City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

***Finished this a few days ago, finally get around to posting

What's it about?:
To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters -- never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.
As Clary uncovers more about her family's past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadow-hunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadow-hunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he's willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her new found powers to help save the Glass City -- whatever the cost?

My thoughts:

This is easyly the best book in the series so far. I am really glad that Clare has decided to make a #4 book in this series that comes out around March. COG def. answers alot of questions from the first two books and you learn alot more about most of the characters. There is alot more action in this book then City of Ashes and alot more relationship/friendship related drama.

If you didn't like the first book in this series, I def. recommend you to keep reading because this book makes it worth while.

Number of Pages: 541

Stars: 5

Books read in 2011: 4

The Wild Things by Dave Eggers

What's it about?:
Max is a rambunctious eight-year-old, living with his mother and his sister, terrorizing the neighborhood on his bicycle. But Max’s world is changing around him: His father is absent and his mother is increasingly distracted. Max's teenage sister is outgrowing him, leaving him alone in favor of her friends. Sad and angry, Max dons his wolf suit and makes terrible, ruinous mischief.

Setting off into the night, Max finds a boat and sails away to an island. Here he meets strange and giant creatures. Creatures that rage and break things. Creatures that trample and scream. These monsters do everything Max feels inside! And so, Max appoints himself their king. Here, on a magnificent adventure with the creatures, Max can be the wildest thing of all.

My Thoughts:
When I found out that someone had written a full length novel based off Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, I was very excited. Where the Wild Things are was my favorite childhood book and to this day I still love it to pieces.

However, this book was a huge disappointment. The beginning of the book was decent but then Max gets on the island and everything takes a turn for the worse. While the descriptions of the monsters were good, they have no real personalities and they are really easy to get mixed up. Then when the next three chapters were about Max fighting and talking to ROCKS, I knew I was in trouble. Max is suppose to be eight years old but honestly, I would have guessed he was three or four by his actions if I didn’t know any better.

Oh and the writing, BAD BAD BAD. I will give you an example:

"Max has never bit her before. He was scared. His mom was scared. They saw each other anew."
Do you know how to make sentences? Because I would guess not.

I just think that this book was really stupid and just all filter of the original with bad writing added to the mix. The ending was also disappointing.

If you have kids, I would definitely recommend that you just stick with reading them the original story.

Number of Pages: 288

Stars: 1

Books read in 2011: 3

Duma Key by Stephen King

What's it about?:
A terrible construction site accident takes Edgar Freemantle's right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. A marriage that produced two lovely daughters suddenly ends, and Edgar begins to wish he hadn't survived the injuries that could have killed him. He wants out. His psychologist, Dr. Kamen, suggests a "geographic cure," a new life distant from the Twin Cities and the building business Edgar grew from scratch. And Kamen suggests something else.
"Edgar, does anything make you happy?"
"I used to sketch."
"Take it up again. You need hedges...hedges against the night."
Edgar leaves Minnesota for a rented house on Duma Key, a stunningly beautiful, eerily undeveloped splinter of the Florida coast. The sun setting into the Gulf of Mexico and the tidal rattling of shells on the beach call out to him, and Edgar draws. A visit from Ilse, the daughter he dotes on, starts his movement out of solitude. He meets a kindred spirit in Wireman, a man reluctant to reveal his own wounds, and then Elizabeth Eastlake, a sick old woman whose roots are tangled deep in Duma Key. Now Edgar paints, sometimes feverishly, his exploding talent both a wonder and a weapon. Many of his paintings have a power that cannot be controlled. When Elizabeth's past unfolds and the ghosts of her childhood begin to appear, the damage of which they are capable is truly devastating. The tenacity of love, the perils of creativity, the mysteries of memory and the nature of the supernatural -- Stephen King gives us a novel as fascinating as it is gripping and terrifying.

My Thoughts:

This is Classic Stephen King. Duma Key drags you right into a beach in Florida and throws you right into Edgar's nightmarish reality. If you are a true Stephen King fan, I don't think this book will disappoint you. I'm not going to really write out a long review of this book as I don't want to give anything away but it is a very good book...in a haunting way of course.

If you've read it, please feel free to comment and let me know what you thought of it.

Number of Pages: 769

Stars: 4

Books read in 2011: 2

Sweetie by Kathryn Magendie

What's it about?:
Friendship. Courage. Hope.

For shy, stuttering Melissa, the wild mountain girl named Sweetie is a symbol of pride and strength. But to many in their Appalachian town Sweetie is an outcast, a sinister influence, or worse. This poignant and haunting story takes readers deep inside the bittersweet heart of childhood loyalties.

My Thoughts:

Most people growing up have that one friend that changes their childhood and can end up changing their whole lives even if they don't realize it at the time. For Melissa, this friend was Sweetie.

Sweetie is the first book that I have read in 2011 and a great start to hopefully a wonderful year of reading. I have not read a book this touching since Thirteen Reasons Why. If you want to relive your childhood for just a couple of days, I highly recommend this book. Sweetie is on my top 10 book list of all time. This book is beautifully written and I honestly can't praise it enough.

Number of Pages: 216

Stars: 5

Books Read in 2011: 1

2011 Book List

January 2011
Sweetie by Kathryn Magendie -5 stars!
Duma Key by Stephen King -4 stars!
The Wild Things by Dave Eggers -1 star!
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare -5 stars!

New Year for More Reading!

I hope that everyone who reads this had a great year and got all of your book goals met! My book goal was 48 books and I ended at 53 books! Even if you didn't meet your book goals in 2010, it's now a new year and I know that all of you can reach your new goals.

My book goal for 2011 is 111 books. I know it's going to be a challenging goal and it's a big jump from my 2010 goal but I really think that I can do it!

Good luck fellow Book Readers!!!

Happy New Year!

Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help

What's it about?:
Milrose Munce is still alive. Which is more than you can say for most of his friends. No, his friends died, some time ago, mostly in gruesome accidents in the school science lab. Bored Beulah, for instance, fell asleep into a vat of hydrochloric acid. Toasted Theresa caught fire - and roasted for some hours - in the chemical store room. Neither of these girls is very pleasant to look at, but Milrose is extremely fond of them. His mentor is Deeply Damaged Dave, who was carrying a vial of something combustible in his pocket, which - sad to say - combusted. Dave is a master of all things dangerous, and specializes in Milrose's favorite activity: the staging of unwise and magnificent explosions.Milrose is the only one, as far as he knows, who can see these ghosts. This causes some trouble: the teachers witness him talking to the empty air in front of him, and laughing at jokes that nobody else can hear, and slapping non-existent friends on the back. For this Milrose is sentence to receive Professional Help, a nasty business administered by the unhinged Massimo Natica in a hidden room in the school: the loathsome, perilous Den. He and his fellow captive, Arabella, soon discover that they have in fact been caught up in a vast and unspeakably evil plot, which threatens the lives and deaths of everyone they know. Luckily, they have an army of ghosts at their disposal.

My thoughts:

I admit that I had no information about this book before I started reading it besides the blurb. My mom downloaded this for my Kindle because she thought it sounded like something I would enjoy.

I will say that most of the book was very funny but the plot wasn't written well. The story seemed to be rushed and alot of details were missing. Had the author took their time to write this book and make it longer, I think I would have enjoyed it more. Then again, maybe my age had something to do with it. Although I love YA, I feel like this book was written for 10+ and that younger kids would have enjoyed it more..? Maybe, I have no idea.

Needless to say, it was a cute and fast read but not something I will be rereading again. If it's a series, I will probably not be reading the next books. I think there are other books out there that have a close enough plot and are more enjoyable.

Number of Pages: 240

Stars: 2.5

Books Read: 53 in 2010