HPB Challenge!

A new reading challenge is up on the Half Price Book Blog.  The goal is to read some classics, the challenge is to pick one of each and read it before the end of March (when they change the challenge)! 

1. A Children's/Young Adult Classic     (I picked The Great Gatsby)
2. 19th Century Classic                         (I picked A Tale of Two Cities)
3. 20th Century Classic                         (I picked Catch-22)
4. A Classic Play                                   (I picked A Midsummer Night's Dream)

You can submit your choices on the blog by January 27 and be entered for a chance to win $50 at HPB!
Get to reading!

100 Cupboards

The Book:  100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson

Summary (taken from author's website):
Twelve-year-old Henry York wakes up one night to find bits of plaster in his hair. Two knobs have broken through the wall above his bed and one of them is slowly turning . . .Henry scrapes the plaster off the wall and discovers cupboards of all different sizes and shapes. Through one he can hear the sound of falling rain. Through another he sees a glowing room–with a man pacing back and forth! Henry soon understands that these are not just cupboards, but portals to other worlds.

What I Thought: 
I think the kids in the school book club will love this book.  I, however, am not a huge fan of fantasy novels and this is obviously a fantasy.  I love the original idea- a wall of cupboards that lead to other worlds!  However, the other worlds couldn't quite keep my interest.  I felt that the whole book could have easily revolved around the already odd Henry since the other left several story lines barely touched on, let alone finished.  What happened to his parents?  Who are his real parents?  Why did he not seem to get a normal life (full of baseball and other "boy" things)?  Why did he not seem to worry about his parents?  I felt like we didn't get to know Henry himself very well since hints about him were dropped but never explored.  Perhaps the author answer all of these questions in the sequels, though, I guess I'll just have to keep reading and find out!

Rating:  5/10

Darkly Dreaming Dexter

The Book:  Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

Summary (taken from book cover):
Meet Dexter Morgan, a polite wolf in sheep s clothing. He's handsome and charming, but something in his past has made him abide by a different set of rules. He s a serial killer whose one golden rule makes him immensely likeable: he only kills bad people. And his job as a blood splatter expert for the Miami police department puts him in the perfect position to identify his victims. But when a series of brutal murders bearing a striking similarity to his own style start turning up, Dexter is caught between being flattered and being frightened -- of himself or some other fiend.


What I Thought: 

I've been on a huge Dexter kick lately, so when I found the book that the T.V. series was based on, I was curious to see how close the story lines were.  Turns out that they based the first season of the show very closely on Lindsay's first Dexter book up until the very end.  In an odd turn of events - at least for this book-lover - I definitely like the television version of this storyline better than in the book!  Don't get me wrong, this was still a good book that really kept my attention (even though I new what happened for the most part) and it was interesting to really have access to the serial killers thoughts, even as he thought he was going crazy, but  something was missing.  Maybe it was the odd conversations with himself, the some arrogant reactions,  or that he was more "empty" than the Dexter on the show, but I never really feel in love with print Dexter as much as screen Dexter.  This could be the further characterization for the show or maybe Michael C. Hall is just that good.  Either way, I was surprised when I finished the book and I realized I'd rather watch Dexter than read Dexter.  All in all a good read though, whether you've seen the show or not.

Rating:  7/10

P.S. Read more about Lindsay's Dexter books here!

Weekend In Paris

The Book:  Weekend in Paris by Robyn Sisman

Summary (taken from book cover):
Small-town girl Molly Clearwater moved to London to follow her dream of a fun and fashionable city life.  Everything seems to be coming up roses when her boss offers her a perk: a free weekend trip to Paris.  Molly's ecstatic until she discovers her boss's idea of "business," and she impulsively decides to bard a rain to Paris on her own.

Within moments of stepping onto the cobblestoned streets of Paris and making her first friend at her auberge, Molly is swept up in adventure.  From infiltrating her boss's business conference in disguise to touring the midnight city on the back of a handsome stranger's motorbike, Molly find her weekend away from her troubles turning into a voyage of passion and self-discovery that will change her life forever.

What I Thought: 
Mom and I decided to read a "light" book together during our vacation last month, but this proved to be a difficult task.  Finally we settled on Weekend in Paris.  Within about 20 pages, we both realized our mistake.  It did prove to be a very light read, but it failed to keep (or ever get, for that matter) my attention.  I had higher expectations for this book with glowing reviews printed on both covers from some of my favorite authors, but I found I disagreed with their praise comparing the main character to Elle Woods and Bridget Jones.  I found Molly to be a very shallow character, changing her opinions and self images on the whimsical reactions to the surrounding characters.  Beyond that, most of the plot was driven by coincidences so unrealistic I found myself actually rolling my eyes while reading.  Now, I'm a fan of cheesy, predictable, rom-com style, but I just found this book was trying for something that never quite worked out.  I doubt I will read anymore from this author.

Rating:  2/10

The Lincoln Lawyer

The Book:  The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

Summary (taken from author's website, found here):
Mickey Haller has spent all his professional life afraid that he wouldn't recognize innocence if it stood right in front of him. But what he should have been on the watch for was evil.
    
Haller is a Lincoln Lawyer, a criminal defense attorney who operates out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car, traveling between the far-flung courthouses of Los Angeles to defend clients of every kind. Bikers, con artists, drunk drivers, drug dealers — they're all on Mickey Haller's client list. For him, the law is rarely about guilt or innocence — it's about negotiation and manipulation. Sometimes it's even about justice.
    
A Beverly Hills playboy arrested for attacking a woman he picked up in a bar chooses Haller to defend him, and Mickey has his first high-paying client in years. It is a defense attorney's dream, what they call a franchise case. And as the evidence stacks up, Haller comes to believe this may be the easiest case of his career.
    
Then someone close to him is murdered and Haller discovers that his search for innocence has brought him face-to-face with evil as pure as a flame. To escape without being burned, he must deploy every tactic, feint, and instinct in his arsenal — this time to save his own life.

What I Thought: 
I am a fan of Connelly and as soon as I heard this novel was being made into a movie I knew I needed to read quick, before see the movie.  I have to admit, I had a hard time getting into this book at first, but that could have a lot to do with the busy schedule leaving little time for reading.  Once I had a chance to read more than a few pages in one sitting, I found it hard to put down.  Each chapter seemed to offer a slight change in the case against Roulet and I was never quite sure what to believe.  As the reader, you are really finding everything out along with Mickey and there seems to be a twist or a surprise everytime you think you have it figured out.  This was the first of Connelly's books I read that featured Haller (I've read several books about Detective Bosch), and I'm definitely planning to find another to read soon!  I was also glad that I finished the book before seeing the movie, I think it made the movie even better somehow.  (The movie was very good, I'd recommend seeing it.)

Rating:  8/10

The Hunger Games

The Book:  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Summary (from this website for the book):
Twenty-four are forced to enter. Only the winner survives. In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Each year, the districts are forced by the Capitol to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal and terrifying fight to the death - televised for all of Panem to see.

Survival is second nature for sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who struggles to feed her mother and younger sister by secretly hunting and gathering beyond the fences of District 12. When Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, she knows it may be her death sentence. If she is to survive, she must weigh survival against humanity and life against love.


What I Thought: 
I must say that even after close to 400 pages, I'm not sure how I feel about this book.  I do know that it kept my attention - this is a credit to the awesome writing.  I also know, though, that it was an unsettling experience because of the actual setting and storyline.  Each time I found myself really relating to the stories and characters, the barbaric setting snapped me back to the reality of the book:  these children, most of who are already starving, are basically being selected to serve as gladiators or sorts on reality television.  Reading the book as an adult, I can appreciate that the world of Panem - the North America of the future - is very likely a sarcastic approach to the authors political opinions.  As a young adult reader - the intended audience - I would likely take the book more at face value.  Either way, the setting of the book left me uneasy and not wanting to stay long in the world of the characters.  Although I would say I'm not a huge fan, I would like to read the second book.  I find that, while I'm not a fan of the setting and what happened in the first book, I am interested to see the reactions of the people of District 12 (like Gayle and Prim) after what happened in Book 1. 


Rating:  7/10

The Great Gatsby

The Book: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Summary (an excerpt from this article):

The Great Gatsby is probably F. Scott Fitzgerald's greatest novel--a book that offers damning and insightful views of the American nouveau riche in the 1920s. The Great Gatsby is an American classic and a wonderfully evocative work.Like much of Fitzgerald's prose, it is neat and well--crafted. Fitzgerald seems to have had a brilliant understanding of lives that are corrupted by greed and incredibly sad and unfulfilled. The novel is a product of its generation--with one of American literature's most powerful characters in the figure of Jay Gatsby, who is urbane and world-weary. Gatsby is really nothing more than a man desperate for love.

The novel's events are filtered through the consciousness of its narrator, Nick Carraway, a young Yale graduate, who is both a part of and separate from the world he describes. Upon moving to New York, he rents a house next door to the mansion of an eccentric millionaire (Jay Gatsby). Every Saturday, Gatsby throws a party at his mansion and all the great and the good of the young fashionable world come to marvel at his extravagance (as well as swap gossipy stories about their host who--it is suggested--has a murky past). Despite his high-living, Gatsby is dissatisfied; and Nick finds out why...

What I Thought: 
I decided to read the book because it's a classic - classics are generally the best literature has to offer.  I found this book starting out very slow and I had a hard time getting into it.  By the end though, I felt so close to the characters I was sad at the ending and at the fact that the there was an ending.  So much so, that almost immediately after finishing the book, I dug out the movie (Robert Redford was a fitting Jay Gatsby!) Although I can't say that this is one of my favorite books, I think it could eventually become one of my favorites.  I think - as might be hinted at in that it is a classic - this isn't a quick one-time read.  I plan to re-read this novel a few more times in the future and I predict I will like it more with each read.


Rating:  8/10

Secrets, Lies & Algebra

The Book: Secrets, Lies & Algebra by Wendy Lichtmen

Summary from the Harper Collins website:
(Visit the Lichtmen site, too: http://www.wendylichtman.com/ )

In the eighth grade, 1 math whiz < 1 popular boy, according to Tess's calculations. That is, until she has to factor in a few more variables, like:
1 stolen test (x),
3 cheaters (y),
and 2 best friends (z) who can't keep a secret.

Oh, and she can't forget the winter dance (d)!

Then there's the suspicious guy Tess's parents know, but that's a whole different problem.

Can Tess find the solutions?

What I Thought: 
Being a math teacher and future librarian, I absolutely loved the combination Lichtman comes up with in this book.  I was really surprised how much math was accurately and relevantly incorporated into Tess's story.  I also really enjoyed the layers to Tess's life - everything relates.  Her problems with the cheaters lends itself to the problem with her mother's friend.  The things she learns in math class, tie in to her life and allow her to try to organize and make sense of the turmoil in her relationships.  I would very much recommend this book to lower level readers and those hoping to brush up on their math skills!


Rating:  7/10