skip to main |
skip to sidebar
A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University.
While I was reading A Year of Living Biblically, by A J Jacobs, he mentioned that he gained a kind of intern during his year of living biblical, who turned out to be Kevin Roose. I looked Roose up and found that he had written his own Jacob's type of book himself, after interning with AJ.
Roose grew up in a Quaker family and he started going to Brown University. He was a writer and was completely interested in going undercover as a student at Liberty University for a semester. While there he tried his best to blend in and took the correct classes as any Liberty student. He prayed when everyone else prayed, he went to Bible Study, and had his group of supporting friends and counselors. He even began courting a girl he was interested in.
Like Jacob's book, you could start to see a "change" in Roose. While not converting into a conservative, far right, Christian, he took a lot of respect to those Liberty kids with him. He showed everyone who has read this book that they are people too and are not as bad as everyone thinks they are. The only problem I had was the realization of how much the word "faggot" gets used. You would think that people were past that now. I guess a lot are a little slow to catch up with not judging and actually being nice to people who are different than yourself.
Anyway, I enjoyed it. I probably won't read it again, but 3 stars nonetheless.
Book number two in Roth's Divergent Trilogy. This is the part where I get mad because I tend to start book series that aren't completed. The third and final book will be released in the fall of 2013. So, basically a year away. I CAN'T WAIT THAT LONG.
Insurgent is as good as the first one. The only problem I had with it is since I read Divergent three months before reading this one I had a hard time remembering what happen at the end. I have a problem with remembering some things in book. I just know if it was good or not. I just read a little review of Divergent and got back on track. So, the book picks up right at the end of Divergent. That means that I won't remember much of anything by the time this unknown book three comes out.
Trice is still badass as things begin to fall apart around them. She still make decisions that I would never EVER make, but I can look past that. Reading is suppose to get you out of your element so you can escape your world and dive into another. Well, that's one way to look at reading. Reading also is a way of learning.
I gave this one 5 stars just like Divergent and I eagerly await the final book. I hope Roth continues to write and tell her stories because I will definitely read them. Along with John Green, Christopher Moore, Maureen Johnson, J K Rowling, Orson Scott Card, newly Erin Morgenstern, and Patrick Rothfuss, my list grows and grows. If only I could make reading books my job, I would be extremely happy.
This is one man's humble quest to follow the Bible as literally as possible for a whole year. All of A.J. Jacobs books are him studying up on a subject and living out that subject for a year. He's done one with having his life experimented on, one about reading the entire encyclopedia and so on and so forth. I get on kicks of reading religious book and since I hadn't read on in awhile this one was interesting.
Not only was this book hilarious but while Jacobs was doing this, you could see him "changing" throuhout the book. Not saying that he converted to Christianity, but becoming a better person in general. For most of the year he followed the Old Testament. He didn't wear clothes that were of mixed fiber, he didn't cut his beard, he wouldn't sit where unclean women sat, and he stoned people. Although I don't know if you could really call it "stoning" people if you just drop a pebble on a person's shoe. Not sitting where unclean women have sat was probably the most funny part. His wife was getting tired of some of the things he picked up, so she sat on every service that you could possibly sit on in his house. He ended up carrying around a type of stool so he could sit down.
I give it 4 stars because I enjoyed it and I know that this book isn't for everyone.
Everytime I typed "Vampire Hunter", I've typed "Vampire Hunger" Sorta true, amirite?
I'm already a big fan of Abraham Lincoln. I'm also a sorta fan of Grahame-Smith as well. I have not read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, although I have the book. But he started out with the whole adding blood, death, and the supernatural to books that were already written. I'm not sure if he was the first to do this, but I think he was. I downloaded this to my iPad while the movie was about to come out. I like reading books before seeing the movies. And even though I read this book in July, I still have not seen the movie.
I enjoyed this book very much. I don't recommend it for everyone because I know a lot of people who wouldn't like this "type" of book. I think it's a nice little spin off. I give it 4 stars. I don't know if I like the way it ended. Even after all this time I'm still pondering over it. But nevertheless I did enjoy this one a lot.
Stewart's books are so great! Young ones would love this book! There is so much adventure from a ship to a deserted island! Just because you are a little kid doesn't mean you can't do great things.
If you enjoyed his first one, you'll love his 2nd. I'm excited to get to the third installment of the Mysterious Benedict Society. Being smart is cool, kids! Reynie, Kate, Sticky, and Constance are all overly smart kids. Each of them have awkwardness or some kind of fault. Put them all together and they can conquer anything. I don't understand why this book isn't more popular. 5 stars
This book went in one ear and out the other. I honestly can't remember much about it even though I read it 5 months ago (since I'm still catching up on the reviews or whatever these are) So, all I can get out of this was Francis Chan is no Rob Bell. The reason why I read/bought this book is because it was free on Amazon for a day. Actually three of his books were and the other ones didn't look that great to me. Eh, at least it was free. My Goodreads said I gave it a 3 star so it wasn't awful I guess. But not something I would read again.
I would have never heard about this book if it weren't for Goodreads. Divergent was rated 2011's best book on Goodreads. It's a distopian book and a young adult book, so obviously I had to read it.
The main character,Beatrice, lives in a world where all people are divided by five factions. Each faction is based on virtues like being honest (all the time), selfless, brave, peaceful, and intelligent. Your faction tells you how to act, who your friends are and what job you can have. When you turn 16 years old you have a to make the most decision of your life. You can either stay in the faction you were born into, or you can choose a different faction.
This book is great and I really enjoyed reading it. The weird thing to me is that I can usually tell what choices a character is going to make is most things. Beatrice chose everything the exact opposite of what I would have chosen so it was harder for me to become the character. I'm never an outsider while reading. I become the main character most of the time. This book, I did not. There is no way I could have survived all the initiations that Beatrice had to go through. I suppose I might have ruined the beginning of the book for you, but really? Could you not tell that she chose a faction that was completely different that hers? 5 stars This is also another series that I'm reading that isn't finished yet. I have to wait until Fall of 2013 to get my hand on the final book.
Every once in awhile I'll venture over to the humor section and choose a book. I'm more of a story person, but some times I need something light and a good laugh. I love Mindy's character from The Office and hearing that she's written quite a few episodes and directed some, I had to read something of hers.
"Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?" is a book full of stories of Mindy starting out in New York. This book goes to show that even awkward people or people that stubble into awkward situations all the time, can still make it. There are sections that talk about her ideas and her opinions on certain subjects. There are also fun pictures as well. I read this one of a kindle device, and I'm so glad I chose my iPad to read this one since I didn't have the book in hand. My Kindle Keyboard wouldn't have done it justice. 3 stars
Yay! Another dystopian series! This is the third book of The Giver trilogy. I heard she was writing a fourth, so I can't wait until it comes out. Lowry is so much apart of my childhood and she is still apart of my adulthood. The thing about Lois is that she has written so many books and they are on so many different genres and subjects.
She does well of tying things together, finally. Books one and two make a lot more sense now, even though all of the books in this trilogy could be stand alone books, in my opinion. 4 stars
Do I really need to do a review of this book? 5 stars most definitely.
I kind of got on the bandwagon of this book following a little late. My stepsister was reading this and I kind of actually thought that this book was about being hungry and making a game of it. So, I didn't read it right away. To say I was surprised while reading this is correct. I actually like jumping on the bandwagon of books late because the whole series is out and I don't have to wait for the authors to finish writing or the publishers to let the book out. (as you can see, at the moment, I'm having a hard time of this since I'm waiting on like 3 series right now) Mockingjay came out about a year before I the thought crossed my mind to read it.
I loved all the characters, I hated the whole idea of kids killing kids, but I love distopia societies. I'm glad I got my hands on this before the movie came out. I really do try to read books before I go see their movies, unless I didn't know it was a book before hand. You would be surprised how often movies are made from books. It's almost if Hollywood cannot come up with new stories, but then again I like to see their adaptation of what they think how the book should be seen.
Guess who my favorite author of this year is? All the hype that you hear about this book is true. This is my favorite John Green book that he's written so far. I cannot wait until I can read it again. I will be doing that soon since my very late birthday present is coming in at the end of this month. All four of John's books, in hardback copy, and two are signed! Well since John signs most everything I think that it will be more rare to have something of his that is not signed. No joke. I've been hearing stories of people finding signed copies in used bookstores. Really? You can find any of John's books in a used bookstore? I look every where I go and I can never find one.
I truly believe that if people would take the time to read his novels they would fall in love with his stories and writing. He's not a J.K. Rowling but people are comparing him to J.D. Salinger
Anyway, this book is about a hard subject to handle: Kids and Cancer. BUT as sad as this book can be, it is also hilarious and crazy and wonderful. You'll get to experience all of your emotions while reading this book. I absolutely cannot wait until I receive my J. Scribble copy of The Fault in Our Stars. 5 stars duh.
I'm not one for "girlie" books. (I'm not one for girlie anything, even though I'm a girl) I'm also not one for mysteries. Wait, I love mysteries on television and movies, but for some reason mystery books don't usually make my list. This, however, was only 1.99 for all five of Halliday's "High Heel Mystery" series on Amazon's kindle daily deal. It received four stars out of five and I usually find the reviews at Amazon mostly right.
"Spying in High Heels" moved in a quick pace with lots of action and romance. I don't really like romance novels either, so now I'm wondering why I bought this boxset for the kindle in the first place. It did keep my attention and I think I probably finished it in two to three days.
If you are looking for a book that is entertaining without having to think, then I would recommend it. Be into mystery and romance though. I'll probably read another one when I"m terribly bored and have nothing else to read. The only reason I'm giving this one a 3 star is because I don't like the subject matter, but not saying that Halliday isn't a good writer/storyteller, just my opinion of mystery/romance novels in general.
I first read The Giver roughly 10 years ago. It was one of my favorite books. I had no clue that it was part of a trilogy! (I actually heard recently that Lowry was coming out with the fourth book in October! Technically, that will make it a quartet)
Gathering Blue is the 2nd book of the series and to me, this could be a stand alone book. You need to read the 3rd book, The Messenger, to see how everything ties in together. It is worth being confused how this fits in with The Giver 's story later.
I don't know why, but I love dystopian books. It makes it easy for your "heroes" to come out through all of the characters. Something is always being overcome. The protagonist becomes stronger, faster, and smarter. They stand out in a crowd; whether it is through a power, that they learn that they have, or they have that stronger urge to not die and get through anything that is thrown at them. Lowry makes me want to be a better, stronger person by using her characters as guides. I also like that she uses both boys and girls as protagonists. It is so important, these days, to encourage all young people. 5 stars
This book made me mad. The writing was fine and it kept my attention, but the topic was just awful. Sad to say that I find this book quite truthful. Men can be awful. Tricking the woman into thinking that they are the only one and then they find out that there is another relationship going on. That and divorcing because you want someone more "new" and "young".
Now, women are just as bad. The bad guy just happened to be a man in this book. Anyone who lies and cheats will always lie and cheat, unless that person is willing to change that about them themselves. My heart ached for all of these women and all of his children. Some people grow up thinking that they are God's gift to the world and they can treat everyone however they think seems fit. Ugh, thinking about the book makes me a little angry. I'll end it here. 3 stars
I like fantasy novels. When I say "fantasy" I don't necessarily mean unicorns and fairies. Well you can kind of group this into sci-fi as well but it's not about space. It is more science-y type.
They are on this island-ish place that is completely closed off and there are like maybe 4 people who live there. They create a different species and it goes out of control. I think remember it liking to eat cows and PEOPLE. Basically they destroy everything. I remember thinking how long this book was and while it was entertaining, my mind kept wandering on what the next book was. I do that sometimes. 4 stars because of action and neat science stuff!
100! YAYAYAYAY *cues applause* HA took long enough...only like 900 more to go. Okay, you can stop clapping now...(pssh like anyone did)
This books was completely creepy and amazing. I think it's Rigg's first books? Wait, no. He wrote a non-fiction book about Sherlock Holmes. So, this is his second. Rigg's imagination is wild and interesting. To be standing in one place and have it change to a different perspective is totally cool. Creepy children are cool. The creepy pictures are cool. This was just a creepy cool book. 4 stars I look forward to more of his writings in the future. You can judge a book by it's cover. That's why I read this one. I didn't even read the back. It just look interesting.
I'm pretty sure that this was a Kindle's Daily Deal. 1.99 for books are great. Really Kindle books should be cheaper in general. If something happens to your account, you can lose everything and then I can't display it with all the lovely books that my roommate and I have.
From what I can remember, it was about a boy and he wanted something to happen, like he was looking for someone...maybe one of his parents. (Geez, I"m really awful at book reviews on books I haven't read in a long time...I promise after I catch up I'll be doing tons better) Something about an Elephant and a fortune teller....ehhh I got nothing else. Goodreads has it at 4 stars from me, so I at least liked it and would recommend to a few people.
By
this portion of the year, I think I was a book behind and a friend
suggested I read this one. It was borrowed. It's about an old lady who
is stuck in her ways as being a Christian. What I mean is that she is extremely judgmental and mean. She only thinks that her way is the "right" way whether it's dealing with dumb teenagers to the preacher's hair cut. As the book goes on, you can see the change that happens in her, mentally and physically.
I like seeing good change in people. And I especially like seeing change in judgmental people who cannot tolerate others who are different. We all need to love each other. Love yourself and love others. Anyway 4 stars for seeing people change for the good and for male preachers who write like they are an eighty year old lady.
I really like Neil Gaiman. I believe this is my third book that I have read of his. I like how his writing style is dark and serious, even for a children's book. This was suggested by my good friend, Perry. He's one of my few friends that is into reading as much as I am.
The Graveyard Book is a story about a boy who was brought up by ghosts. See? Dark and serious stuff for kids. I gave it 4 stars. I only give five stars out when I would try to get almost everyone to read it. I've noticed that Gaiman has a particular following and while lots of people LOVE him, there are just as many who just don't like his writing style and don't like him much at all. If you liked his book Coraline, then you will like this.
I gave this book 4 stars when I originally read it. Originally? Like I've had time to reread books lately. I do plan on reading this one again.
This was John's first published book. I believe I gave it 4 stars because at the time, while I was reading, there is a point of the book to where something really big happens and I was so upset I actually thought about throwing this book down. John writes about (in a young adult sense) all the hardships a teenager could go through. Life gets in the way.
The other thing I really love about his writing is there are so many sections and "quotes" that you can take from this book and put it to everyday life. It makes the world suck so much less. To me, his words are like a painting. (wow, I'm getting deep) The words are smooth, like they just roll off the tip of your tongue, and it really makes you think. It's just beautiful. He's the same way in his videos on Youtube. He seems to see things in a different way and he uses others' literary quote to fill his life.
Here's an example:
http://dft.ba/-ferriswheel
I can't really truly explain my love for John Green's writing. I tried my best to put it to words, but they do it no justice.
For books like The Host, I merely read because I'm curious. Yes, I've read the entire Twilight series and the more I've thought about it, the more I dislike it. Many people like it because it has a lot of sexual tension. And quite frankly, it is a mindless read, if you have no time to sit and ponder about the book. Anyway, this is not Twilight, it's another one of her books.
I wanted to see what else she could come up with. I'm tired of vampires and love stories. I've never been one for romance novels. The Host isn't one of those, thank goodness. It was super cheap at a used bookstore (my favorite kind of bookstore) and I heard that it was more of an "adult book".
Aliens. Like, a soul of an alien takes over a human's body and then controls them. The human just kind of fades away. The only way you can tell who is human and who is not is a human doesn't have a scar on the back of their necks. There are few humans left. And they have this underground place so they can keep safe and they end up capturing on of these aliens.
The writing is the same as in Twilight. For the book to be so long, nothing really happens. There's no war, no big fights. The scene is mostly held in their underground cave kinda of thing to where the alien is locked up most of the time. To me it was almost a waste of time to read. It did keep my attention, but I grew bored. So, with that said I probably won't be reading anymore of Meyer's books if she comes out with any more. 2.5 stars
Here's one of the books that I simply cannot remember anything about it. Goodreads says that I gave it 3 stars so that means that I don't recommend it to most people and I thought it was okay.
Man, I need to update right after I finish a book. Which I'm working on. Good books stay with you forever. Even though I don't remember what happens most of the time, if something is really really good I can tell you "Yes,I read that!" and "Yes,I loved it because of *cue few main points of the story* " If I think a book is really good, I put it on my "to read again" list.
If you told me to list out what books I've read recently, I would have forgotten this book completely. Sorry, Prescott. This was also a Kindle version of the book. I'm still on the fence on how I feel about reading book books and Kindle books. I do a little of both.
Also, if anyone has any recommendations (since I know so many people read this...all two of you) please comment. Or if you disagree or agree with me, I'm always open to a discussion. (a nice one! No point getting all upset over opinions)
I guess I was reading bad book after bad book. Well, you can see how I felt about this book right away. And all I can remember is that it was really weird and I like the movie better, which I didn't exactly like the movie. I don't recommend this one to anyone I know. So lets just leave it at that. (and then I didn't) Sorry to Augusten Burroughs to not remembering what he wrote. From what I can remember, he was a good writer, but I just didn't like the subject. The little boy was passed around, almost unwanted. His parents were unstable, and he was introduced to sex at a very young age and I just don't like reading about abuse.
I know that this is a memoir and I hope and pray most of this wasn't true. Come to think of it, it could be true to young Augusten's mind. When you are young, you perceive things differently and things might happen one way, but in your young mind it could play out in a different way. That's a better way to think of it. I hope that was the style of Burroughs writing. I haven't read any of his other stuff...wait either it's all memoirs or true stories. I think I'll probably not read any of those. 2 stars
No judging please! And then, some might get mad about how I feel about Nicholas Sparks. He's a tricky one. I read this one because my friend's mom asked me to. One of her favorites too...
I've read several Nicholas Sparks' books: A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, The Wedding, yadda yadda. After reading two of his books, I noticed that all of his are basically the same. *SPOLIERS KIND OF BUT NOT REALLY. IF YOU READ ONE BOOK YOU'VE READ THEM ALL*
Why does someone always die? It might not be the person you expect to, like in Dear John. Wait...did someone die? I can't remember now. ugh. Probably for the best that I don't remember. I just kinda want him to write a happy book. He's good at getting a reader hooked and you end up spending half the day reading his mushy romance. Too bad love isn't like anything in the books and movies. Scratch that. It would be so depressing if my life was a Sparks' book. Either I'm going to get cancer and die or my closest friend will forget me from a brain tumor, or my significant other will go away to war and he'll say he'll always love me and then returned married. Wait, that kinda sounds like the book, but opposite.
Poor guy in the armed service. And really that happens all too much. Don't they call them Dear John letters for a reason? Stick with your military men. They protect us and is doing what they can for our country. The least a significant other can do is wait for them and love them from afar. Now I'm being mushy. 2 stars
Ah, John Green. We meet again. I don't think I fully appreciated his writing when I read Will Grayson, Will Grayson. I can honestly say that I play on rereading everything he's written. Not only am I a HUGE fan of John Green as an author, I'm also a Nerdfighter and a follower of the Vlogbrothers on Youtube. (It consists of John and his brother, Hank) Seriously, look it up.
Now, as for Paper Towns, 5 starts all the way. Maybe I'm biased. Nah, I'm pretty in people's faces about books and music. And this is a book....so. I can see how some people might not like how certain events unfold, but why have something always turn out the way you think? Really, who is to say you might think how I did when you read it. Okay, I'm starting to confuse myself. If you like Young Adult fiction, obviously I do, then you will most likely enjoy this one. If I recommend one of John's books, this isn't the one I would have people start with. In my opinion it's not his absolute best, but if I give this book 5 stars (and I don't give anything higher than a 5) and it's not his best... just think how I feel about his other books ie: Looking For Alaska, and the most recent The Fault in Our Stars. Just be warned that when reading his books you will laugh a lot and cry some. The great thing about John's books and Paper Towns is that anyone can read it. Doesn't matter what gender/age you are! And the best way to end this post that I can think of is DFTBA.
Well to be all honest, I've been busy and super lazy. Lazy as in not updating. I have been reading, quite often, in fact. In 2011 I completed my goal for the year of reading 52 books. That's a book a week. The only downside to this is I don't always remember books if it's been awhile. So here's an attempt to catch up.
I used to be in a small group that met on Tuesday nights at a church I used to go to. Rob Bell has had some major controversy in the Christian community and I'm always up to make myself aware of "drama" relating to Christianity. I will never judge a situation without exploring it myself unless it can hurt me. I think I might have mentioned this when I read "Love Wins".
Anyway, I can't tell you what I really thought about this book because I can't remember. Just according to my Goodreads account, I gave it 4 stars. There should be more updates now since I have found more time, that and I need to do stuff.
