Bible Book 3: Leviticus

Jan. 16-Jan. 18. Finished reading Leviticus in 3 days.

Leviticus pretty much carries on where Exodus left off, but nothing really happens. I would call this my least-liked book in the bible, because all it basically is is God giving the jews an entire array of pagan and nit picky rules. From sacrifices, how and when to prepare them, to leprosy and what you do if you have it. From what you're allowed to eat, to who you're forbidden from sleeping with. I mean, I get that you can't "sleep" with family, because that's just plain wrong. But I was sad to discover that it actually says in the bible, in this very book, Chap 18~Verse 22 that men can't sleep with other men. :( Just a couple of chapters later, in Chap 20~Verse 13, it said if a man does get caught sleeping with another man, both guys should be stoned to death. >,< For those who don't know me, I am a big supporter for gay rights, so those passages were my absolute least-favorite in the book. And hey, there were lots of weird and horrible rules to contend with here!

Basically the moral of this story is that God is holy, so the Jewish people should try their best to be holy too, because they're the "chosen people", so these are instructions on how you live a holy life. Besides all the rules, this book isn't very exciting. I mean there are short, fleeting moments when action happens, little scenes. Like when Moses anointied the tabernacle and all the furniture and all the priest costumes that God had told the people to make just so, back in Exodus. There's the time when two of Aaron’s sons play with some bad incense when they weren't supposed to, so they get burned by God for it! There was also a brief story where a guy cursed with God's name in vain, so God ordered everyone to stone him, to make him an example out of him. Riveting, isn't it? :/

I don't want to dwell on reviewing this book any longer than I have to, so I'll just end it here. Hopefully Numbers will be less boring... although with a name like that, I'm not optimistic.

Absolute Boyfriend

One of the most fabulous manga series I've had the pleasure of reading yet! I first learned about it when I saw the recommendations list in the back of the Sand Chronicles books.

Our heroine, a high-school girl named Riiko, is unlucky in love and doesn't have a boyfriend. She meets a strange business man who directs her to a website where she can customize her "ideal boyfriend". Thinking it's a game or something, she actually ends up ordering such a "figure" from this website, and the very next day she gets a special delivery at her door... a totally hot and naked guy! O_O She finds out that he is actually the robot she ordered, and when she "activates" him (gives him a kiss) and he comes to life, he brightly claims that he is now her boyfriend!

In my personal opinion, the robot boyfriend, whom Riiko names Night, is just a fabulous character!!! For one thing, he's absolutely cute (just take a look at him! ^_^). He reminds me of what a certain friend of mine looks like in manga form. To me, Night really is the perfect guy. He's sweet, caring, totally romantic, protective, really smart, has super-hero strength and agility, and all he thinks about is making his girl, Riiko, happy. He's always got this playful, innocent attitude and the most adorable smile on his face! You almost forget that he's not really human, but a robot specifically designed to be the perfect boyfriend.

Of course, there's also Riiko's childhood friend and school-mate, Soushi, for Night to contend with. I like Soushi well enough. He's like the underdog, a total contrast to Night. He's the strong, silent, studious type. He's a good friend to Riiko, and gets jealous when he finds she has a new boyfriend. It's a great love-triangle!

I read the first volume for real, but then I found a website where I could read the rest of the manga online, and so far I've read the 2nd and 3rd volumes, which are equally awesome! I believe there's 6 volumes in all, so I'll probably finish this very quickly.

Just warning you: as you can probably see from the cover of the first book... Night likes to get naked. O_o He's always asking Riiko when they can, uh, do it. So this series may not be for young readers who haven't gotten the talk about the birds and the bees. =P But for the rest of us, it's totally awesome. ^_^

Something else I was happy to discover is that Absolute Boyfriend was developed into a Japanese drama series, called "Zettai Kereshi". I've seen 2 episodes of it so far, and it is amazing! Just warning you though, the drama differs wildly from the manga, like a ton! For example, the characters aren't in high-school; they're young adults in a business setting. For another, Night is much more of a robot, and more easily damaged. He's not as hot as he seems in the manga, but he's cute enough. The character of Soushi is completely unrecognizable. He's not Riiko's childhood friend, but her lazy boss who just starts developing feelings for her.

But really, I'm watching this drama for the main actress who plays Riiko. She is just adorable! Also for the novelty of the thing. I love seeing a foreign TV show, listening to the characters speak Japanese (I read the English subtitles), and getting a little taste of their amazing culture! Anyway, it's an interesting story. What if you had a robot boyfriend?

Take a look at the trailer for the series, and see if it doesn't hook you into it.

1 James Patterson, 2 Jeffrey Browns, and 3 Hinako Ashiharas

Well, it's been over a month since my last book review post. I'm not sure I'll do a great job reviewing here, but I just wanted to keep a record that these are some books I've read recently, that are really good. You might want to look into them.

For example, I read the 7th book in the Maximum Ride series, "Angel", a few weeks ago. I wanted to review it much earlier, honest I did! I just kept forgetting to get to it. Sorry. =( But it was definitely an awesome book, just like the rest before it. I thought it was weird that it was called "Angel", though, because the character Angel didn't seem to be that important in the story, in my opinion. It's still mostly Max's story. Anyway, there was great love-triangle romance going on, some awesome action scenes, and it ends on a cliffhanger, so I'm going to look forward to the next book in the series, which I hear is called "Nevermore". I wonder if it'll be the last adventure...

I believe I read these over a week ago. Pretty recent. This author, Jeffrey Brown, has a very fascinating art style in his graphic novels. Extremely sketchy and cartoony, but the characters still seem like real people. Both books are based on true stories from Jeffrey's life, about his relationships with old girlfriends. "Clumsy", his first book, is very non-linear and all over the place. Really random. But I still enjoyed it. I appreciated, though, that "Unlikely", the prequel about his first girlfriend, had more of a definite time-line that I could follow. I didn't like her as much as the girlfriend in "Clumsy", but it was a good book.

Warning: both books contain very mature material. Not for young readers' eyes at all, if you know what I mean.

Finally, the last time I was at the library, I was scanning the shelves for a good manga I could get into, and came upon this charming series: Sand Chronicles. I read the first volume in one sitting at the library, and liked the story so much that just before we left, I grabbed the 2nd and 3rd volumes and checked them out. I'm quite happy I did. ^_^

Basically, it's a coming-of-age series that follows a young Japanese girl, Ann, on her trials, tribulations, and budding romance. It starts off when she's 12, when she and her mother move from Tokyo to a small village. Ann's mom dies suddenly, so her grandparents take care of her, and the friends she makes in that village help her cope. There's the hot-headed boy, Daigo, who Ann kind of has feelings for, and a brother and sister, Fuji and Shiika, who come from a wealthy family.

After that, there are lots of stories, such as Ann and friends going to a summer camp together, her moving back with her father to Tokyo for high-school, and her romantic long-distance relationship with Daigo. Fuji, who is more the quiet, strong-silent type, seems to have a crush on Ann, and near the end of Book 3, it seems Shiika has a thing for Daigo. Needless to say, this Shojo manga is heavy on the romance. Personally, as I grow older and more mature, I really like that in a series. ^,^ There is also a lot of neat Japanese culture throughout the books, which is one of things I love most about reading manga, or watching anime.

I think there are 10 books in the Sand Chronicles. I'm sure I'll glide through all of them in a heart-beat, when I get my hands on them. Lol.

I'm back... again. =P

Hey guys... whoever is left reading this now...

It's been a month, but I decided to come back and post here after all, for a couple of reasons.

---

One: I got a blog award! It's so pretty, isn't it? ^_^ I put it on the very top of my sidebar. I don't think I've ever gotten an award like this! I've been kindly mentioned on a couple other sites in the past (which you can see very close to the bottom of the sidebar), but haven't gotten an honor like this before.

I got my "Creative Blog Award" from someone who commented on my last post (you know, when I said I was completely done with book reviewing? =P). Her name is Dierdra Eden-Coppel, and she's a proffesional author/illustrator. Here's a link to her blog.

If you read the nice comment she left me, you'll see that in addition to giving me this award, she offered to interview me as an avid reader. Can you believe it? I couldn't when I first read it. ^,^

So yeah, I agreed to the interview and have, since then, submitted my answers to her questions. Dierdra told me that she'll post my interview on her blog on July 21st. I unfortunately won't be around at that date, so you'll have to keep your eyes peeled for it yourself.

Who knows? Perhaps as I result of my interview, I'll get a few more readers on my blog.

Two: I've read a few books that I actually really want to review! I decided I didn't want to let down any potential new followers, so I'm going to try making a come-back in reviewing. Lucky for you guys, I've had my hands on some pretty good reads. ^_~ You're welcome.

---

Books 3 through 6 of the Maximum Ride series = total awesomeness! This James Patterson series is truly fantastic! I couldn't rave enough about his writing. I finished reading "Fang" just today, which is why I thought it was high time I get back to book blogging ASAP, before I forgot how I felt about this series.

I am so in love with the characters! Max, Fang, Nudge, Iggy, Gazzy, and Angel are all incredible kids with full-fledged personalities that shine through-out the pages of the books. Max, the titular character, in particular, is one of my favorite bird-kids. She masterfully led me through the story, narrating most of the Flock's adventures (sometimes Patterson goes out of her head and writes in 3rd POV for the plot's benefit), and I hung onto her every word.

There's a little bit of everything in these books. Action, suspense, mystery, drama, humor, even a bit of romance. You've got kick-butt fight scenes, a love triangle (well, that was only introduced in the last book, but still), unexpected revelations, a good message about global warming, and a constant driving desire to just keep turning pages!

I wasn't able to before, but just now I reserved the next book, "Angel", from my library. Hopefully it will get here quickly! I hear it's the second to last novel in the series, followed by "Nevermore", which is slated for February of next year.

---

I said in my last post that I'd wanted to read a couple of Dan Savage's other books, and I did. They were just as great as "Skipping Towards Gomorrah" had been. First I read "The Kid", which chronicled how Dan and his boyfriend Terry adopted their son. It was another fascinating look into the life of a gay person, as well as a peek into the world of adoptive parents-to-be. A wonderful true story that I sincerely recommend.

Next, I read "It Gets Better." I absolutely loved it. Dozens and dozens of touching short stories, essays, and interviews by the LGBT community (as well as a couple celebrities and politicians), assuring the reader that life isn't as hopeless as it might seem to some. True, the aimed audience is for gay teens, but I think this should be required reading everywhere, for every age. It's a truly inspiring message that I've stood wholeheartedly behind since the day I first learned about it. It's a message that I hope never, ever dies. It does get better. By the time you finish this book, I'm sure you'll believe it, too.

---

So there you go. Bettina's Book Club is back in business. ^_^

Happy reading!

And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer

It seems pretty appropriate that the title of the post is "And Another Thing..." This feels a lot like an after-thought, seeing as I started posting book reviews here again with the great promise of regular updates, but then I fell back on the wayside. ~,~ Oh well. I guess I can't really promise you guys anything.

But anyway, here's a really great book that I read recently!

I bought "And Another Thing..." on one of the last days our Borders store was still open (R.I.P. Borders !,!). I've read and thoroughly enjoyed the other Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (or H2G2) books by Douglas Adams in the past. This series has a few zany characters, wacky story elements, and very witty ideas. This 6th book in a trilogy is no different. (*Double-take* O,o Yes, that's what it's referred to as, the 6th book in a trilogy. LOL)

I don't know how Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series (I like those books okay), got the opportunity to write this sequel, but I figured since it was an author I knew, it wouldn't be that bad a read.

Turns out he was pretty faithful to the H2G2 series while putting his own hilarious spin on it. ^_^ A lot of the old characters come back, like Arthur Dent, Trillian, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Ford Prefect, and the Vogons, and there are lots of funny new characters too. (I was kind of sad though that the main character, Arthur Dent, didn't seem to have a lot to do in the story. He didn't have any major character development or anything. He was just... there. He was simply along from the ride, while all the other characters got to have their extremely interesting and unusual adventures.)

Some of the jokes in this book are really funny. You get put in a very silly state of mind when you read something like this, with every turn of the page leaving you thinking, "huh? oh, lol!" There's a lot of convenient and humorous world-building, and the whole story is actually pretty well-written. It felt like an H2G2 book, so I was happy. It wasn't the best, but it was decent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh, and another thing... lol. I've wanted to post this combo review for a long time now, but just couldn't get around to it. So here you go.

The Daniel X series, by one of my new favorite authors, the awesome James Patterson. ^,^ Now having said that, I wasn't absolutely crazy about this series... but I've got to hand it to JP. He sure knows how to keep you turning those pages. (It must be those dang short chapters and cliff-hangers. =P)

Anyway, the story follows a teenage boy named Daniel (who is secretly an alien) whose destiny is to be an Alien Hunter and protect Earth from bad guys. It kind of reminded me of Men in Black in that respect.

So how does Daniel fight off the alien villains? Well, this kid has one of the coolest and actually most imaginative super-powers I've ever read about: He can create. He can make just about anything he can imagine. From thin air. Just with the power of his mind. He can even make whole people, with full personalities! Oh yeah, and he has other super-powers too, like shape-shifting ability, genius intellect and mind-reading.

While the story and the story-world was pretty interesting, the thing that put me off most about the books is what an overly perfect character Daniel is. I mean, since he can create anything, things come really easy for him. It's almost impossible for bad guys to trick him. Yeah, he does have a couple weaknesses, like getting distracted by girls (hey, he's a teenager. What're you gonna do?) and being a bit cocky. But for the most part, he's a pretty flawless protagonist. I don't know about you, but personally, I prefer my protagonist with a couple flaws in him/her. Also, the books seem to have a couple of preachy messages, like "don't litter", and "read a book, it's better than TV". I don't know. Kinda weird.

Reading the graphic novel of the first book was pretty cool though. It was quite accurate and true to the story. I actually think I liked it a lot better than the book, because I could see what the characters were doing, and what the aliens looked like. Also, I love reading graphic novels because they are such a breeze. ^_^

If you're interested, the 4th book in this series, "Game Over", will be coming out this September. I think I'll give it a try, when I can get my hands on it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh, and ANOTHER thing! (I promise, this is the last other thing I'll mention. Then you'll finish this review. ^,~) I've also recently read the first 3 Maximum Ride graphic novels, based on the series also by James Patterson, and I gotta say, they are pretty awesome! ^_^

Having read "When the Wind Blows" and "The Lake House", I was kind of familiar with the flying children characters. In this series however, most of them were given different names. Except for the main character, Max, naturally. Also, unlike WtWB and TLH, these kids with wings are completely the main focus, instead of partially.

I'm still waiting for the actual first Maximum Ride book, "The Angel Experiment", to come in for me from the library. I bet it'll be worth the wait though. ^,~

Also, did you know that the 4th graphic novel was released just today? What a coincidence, huh?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And another thing... no, I'm just kidding. I had you going for a second, though, didn't I? lol. ^_~

Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins

I'm not sure how I feel about doing a full review for this book. Don't get me wrong, I love the Hunger Games series! You can see how positive my response to the books were by reading my reviews for The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. I thought those 2 books were totally awesome, and I was sure that the final book promised to be epic and a satisfying end to the trilogy.

Sadly, my feelings pretty much match those of my friend Graham, whose review can be seen here. I think he says it better than I could. Well, he's already said it, anyway.

I didn't hate this book, but I didn't really love it either. I was sad that the main character, Katniss, had to endure so much physical pain, get addicted to the drug morphling, have her boyfriend Peeta go insane and brainwashed to kill her, and see all her friends die around her (even a member of her family!). I don't blame her for being so suicidal near the end.

Because of all this sadness, I was pretty confused how in the epilogue, Suzanne Collins managed to create a semi-happy ending, where the Districts don't do Hunger Games anymore but just try to rebuild their lives, and Katniss and Peeta get married and have 2 kids. It was just really weird, you know? It's obviously meant to be a bitter-sweet ending, but I don't know why after all the awful stuff, she even attempted to make it happy.

But like I said, the book isn't all that bad. I liked some aspects of it. The writing was really good, and I liked how Suzanne built the world of District 13. Interesting how that's like a big melting pot for all the rebels of the districts, and even some people from the Capitol are there. The character of President Coin, leader of District 13, is quite a piece of work. Like Katniss, I was really suspicious of her (you should be too).

And besides, this book has some cool memories attached to it. I actually bought this novel from the bookstore (a rarity for me, since I'm more of a library girl) so that I could get to meet Suzanne Collins herself! She couldn't really sign her books, because she had some condition with her hand, but she stamped this special Mockingjay mark in the front of each person's copy.

I was the 71st person in line to meet her. I know, because they handed out these tickets to people in the order that they arrived. There must've been over a hundred and fifty people in the room by the time Suzanne arrived, so I guess I was lucky. See how happy I am, holding up her book? My brother Adam is the one who took the picture. For some reason, only he and I were able to make it to this special event. My parents and sister were working at our apartment in Boston. It was our last day there, so I guess it was pretty hectic. O,o

In the fliers for the event, it said the author couldn't exactly pose with every single fan, but pictures seemed to be allowed. So my brother snuck this one in. Sorry for the blurriness. Anyway, it's proof that I got to meet Suzanne Collins. ^_^

She seems like such a sweet person. You almost wouldn't think that she is the individual responsible for creating such a dystopian universe for her characters to live in, not to mention making most of said characters suffer so horribly. I mean, she writes so well that she makes me believe that these are actual people, and then she just kills them off one by one (since there's no way around it in the Hunger Games). It's as if she's a murderer, although I'm pretty sure that she's not in real life. It's just... weird. O,o I guess that's how it goes for all authors who kill their characters at one point or another. How do they sleep it night, I wonder?

Oh by the way, at the event they had this table that suggested what other books readers might enjoy if they like the Hunger Games trilogy, so I took a panorama picture in order to get the entire table. Do you see that green book in the very middle? ^_^ Yes, it's the Maze Runner! I thought it was so nice of Suzanne Collins to help promote James Dashner's book like that. I'm very excited for the next book in that series, the Scorch Trials, to come out in October.

So yeah, it seems like I was able to give a pretty full review here after all. Didn't know I had it in me. ^_^ Until next time. *Bettina out.*

A couple graphic novels

Finally, my first book review in ages! This review is actually for two books, two graphic novels. One I liked very much (^_^), and the other one... not so much (0,o).

The one I read first was recommended to me by a new random blog friend. On first sight, I thought "Nuh-uh, I don't think it's for me." I don't know, something about the art-style, and the kind of genre... But I judge books by their covers way too often, so finally I read through it and gave it a try.

Harry Dresden, the wizard/detective and hero of this story, slightly reminded me of an Indiana Jones type, but with less of a sense of humor, in my opinion. I wasn't exactly thrilled with the story itself, but since it was a graphic novel I flew through the pages easily enough. I can kind of see why other people would like it, such as my friend, but sorry. Not my particular style.

Now this was a random graphic novel that I started paging through in the library. It's a superhero series about 6 kids who discover that their parents are actually super-villains. The teens band together, run away from home, discover powers of their own, and try to figure out a way to stop their evil parents from destroying the world. The story and the art-style seemed to come from the same Marvel universe of super-heroes such as Captain America or Spiderman, which was really neat.

I tell you, this book was HUGE! I later found out that it's because it was a collection of 18 of these Runaways comic magazines wrapped in one book. Because of it's size (and weight! *,*) I debated whether or not I should borrow it. The story seemed worth it though, and I didn't want to wait until our next library visit, so I took it out. I'm definitely glad I did. It was awesome! ^_^

My favorite thing about it, I believe, was the character development. I really think that by the end, all the characters had become slightly different people, in a good way. Oh, and what a surprising ending... I didn't see it coming at all! I thought I knew who would be the traitor, but I was dead wrong! It was the very person I never even suspected!!!

My final word: Definitely check out Runaways. And if it so happens to be your style, maybe try out the Dresden Files. I wouldn't, but no one's stopping you, right?

The Blade of Shattered Hope, by James Dashner

I was really excited to pick up the Blade of Shattered Hope from the bookstore about a week ago. This is the 3rd book in Dashner's 5-part series, The 13th Reality. Here are my reviews for Books 1 and 2 of this series. They are awesome. Having said that, I believe that I liked the first and second books much better than the third. Without giving away too many spoilers (I hope), here are a few reasons why I had a less than stellar reading experience:

• It was pretty dark compared to the others.

Granted, I understand why it's a lot darker: Mistress Jane is upping her game, Tick's trying to control his newfound power, and in the meantime, his own family is being attacked and mixed up in this whole Reality mess. But James, if I were humbly able to suggest anything to you, since it's the 3rd in a 5 part series, maybe you could have saved the darkness for the last 2 books? Then again, from the ending, I have no idea where you plan to go with this series, so I'll just leave the writing to you.

• Very few entertaining riddles for Tick to solve, which I really loved in Book 1, the Journal of Curious Letters.

In fact, there was only one riddle, near the end, which wasn't that hard. Maybe that was because I decided to flip through the book to see the pictures ahead (correct me if I'm wrong, but there seem to be fewer illustrations in this volume than the others), and I accidentally saw the solution before I got to that part. So I ruined that for myself. ~,~

• Tick has so much mood switches about his feelings about Mistress Jane, which had me utterly confused.

Jane is evil and twisted, yes, everyone knows that. But first he feels pity for her and what he's accidentally done to her (See The Hunt for Dark Infinity), then he hates her guts for doing stuff to his family and friends. Then he feels there might be a glimmer of hope for her yet, and then he goes insane and tries to kill her with his wild Chi-karda powers, without thinking about any consequences. Yeah. For some reason, I don't feel like I recognize Tick anymore. He used to use his head, but now he just goes with his gut.

Besides pointing these things out, I do have some good things to say about Shattered Hope. I learned more stuff about the supporting characters, like Tick's mom and his sister Lisa, both of whom haven't gotten a lot of coverage until now (Dad and Kayla had great roles in Book 1, I thought. I wish there was more of them here, though). Also Sofia gets more backstory, and Sato becomes a very key player in this adventure. I think I'm warming up to Sato now. He was a real jerk in Curious Letters, but now I see that he's quite loyal and brave and has lots of other good qualities. He makes a great leader, I'll tell you that.

This book isn't my favorite in the series thus far, but the ending will really surprise you. Trust me. I'm not that sure exactly how it happened, even though I read it, but it's still a great cliff-hanger and makes me curious about what happens next.

As a side note, and another suggestion to James Dashner, I read the index of important people and terms at the end of the book. My suggestion is that maybe you should have all the terms we've just learned from this book separate, from all the other terms that we learned in past books, because it makes it confusing when they're all bunched up together. I was reminded of Billy "the Goat" Cooper and the Barf Scarf and the Tingle Wraith and all these things that weren't important to Shattered Hope. To tell the truth, looking back on those story elements made me wonder... why are those things so important to the story? Why should they all be in an index? And I still don't know what the ugly birthmark on Tick's neck looks like! ~,~

Here's a link to my friend Graham's opinions of this same book. I think he shares my sentiments almost exactly.

Cirque Du Freak #2 & #3, by Takahiro Arai

When I visited Borders today, I remembered how much I'd enjoyed reading the first Cirque Du Freak manga novel (see link here), so I looked for the next in the series, found it, and settled myself down against the book shelf for another wild adventure with Darren Shan, half-vampire.

No sooner was I done reading book #2 when I got up, found #3 and sat down again, plunging right through the next story and finished that in a wink as well. If my speed in reading these books is any indication of how much I liked them, then I loved them! And I really do. ^_^

By now I believe I've gotten used to the way manga books read from right to left. No matter which direction the reading goes, the stories are super-awesome! After Darren becomes a vampire, he joins the Cirque Du Freak and makes a couple loyal and true friends, like Evra the snake boy, and Sam, a young out-spoken boy who reminds me somewhat of the character Chuck from James Dashner's Maze Runner. Unfortunately, just like Chuck, Sam dies a very noble and sad death. ~,~ (Sorry for that spoiler!)

In the third book, a year passes by before Darren and Evra have their next adventure. The reader learns the difference between vampires and vampaneeze and Darren gets his first romantic interest. A little interesting how that springs about, actually. I don't know how much I liked his girlfriend. But anyway, the book ends very well, and I liked it.

I got to read just a little bit of book #4, like 30 pages, before it was time to leave the book store. From what I read so far, this looks like a great adventure as well. 6 years pass between novels this time (half-vampires age 5 times slower than humans, so he still looks like a teen. Convenient, huh?). For some reason he has to go to this vampire meeting, and I left off of the part where he and his mentor, Crepsley, are up in the mountains and meet up with a vampire General, Gavner Purl. He seems like a good character. He's a friend of Crepsley, anyway.

I can't wait to get back to Borders and read the rest! The sad thing is that I think either this book or the 5th one is the last in the manga series, and in the actual series there's, like, a dozen books. I wonder if, when I finish the manga series, it'll be easy to pick up with the regular books. Well, in any case, I recommend this graphic novel series a lot!

The Time Quake

Gee, this book was kind of a disappointment. ~,~ A little background. This book, the Time Quake, is the last installment in the Gideon Trilogy. I read the first couple books, "The Time Travelers" (previously titled Gideon the Cutpurse) and "The Time Thief", in the middle of 2008, so it was about a year and a half since I was able to complete the series, because this book was published just this year.

I had thought I really liked the series. It was all about time travel, and these two kids get stuck in the 18th century thanks the girl's father's anti-gravity machine. Whatever. In the second book, they accidentally leave the boy behind, so the girl and the boy's dad have to go back for him, but they end up in the wrong time, like 30 years after their episode in the past, so the boy is now all grown up and gotten used to the past. Then I think the bad guy got hold of the time machine and time started getting wacky. Also the girl started getting these weird powers that allow her to "fast-forward" through time, so everything stands frozen while she's still moving. This doesn't stop until she touches the boy again.

Now this book here was, frankly, a disappointment for me. With so much time passed between readings, I'd forgotten a lot of what had happened, and where the book picked up didn't exactly help things much. And when the book was wrapped up... it didn't feel right somehow. It was like the author simply decided to quickly tie things up, when I think if you had to do the thing right, there should have been some more chapters added to explain everything. For example, the bad guy's plot was to go back in time to when George Washington was crossing the Delaware and kill him, so that America would never get it's independence. Kind of stupid if you ask me, because he had actually gotten to like New York. He just wanted to keep America under British Rule. Also the girl kind of dies, because of how fast she fast-forwards or something, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Luckily she took the bad guy with her, so that got rid of him.

The weirdest thing was that in the end, the boy was able to go back to the time he and the girl were about to go to the anti-gravity machine, and stop all the time events from happening. I was thinking, "How the heck did he get there?!" I mean, the time machine they had was broken, and besides, the future was ruined already, because the bad guy had actually succeeded in killing George Washington! Everything must have turned out different, so how did their families still exist? What, did they have time to fix up the Washington mess? Nothing was said about it. It's just a happily ever after ending, but it didn't feel justified.

It's a very sad day on Bettina's Book Club when I have to review a book I didn't like very much. ~,~ If you happened to like the Gideon Trilogy, I suggest you not read this book and pretend that Peter and Kate get back to their own time and world in a believable and satisfying manner. If you've never heard of this series, then I suggest you not bother picking it up. The last one is very disappointing.

The Guinea Pig Diaries, by A. J. Jacobs

Okay, this book was really funny, a great read. I first heard about this book while watching The Colbert Report, where Stephen actually interviewed the author. I've read this guy's other two books in the past (not this year or on this blog, but in the past), so I knew I would enjoy this new book.

Basically, it's a book full of short, but true stories about this guy who likes doing weird experiments with his life. His previous books were about experiments he'd devoted about an entire year to, such as The Know-It-All, where he attempts (and actually succeeds!) to read the entire Encyclopedia Brittanica, from A to Z, and The Year of Living Biblically, in which he spends an entire year doing his best to follow every single rule that is outlined in the bible (Old and New Testament!). Anyway, this book that I've just finished is about much smaller, but equally life-changing experiments that he spends, on average, about a month on.

All of A. J.'s stories are very interesting and, to me, really funny! From being radically honest all the time, to outsourcing his life to India. From trying to be the most rational person ever, to doing every little thing his wife tells him to do. From following George Washington's 110 rules of "Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation" to the T, to going on a dating service website and pretending to be the opposite sex! There are a couple other experiments he does, but I'll leave you to find out what they are, so you can read this book too.

I thought these stories were quite eye-opening and great fun to read about. The author has a humorous and smart writing style, and it's amazing when you think that these are actually true stories! I mean, this guy actually performed these experiments, and they changed his life, for real! I like those kind of weird but true stories. Especially if they're written particularly well. Pick it up and tell me what you think of it!

I really appreciate any comments you want to post on my reviews. Before my last post, the one about Angels and Demons, I didn't get any comments at all for several posts in a row! I'm really fond of comments, as I'm sure all book bloggers are. So if you feel to, please go back a little, read my other reviews, and if you are so moved, drop me a comment. I'll really appreciate it. ^_^

Books I just read in Borders ^,^

After a little shopping yesterday, my mom dropped Annette and me off at Borders so we could hang out. I really like it when we do that. ^__^ So on this particular bookstore visit, I took a good look at 4 awesome books and read a couple chapters or more than 20 pages of each one. Here's my impression of them, in the order they were read:

1: Ring of Fire, by Pierdomenico Baccalario ~ Boy, that's a hard name to pronounce! Sounds Italian, doesn't it? Well, if this series gets famous, maybe the author's name will be easier to remember. Anyway, this is the first volume in his 4-part Century series, and I picked it up in the first place simply because I remembered that it was recommended to me by Dave and his Latiener Gang. I read the first 3 chapters, I think, and even though I heard that the beginning is supposed to be a little slow, I thought it was quite well-written. You meet most of the characters right away, including all 4 kids the book is supposed to center on. I didn't read enough to get very into the story, just enough to get a sample and know that it's pretty much hooked me. I needed to put it down though, because I only had an hour in the store and I wanted to see what else there was to read. Still, I definitely say that this book's a keeper. ^_^ Thanks, Lat Gang!

2: This Book Is Not Good For You, by Pseudonymous Bosch ~ Hey, isn't it a coincidence that this author has the same initials as the Ring of Fire author? Oh well. So this book I just had to read, because this is the 3rd book in this really funny "Secret" series. I think that's what it's called, because Book 1 is called The Name of This Book is Secret, and Book 2 is If You're Reading This, It's Too Late. (Really funny titles, huh? ^_~) As might be apparent by his book titles and his pen name, Bosch's writing style and mysterious personality in the world and the book bears a strong resemblance to Lemony Snicket, who is the author of A Series of Unfortunate Events. You'd have to read the first couple books to appreciate this one, but I think this gets off to a pretty good start. This, too, will go right on my "to-read" pile in the back of my mind.

3: The Magician's Elephant, by Kate DiCamillo ~ The first chapter was quite long, so that's all I read. But I think it's still a worth-while book. Have you ever read a book by Kate DiCamillo? She hasn't written many. Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tiger Rising, The Tale of Despereaux, and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Each book is a stand-alone novel, but they're all very sweet stories. The little that I've read so far from her latest release is about a boy who goes to see a fortune teller who tells him his sister is alive, and to find her he has to follow an elephant (?). Which is weird, because elephants aren't common in his village. (Then again, they're not exactly common anywhere else, besides in zoos and in Africa!) Anyway, I think it'll be a good story to get into. I can probably finish it in a wink if I went to the bookstore again and it was all I read.

Last, but certainly not least, 4: Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins!!! ~ I'm sure pretty much everyone has heard of this book, the well awaited sequel to the Hunger Games. This was the last book I was able to read on my wonderful Borders visit, and most probably the best. I also read this for the longest, covering roughly 80 pages/ 3 chapters in one sitting. I couldn't exactly finish Chap. 3 though, because then my mom came back to pick us up and started whistling for me, so I unfortunately lost my place in the book.

On the plus side however, it's an incredibly good thing I was able to reserve this book from my library! I'm practically never able to get the newest, most hyped up books from the library so soon after they come out, but I got Catching Fire! Well, I don't have it now, but I'll patiently be waiting for it to come in, so that's awesome! ^_^

BTW, here's the link to an ultra-cool contest the Latiener's are having to give away a copy of Catching Fire! You can either get the ARC or the hard copy. More details to enter and win are in the post. I also have the link on my sidebar. Just check the Lats out if you have any interest in owning this amazing book!

Flight 3 and Flight Explorer, plus Pendragon: Before the War #3, by Walter Sorrels

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I kind of forgot to say that I finished Flight #3 a couple days ago. I finished it so fast that I didn't think it meant anything. But it was really a good graphic collection. That fox cartoon on the other Flight post? That continued in this. That little guy is my favorite character! Now I'm all caught up with the Flight series and just have to wait until Flight 5 is in my sights.

In the meantime, yesterday I went to Borders (one of my favorite place in the world!) and read Flight Explorer. This is related to the Flight series, in that it's a collection of comics made by some of the same artists that contributed to the regular Flight books. I think it' supposed to get the kids into comics, because there's a lot fewer stories in it. Still, I liked it. This whole graphic series is definitely something to get into, I can tell you.

I was a little sad in Borders, because I'd been hoping to find James Dashner's Dark Infinity and read as much as I could of it straight out of the store. Only I didn't find it. You know, I don't even think they carry any of his Jimmy Fincher books? I'm really curious about this early series of James's, but they weren't there. Oh well.

I whiled away the rest of my bookstore stay reading almost the rest of the third Pendragon: Before the War book. I think if I'd been given enough time, like another half hour or something, I might've had a chance of finishing it, but we had to go. I read the first two stories, about Loor (Zadaa) and Siry Remudi (Ibara), and was well into Patrick Mac's story. I believe I'm on page 159. I don't want to lose my place. I'm not sure whether I've gotten a good impression of Third Earth thus far. It sounds more like a utopian Veelox so far. I really liked the Third Earth that MacHale described in Pendragon #3, the Never War. (You know, come to think of it, I wonder why it was called Never War in the first place?) Anyway, I quite enjoyed the book, but I don't think it's my favorite out of the prequel Pendragons. It's a very good thing #10 is just around the corner. I can barely wait for that! Now that book I would buy.

Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer

Alright, now this month I don't think I'll care at all about statistics of books in posts. They're only useful in the labels. The fact is that I loooooved this book!!! It's almost scary how fast I was able to finish it. Because believe me, this book was thick. But then I'd been waiting for it for such a long time, so it's almost hardly a surprise how eager I was to read it.

I'd heard around that Eclipse wasn't that good a story in the Twilight Saga, but I think these people were dead wrong. I believe that, if a series is truly awesome, then it must get better and better with each new book. My special theory is that the best books in the very best series are the last and second-to-last books. Of course, the series has to be longer than a trilogy, because otherwise the pattern has to be great, greater, greatest.

Anyway, as this is the penultimate Twilight book, I super enjoyed it. I loved it much better than New Moon. That's a good sign. Some of my favorite parts were when different characters told stories to Bella, very interesting sort of histories. Like what Rosalie and Jaspar were like around the time they became vampires, or the legends of the werewolves. They were so interesting. I'm glad that a lot of subconcious questions of mine were answered.

Of course, I loved the romance the best. Though it was incredibly confusing, to tell you the truth. Like, after Bella and Edward got back together, Jacob the werewolf is still in love with Bella, and she still gets to hang out with him until it's like she loves him too. But she loves Edward even more, and she knows that she can't live without him, but Jacob... and Edward seems okay with all this? Because he loves Bella so much that he doesn't care what she does as long as she's happy. Since this book is told in first person, and since I relate so much to Bella, I'm continually as baffled as she is who she should choose in the end. Edward, of course, is amazing. But still, I love Jacob. He's a wonderful character, and the best friend she ever had. Plus, I don't think he's as dangerous as a vampire. He's part human, anyway.

**********Spoiler alert**********

One of the funniest parts for me was when Bella, Edward and Jacob are all camping in a tent together and it's very cold, so Jacob warms Bella up so she can sleep. (Edward can't do that since he'd make her colder.) Later, when Bella is very still but not quite asleep, though the boys think she is, vampire and werewolf start talking, strangely friendly like. They calmly chat about how they both love Bella and how sticky a situation both of them are in because of that. They're also aware how strongly Bella feels for each of them, and they discuss that. All the while, I'm thinking like, Why aren't they at each other's throats by this conversation? They should be killing themselves over her right now. But they both behave. Bella seems to write this unusual scene off as a dream, which is conveniant for the story, because if I were her, I might have decided to "wake up" several times. But I thought it was very cool how genuinely friendly these guys were towards each other. In another world, had they not been mythical monsters or in love with the same girl, I bet they'd be pretty good buds. Still, I agreed with the both of them when they decided that the best man will have to win, and that by the next day the strange truce will have to be over.

**********Spoiler over**********

All in all, this book was totally amazing. I don't care what anyone else says. To me, this was the best Twilight book yet. Still, I know this book has only prepared me for the treat that Breaking Dawn is sure to be. My friend Q told me about chapters in which Jacob narrated, where the headings are funny. I'll be looking out for that. Ooh, speaking of which, I thought it was really strange in the epilogue how it turned into Jacob's view instead of Bella's. It almost disoriented me, because I was unused to the way his mind operated. Of course, this may be because I'm a girl, but still.

I'm so excited that I'm nearly finished with the whole Saga, but sad at the prospect at the same time. Twilight has cast a spell over me, one that I very much doubt will ever leave me, even after I turn the last page of the final book.

Scat, by Carl Hiaasen

Facts: This book was published in 2009. (the second book I've read that was published this year!) It had 370 pages and I read it in two days. Mostly today, when I needed it the most. (In case you haven't heard by now, I've completed the SAT test!) This is Carl Hiaasen's 3rd book for kids. I wouldn't say they're in a series, but all the books are similar to each other in three ways; they all take place somewhere in Florida, the stories are about brave kids saving a certain endangered species, and each has a one word title. Hoot, Flush, and now Scat. Hoot was made into a movie by Walden Media (I love how good that company is at turning books into great films) and guess what? The filming actually took place in Florida, and Annette and I got to be extras that made it into the movie! If you haven't seen this movie yet, now you have a very good reason to do so. You can see my sister and I quite clearly close to the end, especially Annette. You can see her making funny faces right behind the lady from Legally Blond, whats-her-name (I didn't watch Legally Blond). I wish I could actually show you where we turn up in the movie, so I can prove myself, but I can't find a good clip on YouTube. So you'll have to look for us yourselves. Be aware, though, that this was a couple years ago, and our hair was extra short then. However, you probably won't have trouble spotting me, since I've got a pastel pink shirt.

Okay, enough talk about my extra days. Let's get back to my opinions on Scat.

Scat is really a sort of an environmental mystery. A really nasty teacher goes missing on a field trip to a swamp when a wildfire starts, and people suspect that this delinquent kid, Smoke, actually started the fire. But he really didn't. There's also a couple of oil drillers aiming to get rich with an illegal lot in the swamp that's supposed to belong to the state of Florida, because of the endangered panthers.
I think the book was very well-written. The story seems so real because there aren't any overly fantastical elements in it; it's just like real life. Although it was cute that Carl was able to sneak in a couple of Harry Potter references. That kind of thing brings the story closer to reality, because I guess if readers see that the characters have read H. P., then they'll become that much easier to relate to. I also like how all the books have highly environmentally conscious characters. It's very true that the wild-life of Florida is disappearing and getting buried under hotels, casinos, parking lots, and who knows what else, just so that a few uncaring people can stuff more money in their pockets.

I think this definitely deserves to be turned into a movie, just like Hoot. Hey, promise that you'll see Hoot as soon as you can? I can't really make sure you keep the promise all the way from my computer, but you've just got to see me and my sister in a Hollywood film. Then you can point and say to your friends that you know someone in a movie! Plus, you know I got Robert Wagner's autograph? I got the main boy, Logan Lerman's, too. I believe he's going to play Percy when they make a movie out of the Olympian series.

Okay, so make sure you watch Hoot soon, alright? And it wouldn't hurt to read Carl Hiaasen's works either. They're all great reads. You won't regret picking them up.

The Titan's Curse, by Rick Riordan

Title: The Titan's Curse

Author: Rick Riordan

Published: 2007

Pages: 312

Chapters: 20

Pages per Chapter (on average): 15+

Date Started: Jan. 18-----Date Finished: Jan. 19

My Reading Speed: 156 pages a day, or 10 chapters a day

The Main Characters: Percy Jackson, son of the sea god Poseidon, plus his friends Grover, a satyr, and Thalia, daughter of Zeus.

My Brief Synopsis: Well, this is the third book in this particular series, so people who haven't read the previous 2 probably won't be able to follow. But Thalia, the demigod who used to be the tree guarding Camp Half-Blood, becomes a big character because Annabeth, as well as the goddess Artemis, gets kidnapped by the Titans, so Percy, Thalia and Grover have to go on a quest to save them before the Winter Solstice.

The Conflicts: As usual in this series, there are a bunch of fights and cool, dangerous monsters, if you're into that sort of thing. Luke, a son of Hermes being manipulated by the titan Kronos, is the guy you'd label as the villain. There are also a couple of new demigods, Bianca and Nico di Angelo, who are introduced to the scene. Bianca becomes a Hunter, and both she and her brother have a mysterious past.

My General Comments: I wasn't very sure if I wanted to continue this series at first, but I actually liked this book. It was good and fast-paced, and even after a couple of years of being a hero, Percy still finds something new to learn about being a demigod every once in awhile, therefore allowing us, the readers, to learn as well. That's what I think a good hero should be in this kind of series. Humble, and always learning, never assuming to know everything about his/her world, unlike their arrogant foes.

My Favorite Part: I like the parts where Percy meets an Olympian God or Goddess, to see how these figures of celestial power are described and what their characters are like. When all the gods are together, as in the Winter Solstice meeting and the Olympian party, it's pretty cool.

My Favorite Things About the Book: I enjoy reading about all the allusions to greek mythology. Most of my knowledge about greek gods and stuff I got from the Disney movie Hercules, so it's fascinating learning about all the names and the myths. Pretty smart of Mr. Riordan to fuse that kind of education with these cool adventures.

A Personal Shout Out to Rick Riordan: Kudos to you, Rick. You must've spent hours studying your Greek Mythology literature. You created such a cool and original world, I can almost believe that the gods are still around and kicking.

Here's the link to The Titan's Curse's Wikipedia Article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Titan's_Curse

Also the series' Wikipedia Article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Jackson_and_the_Olympians

Below is Rick Riordan's website:

http://www.rickriordan.com/

What is your favorite part? If you haven't read this book, sorry for all the spoilers, but you can comment and say if this book review was helpful. If you have read this book, please give me a comment or email me so we can discuss it. This would be the closest I've ever gotten to a book club, you know.

Edit: There's now going to be a movie of the original Percy Jackson book, The Lightning Thief. Here's a trailer:

The Prophet of Yonwood, by Jeanne Duprau

Title: The Prophet of Yonwood

Author: Jeanne DuPrau.

Published: 2006

Pages: 290

Chapters: 33

Pages per Chapter (on average): 8+

Date Started: Jan. 11-----Date Finished: Jan. 12

My Reading Speed: 145+ pages a day, or 16.5 chapters a day.

The Main Characters: Nickie Randolph, a young girl who wants to help the world, and Grover Persons, a boy who wants to be a herpetologist (someone who studies snakes.)

My Brief Synopsis: This book is a prequel to The City of Ember and seems to take place a lot closer to the present than the other books. There is talk about a big Disaster approaching, various countries being at war with each other. A woman in Yonwood, North Carolina receives a horrible vision of a future in which the planet is barren and destroyed (hence the title). Nickie has 3 goals when she arrives with her aunt in Yonwood. 1~Convince her aunt to keep the big house her great-grandfather left them instead of selling it. 2~Fall in love during her stay. 3~Help the world in some small, special way.

The Conflicts: The alleged Prophet's friend, Mrs. Beeson, interprets the mumblings as instructions for the people to avoid this terrible future, but that doesn't seem quite right. No singing and dancing? No dogs? Why should people give up these kind of things? Why should the boy Grover give up his snakes, just because the bible says they're supposed to be evil? Why should God care about such trivial things when there's a global crisis?

My General Comments: I'm glad the story's events are closer to now than the others, though it seems like a scary prospect of the future, having so many people worry if the world's going to end. Who knows if we're not so far away from that unless we fix things right now, like global warming or foreign relations? It's serious stuff to think about, but it's always important to keep thinking about the future, how you can help make things better instead of worse.

My Favorite Part: I liked the last chapter very much. I know, it's seeming like a pattern for me. Me liking endings the most. But this was really good. You get to know how all the characters fared in the end and everyone seems happy, but then you realize that events still have to lead up to the point that Ember started up at, and yet it's satisfying. I had a sneaking suspicion that Nickie would grow to be the old lady who wrote the journal Lina and Doon found.

My Favorite Things About the Book: Well, since it's a prequel, I really like that things were cleared up. Of course, I think a tiny bit that the characters were slightly more... childish than Lina and Doon. I don't know, like, Lina and Doon seem a lot braver and more resourceful than Nickie and Grover. That's the only critique I'm going to make, because I did quite like it. Maybe not quite so much as the others, but it was good. Really.

Here's the link to The People of Sparks's Wikipedia Article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prophet_of_Yonwood

Below is Jeanne Duprau's own website:

http://www.jeanneduprau.com/index.shtml

This link will take you to my review of Jeanne Duprau's first 2 books, The City of Ember and The People of Sparks.

http://bettinasbooks2009.blogspot.com/2008/12/city-of-ember.html

http://bettinasbooks2009.blogspot.com/2009/01/people-of-sparks.html

What is your favorite part? If you haven't read this book, sorry for all the spoilers, but you can comment and say if this book review was helpful. If you have read this book, please give me a comment or email me so we can discuss it. This would be the closest I've ever gotten to a book club, you know.