Bible Book 2: Exodus

Jan. 9-Jan. 15. Finished reading Exodus in 7 days

Moses and the plagues (aka, the Passover Story)

I know this story pretty much back to front, because we retell it every year during the Passover Seder. But it was still interesting to see the Bible's take, to see what "really" happened. For example, I learned that when Moses tells Pharaoh to "Let my people go", he was 80 years old! Pretty brave of the old guy to go about rescuing the hundreds of thousands of Hebrew slaves under Egypt's mighty rule. Especially when you realize that they had all been slaves for four hundred years!!! O,O Imagine, four hundred years, and the status quo never changed, until Moses came along!

After Moses demonstrates to the Egyptians that God is all powerful (sending them plagues of frogs, hail, darkness, etc. to prove the point), the Jews are free to go and Moses leads the way through the Red Sea (yeah, I have never believed that this could really happen, but I'll go with it) and through the wilderness. Since they rushed out of Egypt so fast, they didn't have time to bake their bread properly, so they carried the dough on their backs and the sun baked it, which is why we eat the traditional Passover food Matzah, (unleavened cracker-like bread) today.

Jews in the desert

God lead the people as a pillar of smoke by day, and a pillar of fire by night, so they knew which way to go. When the matzah ran out, God fed the people by making a doughy substance (which they decided to call manna) fall from the sky every morning, which would last them enough for the day. That was pretty smart and generous of God, I should say.

The 10 commandments and other rules

So about halfway into the book, all the Jews camp near the famous Mount Sinai, where God calls Moses up to meet with him and have a little chat. This is where God talks about the 10 basic commandments that everyone should follow. He doesn't stop there, though. There's an entire list of other ordinances and rules to follow in relation to slaves, animals, wives, thieves, and lots of other things, which goes on for a couple of chapters straight! God is very specific about this stuff, I gotta say. But He's not done with Moses yet. Oh no, there's much more God needs to say...

The tabernacle

For 3 long chapters, God says how He wants everyone to collect gold, silver, precious gems, rich fabric and cloth in many colors, accacia wood, and other stones and materials, and make him this holy structure, this tabernacle. He tells Moses exactly how the thing must be built, how big it must be, how it must be plated with solid pure gold, how there must be two golden cherubim (cupid-like angels) decorating the sides, how there will be curtains all around it that are so long... on and on and on, right down to the last detail! It's an entire verbal blueprint, just... ugh, so much reading! >_<

THEN God describes how all the stuff that goes inside the tabernacle, like the 7-pronged candle stick (aka, a menorah),the table, the bowls and all the other furniture are plated in gold and silver and brass, and it's just amazing how specific God is! Just remember, Moses is still up there on the mountain, and he's listening to God tell him everything. And he's STILL not done yet!

Costume specs

God needs some priests, so Moses' older brother, Aaron (who helped him a lot in Egypt) and his sons will do nicely. God goes on to order Moses precisely what he wants their costumes to look like. There's all these separate pieces, like a breastplate, a robe, a tunic, a girdle, and there's all these carved stones and gems to be set into the clothes, and gold chain to be wrapped around it, etc, etc, etc, you get the idea. This goes on for a whole chapter.

Ceremony specs

Finally, God specifies exactly how Aaron and his sons will perform their holy ceremonies. I never had any idea that God was so darn particular! The way he wants these sheep sacrificed, how there's always these feasts, how the candle stick should always be burning, the ingredients needed to make the holiest oil and incense, and all that! I mean, come on! What do you really need all this stuff for, God?! It's madness! (sigh) But hey, since it's God, I'll just go with it.

Golden calf God

Here's where the story picks up and gets engaging again. The people start getting impatient with Moses, because he's been up on the mountain "talking to God" for days and days and they don't know when he's coming down, or if he ever will. So they fashion a statue of a calf out of their gold earrings and other jewelry, call it the God that rescued them from Egypt, and throw a big party. Okayyyy... pretty dumb move by the people, if you ask me. Did they forget so quickly how they had manna rain down for them every morning? A calf idol can't do that. Oh well.

So God realizes what the people have done, and Moses comes down from the mountain so angry that he breaks the two stone tablets with God's commandments that he'd taken. God considers doing away with all these unfaithful and ungrateful people, but luckily Moses reasons with Him that He may have made all these rules, but the people didn't know about them yet. Can you really blame someone for breaking rules if they didn't know about the rules? Also, God promised Jacob that his generations would be as numerous as the stars, so what good would it be to wipe all the Jews out? So God gives them a second chance.

The people follow God's commands

So the rest of the book is Moses going back up the mountain and carving out God's commandments into stone tablets again, and then coming down and telling everyone what God wants to be done. So they gather up all the materials that were asked for and start following out God's ultra-specific instructions, with the tabernacle, the furniture, the priest costumes, the incense and everything, and I had to read exactly how they followed God's instructions almost entirely all... over... again! Honestly, talk about filler! I flipped through the last chapters of the book pretty quickly, since it was practically the same text, and that's where we end.

Might I add that whereas Genesis was particularly clear about when all the stories took place, Exodus was extremely vague about dates and things. However, with the Jews being slaves for 400 years, and knowing that they followed Moses through the desert for about 40 years, that gave me a good clue that Exodus ends somewhere around 2770 years after Creation. Great.

Exodus was nowhere as entertaining as Genesis was, but at least the first part of it was interesting. The next book in the series, Leviticus, is something I'm interested in reading, because I don't know it as well as the first two. Of course, I hear that it's full of even more rules, so I don't know... Well, at least it has less chapters!

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.

Dramacon 1 & 2, by Svetlana Chmakova

I started reading Book #1 of Dramacon in my library, just to pass the time. A few pages in, however, the artwork and story and characters drew me in so much that when we had to leave and I hadn't finished reading the manga yet, I was sad. (As a rule, I don't check out graphic novels, since I usually read them so fast that there's little to no point in taking them home with me.)

Lucky for me, I was able to find a website where I could the rest of the manga online, so I was able to finish it at home! ^_^ Of course, it was kind of annoying how slowly every freakin' page had to load. I read the sequel as well, and thankfully I was able to read 2 pages with every load. I would have read the next one, but it doesn't look as if it's available online right now. No matter. I'll just review these two books here.

What a funny story! It's about a shy teenage girl named Christie who goes to her first anime convention with her friends, who are con-veterans. (I've never been to an Anime Con myself, so I could totally relate with her.) She has a boyfriend, Derek, but he doesn't pay much attention to her. He'd rather make goo-goo eyes at the hot costumed chicks. During the convention, Christie keeps bumping into this handsome and friendly (but mysterious) guy who wears shades all the time, named Matt, and she develops a crush on him.

She also meets a Manga author/artist who is a huge hero of hers, which I loved, because it makes me think of when I'll someday meet some of my own heroes. I hope I can be half as lucky as Christie in my encounters. There's a lot I'm not mentioning here, like the other friends Christie makes and all the drama that unfolds between her and Matt, but I'll leave that for you to find out.

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Dramacon #2 was also very nice to read. Christie comes back to the same Anime Con a year later, graduated from high school, with a new haircut, and brings a new friend, Beth, who is the noob this time instead of her. (I love it when stories come full circle. ^,^) Together they make some new friends, but Christie also runs into Matt again, who she hasn't talked to since they said goodbye... and he has a girlfriend! O,o

I liked this book okay, but was sad that the story didn't focus so much on the romance between Christie and Matt than it did on Beth and her dreams to be an artist. See, she and Christie make a comic together, and they try to sell it at the Con. Christie writes it, and Beth does the artwork. Beth gets offered for a job at a manga publishing company, but she's hesitant to take the job. Something about her mother not wanting her to be a starving artist... I don't know, I wish there was more Christie and Matt! Because I loved the romance between them in Book 1. ^,^ Oh well. It was still a good read.

I've heard that the 3rd book is a little bit better, so I'll keep my eye out for it. I definitely liked this manga series a lot, and highly recommend it. It was funny, had a romance I could root for, and had very entertaining drama.

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!

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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! ^_^

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.

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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.

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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?

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

Calamity Jack, by Shannon Hale

What a nice follow-up to Rapunzels Revenge this book was. I read it all in one fell swoop, and it was fantastic. As I predicted, Jack was more the focus of this story. New characters were introduced, hilarity ensues and it seems that everyone lives happily ever after. (Although the last frame is highly suspect. Is it a cliffhanger? Does it indicate a future sequel? I have no idea.)

I liked the prologue, Jack's back-story. Very informative. It flowed right into the present time pretty smoothly. It's funny that Rapunzel still kept her long braid lassos even after she'd had her hair cut off in the last book. I liked the villain, that mean old giant. He was just as horrible as Rapunzel's witch mother, and I liked seeing him go down in the end. I definitely recommend reading this graphic novel, as well as the one that precedes it and any that will succeed it.

I didn't get to finish this book (we had to return it to the library), but I though I might as well mention it. It's quite a well written self-help book that was originally written by Dr. Phil, and this book was adapted by his own son. Pretty darn cool. Very good life strategies indeed are included in this volume. All you really need to know are the 10 principles that are covered in it:

1 ~ You either get it, or you don't

2 ~ You create your own experience

3 ~ People do what works

4 ~ You can't change what you don't acknowledge

5 ~ Life rewards action

6 ~ There is no reality, only perception

7 ~ Life is managed, not cured

8 ~ We teach people how to treat us

9 ~ There's power in forgiveness

10 ~ You have to name it before you can claim it

If you'd like to learn about and understand these principles in better detail, then read this book.

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?

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 Bar Code Rebellion, by Suzanne Weyn

Well, it looks like I had more of an opportunity for reading fiction on the side than I thought I would have. ^_^ Yay! And this was a good book. I mentioned it in my latest review. It's the sequel to Suzanne Weyn's The Bar Code Tattoo and I think it gave a pretty nice conclusion to the story.

The Bar Code Rebellion continues the tale of Kayla, the girl who refused to get a bar code tattooed to her wrist. There seems to be a lot more people who sympathize with her here, and think that the bar code is bad news. It makes most of the general publics' lives more miserable and even drives most to attempt suicide. Is there more to the tattoo than appearances? Kayla and her friends go on a quest to find out more, which is a bit of an improvement from the previous book, in which Kayla's goal was basically to escape and avoid detection from the system.

In addition, Kayla learns a lot of strangeness about her past. For example, how many people there are out there who are almost exactly like her. Literally. If you don't have any idea what I'm talking about, you haven't read the book, in which case I highly recommend that you do. ^_^

Book News #3

Since I went to the library yesterday, I thought it would be a good time to post some more book news. We checked out a ton of DVDs, but also plenty of books. Before I get into that, I want to say that since The Compound, I've kind of decided to give reading fiction a bit of a break, and I'll be reviewing more non-fiction type books.

Currently I'm reading Dean and Me, which is a biography that Jerry Lewis, one of my favorite comedians, wrote about his years working with his straight man partner, Dean Martin, before they broke up. I'm pretty much halfway through, and it's really great so far. My sister and dad said I just had to read this as soon as I was done with all my fantasy reads, so I did. You won't have to wait too long for a review of this. ^_^

Once again in a library visit, I tackled a graphic novel in one sitting. It was the second Alex Rider book, and I think it's amazing that I was able to find it so soon after the first one! I wonder if I'll be so lucky to find the third graphic novel... I kind of doubt it. But anyway, this book was just as exciting as the one before it. It was very fun to pass my time in the library reading through Alex's adventure. It was interesting to me when he got his hair cut for the mission. He looked so different! But cool. The villain was really creepy, you just hate him. So weird how he cloned himself... the ending is quite a twist too.

Okay, now I'll get to the books we checked out that I'm very likely going to read in the near future. After the Martin & Lewis book, I'm not sure what I'll read. Annette has other non-fiction books recommended for me that I want to get to, but she decided to check this book out for herself. Since she and I have developed semi-different reading tastes, I don't know how she picks books. Random, I guess. =P Well, it's called Send, and it seems to be all about the subject of emailing, which I think is very interesting. Who knows? Maybe I'll get to it next.

Okay, now this book was NOT checked out for a bit of light reading. In fact, it's quite serious. It's a how-to book on how to use the computer program Macromedia Dreamweaver 8. All part of Annette and my digital education. We've gone through these type of books before, for learning Flash or Photoshop or how to write PHP code. We think of it like a 90-day college course. I'm not sure when this class will start for us, but if I happen to pick up some really cool tips from it, I'll try to share them with you. Or I'll just give a status update of how far we are into it.

This last book I checked out for myself. I've had my eye on it for a while on what I call the "Treasure Trove shelf". I probably won't get to it for a long time, but it makes me feel good just to have this kind of book nearby. I'll try to make this one last. Reincarnation, by Suzanne Weyn. I've never heard of her, but she seems to have written a couple interesting books. This opinion is purely based on the synopses on the inside covers, you understand. From what I gather, this one seems to be about a boy and a girl who keep running into each other through reincarnation. They never recognize each other in their different lives, but they feel the same strange attraction. I don't know anything beyond that, but I have a strong feeling that this one will be a keeper. ^_^

Before I wrap this book news post up, I'd like to add that I am also currently reading a manuscript that my awesome friend Graham Bradley is letting me read and critique, Ghost Machines. I've read a couple other of his books, which were simply awesome, and I do believe he has a non-fiction book that is in the process of being published. ^_^ So lucky of him! Anyway, I haven't gotten that far, just 3 or so chapters, but I still think it's quite good. I only read it in my spare time though, so I don't know how quickly I'll finish it. I'll definitely be sure to let Graham know as soon as I do! ^_~

House of Many Ways, by Dianna Wynne Jones

This book I took out because it was a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle. (Well, actually there's a sequel that came before this one, but it didn't have much to do with the original characters. This one did.) Even though I hadn't thoroughly enjoyed the original (see my review here), I decided I'd give this one a try anyway. I have to admit that this book was a tremendous improvement to it's predecessor. ^_^

The story is about a girl named Charmain who's only pleasure is reading, and somehow she's forced to housesit for a sick Great-Uncle, who is actually a wizard. His house is quite unusual. At first glance it would seem like the house only had a kitchen and a living room, but if you go through a door and immediately turn left, it takes you to the bathroom and bedrooms. There's also a sweet little white dog that the Uncle left behind, called Waif, who likes to eat a lot. Eventually Charmain is joined by a boy named Peter, who was supposed to be her uncle's apprentice before he got sick. So they're stuck together and take care of the house. Peter is a big help, since Charmain knows next to nothing about doing dishes and laundry and other boring chores. Still, for some reason she finds him annoying.

In the middle of taking care of her Uncle's magic house, Charmain becomes assistant librarian to the King, so she plays a part in solving a mystery that Sophie (remember her from the first book?) is trying to solve, along with her friend Calcifer the fire demon, her husband Howl, although he's disguised himself as an adorable young boy with a horrible lisp named Twinkle (no idea why 0,o) and their 2 year old son Morgan, who I think is something of a brat. I'd rather not reveal what that mystery is, since it would take too long to tell.

If this book was made into a movie, I wouldn't mind at all. The characters are lively with full personalities, and the adventures that Charmain had quite held my interest. I liked how Charmain could sort of do magic, like Sophie found she could in the first book. And the ending panned out a TON better than Howl's Moving Castle. Sure, it was just as much a happily-ever-after as before, but at least everything made sense and all the ends were neatly tied up. If you could get any enjoyment out of this series, I'd say watch the Hayao Miyazaki film of "Howl's Moving Castle," and then read this book.

Zenith, by Julie Bertagna

Okay, this book was really quite fascinating! This is the sequel to Exodus, which I reviewed not long ago, so you should remember it. It takes place in the future, not quite the dystopian series, but definitely post-apocalypse. It takes place shortly after Exodus ended, where Mara, the girl that the story follows, has escaped from the New World on a huge ship with a couple dozen of her friends, set for Greenland.

It was a tiny bit confusing, this book, because it was one of those that followed multiple points of view, depending on the chapter. Most of the time it was about Mara, other times, though rarely, it was about the boyfriend she left behind, the cyber-Fox, who now lives under his old city, and then the rest of the time it was about this totally new character, named Tuck, who joins Mara's group of friends later. Tuck's world is cool, because it reminds me of the territory of Cloral from the 2nd Pendragon book, where everyone lives on the water. It's the same thing here. Tuck's lived his whole life on a whole city of connected boats, surrounded by water, and he doesn't believe much in the concept of Land. Weird, huh?

Since I read Catching Fire just before this book, I was still kind of thinking about the set up of that, so I guess I kept getting reminded of it. It isn't a game, but Mara and her friends have to work really hard to survive when they reach land, because it's winter.

An interesting part of the story is that Mara's got a very wide array of love interests. Much more than is fair in just one book. =P She's a heart-breaker. Well, first she has the Fox, who she left behind so she could take all the refugees to a better place, but she still connects with him through her cyberwizz sometimes. Not often though, and eventually her power dies, so that's not good. Then there's Rowan, who was one of her close friends on her home island Wing, but was a slave in New Mungo before getting rescued again. Then Tuck shows up and joins the group, and he falls in love with Mara. He's too much of a stranger though, so he doesn't really have a chance.

It's really hard to describe this book, but I found it an extremely satisfying read. I really liked it whenever one of the characters found an old 21st century artifact, like a digital camera, or a cigarette lighter or something, and the author describes the object so well that the reader knows what it is, but the characters in the book has know idea what the thing is for until they discover the purpose. Also weird is when they discover a strange symbol, what looks like a snake winding around a stick, and they have no idea what it's supposed to mean. Is that a clue that this --> $ <-- will no longer be important in the future? Hmm... Well, I do love books that keep you thinking even after you've closed it. I think there might be a sequel to this, though the release date is unknown, and anyway, it seemed to have a pretty satisfying ending.

Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins

What can I say? Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games, was just as good as, perhaps even better than, it's predecessor. You just fly through the pages, because it has the same high level of urgency and danger. It's interesting, because I reviewed the Hunger Games way back in February, so it was a little bit hard to remember all the characters, but I think I got by alright.

By now, everyone should know that Katniss survived the Hunger Games, because she's the main character, and there wouldn't be a sequel if she'd lost. However, she also managed to pull Peeta out alive, even though there's only supposed to be one winner in a Hunger Games. Hey, love conquers all, right? So now the two of them are in the lap of luxury. They and their families don't have to starve anymore, because they enough food and money to last the rest of their lives.

That doesn't mean that Katniss and Peeta's troubles are over. Far from it. They have to go on this Victory Tour around the country to celebrate their winning the Games (and rub it in the other Districts' faces, I think), and still pretend they're in love. Well, Peeta is for real, but Katniss is on the fence. At the same time, there's some kind of rebellion stirring up among the 12 Districts. If Katniss and Peeta can defy the Capitol by coming out both winners when it's always been one, couldn't anything happen? Well, I couldn't tell much about the rebellion, maybe they'll discuss it more in book 3. ^_^ Yes, there's got to be a book 3, because the ending to this one was so open-ended! I'll tell you why.

Now the Hunger Games isn't just going to disappear from Katniss and Peeta's lives, because now they get to be mentors for the following Hunger Games. Remember, this thing happens every... single... year! No excuses. It's been that way for 75 years. And every 25 years they have a special version of the Hunger Games, called Quarter Quells. This year, the new rules of the Hunger Games is that instead of having fresh blood in the arena, the competitors are the people who have won the Hunger Games before. Now quickly, do the math! District 12 only has 3 victors who are still alive. Katniss, Peeta, and their drunk friend Haymitch, who was their mentor in the previous book. Now out of those 3, who is the only female in the group, and therefore will HAVE to compete in a game she thought she'd never have to do again, especially not in the following year?!!! That's right, Katniss is back. Man, you should read the scene where she finds out she has to do the whole thing again. She almost cracks! ~,~

My favorite part was when they and the other people were in the arena, which was very different from the one in the original book. It was weird, because to me it kind of felt like the Games were much too short. In the story it only takes a couple days, but the chapters covering it took a very short time to read, I felt. I won't tell you much else about the Games, except that Katniss and Peeta make a lot more alliances than they did in their first Hunger Games.

I really, really, really liked this book! Even when it had been ages since I read the last book, Suzanne Collins had made her characters memorable enough for me to remember them fondly when they were introduced in this installment. And then she manages to stuff a few more cool characters into my head, but I think I'll be able to remember them all when I read the next sequel. You know, I'm noticing more and more how cool it is when an author decides to write in the present tense. Like, not as if it's happened already, but as if the story is happening right now, as you turn the pages. It really gets you into the thick of things, especially when the story is in first person, so it's like you are the person the book's about. It's just funny that I've only started noticing it now. =P

Read this novel! It's a keeper!

Love, Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli

Yes, so soon after reading the original Stargirl, I dived into it's sequel. I started it yesterday and barely came up for breath until I finished it this evening. I loved, loved, loved it even better than the first one. It's about the same silly character who brings joy to strangers lives and experiences every day to it's fullest, but this time, it's from her point of view.

The book has quite a fascinating format. It's written in sort of a journal like fashion, though Stargirl calls it the World's Longest Letter, because she pretends that she's writing to the boy that broke up with her in the last book, Leo. She starts at the beginning of an unknown year, on January 1st, and writes nearly every day, like a regular journal, all the way to the close of the year, spilling over to January 2nd. In this World's Longest Letter, Stargirl reveals and relates all her year's adventures in the town she's recently moved in and introduces readers to quite a cast of funny, authentic characters, the neighbors she makes life-long friends with.

I think Stargirl has turned into one of my favorite characters of all time. I may have a lot of other authors, stories and book series that I like better than Jerry Spinelli and his novels (no offense to Jerry! I absolutely love his writing style. Still, I have my favorite epics), but Stargirl is totally awesome! ^_^ She's homeschooled, like me, but she's just someone else!

All the little stories contained in the larger story were so intriguing, and it was wonderful how it all came together in the end. I liked the romance part about it, in which there's a guy Stargirl thinks she likes, but she still believes she's in love with Leo. Yes, even Stargirl's life gets confused like that once in a while. She is a teenager, after all. But I simply loved the entire thing. The feeling that I'm reading someone like Stargirl's personal journal is, personally, quite a thrill.

You must read this book, as well as it's predecessor. Read both of them, one after the other. Your life will not be complete until you do!

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!

Books I haven't blogged about

Hi. Sorry I haven't been book blogging an awful lot lately. ~,~ I'm not going to make any excuses here. I haven't read a lot of books lately, and whatever books I do finish, I keep postponing sitting down to write their reviews. It's really a problem. But enough is enough. I've got a lot of books reserved in the library, two of which I've picked up now, so I need to clear my head and get these books out of the way so I can write reviews later. I'll be very brief with each book, promise.

So the first book I finished that I didn't post about, but definitely should have (=P), is In Her Shoes, by Jennifer Weiner. Now, this book is kind of outside my genre preference (fantasy, sci-fi fiction is more my read, and this was more of a chick-flick. No magic, just a story based on real, grown-up life that could possibly happen to actual people), but I'll admit that this was a pretty good book. Of course, it did take me a long time to actually finish it. I read some of it back in Boston, but the beginning really didn't interest me a lot. Then we came home to Florida and we saw the movie version of In Her Shoes (starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette and Shirley Maclain), and I thought the story after the part I was at got pretty good. So I got back to the book and finished it pretty fast after that.

I'm not sure whether the book was better than the movie, but it did have certain plot elements that didn't make it into the film, so I guess you can say it was better. Okay, brief story synopsis: There are two sisters. One is a stressed out but responsible lawyer, and the other is really attractive but doesn't have a lot of brains. This is Cameron Diaz's character, Maggie, btw. Basically she drinks and has sex and gets into trouble a lot, so her sister has to take her in, and Maggie is a big pain. She steals money and shoes (the sisters share the same size) and doesn't have a job. After Maggie does something totally unforgivable to Rose (her sister), she gets unceremoniously kicked out, and then later moves in with a grandmother neither of them knew about, blah blah blah... so the story jumps between sisters and both of them learn life lessons that make them balance out their personalities and Rose gets married and everyone lives happily ever after. That's all I'll say. If you have any interest in the specifics, read this book yourself.

The next book I finished was a graphic novel I read in a Barnes and Nobles in one sitting, Amulet, Book 2: The Stonekeeper's Curse, by Kazu Kibuishi. That's the guy who drew my favorite comics in the Flight series. A pretty cool story. It seems that it'll become a Bone-like series. I really like Kazu's drawing style! Graphic novels rock. ^_^ If you want to check this series out, you ought to start at the beginning. The first Amulet book is The Stonekeeper. I don't remember when I read that, but it was probably last year, because I would have posted about it if I'd read it this year.

After that I suppose I didn't read much else, but recently I tackled this huge, literally encyclopedic book that I think I read in just a couple days straight. It's called Iconic America, by Tommy Hilfiger. There are hundreds of colorful and really neat pictures of famous American inventions, sport stars, foods and restaurants, works of art, famous songs and musical groups, dates and events people will always remember, celebrities, brand names, movies, and other things that have reached iconic status today. This book is a seriously educational history lesson that was fascinating and fun to read! It sure makes you feel good to be American. ^_^

Okay, last book. I promise. Last night I finished this really cute picture book that was adapted from the spectacular Stephen Sondheim musical, Into the Woods. The story is very accurate and the artwork is wonderful, but I definitely think the play version is a ton better. The book version can't possibly compete with actually hearing the music, or with the characters singing the songs, or with the comic acting abilities of the actors, or even with the laughter of the audience when there's a funny scene. Also in the book, the characters aren't able to give the narrator over to the Giantess, because how can you take away the story-teller in a book? So the musical was definitely funnier and better in every way. Therefore, my advice if you still would like to read this book is to see the play first, and then appreciate the adaptation later.

There! I am done with my task. And now you are done with your task of reading this post! Congratulations. ^_^

9-29-09 ~ Edit: I'm sorry! It seems I've left a book out! Well, actually I suppose it's not really a book anyway, because it's purely virtual, but I still didn't write about it! It's been a while now, but I've finished reading Midnight Sun, by Stephanie Meyer. A wonderful masterpiece that will sadly never be completed or published. As one can see from my reviews of all the books from the Twilight Saga, I was totally in love with the story and its characters, so to further explore that world was just a must for me. I read it quite sporadically, over a wide period of time, but I eventually finished it. I'm sorry to say that I forget exactly when, but I'm sure it was very soon after we came home from Boston! So here's the scoop: Midnight Sun is the story of Twilight as told by Edward Cullen's point of view, instead of Bella's, so while the story is very much the same, there is a whole other incredible dimension to it. Even though it ends very abruptly and I wished dearly I could continue reading the story, I really enjoyed reading Midnight Sun and I think other Twilight fans will too. It's very easy to check the story out if you're interested. Just click the link above, for Midnight Sun, and you'll go straight to a PDF file that has all 12 chapters. Of course, Stephanie Meyer obviously meant this to be slightly a rough draft, so I can spot some errors, but it's Stephanie Meyer, so I forgive her. ^_^ Really, I don't think you'll be sorry. Thank you for indulging me.