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Post by Butterscotch on Jul 16, 2011 9:54:06 GMT -5
The Baby-Sitters Club #44: Dawn and the Big Sleepover
Don't judge me, I bought a small stack of BSC books at the thrift store and I've been happily re-reading them.
So, the plot of this book is that the local elementary school has been in a penpal exchange with a Native American community across the country. The kids are really into it and Dawn feels kind of jealous. Sadly, they learn one day that the Native American school has burned down. The kids are really upset and Dawn decides to organize a fundraiser and food drive to help the penpal school. As a reward for the kids, the BSC also organizes a sleepover in the elementary school gym.
It's a pretty average BSC book, not great. not leaving me banging my head against the wall in frustration.
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Post by BorderWolf on Jul 16, 2011 10:33:01 GMT -5
Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Inferno by Troy Denning
This book is the 6th of 9. Set 40 years after Star Wars: A New Hope (the one where Luke blows up the 1st Death Star). The Galactic Alliance is breaking apart and a small civil wars has started. Jason Solo (Han and Leia's son) is doing what he feels is best to keep the Galactic Alliance together as well as bring the systems that broke away to rejoin, but his method is very harsh to the point of being tyrannical. Unknown to most Jason has secretly turned to the Dark Side of the Force and taken the Sith name of Darth Caedus.
A very good read if you are a Star Wars fan.
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Post by Simfarmguru on Jul 16, 2011 11:43:03 GMT -5
Sign of the Beaver
I had to write a book report on it when I was a kid, it's about a boy who lives in the wilderness of Maine shortly after the Revolution. His father leaves to fetch his mother and sister, leaving him to fend for himself. He ends up forming an uneasy friendship with a young Native American his own age, and spends much time seeking the other boy's respect.
An interesting read for a rainy day, it's pretty short.
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Post by Butterscotch on Aug 23, 2011 21:42:54 GMT -5
I found the last two Twilight Books, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, in the thrift store recently, so I've finally finished the series.
Eclipse was okay. Kind of forgettable, but arguably the best book in the series. I know I'm damming in with faint praise, but it's Twilight.
Breaking Dawn was dreadful. The first half was okay, no better or worse than the rest of the books, but after the baby is born and Bella becomes a vampire, the book becomes incredibly boring. While Bella is slight less self-centered after becoming a mother, she us as unlikeable and bitchy as ever. Moreover, she is now a super-powered vampire, and basically the biggest Mary Sue ever. The few likable characters in the series don't even appear all that much in this book.
Just stop reading after the baby is born. It's the real climax of the book.
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Post by Butterscotch on Aug 29, 2011 20:12:14 GMT -5
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Miri is a 14 year old girl who lives in a mountain-side village. Most of the villagers work in the quarry, but Miri's father does not allow her, presumably due to Miri being smaller than other girls her age.
One day a messenger from the King arrives with a proclamation: the priests's have discovered that the prince's future bride will come from the mountain Miri lives on. She and all the other girls between the ages of 12 and 17 are to attend a princess academy, where they will be given an education befitting the future princess. In a years time, the prince will chose one of the 20 girls for his wife.
I really enjoyed the book and read it all in one sitting. It's not very long, around 300 pages. I had grabbed the book at the thrift store because it sounded interesting, but it wasn't until I actually sat down to read it that I realized I had read one of the author's other books, The Goose Girl, a few years ago. I'd really enjoyed that as well, so I knew I was in for a good read. My only complaint was that some of the characters fell a bit flat and that the reveal of the prince's choice came a bit out of nowhere. Overall though, I really recommend this book.
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Post by Simfarmguru on Aug 30, 2011 21:00:09 GMT -5
Ahhh, one of my favorites!
Maid Marian: A Novel by Elsa Watson
Yes, it's Robin Hood/Maid Marian romance, but the author focuses on Marian and gives her a history as well as a nicely developed character. The medieval chain of nobility is well portrayed and fairly accurate. I love that the author actually used the true history of Richard the Lion and his sneaky brother John as well as his powerful mother Eleanor to make the story ring true.
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Post by Butterscotch on Sept 5, 2011 9:33:00 GMT -5
I think I read that one.
My latest book was Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. The main character is Charles Nancy, always known by the nickname Fat Charlie, even though he isn't fat. He used to be and his late father nicknamed him and when his father gave something a name, it stuck. As it turns out, Mr. Nancy was actually Anansi, the African trickster god. It seems though, that all of the godlike powers went to the brother Fat Charlie never knew he had, Spider.
Fat Charlie contacts his brother and Spider forces himself into Fat Charlie's life, turning it upside down in a matter of days. But when Fat Charlie tries to get his brother to leave, things get even worse.
I really enjoyed this book. It was hard to put down. I enjoy fantasy set in modern times.
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Post by BorderWolf on Sept 5, 2011 12:41:06 GMT -5
That is a good book (Anansi Boys), I've read it twice.
I just finished re-reading Call of the Wild. It's a collection of a year's worth of the comic strip Mutts. If you love the comic strip of Earl the dog and his friend Mooch the cat, and the other characters that appear in the strip, you should enjoy this book. It will bring a smile and very likely brighten your day, as well as cheer you up if you are feeling sad.
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Post by Butterscotch on Oct 27, 2011 20:57:27 GMT -5
The Shelters of Stone by Jean M. Auel
This is the fifth book in the Earth's Children series, which chronicles the life of an Ice Age woman named Ayla. In this book, after traveling for nearly a year, Ayla and Jondalar return to Jondalar's home and begin their lives as a newly mated couple.
There isn't really a plot to the book, it just a string of Ayla's Mary Sue adventures. It's pretty disappointing, especially considering how good the first book was. Still, I'm waiting for the sixth (and final) book to be released in paperback, to see how this train wreck ends.
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Post by BorderWolf on Nov 14, 2011 12:27:21 GMT -5
How 2 Be Awsum : by Professor Happycat
This is the 4th book of LOLcats. Very humorous, it will bring a smile to your face.
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Post by BorderWolf on Feb 3, 2012 11:58:34 GMT -5
Catch-22 : by Joseph Heller
I finally got around to reading this classic book, and i LOVE IT. It is a funny story about an American World War 2 bombardier named Yossarian who does his best to try and save himself from getting killed by trying to find a way from completing the required number of missions he needs to fly in order to finish his servive. But Colonel Cathcart keeps raising the number of missions. The title of this book did add a new term to the dictionary, because of the silly (and somewht evil) rule of the Great Loyalty Oath Crusade. The rule? "A man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes the necessary formal request to be relieved of the missions, the very act of making the request proves that he is sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved."
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Post by BorderWolf on Mar 1, 2012 22:43:31 GMT -5
Monster : by A. Lee Martinez
Monster is a freelance pest control agent. His job is to remove the more starnge creature that go bump in the night. As in ogres, trolls, dragons and other creatures.
Judy works the night shift at the local Food Plus Mart. Not a great job, but she is happy to have a job, even if she has to spell things out for the night manager ever now and then.
But when a yeti is seen in the freezer isle eating the Rocky Road ice cream. Judy's world collides with Monster's, and a not so great friendship is born.
Another thing about Monster is, he has domestic troubles. Having a girlfriend from the Underworld. And she IS from the Underworld.
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Post by Butterscotch on Mar 8, 2012 20:50:00 GMT -5
I recently reread The Eyes of the Dragon, by Stephen King. Unlike most of his books, this isn't a horror story, but a fantasy novel, with a plot straight out of a fairy tale. It's one of my favorite Stephen King books, though on rereading it, Prince Peter was more of a Marty Stu than I had realized before.
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Post by Butterscotch on May 10, 2012 9:36:23 GMT -5
I read the entire Hunger Games trilogy last weekend. I grabbed the first book on a whim, thinking that I've heard so much about The Hunger Games recently that I should see for myself what it was like. I read the first book in a little over a day, and had to go out and get the other two as soon as I could. I highly recommend it.
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Post by Butterscotch on May 14, 2012 14:05:30 GMT -5
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
It's a realistic adaptation of Cinderella, darker and more mature than the original fairy tale. The story focuses on the younger stepsister, Iris. In this version, the stepsisters are sympathetic and likeable and Cinderella, called Clara in this book, is a flawed and selfish girl. Iris is still young and believes that fairy tales and magic might be real, but as the story progresses, she matures.
The story is written in the present tense, which annoyed me as the story is bookended by a prologue and epilogue featuring on the stepsisters looking back on her youth. Basically, the story is a flashback, so using the present tense seemed an odd choice. But overall, I found the book pretty enjoyable.
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