Sad book

"Megume and the Trees" by Sarah Toshiko Hasu is about an Asian-American girl who lives with her dad, "evil" step mom, and little brother. One day, she is coming home and swears she hears her dog barking in the woods. The problem is that her dog was sent to pound long ago and is most likely dead. Deciding that the barking was really her lost dog, she charges into the woods, chasing it. Eventually she catches the dog which turns out to be her dog. The story follows Megume as she attempts to find her way out of the forest. As she moves through the forest, she encounters unusual events and scenes such as a lost boy that reminds her of her brother, a Japanese style house, a bombing raid from WWII, her long dead grandfather, and the like. She eventually finds her way out by following a river. The story ends kind of on a sad note. Throughout the story are copies of letters from Megume's bestie, Emiko who happens to be in France at the moment. The letters start out happy and perky but start turning sad until eventually, the final letter. This letter helps explain everything. I know Megume is okay, but feel very sad for Emiko in the end.

The Boneshaker

I forgot to mention that I finished another book back on April 26th: "The Boneshaker" by Kate Milford. It's about Natalie Minks, at thirteen year old tomboy, versus the minions of the Devil. I think there might be an angel in the story, but it's also possible that it's a "neutral" demon that just wants to be left alone. There's also a demon so nasty that he was kicked out of Hell O.O Anyway, a plague hits a nearby town and Natalie's town doctor heads over to help out. In the mean time, a travelling medicine show ends up in stuck in Arcane, Natalie's town, because one of their wagons lost a wheel. The medicine show is just plain strange and weird and Natalie and her friends try to find out what it is all about. Oh, the book is named after Natalie's bicycle, the boneshaker. Bikes around the turn of the century still didn't use rubber tires and Natalie's actually had metal tires. They also didn't have chains. They had pedals like little kid's tricycles.

I thought that overall, "The Boneshaker," was a nice read. It seemed slow in some parts and a little predictable in others. It was a stand alone book, but Milford left enough of the end opened that the book could have a sequel. If you want to get an idea of what Natalie's bike might have looked like, do a Google Image search on The Boneshaker.

Steampunk and posters

I finished another book before dance class, "The Tinkerer's Daughter" by Jamie Sedgwick. It's sort of a steampunk combined with magic and elves and barbarians. It seemed to drag a bit with fifty-three short chapters. The style was "matter of fact" in feel. I was able for the most to predict its outcome. There were a couple of places were a plot twist would have been welcome and I was actually looking for it. But the twist never happened. The book is about a half elf, half human girl named, Breeze, growing up in a world were humans and elves hate each other and are at constant war. Breeze decides that she will fix this problem and heal the wounds so that there can be peace. In the end, she does this by uniting the humans and elves against another race of evil beings through the use of the airplane.

I need to find something with more substance to read. Or something silly ^_^

I'm going to take down my poster of Jacob (a.k.a. Taylor Lautner) as soon as I find something to put up in its place. Twilight is boring. It was boring after the second book, and the second movie. Vampires are boring, well, the one's in Twilight are any way. Werewolves aren't boring. Werewolves are cool. Bow ties are cool. Fezes are cool. ^_^ I wonder if any one reading this post will catch the references of the last two o.O lol ^_^

And, on a closing note, flowers. Each flower is about the size of a dime. People call these weeds O.O

A Fire Upon the Deep

This one is by Vernor Vinge. I mentioned the book last week. I simply loved it. It seemed to be a combination of "Dune" and "Babylon V" with puppies ^_^ The "puppies" are actually the 'Tines", the indigenous inhabitants of one of the main planets in the book. Actually, it's the only planet that has any meaning. The action is split between the Tines' home world and deep, deep space. Eventually it culminates on the Tines' home world. The Tines are kind of like dogs or sea lions that evolved on land. They're a civilization of gestalt creatures. An individual consists of four to six "puppies".

The story starts out with a colony of human scientists awaking a super plague. They attempt to escape but all but one of the ships are destroyed. The remaining ship is piloted by a family of four: mom, dad, sister and brother. It's "cargo" is all the children of the colony in suspended animation. It also has an unknown cargo that the scientist thought to be extremely important that either could help the plague if it got hold of it or destroy it. Unfortunately, the ship was damaged and they were forced to crash land on the Tines home world, in the middle of a faction war. One faction gets to the ship first and slaughters the mother and father and half the sleeping kids and captures the brother. The sister is injured, but in the chaos after the slaughter is "rescued" by a couple of good samaritan Tines. They take the injured girl to some friends that happened to be the other faction. Neither the brother or sister know that the other is alive and each help the factions build weapons to beat the "evil" faction.

Mean while, the plague, known as the Blight is taking over entire civilizations. It isn't until a super being is destroyed by it that anyone really begins taking it seriously. Before this being was destroyed, it put together a rescue ship to find the missing scientists in hopes that they have might have the weapon to destroy the Blight.

The ending almost had an deus ex machina feel to it. But I found it acceptable since it didn't really distract from the story and was kind of expected. It was a good ending with only minor protagonists being killed off. The true "evil" faction is finally rooted out and squashed and the brother and sister are successfully reunited ^_^ I had already guessed that, but after the deaths in "The Hunger Games" series, I wasn't sure if it would end so happily.

Like I said in an earlier post, this isn't a fast read. But if you've read Frank Herbert's "Dune" then you already have a feel for this book.

Three day weekend!

Yes!!! We have a three day weekend starting now ^_^ End of quarter and the teachers need to do grades and such. Soooo, we get tomorrow off ^_^ And then, Saturday, mom and I are going to the zoo with my aunt and cousin ^_^

I started reading a book by "A Fire Upon the Deep" by Vernor Vinge. It takes place in the uber distant future where people talk about civilizations coming and going like minutes on the clock. Ships are thousands, tens of thousands of years old. The book as a feel of "Dune" and "Babylon V" That's probably why I'm so into it ^_^ It's not a fast read like "The Hunger Games" series. But it is well paced ^_^

Mockingjay

I finished the final book in Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Game" series. I kept remember Frank Herbert's "Dune" as I read "Mockingjay." I kept imaging the Capitol as the Padishah Empire. But nothing else reminded me of anything of "Dune." Weird, huh? Anyway, the story was fast paced, but at time seemed to drag. Katniss seemed to always been mentally troubled to the point she couldn't function. In the first book, she functioned more or less normally. But by the end of "Mockingjay," she was just mentally sick almost always on the verge of a break down. I came close to almost crying towards the end and the story almost ended there. But I think Collins realized this was a bad way to end the story and attempted to make less tragic with the epilogue. The series is a good read, fast pace and interesting. I just could with a little less Katniss freaking out. It gets to the point it that she seemed fake. Maybe that's what Collins wanted all along, for us to realize just how fake the Mockingjay was.

Catching Fire

Yes, I just finished the book, "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins. I would have finished it earlier, but I had dance class tonight with Lee's mom and little sister ^_^

Unlike the first book, I didn't find myself hoping any particular support character would survive like I did for Rue. I sort of knew that Katniss and Peeta would make it. The story would kind of fall flat if either of them died. I guess I kind of rooted for all of them to live but knew that they couldn't; it is after all a continuation of the Hunger Games. And speaking of the continuation, this book kept the continuity of the story intact. I've read some series in which the actions in a preceding book are totally scrambled, as though the author forgot what she had written and didn't even go back and check. Collins either wrote all three books at one sitting or took the time to check her "facts" for the remaining books. Hopefully, she does the same in the final book. Oh, that's another difference between this book and the first. The first book was complete. You can read it and not have to read any of the other books. The second book ended with a cliffhanger. You need to read the final book for the conclusion.

The Hunger Games

I just finished reading "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. I've had it on my Kindle along with the other two books in the series for some time now. But like Harry Potter, I never got around to reading it until the movie was about to be released. Actually, in the Harry Potter case, I didn't start reading the books until "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" was about to come out o.o

I'm impressed. I actually like the book and was cheering for Katniss and Peeta. I wanted to scream when Rue left the Games and was horrified by what the muttations turned out to be in the end. I'm going to start in on "Catching Fire" later tonight. Probably have it finished by tomorrow night if it's as good as "The Hunger Games" ^_^

- Posted from my iPad

Green Heart

Back on Friday, I discovered that Alice Hoffman released a new book, "Green Heart" I bought it instantly since it was one of Amazon's Kindle books of the day. Hey, $2 is good price for your favorite author, right? Well, I misread the book's description. It turned out that book is an abridged version of the previous two books, "Green Angel" and "Green Witch" combined into one. It was kind of disappointing for me to find this out after I bought it. I was hoping for something new. I love Hoffman's style and love her Green books. If you have the money, buy the first two books and skip this one.

A different fairy tale

I finished another book today, Sophie Robbins' "A Hole in the World." It's a twist on the Prince-rescues-Princess fairy tale. In this case, the "prince" is actually a fifteen year old girl from our times. When she was little, Bianca discovered a hole in a wall and started to explore it but chickened out. A few years later, she discover hole again. She's never really forgotten about it though. It shows up in her dreams. This time she explores it and finds that it leads to another world, a fantasy world from fairy tales. While there, she rescues a princess, who starts calling her her "Prince Charming," and brings her back to her world. After a couple of weeks, another prince shows up from the princess' world and takes her back. Time works different between the two worlds. A couple more years pass for Bianca, but only a few days for the princess. The princess' fairy godmother comes to Bianca and tells her that the prince is evil and that she needs to rescue the princess again. Bianca, and her friends, charge in for the rescue. They're successful and everyone lives happily ever after.

I liked the story. It was light and happy most of the time and made me smile. Sure, it was unbelievable at times, such as when Bianca hides the princess for two weeks in her room and at school and no one finds out. But, it's also a fairy tale; so you have to suspend belief a little. But over all, it was a nice book.

- Posted from my iPad

Another book

I finished another book today: "The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland--For a Little While: A Tor.Com Original" by Catherynne M. Valente. I'm not sure it would be a book if it was in paper form, probably more of a short story. But, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt ^_^ I think it's a continuation of another book by the same author: "The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making" and that one is definitely a book. I have the Kindle version in my Wistlist. Anyway, back to the book I just finished. It's about a girl named Mallow who merely wants to live her life in isolation, reading and tending to her magical home. One day, she gets a summons that all citizens of Fairyland must attend a great celebration. No exceptions. At first she was a bit dismayed but then she realized that there would be other types of magic there other than just what she's learned. The story follows her journey to the capital city of Fairyland and how she meets the Winds and their cats and in the end how she ends up defeating a monster and becoming the ruler of Fairyland.

Valente's style of writing is a cross between poetry and prose and at times the poem, "Jabberwocky" came to mind. The story was filled with metaphors: History was a prowling beast, never content with one place or person. A few times I lost track of what I had read and had to re-read it over. But that's because of my ADHD and once I was able to focus on the story, I fell in love with it ^_^ I'm seriously thinking of buying Valente's other Fairyland book ^_^

The Graveyard Book

I finished another book very late last night called "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman. It's about a boy who lives in a graveyard. When he was but a baby, an assassin murdered all of his family one night and through luck, he escaped into a ancient graveyard nearby. At the pleading of his mother's ghost, the inhabitants of the graveyard adopt and protect him. He is "adopted" by the Owens' and is given the name Nobody Owen. The book is a collection of snapshots of Bod's, as he is called by the graveyard inhabitants, life as he grows into a young man. Because he was adopted by the graveyard, Bod was granted the Freedom of the Graveyard. This allows him to do almost anything within the graveyard that a normal inhabitant can do. It even extends somewhat outside the fences and such. But, still being alive, Bod has to put more effort into what the others take for granted.

I liked the book and I was sad when it came to an end. But Bod had grown old enough to be on his own and the living have no place with the dead. The dead have already finished their lives and have nothing further to do. But the living have near infinite potential to do anything. I liked that idea and that idea is how Bod sees his future. He sets out to use his live to its fullest, mistakes are just as welcome as successes; they're things only the living can do.

Another book

I finished another Kindle "book" yesterday. It was technically a short story of about 6000 words. Written by Thea Isis Gregory,  "Locked In: Zombie Bedtime Stories #1" is of a woman that becomes infected by a zombie scratch. We see her change from her POV. What makes this story interesting is that she is fully aware of what is going on but is unable to control her body. She still has her full senses but absolutely no control. She's along for the horrible ride. Can you imagine how horrible it must be to kill and eat someone you love?

Hodge podge of stuff

I don't have very much to say this after noon, so I'm just going to rattle off some observations and such.

The sun finally peeked out today during lunch. But it hid behind the clouds again afterwards. A lot of the ditches and fields and ponds were flooded on the way to school this morning. Even the peepers where out in force. Peepers are tiny frogs with a loud, high pitched call. Some people mistake them for being birds.

The guy from my Humanities class that was watching me was again watching me during lunch. O.O But I also go the impression that he wasn't really watching me, but the girl sitting between him and us and it just looked like he was watching me o.O

Finished off another book/story a little while ago. With Kindle "books" it's hard for me to categorize an eBook as a book or a story. This seems to be more of a story than a book. I doubt that I would ever see it in book form on the shelf at the book store or library. It's called "Fall For Me" by Melanie Marks. A sweet, teen romance story that I actually liked. I've been reading a lot of them lately. I don't know what's gotten into me lately o.o

Anyway, I'm going to go meet up with my friends at the mall for awhile. Maybe I'll have something to write about when I get home.

Two more books of short stories

Just finished two book of short stories, titled "Smoothies for Two" by Jamie McGhee, Jennifer Wilson and Emily DeHority and "No Time for Games & Other Stories" by Amanda Lawrence Auverigne.

"Smoothies for Two" Is a collection of sweet stories, poems, plays and such about teens falling in love, crushes, tragedies, dealing with pregnancy, etc. The stories were a really nice read and well worth the $1 I paid for the book.

"No Time for Games & Other Stories" is a collection of humorous teen stories. Likewise, I found it worth the $1 I paid for it ^_^.

"Green Witch" - Alice Hoffman

I forgot how much I loved Alice Hoffman's "Green Angel" until I read the sequel "Green Witch". The book picks up a few years later, as Green is getting ready to turn 17. Her village is rebuilding from the firestorm. It will never be the same, but it is growing just as she is growing. One day she comes upon the lair of a boy people call "The Finder" because of his skill in finding things that are needed. He asks her to help find his sister, Heather, a friend that Green had though perished after the firestorm. He shows Green a grainy picture of her being abducted by a Horde soldier and to Green's surprise, she sees that the soldier is Diamond, her lost love. He had come to her after the firestorm in search of his family and left to continue his quest. The story follows Green on her quest to rescue Heather and to find Diamond.

I loved this story almost as much as I did "Green Angel". Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. Just like "Green Angel," this story had a magical feel to it. While it was set in a realistic alternate world, the descriptions often felt as though it was a fantasy. There were times that I wasn't sure if the what I was reading was actually happening or just metaphors. I took it as both.