May Book Reads
Now featuring my "best/worst book of the month!" I'm sure you're excited.
Best May Book: The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (which could have won worst book had it been a stand alone). Post-apocalyptic society set in the former United States. The country has been divided into 12 districts (and a mysterious, rebellious, now supposedly empty 13 district) along with a wealth capital (where people are lazy ass jerks). To remind the 12 districts who's boss and that they must continue to suffer for the previous war, each year the hunger games are held. A boy and a girl are selected from each district, dumped into a "playing field" until only one survivor remains. Katniss, 16, volunteers for the games in place of her younger sister. This is a disturbing, incredibly provocative story - I hope the remaining books in the series are as engaging.
Worst May Book: Maledicte - Lane Robbins which went on and on and on. Blinding vengeance is not my cup of tea nor is random murders and over-the-top graphic death scenes. Did I mention it just kept going? That it's part of a series makes it the worst book of the month!
37. White Witch, Black Curse - Kim Harrison (5/3/09) - continuation of series, finally tied up some loose ends, though i wasn't overly pleased with the "who dunnit" aspect.
38. The Faerie Queen's Deception - Maggie Stiefvater (5/5/09) - ya book featuring fairy-attracting harpists, overly handsome faerie assassins and teen angst. My kind of book, duh.
39. Need - Carrie Jones (5/6/09) - another ya book featuring elves and shape shifters and so on and so forth. Campy, silly book with an ending I thought utterly ridiculous and, to be honest, unfair to the alleged guilty party.
40. Bones of Faerie - Janni Lee Simner (5/8/09) - this is a close 2nd for my best book of the month. very engaging, lots of character development, intriguing book. From amazon Liza, a teenager living in what was once the Midwest, has always been taught that magic kills. When Lizas mother gives birth to a faerie baby with hair clear as glass, her father abandons the infant on a hillside to die; Lizas mother then runs away, and Liza begins to have magical visions of her own. Petrified that her powers might cause death, Liza flees into the woods with her friend Matthew, only to be attacked by deadly trees and rescued by a woman with magic.
41. When it Happens - Susanne Colasanti (5/11/09) - ya romance book. cute and fun.
42. 3 Willows - Ann Brasheres (5/13/09) - liked the traveling pants series a lot better, but this was still a fun coming of age book that includes some characters from the pants series. this follows a trio of girls who, once great friends, find themselves growing apart. follows them as they find ways to reconnect.
43. Impossible - Nancy Werlin (5/15/09) - i like werlin's books, so i was happy to read a fantasy ya book by her. this story includes curses, elves and a pregnant teenager sowing an acre of sand with one grain of corn. Yeah, seriously. i actually liked it, because i like sappy books with nice endings.
44. The Inner World of Farm Animals - Amy Hatkoff (5/16/09) - coffee table style book that INCLUDES PICTURES I TOOK. that alone should be enough for you to check it out.
45. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (5/17/09) - see above
46. Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson (5/20/09) - too stereotypical, too contrived, too easy of an ending. still, easy read.
47. The Rules of Survival - Nancy Werlin (5/21/09) - good book, does involve parental abuse. told as a "letter" from 17-yr-old matt to his younger sister about what life was like living with their very abusive, highly disturbed mother. moving book with what i think is a decent ending.
48. Sarah's Key - Tatiana de Rosnay (5/24/09) - during the occupation of france, nazis asked/ordered french police to round up french jews. and, you know what, they did so. 80,000 men, women and children were rounded up and only 2,000 returned from the camps. around 13,000 were held at the velodrome d'hiver, an indoor track, for eight days with only minimal food and water. they were sent to the french "detention "camp Drancy and on to Auschwitz. i can't imagine the french appreciated this fictionalized novel, as they've done a good job of politely ignoring their gendarmes complicity in the deaths of thousands of french citizens. Sarah's Key is both happy and tragic. i thought it was well-written and while it is fictionalized, the information (statistics, sites of "plaques", etc) is all true (including the monstrous mass separation of mothers from children, all of whom were immediately sent to aushwitz and gassed). it vacillates between modern time and wwii, following two stories. it's a good read, though incredibly sad.
49. Maledicte - Lane Robbins (5/26/09) - MAL is right.
50. The Friday Night Knitting Club - Kate Jacobs (5/31/09) - you could see the ending a mile away. dick lit it's not.
Best May Book: The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (which could have won worst book had it been a stand alone). Post-apocalyptic society set in the former United States. The country has been divided into 12 districts (and a mysterious, rebellious, now supposedly empty 13 district) along with a wealth capital (where people are lazy ass jerks). To remind the 12 districts who's boss and that they must continue to suffer for the previous war, each year the hunger games are held. A boy and a girl are selected from each district, dumped into a "playing field" until only one survivor remains. Katniss, 16, volunteers for the games in place of her younger sister. This is a disturbing, incredibly provocative story - I hope the remaining books in the series are as engaging.
Worst May Book: Maledicte - Lane Robbins which went on and on and on. Blinding vengeance is not my cup of tea nor is random murders and over-the-top graphic death scenes. Did I mention it just kept going? That it's part of a series makes it the worst book of the month!
37. White Witch, Black Curse - Kim Harrison (5/3/09) - continuation of series, finally tied up some loose ends, though i wasn't overly pleased with the "who dunnit" aspect.
38. The Faerie Queen's Deception - Maggie Stiefvater (5/5/09) - ya book featuring fairy-attracting harpists, overly handsome faerie assassins and teen angst. My kind of book, duh.
39. Need - Carrie Jones (5/6/09) - another ya book featuring elves and shape shifters and so on and so forth. Campy, silly book with an ending I thought utterly ridiculous and, to be honest, unfair to the alleged guilty party.
40. Bones of Faerie - Janni Lee Simner (5/8/09) - this is a close 2nd for my best book of the month. very engaging, lots of character development, intriguing book. From amazon Liza, a teenager living in what was once the Midwest, has always been taught that magic kills. When Lizas mother gives birth to a faerie baby with hair clear as glass, her father abandons the infant on a hillside to die; Lizas mother then runs away, and Liza begins to have magical visions of her own. Petrified that her powers might cause death, Liza flees into the woods with her friend Matthew, only to be attacked by deadly trees and rescued by a woman with magic.
41. When it Happens - Susanne Colasanti (5/11/09) - ya romance book. cute and fun.
42. 3 Willows - Ann Brasheres (5/13/09) - liked the traveling pants series a lot better, but this was still a fun coming of age book that includes some characters from the pants series. this follows a trio of girls who, once great friends, find themselves growing apart. follows them as they find ways to reconnect.
43. Impossible - Nancy Werlin (5/15/09) - i like werlin's books, so i was happy to read a fantasy ya book by her. this story includes curses, elves and a pregnant teenager sowing an acre of sand with one grain of corn. Yeah, seriously. i actually liked it, because i like sappy books with nice endings.
44. The Inner World of Farm Animals - Amy Hatkoff (5/16/09) - coffee table style book that INCLUDES PICTURES I TOOK. that alone should be enough for you to check it out.
45. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (5/17/09) - see above
46. Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson (5/20/09) - too stereotypical, too contrived, too easy of an ending. still, easy read.
47. The Rules of Survival - Nancy Werlin (5/21/09) - good book, does involve parental abuse. told as a "letter" from 17-yr-old matt to his younger sister about what life was like living with their very abusive, highly disturbed mother. moving book with what i think is a decent ending.
48. Sarah's Key - Tatiana de Rosnay (5/24/09) - during the occupation of france, nazis asked/ordered french police to round up french jews. and, you know what, they did so. 80,000 men, women and children were rounded up and only 2,000 returned from the camps. around 13,000 were held at the velodrome d'hiver, an indoor track, for eight days with only minimal food and water. they were sent to the french "detention "camp Drancy and on to Auschwitz. i can't imagine the french appreciated this fictionalized novel, as they've done a good job of politely ignoring their gendarmes complicity in the deaths of thousands of french citizens. Sarah's Key is both happy and tragic. i thought it was well-written and while it is fictionalized, the information (statistics, sites of "plaques", etc) is all true (including the monstrous mass separation of mothers from children, all of whom were immediately sent to aushwitz and gassed). it vacillates between modern time and wwii, following two stories. it's a good read, though incredibly sad.
49. Maledicte - Lane Robbins (5/26/09) - MAL is right.
50. The Friday Night Knitting Club - Kate Jacobs (5/31/09) - you could see the ending a mile away. dick lit it's not.