Outpost by Ann Aguirre

A little while back I noticed that one of the authors I follow on Facebook, Ann Aguire, was giving away books to readers who would be willing to do a review. There were a couple books on the list that I hadn't read yet, so I signed up, hoping to get one of those. I wasn't super hopeful that I'd even get a book, but I figured it would be worth my time to try. Imagine my surprise when I received an email about a week ago telling me my book was on it's way!

I watched the mail eagerly, and when the book-shaped package came, I ripped into it enthusiastically. At first I was disappointed to find this book:

The only reason I was disappointed is that I've already read that book. It's part of a three book series that I devoured a couple months ago. I was really hoping for a book I hadn't read yet. But then I opened the book to find this:

It's signed by Anne Aguirre! Okay, my disappointment was starting to dissapate. I've never had a signed book before! And then I started to think about how much I did enjoy this series and so i figured it would be fun to share it with you all. It has been a while since I wrote about anything I'm reading (besides cookbooks).

So,Outpost,is the second book in Anne Aquirre's "Razorland Series". The first book isEnclaveand is a great book. Lindsay is actually reading it right now and she really likes it too. It's about Deuce is a girl who has grown up in an underground society. She's always wanted to be a huntress and finally reaches that goal only to have her whole world turned upside down when she's banished from her society. There are monstrous creatures called "Freaks" which kind of remind me of zombies but different. I don't want to give too much of the first book's story away, but basically "Outpost" picks up after she and her companions find a new community of humans topside. 

If you liked reading Hunger Games, you'll like this series. Ann writes really well and her characters are very interesting and deep. And, unlike lots of series I've read recently, I absolutely LOVED the third and final book in the series. 

What Did You Read This Summer?

I had a pretty high pile of books from the library living on the floor next to my bed nearly all summer. I put a whole bunch on hold and then found a pile of other books I wanted to read each time I'd take the girls to switch out books or pick up a hold book. I still have quite a pile, but I still made pretty good progress on it. I think I just kinda switched new books out for old books, so the pile stayed the same height just comprised of different books.

I haven't blogged about my reading for awhile, so I thought I'd do a quick summary/review and update my Bibliophile page too.

Not in any particular order, the books I've enjoyed this summer:


 Here (On the Otherside #1) by Denise Grover Swank
I really enjoyed this book, it's been sitting on my kindle for who knows how long, and I finally got to it this summer when I found myself up at the lake and finished with the library book I'd brought. It's a young adult kind of science fiction/dystopian novel, which I have discovered that I thoroughly enjoy. I gobbled it up in only a day and was glad to see that Denise Swank is working on the sequel.

 
  The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore
The sequel to "I am Number Four" (which was also a movie) is action-packed and engaging. Another young adult science fiction/fantasy book. A great read, I enjoy this series.


 Divergent by Veronica Roth and Insurgent by Veronica Roth
This book was recommended for me somewhere because I liked the Hunger Games. Yes, another young adult dystopian novel and the main character is a girl that can fight back, so what's not to love? I totally gobbled up this book and then immediately downloaded the sequel onto my kindle to finish the story. I got to the end of that to find that it wasn't the end, there'll be one more book and boy am I looking forward to that!


  The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
This was a bit different than what I typically read, but a dear friend from college (and fellow bibliophile) recommended it, so I gave it a whirl. Her description,which was pretty accurate, was, "It's a bit difficult to define. It's part fantasy, part sci-fi, part comedy. It's perfect for English majors. Britain is still waging the Crimean War, you can clone your own dodo for a pet, and nearly all crime revolves around cheese and literature. It's hilarious!"
I enjoyed it and am wanting to read more about Thursday Next.

The 11th Hour by James Patterson
Another thrilling detective thriller featuring Alex Cross, typical James Patterson, which I enjoy for a quick, easy read, which describes the other Patterson ones I read this summer:
I, Michael Bennet by James Patterson
Private Games by James Patterson

Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell
Kay Scarpetta is on the case again and this time it includes possible bio-terrorism. This one was a pretty slow starter for Cornwell, I'm kinda wondering if she's running out of steam for good ol' Kay. It was pretty good once I slogged through the first chapter or two of introspection.

A Game of Thrones #1(A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin
Yes, I finally jumped on the bandwagon of the Game of Thrones. It was okay, I like the time-setting of the story, but I could honestly do without all the killing and adult themes. I guess I'm much more of a Ranger's Apprentice type of gal.

Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich
Funny, light, entertaining and not very realistic. A good summer read, for sure.

How about you? Read any good books this summer?

A Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

I don't remember where I first heard about Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, but I know it's been on my wishlist for quite some time. I finally got the kindle edition from our local library last week and since those check out for only 14 days, I promptly started reading it. I was entranced from the first page. The writing was excellent and the characters delightful, and when you mix that with the absolutely weird pictures included in the story, you have a novel unlike any I've ever read. I enjoyed every word of it and even stayed up late one night to finish it. It was just an excellent read and as soon as I was done I was googling Ransom Riggs (the author) to find out if a sequel was in the works. Just so you know, he's working on the next book right now. Yay! If you like books with a little bit of science fiction, action, romance and peculiar children, than this book would be right up your alley!

Little Bee (A Review)

I have no idea why I picked this book up from the Book Exchange. Maybe the cover and back appealed to me? I'm not sure, all I know is that it's been in my "to be read" pile for a few months. I finally picked it up to read the other day. I didn't really know what to expect since this is all I got from the back,

"We don't want to tell you WHAT HAPPENS in this book. It is a truly SPECIAL STORY and we don't want to spoil it. NEVERTHELESS, you need to know enough to buy it, so we will just say this:

This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice, the kind of choice we hope you never have to face. Two years later, they meet again--the story starts there..."

I have to be honest, it was not the quickest or easiest book to get into at first. It was well written, but for some reason it just didn't totally grab me right from the start. Once I did get into it however, I wanted to keep reading to find out what indeed was going to happen w/ Little Bee. The story was engaging and heart-breaking at times. There were characters that I really liked and ones I kinda hated. It's a story that is based on events that could/probably have really happened and in that sense it is kind of depressing to me. And the ending, oh the ending, I didn't like it at all, but I can see why the writer ended it that way.

So is it a good book? Yeah, I'd recommend it, you gotta read it to find out what happens, right? 

Desired (A Review)

I bought this book a while back because I've read several books by Ginger Garrett and have enjoyed them all. This one was no different. She has a talent for taking what we know (historical facts) and what could be and weaving a very plausible story that brings the characters to life. This one is written from the perspective of three women in Samson's life: his mother, his wife and Delilah. It was really interesting to me to see his story from the point of view of these women. I found this novel pretty sad but also a little bit inspiring. It was definitely well written and I enjoyed reading it. If you like historical fiction, especially those based on biblical characters, I'd recommend this one for some summer reading.

Marta's Legacy (A Review)

Have I ever mentioned how I just love a good book? ;) Since I enjoy reading so much, it's pretty common to end up talking about this or that book with my friends. A couple weeks ago our family went over to Aubrey's to join her and family for dinner. She is a phenomenal hostess and cook, as well as a great friend. We had a great time. The kids played great while us adults chatted. Aubrey and I have quite a bit in common, one of which being that we both enjoy books by Francine Rivers. I've read quite a few of her books, but not all of them, so when Aubrey raved about a couple of her newer books, I figured I'd have to check them out. Well, when Aubrey went ahead and just loaned me her copies, I took them home antsy to read them.

"Her Mother's Hope" and "Her Daughter's Dream" are a two book saga of "Marta's Legacy." They tell the story of Marta's life and how her choices and experiences affect not only her but the three generations of daughters that follow her. The books are long, around 500 pages each, because they tell the stories of Marta, her daughter Hildemara, granddaughter Carolyn and great-granddaughter Dawn. Together the books span from a time slightly before WWII all the way to 9/11 and the war in Iraq. But even though they are long, I read them in a matter of days. Once introduced to Marta and her family, I wanted to see what happened to each of them as they worked through relationship and generational differences. I loved that they explored both the failures and successes of each woman and how that affected their lives individually and together. These books explore the ideas of love, forgiveness, sacrifice. and duty. They were both excellent books and I'm glad that Aubrey suggested I read them. I highly recommend them! :)


 

Her Nowhere -- A review

A long while ago I stumbled across a blog that I immediately decided to follow. I'm sure you are like me and can't remember how you found this or that blog, but you are glad because the author is so real and engaging. That is exactly what I thought of "Transparent Mama" by Brigetta and I thought it was funny how I'd just happened to stumble across this blog written by a gal also in Montana! I enjoyed her well written and thoughtful posts and could relate to so many of them as a Mom, woman, etc. I vaguely remember her posting something a while back about writing a novel, but sometimes exact stuff from all the blogs I read get lost in all the info from the blogs I read. So, when she posted just last week about her novel being published, I almost immediately downloaded it to my Kindle. I'm always on the lookout for a new book or author and I just felt like it had to be good.

Her Nowhere  by Brigetta Schwaiger is seriously one of the best books I've read this year. I was immediately drawn into Anna's life and her story. I read it in not quite two days. I cried and laughed and couldn't put it down until I had found out how Anna's story would end. It's beautifully written and I absolutely loved all the descriptive and imagery filled language. I highly recommend it!

And, I guess that today (Saturday 5/12/12) it's FREE in its Kindle edition, so you should totally take advantage of that and get this book TODAY! And hey, if you're reading this post on Sunday or Monday, it's totally worth paying for too, so you should still check it out. That picture of the cover at the bottom of this post will take you directly to Amazon. Oh yeah, and you should go check out Brigetta's blog too, it's pretty cool.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

I've had this book on my list of books I've wanted to read for quite some time now. I tried to get my book club to read it but didn't have enough takers, so I put it on hold in digital form at my local library and figured I'd read it whenever I came across it. Well, as these things happen, I ended up with two hard copy and 2 digital books all on hold ready within the same two week period. I was a reading fool for those two weeks and managed to get three of the four read before I had to return them. (They were all 2 week loaners). It helped that all three were excellent books. The other two were "The Best of Me" by Nicholas Sparks  and "The Christmas Wedding" by James Patterson. Both were typical to those writers, but were enjoyable to read.

This one, on the other hand, was one of the best books I've ever read. Seriously. "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Ford is one of those books that stays with you even after you put it down. The story flips back and forth between present time and the 1940's and focuses on Henry Lee, an American of Chinese decent.  Henry is a preteen living in Seattle at the height of the war in the 1940's who ends up befriending a Japanese girl named Keiko, despite his family's prejudices against the Japanese. Present day Henry Lee is a widower trying to reconcile his feelings about the past, his wife's death and his son.

Henry is a very likable character and I really enjoyed reading about the history of the 1940's in the Seattle area. This novel speaks of hope, love, patriotism and prejudice. I think it is a must-read, a definite 5 star.

Sarah's Key

Now, I'm not typically one to "jump on the bandwagon" so to speak when it comes to books and "what's hot". It took me a long time to even want to read some of the more popular series like Harry Potter and Twilight. So, I'd seen this novel in various places but didn't know what it was about and didn't have any desire to read it really. You know how sometimes books just jump out at you? Well, this one hadn't done that to me. The only reason I read it really was because my Mom read it on a vacation recently and gave me her copy to read. Knowing that she'd finished it in one day of airplane travel did make me think it would be a pretty good read.

So, I figured it wouldn't hurt to read it. "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana De Rosnay is one of those books that stays with you even after you have turned the last page. It is beautifully written and touches on some of the most haunting of life's dilemmas. Julia is an American journalist writing a story about the roundup of Jewish families in France during the summer of 1942. Sarah is a ten-year-old girl taken with her parents during the roundup. Julia uncovers a devastating link between her family and Sarah's which pushes her to deal with difficulties in her own life. 

I've always found the stories about what happened in Europe during Hilter's reign both fascinating and frightening. And although the characters in this novel are fictional, the roundup of Jewish families in Paris in 1942 truly happened, which makes the novel that much more impressive. I think it's important to remember things like the Vel' d'Hiv roundup so that we can not repeat the gross mistakes of our past.

This novel isn't lighthearted and fun, but it is eye-opening and insightful and definitely well worth reading. 

Schema

I've been spending a lot of time down at the girls' school lately. Suddenly it seems like there is a ton of opportunity to volunteer down there, and I'm loving it. Yesterday I went in to help the 2nd graders in Kera's class with a special project. I ended up spending most of the afternoon there and I actually enjoyed it. I don't really enjoy sitting in little kid chairs for that long, but I am a bit taller than most of them. And tomorrow I'm scheduled to go in to Lindsay's class in the morning for book club and then will stay after to help her teacher with a few things. I've told the girls' teachers from the beginning of the year that I have time during the day to help out and I'm grateful that they have actually called me on it. Volunteering in the school is one of the most enjoyable parts of my "job". I love being around my girls in their "territory" and getting to know the other kids and teachers a little bit.

I've done a wide variety of things while volunteering in the school, but I can honestly say I've never been given homework until this year. And I'm not talking about cutting out a special project supplies kind of homework. I'm talking about reading and doing an assignment. Like, actual homework! Let me explain. I volunteered to help out with "Book Club" in Lindsay's 4th grade class, and it's really cool! Basically, the class is divided into five groups and each group is led by an adult (four parents and the teacher). Each group is reading a different book(s) with the same main idea.

This book club the main subject is prejudice. Our book is "Steal Away to Freedom" by Jennifer Armstrong. It's a challenging book for the kids just because it switches between "present time" and "past/remembering" and some of the vocabulary is old fashioned and/or regional dialect. I'm enjoying the story quite a bit.

We split up the book into 5 sections and each time we meet as a group, we talk about the section we just read and share our "assignment." With each section of the book the kids (and group leader) get a different assignment. The assignments mainly assist in discussing the book, they are: discussion director (asks questions to encourage discussion and deeper thinking), summarizer (summarizes that section), word wizard (looks for important/special words) , connector (writes about schema for that section), illustrator (draws a picture of significance from that section), and highlighter (picks a couple passages to read a loud to group that are interesting, etc).

I think one of my favorite parts of being involved in this book club is that it's forced me to take time to read aloud with Lindsay. She's in my group and the first week she had a really hard time getting into the book, so I started to read some of it aloud to her. Now we make it a bit of a habit to read the section together, taking turns reading chapters aloud. She's such a good reader that I haven't actually read aloud to her for a long time and it's really nice to cuddle up with her on the couch/bed and read aloud for an hour. Then we talk a little about our job for that week and what we think we'll do for it.

So basically I'll have to do each job once, as will the kids. I think its a great way to explore the book and get the kids to do more than just talk about "what happened." Most of the assignments seemed pretty self-explanatory to me, though not necessarily easy. Most recently I got the job of "Connector", otherwise known as "schema". I like this definition of schema:

an underlying organizational pattern or structure;conceptual framework: A schema provides the basis by which someone relates to the events he or she experiences.

My "job description" was like this: Your job is to write about the schema you have for the story (the connections you make). It can be text-to-self, text-to-text (book or movie) or text-to-world. Be sure to tell which kinds of connections you made. Include what happened in the book and how that relates to your connection. Try to make at least 2 connections.


Lindsay was sort of teasing me about having one of the "hard" jobs, and I can see that it might be difficult for the kids just because it forces you to actually think about what you're reading. Honestly, I didn't think it would be difficult because I did a lot of that type of thinking/relating to books in college (being an English major and all). But  then I remembered, I'd be sharing this with 4th graders, so any examples need to be relate-able to them. Suddenly it didn't seem so easy. I had all these ideas and then figured they weren't really fourth-grade appropriate. So I had to dig a bit. I did manage to come up with a couple...

1. Susannah smells hay and oats on her tour of the barn with Byron and it reminds her so much of home, she almost cries. There is a smell, most often in hospitals or veterinary offices, that brings up a memory of when my childhood dog got hit by a car and we had to take him to the vet. (text-to-self)

2. Neither Susannah or Bethlehem felt free, even though Susannah was legally free. in "The Help", the two main characters share a similar feeling of being trapped by skin color but also because they are women, although they are both legally free. (text-to-text).

I hope that the kids can relate to those ones, especially since they get to grade me! After each person shares their "job" the others can give input on whether they think that person did a good job or not. A little intimidating knowing a bunch of 9 and 10 year olds are "grading" me! :)

In all, I'm really enjoying this book club and getting more involved in Lindsay's class. I figure she'll soon enough be an age where the last place she'll want me is in her class/school, so I'm gonna milk it for as long as I can!

Do you volunteer in your kids' school? What's your favorite task?

Jack Jones and Pirate Curse

The following is a book review done by my 9 year old, Lindsay. I asked her if she'd ever like to do a book review blog entry. She said yes and decided to start with this book. I'm not going to edit it in any way, so what follows is her own thoughts and typing, pecked out using her pointer fingers. :)


THIS IS A GOOD BOOK. I suggest this book to read. It is exiting, captivating, breathtaking, and just a really good book. My favorite part is when Jack, the boy that has the curse, gets magically transported to a desert island. The reason he has the curse is, a LONG time ago, like, a thousand years ago, jack's great-great-many-times-great-grandfather and 3 other pirates and a crew steal treasure and split it with the crew. The first pirate was, Hellfire drake,Tortuga Anna, and Captain Kelso.  The crew buried their fair share of the treasure. Surprisingly, a raid of american soldiers attack the pirates.It took a ton of soldiers to capture the three pirates.while they were fighting, jack's grandfather dug up the treasures, stole them and rowed away in a rowboat. Now, there's angry dead pirates chasing him for the rest of his days. but, there is a secret to it all. can jack stop the curse? this book is 166 pages. if you read this book i hope you like it.

The Giver

I have a love hate relationship with stories that don't have the "traditional happy ending". The literary part of my mind/heart loves a good twist or cliffhanger because they have the ability to make the piece that much more memorable/strong. But there is a part of me (maybe it's the mom/wife part) that will finish a book and go "Huh?" when it doesn't go the way I thought it would or doesn't completely resolve things in the end.

I recently picked up a classic at the library, "The Giver" by Lois Lowry, based solely on the fact that a friend said it was good. It's another children's book, but I didn't remember reading it as a kid, so I figured I'd read it. You know by now that I really enjoy a good kids/young adult book once in a while. It was short, I read it in a few hours over a period of two days. And I'll agree, it was a well written book. I immediately liked the characters and was drawn into the story. But, as I read and got closer and closer to the end, I started to wonder how it would resolve. It seemed like the main "stuff" was happening awfully closer to the last pages of the book. I read hungrily because I wanted to see what happened to the main character, (and because it was near time to fix dinner.)

And then I ran out of pages.

"Huh?" I probably said and looked to see if there was some missing or if there was mention of a sequel.

Nope. It was just over.

"Huh?" I tossed the book to the table and got up to make dinner, completely and utterly disappointed and unfulfilled.

I felt like the ending just left everything hanging--I got no resolve from it. Yes, the story is great and even the ideas and concerns that it brings up, but that's really all it did for me. I'm not sure if I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to read it, or if I should've taken more time to read the ending, but it just didn't do anything for me.

Oh well, onto the next book. I've got a nonfiction in the works, then a book I'm reading with a small group in Lindsay's 4th grade class for their book clubs (that will be fun! i read the book and do the assignment w/ the kiddos and go in once a week for 6 weeks.) and then a classic that I need to reread before the movie version of it hits the big screens. Hopefully I'll enjoy these ones more!

Have you read "The Giver" by Lois Lowry? Do you have any guesses as to the classic I'm re-reading? Do you read kids books more/less/same as adult books?

Wolves Among Us

One of my dear friends gave me this book for my birthday way back in October. I didn't actually get around to reading it until this past month. I had a pretty big pile of library books that I was trying to get through first, so this one waited. But when I finally got around to picking it up, I had a hard time putting it down. Ginger Garrett is a wonderful author. I love how she takes historical events and makes them personal and real by creating characters that the reader latches onto. 

This one, "Wolves Among Us", is set in the 1500's in Germany. In the wake of a double murder in the village of Dinfoil, a witch-hunting Inquisitor arrives to cleanse the town. Neighbors turn against neighbors and husbands against wives. The reader follows several characters: a doubting priest, an unloved wife (who also happens to have known William Tyndale), a secretive sheriff, and of course, the charismatic Inquisitor. 

I love how this book speaks to spiritual truths without being "religiousy" and how it sheds some light (at least for me) onto how it could've been to have lived back in the sixteenth century. Let me say I am super grateful to live in the here and now! Anyways, I highly suggest this book, it was a great read!

Have you read this book? What did you think?

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

This book was such a good read! I loved that it was composed entirely of letters--so unique and a very interesting way to read the story. I loved the characters--especially Juliet Ashton (she's the main character and an author), Dawsey Adams and Elizabeth. 

What I liked the most, however, is how this story illustrates how reading and books helped the people of the island of Guernsey survive and hold onto hope while they were occupied by German soldiers. And how that love of reading and books brings Juliet to the island to make life long friends. It just all warms my heart!

I also though it was very interesting what life was like during WWII, for both those on the island and Juliet and others in London. I know this is a fiction book, but I think it sheds light on some elements of nonfiction, too. I'm sure it's not too far off the mark. 

So, Have you read this book? If so, what did you think of it? What did you love about it? What did you not like? Did anything strike a chord with you?