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and the marathon continues...

Shopaholic and Sister - Sophie Kinsella
This one was probably my least favorite of the Shopaholic series mostly because of how quickly Luke changes from a sweet romantic person to a jackass. Becky and Luke have finished their 10 month honeymoon and return to England where Becky finds out that she has a long-lost sister. And even worse, her sister hates to shop! It involves Becky spending lots of money, trying to cover it up, Luke getting mad at her/caught up in his work, and so on. My favorite parts of this one was some of the weird ideas the sister has to save money, like when she goes into a stationary store and collects bags full of used envelopes to reuse.

They Cage the Animals at Night - Jennings Michael Burch
This is a memoir based on Jennings' time in foster homes and orphanages. While he was growing up his mother was unable to care for him and his siblings at several times so she was forced to put him in homes. In this book he tells the stories of the neglect and abuse he received in these homes and the lessons he learned there. This memoir was horrifying at times, I couldn't believe that kids were treated this way in orphanages. It's just awful. But it made me happy that Jennings found an unlikely friend who ended up being his savior. And it made me happier that Jennings adopted a child from the foster care system.

Snail Mail No More - Paula Danziger & Ann M. Martin
The sequel to P.S. Longer Letter Later, and like the first written in a series of letters, and then emails. This continues right where the previous book left off. It follows Tara and Elizabeth's relationship through the summer and then some, with arguments, visits, tragedy, happiness and a baby. It kinda drives me crazy how quickly their relationship goes "south." One person writes some remark and the other takes it the wrong way and the next thing ya know they're having a huge argument. But I guess it just reinforces that it's difficult to tell what someone really means in writing. But still an interesting book.

Gathering Blue - Lois Lowry
The first companion book to The Giver. Like The Giver, it is set sometime in the future except that instead of progressing, the town has regressed to worse times. The people live in mud huts, bathe in the river, and don't have indoor plumbing. They fear a disease, and when people get too old or maimed they take them out to a field and leave them for dead. They fear the monsters in the forest (and yes, I was reminded of The Village when reading it). This is Kira's story, she has a gimp leg but redeems herself with her sewing ability. When her mother dies the villagers try to kill her but she is saved by a councilman. But now she must repair the Singer's robe and of course, in doing so, she uncovers secrets of the village. This book doesn't really have anything to do with The Giver, unless you want it to. They speak of other villages nearby and one of them could be the village Jonas lived in. But I liked how the two books together show contrasting future villages, how easy it is for one village to go forward while another goes back and neither village knowing what they could be.

Messenger - Lois Lowry
The final companion book, this one is really a sequel to Gathering Blue, except it follows Matty, who is Kira's friend. Matty is acting as messenger between the outcasts' Village and Kira's village (and other villages actually). But when the Village decides to stop accepting outcasts Matty must run to warn everyone and to get Kira to bring her to stay before the people build the wall and the forest attacks them. Yeah. This one was a little too out there for me. I understood part of it --with the people closing off their town. But really, the forest attacking them? This was my least favorite of the three. What I disliked the most was that it ruins the ending of The Giver. If you haven't read The Giver, the ending is kinda open, it's left to the reader to decide what exactly happens to Jonas. But in this book it tells you. Although Lowry denies it and says that it could be whoever you want it to be, but I don't see how that works.

Big Fish - Daniel Wallace
I've always enjoyed the movie, so when I saw this at the library I decided to read it. It ended up being pretty interesting. The stories are really good, and I remembered a lot of them from the movie. I liked how the book is actually made up of many stories, each chapter being a story; it reminds me of a father telling his kids a different story every night.

Finding Manana - Mirta Ojito
This is a memoir of a Cuban family waiting to flee Cuba and Castro to the United States. It has a first-hand account of the Mariel boatlift in 1980. I guess I thought this book would be more than what it was. I was hoping for a book about a family fleeing Cuba and then adapting to life in the United States, something to give me a better perspective of how it is to be an immigrant. But almost the entire book took place in Cuba, about the family's life there and how controlled it was and how everyone viewed them as outcasts. It was an okay book, the information was interesting it just wasn't what I expected it to be.

Shopaholic and Baby - Sophie Kinsella
The last of the Shopaholic series and my 2nd favorite, after the first one, of course. Obviously, by the title Becky is now pregnant and can't stop buying things for her baby. Becky and Luke are looking to buy a house and need to buy one quickly cause they've already sold their flat. And it turns out that Becky's posh new doctor is Luke's ex-girlfriend. Funny like always. Jess is back and has plenty of cost-saving ideas for the baby, like making reusable baby wipes out of old rags. Honestly, even though Luis and I aren't planning on having kids for a while I love reading books with babies in them cause part of me is soooooo ready for little kiddies. I don't know if Kinsella has any plans to write any more Shopaholic books, I hope so for I enjoy them.

Captain's Fury - Jim Butcher
The fourth book in the Codex Alera series. Tavi, or Rufus Scipio is now Captain of his legion. Tavi has ideas of how to stop this war with the Canim, but getting his superior to listen is another story. Meanwhile Gaius Sextus is performing a final act on Kalare, in order to try and save people. Tavi also learns a secret about his past and must deal with all this new information. An excellent continuation of the previous book, although it's been a while since I read the last one so it took me a while to remember what was going on. Good book, but I hate it when the book ends with an obvious lead to another. Psh.

Veil of Roses - Laura Fitzgerald
Tamila was born in the USA but when she was young her family returned to Iran. On her 27th birthday Tamila's parents secure a visa and passport for her, she is to go to America to stay with her older sister and find a husband so she won't have to return. Tamila only has 3 months to find and marry a husband which seems to be going smoothly until she meets Ike. At the beginning of this book there was a lot of information about women living in Iran, and it was very interesting. I have no way of knowing if it is true or not, but I was still amazed at how life is for women over there. Overall the book was interesting, I've heard of many immigrants doing something similar to that, but usually there's money involved. I just liked the story and how I've heard real stories of people who have come to the US escaping their home country, and marrying to stay here.

The Sweet Far Thing - Libba Bray
The final book of the Gemma Doyle trilogy. Gemma has now bound the magic from the realms to herself and has promised all the creatures there she will form an alliance. But now she must keep her promise or start a war with the creatures. Meanwhile, in the real world Gemma and her friends are preparing to make their debuts into society. I can't explain this book without confusing you. So don't bother with my review, just go pick up the first book, A Great and Terrible Beauty and read it. It's amazing. This one was a good conclusion, some surprises but overall it was a great book.

When I Crossed No-Bob - Margaret McMullen
No-Bob is a place, not a person. This one's from my mom's library. Addy is an O'Donnell and no one likes the O'Donnell clan. But when her mother leaves her at a wedding and Mr. Frank takes her in Addy does everything to try and prove that she's a good person. But one day she's forced to make a decision whether to remain loyal to her family or do what she thinks is right. A good little story, my favorite parts were when Addy would do something naughty and it was just thrown in like it was perfectly normal. I like this one; "Before we set out, we stop by Mr. Frank's house where Mr. Tempy is still talking a mean streak. I hide red pepper in Mr. Tempy's chewing tobacco. "

That's 100 books this year.
Newberys read/ out of: 50/86

i'm bad at coming up with titles

I still have 25 books to review before I'm caught up! what have I been doing? I have no idea! Lately I have noticed my lovely addiction of buying books seems to have worsened. Once upon a time I would buy tons and tons of books and then not read them, but continue to buy more. But then I started reading so much and so fast that I read all those books and continued to only have 3 or 4 books in my "to read" pile. Or even crazier, have NO books to read and randomly pluck a book from the bookshelf to re-read (I'm dying to re-read The Three Musketeers). But lately I've noticed that I'm buying books and letting them pile up again. I'm not sure how it happened, probably a few book sales, the History Book Club deal I couldn't pass up, and well, now I've got like, 25 books on my shelf to read. And last week I bought 2 more! I'm trying real hard to not buy anymore until I read like, half of those books, but it's not working very well. And for some reason I keep checking books out from the library. I'm not a fan of having too many books lying around waiting to be read. It makes me feel bad.
So here it goes:

Igraine the Brave - Cornelia Funke
I wasn't expecting too much from this book. I loved The Thief Lord and Inkheart, but her other books just went downhill from there. I barely even finished Inkspell and I highly doubt I'll bother reading Inkdeath (the conclusion to the trilogy due out this fall). I really only read this cause my mom got a free copy. This is the story of Igraine, who wants to be a knight. Her parents and brother don't think she should be a knight, but a magician like them. But when their castle is threatened and her parents turn themselves into pigs Igraine must step up and try to save them all! It was a cute book, luckily not too long so it wasn't very boring. I liked the little illustrations throughout the book, and it was mostly entertaining. I think kids would enjoy reading it but it falls a little flat for adults.

Confessions of a Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella
Even I'm surprised that I a) read this book and b) enjoyed it. Becky Bloomwood loves to shop, and her bank account shows it. By day she works for a financial magazine and by night she's overdrawing her bank account and imagining crazy schemes to pay off her bills. Throw in some romance and you have a very funny, entertaining chick lit book. Something I don't read very often, but quite enjoyed it. If you're looking for an easy to read book that's funny, has a dreamy guy in it, and makes you feel a lot better about your own spending then this is the one. I love the little letters from her banks/bills before each chapter. And I love how easily she BSes through giving financial advice. I enjoyed this book so much that I proceeded to read the entire series.

Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
After graduating college Chris McCandless sells his possessions, jumps into his car and drives away later being found in a van in Alaska. No one really knows what possessed him to do this or what he was looking for. Krakauer tries to reconstruct McCandless' path and find some sort of motivation for the boy to undertake this journey. This book bored me to tears. I thought it would never end. It seems like the amount of information Krakauer was able to gather was NOT enough for a book and he needed to pad the pages out a little, and pad he did. I really felt nothing from this book and came away with no sympathy for this kid (not really a kid, i know). I was just bored. This book has suddenly become popular because of the movie and I hope the movie is more entertaining than the book was.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian - Sherman Alexie
Arnold Spirit is an Indian born with water on the brain, and consequently gets made fun of a lot. He knows that if he stays on the reservation forever he'll end up like everyone else there, stuck. So on the advice from a teacher, he begins to attend school outside the reservation. This book chronicles Arnold's experiences leaving the reservation, dealing with his friends, making new friends, trying to fit in and stay true to his heritage. It was interesting to say the least. I was attracted to the book, wondering how it was possible to be a part-time Indian. And overall, the story was nice and showed a lot of conflicting typical teen emotions. Teens would probably be able to relate to many of Arnold's problems without being Indians. Since the novel was set up as a diary it was populated with many of Arnold's drawings, they were pretty entertaining.

Cave of the Dark Wind - Dave Barry
This is a Neverland book, written by the author who wrote Peter and the Starcatchers. This book is about the Lost Boys, taking place while Peter is off on some adventure. The Lost Boys and 2 girls from the Mollusk tribe are in need of an adventure, after hearing a story about a cave and an annual sacrifice of goats the boys decide to go in. Unfortunately at the same time Capt. Hook and his crew go into the cave on a treasure hunt. What will happen when the two groups meet? And what is eating all the goats? A short little book, I liked that it was about the Lost Boys, leaving Peter out of an adventure. Peter is pretty cocky so it's nice to know that he misses some things. It was an interesting adventure, and I liked what they found in the cave. Although I think there were a few times inside the cave when I got confused with where they had been/where they were going/ and how they got to where they are. But oh well.

Shopaholic Takes Manhattan - Sophie Kinsella
The second book in the Shopaholic series. Becky is now debt free (supposedly) and happily dating the love of her life, Luke. When Luke's business decides to set up an office in New York, it's off to NYC for Becky and Luke. But when faced with NYC and sales and clothes, it's difficult for Becky to stay out of debt. What can I say? The story is pretty similar to the first novel, just in NYC. But I like it. It's funny and entertaining, and a very quick read. Although I did notice more and more in each book that Luke is pretty much a jerk the majority of the time. And yes, there really isn't any character growth in these books. But I don't care.

Small Favor - Jim Butcher
A Dresden Files book. I haven't read about Harry Dresden in so long! I love this series, this is the 10th book and it still hasn't gotten old, the plot lines are still unique and there's so much growth in all the novels. I can't wait for the next one! And there's billy goats in it. hahaha. so good.

Shopaholic Ties the Knot - Sophie Kinsella
Well, obviously by the title, Becky and Luke are getting married! But the problem is, her parents want the wedding in England at their house with Becky in her mother's wedding dress and Luke's mother wants to plan a posh wedding in NYC. And Becky can't seem to make up her mind what she wants but figures everything will work itself out in the end. Another amusing book with Becky getting crazier and crazier.

The Off Season - Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Sequel to Dairy Queen. School has started, DJ is playing football, dating the quarterback from the rival team and helping out on her family's dairy farm. But of course, disaster strikes. There's a revealing article in People magazine, her boyfriend doesn't want to be seen in public with her and several injuries cause people to make life changing decisions. A good sequel, this book goes into more depth than the first one slowly uncovering the Schwenk family's problems. I hope there's a sequel to this one! I feel like there's a lot more going on with DJ and her family.

Zorro Unmasked - Sandra Curtis
Yet another disappointing book. I was expecting a book about the history of how Zorro came to be, if he was based on a real person, where the stories came from and interesting things like that. There was maybe, a chapter on that stuff. The rest of the book was summaries of the books, movies, comics and TV shows of Zorro. It was boring. If I wanted to know the plot of the movies I'd watch them. There was no unmasking Zorro in this book just ruining the plot lines of movies that not everyone has seen. And the worst part about this book, as that it was written by the wife, or co-owner i guess, of the guy who owns the rights to Zorro. *sigh*

A Letter of Mary - Laurie R. King
Another book telling the story of Mary Russell who is now married to Sherlock Holmes. Mary receives a letter from a female archeologist who then comes for a visit and leaves an intricate box containing a letter believed to be written by Mary Magdalene. Soon after her visit the woman is killed. Russell and Holmes set out to find the murderer as well as translate the mysterious letter. I'm enjoying this series of books immensely. I love the mysteries and really enjoy the fact that Mary Russell is the main character. It's like a grown-up Nancy Drew book, only better.

The Willoughbys - Lois Lowry
The Willoughbys think they should be orphans, their parents don't care for them and they think their lives would be much better as orphans. As the children set a plan in place for this to happen, their parents are creating a plan of their own. One that involves leaving on a trip and selling the house while their kids are staying there. A nanny comes to stay with the children and together they have all sorts of adventures. What starts out as a Lemony Snicket kind of book ends up being a happy weird sort of book. There are several very far-fetched plots running here and they all intertwine. It was.....odd. But good.

The Giver - Lois Lowry
Won the Newbery Award in 1994. It's been a while since I read The Giver, and I wanted to read the companion books, so I decided to read all three of them. I love this book, it tells of a society in the future where everything is created equal and the same. When the children turn 12 they get assigned their jobs, Jonas is selected to become the giver and learns the secrets of the past. The message in this book is still as powerful as it was when I read it the first time.

P.S. Longer Letter Later - Paula Danziger & Ann M. Martin
Tara and Elizabeth are best friends, but when Tara's family moves to another state will their relationship be able to last? This book is written in a series of letters chronicling the events of their lives, father's losing their jobs, alcoholism, parents suddenly becoming responsible and so on. What I liked most about this book is how it was written, one author (Danziger) was Tara and Martin was Elizabeth and they wrote the entire book through letters, neither one knowing what the other was going to write, or where the story was going to go. A really cool way to write.

Newberys read/ out of: 49/86