Farewell!

Reading books is very important; in my opinion if a person has never read a book, then that person hasn’t lived his/her life to the fullest. When you read you get to experience what the characters experience. It is like going on an adventure, you get to picture yourself doing things that are either physically impossible or things you’ve always wanted to do but never had the chance. I love reading because I learn something new with each book that I open up, my vocabulary improves, and I get the feeling that I am the main character that the story is happening to. With these blogs what I wanted to accomplish, and I think I did due to the insight I got from comments made by others, was that I wanted to open the readers eyes to all the different types of books out there. Some people don’t read because they think they don’t like it, when in reality they probably just never read the style/genre of book that suites them. With books it’s like finding the perfect prom dress, or pair of shoes, you have to keep searching until you find the one that fits you best. So to all my fellow readers. keep reading! And to those of you who don’t like reading, don’t give up keep searching because there is a perfect type of book for you!

Thanks for reading!

 

New Releases for May!

So it is a new month, and what better way to start it than with new releases! So check out the upcoming novels:

Caleb’s Crossing

May 3, 2011

Synopsis: Forging a deep friendship with a Wampanoag chieftain’s son on the Great Harbor settlement where her minister father is working to convert the tribe, Bethia follows his subsequent ivy league education and efforts to bridge cultures among the colonial elite.

Dead Reckoning

 May 3, 2011

Synopsis: The question of power–who has it and who wants it–is always bubbling beneath the surface in Charlaine Harris’s addictive novels starring the beguiling Sookie Stackhouse. Often Sookie gets caught in the middle of someone else’s power play, and usually the alliances in Bon Temps, Louisiana, divide along human and non-human lines. So when the bar where Sookie works gets bombed, everyone suspects that responsibility lies with someone who is not ok with the fact that the owner, Sam Merlotte, is a shifter. Meanwhile, Sookie’s love interest, the vampire Eric Northman, is plotting his own insurrection, against his master. Needless to say, things quickly get messy–but Harris’s legions of fans wouldn’t want it any other way!

Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me

 May 10, 2011

Synopsis: The friends, family and co-workers of the late-night talk show host on the E! network describe how they have all been tricked by her into believing tales of utter nonsense and behaving like total fools. Simultaneous.

America Pacifica

 May 18, 2011

Synopsis: Tracy Austin’s tennis mentor shares his thirty-five years of teaching experience and discusses the theoretical aspects and explicit techniques of coaching children, emphasizing throughout the joys of playing the game well

Dreams of Joy

 May 31, 2011

Synopsis: The sequel to Lisa See’s SHANGHAI GIRLS advances the plot another generation as Joy Li absconds from postwar Los Angeles in search of her artist father Z.G. in China. Immersed in the dramatic cultural shifts of Mao’s communist regimes, Joy uncritically embraces the movement as she and Z.G. are ordered out of the city to educate rural villagers. While the human cost of China’s rapid transformations mount in DREAMS OF JOY, Joy’s mother Pearl crosses the ocean to rescue her daughter from dangers the extent of which are only beginning to unfold.

 

Need (Series)

by Carrie Jones

Zara collects phobias the way other high school girls collect lipsticks. Little wonder, since life’s been pretty rough so far. Her father left, her stepfather just died, and her mother’s pretty much checked out. Now Zara’s living with her grandmother in sleepy, cold Maine so that she stays “safe.” Zara doesn’t think she’s in danger; she thinks her mother can’t deal.

Wrong. Turns out that guy she sees everywhere, the one leaving trails of gold glitter, isn’t a figment of her imagination. He’s a pixie—and not the cute, lovable kind with wings. He’s the kind who has dreadful, uncontrollable needs. And he’s trailing Zara.

I read this book last year and I could not get enough! I am a fan of fantasy novels especially the kind that include fairies, werewolves,…etc. A girl in my class last year lent me the book and it is a fairly short novel for those of you who don’t like long novels. In a basic summary I can say that the novel is not dull at all, it is full of adventures, and it keeps you guessing till the very end! Honestly, you won’t be able to put this book down!

So I am sure after reading the novel description up top a lot of you are wondering who this pixie man could be, is he just misunderstood? And of course the biggest question, what does he want from Zara….I guess you’ll just have to read to find out! (;

**Also just a side note, after reading this novel you will find yourself a lot more familiar with different phobias.**

The story doesn’t end here, so check out the next books in the series:

Enjoy! (:

 

Num8ers

by Rachel Ward

Jem’s life is far from normal. It’s lonely, troubled and, most of all, cursed. By looking into someone’s eyes, she can see the date they’ll die. Jem has carried around this burden all her life. After her mother died of an overdose, she hasn’t let anyone in, not her foster-mother and certainly not her peers. Until now.

When Jem meets Spider, her walls break down. She can’t deny their connection. But Jem knows that their friendship won’t last—Spider’s death date is only weeks away. If only Jem could find a way to beat the system, maybe she could help Spider survive.

…..So when I saw this book I thought it looked really interesting, I mean it’s not very common to read about a person who can see the dates that someone will die. Even though for some this book might seem very predictable, but imagine yourself in Jem’s position; I can’t imagine how hard it would be to look into the eyes of someone dear to me, like a family member or a close friend, and be able to know when he or she will die. Reading novels like this makes you think about life from a different perspective, and it makes you value those closest to you much more. This novel shows the strong bond a friendship can have and I really like that Jem doesn’t give up on her friendship with Spider upon finding out the day he is to die. This novel teaches an important lesson, that even when you are in the lowest moral state you can possibly be, that it is possible to get out of it and make yourself keep trying. This is important in life, even when you are in a bad situation it is important to keep pushing yourself and never giving up.

 

Speak

byLaurie Halse Anderson

3.99

I was searching for novels that followed my favorite theme, conformity vs. individuality. Lots of the books that I’ve blogged about follow this theme. I think this theme is very strong and really defines teen years, and even life after. What I really liked was that this novel shows that sometimes you may think you know a person, or a group of people, and then they surprise you. It is hard to imagine that the people we surround ourselves with could hurt us, but sometimes those closest to us hurt us the most. Everyone at a time comes to face choices that involve conforming to the beliefs of others, or sticking to their own opinions. This book, follows this theme, and I think it is a type of book that really makes the reader want to keep reading. Although there is only a brief description of the novel, it really made want to read the book and find out what happens, so I think you should really give this book a try.

DESCRIPTION:

When Melinda Sordino’s friends discover she called the police to quiet a party, they ostracize her, turning her into an outcast — even among kids she barely knows. But even worse than the harsh conformity of high-school cliques is a secret that you have to hide.

 

I Am the Messenger

So I came across this book online and I thought it looked pretty good. This book’s theme is a bit different than other books I’ve blogged about. It has a lighter theme about adventure and romance. If you’re looking a light topic to read about, this book is a great choice.

DESCRIPTION:

Meet Ed Kennedy—underage cabdriver, pathetic cardplayer, and useless at romance. He lives in a shack with his coffee-addicted dog, the Doorman, and he’s hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence, until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. That’s when the first Ace arrives. That’s when Ed becomes the messenger. . . .

Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary), until only one question remains: Who’s behind Ed’s mission?

 

 

Best 100 Novels

Here’s a list of the best 100 Novels of all-time…take a look maybe you’ll see one you like!

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. 1984 by George Orwell
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
6. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
7. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
8. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
9. Animal Farm by George Orwell
10. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
11. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
12. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
13. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
14. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
15. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
16. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
17. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
18. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
19. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
20. Ulysses by James Joyce
21. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
22. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
23. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
24. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
25. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
26. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
27. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
28. Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
29. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
30. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
31. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
32. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
33. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
34. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
35. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
36. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
37. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
38. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
39. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
40. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
41. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
42. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
43. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
44. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
45. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
46. The Stranger by Albert Camus
47. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
48. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
49. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
50. Watership Down by Richard Adams
51. His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
52. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
53. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
54. Dracula by Bram Stoker
55. The Stand by Stephen King
56. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
57. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
58. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
59. Dune by Frank Herbert
60. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
61. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
62. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
63. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
64. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
65. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
66. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
67. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
68. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
69. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
70. Middlemarch by George Eliot
71. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
72. Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust
73. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
74. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
75. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
76. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
77. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
78. Persuasion by Jane Austen
79. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
80. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
81. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
82. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
83. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
84. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
85. The Trial by Franz Kafka
86. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
87. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
88. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
89. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
90. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
91. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
92. Emma by Jane Austen
93. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
94. Siddharta by Hermann Hesse
95. The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer
96. Atonement by Ian McEwan
97. Beloved by Toni Morrison
98. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
99. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
100. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

 

New Releases 2011

March- You Know What to Expect

Little, Brown

March is the month for authors who always win. That’s not to say all the books are great. You just know that when authors like Jodi Picoult and Ian Rankin release new novels, people will buy them. Other favorite authors who are releasing books in March include Kate Atkinson and Jasper Fforde.

• March 2011 Book Release Calendar

April – Mostly Women Authors

Random House

There is a new feel good novel from Danielle Steel and Meg Cabot is releasing a darker young adult book than she’s known for. Short stories, a memoir and a posthumous novel from David Foster Wallace round out the big titles for the month

• April 2011 Book Release Calendar

May & Beyond

Penguin

May will bring the 11th Sookie Stackhouse novel. Sapphire, the bestselling author of Push, will release her second book, The Kid, some time this summer. The big novel of the year is yet to be determined.

 

To Save a Life

To Save a Life by Jim and Rachel Britts

Jake and Roger were once best friends. They did everything together. Roger even stepped in front of a car to save Jake. But when they got to high school, and Jake got better at basketball, things started to change. Jake started hanging out with the popular crowd. Before he knew it, he didn’t have time for Roger at all.

And now Roger is dead. None of Jake’s new friends even know that he and Roger were once friends. They don’t understand what this loss means. Jake wonders what’s the point of it all? And if he had done things in his life differently, could he have saved Roger?

As Jake searches for answers and tries to find meaning in life, his friends just don’t get it. But Jake can’t go back, even if it costs him his reputation.

This book follows the theme that you should always live life to the fullest, and always try to do good. I can’t imagine loosing my best friend, or forgetting her. I can put myself in Jake’s position, the guilt that he feels for not spending enough time with Roger, and just the fact that he lost someone dear to him. If you’re into books with life lessons, even if they might be a bit depressing, give this one a read!

 

Beastly

Beastly by Alex Flinn

So I first heard about this book through a TV commercial, I had no idea it was actually a book. The commerical looked really interesting and I am considering watching it.

Book Description

I am a beast.

A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright—a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And I’ll stay this way forever—ruined—unless I can break the spell.

Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.

It sounds really good! It basically follows the theme that a person shouldn’t define themselves based on how much money he or she has, or what clothes he or she wears, or even who that person is friends with. This book follows the theme that what really matters is on the inside. I would recommend that you read the book before watching the movie, so that way you can imagine the characters your way and then see what the movie producers imagined when they read the book.

Heres a trailer of the movie, enjoy!