Eric, and the end does tie up the series. But, beside those three points why did she not have everything stay the same as it did in the third book. For one I think Lena ending up with Kostos was bad. I hated what Kostos did to her, he got married for crying out loud, and then he suddenly comes back to see if she will take him back? No don't agree with that. I felt the Lena/Paul story line should have taken off. I loved Paul. He is a great wonderful guy, and I felt that not developing him more was a mistake for Brashares. Also I feel that Win was perfect for Carmen, absolutely wonderful, and I feel that tin the fourth book she's just no where, and I definitely feel that true Carmen would always know where she is. Tibby, I truly liked where she ended up in the third book. I really really did, and I felt in the fourth she was just taking steps backwards to where she was pre-baily, and pre-brian. And Lastly B. The third book was amazing because it left off with someone who was taking care of her, and don't get me wrong I am so so so glad that Eric and her (spoiler!) end up together, but the fourth book just kind of twisted her story more than I would have liked. (I'm all about the concrete endings)

25.2.10

Honolulu

So this week I had the time to read a really fantastic work. Honolulu by Alan Brennert chronicles the life of Jin or Gem Kwon as she travels to Hawaii as a picture bride in the early 1900's. As the brides reach Hawaii they realize that there husbands to be are not everything that they had imagined them. Jin ends up in a an abusive marriage, and ends up running away from him to start a new life on her own. A beautiful story that tells of the struggles of everyone not haole (white) in this territory at this period in time. I would recommend this for any history buff, as it has some great ties to real people in history. Brennert is a master at making the reader feel the anguish of the people who struggle. Over all a very good read.
Originality: 7.5
Plot: 7
Easiness of Read: 8
Overall Score: 8

23.1.10

One down 3 to go...

Just finished Sizzle, and I must say it was a pretty decent read. Tad more romance, but hey who says that is a bad thing? First off, I feel like the whole murder plot was kind of loose, there were a lot of things that just seem like they were thrown in and then added to the story line to make it seem more solid. (Flynn Anyone?) Other than a few minor details I feel like it was a solid story. I definitely would be interested in reading some other works that Garwood has out there. However for right now I will have to content myself with an LJ Smith book that just came in the mail for me. Yipee!
By the way if you dear reader ever feel like you can never find a decent deal on books, check out Costco usually the second week your book hits bookshelves. They usually offer your book at about half the price that you would find it at regular chain bookstores! Or also the first week a book is released check Amazons Bargain Books! There is a treasure trove of inexpensive books in there, and with a free trial of prime you can get your book delivered free in two days! Just something to think about. However if both of those resources are non existent to you, check out Target. However if money is tight go to The Library. My mom keeps telling me (yes I know mom) to go to the library, however my dreams of Belle's Library will not be attained if I borrow books!
Till Next Time
-Jess

22.1.10

The Reads I Want to Read!

So just expressing my desires in print so this way I have some accountability with what I want to read!

Sizzle, Julie Garwood: Lyra Prescott, a Los Angeles film student, is closing in on graduation and facing important decisions about her future. She's already been offered a job at her hometown TV station, an opportunity that could ultimately launch her dream career as a film editor. But heading back home would also mean dealing with her overprotective brothers, social-climbing mother, and eccentric grandmother. Unsure of her future, Lyra dives into work on her final school assignment: a documentary transformed by a twist of fate into a real-life horror film.
After she unwittingly captures a shocking crime on camera, a rash of mysterious, treacherous incidents convince Lyra that she's trapped in a sinister scenario headed for a violent ending. Running scared, she turns to her best friend, Sidney Buchanan, whose connections bring dauntless and devilishly handsome FBI agent Sam Kincaid into Lyra's life. As the noose of deadly intrigue tightens and the feelings between them deepen, Lyra and Sam must place their faith in each other's hands - and stand together against the malevolent forces about to break loose.

REMARKABLE CREATURES, Tracy Chevalier: From the moment she's struck by lightening as a baby, it is clear that Mary Anning is marked for greatness. On the windswept, fossil-strewn beaches of the English coast, she learns that she has "the eye"-and finds what no one else can see. When Mary uncovers an unusual fossilized skeleton in the cliffs near her home, she sets the religious fathers on edge, the townspeople to vicious gossip, and the scientific world alight. In an arena dominated by men, however, Mary is barred from the academic community; as a young woman with unusual interests she is suspected of sinful behavior. Nature is a threat, throwing bitter, cold storms and landslips at her. And when she falls in love, it is with an impossible man.
Luckily, Mary finds an unlikely champion in prickly Elizabeth Philpot, a recent exile from London, who also loves scouring the beaches. Their relationship strikes a delicate balance between fierce loyalty, mutual appreciation, and barely suppressed envy. Ultimately, in the struggle to be recognized in the wider world, Mary and Elizabeth discover that friendship is their greatest ally.

The Swan Thieves, Elizabeth Kostova: Psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe has a perfectly ordered life--solitary, perhaps, but full of devotion to his profession and the painting hobby he loves. This order is destroyed when renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient. In response, Marlowe finds himself going beyond his own legal and ethical boundaries to understand the secret that torments this genius, a journey that will lead him into the lives of the women closest to Robert Oliver and toward a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism. Ranging from American museums to the coast of Normandy, from the late nineteenth century to the late twentieth, from young love to last love, THE SWAN THIEVES is a story of obsession, the losses of history, and the power of art to preserve human hope.

Alice I Have Been, Melanie Benjamin: Alice Liddell Hargreaves’s life has been a richly woven tapestry: As a young woman, wife, mother, and widow, she’s experienced intense passion, great privilege, and greater tragedy. But as she nears her eighty-first birthday, she knows that, to the world around her, she is and will always be only “Alice.” Her life was permanently dog-eared at one fateful moment in her tenth year–the golden summer day she urged a grown-up friend to write down one of his fanciful stories.
That story, a wild tale of rabbits, queens, and a precocious young child, becomes a sensation the world over. Its author, a shy, stuttering Oxford professor, does more than immortalize Alice–he changes her life forever. But even he cannot stop time, as much as he might like to. And as Alice’s childhood slips away, a peacetime of glittering balls and royal romances gives way to the urgent tide of war.
For Alice, the stakes could not be higher, for she is the mother of three grown sons, soldiers all. Yet even as she stands to lose everything she treasures, one part of her will always be the determined, undaunted Alice of the story, who discovered that life beyond the rabbit hole was an astonishing journey.

Hopefully this week I will get to read some of these!

21.1.10

One thing I forgot!

I meant to do this in the previous post, but I forgot! Anyways, I wanted to address one book that I find is a fantastic book!
Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater: This book is an awesome book. Period. Why you may ask? Well with the whole supernatural craze going on in the media today, it's really hard to get into some decent books that do deal with supernatural subject matter. The reason why I loved Shiver (and I mean loved) was because Sam is NOT a werewolf. He's just a regular wolf, the reason I loved this aspect in the book is because it is 1000000000 times more believable than someone turning into a vampire (yes I do know that realistically both of these ideas are impossible). However I feel that the way Stiefvater creates Sam's peculiarity is fantastic, also I love, love, love the fact that the two main characters did not just "fall in love at first sight" like in some other supernatural books that are out there (which incidentally I do happen to like), but this love story has developed over years. Also the fact that Grace falls for Sam while he is a wolf... even more iron clad! I definitely say give this a read, it is unlike a lot of the Vampire/Werewolf/Witch books you will find out there.

Also if you just absolutely LOVE books about Vampires, check out the Vampire Academy books, or the first FOUR Vampire Diaries books. Those are my suggestions for the good reads in that type of genre!
-Jess

Hot Chocolate on a Rainy Day

Is there anything more perfect than reading a wonderful book on a cold rainy day with a wonderful cup of hot chocolate next to you? No there isn't! Today I did just that! Books for a rainy day:

Moloka'i, Alan Brennert: on a whim I decided to read this book because it related somewhat to my Hawaiian culture, it ended up being a fantastic read. It centers on young girl named Rachel Kalama who at a very young age comes down with Leprosy, and is sent to the island of Moloka'i because of the disease. The book then focuses on her life on the island and her struggle to be a regular girl, when so many distrust her because of her disease. It's an awesome story and will make you feel the injustice of sending the people to the island, and the treatment they received. I definitely recommend this if you just want to truly lock yourself away for a day.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, Katherine Howe: This book is also an excellent choice if you want to hide yourself inside on a rainy day. It has all the ingredients for a good read: magic, witches, present times, and a little dose of the past you will truly like this story if you're up for a little magic. :)

I'm sure there will be plenty more rainy days, and don't worry there will be more good reads for these days!

Till Next Time
-Jess

20.1.10

My Favorite Books of all Time!

So I figure many many of these books will never be mentioned by anyone except me but here they are:
The Blue Castle, L.M. Montgomery: I love this book with all my heart. I really really need to buy myself a new copy because my current is in really bad shape. This book is about a women named Valancy Stirling who is diagnosed with a terminal heart condition. Up until this point she is single and under the rule of her mother and strict family. When she hears this news, she finally breaks free of her family and goes to work for a outlaw in her town, and eventually marries a man who is shunned from the community because he is "peculiar." This book always gives me a case of the warm fuzzies. You must read it if you eve have the chance!

The Last Summer of You and Me, Anne Brashares: Seriously a Great Great Book! This book is one of my favorites because of the emotions that the readers actions invoke in you. It centers on the lives of Sisters Riley and Alice, and their best friend paul. The title has so many different connotations that I will let you reach on your own. But, definitely take a stab at it!

Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers: I was down in San Diego last summer before I had even head of this book. I actually spent 4 hours on the beach reading the first half of it, and let me say once you start reading it you WILL NOT be able to put it down. Trust me on this, I watched one of my closest friends read the whole book yesterday. It is that good! This is one of those books that truly stops and makes you think. The book is supposed to be a mirror to the book of Hosea in the bible, and let me tell you it is fantastic! Set during California's gold rush it focuses on a girl named Angel and a man who loves her so deeply (Michael Hosea) he will do anything to bring her back. Must must must read!

So these are just 3 of my favorites and I will post some more eventually, but I did just discover bargain books on Amazon, so I will be shopping now!

-Jess

Oh dear!

Oh Book Blog I have ignored you for so long! I have a new goal to return to you more frequently! So some good reads:
Days Of Gold: Jude Deveraux: If you like Scottland and love stories this is definitely a good read for you. I do like myself a good love story, however I did feel that this one lagged somewhat. It was a little meager in the villain plot, and I do feel like the four year gap was a tad too long. Also there was some really surprising love connections at the end, and it felt like the author was just trying to have all of the characters have a happy ending. I mean I like myself some happy endings, but I feel as if the author was just reaching for straws at the end. You'll understand if you read it. Overall thought I would say it's a decent book to read, it was entertaining, and I don't regret reading it. :)

Next up: The Vampire Diaries The Return: Nightfall. This was an epic disaster. Not only is there a huge discrepancy between time periods (the first books take place in the 90's, new books now suddenly take place in present day) but also come on leave the series alone! LJ Smith you are a smart author, why are you putting your readers through more pain by making Elena choose between the two brothers again!? Also why why why whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy can Damon not remember Matt's name. He definitely knew it in the first four books. This book made me mad. If you like the Diaries, don't ruin the series for yourselves and stay away from the newer ones.

The Lace Reader, Brunonia Barry: So I read this, and yes it was beautifully written, however it was confusing as heck! The ending was definitely a twist and made you wonder what the heck is going on? I didn't know whether to think of the main character as just plain crazy or severely messed up. I don't even know what to make of this book. I'll give it a second read and update if I feel like I was way off base in my judgments about it first.

The Help, Kathryn Stockett: Honestly when I picked up this book I really thought it was going to be about Cinderella's mice. Boy I was wrong. This was a fantastic book. Discussing the trials of black maids in Jackson, Mississippi in the 60's this was an awesome story. It was original and I truly felt like I knew every character in the book. It also made me want to literally punch the white ladies in the book. I also thought it was fantastic how they had kind of a calendar girl-esque thing going with calling the white employers ch. 1, ch. 2 You get my drift. Overall this is my recommendation for this post!
Happy reading!

16.12.09

Birthdays!

Happy Birthday
Jane Austen- 1775
Arthur C. Clark- 1917
Noel Cloward- 1899

The Last Song

First of all, let's get this out in the open. I love Nicholas Sparks. Phew! I said it. Ok so The Last Song, which is currently number 12 on the New York Times best seller list, was good. I liked it, I mean it was cutesy and heart-achey, but I felt compared to a lot of other Nicholas Sparks books this one felt short. Especially since Miley Cyrus got to name the main character (Ronnie) and also play her in the movie. I have a HUGE issue with this. Not only is Ronnie not the name I would have thought to have picked, but also who would have picked Miley Cyrus? Even hearing her name makes me think of an STD. Anyway side from my Miley rant, Last Song is about a girl named Ronnie, who has a kind of screwed up past with the law and her parents divorce. Her mom forces her and her brother Jonah to go to a small beach town in North Carolina to visit their dad who they haven't seen for a few years. As predicted Ronnie doesn't want to go, accidently gets in more trouble, meets a cute guy named Will, falls in love.
Basically all the stuff Sparks is renown for is in this book. So for all you Sparks fans out there, this won't disappoint, and maybe make you want to bake cookies for your father. Anyway to end this commentary on the book, if you want to check out some stuff on the book or movie, here are some links! Enjoy!
-Jess
http://www.nicholassparks.com/LearnMore.asp?BookID=15
http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/11/17/the-last-song-movie-trailer/

P.S. Dear John looks like it will be fantastic and a major tear jerker if it is anything like the book! Be warned!

15.12.09

To make your visit worth while!

Here I am going to do a quick review on some of the books that have been recently made into movies. This way if you don't like reading you can check out the movie!

First up: The Reader. This was a fantastic book, as well as a fantastic film to go along with it. Some of the material may be somewhat unsettling since this is definitely a weird relationship since Hannah Schmidt is 21 years older than Michael Berg. But, i do feel that Schlink does an amazing job a narrating this piece almost as a ballad. Love, Loss, and Being Lost. Just fantastic.

Secondly: Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince . Of course everyone and their mother loves Harry, Ron, and Ginny, so i won't dare say a word against the book. However the movie as every true Potter fan knows did not live up to quite the expectations fans had. However it did stay truer to the book than some previous movies. Also does anyone else notice how Hogwarts keeps changing? Thoughts?

Thirdly: New Moon. My LEAST favorite book in the series. It was so depressing, and really boring to read (only because I was a hardcore Team Edward). However after the crap that was considered the first movie, I really had no hope for the second, surprisingly it was WAY better than the first one. Kristen Stewart didn't bite her lip so much, or look like she was on crystal meth (good job make-up!) and there was plenty of Taylor Lautner shirtless. However they didn't stay very close to the book, and did anyone notice what was going on with R-Patz nip in the clock tower scene?

Lastly (for now): The Lovely Bones. Now I haven't actually seen the movies, but the book was incredibly good. Sad, but really good. A lot of people I have talked to about seeing it, don't want to at all because the thought of sitting through a movie dealing solely on a 14 year old girls murder is just too disturbing, and yes the book at parts was very disturbing. But, it was also a really really good story. I will be seeing this movie and keep you posted!

Happy Reading!
-Jess

My first critique

So, I am setting up this here blog in hopes that once word is spread of my genius opinions on what i think about books that I will become uber-famous! Just kidding, ok not really.

Anyway! So the first book I would like to critique is Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger. Now I have heard glowing reviews of the Time Travelers Wife, so I figured hey why not, this seems like it would be interesting. I did not like this book at all! The story that Niffenegger creates albeit is very intricate, and tightly woven, I just could not get into it. First off she presents us with a set of twins who have the unhealthiest relationship in the world, and then brings in the dead great aunt who (spoiler alert!) in fact turns out to be their mother. That was pretty predictable honestly, however some points in the story were just head scratchers. If you read it talk to me, and we will discuss. But, in all seriousness the book was not worth the eighteen dollars paid for it. I could go on and on, however I won't.

On a slightly more positive note, for all you readers who like the mortal instruments series, author Cassandra Clare has confirmed there is to be a fourth one! yay!!!

Also for those Stephenie Meyer fans out there who have actually read her other book that does not deal with sparkly vampires, she does have plans to make The Host into a trilogy. I am actually really excited for this, because I felt like The Host had a little more substance than that of Twilight.

Check back for more updates on all things literary!

-Jess