tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-306910477689640982024-03-12T21:38:33.254-07:00Tara's 52 Book ChallengeTarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.comBlogger171125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-57384993628622546792015-02-02T11:56:00.001-08:002015-02-02T11:57:37.420-08:00The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNADfQBl3zxFP2Gy-QoJgCTYyCwx_JqThfHWJMlouJc6Rf-bezGy2jzRivngtawajiLJkVBhnbYK-RrSHHVbIOu2Ia3A4SU2hqsoPerINms4wM-mR5T2gynVnQfUH9gm-JvNhWjk_8XbI/s1600/21535767.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNADfQBl3zxFP2Gy-QoJgCTYyCwx_JqThfHWJMlouJc6Rf-bezGy2jzRivngtawajiLJkVBhnbYK-RrSHHVbIOu2Ia3A4SU2hqsoPerINms4wM-mR5T2gynVnQfUH9gm-JvNhWjk_8XbI/s1600/21535767.jpg" height="320" width="210" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 15.456000328064px;">Disclaimer: I got this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 15.456000328064px;">The Great Zoo of China doesn't have a super original plot: China figures out (well, more like stumbles upon) how to make real life dragons. So of course they create a giant, no-expense-spared them park and invite some important people to visit and check it out before it opens to the public? Sound familiar? Replace "China" with "Costa Rica" and "dragons" with "dinosaurs" and you have Jurassic Park.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 15.456000328064px;">HOWEVER, Matthew Reilly was smart enough to hit that issue head on and makes a joke about the similarities to Jurassic Park in the book. Which was pretty awesome.The Great Zoo of China may share a similar plot with Jurassic Park, but they are two very different books.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 15.456000328064px;">First, the characters. Our main protagonist is CJ Cameron, a reptile specialist who has severe facial scarring due to a crocodile incident a while back. She's a strong female character and even though she comes off as almost too conveniently perfect (she speaks fluent Mandarin which comes in pretty handy numerous times), she's likable. She comes along with her photographer brother, Hamish, who provides some much needed humor. Unfortunately, everyone else is fairly one-note and forgettable.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 15.456000328064px;">The action is great. Once everything is set up, it's pretty much non-stop until the end. I definitely didn't get bored and was having a pretty good time through the first half of the book. Then it started getting ridiculous. They lost me once CJ started having conversations with one of the dragons and jumped on his back to ride him around the park. I know, it's a book with DRAGONS, but I prefer to keep at least a little bit of realism in there.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 15.456000328064px;">But what bothered me the most? The constant trailing off sentences and italics to express something shocking. It drove me nuts. I don't need a shocking revelation to be in italics in order for it to be shocking. In fact, if ANY of the sentences that were in italics or used ellipsis were just written in normal font, they still would have came across just fine and as intended. It wasn't necessary and was distracting. I don't know if that's normal Matthew Reilly writing because I've never read any of his other books, but it came across as very amateur. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 15.456000328064px;">Overall, I did give this book 3 stars because it was fun and engaging, but it may be closer to 2 and a half stars for the issues I talked about above. I think at the core, Reilly had a really great story, but unfortunately it got muddled with some unnecessary distractions.</span></span></div>
Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-77320679970777400652013-12-17T13:45:00.004-08:002013-12-17T13:46:13.053-08:00Before I Die by Jenny Downham (CBR-V #52)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcK43PB5MLGogLNhgYfyS_WrDALkaCpIU-Mxyn7EoIAPOBOX6WqnbyEDEceUtGjumczqHc_EKpyelhCK1sqCCc1S1ZLNK9GYS0ge1T_3mJHs-hUShFYTIxg9jv5bH1ZLh3HUOAjfIJeiQ/s1600/1314332.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcK43PB5MLGogLNhgYfyS_WrDALkaCpIU-Mxyn7EoIAPOBOX6WqnbyEDEceUtGjumczqHc_EKpyelhCK1sqCCc1S1ZLNK9GYS0ge1T_3mJHs-hUShFYTIxg9jv5bH1ZLh3HUOAjfIJeiQ/s320/1314332.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #52/52</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.4px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2007</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.4px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">336</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Young Adult</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;"> Tessa is dying from leukemia and decides to make a list of things she wants to do before she dies. She enlists of one of her friends to help her and eventually brings her neighbor into the fold as she grows closer to him. Some of the things on her list are what you'd expect from a teenager - sex, fall in love, etc. But most of the things on the list were kind of weird, such as shoplifting. Who wants to shoplift before they die? </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;">I had a hard time with this book. Some parts of it were very good - such as her family dealing with her illness and now her rebellion just before she dies (she stays out all night, jumps into a freezing river, joyrides without a license in her dad's car - just to name a few). The ending was also beautifully written. Even though you know what's going to happen, it doesn't make it any less emotional. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;">However, I didn't care for Tessa that much. I completely understand her being angry and all of the different emotions she was going through while she was processing what was going on with her, but something about the character just made her hard to grasp. In fact, all of the characters could have stood to be fleshed out a little more - they were good, but not great. I think it's just more noticeable when it's the main character.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;">I also was getting a little tired of the romance crap by the end. A good chunk of the book ends up being mushy love sentiments between Tessa and her new "love of her life". Plus, all I'm thinking about is how the heck does she have the energy to have that much sex if she can barely get out of bed towards the end?? I figured he was going to kill her mid-coitus. I mean, that's great that she got to fall in love before her eventual death, but once he came into the picture the rest of the story pretty much took the back-burner.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;">Overall, this is a pretty solid 2.5 star book. Not terrible, but not that great either.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-76467797768725715082013-12-17T13:27:00.003-08:002013-12-17T13:27:59.887-08:00Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (CBR-V #51)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN5a4mDm4UGtukA2EyKjXtuIuDhK_IGUkzQBL7BzKRTWa3bLQlVfiCxEqe1WdRxEqD2P9gSP4KvOYmRYZIGZA868eiIP2HfCgeT1_SfqjxspySnm0YgLt5ckFKyHpVVRSiA2qPb8AdSGU/s1600/6148028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN5a4mDm4UGtukA2EyKjXtuIuDhK_IGUkzQBL7BzKRTWa3bLQlVfiCxEqe1WdRxEqD2P9gSP4KvOYmRYZIGZA868eiIP2HfCgeT1_SfqjxspySnm0YgLt5ckFKyHpVVRSiA2qPb8AdSGU/s320/6148028.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #51/52</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.4px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2009</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.4px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">391</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Young Adult/Dystopian</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span><span style="line-height: 31px;">This is going to be a short review because this series has been reviewed to death already and this is a re-read for me. I wanted to read it again before I saw the movie since I already forgot half of what happened since I last read it several years ago. I'm not going to re-hash the plot, because if you don't already know it you've probably been living under a rock for the past two years. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span><span style="line-height: 31px;">I was actually a little surprised at how much I forgot about this book. The middle books in trilogies tend to get forgotten the quickest, I think. Everyone remembers the beginning and end, but forgets the details on how they got from Point A to Point B. Although for a middle book, this one is actually quite strong. I know it got some flack for being a re-hash of the first book with a second Hunger Games, but I think it works for two reasons. One, they don't actually get to the arena and start the games until halfway through the book, and two, they make enough differences in the games to keep it fresh. For instance, the new Head Gamemaster (is that what he's called?) brings a new spin on things and I actually think the other Hunger Games tributes are stronger and more memorable characters in this book than the first.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span><span style="line-height: 31px;">This book lived up to a second read, although it does lose some of the thrill of reading it for the first time and not knowing what's going to happen. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="line-height: 14.4px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span><span style="line-height: 31px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-43454538475531857022013-11-17T13:23:00.001-08:002013-11-17T13:23:51.068-08:00Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (CBR-V #50)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCptxEsv27eSxFg11wmn5JqEX7TRypTTeJSc4I66fzTETX8APNKU8CrEAMIFK7LdeQD-uc6KRlW5_HkdPBc-C3ZlA1JeL8mk6T340anxqiOnW32_t4g5B2EJDRg2N29UW5rhjQZZDGz0I/s1600/1217100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCptxEsv27eSxFg11wmn5JqEX7TRypTTeJSc4I66fzTETX8APNKU8CrEAMIFK7LdeQD-uc6KRlW5_HkdPBc-C3ZlA1JeL8mk6T340anxqiOnW32_t4g5B2EJDRg2N29UW5rhjQZZDGz0I/s320/1217100.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #50/52</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2007</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">304</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Young Adult</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 31px;">Hannah is a high school student who committed suicide. Before she did it, she recorded 13 cassette tapes naming all of the people who contributed to her decision to end her life and why. If the people on the tapes don't pass them along to the next person the list, a second set of tapes will be made public. The book follows Hannah's classmate Clay and his experience listening to the tapes. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">I had really mixed feeling about this book. One one hand, I do get the point the author was trying to get across. You never know what is going on with someone else so try and treat people with a little decency and compassion. Unfortunately, decency and compassion aren't well-known traits among high-schoolers. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">On the other hand, I felt like Hannah was trying to justify her decision to commit suicide. Like it was okay because these were her reasons. But there is no justification for suicide. She tried to put all the blame on these other students when the blame should have been put on her obvious depression. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">I'm not trying to downplay how serious of an issue suicide is. It's terrible and awful for the people they leave behind. However, I didn't really feel that Hannah's high school experience was that abnormal. There were some rumors that spread about her and SHE made some bad decisions as well that ended up with consequences that she felt guilty about. Sounds like a pretty typical high school experience to me. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Basically, I wish the book had focused more on the signs of suicide she was showing (change in appearance, giving away possessions, etc.) and why no one noticed. She even talked to the guidance counselor and showed some pretty disturbing signs of extreme depression. But no one thought to get her any help? The suicide probably couldn't have been prevented even if every single person on that list behaved differently. It might have been if someone had noticed Hannah's signs and gotten her real help. That was the real tragedy here. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-85447499960883468722013-11-17T13:00:00.003-08:002013-11-17T13:00:32.945-08:00The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (CBR-V #49)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju6ER9_wIMbkNyJZZUmLoru-CYKSZHR08G3qNMhIOuF6duDUYb8BSPPWwSwYh1JmHxP9tU6B8dk7HJuHXo1ZWFTgOGtNtlZhbadLjK7NC_rhyVbceWMgHMB_tLTo-MMMDk1n-afnthLC8/s1600/6519719.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju6ER9_wIMbkNyJZZUmLoru-CYKSZHR08G3qNMhIOuF6duDUYb8BSPPWwSwYh1JmHxP9tU6B8dk7HJuHXo1ZWFTgOGtNtlZhbadLjK7NC_rhyVbceWMgHMB_tLTo-MMMDk1n-afnthLC8/s320/6519719.jpg" width="210" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #49/52</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">1925</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">177</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Classic</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">On my quest to read more classics, this one was high on the list. Mostly because it's short. It's no secret that I generally don't get into the classics very well for some reason. I usually find them extremely slow and boring. <i>The Great Gatsby</i> started out that way, but by the end I was pleasantly surprised.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">If you don't know the plot<i>, </i>the story is narrated by a man named Nick who moved into a small house on Long Island, NY. He notices that his neighbor always holds elaborate parties at his mansion next door, but is rarely seen himself. Eventually Nick and his neighbor, Jay Gatsby become friends and Nick finds out that Gatsby has been in love with his cousin Daisy for years. Daisy just moved back to the area with her husband. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">It was sometimes hard to keep all the relationships and extra-marital affairs in order, but once I got into the rhythm of the book I really did enjoy it. I'm also a sucker for tragic endings and I definitely didn't see the ending of this one coming. The writing was really beautiful as well.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">I'd recommend this as a starter to someone who, like me, finds it hard to get into classics. It's short, easy to read, and should have enough drama and twists to keep most people interested. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-50830848239015879922013-11-17T12:40:00.002-08:002013-11-17T12:41:08.113-08:00Born to Bleed by Ryan C. Thomas (CBR-V #48)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgimdiRfGMfZsALKz3OTFS7Mq6JpXFKuxiTpP-dKQRHyes4gGOLYMdGWTpTokmaudvjxnWDt7uJDrWkyZvGgHBuD4EAiHGqrP10MMYDdT5wPY3ubyyU_dQIHa-I_afMQSPGk2csz5euUJo/s1600/11163182.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgimdiRfGMfZsALKz3OTFS7Mq6JpXFKuxiTpP-dKQRHyes4gGOLYMdGWTpTokmaudvjxnWDt7uJDrWkyZvGgHBuD4EAiHGqrP10MMYDdT5wPY3ubyyU_dQIHa-I_afMQSPGk2csz5euUJo/s320/11163182.jpg" width="211" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #48/52</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2011</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">184</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Horror</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;">I loved Ryan C. Thomas' <i>The Summer I Died </i>and I had no idea there was a sequel until recently. I picked it up despite the mediocre reviews and unfortunately came to the same conclusion: disappointing. </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 31px;">This books takes place 10 years after the horrifying events in </span></span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 31px;">The Summer I Died.</i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 31px;"> ***SPOILERS FOR <i>THE SUMMER I DIED</i>*** Roger ended up surviving after watching his sister and best friend die at the hands of a maniac. ***END SPOILERS*** He's </span><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">obviously</span><span style="line-height: 31px;"> still very traumatized and barely functioning after he moved to southern California to be an artist. He's out painting at a lake one day when his co-worker at the galley he works for, Victoria, and her boyfriend mysteriously vanish. After finding their car still there with blood on the ground, Roger goes all detective to track down a suspicious SUV that was there earlier and that he thinks might be the kidnappers. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 31px;">***MORE TSID SPOILERS***I loved seeing Roger come back and how he was dealing with the events from the first book. I also thought it was interesting to fast forward to 10 years later when he's 30 years old instead of it taking place weeks or months after the first book. ****END SPOILERS***</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 31px;">Now for the bad: I wanted to like this book, but it was just no where near the caliber of the first. The relationship between Roger and Victoria was virtually non-existent. One of the best parts about TSID was the close relationship between Roger and Tooth. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 31px;">Also the whole wolf cult thing was terrible. The "bad guys" had kidnapped Victoria to sell her to a cult of cannibals. Yes, it's as bad as it sounds. It was also completely unnecessary because the cult was never really explained that well. Crazy guy in a house in the woods who tortures people in his basement = much more believable than rich people in a wolf-worshiping cult who buy people to eat them. It was just so </span><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">ridiculous</span><span style="line-height: 31px;"> that it ceased to be scary.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">The ending really made me mad because it almost ruined the first book as well. In it, Roger escapes most of the torture due to constantly winning a dice game. It almost always went in his favor and caused Tooth to lose and get most of the punishment. I liked just leaving it as extreme blind luck, but in this book it's kind of explained at the very end. I won't spoil it, but it did not make me happy.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 31px;">Apparently there is going to be a third book in this series as well. I just hope that the author took some of the critical reviews into consideration and makes it more like the <i>The Summer I Died </i>than <i>Born to Bleed.</i></span></span></span></span><br />
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<br />Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-20578206585518517142013-11-17T12:00:00.000-08:002013-11-17T12:01:24.477-08:00The Green Mile by Stephen King (CBR-V #47)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC9UDDf1YsSwNfg28Nael4cIw5q0Jm0SYyA5Mjcury_UWs5sjOrtQHjRg0wUDUi57iZ3baQZqK8Ai2lVcqw8olaLDs_pJkz0ntMN1uCzNr3WWK-ChNlU71PIJOddKJrC6H7b3VATG2A4I/s1600/8269071.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC9UDDf1YsSwNfg28Nael4cIw5q0Jm0SYyA5Mjcury_UWs5sjOrtQHjRg0wUDUi57iZ3baQZqK8Ai2lVcqw8olaLDs_pJkz0ntMN1uCzNr3WWK-ChNlU71PIJOddKJrC6H7b3VATG2A4I/s1600/8269071.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #47/52</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">1996</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">548</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Mystery</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Having read most of Stephen King's books, I'm not sure how I managed to never pick up <i>The Green Mile</i>. I've also never seen the movie (yet...working on that), so I went into this book only knowing the basic plot: It takes place on death row and there's a giant guy who may or may not have done the crime that landed him there. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Paul Edgecomb is the narrator who is in a nursing home type place writing down this story that happened when he was a prison warden in the 1930s. He saw a lot of people die while working on death row, but John Coffey stood out to him. He was brought to the prison after being convicted of raping and murdering two little twin girls (but did he actually do it?). He's a strange man - absolutely huge, but gentle and soft-spoken and seems to never stop weeping tears. Turns out, John Coffey has some special healing abilities as well. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">I really liked this book. It was originally released as a serial in several parts, so I think that's what made the pacing so good. The characters were great and I loved how King humanized the death row inmates. The wardens weren't always the good guys and the inmates weren't always the scum. I never thought I'd start liking some of these people who were imprisoned for doing awful things. Delacroix, for example. He and his pet mouse almost made you forget the fact that he was a murderer. Then King would remind you what they did just to throw you off. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">This is a great Stephen King book for people who may not be into some of his more horror or supernatural themed books. It has a touch of the supernatural, but it's mostly a character- and emotion- driven novel. </span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-60477492987341213092013-11-17T11:50:00.003-08:002013-11-17T11:53:47.373-08:00Duma Key by Stephen King (CBR-V #46)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCttNCcEaIRKniWLNF6G7aTqVL41mFq4AFtjAOjWxZjBOTCGceZrgeohez_Go2lB_-vRWHZ-Lgkgj9T9_z4fa1LqMGuUiBiHwSsaF0VSie35YipWO5f97b1hVUvaw9Mcz7tV7iPhuXx_g/s1600/472343.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCttNCcEaIRKniWLNF6G7aTqVL41mFq4AFtjAOjWxZjBOTCGceZrgeohez_Go2lB_-vRWHZ-Lgkgj9T9_z4fa1LqMGuUiBiHwSsaF0VSie35YipWO5f97b1hVUvaw9Mcz7tV7iPhuXx_g/s1600/472343.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #46/52</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2008</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">700</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Horror/Fantasy</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Another brick of a Stephen King book. Some are completely worth wading through 1000 pages (<i>The Stand</i>, <i>Under the Dome</i>...shut up, I liked that one) and some aren't (<i>Insomnia</i>, <i>The Tommyknockers</i>). <i>Duma Key</i> was pretty middle of the road. Good enough to actually finish (can't say the same for those last two I mentioned up there), but not crazy good. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Edgar decides to move to Florida after he has a bad accident at work and his wife leaves him. He made a pretty good fortune on his business, so he settles down for a nice early retirement on Duma Key. Edgar is lonely and he's still dealing with the divorce and recovering from his accident (he lost an arm and had a pretty bad head injury). He hires a young college-age kid to run his errands for him and he befriends an old lady and her caretaker down the beach. Edgar also finds out that he has a knack for painting. Then, of course, weird stuff starts happening that has to do with some traumatic stuff that happened on the island in the past. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">I liked that there were very few characters in this book. King is amazing at character development, but sometimes it seems like you need a concordance to keep up with everyone. With so few characters, you really got to know each of them. I also really liked the location. Usually King's stories are set in Maine, but I connected a little more with Florida since I lived there for a few years (and I've never been to Maine). </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">I debated between 3 and 4 stars for this book (it's probably more like 3.5), but the ending got a little bogged down and stretched out at times. This probably could have been a 500 pages book vs. a 700 page book.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-56464862855386662122013-10-25T23:34:00.000-07:002013-10-25T23:41:43.505-07:00The Dark Half by Stephen King (CBR-V #45)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu8l2HHIsp6s6O4AMHgcX0diwA6gHAOglX-L60w0EoF23gKWoT3Or8BIzuoT3b2Y1svKvSiaWQmg1SsABW4DJyaa7DxQwrr080JcB0Hn9BHTXxpu5dMa_2-iy5JXYgPPocxYYOiGvKn8I/s1600/2309543.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu8l2HHIsp6s6O4AMHgcX0diwA6gHAOglX-L60w0EoF23gKWoT3Or8BIzuoT3b2Y1svKvSiaWQmg1SsABW4DJyaa7DxQwrr080JcB0Hn9BHTXxpu5dMa_2-iy5JXYgPPocxYYOiGvKn8I/s320/2309543.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #45/52</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">1989</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">469</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Crime/Horror</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Thad is a writer who didn't have much success until he wrote a series under a pseudonym, George Stark. After his success with the George Stark books, Thad decided to "kill" Stark and try his luck once again under his own name. Then people connected to Thad start getting murdered by someone who looks and acts suspiciously like the fictional George Stark. Is Stark a real person or just a figment of Thad's imagination? </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;"><i>The Dark Half</i> is more of a crime/mystery type book than Stephen King's usual horror. He does throw in some of his trademark supernatural elements though. As usual, King is great at creating characters, but I just couldn't get into this storyline as much as most of his books. It sort of dragged on in parts and the whole thing with the sparrows was just sort of bizarre. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">There's only a handful of Stephen King books that I haven't read yet and this was one of them. I can finally check it off my list, but it definitely wasn't my favorite. </span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-52504996354787389892013-10-25T23:31:00.001-07:002013-10-25T23:31:26.214-07:00Call Me Cockroach by Leigh Byrne (CBR-V #44)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinV5YHSkwxlg5iijWwvqgnWUeuiIpgM2Va_tCDFhSDsjljVIBNWtLcF15aCos0iU_Xfg_MSQl_77BJSwVjUp63SZdHIPKN_rBJGkhhzNbhHeWC5S5NqSlMExSiK8TsANWMPHWoT7RycDM/s1600/18619212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinV5YHSkwxlg5iijWwvqgnWUeuiIpgM2Va_tCDFhSDsjljVIBNWtLcF15aCos0iU_Xfg_MSQl_77BJSwVjUp63SZdHIPKN_rBJGkhhzNbhHeWC5S5NqSlMExSiK8TsANWMPHWoT7RycDM/s320/18619212.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #44/52</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2013</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">236</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Memoir</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">This book is a follow-up of the excellent memoir, <i>Call Me Tuesday</i> by Leigh Byrne. She grew up in a very abusive home and her childhood was chronicled in her first book. The only thing I didn't like about <i>Call Me Tuesday</i> was the sort of abrupt ending. I wanted to know what happened to "Tuesday" (or Leigh)and how her childhood abuse effected her late teens and adult life. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;"><i>Call Me Cockroach</i> follows her life after she leaves her home to live with her aunt. However, Tuesday ends up back in an abusive relationship by marrying a guy she barely knows at a very young age. She's also still dealing with her mother, who seems to brush all of the past abuse behind her. Her mother also only abused Tuesday and not her brothers and she never did really get answers as to why. I was also heartbroken to learn that she has little to no relationships with any of her brothers. I can't imagine how painful it would be to have your entire family basically refuse to acknowledge what she went through as a child nor offer any explanation. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">This follow-up book is basically her struggle to understand her childhood abuse. This book stands out to me because of how self-aware Leigh is. She reflects on her past with such brutal honesty. She was a victim, but she never plays the victim. She takes full responsibility for the decisions she made as an adult. Such rawness is hard to come by.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">I hope that writing these two books was therapeutic to Leigh Byrne. She's a gifted writer and I truly commend her for rising above her past and wish her nothing but the best for the future.</span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-8734266745277263012013-10-25T23:24:00.002-07:002013-10-25T23:25:16.790-07:00Cinder by Marissa Meyer (CBR-V #43)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1RRD6x_QOXG8FXHDqSsGfB33HdSt4lQkGi67ONigkds02AAUtmcoEIghvUrGQ5XrrvuXi2vGNwaTUfC25xVrZUFVLuT4M_f0im0XqeV0J3hfE0NW7zg4TEGR0N5TKSLAfPWApPJjTZlo/s1600/12973964.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1RRD6x_QOXG8FXHDqSsGfB33HdSt4lQkGi67ONigkds02AAUtmcoEIghvUrGQ5XrrvuXi2vGNwaTUfC25xVrZUFVLuT4M_f0im0XqeV0J3hfE0NW7zg4TEGR0N5TKSLAfPWApPJjTZlo/s320/12973964.jpg" width="212" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #43/52</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2012</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">390</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Young Adult/Fantasy</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 31px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 31px;">Cinder is a cyborg - part human, part robot. She lives with her evil step-mother and two stepsisters (this is a re-imagined Cinderella after all) in New Beijing which is on the verge of a war with the Lunar people (who live on the moon). Cinder is a mechanic and she meets the prince when he asks her to fix one of his old robots. They strike up a friendship as Cinder tries both to hide and figure out who she really is. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 31px;">This story really could have went either way, but I thought it was actually pretty good. It was interesting and never got boring. The romance was never too sappy and I felt like Cinder was a strong female character on her own (i.e. didn't need a man to define her character). I also liked that she had other relationships that were focused on, such as with her dying step-sister (the nice one of the two) and her friendship with the house robot.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">However, I did think the idea of setting it in China was interesting, but it probably could have been integrated into the plot a little more. I also thought the beginning was unclear on what exactly Cinder was. I spent the first several chapters thinking she was a full on robot with no human blood at all. I'm not sure if that was intentional in order to reveal her backstory as to how she became part robot or not, but it was sort of confusing at first.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">There is a second book in this series that focuses on Little Red Riding Hood, but I believe that Cinder is also a character in it. So hopefully they continue her story since it didn't have a definite ending here. </span></span></div>
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Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-26103078607174275362013-10-25T23:03:00.001-07:002013-10-25T23:10:03.065-07:00The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (CBR-V #42)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNLuo6wAkyDXTz-2qiYcMw1W5sGWftZ39AYp0KhKH_H3D61egJ4rUmEnJjLAHWe2PuKCBxMWvBdCc9eRQGaYGx2VinDtspKG_mKacUjMINBXGQbaFpIXXEy1vC0lPjQGWsEVmG9h3NWds/s1600/8120173.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNLuo6wAkyDXTz-2qiYcMw1W5sGWftZ39AYp0KhKH_H3D61egJ4rUmEnJjLAHWe2PuKCBxMWvBdCc9eRQGaYGx2VinDtspKG_mKacUjMINBXGQbaFpIXXEy1vC0lPjQGWsEVmG9h3NWds/s320/8120173.jpg" width="208" /></span></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #42/52</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2005</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">576</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Liesel Meminger is dropped off at a foster home by her mother at the onset of World War II in Germany. Her younger brother has just died and she is now dealing with her new home and new parents. Her foster father ("Papa") is a kind man who teaches Liesel to read (she's far behind the other kids in school) after she steals her first book - The Gravedigger's Handbook. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">This book was hard to get into. First, it is narrated by Death. Which is...weird. It's hard to grasp and I mostly wondered why Death cared so much about Liesel's story. It's tragic, but I'm sure Death sees thousands of tragic stories every day. It was also sort of slow and I wasn't sure where the story was heading at all. But the writing is poetic and beautiful, so I kept going.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">By the end, I couldn't stop crying (and I'm not really one who cries during books/movies). This is definitely one of those books that you can't make a judgement about until you finish. The end packs a huge emotional punch and makes you realize just how much you actually came to care about these characters. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">I can see why this book is so highly rated. It's a beautiful story that will stay with you for a long time after you finish.</span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-71516806427917388802013-10-25T22:53:00.004-07:002013-10-25T22:53:47.351-07:00Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff (CBR-V #41)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpo0w81zLuHelTW20BsOgSGhb1KGmDLoquNSOxoKLgXN5poFCcFWJq-FKfQoy2lpQb6Hfcsn6cd4ECD-ht6c6hlQd_b9EKmvdrRv0gRelbh4yr88a5s6EeLiG3-c1WLc8-M9opulU8WsI/s1600/9729504.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpo0w81zLuHelTW20BsOgSGhb1KGmDLoquNSOxoKLgXN5poFCcFWJq-FKfQoy2lpQb6Hfcsn6cd4ECD-ht6c6hlQd_b9EKmvdrRv0gRelbh4yr88a5s6EeLiG3-c1WLc8-M9opulU8WsI/s320/9729504.jpg" width="216" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #41/52</span></span></span><br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2011</span></span></span><br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">384</span></span></span><br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Nonfiction/History</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;"> <i>Lost in Shangri-la</i> is a non-fiction account of a group of soldiers stationed in New Guinea during World War II. In the middle of the island was a flat valley that was home to thousands of native tribes that had never seen the outside world. During a scenic tour over the valley, an American plane crashed into a mountainside, killing most of the passengers. One of the survivors was a member of the WOC (Women's Army Corps) named Margaret Hastings. She, along with the two other survivors, John McCollum (who lost his twin brother in the crash) and Kenneth Decker, have to survive in the jungle amidst possibly hostile native tribes until they can be rescued. On top of everything, they are doing all of this with horrific burns and injuries from the crash. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">A huge problem is that the valley they crashed in is impossible to land a plane on. Hiking miles and miles through rough terrain isn't an option with their injuries. They end up being stranded for weeks while rescue missions are figured out. The stranded trio ends up befriending some people in a local native tribe and I found those parts to be some of the most fascinating in the book. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Although this is a very interesting story, I kind of felt like it would make a better article than book. It was fairly short, but got bogged down with boring details that seemed like filler (did we REALLY need that many mind-numbing details on the history of every aircraft that made an appearance in the story?). However, if you skim over those parts the survival story is a fascinating one that's worth reading.</span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-66451404750305337172013-09-15T17:51:00.002-07:002013-09-15T17:51:23.409-07:00Dust by Jacqueline Druga (CBR-V #40)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxs__mGGDiS7-WxI-B_FEmD8s1tbbSeSRcHfhrEKi9dM-NWhItFs3Wb4Ezij2dYTCdcB8SHHXXZ9189IBixy0a2JyDzSYGf9JufKRJsz5Ehe25WkD-oXCL9_ELjEkd9gEVRmMPg6TUoXk/s1600/3252470.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxs__mGGDiS7-WxI-B_FEmD8s1tbbSeSRcHfhrEKi9dM-NWhItFs3Wb4Ezij2dYTCdcB8SHHXXZ9189IBixy0a2JyDzSYGf9JufKRJsz5Ehe25WkD-oXCL9_ELjEkd9gEVRmMPg6TUoXk/s320/3252470.jpg" width="214" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #40/52</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2002</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">288</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Post-Apocalyptic</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;"><i>Dust</i> follows a group of people in the aftermath of a nuclear war. Jo has been preparing for this most of her life by stockpiling supplies into her basement and encouraging her friends to do the same. Still, she never actually expected it to happen. When the bombs hit, she takes her teenage son and her young nephew she is babysitting into the basement cellar. Her daughter, Matty, is at the school a few miles away. While waiting out the initial few weeks until she can safely go upstairs, Jo makes a list of her close friends and family and it becomes her goal to try and find them.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">This book was unique in that it wasn't a YA book. I can't remember the last time I read a post-apocalyptic book that wasn't teenage based. I like YA, but this was refreshing. I also thought it was unique that it followed a woman who had prepared for this scenario. Most of the book took place in her basement or within a few blocks of her home -- no traveling across the countryside or anything. The characters were great. I liked that there was a pretty wide variety of people's reactions to the bombs. Some went psychotic, some stopped talking, some pretended nothing happened, and some simply used sarcasm to make it through the day.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">One of the things I didn't like was the ambiguity of some of the characters ages. Initially, I thought Jo was in her 20s. Then she has a teenage son so she must be closer to 40, although she acts more like a 20 year old (such as leaving her children to go off with a new love interest later in the book). I'm also not sure how old her daughter Matty was. She supposedly goes to a school that has lockers (so she must be 13+ or so) but she acts more like she's 7-8 years old most of the book. I'm still confused as to why she kept drawing pictures of one guy as satan throughout the book. I kept waiting for the explanation that he did something awful to her (he found her and brought her home), but they never said anything about that.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Overall, I think it's a pretty solid book, especially if you're tired of exclusively reading YA dystopian fiction. Beware: there is a sort of cheesy love story thrown in towards the end, but it's not too bad. </span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-46829312959529859952013-09-15T17:48:00.002-07:002013-09-15T17:48:27.036-07:00Memoirs Aren't Fairytales: A Story of Addiction by Marni Mann (CBR-V #39)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggl0ZHZu4UgezAI8O_sCQlj-fXD2MOWfL23OtO5w2nyCHWUo6Ls2fFQ8ekaWmmDGmMvihks03zR_JeSpspIgYgIX893v5c1wOtKDzrVN7HlaO2HqjisaRWMOFd-3BQdF9o2LSeXlvLYx8/s1600/13267836.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggl0ZHZu4UgezAI8O_sCQlj-fXD2MOWfL23OtO5w2nyCHWUo6Ls2fFQ8ekaWmmDGmMvihks03zR_JeSpspIgYgIX893v5c1wOtKDzrVN7HlaO2HqjisaRWMOFd-3BQdF9o2LSeXlvLYx8/s320/13267836.jpg" width="209" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #39/52</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2011</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">256</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Fiction</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">First of all, this book is not an actual memoir, contrary to the title. It's the fictional account of a young girl's descent into drug addiction. Nicole was sexually assaulted her freshman year of college and decides to flee her home in Maine and make a new start in Boston with her friend Eric. They both experiment with other drugs before eventually becoming hardcore heroin addicts. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">This book is dark and ugly. If you've ever read anything by Ellen Hopkins, this book is very similar to her books (minus being written in verse form). It's just one horrible thing happening to these people after another. It's also beautifully written and you can tell the author did her homework. It was very hard to distinguish between this novel and an actual memoir. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">The characters seemed so real. The people that flow in and out of Nicole's life are just as broken as she is. There's Sunshine, the prostitute who teaches Nicole how to make some extra heroin cash and my favorite, Claire, the elderly lady who lives in the same building as Nicole and forms a peculiar friendship with her. Their relationship is so heartbreaking to watch as Nicole tries and fails again and again to get clean for Claire. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">The ending is bittersweet. Don't read this book if you're expecting a nice, wrapped up ending where everyone goes to rehab and has a happy rest of their life. There's plenty of death and heartbreak. Like the title says, memoirs aren't fairytales. </span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-42566037284769847582013-09-15T17:44:00.001-07:002013-09-15T17:44:45.298-07:00Abandon by Blake Crouch (CBR-V #38)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyd8IhQcphHV0eQJXu-bUlYlM4qRWOOo44NBPqG8sJevGEh8dhrVXBNbo_Q7cJYlcnvL3QIU92teyjGM4xxPMYbuEU21SYGqbBVjB0L08n6eoXGSYiiX_lPK3BpP1zdeo6VAGiv7DuGFw/s1600/17732929.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyd8IhQcphHV0eQJXu-bUlYlM4qRWOOo44NBPqG8sJevGEh8dhrVXBNbo_Q7cJYlcnvL3QIU92teyjGM4xxPMYbuEU21SYGqbBVjB0L08n6eoXGSYiiX_lPK3BpP1zdeo6VAGiv7DuGFw/s320/17732929.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #38/52</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2009</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">452</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Thriller</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;"> <i>Abandon</i> is a thriller that is told in two parts. Half of the book is set in the present day and follows a group of people who on an expedition to explore the old abandoned mining town called Abandon. The other half is set in the late 1800s and tells the story of how Abandon became, well, abandoned. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">I had a really hard time getting into this book. I thought the two stories meshed well together and I really liked how they paralleled each other, but I just couldn't get into the characters. I finished this book a week ago and can't recall a single character's name. I could barely keep track of who they were while I was actually reading the book. I know there was a father/daughter duo in the present-day exploration, but I thought their rocky relationship could have been fleshed out more. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">I also thought the missing gold storyline was sort of cliche -- complete with bad guys and old west saloons. It did start getting interesting towards the end (the reasoning behind the mysterious disappearance of everyone in Abandon was original and I definitely didn't see it coming), but by that point I had zero investment in the characters and didn't really care that much.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">However, I'm not one for historical fiction, so I may not be the target audience here. I don't like westerns or books set in that time period, so those sections really dragged on for me. At least the ending was decent.</span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-33446362635393959712013-09-15T17:42:00.000-07:002013-09-15T17:42:02.569-07:00Not Without My Sister by Kristina Jones, Celeste Jones, & Juliana Buhring (CBR-V #37)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtKVMgmD_Ptw9Yq3lL8NU0kQEFDaLEWMjEfaCYOi91p_FGTeeDxqFdg3gbm_ptHyu15vOpDSI_H-4ohugimW9bdR4OETWHP2iM8Bt2ZyKnK5MlWJBHhkmAkqzcZ1tnwv76VTNdO93Kego/s1600/2212752.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtKVMgmD_Ptw9Yq3lL8NU0kQEFDaLEWMjEfaCYOi91p_FGTeeDxqFdg3gbm_ptHyu15vOpDSI_H-4ohugimW9bdR4OETWHP2iM8Bt2ZyKnK5MlWJBHhkmAkqzcZ1tnwv76VTNdO93Kego/s320/2212752.jpg" width="197" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #37/52</span></span></span><br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2008</span></span></span><br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">432</span></span></span><br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Nonfiction/Memoir</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Like other people have said, the title of this book is a little misleading. The book does follow three half-sisters who grew up in the Children of God cult. However, they are in and out of each others lives and barely know each other, much less refuse to leave without each other. The first half of the book is divided into three large chunks with the background of each sister - Celeste, Kristina, and Juliana. The second half weaved the sisters' stories together and quickly changed narrators every few pages. I found the second half was really hard to keep track of everyone because their backgrounds, childhoods, and family members were very similar. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">The content of the book itself was horrifying. All three sisters were subjected to all sorts of abuse, from sexual to emotional to physical. This particular cult is notorious for it's validation of pedophilia (they believe humans of any age should be free to express their love sexually with anyone else). It's very hard to read at times what they girls went through and how they struggled to adjust to normal society after being brainwashed their entire life. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">The book gave a great overall history of the girls' lives from childhood to adulthood, but my only complaint was that the three girls all had very similar stories. I still can't tell you which things happened to which girls - they all just sort of blurred together into one single story. I'd recommend this book if you want a more personal memoir of the Children of God cult, and <i>The Nameless</i> by Natalie Sauret if you want a memoir with a more in-depth background of the cult itself.</span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-16944815784785982392013-09-15T17:38:00.000-07:002013-09-15T17:38:39.317-07:00Locked Up in La Mesa by Steve Peterson & Eldon Asp (CBR-V #36)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCCSP6KUS4_1VCMG1QiNas4GlM9vFT_hTn4gF7fUXWsYODdfHC4-OyK-HLzH5EQZSAUSuThnOo5BHGws1ln7tmmUC8u_4uGQ6kbUwAkuUymA-OwA3zjtFS_ZgoRwNhPs_criM5XPGSAl0/s1600/12147376.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCCSP6KUS4_1VCMG1QiNas4GlM9vFT_hTn4gF7fUXWsYODdfHC4-OyK-HLzH5EQZSAUSuThnOo5BHGws1ln7tmmUC8u_4uGQ6kbUwAkuUymA-OwA3zjtFS_ZgoRwNhPs_criM5XPGSAl0/s320/12147376.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #36/52</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2011</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">230</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Nonfiction/Memoir</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">In the 70's, Steve Peterson got arrested for smuggling marijuana across the Mexican border. He ended up in a notoriously bad Mexican prison for almost a year due to the large amount of pot he was smuggling. La Mesa reminded me of the South American prison in the tv show Prison Break. Inmates were sort of thrown in there and left to their own devices. Some inmates had their entire families living in there with them. A hierarchy was structured with the "leader" of the prison living in an onsite house with a jacuzzi. The inmates could buy property from him (Peterson bought a small cell with cardboard walls for a few hundred dollars) and he controlled all the buying/selling/trading that went on within the prison.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">The prison system itself was really interesting, but I felt like the author was focused more on telling a bunch of random crazy stories rather than giving us a good background on the prison or even himself. You know how you go to a party and there's that one guy who dominates the conversation with his crazy stories? It's interesting at first, but after a few stories your eyes sort of glaze over and your mind starts wandering - that's sort of what this book was like. Every chapter was a different story and nothing was really cohesive besides the fact that they all took place in this prison. It was just a collection of outlandish stories. I have no doubt that they really happened, but I would have preferred a little more background and cohesiveness overall.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Another sort of nit-picky thing was the overuse of certain words or phrases. Almost every page had a sentence that ended with "...or whatever." and it got really old after about the first chapter. The whole book was a very conversational style, but maybe a little TOO informal (like I said above, it was really like listening to a guy tell you stories at a party, complete with common oral sentence fillers). But it was a quick and easy read if you're at all interested in the Mexican prison system of the 1970s, just don't expect a thought-provoking novel.</span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-91705858241250299382013-08-26T12:49:00.001-07:002013-08-26T12:49:19.940-07:00Texts From Bennett by Mac Lethal (CBR-V #35)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnUX0n_Z9pMRFQiEqy3U9aTnESf_iI5fW3U_zAwa6XoFO41u4EzFjcMqRLqnkyE6KDXU8VZ6xTfNj6RoAfE7bT_-qg2Jh7mXSj9bXN4aiGtYhtRnM-ejhffixPyb1OvXnGisMfOnEgppA/s1600/16130089.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnUX0n_Z9pMRFQiEqy3U9aTnESf_iI5fW3U_zAwa6XoFO41u4EzFjcMqRLqnkyE6KDXU8VZ6xTfNj6RoAfE7bT_-qg2Jh7mXSj9bXN4aiGtYhtRnM-ejhffixPyb1OvXnGisMfOnEgppA/s320/16130089.jpg" width="207" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #35/52</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2013</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">320</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Humor/Nonfiction</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">**I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. It is expected to be released on September 3, 2013.**</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">I don't read a lot of humor books, but I'm a fan of Mac Lethal's Tumblr blog, <i>Texts From Bennett</i>. The blog is a series of texts between Mac and his younger cousin, Bennett. Bennett is a wanna-be gangster (he thinks he's in the Crips gang) from Kansas City. Mac is actually a legit hip-hop artist (which I had no idea about until I read the book), but doesn't play into the rapper stereotype, much to Bennett's chagrin. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">I always wondered how Mac and Bennett's relationship was formed. They seem so different, including a fairly big age gap between the two (Bennet is a teenager and Mac is 30 in the book). That's where this book excelled. I went into it expecting a bunch of short stories and jokes at Bennett's expense and actually found a great story about two very different people becoming great friends. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Bennett and Mac are cousins (their moms are sisters), but they didn't see each other much until Mac invited Bennett and his mom to temporarily live with him when they got kicked out of their house. Mac's Aunt Lillian is a super nice woman who unfortunately self-medicates with a prescription pill addiction and brings along her deadbeat boyfriend who she admits she only keeps around because he has a van. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">The story flows along well and Mac is a very good writer. It's not choppy like I'd expect a book based on text messages would be. I also liked that he didn't use Bennett and his friends as merely punchlines of a joke. Of course he describes the ridiculous, stereotypical way these kids dress (Bennett's sometimes-girlfriend Mercedes wears "gold hoops that are the size of a baby's head"), but you fall in love with these people. And I loved how the story shifts halfway through and has BENNETT actually helping out Mac with how to meet women (Bennett has a list).</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;"><i>Texts From Bennett</i> is funny, but has a lot of heart as well. It's much more than just funny texts and a must-read for fans of the blog.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;"><br /></span></span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-42160897440537103402013-08-26T12:46:00.002-07:002013-08-26T12:46:46.600-07:00The Troop by Nick Cutter (CBR-V #34)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiJhv8hxPXI75jT1uB0_rZq8rSPxH3XaxpdBeriaRxArlSFOON4QPSmT__B_RYmVrJQJaIizVIbqCZVezXkrKGVwTwQfgnQksc5PU2kVtPb2BX6GYHmGZcp7jUlA2Z3nRc_ueeNua9Bb0/s1600/17571466.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiJhv8hxPXI75jT1uB0_rZq8rSPxH3XaxpdBeriaRxArlSFOON4QPSmT__B_RYmVrJQJaIizVIbqCZVezXkrKGVwTwQfgnQksc5PU2kVtPb2BX6GYHmGZcp7jUlA2Z3nRc_ueeNua9Bb0/s320/17571466.jpg" width="212" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #34/52</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2014 (expected)</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">368</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Horror</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">**I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. It is expected to be released on January 7, 2014.**</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Scoutmaster Tim takes his troop of 14-year-old boys to a remote island in Canada so they can earn a merit badge. Unfortunately for them, the island isn't quite as remote as they thought. A sick looking man shows up at their cabin on the first evening and since Scoutmaster Tim is a doctor, he invites the man in to see if he can help. Turns out, the man has FRICKIN WORMS basically eating up his insides. As you can imagine, it all goes downhill from there. It doesn't help that one of the boys ends up being a certified sociopath. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Don't let the Boy Scouts trick you - this is a full on horror novel. There are WORMS. And lots of blood and gore. I am terrified of most worms and the idea of parasitic worms makes my skin crawl. That may be why I found this book to be so terrifying. I read a lot of horror novels and parts of this book made me ill at times. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">The writing is actually really good. I've read some pretty awfully written horror novels, so this was a breath of fresh air. The characters are well-written, although a little cliche at times (there's the nerd, the jerk, the sociopath, etc.). I was afraid the teenage boys were going to get on my nerves by the end of the novel, but the author did a good job of making them authentic without being irritating or over the top (for instance, they told a dirty joke here and there, but it wasn't overdone for the sake of trying to prove to us that they are teenage boys). Once they are fighting for their lives, the boys get downright insightful and each boy has his own way of dealing with the terror they face. That's where the writing gets really good. I loved the juxtaposition between two of the boys tearfully trying to kill a turtle because they are out of food (that scene was so awful!) and the sociopathic boy reminiscing about the animals he tortured and killed for fun as a kid. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;"><i>The Troop</i> actually reminded me a little bit of <i>The Ruins</i> by Scott Smith. If you like well-written horror, I'd highly recommend checking out this book out when it is released (and maybe reading <i>The Ruins</i> in the meantime).</span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-60669856860497826022013-08-17T17:19:00.001-07:002013-08-17T17:19:36.728-07:00Room 3 by Jonathan D. Allen (CBR-V #33)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUu_9l9Hd6cIwUMUnREaOwQARDsqTgVhaAq0Qt_7tRij_CXZddzUej14d6RPMviNhs6Rmp5k2qYuQuITl39l4J6mmY6kxkpXTQNc-8Cx8rOCrnlN1DGZEVuQLZLY5yzCoyBRQ7GvrHePw/s1600/16126356.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUu_9l9Hd6cIwUMUnREaOwQARDsqTgVhaAq0Qt_7tRij_CXZddzUej14d6RPMviNhs6Rmp5k2qYuQuITl39l4J6mmY6kxkpXTQNc-8Cx8rOCrnlN1DGZEVuQLZLY5yzCoyBRQ7GvrHePw/s320/16126356.jpg" width="226" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #33/52</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2012</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">ebook</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Scifi</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Kelli Foster is living a regular small-town life as a bartender when she gets abducted one night from the street. She is taken to a cabin in the middle of nowhere and held prisoner in a room with another girl. They are occasionally taken to the mysterious "Room 3" where they are given a drug to make them vividly hallucinate. For some reason, these hallucinations and the puzzles within are very important to the people who kidnapped Kelli. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Room 3 is written in a journal format from Kelli's point of view. She begins each entry with her current circumstances (running from someone) and then writes down things she remembers from her captivity. Eventually, the two stories intertwine with each other and we find out why Kelli is running and who her companion is. I love the format because it allows the reader to slowly piece things together. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">I also loved the characters and Jonathan D. Allen really has a skill making his characters come to life. Kelli was a fighter and she never gave up on trying to escape. She had two roommates at different times and they were both great characters as well. I actually didn't notice until after I finished the book that the author is male - his female characters are great!</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">The reason I only gave the book three stars is because of the ending. I got some hints earlier on that it may be heading into the supernatural/sci-fi direction, but I was in no way prepared for that ending. It was so out in left field that it almost soured everything I had already read. However, I think it wouldn't have been nearly as bad if I wasn't expecting a more realistic ending. The reviews I read warned towards an unexpected ending, but I still wasn't prepared for sci-fi. It reminded me a little of the TV show Lost - the ending sucked, but the journey to get there was amazing and worth re-watching (or re-reading in this case). </span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-40357263657703289462013-08-17T17:16:00.005-07:002013-08-17T17:16:46.832-07:00The Descent by Jeff Long (CBR-V #32)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinhqJnACkoJQ3FHeerfVstFgSt2tSJUi87ma09QqMimTwtjrjFbImw5kqWRxVYaxmeh-0nQhSuNXpkLyHsooIVk4ZFdLGV1PpCA9TkaSN15bxvgqFLXFdaXpGbUkLkpkLpOJjUqE7YEZA/s1600/8266609.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinhqJnACkoJQ3FHeerfVstFgSt2tSJUi87ma09QqMimTwtjrjFbImw5kqWRxVYaxmeh-0nQhSuNXpkLyHsooIVk4ZFdLGV1PpCA9TkaSN15bxvgqFLXFdaXpGbUkLkpkLpOJjUqE7YEZA/s1600/8266609.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #32/52</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">1999</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">598</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Horror</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">The Descent started off really strong with several stories that hinted of the underground horror to come. The first (and strongest in my opinion) followed a group of explorers headed by a guy named Ike who take cover in a cave from a snowstorm. Then they find a creepy-as-hell dead body with disturbing writing all over it in the cave with them. That probably should have been a sign not to further explore, but they descend through the cave anyways hoping to find a way out and they all end up slaughtered. There were a few other opening stories that introduced us to Ali, the sort-of nun (she's supposedly a Nun, but besides helping lepers in Africa, there's not really much else that would categorize her as a nun) and Elias Branch, a military officer. Basically, they find out that a bunch of mutant freaks live under the earth and have for millions of years. They're savage, but based on some of their dwellings may have been more advanced than humans at one time in history. Humans are trying to eradicate the "Haddies", as they are called. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">After that, it all pretty much went downhill. It was super disappointing after such a strong opening too. The book just continues to get more and more ridiculous as it goes on and keeps introducing more and more characters that are so under-developed that they are hard to keep track of. If it had kept the three major characters (Ali, Elias, and Ike) that it started out with, I think it would have been a much better book. The actually did enjoy the part where a group of scientists, including Ali and Ike, are sent on a several thousand mile trek through underground tunnels. Maybe the book should have focused more on that plot line instead of some of the more ridiculous ones (like maybe the Haddies-can-infiltrate-our-brains one, for instance). </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">I had planned on reading the sequel to this book, but I don't think I will now unless the reviews say it's MUCH better. I'm only giving it three stars for the awesome opening and the underground trek sections of the book.</span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-48081005826730318422013-08-17T17:14:00.001-07:002013-08-17T17:14:13.161-07:00Inside Scientology by Janet Reitman (CBR-V #31)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN8fM-VYrDyfAMKpBmK43yMu01Qc7wd7e5m8knsol8osmy8zj8AJX5IF6Hx7rK4JYdrqTb8NLQgD_Q-aBO8YY1ru-3YAghL8mpK6_kuHx8vR30Kt4iIbDz3vsLJ6TOPGMl-GOKYsn9RSc/s1600/11919607.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN8fM-VYrDyfAMKpBmK43yMu01Qc7wd7e5m8knsol8osmy8zj8AJX5IF6Hx7rK4JYdrqTb8NLQgD_Q-aBO8YY1ru-3YAghL8mpK6_kuHx8vR30Kt4iIbDz3vsLJ6TOPGMl-GOKYsn9RSc/s320/11919607.jpg" width="212" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #31/52</span></span></span><br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2011</span></span></span><br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">444</span></span></span><br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Nonfiction</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">I'm officially burned out on Scientology books. I actually bought this one before <i>Going Clear</i>, but figured since I already bought it, I might as well read it to. I figured it would be pretty redundant since <i>Going Clear</i> was so thorough, but I was surprised to find some new stuff in Janet Reitman's book.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">I'm just going to say this again: Scientology is scary. I don't really care what religion people want to believe in, but when a religion refuses to allow people to leave that's when it starts crossing the line over into cult territory (at least for me). Although Scientology constantly is refuting the claims of abuse from ex-members, I'm finding it really hard to believe it's not true with all the first-hand accounts. And those are just from the people they haven't scared or paid off to keep quiet. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">That said, the history of Scientology and it's founder, L. Ron Hubbard is pretty fascinating stuff. While <i>Going Clear</i> was a very dense book full of facts and figures, <i>Inside Scientology</i> is a more personal account. It's written more like a magazine article than a term paper (Janet Reitman is an editor for Rolling Stone). Both books were great accounts, but this is probably the more "user friendly" of the two books. The journalistic approach makes for easy reading in <i>Inside Scientology</i>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">The book did go into much more detail with several stories that were skimmed over in <i>Going Clear</i>. For instance, the tragic story of Lisa McPherson. Lisa was a scientologist who was declared "clear" by David Miscagive himself. Being "clear" is when a person is declared free of negative emotions and past trauma and a huge thing in Scientology. David Miscagive has been the head of Scientology since L. Ron Hubbard died in the 80's. Lisa had a mental breakdown very soon after being declared "clear" and it was a public relations nightmare for Scientology. In trying to cover it up and "cure" her, Lisa McPherson ended up dead. Enough witnesses have come forward since then to paint a pretty good picture of what happened. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">The overall picture of the religion was pretty much the same as any other book I've read on the subject, but this book definitely took a more journalistic approach and included stories from many ex-members. I would probably read this one before <i>Going Clear</i> and if you are still interested, read it for a more in depth look at the religion itself.</span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-10421694487124535822013-08-17T17:10:00.002-07:002013-08-17T17:10:52.834-07:00The Shift Omnibus by Hugh Howey (CBR-V #30)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFyBh9U5zJKEDBYevLi89_QnVT5OuDKakYpWKNYkuwYZhHSlh5IiYMy-pvAcsIkNKSxftWQUVE3-SE94T2-fWlRzkxFnf6mm3Vnv91-maFei81qDPADkeqJX60FStT0HEU8FgnaNataww/s1600/17306293.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFyBh9U5zJKEDBYevLi89_QnVT5OuDKakYpWKNYkuwYZhHSlh5IiYMy-pvAcsIkNKSxftWQUVE3-SE94T2-fWlRzkxFnf6mm3Vnv91-maFei81qDPADkeqJX60FStT0HEU8FgnaNataww/s320/17306293.jpg" width="199" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #30/52</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2013</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">608</span></span></span><br style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Dystopian</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Wool is one of my favorite books that I've read so far this year. Shift is a prequel of sorts to Wool that explains why people were living in underground silos with almost no knowledge about the world outside. It's hard to explain too much about it without giving too much away, but the book starts before the silos were even built. A politician with an architect background is commissioned to work on a top secret project and from there the story switches back and forth between his life before the silos and his life afterwards. Because of deep freezing technology, we can follow the same people over hundreds of years. Simply put them in deep freeze and wake them up a century later! I have to say, that is a pretty interesting way to move the story forward to the far future without having to introduce totally new characters. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">The book is actually a compilation of three novellas. They all featured Donald (the pre-silo politician), but we were also introduced to the characters of Mission and Jimmy. Mission is a messenger (he runs packages and messages from floor to floor in the silo) who was born illegally in his silo. Because he was conceived without his parents winning the birthing lottery, his mother was killed in his place once he was born. Jimmy is the guy we knew as Solo from Wool. He was a teen when his silo had an uprising and we see how he survived and why he was the only one left when Juliet found him.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">My only complaint about this book was that the explanation for what happened outside and why everyone was in the silos was a little anti-climactic. It wasn't BAD, but I guess I was just hoping for something a little more unconventional from such a great writer. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Overall, the book was great. I'm looking forward to Hugh Howey's third book in this series, Pact, that is supposed to be out later this year.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 31px;"><br /></span></span></span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30691047768964098.post-43830095216854724982013-08-17T17:06:00.000-07:002013-08-17T17:06:15.104-07:00Under the Dome by Stephen King (CBR-V #29)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmitwzc_8iDw0l7LdPIFaD_d0Xws3209kSHGKAxTq9oMcpQ0cKYr8X95e7zgULJeXkpWtacxY5EYdKnrCf7FbnmEYhIQRLh-Dq1sD1-993Ti2n662e0qoFmUnk9QCmBSiv2SIAFy7NcPM/s1600/7415714.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmitwzc_8iDw0l7LdPIFaD_d0Xws3209kSHGKAxTq9oMcpQ0cKYr8X95e7zgULJeXkpWtacxY5EYdKnrCf7FbnmEYhIQRLh-Dq1sD1-993Ti2n662e0qoFmUnk9QCmBSiv2SIAFy7NcPM/s1600/7415714.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Cannonball Read V: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 31px;">Book #29/52</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Published: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">2009</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Pages: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">1092</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 31px;">Genre: </span><span style="line-height: 31px;">Science Fiction</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">Under the Dome is a monster of a novel, clocking in at almost 1100 pages. I'm kind of a sucker for long, epic novels, so I decided to tackle this book for a second time. I read this book when it was first released in 2009 and loved it. I wanted to re-read it before I watched the TV show that just came out based on it. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">The basic premise is pretty simple: An impenetrable dome falls over the town of Chester's Mill, Maine. No one knows what it is or where it came from. The outside world is just as baffled as the people inside the dome. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">As with most of Stephen King's longer novels, there are a LOT of characters to wade through. Fortunately, you have plenty of time to sort everyone out with 1100 pages. One of the main characters is a guy named Dale Barbara, or Barbie. He's an ex-military guy who was a cook at a local restaurant. He was trying to leave town when the dome fell and trapped him inside. He was leaving town due to a pretty nasty, unfair fight with a guy named Junior over a girl. Junior is a sociopath who didn't fall far from the tree. His father, "Big Jim" Rennie is a local used car salesman who uses the dome to his advantage as he tries to take over the town. Big Jim is involved in a bunch of unethical things (with one of the town pastors, no less) while hiding behind the facade of being religious. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 30.99431800842285px;">There are tons of other characters and plot points that would take forever to go into, but I still really enjoyed this book. The second reading was a little slower due to already knowing the somewhat disappointing ending, but the interesting characters and story arcs make the journey worth it even if the ending wasn't great. </span></span>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02310039693434947728noreply@blogger.com0