Showing posts with label friendship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friendship. Show all posts

The Fairy Godmother Academy #1: Birdie's Book Review

The Fairy Godmother Academy #1: Birdie's Book
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The Fairy Godmother Academy #1: Birdie's Book ReviewAs a mother of a little girl I have to say that I was psyched to see see this book on the shelf. When doing every day battles with the likes of Barbie and Bratz this is like a breath of very fresh air. Not only does the author respect that young girls are smart, and interested in more than gossip and shopping, but that they are also inherently wise. This wisdom just needs to be tapped into and nurtured. A great read with just a right amount of fantasy and real world to keep your reader ripping through the pages!The Fairy Godmother Academy #1: Birdie's Book Overview

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The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney Review

The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney
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The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney ReviewFans of Lauren Barnholdt will love her newest teen book. It's all about Devon 'Devi' Delaney and her lies.
Devon went away for the summer to get away from things at home and befriended Lexi. She told Lexi a bunch of lies about how back home she's really popular and her boyfriend is Jared, the most popular guy in school. It turns out, Devon is basically a social outcast and now Lexi moves into her town and is going to her school. What's a girl to do? Lie some more to cover up lies already told. Needless to say, things get pretty messy.
It was a very cute book for all teens and I can't wait to read her next book.The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney Overview

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Rooftops of Tehran: A Novel Review

Rooftops of Tehran: A Novel
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Rooftops of Tehran: A Novel ReviewThis was a lovely lovely book. I will say right off that I think that the pinkish cover featuring a red rose (though thematically appropriate) might turn off some men, and I do think that it's the kind of novel that would appeal equally to men and women.
The story follows two teenage boys through a year of their lives in Iran in the 70's. The characterization of adolescence is perfect -- first loves, first independent stands, hellos, goodbyes.
The language is beautiful, and the suspense comes in because parts of the story are told in flashbacks as the reader is brought closer and closer to the crisis event. What happened and why?
When that crisis is revealed, the end of the novel continues in a suspenseful vein, as the reader yearns to find out what is going to happen.
The comparisons to The Kite Runner are inevitable -- although they are set in different countries, they both deal with events that precipitate a coming of age, set in the backdrop of a totalitarian regime. The Kite Runner is a wonderful book, but I think that Rooftops of Tehran has more heart, more range (since in addition to being touched, I laughed aloud a time or two), and is overall a better story.
A wonderful literary page-turner -- my favorite kind of read.
4.5 stars
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Perfect You Review

Perfect You
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Perfect You ReviewKate's life has never been perfect, but it used to be fairly okay: She grew up with a best friend, Anna, who knew everything about her, and vice-versa. She had a roof over her head, two parents with stable jobs, and no big conflicts with her older brother. She got decent grades in school and had a decent freshman year.
But now she's a sophomore, and Kate's life is so far from perfect that it's in another state. When Anna came back from her summer vacation, she looked like a different person. Newly thin and blonde, Anna starts hanging out with the popular crowd at school and stops speaking to Kate. Kate's father abruptly quit his job to sell Perfect You infomercial vitamins in a booth at the local mall. Kate is expected to work there after school, and she doesn't get paid for it. In fact, sometimes, she's the only person manning the booth, as her father is prone to wander off to play video games or solicit customers from other stores. Due to her less-than-stellar driving tests, Kate isn't allowed to get a car yet, so she has to rely on her family members to cart her around. Her brother obtained a college degree, then moved back home. Instead of actually getting a job, he sits on the couch and decides he wants to be an actor. Of course, he changes his dream job as often as he changes his socks, so Kate doubts he's serious. To top it all off, a guy at school named Will with a reputation for flirting and leading girls on keeps bugging her.
Kate is conflicted, to say the least. Her first-person narration relates her ups-and-downs with Will, Anna, and her family members. She doesn't want to admit that she likes Will and she certainly doesn't want to get hurt, but she starts to see him anyway. She restricts their time together to mall breaks, not wanting people at school to know about them, and she refuses to let things become serious. She doesn't even know if Will honestly likes her or is just using her like he's used all of the other girls, and she pretends as though she doesn't care either way. She desperately wants to repair her friendship with Anna but isn't sure what it will take to do that. Kate is mortified by her father's antics at the mall, but she suffers these little indignities quietly, not wanting to stir up trouble. She can sense that her parents' relationship, once fun-loving, is starting to get strained. Kate's maternal grandmother comes to visit and ends up staying indefinitely. After taking a second job to make ends meet, Kate's mother is stressed enough, and the addition of her own mother to the household only causes more problems.
Sometimes, all it takes is a good or bad conversation, even one that's ten seconds long, to change your mind and your feelings. Elizabeth Scott (Bloom) writes dialogue that sounds very true to life and very true to teens - remarkably, with minimal swearing and slang. A quick exchange of words with Anna and Kate thinks they are friends again, then a blatant snub in the hallway makes her heart sink. It's hard to have a friend "outgrow" you or otherwise leave you behind. I like that they drifted apart due to their own changes (well, Anna wanting something more and changing herself) rather than being torn apart by some devastating, earth-shattering event. Nevertheless, it still felt devastating to Kate.
By the end of the book, things in Kate's home have changed yet again, and her relationships with Anna and Will are totally different than they were at the beginning of the school year. Kate has to decide whether to hang on or move on.Perfect You Overview

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The Book of Bright Ideas Review

The Book of Bright Ideas
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The Book of Bright Ideas ReviewI have been reading a plethora of genres for 40+ years, and every once in a wonderful while I stumble across a masterpiece that fortifies my love of prose. "The Book of Bright Ideas" is a precious gem among the junk jewelry of average reads. Button, narrator, gifts a summer to remember as her new best friend, Winnalee, blows into town in a beat-up pick-up driven by her sister, Freeda. Fierce, fearless, and opinionated, 10 year old Winnalee is bound to stir up Button's quietly sad childhood. Through their myriad of adventures, planned and NOT SO PLANNED, life lessons are earned. So many life lessons that Winnalee and Button strive to savor them in "A Book of Bright Ideas," which will quarentee their happiness in the future. Oh, that it could be true!Kring has a gift of vivid description, rich dialogue, nearly ethereal insight and flavorful charm. Like Harper Lee, Sue Kidd Monk, Kaye Gibbons, and other greats, her work demands and receives your full attention and your deepest respect.
This is brilliant writing at it's finest....read this book and remember why you ever started reading in the first place.The Book of Bright Ideas Overview

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The Fox Inheritance (Jenna Fox Chronicles) Review

The Fox Inheritance (Jenna Fox Chronicles)
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The Fox Inheritance (Jenna Fox Chronicles) ReviewI received an Advance Reader's Copy of this book through the Amazon Vine Program in exchange for an honest review.
The Fox Inheritance by Mary E. Pearson - scheduled for release on August 30, 2011.
From the back of the book:
"They say time heals all wounds, but they're wrong. After a terrible accident destroyed their bodies, the minds of three best friends were kept alive, spinning in a digital netherworld. Even in that disembodied nightmare, they were still together. At least at first. When Jenna disappeared, Lock and Kara had to go on without her. Decades passed, and then centuries.
Two hundred and sixty years later, they have been released at last. Given new, perfect bodies, Lock and Kara awaken to a world they know nothing about, where everyone they once knew and loved is long dead. Everyone . . . except Jenna Fox."
This is a well written, engaging sequel to Pearson's The Adoration of Jenna Fox. I have to admit that with the way that book ended, I did not expect there to be a sequel. Sometimes it's nice to be surprised. Though I enjoyed both books, I have to say I enjoyed this sequel more.
What I liked about the book: It's a page turner. Even though I would classify this as a sci-fi book, it's also a thriller. There's a cross country chase, a mystery, and of course the good guys vs the bad guys. It even includes an ethical dilemma regarding bio-engineering. How far should we go to save/extend life? I liked that even though this is a sequel, it could very easily be a stand alone read. Pearson has created well developed characters (even the ones I didn't like - like Kara) and she's a master at world building.
What I didn't like about the book: I liked it all.
Fans of sci-fi futuristic stories will enjoy this book. It has a touch of dystopian flavor to it as well, though not enough that I would classify it as a dystopian novel.
Review also published at: [...]The Fox Inheritance (Jenna Fox Chronicles) Overview

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Such a Pretty Girl Review

Such a Pretty Girl
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Such a Pretty Girl ReviewI almost passed this book by. The topic was an awful one, and I have had to witness the effects of abuse on children. I didn't think such a topic could be pulled off at all well. But something on the back matter made me pick Pretty Girl up, made me read the first couple of pages and then buy it.
I'm glad I did. Not only did the author convey the reality of the child's suffering, she gave us the effects on the community, the relatives and others. She has portrayed a very bad situation and shown us characters who are damaged and isolated by their experience, and shown us how some of them make it through the damage and out the other side. She shows us how some do not, or can only heal part way. It's about coping. And it was done beautifully.
This is one of those books that can effect a profound change on the reader.Such a Pretty Girl Overview

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Autobiography of a Face Review

Autobiography of a Face
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Autobiography of a Face Review
When this book came out, it created a sensation, not just for the raw facts of Lucy Grealy's ordeal but even more for the lyrical, insightful point of view from which it was written. Diagnosed at 9 years of age with Ewing's sarcoma, a potentially fatal cancer that attacked her lower jaw, she underwent disfiguring surgery and horrific chemo and radiation that further distorted her appearance. She used, in this memoir, her experience as a springboard from which to soar into passionate examinations of the meaning of truth, beauty, genius, love - all those biggies - and she did it with stunning success. Her background as a poet shines through each paragraph of this seminal book.
But.
Then she died, and although her death was ruled accidental, it's clear she had been on a steady downward spiral through the last couple of years of her life. Ann Patchett's stunning and conflicted story of her 20-year friendship with Grealy (Truth and Beauty) uncovers the raw underbelly of Lucy Grealy's personality, her unending quest to be special, first, best, and most of all, lovable.
To get a fuller picture, one that I feel still isn't quite complete, of this quixotic individual, it's imperative that readers of Grealy's book also read Patchett's.
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I Like You Review

I Like You
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I Like You ReviewI was given this book when I graduated high school, and I kept it with me all through college. I would sometimes read it aloud to friends in my dorm and when it came time for college graduation, I got an amazing surprise. My best friend "stole" the book from my room, and armed with a video camera, videotaped people who were special to me each reading a passage from the book and relating memories of our college years. That was almost 10 years ago. My best friend is now about to have a baby, and I am going to make sure it is the first book my little "niece" or "nephew" gets. It is a simple, unsappy, silly, and timeless reminder that friends are to be cherished, and the person who is willing to be a "goofus on the roofus" with you is a special pal indeed.I Like You Overview

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Aphrodite the Beauty (Goddess Girls) Review

Aphrodite the Beauty (Goddess Girls)
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Aphrodite the Beauty (Goddess Girls) ReviewBest goddess-girlfriends Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, and Persephone were all busy cracking the scrolls at the illustrious MOA, Mount Olympus Academy. With the exception of Beauty-ology, Aphrodite had little interest in scrolls, but when it came to godboys and love she was all eyes and ears. If you counted the matchmaking, you could count her in as nose-y. She was pretty good at it except for the time one of her "fatally flawed" ideas for matching up Paris and Helen caused a war. She was the "goddessgirl of love and beauty," but she'd have to leave the brains to Athena. Naturally all the godboys went wild over her, so one little mistake wasn't that big of a deal. After a while all the attention Aphrodite was getting made her a bit "fed up with godboys," but braniac Athena looked like she would enjoy a bit of attention now and then. Mmmmmm
Aphrodite, or "Bubbles" as nasty Medusa nicknamed her, "loved stirring up romance for others." She pored over "Teen Scrollazine" getting new ideas for Athena's makeover, a makeover that was so successful even Poseidon, "Fishface," exclaimed, "Wow, Athena . . . you look really different." Unfortunately when blond haired, blue-eyed heartthrob, Ares began eying Athena and calling her "Theeny," Aphrodite felt twangs of jealousy. When the skinniest godboy wimp, Hephaestus, began crushing on her, she was totally humiliated. She really had to concentrate on matching up mortal Hippomenes with Atalanta and had to forget about the whole fiasco. If he didn't beat Atalanta in a race he would die, but this whole mess with Athena was going to kill her instead. These days she couldn't stir up a cosmetic recipe with a spoon, let alone stir up a romance for herself. How did she get into such a mess?
Aphrodite, MOA's irresistibly vain goddessgirl of love, will simply charm the reader with her matchmaking foibles. This marvelous series is a lot of fun and just as irresistibly charming as its main characters. The reader will roll her eyes when she learns that Aphrodite has an "automatic reflex" to peer inside every mirror she passes and contrarily, will feel sorry for her when "tears brimmed in her eyes" when she was humiliated. In addition to a bubbly tale, the reader will have a learning experience even without giving a thought to Greek mythology (or cracking a scroll). This series is proving to be a hit with all the goddessgirls, godboys, and mortals out there and with the introduction of each new character, it's getting harder to pick a favorite and soooo . . . I'll just have to say I love `em allAphrodite the Beauty (Goddess Girls) Overview

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Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) Review

Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have)
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Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) ReviewIt starts off in a The Hangover-like way when April is jolted awake by her police siren ringtone (her dad's) to find a guy (who is not her boyfriend) laying next to her, and a mess of a house (beer cans and chips everywhere) and two barely dressed guys (one wearing a tiara) sprawled and snoring on the couch. And her dad calls to say he's fifteen minutes away as a birthday surprise. Can you tell I was hooked from there? Because I could barely blink.
The writing was easy going and the characters were very likable and fun. I was slightly flinching throughout the whole book from how real everything seemed. I was not a huge fan of the time-hoping bits. April went back and forth between time-frames and it felt a bit disorienting from time to time, but it did fit with the plot quite well, I just felt transitions could have been slightly smoother and clearer. But it worked.
It was unbelievably fun to read. I would laugh out loud from time to time and slap my hand on my forehead on other times too. April made so many understandably stupid decisions, that you just want to reach out and shake her, while knowing you might have done that same thing. Sarah Mlynowski is a genius on realistic teenage portrayal.
Overall, a very sassy tale of things we shouldn't do that ironically make our lives that much enjoyable and cool. A book you should not miss if you love fun contemporary YA.Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) Overview

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Broken for You Review

Broken for You
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Broken for You ReviewMy wife read this book in one gulp, so to speak, and said, 'You must read this. You may find it a little too "girly," but I think you'll really like it anyhow.' Well, she was certainly right about my liking it. And it wasn't too 'girly,' either; although the main characters are women, the interactions, the plot twists, the quirkiness of all the characters, and the unexpectedness of their inner lives made it all fascinating to me.
Stephanie Kallos, a first-time novelist, has a delightful sense of humor and a real facility with words. Although the main arc of the plot winds up being fairly predictable (and, I might add, extremely satisfying), there are enough unexpected incidents and revelations along the way to make this trip very enjoyable. And her characters are all credible people with vivid inner lives, past histories, present desires and hesitations. All are wounded in some way, but none is a victim in the usual sense. And underlying all this is a strong current of the will to survive and even triumph, especially in the context of a purpose-created community of eccentrics.
It would be a shame if this book is overlooked because it is by a new novelist whose name doesn't ring a bell. If Kallos keeps writing, her name WILL become much better known.
Recommended.
Scott MorrisonBroken for You Overview

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Julia's Chocolates Review

Julia's Chocolates
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Julia's Chocolates ReviewUsually chosing books on reviews, I was a bit apprehensive that I chose this book from the cover and inside blurb. Twenty pages in I was relieved to know I made a wise choice as Cathy Lamb's book is rich in character, plot and resolution.
Julia, abused her entire childhood, sickly chooses a cruel finance who continues the pattern with great zeal. The day of the wedding, in a moment of clarity, Julia realizes she is making a huge mistake. She escapes in her beat-up car from New England to Golden, Oregon to the comfort of her Aunt Lydia's farm, leaving her wedding dress dangling from a tree in North Dakota. At Aunt Lily's, Julia befriends 4 women who attend "Aunt Lydia's Psychic Nights" where each lady exposes her own set of disturbances. The friendships open Julia's injured mind to understanding no one deserves constant berating, constant hitting, constant chaos. But as she heals, her crazed fiance plots vicious revenge, and Julia knows a reckoning is coming.
I found this beautifully written because in the face of disturbing subject matter there was still uproarious humor, gentle moments, quirky, loveable characters and redemption. Written with a homespun prose, the book keeps you on a fragile edge, but doesn't leave you dangling for too long. A perfect balance makes this a must read for all that hide from truth or are in search of it.
Great first effort; I look forward to more books from this gifted author.Julia's Chocolates Overview

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Forget You Review

Forget You
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Forget You ReviewI've been struggling with this review for a while, and it's all thanks to my mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoyed parts of it, like the character of Doug and the girl torn between two boys, though I had some problems with Zoey. I just couldn't seem to like her, and I thought the way she treated both Brandon and Doug made next to no sense. She wasn't in any way written badly, in fact that's Echols' extremely strong point: she's a fantastic writer. I just felt that, in this case, Forget You was lacking something.
As I've previously mentioned many times, Echols is a great talent in YA. Going Too Far and The Boys Next Door are both brilliant examples of fiction for teens, and her boys always stand out from the crowd. Forget You's Doug is no exception; I loved him. Echols also isn't afraid to write a steamy scene or two, and when I say steamy, I mean steamy. Page 211 (in the ARC) is like the hottest scene in YA, and just has to be mentioned. I'm not saying I went back and read it a few times or anything... *cough*. Though I know for a fact I'm not the only one!
The one thing that really irked me about Zoey was why she even bothered with Brandon at all. To put it nicely, he was a complete idiot. I get that she couldn't remember the whole night, but surely she could have figured out who was the good guy and who wasn't worth a second thought?! Zoey is my least favourite of Echols' female protagonists, though I did like her more towards the end of the book.
Echols gets teenagers, and she writes them as if her own teenage years are a not-so-distant memory. She gets the drama of relationships and big decisions, and for that reason alone I will read everything she ever writes. Although I don't think Forget You is up there with her best books, Echols has more than proved that she's here for the long haul, and I look forward to whatever she comes up with next.Forget You Overview

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Athena the Brain (Goddess Girls) Review

Athena the Brain (Goddess Girls)
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Athena the Brain (Goddess Girls) ReviewAthena The Brain is an adorable light take on Greek mythology. Athena has grown up as an orphan on Earth, living with her friend's family. She's always been different - smarter, better. Now she knows why - she's the daughter of Zeus! She is summoned to attend Mount Olympus Academy with all the other goddessgirls, godboys, and a few errant mortals.
Athena's story is relatable to any girl who has started a new school. She's scared and excited. Even though she's brilliant, Hero-ology, Beast-ology and other classes are new to her. Plus, there's all these new people. Nice girls like Aphrodite, handsome boys like Poseidon, strange girls like Pandora, and mean girls like Medusa. Plus Zeus, her dad, can be just as difficult as he can be charming.
This was such a fun book. It takes all the elements of Greek mythology that we all learn in school and turns it into a cute, fluffy story. I haven't studied Greek mythology since 6th grade and never really liked it that much, but I had no trouble keeping up with the characters and the stories. I especially loved Pandora, whose incessant curiosity made her a nosy yet loveable character.
I don't have any major problems with this book. It's meant for fun (and enjoyable education), so it's not exactly literary quality. But that doesn't make the book any less worthy. The only thing I wish had been done differently was a better depiction of Athena's life prior to going to Mount Olympus Academy. The beginning threw her into the plot too quickly. But such a preface probably would have just added unnecessary pages and plot set-up, so I'm not too troubled.
The story very loosely follows Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, two epic poems that I really liked in high school. The kids were playing with mortals in hero-ology and inadvertently create a huge conflict. It was fun to see how every little detail connected to Greek history and mythology. Learn the "real" idea behind the Trojan horse.
The first Goddess Girl is a quick, easy, light read. It's a must read for lovers of Greek mythology, but even people who have no particular affinity for it will find something to enjoy. I think it would be ideal as a co-read for students learning mythology in school.
Rating: 4 / 5
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Crossing to Safety (Modern Library Classics) Review

Crossing to Safety (Modern Library Classics)
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Crossing to Safety (Modern Library Classics) ReviewI was about to be captive on a 7 1/2 hour plane trip- I went into Powell's bookstore in the airport, and somehow I was drawn to this book. I had heard about this book from a friend, and as soon as I saw the title I knew this was it! What a wonderful plane trip- I was on the next to last page as we landed and read the last two pages while waiting for my luggage. Whoopee, what a book, what a read, I hated for it to end. It is one of those kinds of books.
"Crossing to Safety" by Wallace Stenger is the kind of book that you read once in a life time. The characters become so real and so alive. You like these people; you do not want any of life's mysteries and sadness to befall on any them. Well, maybe that couple that was so nasty, no, no, not even them.
Larry and Sally Morgan move to Madison, Wisconsin in the 1930's to start their life. Sally is pregnant, and Larry is about to start a teaching job at the university. They have little money and his job is a lifesaver. Larry's dream is to be a writer and he has published one article. At a faculty party they meet Charity and Sid Lang. Sid comes from big money and they have all they need besides two children and one on the way. Charity and Sally get along famously, and Sid and Larry develop a bond.
This novel follows these two marriages, the ins and outs and the personal issues they each face. We are rarely allowed into a marriage to see all the warts. Over the next many years we follow both families from Wisconsin to Vermont and Cambridge and Italy. We see the friendships between the couples develop. We learn that Charity must manipulate and control- and that Sid needs the push she gives him. Larry becomes a well read author with several books and articles. Sally is happy to be a wife and mother until tragedy befalls. Sid is a wonderful teacher but really wants to write poetry. How do these couples help each other discover the truth within them? What does each of these people bring to the group? Why are they destined to love each other for their life? What is so special about these 4 people? How do they react when the greatest tragedy of all hits one of them?
Wallace Stenger allows us to see the real people below the exterior trappings. I came to love these people, to really care about what happened to them. I think what if that had not happened, or what if this had happened? This is the way we think in real life with our memories. Wallace Stenger is a literary genius. Highly recommended. prisrobCrossing to Safety (Modern Library Classics) Overview

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Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom Review

Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom
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Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom ReviewThe magic about this book is that it centers completely on the definition of the human experience and all the emotions that it entails. In addition it gives us guidelines usually through poetic pieces and beautifully scripted prose on dealing with many of life's issues.
I read most of this book on a flight back home to Ireland. I just couldn't put it down. As cynical and routine that life sometimes appears each of us has a yearning to break the mold, break the routine and deep down find our way, our reason for being on this earth. O'Donohue reminds us regardless of who we are and what the material world values us at - our soul has a yearning to belong and live life spontaneously and to avoid the clutter of routine and the depression of complacency.
There are important lessons in this book on the areas of love, death, belonging, depression etc. Finding your significant other for example is something that happens through fate. Death should be celebrated for the life that it gave an individual and the journey it now presents to the soul. Depression should be addressed not through constant interactions with pyschologists, who yes help, but confronting that which caused the depression in the first place and absorbing it as a strength rather than a weakness.
I was in Ireland for a funeral, which though a sad event, i left feeling happy - This book reminded me of what a great gift life really is.Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom Overview

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We'll Always Have Summer Review

We'll Always Have Summer
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We'll Always Have Summer ReviewAhh. It's spring finally and though this is the perfect beach read, love is in the air. If you've read the other two books in the Summer series by Jenny Han, you'll appreciate that we finally get closure in the final book in the series. Belly, now in college and known as Isabel, has been dating Jeremiah for two years and though the course has not always been smooth, it's been pretty good and they are in love. So when they decide to get married they can't understand why everyone is so against it. Didn't everyone expect her to marry one of the Fisher boys and everyone knows you can't count on Conrad. The obvious choice is Jeremiah. Isn't it?
Okay, you know that much from the book jacket so no spoilers there. This book explores Belly's and Jeremiah's relationship and a few bumps they face in it leading up to the big question. Then all the problems that question causes. Jenny Han writes that part of the book-the headlong rush into marriage just like that. There is a flurry of planning and questions and troubles and the book rushes too so that you can feel the underlying panic, maybe, that both Belly and Jeremiah feel to get it over and done with. Belly wants to prove that she loves Jeremiah. And maybe Jeremiah wants her to say "I do" before his brother can enter their lives again. For some reason there is a sense of urgency and as a reader, I felt it too, rushing through the book as I read. Yes, Belly loved Con, when she was younger. He was her first love, but hey we all remember our first loves. Some of us fondly, some not so fondly. But, they have a part of our hearts because they were the first to break them. This was true with Con. He hurt Belly and she ran off to Jeremiah. The question is did she choose him, one of the two she loved or was he the one she loved?
And then in this book, we finally get a peek into Conrad's head. Thank God! He'd always seemed like a heartless bastard before and I could never figure out what he wanted. He just seemed to be toying with Belly. And he seemed to delight in hurting her except for those six months they dated. Now we find out just how he felt and his motivations and it all makes sense. It's kind of like getting a chance to see inside Edward's head in Midnight Sun. (Twilight fans will know what I'm writing about.) The distant, enigmatic Conrad becomes a real person in this novel and I say it's about time. In fact, it would have been nice to have had his perspective all along. It would have made for a more tragic love story. But maybe Ms. Han just wanted us to have a nice light series to keep us entertained. And I have been. I read this in about four hours, stopping only to help tape up the air conditioner in our room. It's light, easy reading and satisfying to the very end. I loved the ending. It didn't feel contrived, but very natural and Cousins like. Now, if we could all have grown up that way....
In previous books, Belly and the women were the most developed characters, but in this one, Jeremiah, Conrad, Laurel, Belly's mother and Taylor, Belly's best friend were well developed as well. Cousins, the beach where most of the action of the series takes place has always seemed like a character, the house, the beach, the pool, Belly's room, the kitchen table, each played a part in the series. Belly, Jeremiah, Conrad and Steven (Belly's brother) grew up in the house during the summers and monumental things happened there. If an inanimate object can be a character, then Cousins is definitely a character. It had it's effect on everyone. This would definitely qualify as a One Sit Read for me. I wasn't going to bed until I read the last page and I didn't cheat. It would have cheapened the series for me. I highly recommend this series for a light summer read, now that all three books are out and there are no cliffhangers. Teenage girls should love this one, but I'm way past that and eagerly anticipated this last book in the series so any YA lover looking for a nice easy read should read this series. I can't wait to see what Jenny Han writes next!
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Where Dreams Begin Review

Where Dreams Begin
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Where Dreams Begin ReviewAll I can say is that I am glad that I tried "one more" book by Lisa Kleypas. I tried 2 and didn't really like them, but after Where Dreams Begin, I am glad I persevered.
Lady Holly Taylor is a proper lady of her time, and a widow who truly mourns the loss of her husband, George. This in itself was great, since usually we have the widow who has never loved before, but Holly has, and when her heart is once again, awakened, this time to Zachary Bronson, she is shocked and saddened that she could betray George like that.
Zachary, meanwhile, can't forget the lady he mistakenly kissed in a darkened room and works it out so that Holly and her daughter Rose come to live with him, so they can teach him and his nouveau rich family proper manners and protocol.
As Holly struggles to maintain her distance from Zachary, she realizes that she is losing social standing by her close and scandalous association with this upstart who was once a fighter. Nevertheless, as she begins to fall in love with him and with his mother and sister, society doesn't matter to her anymore.
This was such a richly drawn book that I am looking forward to reading what I am told are Kleypas's even better books - Then Came You and Dreaming of You - Holly and Zachary are two truly well drawn characters who make the reader care for them. Rose is neither a brat nor a "precious" child, and Zachary's humble mother, unused to her new luxurious life, is really heartwarming. a secondary romance is written well enough to interest, but not overshadow the main romance.
I loved this book and recommend it wholeheartedly.Where Dreams Begin Overview

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Big Nate Strikes Again Review

Big Nate Strikes Again
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Big Nate Strikes Again ReviewBook Review for [...]
I love the idea of mixing the art of comics inside a book to get kids reading. Diary of a Wimpy Kid has done that and Big Nate is also formatted in a similar way.
Big Nate is a middle school student who gets into enough trouble to create interest but not so much as you wonder what in the world he's thinking. He has two buddies that are along for a laugh and often at his expense. And guess what? There is some girl trouble that keeps the story interesting. The girl in this story happens to be Gina, his archenemy. The two get paired up for a report on Ben Franklin, and that part of the story truly delivers a bit of educational content. But when they get paired up for a sports team Gina has the nerve to name the team without the okay from her team captain, Big Nate.
The second book is easy enough to pick up even if you've missed the first book and it is geared for those on a 2nd to 5th grade reading level. The plot isn't heavy. It's not something that you'll learn great life lessons from. What it does, and does well, is gets kids reading who might not normally be into reading. The change from text to comic so often keeps the reader interested and moves the story along with the visual clues that some kids need when reading at this level. Don't think this one is just for boys either. My eight year-old daughter saw the book arrive and immediately offered to do the book review for me. She's next to read it!Big Nate Strikes Again Overview

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