Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Wow. Want a book to really make you think and possibly start worrying about our future, then this is the book to read.  Another one of those books from the classroom that Blake wanted me to read with him.  What really makes this book believable is that Ray Bradbury wrote this in the early 1950's and much of what he thought and predicted can be seen today.  That's over 60 years later.  The book is divided into three sections instead of chapters so there is no stopping points or segment breaks which is nice to just keep your thoughts on the one idea instead of many subjects.

So the first section you are introduced to Montag and the life he lives as a fireman.  However, being a fireman means that you burn books and houses that held books.  Anyone found with one is arrested.  No one really remembers the past and what it was really like and they do not care.  No one really knows eachother or interacts with one another.  The world is in chaos and no one cares.  After seeing a woman burn herself alive with her books, Montag starts to really question his life.  He doesn't know his wife, nor does he seem to care about her anymore.  She has been sucked into the life of imediate gratification and entertainment.  Her 'family' consists of 3 tv walls that she even says makes her laugh and she makes them laugh.  It's who she only cares about.  Even going to bed she puts in headphones to keep in contact with everyone.  Intellegence and individual thoughts are crushed.

What makes it scary is that you can see this happening today.  Everyone comes home from school/work and is glued to an electronic device.  Even today, the power went out for an hour and I kept finding myself being drawn to the computer since I wanted to check emails and facebook, which I had already checked a couple times today.  I didn't know what to do at first without any connection to the world.  A sad, but true commercial I saw of a teenager saying her parents have no friends while she has 350 on facebook sums it up pretty good as well.  Are these really your friends?

Another part of this book talks about how minority groups caused the main reason for the start of burning books.  Groups kept getting offended of what each book talked about.  Not just racial groups, but religious, intellectual, etc...  Any group of people with similarities started saying everything was unfair for them since the majority did not comply.  The fire chief put it pretty clear when he said that their job is to make the minority population happy no matter what.  Do we not see this happening today?

We learn that it is not necessarily books that make all the difference.  There are three things everyone needs.  1. Quality Information, 2. Leisure to digest it, and 3. The right to carry out actions based on what you learn from the interaction of the first two.  Society in this book are missing these and struggling to survive.  People kill each other with no thought and commit suicide.  It is accepted an part of life.  One lady mentions she will never have children since it limits her fun while another says she puts her kids in schhol for ten days and the 3 days in the month they are home she puts them in front of the tv.  It is all about the individual.

To see what happens to Montag in this environment pick up this book and read it.  It has been a while since I have read a book that really makes me think and analyze life.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Blake has a ton of classroom books in his room so I decided to go through them and read some of the ones I have never read.  Blake started to read this book and insisted that I needed to read it with him.  Needless to say, I got hooked  and finished before he did.  This was a great book and the story just pulls you in.  I just looked up on amazon and noticed there are a good 5 books in this series so we will definately have to keep reading them.

Ender is 5 years old when the book starts. You have to keep reminding yourself that most of the characters in this book are between 5-12 years old and being breed and trained to save the world.  Earth was attacked by Buggers (bug-like aliens) and nearly destroyed before the military, by pure luck, stopped them from invading the earth.  Now they have decided to attack the Buggers and get rid of them for good.  The world is only allowed to have children if granted by the government and even them only 2.  Each child when they has a monitor attached to their neck to see if they are gifted enough to go to Battle School.  Ender is a Third in his family.  This is not highly thought of and often the kids are bullied since they were only breed since their older siblings did not pan out and therefore the Third was breed with the intentions of them being great.  From the start, the military has pegged Ender as the commander to lead the Bugger invasion and therefore isolate him and rigorously train him beyond any student.  He is pushed to the limits and eventually makes it to Eros, the command center.  He is only 11 at this time which is unheard of since most go when they are 16.  Ender and his group of toon leaders train with mock battles in order to prepare for the actual Bugger battle.

I won't say much more since I don't want to ruin the ending of the book, but it is crazy how smart these kids are and what they are capable of doing.  It is also sad to see that they have no childhood.  Yes, it was for the good of the earth, but at what cost?  What has the government done to their economy and the people in it?  A must read for sure.

Darke by Angie Sage

What a great way to end the Septimus Heap series.  An evil Darke has enveloped the castle and starts to take over the village as well.  Marcia accidentally banishes Alther and Septimus must return him in order to hopefully end Merrin's terror over the castle.  Merrin is still determined that he was suppose to be Septimus and is intent on taking revenge on him.  Jenna finally accepts that she is to be a princess and must act accordingly and think of everyone else as well as her safety, however, the Coven witches are determined to make her a witch.  Sounds crazy and a lot is going on, but Angie does a great job tying up all the lose ends and ending this fun story.

The Heavenly Surrender by Marcia Lynn McClure

Yes, I read another one.  In this story Genieva has agreed by mail to marry Breven McLean.  When she arrives at the train station, Breven is needless to say a little upset with how young, pretty, and small Genieva is.  He needs a hard worker to help him with his farm.  They marry and she finds herself for the first time in the country learning how to milk cows.  I love this book since it has so many different things going on.  You have a neighboring family trying to take the McLean's land with their son trying to take Genieva.  Then you have Genieva's family who shows up and then the town that talks about how Breven fathered a young girl's child, which is not true.  For some reason my favorite part is when Breven gets hurt and is out for a couple of days when their corn needs to be planted.  Genieva plants the corn all by herself and then carries water from the river to the corn all day since the corn needs water.  Breven wakes up to Genieva asleep at the table and takes her to bed to notice that her feet and hands are terribly blistered.  It is just an awesome part since she works despite the pain knowing the work has to be done and doing it for her husband who she loves, but believes he will never love her in return.  Great story of trust and work.

Desert Fire by Marcia Lynn McClure

Who can resist a good Marcia Lynn McClure book?  Not I.  I started to read "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and decided I needed something more lighthearted and fun to read.  I'm not saying Dorian Gray is not a bad book, I've read it before and enjoyed the overall story, it just is not a quick, easy read and I struggle with those at times.  So when in doubt, turn to Marica.  I admit at first I was not a fan of her books and found them somewhat simple and predictable, but there are times when I crave reading her books.  I have never had that from an author so Marcia has risen to the top of my list of great romance authors.  I am a little embarrassed to admit that I even e-mailed her with a cute, romantic idea for a book.  Who knows, she may actually use it, which would be totally awesome.

Back to "Desert Fire."  I have read all of Marica's books, just not posted all of them since there are so many.  It took me some research to finally find this book since I knew I was in the mood to read the story where the girl is found in the desert and can not remember who she is.  Yes, the young lady in this story finds herself rescued by a very handsome McCall boy and taken to his family's ranch.  She can not remember who she is and stays with the family.  She slowly remembers who she is throughout the book and falls in love with her rescuer.  It is a fun read with a classic love story that everyone can love.

I'm Back

No, I have not given up on this blog. We just finished moving and finally got the internet connected again. Unfortunately I have not had time to read for a while with the new baby and not having a home, but hopefully I will start a new book next week. There are so many options I don't know where to start. I've got a huge list of books from my husbands new classroom that I would like to read since they are all approved books for 9th and 10th grade and I would like to be familier with these books. For Halloween this year I need to read Frankenstein. Then there are all the new books coming out such as the Inheritance book, Septimus Heap, The Sun of Neptune... Man, I need to set up my new library card so I can be put on the waiting list.

Otherwise, I need to catch up with the Domino Project by Seth Godin. (Click here to read more) Sadly I have not read the other kindle books I have recieved from The Domino Project since my kindle was packed in a box, but I did recieve a paperback copy of one of their books, Pick Four: Zig Ziglar's Legendary Goals Program, Updated and Simplified as part of being an agent for BzzAgent. (Click here to join BzzAgent) I found this booklet to be awesome, especially for someone who has a bunch of projects they want to accomplish and don't know where to start. Zig starts you out by listing 100 things you want to do and then you slowly go through the list until you have 4. Each with a differnt focus such as family, career, financial, physical, spiritual, etc... You need to have different focuses for the goals in order to create balance in your life. It then makes you write down each week what you accomplished and goals for the following week. If you follow the steps, you will accomplish your goal. It's awesome. I would suggest copying the pages so you can continue to use the worksheets over and over again. Seriously, try this out.

The Kiss of a Stranger by Sarah M. Eden

When Crispin kisses who he assumes is a serving girl in order to get rid of unwanted female attention, he never thought it would lead to a forced marriage that same day when Catherine's wealthy uncle says her virtue has been compromised and must be married. Catherine has spent the last seven years being abused by her uncle and therefore does not trust men and believes all are the same as him. Crispin does not think this marriage will be an issue until he realized an annulment will taint his reputation and completely ruin Catherine's. Surprisingly, both start to fall in love with eachother, but are hesitant to reveal their true feelings believing the other wants the annulment.

I enjoyed reading this book since it is yet again another easy, feel-good, romance novel. Sorry for the short review today. New baby and moving requires a short review today.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

As you can see it has been a little while since I last posted and for the next couple of months my posts will be scarce compared to what I usually do since life is going to be very hectic and crazy until August. Last week I finally had my little girl, but I was able to get one book in while recovering at the hospital. Otherwise, the next couple weeks are going to be filled with family visiting and packing up and moving to Roosevelt, Utah for my husbands new teaching job. Oh yeah, have I mentioned that he is in the process of publishing his first book. Exciting! I'll do a review of his book once it is published so I can post a nice picture of it.

Anyway... So I was able to read the entire book, The Maze Runner, while I sat for endless hours i my room waiting to be released and go home. I feel like I have read this book before or at least a very similar type story. Actually, thinking on it now, the way it was written and the beginning of the book seems similar to The Missing series that I started a couple years ago, but never continued. This book is a very simple, easy read and also reminds me of Lord of the Flies in the sense that you have a group of boys that have been stuck in this maze for up two years. Each month a new boy shows up who, like the others, has no memory of his family or life, only his first name. He remembers knowing about life and concepts/ideas from before, but no actual memories of his life. Each week supplies are sent to them. They have put together somewhat of a society and each boy is assigned to either farm, butcher, run, cook, bury the dead, etc... The Runners, are boys that have been there for a while and each morning go out to the maze and plot the maze. Each night the walls around their 'settlement' go up and keep out the horrible machine monsters found in the maze. They never find an exit.

Thomas shows up and the boys who have been stung and 'changed' by the monsters, all have a faint memory of Thomas and so are skeptical of him, especially when the next day another person arrives and it's a girl who knows Thomas. Together they figure out hoe to escape the maze. I enjoyed the story, although it is not one that I am excited to continue or feel the need to immediately get the next book in the series. I do have to add that most people I have talked to absolutely love this author and in particular this series.

Mark of Royalty by Jennifer Clark & Stephonie Wiliams

A short, but delightful story, Mark of Royalty is about a princess, Sarah, who was first-born and marked with a unicorn scar, as is custom of her country. However, a twin brother was also born and because of a prophecy that the first-born would be a boy, they marked the boy and hide Sarah so protect her life. Sarah grows up in a different country not knowing who she is. Only her 'mother' knows who she really is. As circumstances have it, Sarah starts courting the king's nephew of her new country, but falls in love with the King's son. Her, step-father has other plans and sides with Lord Chad, the king's nephew, in a plot to make Chad the king. Alex, the king's son, has been forced to find a bride from another country or give up the thrown to Chad, which he wants to do in order to bring unity to their country and be able to marry Sarah. In the end, Sarah, is revealed to everyone to be a true princess from Spain and therefore, Alex can indeed marry her and fulfill his obligation to marry from another country and Chad is tried for treason. All ends well. A classic story, but a nice, easy-read, feel-good story that is worth reading.

Listen by Rene Gutteridge

"So the question is, do the conversations we have privately define who we are, or are we who we are despite our private conversations?"

Just one of the few thought-provoking statements made in the most recent Kindle book I read. Someone has started a blog that posts the towns most intimate, private conversations that are not meant to be heard by anyone else and especially not the person they are talking about. So what happens when a town becomes obsessed with this site and begins to piece together who is saying what about whom? People begin to fight with one another and even get to the point of killing eachother. Friendships are forever ruined and married couples are afraid to communicate with one another in fear that their conversation will show up on this site. So how would you change if you knew your private conversations/gossip would show up the next day for all to see. It is an intrigueing book and honestly had a ton of quotes that I would love to put together at some point to really contemplate on. The story itself is not too bad either and it is interesting to see who the person is that is behind this website and what motivated this person to start it. I think this is an excelent read for all, and especially should be integrated into high school classes since a part of the story deals with bullying and gossip.

Gables Against the Sky by Anita Stansfield

I have never been a huge fan of Anita Stansfield. I read a few of her books when I was in high school and they were ok, but nothing great. Obviously, I haven't read any of her books since even though she has quite a few. My younger two sister-in-laws love this story and insisted that I give it a try. I've had the book for a few weeks and this week finally started to read it. I was pleasantly surprised to find it a decent book. This is a sequel and I really don't think I would enjoy reading the first book based off of the story line told in this book, but who knows.

This started out as a typical story of growing up in Australia at a boys home and one of the troubled boys falling in love with the owners daughter, but running off when she does not agree to go riding with him one afternoon. To get revenge later on he kidnaps her and of course she falls in love with him. Her brother falls in love with their 'adopted' sister and wants to get married, but she wants to stay in Australia while he wants to travel the world. He leaves and she has his son 9 months later. He doesn't come back home until 4 years later. I was surprised to find the main story line of the kidnapping and leaving home done by the middle of the book.

Unfortunately, after this point, the book gets a little annoying since we spend the rest of the story dealing with Lacey's crazy madness at Tyson for leaving her with a kid and unable to forgive him and incredibly mad at Michael for kidnaping her and Emma. She thinks Emma is insane for wanting to marry this criminal. Of course his past comes back to haunt them and they all have to overcome murder charges and learn to deal with their past skeletons in order to live happily ever after. Like I said, the beginning of the book was good, but then the second half just got annoying with all the irrational fighting and drama. Still a decent book.

Borrowed Light by Carla Kelly

I enjoyed reading this LDS book. It is not incredibly spiritual or filled with LDS scriptures and principles, but it does mention it tastefully in a way that does not take away from the main story. Julia is engaged to the 'perfect' guy and realizes on her sisters weddind day that she does not want to marry him and in a moment of frustration she applies for a cooking job on a ranch in Wyoming. A couple weeks later she still has not told anyone that she plans on canceling her engagement but is forced to when she gets a reply back saying she is to report to Wyoming within the week. She shows up at a secluded ranch full of men who have been eating out of cans and really have never cleaned the place up. Rats are everywhere and it takes her a week to get the oven cleaned. If you've seen Seven Brides for Seven Brothers you can pretty much get the idea of Julia's experience at the beginning.

Of course she falls in love with the young owner who has been in charge of the ranch since he was 15. Julia struggles at first with her own testimony of her religion when faced with questions about it and the closest branch is a days train ride away so she is only able to go every couple of weeks and must rely on her own strength to uphold her values and defend her religion. In the end, Mr. Otto, the ranch owner, joins the church and Julia finds herself living her life in Wyoming. Don't let the churchy-type book scare you because the story is good and the book very enjoyable to read.

Do the Work by Steven Pressfield

Do the Work is the second free kindle book sent out by BzzAgent on behalf of the Domino Project. The first book was Poke the Box which I did not really have an interest in or enjoy reading, but Do the Work was substantially better. I was a little hesistant about reading it due to Poke the Box, but was happy to find this book much better than planned. This book especially appealed to me since my husband is writing a book and is an English teacher. This book is great for those writing, making movies, or pretty much starting any project. The first section is not the greatest since it is all about defining resistance and learning to recognize and handle it. It is a very important thing to understand so I understand the need for it, but it did not really motivate or inspire me.

The rest of it was great. It gives you guidelines for starting and carrying out your project. It doesn't necessarily give you step-by-step advice, but it does help you weed out things that prevent you from successfully completing your project. Some things that stood out to me included starting you project by taking a piece of paper and in three bullets, outline your story. (I'm going to use writing as the example) He also talked about writing the ending and working backwards. You fill in the gaps as you. Also, interestingly, he says to only research 3 books before starting your project. If you research more you run into more resistance. Go into your project stupid and work the rest out as you go.

I could go on and on with the advice Steven gives, but honestly it would be better to read it. Don't get put off by having to read a 'know how to' type book. This kindle book is very easy to read, to the point, and quick. It also helps a ton since it is written with some points in normal font and others in very large, bold font. It definately helped me to read it knowing I'm not reading a full page of fine print. Don't hesitate to download this book, especially since it is free right now and saves you $12.99.

My Blood Approves by Amanda Hocking

Flutter and Wisdom are the 3rd and 4th books of the My Blood Approves series by Amanda Hocking. An enjoyable series and I'm not sure if there are more books that will be coming out or not. It definately has the potential to continue on. Alice is still struggling with her feelings for Peter and Jack, but is trying very hard to be faithful to Jack. She spends most of these books learning to control her bloodlust and abilities as a vampire and to also figure out how she really feels about becoming a vampire and what her purpose in life is now. At first she just figured she would be a trophy wife and do nothing for eternity but be with Jack and be happy. Unfortunately, that isn't exactly what happens. She starts to resent being a 'monster' and not having anything that is 'hers.' Everything belongs to her new vampire family.

Her life also isn't very easy-going and happy like she planned. Flutter starts with Peter trying to get himself killed by wild vampires and he unfortunately drags in Alice and his family. They save him at a great price and head back home to find Jane a bloodwhore and pretty close to death. She doesn't want help, but Alice refuses to let her go. Of course, the wild vampires track them home and try to get revenge on Peter by baiting and hurting Jane and Alice. Mae spends this whole book fighting with her husband because she wants to turn her 5-year-old great-granddaughter into a vampire because she is terminally ill. In the end all works out and Mae turns Daisy. They have to go to Australia since Daisy has absolutely no control over herself.

Wisdom finds Jane murdured and a seriel killer branding and killing human girls by Club V and Mae, Daisy, and Peter in Australia trying to control Daisy. Daisy gets out of control and attacks a bunch of people and so they are forced to run back home until they can find a place to stay. Alice is determined to find the seriel killer and in the process gets tagged by vampire hunters as being involved with the killing and they track and attack her and her vampire family. This book actually made me cry at the end since Mae is finally forced to kill Daisy because she is in so much pain from needing to drink blood so often and is uncontrollable. She keeps attacking those in the family and Mae is finally forced to make the decision to end her life.

A fun series to read, especially if you are really into vampire novels. If you have a kindle you can get all 4 books for only $10 which is great. My only complaint with the last book were the amount of grammar issues. The other three books were good, but the fourth seriously needed some more editing time.

Poke the Box by Seth Godin

This is the first book I recieved on my Kindle as part of a Bzzagent campaign I joined. This is one of many books that are being published by the Domino Project. Poke the Box is a motivation book to get you moving and taking chances to make a difference in the world or just your daily life. Stop going with the crowd and hiding your ideas and creativity. Poke the box and push your ideas to come to life. Seth Godin talks about the failure of most people to take initiative and do something. Most sit around following the crowd since we are programed to never take chances and do something different. What if everyone in a company shared their ideas and tried them instead of just a small team of people? Notice I say 'tried.' Godin doesn't say that every idea will be a success, but that honestly most will fail, but eventually you learn from these failures and find something truly remarkable. For those who are nervous about going for a dream or idea that they have thought about for a while, this is a good book to start reading in order to hopefully get you motivated to accomplish your goal. It doesn't work to just think or start something, you must finish it.

The List by Melanie Jacobson

I found this book from a Seagull Books ad and was intrigued by what it had to offer. I found it pretty good and humorous from a Mormon standpoint. Melanie does a very good job poking fun as the stereotypical college age group of mormons and their tactics and views on dating and marriage. It was fairly funny at times.

Ashley Barrett is our main character who goes to school at famous BYU where her whole family has gotten married when they were 19 and started having kids immediately. Sounds like a normal mormon view on life after highschool. Well, Ashley does not find this at all appealing since her sisters and mother seem to always be stressed out and missing out on life. They hurt financially and it seems to take a toll on their marriages. So to prevent this from happening to her, Ashley puts together The List. 25 things to do before getting married with things such as learn to surf, sky dive, learn to make sushi, get a masters, etc... So she finds herself in California staying with her cousins for the summer so she can learn how to surf and possibly mark off another couple things on her list such as internet dating and having a summer fling. She finds herself targeting Matt Gibson as her summer fling and surf instructor. It is entertaining to see them at ward activities and the typical blond haired girls that are super spiritual in order to try to get Matt's attention. Ashely, of course, is the opposite of all stereotypical Utah blonde, super spiritual females and so is able to help Melanie poke fun at the LDS social life. Unfortunately for Ashley, she finds herself falling in love with Matt and has to decide whether to forgo the last three items on her list for Matt or leave Matt behind. Bet you can't figure out what she chooses in the end? Overall, a very enjoyable read for an LDS targeted book.

Logan Author Night

The Logan Library set up an author night tonight at Mount Logan Middle School. Unfortunately, I was only able to last an hour with my two kids there (which is amazing in itself), but it was an enjoyable presentation. Author Shannon Hale seemed to be the one in charge of getting everyone there and she even showed up with one of her twins. Authors Jessica Day George, James Dashner, Brandon Mull, and Ally Condie were also present.

I'm a little surprised, but Shannon Hale is the most checked out author at the Logan Library along with Jessica Day George and James Dashner. Shannon Hale is known for the Bayern series and Princess Academy. Impressively, she also has graphic novels and screen plays that she has written. I have not read any of Jessica Day George's books so I will have to get on that and see what they are like. The only book I have read of James Dashner's is The 13th Reality. His more well known book is The Maze Runner so I will have to put that on my list to read as well. I am not familiar with Ally Condie either. Her more famous book is Matched, which if you are looking for at a library you will have to put down as Allyson Braithwaite Condie to find. And anyone who does not know Brandon Mull by now is missing out. Fable Haven, Candyshop Wars, The Beyonders, etc...

Now as far as personalities go, Ally Condie was very quiet so I did not get a feel for her except that she seems nice and more reserved than the others. Jessica Day George and Shannon Hale were very talkative about themselves even to the point of being annoying. We're at a book signing and we get to hear about their kids behaviors and labor stories. Come on. Yeah, not too impressed with them individually, but that's just personally. James Dashner and Brandon Mull seemed a little more relaxed and not caring. They were quick to keep things light hearted and funny without laughing and drawing too much attention to themselves. Overall, it was a decent night.

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

So I knew a fourth book was coming out, but from what I thought it was the last book and written from Simon's view from a past book. Nope, I was wrong. Yes, it is written from multiple points of view, which I have begun to really like for most books now. It is nice to get the perspective of multiple main characters instead of only knowing one main characters feelings and experiences. However, after reading this book I have to come realize that this series is going to continue furthur. Once again I am stuck reading a series that I have to wait years to finish.

So anyway... The war is over, but life goes on for everyone. Simon is trying to come to terms with his daywalker vampire self and living longer than everyone else. Clary is trying to train to become a Shadowhunter and Jace is still is cocky self, however, he is being manipulated by a demon and losing control over his actions. We don't see much of Alec and Magnus since they are vacationing around the world, but we do see at the end that Alec is having to come to terms with Magnus's past relationships and him being a relationship at the time that will end with him dying and Magnus moving on. Isabel is still her self-centered self, but she is starting to realize that she wants/needs a steady, serious relationship and it seems that may be with Simon. So there you have it summed up within a few sentences. Pretty much Sabastian is brought back to life and Jace is controlled by him. It is nice to see that this set up forces all the other characters to take some more main parts in the upcoming books since Jace is unable to protect and save everyone. Everyone is now going to have to fight against him as well as Sabastian while also trying to keep Jace alive. A crazy twist I'm interested to see how is solved.

My Blood Approves by Amanda Hocking

I just recently read about Amanda Hocking and her success starting out by self-publishing from Writer's Digest. I was interested in her writing mostly because Blake is in the process of publishing his first book so I wanted to see what her writing is like to see how if compares to Blake's. She has a few series out and just barely started publishing with an actual company instead of on her own. This series, My Blood Approves, is a typical vampire series. It reminds me a bit of Twilight in the sense that the main character falls in love with a vampire, but her blood is meant for another vampire that she is drawn too and she wants to become one. I have read the first two books in the series and there are two others out that I will have to read at some point. I got these books for Kindle since her books are not at my local library yet and only available online right now.

So overall, I have enjoyed reading her books. I have been pleasantly impressed with her editing skills compared to many ebooks that I have read that you honestly get distracted with the amount of errors. Come on, if you're going to publish your book make sure it is properly edited. It seems books are being edited very sloppy recently. Anyway, back on subject. Alice is saved one night by Jack who she finds out is a vampire. They become friends, but when Jack introduces Alice to his 'family' her blood is drawn to Peter. Because of this bond, Peter claims Alice as his even though he fights his desire to be her soul mate. Ironically, and unusual, Jack falls in love with Alice and they form a slight bond as well that interfers with Alice and Peter's bond. Alice decides to wait to be turned to a vampire simply because her brother is 15 and just realized he's gay (does it seem interesting that most books lately always have a gay kid) so she does not want to leave him alone. Well as fate would have it, in the second book her brother gets in an accident and the only way to save him is to turn him into a vampire. Well, now Alice has to wait still for her brother to learn how to control his instincts and be trained. Peter leaves and Jack bites Alice which is pretty much a death sentence for both of them since Peter has claimed Alice as his. The second book ends with Jack and Peter fighting and Jack turning Alice into a vampire. It will be interesting to see what the rest of the books have to offer.

The Domino Project

Ok, so this isn't my usual post-about-the-latest-book-I've-read, but I believe it is very relevant to this particular blog I update. The Domino Project is part of a new bzzcampaign that I am participating in during this upcoming year as part of being an agent with Bzzagent.

I spent some time looking at the main website this morning and am intrigued with what it has to offer. Every month as part of the campaign I will be recieving a free kindle version of the book being offered for us to read and review. I am totally excited to start adding to my kindle collection since I have only been downloading free books or .99 titles. I do have a new author that I have downloaded a few books from who has self-published her works through AbbottPress.com. She sounds like a promising 26-year-old author so keep your eye out for when I get around to reading her works. I am still working on re-reading some of Marcia Lynn McClure's books and will finish probably the beginning of next week when I'll write my first review of The Domino Project's first book I will recive titled Poke the Box by Seth Godin, also the founder of this site.

This site is determined to change how books are published and marketed. As an author I would definately subscribe and watch for what could potentially be a way to get your material published partnering with Amazon. They are not staffed enough yet to really shift through tons of submissions or anything, but hey, you might as well keep your eyes open for any and all opportunities to get your book out there. I know I will since my husband wants to get his works published soon. You can subscribe to be updated of new releases as well as recieve discounts off of books they have as well.

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Marcia Lynn McClure

I had to take a break from reading so many new books and feeling overwhelmed a bit since there are so many books out there that I need to read. I found myself rushing through each book I read in order to finish it and see how it ends. Reading had started to lose it's enjoyment and sort of become a job. It also had become harder to find time to read since I've spent the last couple weeks fighting the kids colds and applying for teaching jobs for Blake. I'm just a little tired to thinking and doing anything. So I've fallen back on re-reading a few of Marcia Lynn McClure's romance novels. They are short and quit easy to read. You can finish a book in 2-3 days easily and that is just reading a couple hours each night. I do not like all of her books, but there are a few that I do find enjoyable and honestly lighten my spirit a bit and are able to help me escape from life for a bit. Blake makes fun of any romantic works and finds the writing too simple and cheesy. But seriously, who can't resist a decent romance book that helps remind you to simply slow down a bit and enjoy life? So if you haven't read any of her books yet I would recommend the following since they are my favorite.

The Pirate Ruse

Crimson Frost

Saphyre Snow

The Prairie Prince

The Visions of Ransom Lake

Shackles of Honor

House of Night by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

This series is a good story, but there is a little too much swearing and sexual situations. I can understand a little about the sexual content. When vampires bite someone it is pleasurable for both parties so it has to be included a bit, but the language just seems a little too overboard, especially with the last couple of books. I have read 7 books out of this series and know there is at least one more book and possibly even more. Once again I have to comment that series need to be kept to a few books and not be dragged out so much. This last book I read, Burned, definately was not that exciting or anything. I think part of it is due to getting bored of the series since I read it straight through and wanting it to end at this point. I hope Awakened is the last book.

So a little information about this series. Humans live in a world where they know about vampires. Vampires are not made necessarily by the vampires, but are made from humans who are marked with a crescent moon on their head during high school age. Once you are marked you must leave immediately and start attending the House of Night vampire school or else you die. Unfortunately, you still might die if your body rejects the change. You either are tranformed from a Fledgling into a Vampire, or you one day just up and die because your body rejects it. Zoey is our main character that is marked and of course she does not have the normal fledgling experience. She imprints with her human ex-boyfriend when she finds herself eating his blood which is not suppose to happen. She also learns she has a gift of being able to control all 5 elements of the world, earth, fire, water, air, and spirit. Most vampires are not even able to control one, but Zoey for some reason can control all of them. She soon finds herself having to deal with adult vampire issues that fledglings don't start to encounter until their 6th level or so.

Anyway, so Zoey is learning about vampire life and overall storyline for the books is her mentor, Neferet, abandons Nyx, their diety, and starts to accept Darkness and creates 'red fledglings' out of students that die. One of these students is Zoey's best friend who she has to save. New vampires and humans are made and they must work together to defeat a fallen immortal, Kalona, that is brought back to the earth by Neferet. They have power to blind most of the vampires and so Zoey and her friends must find a way to destroy Neferet and trap Kalona from staying on earth. Like most vampire type books, sounds a little crazy, but it works.

List of Books:

Marked

Betrayed

Chosen

Untamed

Hunted

Tempted

Burned

Awakened

Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue

I need to find some new, care-free, uplifting books to read for a while. Room was recommended by my local library. It is written from the view of a five-year-old who's mother was kidnapped when she was nineteen. Jack, was born a few years later and this book takes place seven years after she was taken. He was born and raised in a small room that he has never been out of. The first part of the book who get a feel of what daily life is like for them and how they pass the time. The review on this book said that this book will make mothers feel like failures and lacking in their mothering skills. I did not feel this really at all. Yes, Jack's mother pretty much plays with Jack all day every day and makes sure that he eats as healthy as possible and gives him as much of an education she can by teaching him to read, write, and do math. His education in that sense is much higher than a normal kids knowledge. It is great that she was able to be so good with her child, but I have to point out that she also did not have the daily stress of shopping, working, bills, etc...

The second part of the book we follow Jack after he and his mother finally escape and end up in a hospital to deal with their physical and mental state after seven years of captivity. They have to deal with weak immune systems, sensitive skin and eyes, and Jack has to become acquanted with the world that he always believed was not real and only seen on TV. He is unable to socialize with others at first or do anything without his mother. He is still breast-feeding, and he bumps into things since his sense of perception and depth have not been developed for him. He misses his 'home' and is not accepted by his grandpa who wants his mother to put him up for adoption. Jack's mother is unable to handle the pressure from the press and negative feedback she gets some some who believe she was selfish by keeping Jack instead of having her kidnapper drop him off at an orphanage for a normal life and Jack is seen as an odd, deprived, mentally challenged child. Many things that we take for granted that our own children know how to do such as walk down stairs or walk in rain are terrifying for Jack.

It was a good book and does make you think about the small things in life that we take for granted and to see life as a five-year-old does. One interesting comment Jack makes is that he notices that people spend time together, but parents push their kids aside to play on their own so they can talk with other adults. There is truth in that that kids often get pushed to the side so parents who chose to have children can do what they want all the time. We chose to have kids and we need to make sure we give them the time and attention that they need to be secure and grow.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

Wow. at least the last book in this series did not focus a lot on sex and rape. Yes, there was still murder, but nothing brutal or horrendous to read. This last book deals with Lisbeth recovering and getting ready for her trial for the attempted murder of her father. You also have Mikeal's group of reporters, security people, and police working together to prove Lisbeth's innocence and the real story of what happened with her and her father. The last group you are introduced to is the Section, the original people who determined what happened to Lisbeth and helped cover-up her fathers crimes. This government group of people were originally set up with good intentions, but they all get back together this book corrupted and murdering their own group members as well as planning the murder of others in order to hopefully cover up this whole story and lock Lisbeth up in a mental institution for life this time.

I am glad to be done with these books and do not plan on ever reading them again. There are so many people who raved about these and want everyone to read them. I disagree with their opinion and did not really enjoy reading these. I found them disturbing and not really enjoyable to read. I guess the story is original and different than most, but it is so corrupted and deals with all the evil that can happed in the world. Yes, I suppose it is good to read in order to open my mind and educate myself a little more, but it is not something I really enjoyed.

With The Old Breed At Peleliu and Okinawa by E. B. Sledge

I decided to read this book after seeing the HBO series 'The Pacific." A very good series to watch about WWII Pacific side. "Band of Brothers" is the series that follows the German side of WWII. E.B. Sledge was one of the soldiers followed in the HBO series and is known for having one of the most straigh-forward, honest books about the war. If you don't want to read the book you can definately get a good feel of the war watching the movies (just remember that there are about 10, 45 min episodes that you have to watch so it will take you about the same amount of time as it would to just read the book). About 2/3 of the books content is seen in the series, but the other 1/3 is great to be able to read since you really get a good feel of why veterans hated new recruitments, how they felt during certain situations, their view of the war and Japanese, as well as how they felt towards officers. Some officers they admired and loved, others they really hated, but usually were trained enough to keep their thoughts to themselves. You tend to feel bad for enlisted men since they are left with crappy orders and situations while the officers get much nicer ammenities, food, etc... It's only during the actual fighting that officers and enlisted are on the same page. Just an example from the book is after the war has ended, the enlisted find a nice wooded area to eat, but are forced to move so the officers can have that area to eat their chicken while the enlisted have to move back to the open, dusty field to eat their k-rations. Doesn't always seem fair, but it's life. It was fun to read the embarrassing moments many of the soldiers encountered such as fleeing out of the bathroom with their pants still down when the guns start firing for practice. It was interesting to note that there were many times that names were left annonymous during touchy times such as a soldier goofing off and accidentally shooting and killing his comrad or other such incidents that could have easily been avoided had each man been trained completely and followed their training. Like I said, definately a book worth reading, but done at a much slower pace. I usually finish a book in 2-3 days, but this one took me 2 weeks since I couldn't skim over words and not miss vital sections of the story.

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

There has to be something a little wrong with this author to imagine a story like this. There is a lot of sex and murder that's for sure. But, as crazy as this book is, it's not too bad. This book was a lot better than the first and was an intrigueing story. I can't say that these are the most amazing books I've ever read like a lot of people are saying, but they are interesting. Lisbeth Salander definately makes a lot more sense why she is as she is and by the end of the book you really feel sorry for her life pretty much being ruined by her father and the events that happened later. She still is pretty messed up, but at least you can sympathize with her feelings and distrust for everyone. Mikael Blomvist doesn't play a huge, major role and I honestly didn't really care for him this time. He seemed like a really decent guy the first book, but this time he seems so unable to really love and have a relationship. That's a little disappointing for him just because he messes with so many woman's emotions without realizing it. And then I really don't like Berger. She's very selfish and needs to control her sexual/personal emotions and desires. Who can't control themselves. It is amazing how many crazy sexual fantasies and needs all these characters need. These books are really centered around sex and rape that it is disturbing at times. I know there are people out there like these individuals, but I can say that I don't really care to read about it.

Aphrodite's Kiss by Julie Kenner

I got this book free on my new kindle and decided to try it out since honestly, the last few books I've read have been a little depressing dealing with war, murder, rape, etc... Nice to change it up and read something a little more light-hearted. I would not say this is a favorite or anything, but it was ok to read. Zoe Smith is turning 25 and is a superhero halfling getting ready to turn in her papers to become a Protector. She first has to learn to control her super senses and learn all the simple things of being a superhero such as levitating and flying. Yeah, a little cheesy but it works. She's not suppose to get close to mortals, but of course she falls in love with one and has to figure out how to let him know and whether or not she just wants to become a mortal herself and give up all her memories of the superhero world. And of course, it couldn't be a great story without the bad guy, her cousin, trying to find a powerful artifact that Zoe just so happens to have in order to let his father control the world and enslave mortals. So of course she's going to save the day. Yeah, if you want to read a cheesy, light-hearted book that you don't have to really concentrate on or think about, this is a decent one to read.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

This was a kind of crazy book. I started to read it in December when I saw so many people talking about how great this series is. I couldn't finish reading it. I found it so boring. A month later I told myself I would check it out again and force myself to read it since so many people talk about how wonderful they are. I did read it, I wouldn't say it was terribly great or anything I would convince people to read, but it did turn out to be good. The next two books may make the series worth while so I will have to continue to read them at some point. I probably would not let younger children read these books since you have some slightly detailed rape scenes as well as murder and animal sacrafices. Yeah, if you are like me thinking that this is just a murder mystery book, you're in for a surprise. There is business scandals, sex, and murder that are all a big part of learning who the characters are and why they are the way they are.

Mikael is a journalist who is going to jail for libel but hired on to write the Vanger family story. His undercover story for Henrik Vanger is to really find out who murdered his neice 50 years ago. On the side we also have Lisbeth Salander who is a very troubled 25 year old with tattoos and piercings and is a ward of the state. (Just a side note, this does not take place in the US) She is raped by her guardian a couple times before taking matters into her own hands. She is a very resourceful girl. She works for Milton Security that pretty much does investigative work on individuals. So Lisbeth is hired on later by Mikael to help solve this mystery. They had no idea what they were getting into.

SPOILER: Seriously, how messed up is this book to have members of the Vanger family who kidnap, rape, and torture their victims before killing them and especially for a father to rape his own children and teach them how to do these things to eachother and others. It can be a slightly disturbing book. I think I may need a break and find some good, wholesome, fun, lighthearted, reading that does not leave you feeling horrible for the victims and even imagining what it would be like to go through a similar situation. Ugh.

39 Clues: Into the Gauntlet by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Yep, I finally finished this series. That's the one problem with series that have more than 3-4 books, it takes forever to finish the last book because you are either waiting for it to be released or just get tired of reading the same books over and over again. I have to admit that I started out reading this series and really enjoyed it, but by the end I was just reading the books to see how it ends. I didn't mind this book and it was longer than the other books which is nice for a change since I could usually read these in one day. We got to see a lot of what was going on with each person and how they were coping with why they were looking for these clues and who were they doing it for. For most of the kids unfortunately it made their parents look very bad and selfish, but that can be a hard fact of life. Of course Dan and Amy help save the day and are able to sort of bring all the teams together, at least their generation. The older generation has some work to do. Haddix does leave the book with room for a sequel to this series and I am curious to see if they continue on or leave it. If they do continue on, will they have multiple writers for each book in the series again? I was impressed that they were able to continue this story as well as they did with so many people involved. This is a great series for younger children who are just getting into reading. There is one other book coming out, The Black Book of Buried Secrets that will add onto the 39 Clues series that recently came out.

Anne Frank

So I started reading Anne Frank as my next classic literature pick, but I have to admit. I got a quarter of the way through and can't seem to keep reading it. If people actually read this blog they would gasp when I say that this is an incredibly boring book and irritating in the sense that Anne is very full of herself. She is 13 and talks about having to turn boys down and how she is pretty much an expert at reading them and just so irritating to listen to. I know this is her diary and if someone read mine they would probably say the same thing. Yes, it is good so see how a young jewish girl handled living in hiding for years, but there were so many Jews that went through similar situations and what of those that actually endured worse situations and the concentration camps. Yes, I know the story of Anne Frank and how she did die in a camp, but that is just a side note at the end of the book. Sure, it is good for the world to read this story and I will eventually finish reading it bit by bit, but it definately is not at the top of my list to do.

Sword in the Storm by David Gemmell

So after starting to read Anne Frank, I needed to read some fantasy again. I got this book for my husband for Christmas after reading some great reviews on it. This is the first adult fantasy book and so I was afraid it would be very wordy and spend pages describing something that could take one page, you know what I mean. Anyway, I am happy to say that this was indeed a very good book. I enjoyed how it lasted longer that two days to read like many of the pre teen/teen books I read. I'm not afraid to try some other adult literature as well once I finish the Rigante Series. There are four books in this series. For those who are sensitive to sexual scenes, I would say there is a reason that this is an adult book and not for younger kids. There are a few brief sexual scenes that are a little more detailed than younger people need to necessarily read. Otherwise, it is a great story. It is mostly a war book following a young man as he travels and pretty much grows into a war hero and man. He struggles to fight his inner demons and does some pretty horrible stuff when his wife dies, but otherwise he is just a person trying to prepare his people from the oncoming war that will wipe them out if they do not improve their fighting to match these people that he fought alongside for a while. It has a little bit of mystical spirits that grant wishes to people and kill them or if you are lucky like our young hero, they constantly save his life and give him gifts for some purpose that we do not know at the moment. My only guess now is they need him to save their life from the invaders who will likely destroy them if they get control of the land.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

What a terribly sad book. It's hard to think that this book is often read in highschool and has to deal with some hard issues of slavery, loneliness, and working hard to make a living. Lennie and George are the main characters that work from job to job to stay alive. Lennie is mentally challenged and means no harm, but tends to kill animals he handles and hurt people when he gets scared. George tries to take care of Lennie and keep him out of trouble as much as possible. They find themselves working on land and cutting/harvesting barley in order to save up for a piece of land that they can live on. Unfortunately the son of the boss had a lonely wife that tries to get the attention of all the guys. Of course the guys want no trouble and try to stay away from her. Poor Lennie starts talking to her one day and touches her hair, but when she starts to get upset, Lennie gets scared and ends up killing her. What I can't believe is that George actually kills Lennie in order to save him from himself and others who are trying to hurt him for killing the lady. I had a hard time reading this book just because of the language and how all the working hands talk. It is realistic speach, but does get a little old after a while and is a little hard to keep up with at times.

Soldier X by Don Wulffson

This was another book that my husband read while student teaching. It is a historical fiction book written by experiences from two germans that fought during WWII. Erik is our main character that goes through these experiences. He is drafted into the war when he is 15 under the impression that he is going to be an intrepreter or spy since he knows Russian. This is because his mother and grandparents are Russian and father is German. Of course no one knows this otherwise his family would most likely be killed. Unfortunately for Erik, he's sent to the Russian front and finds himself behind enemy lines and in order to stay alive he switches to a Russia uniform and becomes a medical orderly for the Russians. It is nice to be able to read a book about the experiences that the Germans had to go through instead of always hearing it from an American view. The book even starts with Erik saying that he's a history teacher in the US and each year he has to tell his students that he lost his arm in WWII. He never corrects the students that he fought for Germany, not the US. I never even thought about Germans who immigrated to the US and how they had to deal with criticism from Americans, especially ones who fought for Germany. I know people who didn't even fight had a hard time, but imagine what it is like for those who were forced to fight or die.

Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen

So I have decided to take a break from fantasy and romance novels for a while. My brain seems to have absorbed too much of that lately that I find I no longer really enjoy what I read. It all blurs together. So to get myself out of this anti-reading block, I want to move into more school literature and even historical books. There are so many books out there that I missed out on in highschool that I would like to read them.

So the first one was Touching Spirit Bear. My husband read this with his 7th or 8th grade English class and really enjoyed it. Pretty much you follow a young, troubled, 15-year-old on the road to jail. After beating a kid up senseless, causing mental and physical trauma, Cole is in a detention center getting ready to go to trial as an adult. An officer takes special interest in him and gets him to apply for Native American Circle Justice, where he is banished on year on a secluded island in Alaska. Within the first couple days Cole is mauled by a bear and almost dies, almost losing his chance to not go to jail. Luckily he has had a change of heart and is allowed to go back to the island to face his own fears and learn how to help the kid he beat up.

This is definately a good book for students to read since they have an opportunity to understand others who are in similar situations as well as those who are victims of these people. You see how anger, mistrust, and others, especially family, can affect someone. I found it frustrating at first to see how dumb and selfish Cole could be. The first day he's on the island, he burns the shelter built for him and all his provisions because he is angry at everyone. Come on, you have to last a year and you burn everything that is given to you. It was then sad to see after Cole is mauled that they do not trust him and immediately want to send him to jail with no second opportunity. It is hard to trust someone who has manipulated the system and lied for so long. Kind of like the boy who cried wolf story. We could see the Cole had changed and this time really wanted redemption, but no one else could see that. There is so much mistrust and even anger, and prejudice in everything that goes on. There are a few people in the cirlce that do not know Cole, but represent the community and they immediately start off by saying he needs to go to jail in order to protect society and their own children. Fear causes a lot of damage.