Another Triple Threat book review

Who knows why I keep posting these book reviews, since it seems hardly anyone reads them now except for me. Because I'm too lazy to write a separate post for each book review, I'm putting them all into one post. I liked reading each of them very much in their own right. Here's what I thought after reading them:

1~ Daniel X: Game Over, by James Patterson
This is book 4 in the Daniel X series. All the way back in April (whoa, does time fly or what?!), I read the first 3 books plus the graphic novel and liked them all well enough (see the review here). Game Over was a pretty good continuation of the series, and does quite well on it's own, I think. I mean, if I had forgotten any of the characters and adventures from the previous books (which I didn't), this does a good job of reminding me and bringing me up to speed.

Basically, the new mission of our titular hero, Daniel, is to take down these 2 aliens who are trying to destroy Earth by brainwashing our video game addicted youth into becoming violent and wiping out the human species. The story takes place in Japan, which in itself is quite awesome, and the evil duo disguise themselves as Japanese video game tycoons. Things are kept interesting when Daniel makes friends with the aliens' son, who doesn't seem to have inherited his parents' vicious ways.

A fast and satisfying read. What do you expect? It's James Patterson. ^_^

2~ Anatomy of a Boyfriend, by Daria Snadowski
Now this was an amazing romance novel, a refreshingly simple girl meets boy story that felt... real. Think Twilght, only there are no vampires and werewolves, and the heroine is a more likable, relatable and strong character. Yes, she has her faults, but she doesn't act stupid. The guy is really sweet, too. When you get to the bottom of it, it's a pure example of first love and how it (unfortunately) crumbles.

Really, in a nutshell, the story goes like this (sorry for the spoilers!):

• Girl embarrasses herself in front of Boy


• Girl and Boy hang out at a couple of parties


• Girl finds herself thinking about Boy all the time


• Girl and Boy kiss


• Girl and Boy officially become a couple (dating and making out)


• Girl goes to separate college than Boy and tries to keep a long distance relationship


• Boy breaks up with Girl, because it's not working, and Girl takes it badly (VERY badly. It was actually kind of scary how she lost her temper like she did)


• Girl moves on

For those hopeless romantics, like myself, this is a great read that I highly recommend.

3~ Boyfriends with Girlfriends, by Alex Sanchez
This book was extremely interesting to get into. I was browsing the shelves in my library and happened to come across this author, Alex Sanchez, who seems to have written a lot of stories about gay teenagers and their own romances. After reading this book, I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy the rest of Sanchez's works. This has a much more complicated story than Anatomy of a Boyfriend, which made for a half slighlty confusing, half incredibly intriguing read.

See, there are two pairs of friends, and all four of them gets a little of the story told from their point of view. There's the gay guy and his friend the straight girl, and then there's the bi-sexual guy and his friend the lesbian girl. Gay and Bi try to become a couple, though Gay finds it hard to accept that Bi really is bi, since he can't relate. Bi only recently broke up with his girlfriend, and he hasn't tried having a real relationship with a guy yet. Meanwhile, Straight girl and Lesbian become really good friends. Lesbian develops a crush on Straight girl, but she already has a boyfriend, so she's off-limits. However, Straight girl is questioning her relationship with her boyfriend and keeps thinking about Lesbian. She even dreams about kissing her! So maybe she's bi too?

I loved reading this book, because I got to read about interesting bisexual characters, in addition to gay and lesbian. I don't believe I've encountered a lot of bi characters in books or movies, so it was really educational for me. In the end, you really don't care what sexual orientation the characters are, because they are truly all unique personalities and have their own hopes and dreams besides who they are attracted to. (btw, I'm hoping that my referring to the characters just by their preference and not their names doesn't offend anyone. Their names were that forgettable. It's like my referring to Girl and Boy in Anatomy of a Boyfriend. It's just an easier way to identify the characters.)

I am definitely going to try and read more books like these.

Room, by Emma Donoghue

It sure looks as though I haven't been reading many books these days. Well, I did finish reading the old classic "Wuthering Heights", which took me weeks to read. But now I've finally got a fantastic book that is worth posting about. My favorite aunt, Lisa, recommended it to me. As soon as she told me about it, I looked it up on the iPad and downloaded a sample from the iBooks app. (I have discovered that reading samples is even better than borrowing from the library, because this lets me know whether a book is really worth reading or not! For example, I got to read a sample of "The Death Cure", by James Dashner, and it's not even out yet! It was just a few chapters, but it is awesome! I can't wait to read it for real!) After getting my first taste of "Room", I knew it was gold, so I reserved it from the library, and it came in surprisingly quick. Now I'm done with it.

What a great story! Told from the point of view of five-year-old Jack, it's the tale of a boy and his mother who have lived in the same small room all of his life. It's where he was born, and he has never been Outside, so all he knows are the things in Room. He addresses all the objects in the room as if they are his friends, like Bed, Wardrobe, Rocker, and TV. When he watches TV and sees all the wonderful shows, he believes that none of it is real, and everything outside of Room is Outer Space. The only real people in the entire world are him and his Ma. Except, perhaps, the mysterious and scary Old Nick, who brings them food and other important things and comes in at night sometimes...

It wasn't always like that. When Ma was nineteen, she got kidnapped by Old Nick and became trapped in Room. Seven years later, she is still in that room, and Jack has gotten so big that it is even more important that they find some way to escape. When she tells her son the entire truth, that there is a world out there, that all things from TV are actually real (except for Dora and Spongebob, of course), it is almost too much for young Jack to comprehend. Even scarier is when she proposes their escape plan, where he has to pretend that he's sick, so that Old Nick will take him Outside and Jack can run to a police and rescue Ma. It is the biggest thing Jack has ever had to do in his young life, but he does it, and the pages turn themselves as you race to find out what happens next.

I loved reading this, because it was so wildly original. The childish narration is incredibly charming with it's many grammatical errors, but you totally accept it, because after all, this is a kid telling the story. Also, this book started out with such a unique idea that really makes the reader stop and think, and look at the world a little differently. You don't come across books like that all the time. I say get your hands on this book right away and get ready to sink your teeth into an awesome story.

Graphic novels I read in Boston

I spent a lot of time at the library when I was up in Boston for a week, particularly in the teen section, where I got to read graphic novels to my heart's content. ^_^ I read 3 more volumes in the Sand Chronicles manga series, and a standalone book called "Hereville".

Unfortunately, there's not much for me to say in this review without spoiling all the books. It gets a lot more complex as the story advances and the characters get older. The love situation gets very confusing, because Ann and Daigo break up (nooo!) and get a new boyfriend and girlfriend, but it's complicated, because they both still love each other. It's a whole triangle, or love square, or whatever shape you want to call it... it's a messy love web. But it's still a great story.

I also read this fascinating book, "Hereville". It's about this Jewish girl with a big imagination who dreams of slaying dragons and being some sort of hero. She meets a witch and a talking pig and gets in crazy messes. I'm not sure how else to describe it to you, but it was particularly interesting to me, because I'm Jewish myself. There's a little bit of Yiddish spoken in the book and interesting Jewish traditions I didn't know about, and I liked that there were little footnotes that explained what these things meant. It was a quirky story that I enjoyed a lot and would probably recommend.

Remember Me?

This is an appropriate title for my blog post, since it's been a while since I did any reviewing. =P But guess what? That's actually the title of one of the books I read this last week.

Sophie Kinsella's "Remember Me" was a book Annette and I found when we went to Boston and stayed in our apartment there. It was one of the books a past tenant just happened to leave behind, and the premise on the back seemed very interesting, so we thought we'd check it out.

Well, I loved it! Great characters, great humor, great romance, and a very cool story idea. Imagine this: You get in a car crash and knock your head a bit. Next thing you know, you're in the hospital and you're told that you have amnesia. But a very specific type of amnesia. You remember who you are and have memories of your life, luckily, but you forget the last 3 years of your life. Think about it. So much can happen in 3 years!

That's what happens to the main character, Lexi, a twenty-five-year-old woman from 2004, who suddenly finds herself in the year 2007, and nearly everything about her life has changed. She used to be a low-level office worker, but now she's a driven and ambitious head honcho at her company. She's filthy rich partly because of this, but also because she married a hot multi-millionaire. She didn't have a steady boyfriend before, so suddenly having a husband... let alone a dream husband... is the shock of her life. She lives in a very swanky mansion, owns tons of fancy clothes, and even changed her appearance a little. In a word, everything changes for Lexi.

It was very cool to read about how this character handled her bizarre situation, and came to terms with her new life, because she gets lots of surprises. One of the more interesting ones is that she has a secret affair behind her hot husband's back. At first she thinks, "Why on earth would I want to leave my husband? I'm not the unfaithful type. Yes, I don't know him, but apparently we love each other..." But eventually she realizes that the guy she married isn't as perfect as she thought. I won't spoil anything, but it's a really great story. Maybe the ending is slightly anti-climactic, but the rest of the story was good enough that I wasn't disappointed.

This book really made me think... a lot can happen in 3 years! I mean, imagine what would happen if I got this selective amnesia and forgot the last 3 years of my life! I was such a different person at 17 years old. For example, I didn't blog 3 years ago! That has absolutely changed my life. I can't imagine forgetting all the books I've read, and all the fantastic friends I've made... I wouldn't have known how to drive as well as I do now! So yeah, I'm very grateful that I have all my memories and I'm living the life I have now, and this book absolutely gets a thumbs up for me.

Blog Retiring... again

I'm sorry guys. I don't think I'll be able to do the book reviewing thing anymore. And I mean it this time. I still love reading, more than anything else, but when it comes to reviewing them... if I get lazy just once, I start getting backed up on a whole line of books! I just want to keep gobbling books! I can't keep going back into the one I just read. I'm hungry for more!

So yeah, this is pretty much what I've been reading since my last review. All really good books in their own right. ^_^

• Born Digital ~ Very educational, bringing up all the issues and boons of today's wired generation
• Maximum Ride, Books 1 & 2 ~ I am so psyched about this series! Patiently awaiting #3 from the library. I will chase down Max and the flock's adventures right to the very end, I'm sure. ^_^
• I am the Messenger ~ This was by the guy who wrote The Book Thief (see my review here). I really enjoyed it!
• Skipping Towards Gomorrah ~ ...

Okay, if I'm going to be doing a proper review on any of the books I read, I might as well do this one.

I was very surprised when I found this book on our living-room shelf! I mean, a book by Dan Savage! The guy who started the It Gets Better project! He is one of my heroes now, and my parents just happened to have a book written by him, long before he got to be famous (well, in my eyes, anyway)! ^_^ I took this to the beach and had a blast reading it.

Warning though: this book is for really mature readers. Dan Savage is very frank in his language, and he's not at all afraid to talk about things like sex-related stuff, drugs, etc. It was kinda weird for me, reading all that, (blush *,*) but it was really refreshing to get such an open and honest take on the 7 deadly sins.

I learned a lot, was taken outside my comfort zone, and enjoyed reading about Dan's many sinful adventures. I reserved a couple of his other books, because I enjoy his writing style a lot!

---

There. I think that will be the last book I review here now. I'm serious this time. If I'm going to mention that I read a great book, I'll say it in passing on my home blog. I'm sure you can find yourself there without my linking to it.

Happy reading, all! ^_^

Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale

It's been a long time since I've reviewed a book that I could honestly say I enjoyed. Finally, here is a book that I think is simply amazing. Two thumbs up. Written by the brilliant and poetic Shannon Hale, I dove into this story and hardly wanted to leave it. Wonderful and solid world-building, characters you could relate to and knew were growing as the story progressed, and a happy ending that I could be well satisfied with. ^_^

Basically, it's a book written in a diary format about a girl named Dashti, who is the poor, humble maid of a sort of princess, Lady Saren, who was sentenced by her father to 7 years in a tower, because she refused to marry the man her father told her to. So the lady and her maid are imprisoned together. Luckily there's plenty of food in the tower, so at least they won't starve for 7 years (although they do have rats) and Dashti knows how to write, so she keeps a record of their time in that prison.

About a month of being locked in the tower, Saren's real love, Tegus, visits them, but Saren doesn't want to talk to him because she's scared, so she orders Dashti to pretend she's her. Dashti is quite reluctant to do that, but she does as she's told, and soon she and Tegus become really good friends, him thinking that she's Lady Saren. After a few visits in a row, though, he leaves and doesn't return for the longest time.

With many days, weeks and months skipped, eventually Dashti and Saren manage to escape the tower after nearly 3 years of imprisonment (I won't tell you how they escaped. ^_~). But the world around them has changed a lot. What used to be Saren's home is burned to the ground, so they have to go somewhere else. Dashti decides to take them to Tegus's realm, because she knows they'll be safe there. They get there, but Saren is a bit crazy from years in the tower, and she doesn't want to tell anyone that she's really a Lady, so she works with Dashti in the kitchen scrubbing pots all day.

I won't tell you how, but soon Dashti meets Tegus himself, and they become friends again, him never knowing that she was the one he'd spoken to in the tower. This is when Dashti realizes that she's in love with Tegus, not Saren. He never even met the real Saren, so that means he loves her.

As you can see, it was a really romantic story, and I loved it a lot. ^_^ I don't know why I haven't picked it up before now, but I'm glad I did. I highly recommend it.

Girl Parts, by John M. Cusick

I saw this book in a bookstore in Boston, and I was fascinated by the synopsis on the inside flap. As soon as we got home to Florida, I reserved it from my library and in a few short days I had it in my hands. I pretty much gobbled the whole thing in one day. Here's the story:

This robot girl, a Companion named Rose, is programmed to help "disassociated" David Sun make real, emotional connections with an "actual" person. An interesting proposal, since with all the internet stuff and texting and things of that nature, it would be easy for teens to get lost and forget what making friends and having boundaries really means. She has this thing called an Intimacy Clock inside her, which tells her when it's okay to touch her at certain points of the relationship. If you touch her inappropriately, she gives you an electric shock. Reward and punishment system.

However, it's easy to forget that Rose is really a machine, not a person. She may look like a girl, but she doesn't have everything that a girl has. *hint hint* When David discovers this, he pretty much dumps her, and she's left heartbroken. Well, the nearest thing a robot could call heartbroken, anyway. Luckily, Rose makes friends with a boy named Charlie, who is a sweet, real guy who doesn't share David's disassociative problem, though he is a little shy and a loner. But he really does care for her, even if she is a machine. In the end, Charlie helps Rose learn to move on and become her own person.

This story was interesting, but I do have a few gripes with it:

1: There's a lot of bad-boy stuff in here. Cursing, drinking, drugs, and all David thinks about is going around the bases with Rose. I mean, it's horrible how much he and his stupid friends treat girls like objects (although in Rose's case, she actually is an object, but still). Personally, I don't go for books like that. It doesn't set a very good example for real teenagers.

2: I wasn't totally convinced that Rose was, in fact, a robot. I don't know, perhaps if you're able to suspend your belief and imagine that there's a company in Japan (Sakora) that makes absolutely perfect androids that think and seem to act human, you can enjoy the story. But she acts and moves too much like a human. She was just too perfect, if you know what I mean. Her thought process had a bit of a technical side to it, but she still seemed to think like a real girl.

3: The ending really seemed to fall flat. Sorry to spoil it for you, but in the end, Rose simply disappears. I have no idea what happened to her. Maybe she was taken away by the Sakora people and decommissioned. Maybe she ran away and started a new life for herself, one without David or Charlie. (I don't see why she couldn't have stuck with Charlie, but then again, she is a robot.) So with Rose gone, both boys get new girlfriends that they're happy with and everyone lives happily ever after. Really John? Really?

In conclusion, I'd say this book may look appealing by the attractive cover, but don't be fooled by it. Your time will probably be better spent with another book entirely.

How They Met and other stories, by David Levithan

After I returned those Odd short story books to the library, I was scanning the shelves for another anthology that I could glean inspiration and learn from. (I want to write my own collection of short stories now. ^_^) So I found this. Now by the cover, it looked like this would certainly be my kind of book. I've tackled short stories about magic and odd things, and now I was ready to read short stories about love. Awesome!

What I didn't know, and what the inside cover didn't bother to tell me, was that about a third of the stories were about gay couples. O,o

Now I certainly don't have anything against gay people (one of my best friends is gay ^_~). It's just that I'm not used to reading from the perspective of a gay person. It was just... different for me. Hey, I wouldn't have minded if one or two stories were about gay couples, but we're talking about 7 out of 18 stories here. The very first three stories, in fact, were gay. So yeah, this kind of affected my opinion of the book as a whole in general.

To be fair though, the stories that were about straight couples were quite good. The author certainly kept me guessing. O,o He usually wrote in the first person, so it was a little hard to figure out sometimes whether it would turn out to be a gay story or a straight story. But I liked the guy's writing style. The fact that I bothered to finish this book shows that it wasn't all that bad of a reading experience.

Maybe this book was false advertising for me, personally, but don't let that stop you from picking this book up yourself. Who knows? Maybe you'll like it.

Rapunzel's Revenge, by Shannon Hale

I seem to be reading a lot of graphic novels lately. I don't know what it is about 2010 that is making me read so many G.N.s, but I'm glad I'm reading some good stuff here. When the story is good and the art style is appealing, they are quick and easy reading. I think that's what I love about them. I can go to a book store or a library and leave having enjoyed another wild adventure.

Anyway, after just a couple visits to the library (once a few days ago and once yesterday), I finished my first book by Shannon Hale. How cool that it was a graphic novel. I've heard that my friend Q is quite the fan of Shannon Hale. Well, she has pretty good taste. Rapunzel's Revenge was a wonderful take on an old fairy tale, with a few certain changes. For example, Rapunzel escapes from her own tower (a taaaall tree hollowed out at the top) with her extremely long hair, which she braids and uses as a couple of lassos. (Go girl power!) Then she befriends a guy named Jack (who seems to be Jack from the Beanstalk story) and together they journey across the land so Rapunzel can settle the score with her "mother", the witch.

Quite action packed and well worth looking into. In fact, I've learned that this book actually has a sequel that was published at the beginning of the year. It's called Calamity Jack. I suppose it focuses more on Jack this time, but Rapunzel still follows him. From the cover alone, it looks great. Since I liked the first book so much, I've already reserved it from the library. I hope it comes in soon.

While at the library, I also had time to finish another graphic novel, though this one was really short. Wallace and Gromit are such a funny claymation duo. It's a very quick mystery about dogs going missing and since Wallace and Gromit are amateur sleuths, they get to solve it. Well, Gromit the dog does, anyway. Wallace just runs into dead ends, but ends up taking the credit anyway. Very sweet, anyway.

Standard Hero Behavior, by John David Anderson

I randomly picked this book up in the library and read a chapter before we had to go home. Just from that chapter alone, I knew it was a good story. It's a medieval tale about a teenager named Mason who is the bard (story-teller/ poet/song writer) of Darlington, a town that used to have lots of brave heroes, but now only has one, Duke Darlinger, who always returns from his adventures suspiciously unscathed and puts heavy "protection taxes" on the people.

Eventually, when a couple of Orcs come to town, Mason discovers that the Duke is actually a big wimp and not the hero that everybody thinks he is. So Mason and his best friend Cowel set off in search of heroes who will help fend of the evil army of orcs and goblins about to overrun their town in just a few days. Along the way, they make interesting friends, have very close shaves, learn about what really happened to Mason's father, and discover what being a hero really entails.

I liked the humor in this story, as well as the world-building and what I thought were quite fully rounded characters. The ending was somewhat anti-climactic, because it skipped the big battle scene altogether (Mason and Cowel weren't around for it, after all), but it ended pretty nicely. Wrapped everything up very neatly. I don't see any sequels coming out of this any time soon, which is fine and dandy with me.

There are a few places where the characters curse mildly, which was pretty funny. However, I think it would have been more entertaining if the author had been more creative with his profanity instead of simply letting the characters say cr** and sh** to express their anger/annoyance. But besides that, it was all in all an enjoyable reading experience for me. Pick it up and see what you think.

Marley and Me, by John Grogan

Before I read this book, I saw the movie that was based on it, which starred Owen Wilson and Jennifer Anniston. What a heart-warming movie Marley and Me was. It seems that they were really true to the story. ^_^

I loved the movie a lot, but nothing can compare to the book. There are so many more funny stories to tell about this wacky dog, and the book just leaves it up to your imagination how Marley gets into all his funny antics. It focuses less on the owners, John and Jenny Grogan's lives, and more on stories of their wild pet.

Even though Marley may seem like a dumb goofball of a dog - he eats anything and everything, he won't listen to simple commands like sit and come, thunderstorms freak him out, he's full of ecstatic energy no matter what the situation - there are times where he seems to know exactly what is happening and what is needed from him at the moment. Like when the Grogans bring home their first baby, Marley knows that he has to be gentle around him.

I got sad when Marley started to show his age. A dog who had acted like an overgrown puppy all his life, and he gets weak hips and a twisted stomach. ~,~ Even though I expected it all along, it was still quite sad.

John Grogan is a really good writer. Of course, he works as a columnist, so that must help a lot, but still. Telling all the funny Marley stories in such detail, he made me believe that they were all true (which they were.) I guess watching the movie, I'd be more liable to think that it was just another made-up plot, even though it says "based on a true story." Anyway, top marks. I highly recommend this book and it's movie to animal lovers everywhere. Here's a trailer for it.

The Tao of Pooh, by Benjamin Hoff

I love Winnie the Pooh. I never read the classic children's books, but I saw the Disney's "Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" when I was little. What a special character. Though he's a bear of very little brain, he is the most lovable creature in the Hundred Acre Wood. Plus, as revealed in this book, he displays characteristics and practices many of the principles of a Taoist (pronounced DOW-ist).

The Tao of Pooh compares the different characters in Pooh's world - Rabbit, Owl, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet, you remember them, Don't you? - to the simple, peaceful wiseness of Pooh's personality. While Rabbit is clever, Owl pompous, Tigger impatient, Eeyore depressed and Piglet hesitant, Winnie the Pooh simply... is. He's always in the Now, enjoying a beautiful day with a jar of honey and Christopher Robin by his side.

What I loved about this book is that it included several passages from the classic stories. What a brilliant children's author A. A. Milne was. ^_^ It makes me want to actually read the Pooh books. Maybe I'll find them online somewhere. But even if you're not familiar with the characters of the Hundred Acre Wood, I think just about anyone will like this book.

A couple books

Okay, I need to be a LOT better at posting book reviews after I finish them. It would take way too long to write proper reviews for each of these books, so I'm going to do it in one whole shebang. One thing all these books have in common? They receive a hearty thumbs up from me, but for different reasons.
I finished the Michael Jackson biography first, and, since I'm such a huge fan of him, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. ^_^ Funny enough, I got to reading it while I was researching for my Michael Jackson Tribute speech for Toastmasters (see this link). This book had so much! There were chapters about his 2 marriages, a chapter with a list of most of the notable awards he won over the years, even a few chapters that were transcripts of interviews he did, like the one he did in 1993 with Oprah Winfrey. I liked those chapters best. ^_^ I like what people say about him well enough, but anything Michael says just makes me admire him even more. I highly recommend this to MJ fans.

Num8ers was quite a fascinating read too. I found out about it because of a review from the Latiener Gang. They certainly picked a winner, in my opinion. It's about a girl who knows when people are going to die by seeing the numbers of their date when she looks in their eyes. It's a pretty great love story, but (and I'm sorry to spoil it for you) it ends sadly. Like the Latieners say, the ending will really surprise you. I'll warn you though, this book's kind of for mature readers, if you catch my meaning.

Lastly, there's the Elmo book. Now, I'm not a really big fan of Sesame Street, let alone Elmo, but this book was very informative, because it was written by a guy who was right behind the scenes of things. It's mostly a biography of the life of Kevin Clash, the voice and puppeteer of Elmo. His story is pretty sweet, and it made me think about how many people are actually affected by the famous little red muppet monster.

There's actually one more book I wanted to mention. I read it in Borders very quickly the other day. It's a manga graphic novel for Cirque Du Freak. I know a movie of this came out just last year, and I've been slightly curious about the story for a while. I'm not really used to manga, since you have to read from the right end of the book to the left end, but as graphic novels go, I liked it. ^_^ It comes in a whole series, and I look forward to going through all the rest.

And I promise, the next book I finish will get an immediate review. Peace out!

Serafina67 *urgently requires life*, by Susie Day

OMG, this book was really cute and funny. I found it in the library on the Treasure Trove shelf (where else?) and started looking through it. Basically, it read like the blog of a 15-year-old girl who lives in England and has a lot to talk about. There were much misspellings and internet shorthand, or "IM-speak", but for a person who has been blogging for well over a year, it was easy for me to read.

I actually took quite a long time to read this, because I wasn't sure if I really wanted to check it out, with all the typical teenager drama there might be in it, so I only read it in installments whenever we came to the library. Eventually though, I felt it was okay for me to take it back home and finish it up (it only took one sitting 0,o).

So here's the story. Serafina67, a newbie blogger on ULife, decides she wants to have a few resolutions for the new year: Be completely honest and post almost every day, become skinnier (she has a slight weight problem), make her parents happier (they're divorced and Dad has a new girlfriend who he'll marry soon), make blog friends, and get a boyfriend. All these things she must accomplish before April 22nd, her magic Happiness Deadline date. It's not her birthday, but it's special to Serafina for another reason.

It's a little episodic, but only in the way that an actual blog in real life is episodic, so it was fine with me. The posts were even followed by comments, when there were any, so it felt like I was actually keeping up with an actual person. I loved that! The blog author herself, Serafina, is funny and intellectual, a little wild and self-deprecating at times, but really a character you could pretty much relate to. I enjoyed the fact that she wanted to write stories, or VTNs (Very Thrilling Novels). I don't know if she wanted to really go anywhere with them, because she kept dropping her stories, but still.

In addition to Serafina, there is a great cast of other funny voices in her blog: her faithful commenters. There's Patchworkboy (who actually ends up being her boyfriend! ^_^) and Daisy13 and Frantastica and a whole range of others. It makes the blog-format of the story so much more complete and real with comments. It's a wild ride with many twists and surprises (but of course, what is life but a wild and unpredictable ride?), and at the end there's an especially shocking revelation that you would never have guessed at if you were following the story. The end is definitely my favorite part.

If you like reading blogs, then I do believe you will enjoy reading this thoroughly entertaining blog in physical book form. (It makes me wish that I could turn my own blog into an actual book. If anyone comments, would you know if this is possible?)

Reinventing yourself, by Steve Chandler

This was a very inspirational book. Usually I'm a bit skeptical about these kind of books, but I really liked the writing style of this one. It made a lot of neat references to famous people that I recognize, like Elvis, the Beatles, Michael Jordan and others, and the chapters were very short and easy, so it made for an extremely fast read.

The main point of the book is to make a distinction between people who are victims and people who are owners. Victims are people who feel sorry for themselves, complain and blame other people/ external circumstances for the way their state of affairs is. Owners are people who believe in themselves, take responsibility for their attitude, get out of their comfort zone, and can easily make changes in their lives.

I loved the anecdotes that were in this book. Some of them came from the author's own experience. A story in the first chapter (if not one of the first chapters, I forget now) about his daughters being nervous about singing almost made me cry. Since reading this book, I've also listened to an audio disc about sales with the author, Steve Chandler, narrating, and I really liked his voice. He sounds like a great and funny guy.

The Wikipedia Revolution, by Andrew Lih

Wow, what an eye-opener. I rarely can say this about a non-fiction book, because fiction is more my speed, but this most definitely an awesome book that I highly recommend. Why? Because of the enormous subject it covers: Wikipedia. ^_^

I use this site on a regular basis, and I'm sure many of you have used it for one purpose or another. But until I read this book, I pretty much took it for granted. Not anymore. I learned many facts and have gained a new respect and appreciation for the people behind this fabulous site, including the people who invented it, developed the software for it, and add to it every minute of every day!!!

Did you know that Wikipedia was first put up in 2001? How about that today, over 14 million articles exist on the site in hundreds of language, about a 5th of which is written in English (3.2 million). Do the names Jimmy Wales or Larry Sanger strike any awe in you? They will when you read this book. The first couple chapters were a little hard to get through, because it talked about the history of the regular encyclopedia and some brief history on the people behind Wikipedia, but trust me, when you get to the middle part, where it starts detailing Wikipedia's fascinating evolution, watch out! It will blow your mind!

I kind of wish I could have been involved with the early Wikipedia, as it was still growing and all. It must have been so exciting to be part of such a community, when the number of articles was more than doubling every year. Nowadays, I can imagine how tough it is to upkeep all the articles out there, to keep everything up to date so that Wikipedia keeps it's reputation as an accurate and current online encyclopedia. It must be hard to create a new article, since probably almost every subject has been covered. You type anything in the search box, and chances are good that it's there.

Bottom line is, no matter how often you use Wikipedia, whether for looking up a celebrity's birthday or learning about what E=MC2 means, or even the many uses for the number 11 (I came upon this the other day by clicking the recent changes link. Funny stuff, actually ^_^), I think this is a highly educational book for everyone to pick up. It's a must-read. It's part of our very history! Learn about the greatest encyclopedia in the world!

Send, by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe

While I wouldn't exactly rave about this book, it was pretty educational. Since it was all about emails, I wish I could have used this when I was giving my second ever Toastmaster speech, which was about how people communicate with each other through letters, phones and email. Oh well, I still learned a lot from this book.

I love using email. It's about the most convenient way that I can connect with people I've never even met but know that I like. But like anything, emailing has it's upsides and it's downsides. This book answers questions like, when is it appropriate to email and when is it be more appropriate to use other modes of communication? What should you include in an email and what should you not include? Do you understand your relationship with the person you're sending an email to or do you not? Is it possible that instead of replying, silence would be a better response?

Email has been with us for around a dozen years, yet there are still many things that one can learn about it. In any case, I think this book will make you think twice about hitting Send.

Reincarnation, by Suzanne Weyn

Well, it seems that I caved and read this whole book quickly, even though I promised myself I'd take it slower than I usually take books like this. But it was incredible, I tell you. What else would I expect from the "Treasure Trove?" ^_^ Suzanne Weyn... what a story-teller she is! Besides the awesome story and characters, I was astonished by the way she came up with all the words to describe everything, because you just want to keep the pages turning. The worlds that she created seemed so real, and I liked how the chapters were all organized.

It's kind of more like a collection of stories, because all the characters and settings are completely different, but there is something that connects everything and keeps one central plot. To get the book, you have to believe that reincarnation is real, i.e., when people die they are born again and live new lives, but an unconscious part of them has some memories of past lives that plays a part in their present life. That is what happens here, to all the characters. From the days of cavemen, or prehistory, to ancient Egypt and Greece in years ending in BC, to Massachusetts witch trials and Civil War battlefields, all the way to the present day. It's just the same characters playing over and over again, but in a slightly new way every time.

Every story has a few things in common. There's of course the romantic interest, a boy and girl who share true love and are destined for each other. Then there's the guy who wants to marry the girl, but he can never have her because he's a big jerk. Also there's a scheming girl who loves Jerk guy and doesn't see why Lover girl doesn't like him. Schemer girl could settle with Lover boy, and she tries that, but it never works out. Emeralds play a big part in each reincarnation, since in the very beginning Lover girl and Lover boy fought over a big green rock and wanted it for themselves. You know, because early humans loved shiny things.

With each new story, it was fascinating for me to spot each reference to a past life that the characters carried on in their next life, like an innate skill or a weird handicap, and somehow each character's situation in life seemed the same. It's pretty mind-blowing, because no matter who they are, the two lovers keep meeting up with each other and they have no idea why they feel so comfortable with each other, but pictures keep coming into their mind about how they loved each other in past lives, and they just... recognize each other. Crazy, I know. Circumstances keep forcing them apart, but in the very end they get together and are finally assured that nothing can separate them.

Sorry if this review was all vague and confusing, but I don't know how else to share it. Names aren't important, and there's really no point in going over every single story in each time. There are so many connections and coincidences that it's all one big sticky web. But just trust me on this one. Reincarnation is awesome! I have no doubt that Suzanne Weyn's other books are just as good as this, and I can't wait to read them. I probably need to take a little break after this healthy dose of fiction, though. I want to be as good an author as Weyn is, so I need to get to work.

Dean and Me, by Jerry Lewis

Well, this was definitely an awesome read. I learned so much from it, so I'm glad I listened to Annette when she recommended it to me. It's not what I usually read, but the story was amazing. These two guys, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, are one of my favorite comedy teams of old, and now that I've read the story behind their beginnings and successes, I respect them all the more. I think everyone should read their story.

Okay, who am I talking about here? Who are these guys, Jerry and Dean? Well, Jerry Lewis is pretty much the king of comedy. He's been in scores of funny movies that he also usually directs and writes, including "Rock-a-Bye Baby," "The Nutty Professor," and "The Disorderly Orderly," and so many more. Those are just some of my favorites. Jerry is one of the comedians my younger brother, Adam, idolizes. His face is made of rubber, he talks like a little kid, and nearly everything he does makes you want to laugh. Dean Martin is also a really funny guy. He was in many movies himself, though I haven't seen many of those. He's more famous for starring in "The Dean Martin Variety Show," which was full of hilarious skits and guest stars, and for being a prominent member of the Rat Pack, a group of handsome crooners that also included Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr, among others.

Jerry wrote this book (Dean was dead by then), so it was all from his point of view. It tells of how he and Dean became such close partners in comedy. They made the perfect team. Dean Martin was the handsome crooner, the straight man, but he still had a very sharp sense of humor. Jerry Lewis was the crazy guy, the monkey, the one who made funny faces and pratfalls. He was like a little kid, and Dean was the older brother he never had. And boy, when these two got together, they caused pandemonium. Everyone loved them! What seemed to separate this comedy team from all the others is that these guys were so spontaneous, they were ready for anything. No matter what the other one did, none of them ever missed a beat. And they loved what they did, which was go on a stage and make people laugh.

I learned so many things about Martin and Lewis in this book. For example, when the two of them met for the first time in 1945, Dean was about 28 and Jerry was only 19. 19 years old! I couldn't believe it... plus Jerry was already married and had a kid on the way! Such a young guy. Anyway, these guys became really close friends and they did shows, movies and all kinds of events together. Man, Jerry told such awesome stories about Dean and his speedy rise to fame.

Unfortunately, their partnership couldn't last forever. When they got reviewed in the newspapers, most of what was written was about how funny Jerry was, with Dean rarely getting any credit. In later years there was a lot of tension between them. They broke up after 10 years in 1956 and never really saw each other after that. They lived their own lives and became super famous in their own right, as I mentioned near the beginning. It's really a touching collection of stories and memories that is in this book. Everyone should know this team's tale, even if they've never hear of Martin or Lewis before. You'll laugh and think about life in showbiz several decades ago, and then when you get curious enough to find out who these guys really are, they have a ton of movies (17 of them!) and collections of their TV shows, plus there's any number of clips you can see of them on YouTube.

Here is a clip I found that demonstrates Dean and Jerry's partnership perfectly. You'll love these guys. ^_^

The Compound, by S. A. Bodeen

Wow. Okay, this was one eye-opener of a book. Recommended to me by Dave and the Lateiner Gang (here's their review of it), I read through it very quickly, just in a matter of 2 days, and I loved every page of it. The story was so intense! It was one of those novels that absolutely sucked you in and wouldn't let you go until you were done, even when you took a break from reading it. All I wanted to do was find out what happened next!

Basically it's about a rich family who goes underground as soon as a nuclear bomb apparently strikes, and they hide in a luxurious Compound that the billionaire father designed. The only problem is that the Grandma and the main character's twin brother, Eddy, weren't able to get through in time, so the rest of the family is devastated. ~,~

The Compound is set not to open for 15 years, so Dad, Mom, Lexie, Terese and our main character Eli all have to make the best of their living conditions. There are many rooms, and enough supplies to last them the whole time. But after 6 long years of routine and simply surviving, 15 year old Eli does something that breaks his routine. He looks into the room intended for his perished twin, and finds a laptop computer that has an icon for the internet. He tries to keep it a secret, but later he discovers that when he goes near his dad's office, an internet signal picks up, and he has an IM conversation with someone who is logged in with Eddy's old username. Dad takes the laptop away after this, but Eli's mind is still blown. What other secrets could his father be keeping from him and his family?

This is pretty much the plot of the story. I don't think I should reveal any more, because the rest of it is too good. For example, as Dave pointed out, there is a mysterious "yellow room" in which the purpose is at first completely morbid and revolting to Eli. At first, I was shocked at the thought as well. It really turns ethics on it's head. But once inside, he discovers that the room's inhabitants are wonderful and worth protecting, deserving of as much love as his family. He knows that he absolutely must get everyone out of the Compound and learn the truth, before it's too late. I hope this brief synopsis has aroused your curiosity, because this is one book that deserves a read.