Monday, October 31, 2011

Books read... in October!

My favorite month of the year!

1. Birthmarked 4/5
I really enjoyed this book. It started a little slow which is typical for a dystopian book. You have to learn alot about the world that the book takes place in. The world is set like 300 years in the future, and the world has gotten a lot hotter. Lakes have dried up and water is scarce outside of the wall. The privileged live in the Enclave while the poorer people live outside the wall. It is a hard life outside the wall in the town of Wharfton. Gaia has lived outside the wall her entire life, dreaming about what it would have been like to grow up in the Enclave. She works as a midwife with her mother, and has started advancing babies as well. Three babies born each month are advanced, meaning taken from the mother and given to the Enclave. They are then adopted and allowed to grow up with the rich. It is thought of as a service to the Enclave to have a baby advanced. Gaia sees no problem with this until her world is flipped upside down when her parents are arrested.
A good story, with a great character and a great love interest, which I always find as a plus. Gaia is flawed, both physically and otherwise, which makes her more easy to relate to.

2. Lockdown 4/5
I really did not know what this book was going to be about when I got it from the library. I noticed it on a lot of lists on Goodreads so I just added it to my hold list. And I really honestly liked it. The way the book was set up was nice. Shorter type chapters to mark your progress always makes a book go by faster to me. The main character Alex was very believable. He was generally honest and you as the reader got to watch him go through this prison life and watch him change in ways while still trying to remain the same. The book has a horrible ending because I just need to know what is going to happen next. Such a cliffhanger ending. And Donovan. I loved him and I need to know that they are going to be able to save him somehow. Not sure yet. Ready for the second in the series for sure.

3.The Second Summer of the Sisterhood 3/5
I figured since I read the first one I should read the whole series. So I picked up the second one and started on it. I felt like the more I read, the bigger the book got. I never seemed to be making any progress. The first book seemed to be mostly about love. Lena meet Kostos, Carmen started to accept her new family (course she is the angriest person in a book ever), Bee fell in love at soccer camp (then gave it away and fell out of love), and Tibby meet Bailey (then proceeded to lose her to cancer). The second book was all about anger and sadness and being angry at your parents. Tibby is sad about Bailey and angry at her mom for some reason. Causing a big blowout and disappointment all around. Lena broke it off with Kostos but still wants him like crazy. Fights with her mom about every little thing. Kostos drama, followed by more moping. Bee finds new family, the happiest story in the book which is kinda sad, and gets back to her old self. Then meets a boy from her past. Yada yada. Carmen acts like a serious bitch to her mom. Jealousy all over the place. Always angry. Hopefully the 3rd book with be better.

4. Mercury 4/5
Graphic novel that I picked up from BAM in the clearance section for 4 dollars. Very good actually. It follows two stories between two girls. One lived in the 1800s and the other in present time. Two love stories, one happy and the other sad. Very interesting to see how the two stories affect each other. Good quick read. Great artwork.

5. Life as We Knew It 4/5
Very good book! I loved the idea, something I haven't seen before. An asteroid hits the moon and knocks it off its course. This causes catastrophic repercussions. Huge tsunamis, volcanoe eruptions, and earthquakes. The main character is Miranda, and we are reading about this event through her journal. We get to witness all her feelings about what has happened, what will happen, and the people around her. This is not necessarily a happy story. Quite a few people die and there isn't a concrete ending. But definitely enjoyable.

6. Unearthly 4/5
This book was definitely a suprise for me. I have read the Mortal Instruments series and I pretty much hated them in the end. But this book I loved. Its similar to Mortal Instruments being that it is about angels and half blooded angels and that their is a love triangle. That is where the similarities ends. This book was incredibly well written compared to other "Angel" type books. The main character did not seem as conflicted and annoying and was sure of what she wanted most of the time. The book succeeded at being humorous, and witty, but serious when it needs to be.
Clara (horrible horrible name) moves to a new school after having the first visions of her purpose as an Angel. Things do not go as planned (obviously) when she moves with her family. See for yourself when you read this book. Impatiently waiting for the next book.

7. We'll Always Have Summer 4/5
Finally! I got to read the third book. Been on my library hold list forever.
Ok so let me just say Jeremiah was always my favorite of the Fisher boys. Conrad was whiny and jerky. So I was happy to see that Belly was dating Jeremiah in the beginning. But I hated that Han had him cheat on her within the first few chapters. That is not something that his character would do. But they got over it, just competely dropped it. Kinda weird.
Overall I liked this book. It was a good ending to the story and I was glad to know that Belly ended up waiting and was alone without the Fisher boys for a while.

8. The Dark and Hollow Places 4/5
I honestly wasn't expecting to like this one. I knew it was going to be from Annah's pov which I wasn't sure that I would like. So I was hesitant to read this one. Also its been awhile since I read the first 2 books. I love that Ryan allowed the reader to follow three different pov's and three different but cohesive, overlapping stories. The writing was as good as it has always been. The one thing that I felt was missing for me was likeability. I didn't really like Annah. She seemed so whiny, about her looks, about Elias, about leaving Abigail/Gabry, about Catcher, and about her lifestyle. I understand that the world is crappy with all the Unconsecrated zombies going around, people dying, Elias left her, and she left her sister, but still. I still love the series and I am glad that it has left off with everyone together. Elias was with Abigail/Gabry, Annah was with Catcher. I do wish we could have flashed forward a little in the end to see how they were doing a few years down the road. But overall good. Glad to have finally finished the series.

9. The Son of Neptune 4/5

10. Solitary 4/5
Incredibly good, especially since my expectation were kind of low. I knew this book was going to take place in the "hole" so I was wondered as to what the book would actually be about.
We get to see a different side of Alex which I loved, and Zee became a bigger character since Donovan and Toby were gone. Met some new characters like Simon, Pete, and Ozzie. And we finally learned the fate of Donovan, poor guy.
Good read and ready for the next one!

11. The Film Book: A Complete Guide to the World of Cinema 4/5
Very informative. I saw this in the new section of my library and decided to pick it up. While I did not read every single word of this book, I feel that it has a lot of great information. It starts by detailing the history of film, a decade at a time. Lots of details without feeling bogged down. After the history, Bergan goes into deeper explaination of how a film is made, starting with pre-production all the way through to interviews by the actors after the film is out.
Bergan also explores the different genres, foreign film, and the top 100 movies. While I may not agree with the top 100 movies, I do like that there is a lot of diversity in his list.
There is also an a-z list of directors, some big names and some I have never heard before.
This book has many different lists of movies and I have now added quite a few to my netflix to watch. Good read overall, very helpful.

12. Angel After the Fall Volume 1 3/5
Not my favorite. I was unsure of what was going on since it has been a while since I've seen Angel and the finale. So it took a while to get into since I was so confused. Lots of action. Great images. Love love love Spike!

13. Angel After the Fall Volume 2 5/5
I loved this one a lot more than the first volume. The seperate issues about different characters was amazing. Just awesome. Lots of backstory as to how people ended up where they are now after the season finale.

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