The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

This was a very interesting book and is a soon to be released movie.  It is about a young girl who is given to a foster home in a different country.  She adapts to her new life and learns how to read.  This is during WWII.  Eventually, tragedy strikes.  What is interesting about the book is that it is narrated by Death.  I didn't like that to start but it gets better.  This may be the last book I get in before the year ends as I am working on Drums of Autumn which is 4th in the Outlander series. 

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

This book was strange.  But when I looked up the picture for the blog post I noticed it will be coming out as a movie next year, so that's exciting.  I think it will be better as a movie.  Again, I didn't realize this is book one in a series so I will be reading more of these in the future.  So basically what happens is a boy finds himself in this place where they are locked in.  Only boys.  They are provided food and other life necessities through a box which enters wherever they are once a month or so.  They want to escape but have never found a way out.

Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner

This was a book about a friendship that falls apart in high school and years later they reunite under strange circumstances.  It was ok.  I don't have anything else to say about it.

Defending Jacob by William Landay

Ok so.  A kid gets murdered and someone is charged and it goes to trial.  It appears to be a happy ending and then BAM something else happens.  And after that....another twist.  And at the end of the book I'm left wondering who was right?  Who actually did it?  All the evidence is pointed to one person, but it still never tells the story of the murder.  Like for sure what actually happened.  So that is a loose end for me.  I'm not sure I liked the book.

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

I loved the pictures and the glossy, heavy pages, and the colors.  The story was ok.  The writing wasn't the style I like.  This is exactly what the title implies.  A girl has a box of items from her relationship with a boy and she goes through them one by one in a letter to the boy, explaining why they broke up.

The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard

A friend of mine recommended this book to me and am I glad she did!  It was fantastic!  So well written with an element of the unexpected.  This book is about a family on a ranch and one night one of the sons from the family on the ranch gets murdered.  It starts at present day when the daughter of the man who was murdered learns that the killer has been let out of prison.  It then goes back to tell the story of events leading up to the murder (which is most of the book) and returns to present day near the end of the book.  It was interesting!

Entwined with You by Sylvia Day

This is third in the Crossfire series...I thought it was only going to be a trilogy but by the end of this book there was a part that said their adventure isn't over yet.  Which I'm glad about because there was a lot to still write about by the end of the book.  It was so long since I read the second book that I was a little lost, and there are small details I couldn't remember.  But the story wasn't too bad.  Things are starting to look up for the couple and they appear to be in a stronger relationship. 

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

I didn't like this book in the least.  I found it boring, not my style but yet I had to keep going, once I've invested 60 pages of my time into it, I just don't like throwing a book to the side.  It got interesting near the end when things are looking up.  Boy that was trickery.  Just when I had hope for the characters there is a terrible twist of fate!  Anyway it was ...oh god I think last month's book club book.  Not being in the club anymore it has gotten harder to keep track of.  My next read (although I am 2/3 through another book I had on the go at the same time as this) has been recommended by a friend and she couldn't put it down so I'm hoping it will make up for this one.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

 

This book was strange.  Spoiler alert* So the girl dies pretty quickly in this book...and then she keeps re-living the day of her death over and over!  But when she knows that's happening, each day she tries to change the outcome and does something different.  I kept waiting for the end to be like she was just in a coma and would be coming out of it...but that didn't happen!  So I was pretty upset.  I wanted a happy ending.  It just seems like she dies anyway.  Which is sad.  So I didn't like that very much.

Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher

Wow, this book was incredibly written.  The story is about this girl, Hannah, who has committed suicide.  But before she did this she made a series of cassette tapes outlining the reasons why she did what she did.  And she sends the tapes to the first person on the list, who then has to forward the tapes to the next person, and so on, after listening to them.  What I love about how it's written is the story of Hannah intertwines with one person, Clay, who is on the list somewhere, and it is going through his story of getting the tapes and listening to the tapes.  So you get to read a bit of Clay, and what is happening in his present, and then a bit of Hannah, and her reasons.  It's emotional and gives you a lot to think about.  Would have been great to read in jr. / sr. high school as a teenager.  I think this book should be in school curriculum.  Will need to read more books by him!

Stolen by Lucy Christopher

This book was recommended to me through an e-mail from Chapters based on books I've bought and searched.  I really enjoyed this book.  As the cover states, it is written as a letter to her captor.  She is in an airport, getting ready to go on a vacation with her parents in Vietnam.  She waits in a coffee shop in the airport while her parents are waiting near the boarding gate.  He pays for her coffee, drugs it, and then takes her.  I love the way it is written.  It is a very interesting book, one I didn't want to put down.  I may read some other books from this author.  Oh, it is also a Young People book so it isn't too scary and nothing really bad happens as far as the kidnapping goes.  So no worries!

Perfect by Ellen Hopkins

 

I read this book because it was suggested to me in an e-mail from Chapters based on books I've bought and searched.  They thought I might like it.  And I did.  At first I thought it was a book of poems.  Although they are set up to look that way, it is an entire story of four teenagers.  All of whom encounter very different, very real problems that any teenager in school could encounter.  

The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay

Even though I no longer work in Chester I am still reading their books for their book club.  This was the one for this month.  I can't say I liked it very much, but it was still interesting.  It was way easier to get through than The Birth House so that was a plus!

This book is basically about a twelve year old girl whose mother sells her to an older lady for money, and she ends up working as a personal servant I'd say.  That old lady doesn't treat her very well and she runs away and joins a house in training to become a....can't tell you in case you want to read it!

Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Ok so I ended up finishing this book last night.  I'd say she wrapped it up pretty nicely at the end, however, it does kind of leave things open in a way that if she wanted to write another book in the series, she could.  I definitely hope these books are made into movies.  Love them.  Will have to read her other books!

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Book two in the Delirium trilogy.  It was pretty good, however, after she falls in love with a boy in the first book I was hoping for a different storyline in this book than what happened.  There is a bit of a cliff-hanger at the end of book one that made me want book two right away.  I'm a strong romantic and held out a lot of hope for something specific to happen in book two...which does eventually but it's just not quite right.  I'm in the middle of book three and am still holding out hope it will end how I'd like!  Hope these books get made into movies!

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

This is her most recent and I'm almost all caught up to having all of her books read!  Only two more to go!  I really loved this book for a few reasons.  One, most of the time when I pick to read a book it is because someone has told me I'd like it, or in this case I just follow the author reading everything they have out, eventually.  Which is what I did in this case.  That means when I pick up the book it is a complete surprise when I discover what it is about.  I don't read the back of the books or the little summaries they have to try to entice the reader.  You may or may not know that I am very interested in the Holocaust.  Well, Jodi always picks a subject and runs with it for the theme of her book and this time it was just that.  The main character is a baker who had been in an accident and doesn't like how her face looks because of it.  We find out that her grandmother was involved in the war and eventually she shares her story.  The whole novel is excellent.  It isn't gruesome.  I may have to buy it.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

 

I finished this book about a week ago and a lot has been happening in my life so I'm sad this book is no longer fresh in my mind.  I know that I loved the book and it reminded me of The Giver by Lois Lowry...which I also love.  It also reminded me of the Hunger Games.  Because it is another world filled with regulations and enforcements we don't have.  It talks about the disease and fear of getting "the disease" and symptoms of "the disease" and talks about the procedure that everyone has done when they turn 18.  You should know "the disease" is love.  And they match you up with whoever you marry, it's not by choice.  When I finished this book I realized it is part of a trilogy.  I've started Jodi's most recent book next, but I'm in line at the library for book two of this trilogy.

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult

I didn't enjoy this book of Jodi's as much as I usually enjoy her books.  The information she provides about wolfs is interesting but the storyline didn't grip me like it usually does.  I still have a few more of her books to read before I am caught up.  Hoping whatever she comes out with next I'll enjoy a lot more.

Reflected in You by Sylvia Day

I read the first so I'm obviously going to read the other two.  This one annoyed me mostly.  I had liked the first but in this one the main girl (forgot her name already) just seems too much like Ana in the 50 shades books.  She jumps to conclusions too quickly about her man and it is irritating.  I don't feel this book was very eventful.  Hopefully the last one is better.

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer

The concept of this book is unlike any other I've ever read.  It captivated me.  The book starts out as a story, and then it flips to the girl reading the story that you just read part of.  Where it gets really interesting is that it will then flip to the character that is in the story at the beginning of the book that you've read a part of.  And what it's like for him to be in that story.  And his whole world and looking up at the readers and re-living the same story over and over again.  And it just gets more interesting from there...

Overall I'd say this book is cute.  I plan to buy a copy to have, and I hardly *ever* buy books unless I really *really* like them, so that is saying something. 

Also, it's nice to note that Samantha Van Leer is Jodi Picoult's daughter.  She pitched the idea for this book to her mum and they wrote it together.

I'm really hoping there will be a sequel! 

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

This was a book club book, otherwise I don't think I would have picked it up.  I didn't really enjoy the book.  I wasn't in the mood for a romance, not that there was a great romance in the book either.  It has a bunch of biblical references and I didn't really like that about it.  I have nothing nice to say. 

One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf

I enjoyed this book, it was a quick read.  I really liked that most of the book is focused on the single day of the 'event' with the exception of people going back and explaining memories of the past.  I don't think I've read a book like this before.  It keeps you on your toes and with short chapters going from one character to the next, it keeps the attention of the reader.  I was satisfied with the ending. 

Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult

I think I dislike this book the most from Jodi.  It's written entirely different, all over the place, and from five character's perspectives.  You read part of the end in the beginning, parts go back in the past and some of it is in the present.  I didn't like how much repeating there was; one part could be told a few times, each by a different person.  Not all right in a row.  But I just didn't enjoy this book.

Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner

I didn't really enjoy this book one way or another.  It was just a story to read.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Ok this is the second book Gillian Flynn wrote (reading them in backwards order) and oh my god is it ever fantastic.  I still liked Gone Girl better, but this is almost as good.  Gillian is officially on my list of top favorite authors.

So this book is about This little girl (7 at the time) whose family gets murdered.  The mom and her two older sisters.  She manages to escape, hide and when she makes it back to the house finds out almost her whole family is dead.  Her dad was always a deadbeat, in and out of the picture, and the murders are pinned on her brother.  Twenty-five years after the murders she meets this group who get her to start thinking that maybe her brother is innocent.  She's put away any memories from that night and slowly starts to piece things together.  She digs through the past, looking for answers, getting in touch with people who may know something....and I love this book!  Although I must say that some parts of the book made my stomach queasy.  The murders were violent and there is a scene involving animals that I didn't enjoy reading.  Anyway, will have to read her debut novel somehow (our library doesn't have a copy).

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

I didn't really enjoy this book very much.  Glad it was short.  Picked it out from a site online, was expecting something different--more involved in the Holocaust. 

Night by Elie Wiesel

I'd read this book in jr. high school and I'd completely forgotten what it was like.  It wasn't as graphic as some of the other things I've read about the holocaust.  I'm sure he witnessed many more terrible things than he included in this.  This is a survivor's true account.  What sticks out for me now, is the hours and hours of running.  Having no food or water, being treated so poorly, and being expected to run vast distances.  The holocaust fascinates me.  That something like this happened.  It is horrific.  Death marches.  Anyway, it is short and a quick read if you're interested in this history.

Looking for Alaska by John Green

I've grown tired of writing a bit underneath these pictures.  The point of the blog for me is just to keep track of what I've read.  I will say this, I've read all but one of John Green's books, and I love him.  I can't say any of my comments without spoiling, so just read this one.  He writes young adult fiction, and always makes me chuckle.  It is a great book.

Bared to You by Sylvia Day

The entire time I was reading this I kept thinking I was re-reading 50 Shades of Grey.  A lot of similarities.  Minus the BDSM.  Also, this one has a bit more storyline to it than the first book in the Shade series. 

City of Thieves by David Benioff

This was a great book.  It's during the war, and these two young men are asked to find a dozen eggs for the Colonel as his daughter is getting married and he needs them to be able to bake a wedding cake.  So the tale is of their adventure in trying to survive, locate a dozen eggs, and then try to get them back to the Colonel...they have one week to do this.  I didn't like the ending of the story but I can't tell you why without giving anything away.

Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner

I finished this book last night, and although it took a while for me to get into, it wasn't too bad.  I didn't enjoy the book as much as I remember enjoying "Good In Bed".  I was hoping for funnier.  So this woman from New York moves to this crappy town where she feels she doesn't fit in (in the middle of the story we find out that her husband wanted to move because one day she was out with their three kids and somebody mugs her...stroller.  Just takes the stroller.)  And one of the ladies of the town (they are all married with kids and have 'perfect' lives) gets murdered.  Then the woman gets caught up trying to solve who did it.

In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner

I read this book last month, bringing my total number of books read for 2012 to 40.  I'm pretty sure I had seen the movie a long time ago, but didn't remember that when I picked it out to read.  It was a bit disappointing because I really like reading the books first, and also, I like to picture the characters in my head.  Having seen the movie, and having Cameron Diaz on the front cover, I had to picture the stars that were cast in the movie.  I didn't enjoy the story very much.