10 posts tagged “photos”

Preface: So a couple weeks ago I challenged Zack to read five books and he challenged me to read five books as well. The first one that I decided to read was Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I’m letting him choose the next one although it will probably be awhile before I get to it. My own TBR pile is sort of overwhelming as it is. As a side note Zack lent me his copy and it sort of looks loved in the way of it being a favorite book that you pass around to everyone because you liked it so much. I’m not sure if he did this or not but that’s the look of it. My well loved books just look worn because I’ve read them multiple times or I’ve accidentally cracked the spines to them not because I passed them around. I use to be pretty stingy like that but I have gotten better.

 

Anyways on with the review….

 

Now first off I’m not even going to pretend that I know how to write a book review because I don’t. I’m also really bad at describing what books are about as I think I’ve said before. I also should say that while I like Neil Gaiman I don’t love Neil Gaiman. I just can’t seem to get in to his books to the point of “oh I can’t put this down!” however I quite enjoyed this book. I wasn’t really able to read it as quickly as I wanted to because school is kicking my butt.

This book starts out with Richard in what is known as London Above and he is living an ordinary life. (ok that’s what the back of the book says whatever!) Then he finds Door who has been hurt and basically after that his whole world gets flipped upside down. Amazon probably can do a better job on telling you what it’s about.

I really only have a couple things to point out in this book one being that I think the villains Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar are quite possibly some of the creepiest villains I have ever read. Like literally after reading parts where they were present I got shivers or rather I wished I hadn’t read it at night time when I am about to turn off the lights. Not because it was really scary or anything but more that I just wouldn’t want to run in to them in a dark ally or even in the day light or dream about them and those thoughts made me nervous.

The second being that I think this:

"From the darkness at the crown of the bridge came a gentle noise, like a rustle or a sign. A handful of irregular quartz beads pattered down the curve of the bridge toward them. Richard picked on up."

And what happened afterwards sort of made my heart break. I think Gaiman has no qualms about killing off certain characters right when you become attached to them, which makes an interesting read. The only other time I can think that I had this very reaction was with Sirius Black in Harry Potter. Oh J.K. you broke my heart with that one, you really did. (Side note she smashed it to smithereens in Half Blood Prince but we’re not talking about Harry Potter right now, that is a completely different entry)

I’m not actually sure if this book is suppose to be young adult or adult but I don’t think it’s a book for kids. I think there were some pretty creepy parts as well as a little graphic but I liked it and would definitely recommend it to other people. Also I would now even more so like to book a trip to London.  

When I go on Vacation to my Grandma’s I don’t  really like bringing heavy books or literature I guess is what it could be called. I like to bring easy reads and/or things that are easy to pack. So I end up bringing a lot of YA or not to long books. I figure the shorter the book the more I can fit in to my suit case.

 

Anne of Green Gables by L.M Montgomery - I had never read this before. I grew up watching the movies and always loved the movies but for some reason was never able to really read the books. I have had a copy of this book since I was little though and my mom recently bought me the rest of them. I decided to bring it with me on my vacation and you know what…I loved it. There were so many parts in the book that were funny and endearing. I loved how Anne used these big words and there were even quotes in it that I wrote down so that I could remember them. Unfortunately they are in my written journal and I’m too lazy to go and get that right now. 

 

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows – I loved this book but possible because I read it right after I read My Sister’s Keeper, in which I will talk about further down the list. I gave it to my Grandma and she did not like it so now I’m hesitant to recommend it again to anyone. She felt like it was plotless and that it took forever to get anywhere in the book. I disagree but I read it much quicker then my Grandma and so I got to the part where she goes to Guernsey much quicker then perhaps my Grandma did. I also laughed through out most of the book and I think the only word to describe it is “delightful”.

 

The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton – This book took a little bit for me to get in to. I was also a littler burnt out on reading when I started it so I don’t know if that contributed to it. I also have been kind of burnt out in general on these types of books because I feel like a lot of the stories are the same. I did in the end really like this book though and once I hit a certain point with it I didn’t put it down until I finished it. I really enjoyed being in the world of the five women in it and it definitely had a Ya-Ya Sisterhood feel. So if you liked that book you are sure to like this book.

 

Frostbite by Richelle Mead – This is the second book to the Vampire Academy Series. For some reason I wasn’t anxious to read this book. The reason I think it’s funny is because I actually really enjoyed the first one. I liked the main character and the story line was different and it was basically an easy read for me. Yet I just had a lot of trouble getting myself motivated to read it however when I started it I pretty much read it in a day. I think if you like Vampire Stories and YA Fiction/Series then you’ll probably like this. I have the third to the series as well (thanks to my sister-in-law I have a lot of YA Fiction) and I feel the same way about it but once again will probably breeze through it and enjoy it once I decide to pick it up.

 

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong -  Oh my goodness this book really hooked me in the last 20 pages. For the first part I really was feeling lukewarm about it and not really anxious to get through it. Then the last 20 pages I breezed through and was then desperate for the next one which unfortunately I don’t have and neither does my sister-in-law. I also couldn’t find it in our library database when I looked it up in Washington. So I don’t know what I’m going to do about that for now, perhaps suffer.

 

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult ­- I wanted to read this before I saw the movie which I probably won’t see until it comes out on DVD. This is my fourth Jodi Picoult book and I liked it for the most part. I think one of my favorite parts of all the Jodi Picoult books that I have read so far are the trial parts. I just find them fascinating to read and I can’t wait to find out what the verdict will be. I have also noticed in the past few of her books that I have read she has something happen that is shocking and I have to say I didn’t like it in this book. I really wish I could talk to someone about this but I can’t write about it because it would completely spoil the story. I also literally got angry through most of the book at one of the main characters. However the story idea/line was really good and it kept me interested all the way through. In fact I actually read this book in one day while it was rainy cold out side, which I think I blogged about previously. 

I took this after Angels and Demons which I actually liked a lot and I never read the book!


The first two books in the House of Night Series, Marked and Betrayed, were ok reads but the third one I was so annoyed with the main character. I felt like she just did not care about anyone in her life but herself and she kept making up excuses about what she was doing like she couldn't help it. I also felt she was a little hipocritical and I felt like the author beat us in the head with certain things about her....with that all said I still couldn't put any of them down because even though they are terribly written I still want to know what happens. I read The BeeKeeper's Apprentice for my book club. I thought it was pretty enjoyable although I it felt like I had been reading it forever. The Hunger Games was soo good and I would have read it faster if I hadn't started summer school. The one book that's not in this picture is Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult which I read during finals..I basically recommend anything that Joid Picoult writes, she's just very good at making things sound interesting and of the three books I've read she's always had some sort of twist that comes out in the end. 3 Willows was enjoyable but I think I like The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants series better.

Lastly Zack got me this. This is one of my most favorite artist and I already can picture where I want to put it.

But also with him

My mom and I went on a mini vacation last night for no reason at all. Well I'm on my Spring Break so I guess that is a reason. I'm to old to do that real spring break type stuff that all the college kids do so what we did was just shopped and then went to a fancy restaurant and stayed in a resort hotel. It was pretty fun and I got a couple of cute things (such as a dress, a pair of black pants and some capris)

And

Happy Early Valentines Day Everyone!

Because of these