Reading Log 2007
Update: Well here it is, we've reached the end of the year. Not exactly the most exciting year book-wise, but there were some very good ones in there.
Favorite: The best written was by far The Book Thief, but I also really enjoyed Rant and A Long Way Down.
Least Favorite: Definitely Twilight, and I didn't like New Moon much better.
Best Plot: Both A Feast For Crows and Uglies were excellent books.
Most Enjoyable: Either A Long Way Down or The Gun Seller. They were definitely the funniest books I read this year.
Best Classic: I didn't read that many in 2007, but the best was for sure The Grapes of Wrath. I definitely think that book should be required reading for many years to come.
I'm bored, and so I decided it's about time that I updated my reading log for the year. Here are short reviews for the books that I have read so far...
But I just wanted to say, even though I'm linking my reviews to the "read 50 books community", it was not my goal to read 50 books this year. Instead I have a list of books that I would like to read before the year is over, which can be found here: Reading List
1. A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
Review: First book I read this year, and it was definitely a good place to start. I love Hornby's writing style. He's extremely humorous while keeping the characters and storyline, for the most part, believable. It's a pretty simple storyline about four people that meet on a roof, a popular suicidal spot, with plans to jump off and end their lives. I don't want to give too much more away, but this is a book that makes you think and I would definitely recommend reading it.
My Rating: [5/5]
2. The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie
Review: As soon as I found out that the great Hugh Laurie had written a novel, I had to buy it and devour it. Thankfully, I was not left at all disappointed. This book has all of the dry British humor and sarcasm that I have come to love. The plot is interesting with enough twists to make you want to keep reading it. I'm also kind of in love with the main character. Anyway, it's a great book and I'm not just saying that.
My Rating: [5/5]
3. Cut by Patricia McCormick
Review: I wanted to read this book this year for two reasons. First, because it was one of those classic teen books that everyone and their mother has apparently read. And with any book like that, I want to know what all the fuss is about. Secondly, I wanted to read it because I'm genuinely curious what goes on in the mind of a cutter, why someone would be motivated to cause pain to themself. It wasn't quite as insightful as I had hoped, but it's still an enjoyable and short read.
My Rating: [3/5]
4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Review: I'll make this simple, I did not enjoy this book. A lot of my classmates seemed to like it, so I might be in the minority. The thing is, I like books oftentimes because of the characters. Besides Nick, the narrator, I don't think I liked a single character in this book. Actually, I kind of hated them all. And the writing style was very dry to me, with no interesting language or anything. So yeah, not my favorite classic by far.
My Rating: [2/5]
5. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Review: I liked this book a lot more than Gatsby. The language was succinct and unique. The plotline was a lot more interesting to me. And I actually liked the characters, except for Brett (ugh, yuck). I might have given the book a higher rating, but I just didn't enjoy the ending. Nothing really changed at all... but then again, maybe that was the point.
My Rating: [3.5/5]
6. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Review: This is probably my favorite book that we read this year, right next to Bless Me, Ultima. I loved the story, the message, the author's style, and I felt sympathy for the characters. I'm sure many people have already read this book or will read it at some point, so I don't think I need to say much. It is definitely a classic for a reason.
My Rating: [4.5/5]
7. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Review: For a book that I've been waiting all this school year to read, it really didn't live up to my high expectations. The narrator is annoying, and I am not a fan of stream of consciousness, apparently. It all takes place in the span of about two days, nothing much happening. I still don't think I understand what the message was supposed to be.
My Rating: [2.5/5]
8. The Average American Male by Chad Kultgen
Review: First of all, I was never planning on reading this book this year, as I picked it up on a complete whim after seeing it at Borders and noticing that the good old "C word" was on the second page. To put it simply, this book is blunt. And in your face. I'll say it again and again just to make sure people understand me, this is the porniest thing I have ever read. Definitely not for the faint of heart or mind. But it was an entertaining read none-the-less, and I enjoyed the journey into the mind of an average American male (I'm still holding out hope that they don't all think like that).
My Rating: [4/5]
9. Maximum Ride (#2): School's Out, Forever by James Patterson
Review: This is not the best series of books I've ever read, and I wasn't even reading the second book of my own choosing. My older sister gave me the book for my birthday, and so I felt obligated to read it. And now I have to read the third one to find out what happens. The plot is ok, but the book is so filled with cliches and simplistic writing that I could hardly get through it. I suspect that these books will be made into a movie soon, so I suggest that you hold out for the movie instead of reading the books.
My Rating: [3/5]
10. Maximum Ride (#3): Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson
Review: So after reading the first two, I figured I had to read the third book in this series. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised that I found this book much more enjoyable than the first two. I don't know what it was about it exactly, I just found the humor a lot more amusing and the writing was a lot more interesting and suspenseful. I know now that they've announced this series becoming a movie, and I'm actually kind of happy about that. I think these books lend themselves well to being a movie, and I'm curious to see what they do with it on the big screen.
My Rating: [4/5]
11. Rant by Chuck Palahniuk
Review: I stayed up late at night finishing this book, and I'm really glad I did. I was engrossed by the entire second half of it (not that the first half wasn't good, it just got really great towards the end). As with all of Palahniuk's books, it shouldn't be a great shock that this one has a twist ending. This time it was especially surprising, and very awesome. Palahniuk has the ability to come up with crazy storylines unlike any other author I have ever read. To explain the plot of this one would be very difficult and pointless. Basically, I recommend reading this book. And it's definitely a must if you are a Palahniuk fan.
My Rating: [5/5]
12. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Review: If you want to know how I feel about this book, look at this link: HERE
These people can express my thoughts much better than I can. Since I get all incoherent when I think about the book, I can't put together a review that won't turn into a long-winded rant. So there you go.
My Rating: [2.5/5]
13. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
Review: This is the best review I could find for New Moon. I agree with it 100%. Quoted from Amazon.com: "I loved this story... Back when it was called Buffy the Vampire Slayer, literally a decade ago. Let's think about this: girl moves to new town, finds mysterious boy who happens to be a vampire, they date against everyone's better judgement. That's the first book, and coincidentally ("coincidentally"?) one of the main subplots of the first season of Buffy. The temptation to suck blood having to be faced in order to save Bella's life from poison? Angel needing the blood of a Slayer after being poisoned by Faith and having to take it from Buffy. A bit flip-flopped, but still a parallel. And now in this book, Edward abruptly breaks up with Bella and leaves town, stating that it's "For the best." Last few episodes of season three, anyone? Buffy starts going out with Riley, who turns out to be part of a special ops group dedicated to hunting demons, especially vampires. Bella starts spending a lot of time with Jacob, who turns out to be a sworn enemy of vampires along with the rest of his werewolf pack... are you sensing a connection?
And it wasn't just the plot basically being lifted from Buffy that made this book nigh unreadable. This is Bella's first boyfriend. Supernatural or not, when your first boyfriend breaks up with you and you haven't even been going out a year, your life is not over. You may think it is. You may pout and cry and mope... for maybe a month. Not six. I have never known anybody to get *that* depressed for *that* long over their first boyfriend, no matter how much they said they were in love. Bella wins the award for "Heroine you should never, EVER imitate," because first off she was absolutely useless as a person. She forever had to have a man (be he werewolf, human or vampire) come rescue her from the latest scrap she got herself into, and secondly, watching her whine and thrash around in agony for literally three-hundred and fifty of the five hundred odd pages is the most pathetic thing I've ever read. If they were real people, I'd say separation would do them a bit of good, because it is truly unhealthy to think you literally cannot live without a certain person. They'd need time to figure out who they are without each other. It also really bothered me that Bella could not mention Edward's name without saying how absolutely beautiful he was. Every single sentence about him was coupled with that, and usually chased by her saying how klutzy or unremarkable or otherwise unworthy of her vampire boyfriend's affections. To say it got old fast would be an understatment; it was absolutely pointless to begin with. So skip this book. It's not even good as a sleep-aide; you end up yelling at Bella to stop being so stupid."
My Rating: [1.5/5]
14. A Feast For Crows by George R. R. Martin
Review: This is the fourth book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and it is the first one that I'm not giving the highest rating possible. It was still an extremely enjoyable book, but as the ASOIAF fans know it only contained half (or less) of the characters. Which is disappointing, but at least I knew beforehand what I was getting into. The one other complaint I have is that there were TOO MANY CLIFFHANGERS. A couple is fine, but I just feel like I have so many questions that have yet to be answered. And now I have to wait probably 6 more months or more to read the next book?! Waiting sucks.
My Rating: [4.5/5]
15. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JKR
Review: The book on the whole was amazing. Obviously I couldn't put it down and I finished it in one day. This book was definitely better than HBP and it's probably my second favorite next to OotP. I'm deducting 2/10ths of a point because JKR sucks at writing "Teh Romances" and the epilogue was cheesy and unnecessary. For a few more spoilery thoughts, CLICK HERE
My Rating: [4.8/5]
16. and 17. The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and The Struggle by L.J. Smith
Review: For anyone looking for vampire romance, this is the one I'd recommend. Not that Twilight/New Moon rubish. These books were original, interesting, and had a heroine that you can actually root for. I'll definitely be reading the final books in the series. True, this is not grand literature or anything. But if you're looking for a good beach read or something, pick up The Vampire Diaries.
My Rating: [4/5]
18. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Review: Whenever I saw this book at the bookstore I was always pretty interested, but I guess I wasn't interested enough to buy it. So when I saw a copy at the library, I thought 'what the heck'. This was a very,very good book. I'm actually surprised that it's not more popular. It must do well in sales, but I've never really heard people talking about it. Anyway, the book takes place in a futuristic world so it's basically science fiction. And it's one of those dystopia novels in the same vein as "Brave New World" and "1984". But I thought the plot was actually pretty original and very interesting. I also became pretty fond of the main character as the book went on. I already have the next book in the trilogy, Pretties, on hold at the library. I can't wait to read the next two books! This one is highly recommended.
My Rating: [4.5/5]
19. The Wereling: Resurrection by Stephen Cole
Review: I thought this was a pretty good book. I don't think it was my favorite of the three, and the ending kind of left me un-satisfied, but I liked the series as a whole. The characters were the best part about it. My favorite character, Blood, was still alive so that makes me very happy. I can't stand when an author kills the best character just to make the book more ~*~dramatic~*~. This was a nice change.
My Rating: [4/5]
20. Mercy by Julie Garwood
Review: Garwood defnitely as a formula to her writing, but it's a formula that works. Her books are some of the only romance books that I can stand. I enjoy them because there's much more plot and interesting things going on than just the romance. I also liked the setting of this book, the bayou in Louisiana. It was a pretty good, but easy, read.
My Rating: [4.5/5]
21. The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner
Review: This was a good book, but I wasn't too happy because I found out about half way through that there was an earlier book that featured some of the characters. I wish I had read that book first instead. But this one did stand on its own pretty well. This was another light but enjoyable read.
My Rating: [4/5]
22. A Strong And Sudden Thaw by R.W. Day
Review: For a book published by a not well known yaoi publisher, this book was pretty darn good. Some parts were a little bit drawn out and the plot was definitely out there, but I enjoyed the "gay scenes" and the relationship between the male characters. It wasn't exactly an epic love story, but it was nice.
My Rating: [4/5]
23. Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
Review: I was very excited to read this book because I've been interested in it for a long while. The language and plot is complex, but advanced fantasy readers shouldn't mind that. I really liked the first 300-400 pages or so, but I could have done without the whole second half. It turned into a drawn-out war story, and I really can't stand long winded descriptions of battles and strategies and such. And to top it off, an important event happens at the end of the book that leads to a new mystery, which means I would have to read the sequels to know what happens. I'm not sure I want to do that.
My Rating: [3.5/5]
24. Thieves Like Us by Stephen Cole
Review: I wanted to read this book because I enjoyed The Wereling books by Stephen Cole. I'd say it was good for a light, easy read, but not much more than that. It's a cool adventure book, and I enjoyed the characters and the humor.
My Rating: [4.2/5]
25. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Review: So I wanted to read this book because I saw a copy lying around my english class, and I was curious to see what it was about. I also wanted to start reading more literature. Anyway, this book wasn't bad. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. There were some things about it I liked, but I think it might have been about 300 pages to long (the whole thing was almost 600 pages). I basically think you should read this book if you're into racial issues but it's not nearly up to par with say, To Kill A Mockingbird.
My Rating: [3/5]
26. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Review: This book was absolutely amazing and breathtaking. I read through it slowly and savored each word, because even at 550 pages I still didn't want it to end. The Book Thief moved me to tears, when hardly anything ever makes me cry. It is set in Germany during WWII, but don't think that this is just another Holocaust book. It is a truly remarkable literary achievement that, despite what some say, I truly think can and should be read by all ages.
My Rating: [5/5]
Favorite: The best written was by far The Book Thief, but I also really enjoyed Rant and A Long Way Down.
Least Favorite: Definitely Twilight, and I didn't like New Moon much better.
Best Plot: Both A Feast For Crows and Uglies were excellent books.
Most Enjoyable: Either A Long Way Down or The Gun Seller. They were definitely the funniest books I read this year.
Best Classic: I didn't read that many in 2007, but the best was for sure The Grapes of Wrath. I definitely think that book should be required reading for many years to come.
I'm bored, and so I decided it's about time that I updated my reading log for the year. Here are short reviews for the books that I have read so far...
But I just wanted to say, even though I'm linking my reviews to the "read 50 books community", it was not my goal to read 50 books this year. Instead I have a list of books that I would like to read before the year is over, which can be found here: Reading List
1. A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
Review: First book I read this year, and it was definitely a good place to start. I love Hornby's writing style. He's extremely humorous while keeping the characters and storyline, for the most part, believable. It's a pretty simple storyline about four people that meet on a roof, a popular suicidal spot, with plans to jump off and end their lives. I don't want to give too much more away, but this is a book that makes you think and I would definitely recommend reading it.
My Rating: [5/5]
2. The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie
Review: As soon as I found out that the great Hugh Laurie had written a novel, I had to buy it and devour it. Thankfully, I was not left at all disappointed. This book has all of the dry British humor and sarcasm that I have come to love. The plot is interesting with enough twists to make you want to keep reading it. I'm also kind of in love with the main character. Anyway, it's a great book and I'm not just saying that.
My Rating: [5/5]
3. Cut by Patricia McCormick
Review: I wanted to read this book this year for two reasons. First, because it was one of those classic teen books that everyone and their mother has apparently read. And with any book like that, I want to know what all the fuss is about. Secondly, I wanted to read it because I'm genuinely curious what goes on in the mind of a cutter, why someone would be motivated to cause pain to themself. It wasn't quite as insightful as I had hoped, but it's still an enjoyable and short read.
My Rating: [3/5]
4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Review: I'll make this simple, I did not enjoy this book. A lot of my classmates seemed to like it, so I might be in the minority. The thing is, I like books oftentimes because of the characters. Besides Nick, the narrator, I don't think I liked a single character in this book. Actually, I kind of hated them all. And the writing style was very dry to me, with no interesting language or anything. So yeah, not my favorite classic by far.
My Rating: [2/5]
5. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Review: I liked this book a lot more than Gatsby. The language was succinct and unique. The plotline was a lot more interesting to me. And I actually liked the characters, except for Brett (ugh, yuck). I might have given the book a higher rating, but I just didn't enjoy the ending. Nothing really changed at all... but then again, maybe that was the point.
My Rating: [3.5/5]
6. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Review: This is probably my favorite book that we read this year, right next to Bless Me, Ultima. I loved the story, the message, the author's style, and I felt sympathy for the characters. I'm sure many people have already read this book or will read it at some point, so I don't think I need to say much. It is definitely a classic for a reason.
My Rating: [4.5/5]
7. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Review: For a book that I've been waiting all this school year to read, it really didn't live up to my high expectations. The narrator is annoying, and I am not a fan of stream of consciousness, apparently. It all takes place in the span of about two days, nothing much happening. I still don't think I understand what the message was supposed to be.
My Rating: [2.5/5]
8. The Average American Male by Chad Kultgen
Review: First of all, I was never planning on reading this book this year, as I picked it up on a complete whim after seeing it at Borders and noticing that the good old "C word" was on the second page. To put it simply, this book is blunt. And in your face. I'll say it again and again just to make sure people understand me, this is the porniest thing I have ever read. Definitely not for the faint of heart or mind. But it was an entertaining read none-the-less, and I enjoyed the journey into the mind of an average American male (I'm still holding out hope that they don't all think like that).
My Rating: [4/5]
9. Maximum Ride (#2): School's Out, Forever by James Patterson
Review: This is not the best series of books I've ever read, and I wasn't even reading the second book of my own choosing. My older sister gave me the book for my birthday, and so I felt obligated to read it. And now I have to read the third one to find out what happens. The plot is ok, but the book is so filled with cliches and simplistic writing that I could hardly get through it. I suspect that these books will be made into a movie soon, so I suggest that you hold out for the movie instead of reading the books.
My Rating: [3/5]
10. Maximum Ride (#3): Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson
Review: So after reading the first two, I figured I had to read the third book in this series. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised that I found this book much more enjoyable than the first two. I don't know what it was about it exactly, I just found the humor a lot more amusing and the writing was a lot more interesting and suspenseful. I know now that they've announced this series becoming a movie, and I'm actually kind of happy about that. I think these books lend themselves well to being a movie, and I'm curious to see what they do with it on the big screen.
My Rating: [4/5]
11. Rant by Chuck Palahniuk
Review: I stayed up late at night finishing this book, and I'm really glad I did. I was engrossed by the entire second half of it (not that the first half wasn't good, it just got really great towards the end). As with all of Palahniuk's books, it shouldn't be a great shock that this one has a twist ending. This time it was especially surprising, and very awesome. Palahniuk has the ability to come up with crazy storylines unlike any other author I have ever read. To explain the plot of this one would be very difficult and pointless. Basically, I recommend reading this book. And it's definitely a must if you are a Palahniuk fan.
My Rating: [5/5]
12. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Review: If you want to know how I feel about this book, look at this link: HERE
These people can express my thoughts much better than I can. Since I get all incoherent when I think about the book, I can't put together a review that won't turn into a long-winded rant. So there you go.
My Rating: [2.5/5]
13. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
Review: This is the best review I could find for New Moon. I agree with it 100%. Quoted from Amazon.com: "I loved this story... Back when it was called Buffy the Vampire Slayer, literally a decade ago. Let's think about this: girl moves to new town, finds mysterious boy who happens to be a vampire, they date against everyone's better judgement. That's the first book, and coincidentally ("coincidentally"?) one of the main subplots of the first season of Buffy. The temptation to suck blood having to be faced in order to save Bella's life from poison? Angel needing the blood of a Slayer after being poisoned by Faith and having to take it from Buffy. A bit flip-flopped, but still a parallel. And now in this book, Edward abruptly breaks up with Bella and leaves town, stating that it's "For the best." Last few episodes of season three, anyone? Buffy starts going out with Riley, who turns out to be part of a special ops group dedicated to hunting demons, especially vampires. Bella starts spending a lot of time with Jacob, who turns out to be a sworn enemy of vampires along with the rest of his werewolf pack... are you sensing a connection?
And it wasn't just the plot basically being lifted from Buffy that made this book nigh unreadable. This is Bella's first boyfriend. Supernatural or not, when your first boyfriend breaks up with you and you haven't even been going out a year, your life is not over. You may think it is. You may pout and cry and mope... for maybe a month. Not six. I have never known anybody to get *that* depressed for *that* long over their first boyfriend, no matter how much they said they were in love. Bella wins the award for "Heroine you should never, EVER imitate," because first off she was absolutely useless as a person. She forever had to have a man (be he werewolf, human or vampire) come rescue her from the latest scrap she got herself into, and secondly, watching her whine and thrash around in agony for literally three-hundred and fifty of the five hundred odd pages is the most pathetic thing I've ever read. If they were real people, I'd say separation would do them a bit of good, because it is truly unhealthy to think you literally cannot live without a certain person. They'd need time to figure out who they are without each other. It also really bothered me that Bella could not mention Edward's name without saying how absolutely beautiful he was. Every single sentence about him was coupled with that, and usually chased by her saying how klutzy or unremarkable or otherwise unworthy of her vampire boyfriend's affections. To say it got old fast would be an understatment; it was absolutely pointless to begin with. So skip this book. It's not even good as a sleep-aide; you end up yelling at Bella to stop being so stupid."
My Rating: [1.5/5]
14. A Feast For Crows by George R. R. Martin
Review: This is the fourth book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and it is the first one that I'm not giving the highest rating possible. It was still an extremely enjoyable book, but as the ASOIAF fans know it only contained half (or less) of the characters. Which is disappointing, but at least I knew beforehand what I was getting into. The one other complaint I have is that there were TOO MANY CLIFFHANGERS. A couple is fine, but I just feel like I have so many questions that have yet to be answered. And now I have to wait probably 6 more months or more to read the next book?! Waiting sucks.
My Rating: [4.5/5]
15. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JKR
Review: The book on the whole was amazing. Obviously I couldn't put it down and I finished it in one day. This book was definitely better than HBP and it's probably my second favorite next to OotP. I'm deducting 2/10ths of a point because JKR sucks at writing "Teh Romances" and the epilogue was cheesy and unnecessary. For a few more spoilery thoughts, CLICK HERE
My Rating: [4.8/5]
16. and 17. The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and The Struggle by L.J. Smith
Review: For anyone looking for vampire romance, this is the one I'd recommend. Not that Twilight/New Moon rubish. These books were original, interesting, and had a heroine that you can actually root for. I'll definitely be reading the final books in the series. True, this is not grand literature or anything. But if you're looking for a good beach read or something, pick up The Vampire Diaries.
My Rating: [4/5]
18. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Review: Whenever I saw this book at the bookstore I was always pretty interested, but I guess I wasn't interested enough to buy it. So when I saw a copy at the library, I thought 'what the heck'. This was a very,very good book. I'm actually surprised that it's not more popular. It must do well in sales, but I've never really heard people talking about it. Anyway, the book takes place in a futuristic world so it's basically science fiction. And it's one of those dystopia novels in the same vein as "Brave New World" and "1984". But I thought the plot was actually pretty original and very interesting. I also became pretty fond of the main character as the book went on. I already have the next book in the trilogy, Pretties, on hold at the library. I can't wait to read the next two books! This one is highly recommended.
My Rating: [4.5/5]
19. The Wereling: Resurrection by Stephen Cole
Review: I thought this was a pretty good book. I don't think it was my favorite of the three, and the ending kind of left me un-satisfied, but I liked the series as a whole. The characters were the best part about it. My favorite character, Blood, was still alive so that makes me very happy. I can't stand when an author kills the best character just to make the book more ~*~dramatic~*~. This was a nice change.
My Rating: [4/5]
20. Mercy by Julie Garwood
Review: Garwood defnitely as a formula to her writing, but it's a formula that works. Her books are some of the only romance books that I can stand. I enjoy them because there's much more plot and interesting things going on than just the romance. I also liked the setting of this book, the bayou in Louisiana. It was a pretty good, but easy, read.
My Rating: [4.5/5]
21. The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner
Review: This was a good book, but I wasn't too happy because I found out about half way through that there was an earlier book that featured some of the characters. I wish I had read that book first instead. But this one did stand on its own pretty well. This was another light but enjoyable read.
My Rating: [4/5]
22. A Strong And Sudden Thaw by R.W. Day
Review: For a book published by a not well known yaoi publisher, this book was pretty darn good. Some parts were a little bit drawn out and the plot was definitely out there, but I enjoyed the "gay scenes" and the relationship between the male characters. It wasn't exactly an epic love story, but it was nice.
My Rating: [4/5]
23. Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
Review: I was very excited to read this book because I've been interested in it for a long while. The language and plot is complex, but advanced fantasy readers shouldn't mind that. I really liked the first 300-400 pages or so, but I could have done without the whole second half. It turned into a drawn-out war story, and I really can't stand long winded descriptions of battles and strategies and such. And to top it off, an important event happens at the end of the book that leads to a new mystery, which means I would have to read the sequels to know what happens. I'm not sure I want to do that.
My Rating: [3.5/5]
24. Thieves Like Us by Stephen Cole
Review: I wanted to read this book because I enjoyed The Wereling books by Stephen Cole. I'd say it was good for a light, easy read, but not much more than that. It's a cool adventure book, and I enjoyed the characters and the humor.
My Rating: [4.2/5]
25. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Review: So I wanted to read this book because I saw a copy lying around my english class, and I was curious to see what it was about. I also wanted to start reading more literature. Anyway, this book wasn't bad. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. There were some things about it I liked, but I think it might have been about 300 pages to long (the whole thing was almost 600 pages). I basically think you should read this book if you're into racial issues but it's not nearly up to par with say, To Kill A Mockingbird.
My Rating: [3/5]
26. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Review: This book was absolutely amazing and breathtaking. I read through it slowly and savored each word, because even at 550 pages I still didn't want it to end. The Book Thief moved me to tears, when hardly anything ever makes me cry. It is set in Germany during WWII, but don't think that this is just another Holocaust book. It is a truly remarkable literary achievement that, despite what some say, I truly think can and should be read by all ages.
My Rating: [5/5]