#0089A Anya's Ghost - Vera Brosgol

I promise that this is my last graphic novel to enter this year's goal. It's hard to stop when you start reading them. Comics I can't do, but graphic novels are just a way for me to curl up and relax and not worry about if I'm going to finish them within the week.

Creepy creepy, but lovely lovely. A girl falls in a well and meets a ghost at the bottom. When she finally gets out and goes home, she notices that the ghost somehow follows her home. She can be annoying, but it's nice when she decides to help you with cheating at school and getting boys. But of course that isn't as great as it's cracked up to be. 4 stars

#0085-0088A Scott Pilgrim 3-6 - Bryan Lee O'Malley

Kick ass. Finished the series in awe. I loved Scott Pilgrim. After geeking out over the movie, that's exactly what I did with the book as well. They were a short and easy read, and I can't wait to go through them again.

I can't tell you how these graphic novels dragged me in, but I wanted to fight right beside Scott through his adventure of defeating all of Ramona's evil ex-boyfriends. Things were a little different in the movies, but it doesn't matter. This series stands a lone for me. I loved each and every minute of it. 5 stars

#0084A The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Shaffer

Everyone was going crazy over this book. I remember seeing one of my friends reading it 3 times in a row and my step mom pushed it in my hands and told me to read it.

Maybe it was because everyone talked about how good it was, how it made them cry, how it brought them joy. I didn't like it. If you push something up so much you'll ruin it for everyone else. My expectations were high, and it crashed and burned. I can remember just a little bit of the book (I'm totally catching up after I reached my goal of 52 books for the year) and I'm sure if a few more months I won't remember it at all. Sad. 2 stars

#0083A Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins

Ahhh, an end to a series. I haven't done that a lot this year. I have started so many. This one was good, but wasn't as good as the first one. This series was weird. It wasn't anything what I thought it was going to be. The first book was GREAT. The second book SUCKED. It sucked because it was just a downward spiral and at one point I said outloud "What? really? AGAIN?" This one was OKAY. I mean that's all anything can be. But I didn't feel so much of the again-ness as in..."Oh, I see what Collins did there. Not really impressive. I kind of saw it coming and it could have been handled differently but whatevs"

It was kind of funny: I was reading the book at work and no one is in there except the employees and I shouted out "WHAT?! NOOO!" Of course everyone is staring at me and I came so close to throwing the book down. A particular part of the book is so sad, but it comes as a huge shock that I can't cry. My boyfriend read it a few days later and I get a text message out of the blue with "WHAT?!! NOOOOO!" And I knew exactly what/what part he was talking about without prior knowledge of him reading at that time. I'm okay with the ending. I wish this could have been a stand alone book instead of a series, but am I going to go see the movie when it comes out? Heck yes. 4 stars

#0082A Before I Go to Sleep - S. J. Watson

I think I heard of this book from NPR's website or maybe it was really huge on Amazon. I'm not entirely sure. It was a kindle book, I know that. Since I'm so far back, I don't know how much I'll remember most of these books. I tend to forget what I read after I start a new one. I can tell you if the book was good or not, but things kind of spiral together into some mush.

I bought this book full price from Amazon, so I was really interested in the material. Woman wakes us and she's way older and she's sleeping next to a man she doesn't know. She comes to find out that she lives her life day to day and at when she goes to sleep, at the end of the day, she starts over again. She does not remember a thing. I guess you can say it's similar to Adam Sandler's 50 First Dates except this isn't a comedy.

The book was a little weird. I figured it out before Watson clued you in. I can't even remember how it ended so I must had not thought it was too great. Quick read, I remember. My GoodReads says I gave it 4 stars so it's not too horrible.

#0081A Eating the Dinosaur - Chuck Klosterman

I realize that I haven't been posting recently. I'm still trucking along reading almost everyday and I"m 17 books behind. I get busy and don't see home much. But today I am home and going to try to update as much and frequent as possible.

Eating the Dinosaur...I seriously bought this book because of the cover. What is that saying? "You can't judge a book by it's cover"? I'm not really sure what I read here. Even finishing I was a bit confused and if you are interested in this book, try reading the back. It seems like the author didn't know what was going on. It's mostly short essays of what it is important or interesting to Klosterman. Some were quite interesting to me except for one on sports, and even then it tells, in the first paragraph, what the essay is about and tells you that it's fine to skip it. I did. I don't enjoy sports, but I'm entitled to my own likes and dislikes so I'm sure if you are a fan of sports then the essay was fine. Would I read any more Klosterman books? If they are all just full of essays then probably not. I'm looking for a good story, good information. I"m not really looking for reading random things all in one book. It was, however, written well and it held my attention so 3 stars

#0080A You Suck - Christopher Moore

Guess who read ANOTHER Christopher Moore book? Ahhh book 2 of Moore's love story. This was another find at the used bookstore :) Although cheap, I was a little more disappointed in this book. It seemed to drag on in certain spots. They added a new character which I liked a whole lot. Abby Normal was probably the best part of this book, in my opinion.

I was also told that this book was the worst out of the three and since a friend bought me the 3rd book "Bite Me" as a birthday present, I will surely read that one too. I love the way Moore writes. I love smart asses in general and he's becoming one of my favorite authors. 3 stars

#0079A The 5 People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom

I really wouldn't have read this book if a certain person wouldn't have told me to read it. It was a little disappointed with the other book that I read by Mitch Albom. But hey, I'll give him another shot since I was recommended

I'm so behind in making posts that I'm not remembering too much. I am still up to date on a book a week I'm just 8 books behind on writing about. I'm flying through books and really enjoying them or not and then I forget soon after because I've read so many books this year. Things are not soaking in like usual. I do recommend this book and it has a nice outlook and surprisingly it did not make me cry. I don't like sad books and there is a part in here that if I didn't pull myself out of the book, then it could have been bad for me. I have probably mentioned before that I become the characters, so if something horrible happens to them, it happens to me. That's why the ending is so important to me. It has to turn out well.

If this could possibly be true ever, I wonder who my five people are. 4 stars

#0078A Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green and David Levighan

Will Grayson, meet Will Grayson. Two different boys from two different cities meet unexpectedly and accidentally, who have the same name. This book was very cute and it just showed me that boys are just as complicated as girls are...well sometimes. Everyone is just trying to fit in and find that special person to share it with. People go in and out of your life all the time and sometimes you just have to grab on to them and not let go. And sometimes you can't choose who your friends are, but in the end you would pick them anyway. It's okay to tell your best friend that you love them. 4 stars

#0077A Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

I can honestly say that I should have wrote down about this book before reading more. This is just the second book of the Hunger Games and I remember I enjoyed it, but I seriously can't remember too much (I just finished Mockingjay and I have that more on my mind than this one) I wouldn't take this review into account if you haven't read it. But I recommend it. I feel like I can still give it a star because I still wanted more of the story after I finished. 4 star

#0076A Lamb - Christopher Moore

I'm a little behind, but I've had no internet in over a month and it's really hard to keep up writing when there's that factor. I'm still reading a book a week though.

This is one of my favorites out of 76 books this far. This is a (fictional) story of Jesus' life, through the eyes of his childhood pal, Biff. Moore offers an insight to what could have happened between when Joshua (Jesus) was born until he was 30, since they don't cover that too much in the Bible.

I like how Moore catches Joshua's sense of humor and I would like to think that Joshua was like this in real life. Now, about Biff. He's a...character all right. He's like the friend that you have that gets you into trouble and is a complete jerk, but he's your jerk, so it's okay. If you have a good sense of humor and don't take this book to heart then you'll love it. 5 stars

#0075A The Help - Kathryn Stockett

I really had no idea what this book was about before diving into it. Yes, it's like 550 pages, but it goes fast. I read this in 3 days. The story is through the eyes of three women. (Two of the maids and one rich white woman who has a maid) The setting takes place in Mississippi around the time of Martin Luther King. I ended up hating every signal white woman and frankly, the book made me mad most of the time. Not of Stockett's writing, but just the material and how people can treat others the way that they do. We are all humans here. Didn't cry through this one either, but there are a few spots that are cry worthy. Just a warning. Of course this book isn't for everyone so 4.5 stars

#0074A Heaven is For Real - Todd Burpo

I bought this for my mom for mother's day because it's what she wanted and she ended up reading it in one sitting so I borrowed it. I also read it in one day. Cute, short, supposedly true story.

I apparently do not have a heart because I didn't cry at all when reading, while every other woman cried like a little baby. Tear jerker=yes. But I haven't cried while reading in a long time and I couldn't tell you what book, even if I have ever, cried. This book is good for women that have had miscarriages and it will lift your spirit. 5 stars I kinda wish there was a chapter written by the little boy though. He's like 9 now, right? He's old enough to write.

#0073A The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

Jumped on the bandwagon only because my stepsister would not shut up about this book. OKAY FINE I"LL READ IT. I can see how it's addicting, but it just reminded me of the movie Battle Royal.

Kids dropped into some place and fight to the death. The last one standing gets to go free and turns out to be a hero, blah blah blah. Pretty much the same thing except this is for middle/high school kids. Battle Royal is more gruesome and Japanese. And I figured I should read the book since they are filming part of my movie in my home town. Weird and interesting, but that means our town looks like the poor coal district in the book. COOL. 4 stars I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. I guess I'll see when I read the rest of the series. I bought the 2nd one Catching Fire at the used bookstore this past weekend. We'll see when I get around to it.

#0072A Bloodsucking Fiends - Christopher Moore

I'm completely sorry to say that this is my first Christopher Moore book that I have ever read. I should have read him a long long time ago. I was told about it and I picked it up at the used bookstore. After reading this I had to go back to the bookstore the purchase the other two in the series.

Moore is witty and he sucks you in to his light hearted story about Jody who wakes up from being "mugged" and finds out she is now a vampire. Jody finds out quickly that she needs a "partner" to do her business in the day. She finds C. Thomas Flood, an aspiring young writer, who is willing to help her out. Can he handle living with a vampire? Dead people start showing up everywhere, including one in their freezer, and he starts to fall in love with her. I really like Moore's quirkiness and I can't wait to dive into the next one of the series. 4.5 stars

#0071A Mountains Over Mountains - Tracy Kidder

Don't let the paperback fool you. Only 300 pages? nah..tiny tiny writing. Try like 521 pages normally. One of my booknerd friends has the same new years resolution as me (he stole it) and suggested this book. I found a nice copy of it for 5 bucks at the used bookstore. Thank goodness one moved in near me. I love cheap books.

Non-fiction book about a doctor named Paul Farmer. He loves Haiti and basically he's trying to wipe out tuberculosis entirely. He works long hours for money that he mostly gives to the hospital or his patients. He is a completely terribly busy man. Reading about him made me feel like a waste of a human. If everyone could accomplish as much as he did, then this world would be at peace and there would be healthy happy people always. I really couldn't work his hours, but he did what he loved and he loved taking care of people. 3 stars (this is really just because I don't like non-fiction in general.) Nothing against Tracy Kidder at all. His writing style is very smart and informative. Just not my taste. could be yours.

#0070A Love Wins - Rob Bell

OMG CONTROVERSIAL BOOK AHEAD. Seriously though, people should actually read the books before bashing the author. That's why I always told people that I wouldn't discuss this book with them until after we BOTH read it. And really, if it wasn't a close religious war that broke out on my facebook, I probably wouldn't have read it. So, thanks, Seth for recommending it :)

I probably should have read some of Rob Bell's older stuff, just to get a feel of what he is about. But, alas, I didn't and that's just too bad. Anyway, Love Wins. A book about HEAVEN, HELL, and the fate of every person who ever lives. Yep, the book is about that. Really, to me, there is a lot of verses in the Bible. You could probably take everything out of it and have it say whatever you want it to say. Believe me, Christians do that. Just as long as you come out on top then it's fine, right? We are all quick to judge everyone about everything and if you are not "good enough" or "Christian enough" or what have you, YOU ARE GOING TO HELL. Fire, brimstone, the devil, the whole nine yards. I like this book as it has put some of my own feelings into words. (Now, maybe not everything he says in there I believe) I do believe that God can do whatever He wants and if he wants to save everyone, then by all means he will. I'm not going to waste my time and damning people to hell just because they look, act, or even believe differently. Jesus was all about love and God is all about love so why can't we be all about love too? I'm not going to say anything else. If you want to discuss, I'll be happy to talk when you've read this book as well. If we agree then good, and if we don't agree, that's fine too. 4 stars

#0069A This is a Book - Demetri Martin

This is a review of Demetri Martin's This is a Book by Demetri Martin. (This is a crappy review, if you want to call it that. Go buy and read this book)

I preordered this baby in February and totally flipped out when it came in the mail. I'm a HUGE Demetri Martin fan.

This is his first book and I cannot wait for more. I laughed throughout the whole entire thing. Of course, you have to enjoy a very dry sense of humor. The book is basically one of his stand up shows, written out. His drawings, stories, and charts are throughout the book and I seriously could not put it down once I started. I even read it in 2 days. I was a record for me. I highly recommend this book to anyone and if you don't think it's funny, you don't know what a sense of humor is. 5 stars

#0068A Skin Tight - Carl Hiaasen

Another borrowed book. Don't let the name fool you. This book is a murder mystery involving a plastic surgeon. Make sense now? I have heard good things about Hiaasen before and one of his kiddie books turned into a movie so the public likes him? I actually didn't know that he wrote other stuff other thank kid books.

I really like how the main character is a smart ass. It's like he does not care what he has to do to figure out this case. It's like he's flying by the seat of his pants, but yet he's has total control over the situation and everything that comes up, he handles it with ease. I liked the nice little Epilogue at the end. Nice touch.

This book was a nice relaxing book to where I didn't have to think much for a change. It's fast paced and stuff is happening constantly and it's pretty funny as well. 4 stars

#0067A Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut

I bought this book a few years back and I just now got around to it. My big HUGE problem of buying books is still on going, but is it really such a "bad" problem? I called up Krissy one day, while I was working at Borders, and asked her what book I should buy, since I had a 40% off coupon and "Borders Bucks" Of course, she suggested a Vonnegut book. And that's how I came to purchase this one.

I laughed throughout the whole thing. I'm a pretty sarcastic person and Vonnegut's writing fits me perfectly. Throughout the book he adds more and more of himself in the book and at the end he actually interacts with his characters. I love how he can tell a story and go off on a tangent and still keep you up with what is going on. I can't wait until I can get my hands on another Vonnegut book. I believe he's been added to my favorite authors list. And so on. 5 stars

#0066A Eye of the World - Robert Jordan

Arg. Here, I started another series. It's not that I don't finish the other ones, I just get excited about other books and come back to series way later. For this particular series, I'll have to wait until after this year to even begin to think about starting the next book. Well, I might read the second one if I get really far ahead of my goal of a book a week. This book put me behind. I was ahead by 3 days and since Robert Jordan likes to have a million pages with tiny, tiny writing, I would need to be a week ahead to read 700+ pages.

Anyway, this is the first book of his Wheel of Time series. I really liked how Jordan started out with seven characters and when they get separated you get three different stories going on at once and they all get pulled together at the end. I know that a lot of people have compared Jordan to Tolkien. I'm not going to. They are too completely different writers and they just so happen to write in the same genre. I like both writers.

Now, you know how I feel about unrealistic happenings and when there are so many characters, how come none of them die? An author FINALLY gets it. Well, by the end you aren't sure about one, but errr I can't really explain it. Maybe because when they got away from danger, it wasn't like something appeared out of thin air and saved them. He kept within the boundaries of this world that he made up.

The only bad thing that I could say is that this is a really long book. BUT Jordan did what he had to and really it's not a bad thing. You write until the story is finished. So, how many more books are in the series? I believe it's twelve more. I'll get around to the rest one day. 4 stars

#0065A Youth In Revolt - C.D. Payne

Oh, Micheal Cera. How I love you and your awkward nerdiness. So, I completely confess that I only read this book because the movie came out with Cera in it and trying to be a good little nerd, I read the book first. Reading 500 pages in one week is hard and I did it!

14 year old Nick Twisp hates his last name, loves Frank Sinatra, and apparently will do anything he can just to be with Sheeni Sanders. I really could have done without all the sex talk. I know that when a boy is 14 that's all he thinks of, but it shouldn't be the main goal in a book if you ask me, unless you are reading one of those Harlequin romance novels.

The book really could have ended like 10 times and the true ending left it wide open with so many possibilities to happen still. Arg. Also, a 14 year old does NOT have a vocabulary like that. There were so many words I couldn't pronounce, let alone know what they were. And now, I still couldn't tell you what they were. This book was addicting and maybe that's why I got through it so quickly.

The movie...okay this isn't a movie blog, so never mind. (It wasn't great and the ending was more appropriate then the book had) 4 stars

#0064A Time Machine - H.G. Wells

Another free Kindle book. Big surprise though because it's out of copyright law. Short, short book. Nothing like the newest movie, but no surprise there.

I didn't really like how the story was told. This all took place in a matter of hours. The Time Traveler came back and sat around with some "important" people and told what happened to him. I rather venture in with him in his present day. Maybe I'm just too picky, but I have a right to an opinion. I didn't like the ending either and I noticed that if I don't like the ending I rate the book lower than I should. I mean, it is good to read old literature. 2.5 stars (see? Didn't like the ending = lower score) I shouldn't do it this way.

#0063A The Lovely Bones - Alice Seabold

I'm a terrible reading nut who accidentally watched the movie first before reading the book. Usually when this happens, I don't know that it's a book until after the movie, when it tells me.

The movie wasn't too great, the book was better, but I'm not exactly a hardcore fan. Main character girl gets murdered by her next door neighbor that people don't know much about, except that he's weird. (They tell you all this in the beginning, so I'm not giving away things) It's really depressing to me how she just sits, where ever she is at, and watches her friends and family grow up while she just stays the same.

There's not much to say from my stand point, the book didn't bore me and I read through it quick, eh, maybe I forget things in books too quickly. 3.5 stars

#0062A Imaginary Jesus - Matt Mikalatos

Finally got my Kindle back at this point. Amazon sometimes has Kindle books for free for a limited time and this one was one, and now it's back up to like eight bucks! Score.

What a wonderful way to start out a book. Matt Mikalatos is in a vegetarian restaurant eating and chatting along with Jesus (this is in present day btw) and then this "Pete" guy comes up and punches Jesus in the face.

It's about how people imagine Jesus to be, instead of what he really is. Conservative Jesus, Liberal Jesus, Hippie Jesus, Mormon Jesus, Testosterone Jesus, Model Jesus, Football Jesus, Super Jesus, CEO Jesus, Perpetually Angry Jesus, Liberation Theology Jesus, New Age Jesus, Baptist Jesus, Health Nut Jesus...and the list goes on. They all attack Mikalatos at once at one part in the book. The book is pretty humorous with some sap to it. I was definitely worth being free and it's probably worth 5 bucks too, I'm just really cheap. Soooo 3.5 stars

#0061A The Weirdo - Theodore Taylor

Here is another book that read when I was in middle school. Being a part of Battle of the Books was probably what started my fascination with reading. My mother was a good role model by reading to me all the time and encouraging me to read myself and she read all the time too. But just being a part of that group in middle school and figuring out it was okay to be a reading nerd just helped me grow a little bit into who I am today.

Along with Island of the Blue Dolphins, this book was much different to me this time then it was over 10 years ago. I remember skipping over the parts where "the weirdo" wrote essays for his college. I also thought that when the police were trying to figure out what happened to the Weirdo's friend that they blamed him at one point, but that wasn't the case the second time I read it. I believe my imagination ran wild when I got to a boring part of a book, back then, to make it more interesting for myself. Not that this book was boring this time. It wasn't by far.

Taylor also had a nice moral to where no matter how you look on the outside, you can still be wonderful and beautiful on the inside. You should stand up and be yourself and no care what people think of you. (The Weirdo was in a horrible crash when he was younger, scarring his face.)There is no reason to hide. 4 stars

#0060A Red Prophet - Orson Scott Card

Book #2 of the Alvin Maker series. I think I read the first one two years ago. This one had more action and less magic. It was more about making the storyline more meaty and less about Alvin. There was a scene or two that rose up again from the end of the first book, just being told by a different character this time. It gave more background of the natives and Alvin is more aware of what all he can do. I bought the 3rd book and the end of last year and I hope to read it soon.

My list of books keep getting longer and longer and I seem to start more and more book series which I think, isn't completely good. Hopefully I won't get some of these confused. 4 stars

#0059A Blink - Malcolm Gladwell

I have never been into nonfiction books, especially ones that does not have a story line. Errr, like a "self help" book like this one is. People kept pushing this book so I gave it a shot.

It was extremely interesting. It's about doing things on the spur of the moment, you know...in the "blink of an eye"! See what I did there? heh.

There was one thing that stood out for me. Gladwell was talking about how you act when your heart rate gets to a certain rate. If it is a certain speed then your adrenaline can kick in an help you out with whatever, like lift heavier things, or make you run faster/longer. If your heart rate gets above that then it can actually make your brain act like your are autistic. You can't function well, you don't say things correctly, you stop hearing things or you don't speak, and it impairs your judgment to the extreme. This makes total sense to me and it happens on certain occasions with me even recently. I recommend it. 4 stars.

#0058A The Hangman's Daughter - Oliver Potzsch

This is where I play catch up. I have been reading a book every week still. I've just been lazy about updating the blog. Anyway, I'll do the best I can since I have forgotten some things in the books.

My father made me buy this Kindle book because it looked interesting to him and he wanted me to read it first before he tackled it. (He doesn't read period). It was perfect for him. Full of death and blood and not really too much about the hangman's daughter. It was more about her father and the younger physician.

Orphan children started to disappear and the town blamed it on the lady that delivered babies, that she was a witch. It's up to the Hangman and the physician to find out who or what is taking the kiddies before they torture this poor lady to death. 4 stars

On a side note, this book is almost 500 pages. I pushed through and read it in a week while it took my father 5 weeks to read this one. And he also read it on my kindle so I was without it for awhile. But I'm still proud that he was interested in a book since I took up this goal so yay for him.

#0057A Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman

Anansi Boys was my second Gaiman book. I like dark comedies very much. He's one of the authors that you either like him or hate him. Of course, this being my 2nd book of his, I guess it's safe to say I like him. I don't necessarily love him and that's really because of this book.

Don't get me wrong. It was a good book. It was full of things that kept me intrigued, but to me it just felt like another story that is like the Fockers. I felt so bad for the main character. Everything bad happens to him. He cannot catch a break through most of the book and that's is how I felt through the Focker movies. Instead of it being funny, you just feel bad.

Apparently, this was a sequel to his previous book of American Gods. But this can be read as a stand alone book because when I bought it, I didn't know that this could have been taken as a sequel, otherwise I would have bought American Gods first. After reading this one, I don't know if I want to venture into that one though. 3 stars

#0056A The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

I bought this for my kindle for a cheap 5 bucks and I heard good things about this book from several people.

There's not much to say about this one, for me, just because it was a very good book. I did have a hard time, at the beginning, getting used to Zusak's style of writing, or maybe because Death was the narrator. This book was based during the time of the holocaust and the main character, which is a little girl, is surrounded by death. She ends up getting a knack for stealing books and learning how to read. I really could feel her pain watching a book burning and then her running up to take one of them. I can't even imagine being around at that time.

Her family hides a Jewish teen in their basement and you see the bond grow between the girl and him. I've said before that I really like happy books and this one is just full of sadness, but I'm so glad that I read it. 4 stars

#0055A Cold Sassy Tree - Olive Ann Burns

This is me branching out again. I think I have mentioned before that I do not like "Southern" books because it takes me a long time to figure out the accents. Is it kind of ironic because I have this southern accent? Although, I do know people who have this bad of a southern draw, but why is it so hard to read?

Anyway, if I look past the accents, I enjoyed this book. The book is through the eyes of the 12ish year old boy who lives in the town Cold Sassy. His grandmother dies at the beginning. His grandfather holds a family meeting, three weeks later, that he's getting remarried and it's to a woman that is half his age. The story is just about lots of gossip and hilarious situations that happen to this family. I was laughing out loud a couple of times (and you know that's a good thing when that doesn't happen often when I read). The setting is back in the day where automobiles are very new and women are only good for cooking, cleaning, and having babies. Being a slight feminist, I can look past that because there was a time where that was, but it was quite interesting how much a hold women had on their men in this book, so I'm not offended at all. 4.5 stars I wouldn't recommend this book to everyone, but I liked it enough to where I feel I could give it such a high score.
Anyway, I'm truckin' along with my goal now, and my goal within a goal of reading 52 books this year. So, this thing should be added to weekly, but we'll see. I get behind sometimes.

#0054A Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons - Bill Watterson

I have to admit that I have never read any of Calvin and Hobbes comics. I have no idea why, but that is not true anymore. OMG So so so so cute. I loved every bit of this collection. Watterson does an amazing job at knowing how a little boy really thinks. Their imaginations are so convincing that it's real to them and girls are extra yucky. I love how Hobbes is just a regular stuffed animal to everyone except for young Calvin. He's a huge tiger that can rip you apart, but also he's Calvin's best friend and he's just so darn funny. And I swear I'm reading "real" books too. I was literally reading 3 books at once and I need a break from such seriousness and this really pulled me through. I think I only give 5 stars when I would recommend the book to almost anyone. This is one of those. 5 stars

#0053A Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

This was the first the first book that was purchased on my Kindle :3

I originally wanted to read this one just so I could compare it to the book 1984 (which I have read many years ago. I can't even remember when). They both have similarities when it comes to the future. Brave New World is more so a kind of "utopia" while 1984 seemed more of a dark future. Pain vs Pleasure is the biggest difference, but they are on the same lines.

It's disturbing in a way and even though everyone is more or less "happy" in the book, it's not real happiness. I think they are more feeling content than anything. I feel more sorry for Bernard, who is apart of this "utopia" and can feel that something that is not right than John "Savage" who is outside of this community and kind of tries to join? I think that is what he was trying to do. John already knew what real happiness was and even though his life was not the best in the world he still had that freedom that no one else did.

I could not live how they did. First of all, awful. Growing people and making some of them smarter than others just to do certain jobs, but brainwashing them into thinking that they are glad that they are apart of this particular part of the community. No one second guesses, they just do what they are told and think what they are told to think. Of course, they don't know any better which is extremely sad. 4 stars though

#0051- 52A Scott Pilgrim - Bryan Lee O'Malley

I'm reading the series, and I don't feel like going through and discussing each book at the moment because I go through them so fast. But reading graphic novels will not be a regular thing so I feel like I can count them. So far, I'm loving the series. O'Malley is doing a great job with adding little things throughout the novels that you wouldn't normally look at and it's just plain funny and not to mention nerdy. So far, so good.

#0050A Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

I got a Kindle for Christmas and I downloaded a few "free" books from Amazon just so I could get the feel for this new shiny toy. I've seen both movies and have heard of the tale, but never actually read the real thing.

I had no clue what was in store. I fell in love with Carroll's writing. I love the way he twists things in conversations and at times it is confusing, but it was quite humorous. There were, of course, more characters that were left out of movies and I had a great time reading this book. I am sad that I had to watch the movies first (well I think I saw one before I was able to read? It came out in 1951 haha) All I could see what Johnny Depp's character as the Mad Hatter. That's not necessarily bad, but I like making up what I think the characters look like. Although this is not the fault of Lewis Carroll. 4.5 stars

#0049 Island of the Blue Dolphin - Scott O'Dell

I ventured back into my middle school days and picked up this book again. Ever since I read this book, I knew I had picked out a name that I would have named a little boy (if I ever had a kid). BUT after rereading it, my memory did not serve me well. For some reason I thought it went into detail about the dolphins and how she had a relationship with them. This was NOT the case. There are no relationships with dolphins in this book and I am completely confused where I got that false memory.

Anyway, here's to another child's novel. Easy enough for a middle schooler to read and there is a few action sequences, but it's mostly a book on survival. The way that the girl was brought up had no problem finding food, building shelter, and defeating the wild dogs that came and killed her brother. The book just kind of ends with her sort of being rescued? You don't really find out what happens to her or if those people that take her away are really "good" people. You have to let you imagination run with what you think happens. 4 stars Mostly a recommendation for kids. It's not the best survival book I've read, but it's nice that a little girl is the main character when it comes to survival. So, yay for girl power!