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

Stop Hating E-readers!

Alot of people are talking shit about E-readers (Kindles, The Nook, Sony...etc etc) saying that are are useless rubbish. But guess what? I honestly think more people are reading because of E-readers. I mean, alot of people can't read regular books because of font size and while SOME books come in large print, not every single book does. E-readers allow you to change the font, the lining and even how many words are on one page (at least the Kindle does) for every book. My mom has a Kindle aswell and she has started having eye problems, the Kindle she can see better then regular books. So the font options really help those who can't see aswell as others.

Another point, people who can't get around aswell as others. If they are disabled or even if they live MILES from nowhere much less a bookstore, this gives those people an option to easyly access MILLIONS of books from their computer or even just the device if they don't have a computer.

Or even the people that are just, well, garget crazy. People who won't touch a book because they are too caught up in everything that is technology. The E-readers might appeal to these people more then actual books themself.

Lastly, KIDS. Even though they have Leapster learners, the books they can get are very limited. And while the voice on the e-readers might not be the best, it still gives them the chance to listen to the voice WHILE following along in the book. Sure, you could do the same with a real book and an autobook but that means alot of $ for every single book.

Don't get me wrong, REGULAR books are awesome. I will always read regular until the day I die aswell as read off my Kindle. Regular books will aswell be around and who knows, maybe so will e-readers. It doesn't mean that either one has to die out. It just means they can carry on together in one world. :)

As long as people are reading, I don't care what they are reading off of. If they want to read off of a craved rock or written toilet paper? I don't give a damn because they are reading.

UR by Stephen King

What's it about?:
In his new novella, UR, King is at his unsettling best as he examines the future of the written word - for better or worse. Following a nasty break-up, lovelorn college English instructor Wesley Smith can't seem to get his ex-girlfriend's parting shot out of his head: "Why can't you just read off the computer like the rest of us?" Egged on by her question and piqued by a student's suggestion, Wesley places an order for Amazon.com's Kindle eReader. The [pink?] device that arrives in a box stamped with the smile logo -via one-day delivery that he hadn't requested - unlocks a literary world that even the most avid of book lovers could never imagine. But once the door is open, there are those things that one hopes we'll never read or live through. Firm, gripping, and deftly written by a craftsman at the top of his game, this is King at his crisp, clear, page-turning best.

Disclaimer:

Well first of all, You can only get this book on the Amazon Kindle. It is not available for Hardcover, Paperback, The Nook.....etc etc.

My Thoughts:

This is the first book that I've read on my Kindle and I think if you have a kindle, this book is perfect. Even better if you just received your Kindle and this is the first book you've read on it. It's a very fast read, I want to say it probably took me about 45-60 minutes to read. Also, King explains the Kindle very well in the first few pages of the book. Keep in mind though, this book was written when the 1st or 2nd Kindle was released. But I found it very interesting that he explained the Kindle as I just got it and I'm still in "SHINY NEW READING DEVICE. YAY YAY YAY!!!!" mode.

Anyway, this is def. not one of King's best stories but it was fun to read. I highly recommend it if you are a King fan and you have a Kindle.

Number of Pages: No idea since it's only available as an e-book and Kindle goes by % read instead of page #'s

Stars: 3.5 just because it's a light and funny. Nothing serious at all.

Books Read: 52 in 2010

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

What's it about?:
A murderer is loose in New York City ...

... and the victims are Downworlder children. Clary Fray and her fellow Shadowhunters have a strong suspicion that Valentine, Clary's father, may be behind the killings. But if he is the murderer, then what's his true motive? To make matters worse, the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, has been stolen, and the mysterious Inquisitor has arrived to investigate, with his eyes vigilantly targeted on Clary's brother, Jace.

Clary will need to face some terrifying demons and even more terrifying family decisions. No one said that the life of a Shadowhunter would be easy.

My Thoughts:

I really thought that this was a wonderful sequal to City of Bones. In City of Bones, alot of questions are unanswered. In City of Ashes, alot of the questions are finally answered and you learn alot more about the different creatures that live in the Shadowhunter world. However, there are alot of unanswered questions that I have to wait to be answered until City of Glass but that's normal in a series and it's nothing that is going to drive you TOO insane.

There is alot more drama and problems in this book aswell compared to the first book. Which made it a little more interesting. Valentine def. stepped up and got alot more evil while Clary got more confused.

But anyway, I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait to read the next book in the Mortal Instruments series!

Number of pages: 453

Stars: 5

Books Read: 51 in 2010

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

What's it about?:
Sooner or later, the dead catch up . . .

Judas Coyne was a collector. The bizarre, the uncanny, the grotesque. A cookbook for cannibals. A used hangman s noose. A snuff film. Many of these objects were gifts from the black-clad fans who made his metal band a legend and made him rich.

But not all. When his personal assistant told him there was a ghost for sale on the Internet, Jude knew he had to have it for his private collection, didn t think twice. He should have. Jude has spent a lifetime evading ghosts -- of an abusive father, of the bandmates he betrayed, of Anna, the suicidal girl he loved and abandoned. But this spirit is different. This one means to chase him to the edge of sanity.

My thoughts:

As most people know, Stephen King is one of my favorite horror authors. So when I found out that his son was also a published horror writer, I had to read this book. Joe def. has his father's creative writing style and character development skills.

Heart-Shaped Box is easily one of the most creepy books that I have ever read. This is the perfect book for everyone who is looking for a good fictional ghost story. HSB will keep you up at night reading and you'll probably have to keep a light on for a night or two. It's haunting, romantic and clever.

Number of pages: 354

Stars: 4.5

Books Read: 50 in 2010

14 (Taylor Jackson #2) by JT Ellison

What's it about?:
In the mid-1980s the Snow White Killer terrorized the streets of Nashville, Tennessee. Then suddenly the murders stopped. A letter from the killer to the police stated that his work was done.
Now four more bodies are found, marked with his fatal signature. The residents of Nashville fear a madman has returned, decades later, to finish his sick fairy tale. Homicide Lieutenant Taylor Jackson believes the killings are the work of a copycat killer who's even more terrifying. For this monster is meticulously honing his craft as he mimics famous serial murders - proving that the past is not to be forgotten.

*Spoilers*
When a 20 year old case gets reopened, Taylor finds out that her father is part of the biggest crime she has ever had to take on. To add on to that, Taylor is getting married to Profiler Bedwin. But at Taylor's wedding, she gets kidnapped by one of the criminals. Gone for three days right around Christmas, Taylor has to crack this case before all of her loved ones are killed.

My Thoughts:
This is the second book in the Taylor Jackson Series. The books in the series are fictional crime. The first book is called All the Pretty Girls which I read last year and really enjoyed. The books and the characters in the books are very likable but the writing isn't the best. This series is just meant to be a light and fast read. So if you are looking for a crime book that is enjoyable but that you can read in less the a week, def. check out this series.

Number of Pages: 402

Stars: 4

Books Read: 49 out of 48 book goal!

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

What's it about?:
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing - not even a smear of blood - to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know....

My thoughts:
I hadn't heard much about this book before reading it. I just know that people either loved it or hated it for different reasons.

I personally LOVED it. The world Clare dragged me into got me involved and kept me on the edge of my seat. As for the characters, at first they seemed to be way too perfect but sure enough, their flaws came out. Because of that, I ended up loving them. It seems like in alot of YA books that have recently came out, have one dimensional characters that are perfect and everyone loves them. So it was nice to read a book that actually has two dimensional characters and hey, they actually have enemies!

But like all books, you need to read it yourself before you have a real opinion on it. So I recommend checking it out and giving it a real chance. I personally don't think you'll be disappointed. :)

Number of Pages: 485 pages

Stars: 5

Books Read: 48 out of 48!

Quick Update

I'm sorry that this blog has been pretty boring lately. I have just been super busy and I am struggling to finish books with the holidays and everything but I promise to do more reviews as soon as possible :)

On the up side, I am getting an Amazon Kindle for Christmas so I should be able to read alot more and alot faster. More books read means more book reviewed!

NaNo Update!

Needless to say, this was not my year for NaNoWriMo at all. I just didn't have the time but I hope everyone who reads this and is doing NaNo, has done a great job. Even if you didn't get far or you won't finish this year, I respect you for even trying. Writing is a great thing and I totally support anyone who wants to do it :)

Full Dark, No Stars

If you read Stephen King books, then you know how crazy (yet wonderful) his stories and novels can be. Stephen King is wonderful for his Sci-Fi books and his horror books that take us out of our world and put us into kind of..well a "mirrored" world. However, Full Dark, No Stars contains of 4 stories that could happen everyday. All situations in this book are pretty much possible and he takes his characters and makes them react in a way that he believes they would if they were real people in these situations.

A man kills his Wife, A Woman gets attacked on a highway, A guy wants to live longer and doesn't care how and a woman finds out that she doesn't know her husband as well as she thought.

The situations in this book could be happening right now and we don't even know it. To me, that makes this book one of his creepiest. In my opinion, it also makes it one of his best. I highly recommend this book. Esp. you think you have King all figured out already.

Books Read this Year.

If you see something on the list you want reviewed, let me know. :) I will gladly do it.

Haunted By Chuck Palahniuk
The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliott
Monster, Vol. 1: Herr Dr. Tenma by Naoki Urasawa
Absolute Boyfriend Vol. 1 by Yuu Watase
IT by Stephen King
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Weirding Hauntings by Joanne Austion
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Tickle his Pickle by Sadie Allison
Uninvited by Amanda Marrone
Life as we knew it by Susan Pfeffer
Carrie by Stephen King
The Dead and The Gone by Susan Pfeffer
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
Just After Sunset by Stephen King
This World We Live in by Susan Pfeffer
The Gunslinger by Stephen King
Love Hina Vol. 1 by Ken Akamatsu
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
1984 by George Orwell
Demon Seed by Dean Koontz
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Complete Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
Blockade Billy by Stephen King
Dead until Dark by Charlaine Harris
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide and other Stories
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Blaze by Stephen King
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Rage by Stephen King
What ~the~ Dickens by Gregory Maguire
The Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks
The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
The House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
The Sallie House Haunting by Debra Pickmen
Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
Salem's Lot by Stephen King
Cujo by Stephen King
Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
14 by JT Ellison
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
UR by Stephen King
Milrose Munce and the Den of Professional Help by Douglas Anthony Cooper

What's better then Reading alone? Reading Together!

Are you interested in joining an online book club and reading with online friends? Want to read new books that you have never head of before? What about reading the books on your TBR list with other people?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, try joining my new online book club! We'd love to have you. We will be voting on our first book to read together soon :)

Link:
http://community.livejournal.com/readtogether/

Just join and then fill out the form here to be accepted:
http://community.livejournal.com/readtogether/500.html

Stephen King Book Winner!

I have decided to annouce the winner of the Stephen King book raffle sooner then planned. The winner is: Fancy Belle Designs! She will be receiving a copy of Misery by Stephen King. If the winner could please email me at sodarlin@yahoo.com. :) Thank you! And thanks everyone who entered. A new raffle will be posted soon so keep an eye out!

NaNoWriMo

Sorry I have not really been updating lately :( I just have work, school and now..NaNoWriMo! I am way behind in NaNo but I am mainly doing it just to get my novel going. If I can complete NaNo and have at least 100 extra pages for my novel to take off, great. It's just a great for motivating myself to keep working on it this month.

If you are taking place in Nano, how are you doing so far?