#0030A Push - Sapphire

Precious is an illiterate, 16 year old girl who is trying to gain more of herself and her life. Her mother beats her, her father rapes her and she is pregnant with his 2nd child. The principal calls her out and expels her from school because she is pregnant. That was the best thing that could have happened to her. She signs herself up to take classes so she can finish her GED. Her teacher, Blue, has them write about anything they want in a notebook everyday so they can get better at reading and writing. Precious has so much drive and she really inspired me. Even though all the crap that was going on in her life she kept pushing on to one day make it better for herself and her son.

I loved the writing style. The book starts out where you know that Precious is thinking. Later on in the book when she is learning to write you get broken words and sentences and you can see how she progresses in school by the further you read. It was a great book, horrible circumstances, but well written. 4 stars

#0029A New Moon - Stephenie Meyer

I know, I know. I'm embarrassed to say I like them.

All Stephenie Meyer's books are easy to read and easy to fall into. This is the second time I've read this book, only because the movie comes out and blah. I am; however, glad that I reread this book. The first time I felt like I skimmed it more than read it just because I knew what happened and I was just waiting for Edward to come back into the story. That's like half the book being skimmed. I told myself this time to slow down and read everything and not to get ahead of myself. I got every detail in this time. And I didn't really see that much of a relationship between Bella and Jacob. I mean, yeah he's a good friend or whatever, but their connection is really not as strong as the movie looks like it will be.

I only plan to reread those books when the movies are about to come out. So, beware.

#0028A Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney

Oh me. I just had to read this book. Every kid that walked into the store that I work at goes straight over to Diary of a Wimpy Kid display. They are reading all these books up like candy. I just read this while I was on my break at work.

Greg is in middle school and is definitely not in the "popular crowd" At least he has his best pal Rowley, even though he thinks Rowley is quite dumb. This book is just like a diary of a young boy with pictures on every page. It grabs his thoughts about halloween, the school play, and a big stinky piece of cheese that sits outside on the basketball court that seems to never leave.

I thought this book was really cute. Whatever gets the kids to read, I'm down with. Greg sometimes has a bad attitude, but then when doesn't a middle schooler have that? This is for kids around the ages 8-12 and perfect for both boys and girls. I've always liked kid's books :) 5 stars

#0027A Waiter Rant - Steve Dublancia

I was just handed this book and told to read it. Since I used to be a waiter I was definitely interested. I have loads of stories about horrible customers and about some coworkers in the food business. I connected with Steve like I never had with an author. I felt his pain and worry throughout the whole book. It could have been me writing.

Steve became a waiter just as a temporary job while he was trying to get back on his feet. It turned out to be a long six year, tormented career. He explains through all of the different sides of a restaurant business and adding the customers into the mix. He does explain a few stories: dealing with drunken slobs who bring in a different stripper a week to meeting the famous. He talks about how to leave a correct tip, and how not to act in a restaurant. I wish that I had not waited tables so I could get the whole feel for the book. It would have definitely opened my eyes to see what exactly goes on in a restaurant business.

By the end of the book, I got quite annoyed at him. Taking the last rush of people and sitting them in his section because the other servers are a little more busy than him. He thought he was helping them out, but really he was stealing money from the other servers. That is like rule #1 in waiting tables. There is a rotation for a reason. I also hoped that there would be more stories about the difficult/happy times while serving. But I guess I just have to go to his blog for that. 4 stars

#0026A Double Take - Kevin Michael Connolly

One of the forums that I read had a thread about how Kevin took at trip around the world, to different countries to photograph people's reactions (or stares) to him riding on a skateboard. The thing is, Kevin has no legs. He wrote a book and got it published so I decided to check it out.

It is like a life's story, but Kevin is still young. He's just 23, but there were a lot of hardships for a boy to go through with no legs. The book goes into everything about how many pants he went through just scooting around to when he won 2nd place in the Winter X games for skiing. It's a very uplifting book. For as much as Kevin is doing with his life, makes me want to go out and reach more goals. I highly recommend this book to anyone. It's a quick read. Short and sweet. 5 stars

#0025A Level 26: Dark Origins - Anthony E. Zuiker

This is my first horror book of the year. Well, this is the first horror book that I actually got through the whole way. Right away you can tell that it wasn't scary. It's hard for me to start about this book because I am really torn.

This is the first "digi-novel" Every couple of chapters there is a 3 minute film that is suppose to enhance the novel more. I really like the idea of the films. The only downside is you cannot read this book anywhere. You have to have a computer and internet connection ready.

There are 25 levels of serial killers; meet level 26. This criminal has been killing for over 20 years and has killed over 50 people. The perfect person to help solve this case is Steve Dark. He is the only person who has come close to catching "Sqweegle", what the police call him. But after Sqweegel sees how close Dark gets he kills his entire foster family.

Zuiker is the writer of the television show CSI so I was expecting something well written and I was expecting the films to be good as well. I was wrong. It felt like the novel was going for the shock factor. The films maybe added some disturbing images, but then you could have read the entire book and not even looked at the films. Some of the films had nothing to do with the book. On the upside, it did keep my attention and it kept me trying to figure out all of the questions I had. Then, the ending just made the book rotten. It was a huge set up for the second book. It should have ended. If you do read it and want an ending, don't read the epilogue. The Epilogue felt dumb. It was out of no where and I don't really see how it could even happen. Bah! 2.5 stars

#0024A Coraline - Neil Gaiman

I saw the movie about a month ago and decided to read it. I'm all for reading books before the movie, but I didn't know about the book until afterwords, sadly. I absolutely loved the illustrations so big props to Dave McKean.

Coraline is a quick read about a little girl who is not happy with how her life is. Her parents always seem to be busy and there is nothing to do around the house. One day she comes across a small door in one room of the house. She opens it and behind the door is just a brick wall. Later, she decides to open the door again when her family isn't around. The door leads to another house which is the same as her house, with an other mother and an other father who says they have been waiting for her for a long time and wants her to live with them forever. Everything seems almost completely the same except that her other parents have shiny, black buttons for eyes. Of course you can see where this is going. Her other mother is evil and won't let Coraline go back home, but she has a few ideas that might help her.

I hate to compare things with the movie. Usually if I see the movie first I like the movie better and vice versa. The movie shows more color than my imagination could have taken me, plus there is another character that the movie had which the book didn't. I really liked both sides of the story and I completely recommend it. Very cute. 4 stars