Solitude: May 2009

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Quik reviews of my May reads

I am going to try to at least give a quick review of the books I read from now on. Bear with me! you can find my ratings of the books here

*Dancing in my Nuddy Pants & Away on a Laughing Camel are two more installments in the Georgia Nicolson series. They are still just as funny as the first ones I read. They are written journal-style and tell the story of British teen Georgia as she deals with typical kid stuff. fun reads

*Blue is for Nightmares & White is for Magic are the first two in a series that deals with a teen who, through her dreams, can see when some one in her life is in serious danger. She is also a wtich. These are pretty good books. They kept me on the edge of my seat at times. I am going to have to get the next books in this series.

*To Kill a Mockingbird is one that I have had for a long time but just now got around to reading. I think I put it off because I thought it was going to be your typical courtroom drama/John Grisham type book, which I don't like. It was much better than I thought it was going to be. The "southern speak" got on my nerves a lot.

*Burned is one that I had been wanting to read. I have heard a lot of good things about Ellen Hopkins books. This one tells the story of a a girl from a Morman home that has many skeletons in the closets. Her alcoholic father is abusive and she starts to question everything. When her father sends her to live with an aunt in Nevada she starts to descover who she is. I loved this book until the end. I absolutely hated the book ended.

*Fight Club- I watched the movie forever ago and Mark kept telling me I needed to read the book. The movie stays pretty true to the book except right at the end. As for the book itself, I am not a fan of his writing style. I didn't like how he abruptly jumped scene. I am also not a fan of people beating the crap out of each but I knew what I was getting myself into there.

*The Fashion Disaster that Changed my Life- I love Lauren Myracle's books. She writes to the "tween" set and really gets them. As a middle school teacher I see and hear a lot of things that she writes about in her books. The Fashion Disaster That Changed My Life is no exception. 7th grade girls want to fit in and be popular and sometimes they forget what is important. I've been there myself. I still feel bad for ditching a long time friend when I moved to the junior high building and she was still in the elementary building. Lauren's characters are so easy to relate to and real. I would recommend any of her books to the girls in my class

May Books

May

Dancing in my Nuddy-Pants~Louise Rennison

Blue is for Nightmares~Laurie Faria Stolarz

Away Laughing on a Fast Camel~Louise Rennison

To Kill a Mockingbird~ Harper Lee

White is for Magic~Laurie Faria Stolarz

Burned~Ellen Hopkins

Fight Club_Chuck Palahniuk

The Fashion Disaster that Changed my life~Lauren Myracle

so far this year- 38

April

On the Bright Side, I'm now the Girlfriend of a Sex God~Louise Rennison

Cabinet of Wonders~ Marie Rutkoski

Giver~Lois Lowry (read with my class)

Why I Let My Hair Grow Out~Maryrose Wood

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Thing~Carolyn Mackler

Boy Toy~Barry Lyga

13 Little Blue Envelopes~Maureen Johnson

Westing Game~Ellen Raskin (read with class)

North of Beautiful ~Justina Chen Headley

Knocked Out by my Nunga-Nunga~Louise Rennison

so far this year- 30

Goal for the year-100

March
Geektastic ~Edited by Holly Black & Cecil Castellucci
Oh My Goth ~ Gena Showalter
Hunted~PC & Kristen Cast
The Thirteen Treasures~Michelle Harrison (this one of the best written books I've read in a while)
Wit~a play by Margaret Edson
Angus, Thongs, & Full frontal Snogging~Louise Rennison (this book is HILARIOUS!)
Twilight Director's Notebook~ Catherine Hardwick

Books read so far this year- 20
Goal for the year-100

February
Kingdom Keepers:Disney at Dawn~ Ridley Pearson
The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl~Barry Lyga
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist~Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
Night World vl 1: Secret Vampire
Daughters of Darkness
Spellbinder ~LJ Smith
Zombie Queen on Newbury High ~ ~Amanda Ashby
Prophecy of the Sisters ~Michelle Zink

January
The Tales of Beedle the Bard~JK Rowling (Brilliant!)
Kingdom Keepers:Disney After Dark~Ridley Pearson (A must read for any Disney fan)
Fade to Blue~Sean Beaudoin (not released until Spring 09) (This one had me guessing until the end)
My Sister the Vampire:Switched~Sienna Mercer (Vampire books for the Middle school set. Really cute books)
My Sister the Vampire:Fangtastic~Sienna Mercer

Sunday, May 03, 2009

More book contests!

Here is your chance to win some books. Go here to win a copy of the Reformed Vampire Support Group

and here to win a copy of Kiss of Life, the hilarious and heart breaking follow up to Generation Dead

Saturday, May 02, 2009

April books