Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie

It's the first day of freshman year and Scott Hudson decides that it is in his best interest to write a book of advice to his younger as yet unborn (hopefully brother) sibling on how to make it through freshman year.  

While I never had to deal with a lot of the experiences that are described in this book, I can appreciate the sentiment of where it's coming from.  High school, while 10 years ago, isn't that far away.  Yet.

House of Sand and Fog

I picked up this book at the same time I selected Family and Other Accidents.  I think this was the book that stopped me reading adult fiction for a while.  I selected this book because I know that a movie has been made of it, and while I haven't seen the movie, I've thought about it.  

An ex-Iranian military man dreams of owning his own place and beginning to attain a level of life similar to that which he left behind.  A woman gets wrongly evicted from her house and her house sold at auction.  What would you do to keep your dreams?  What would you do to get your dreams back?  

These are the questions that are the main focus of this book.  While I found this book a very interesting read, it is not happy by any means.  The ending, while not a surprise, was worse because I saw it coming.  Very well written and just goes to show that you don't need a book to be positive for it to be effective.  Actually, now that I think about it, most well written books aren't positive.  Why do you think that is?

Family and Other Accidents

An adult novel!  I told you I read them sometimes!  I found this while browsing at my local library.  I thought that I should give adult fiction a try and then I found this book.  It details the story of two brothers and how they deal with what life hands them.  It begins when the youngest is in high school and goes all the way through marriage, kids, marital problems, and the trials (and support) that family provides in many situations.  Not a book for people that are bothered by any mention of sex, just stating that up front.  It does provide an interesting look at what family means throughout life.

Lock and Key

Lock and Key tells the story of a girl abandoned by her mother and sent to live with her sister and brother-in-law and attend a different school (one that is a lot more expensive than her last).  Will she make friends with anyone at the new school?  Who is the boy that lives next door with his father?  Did her mother really abandon her or did her sister abandon her when she went to college?  All of these questions and more are answered in Sarah Dessen's well written novel.  Check her out!

What I'm Reading

For those of you who know me, you know that ever since I took a Young Adult literature course (and that's what the YA in the tags mean) I have been reading more and more of it.  That's not to say that there isn't good adult fiction/non-fiction out there, because I know it exists.  I have read that too, and will talk about some here.  I just find that I am drawn to YA literature more than Adult for some reason.  However, I will read almost anything that is suggested to me (with the exception of The Tommyknockers because I've tried to read that 4 times and have yet to get past page 75).  

So, feel free to suggest something for me as well.  Once you find I have this blog.  =)

Enter Three Witches

This book looks at the story of Macbeth from a different angle.  Most of the story is told from the perspective of Mary, a lady who is a ward of Lord and Lady Macbeth.  Each section begins with a quote, but the quotes are not linear to the play but rather fulfill the purpose of the author for that particular section.  There is discussion of the three witches, but often more in passing than actually seeing them.  It was interesting to see how Cooney worked the story and intertwined her own characters with those of Shakespeare.  The funny thing about this book (well, not really about the book) is that I was supposed to have read this play in college for my Shakespeare class.  I know that I passed the quiz on it and I even did my memory project from it, but I never actually read it.  This book makes me want to go back and read it (or maybe watch a movie version...).

I do like what Cooney has to say about quotes, especially of Shakespeare: "That's the joy of quotes--they're your.  Use them often and everywhere."  Interesting thought.

Inkdeath--In Process

I just started listening to "Inkdeath", the third book in the Inkheart series by Cornelia Funke.  So far it's pretty good but I've only listened to 25 minutes of an over 12 hour long audiobook.  But right now I don't want to talk about the series or the author or anything like that.  I want to talk about how when one hears an audiobook, especially a reader one hasn't heard before, one then identifies that reader with that particular book.

Case in point, last year (or was it two years ago...) I listened to "The Book Thief", another YA book, written by Marcus Zusak.  I think it was very well done and told by a great reader.  Now, "Inkdeath" just so happens (I believe, I haven't actually looked for sure) to be narrated by the same guy.  I keep thinking as I listen that it's nice to hear the voice of Death reading another book.  If you don't understand what I mean, then clearly you haven't read "The Book Thief".  Don't worry, I'll review it soon!  

Anyway, "Inkdeath" is in progress!

I Didn't Forget!

I didn't forget about this blog!  I just haven't had enough time to go through my backlog of books and put up my thoughts/recommendations.  I am hoping to get to some of that this week though.  Stay tuned!