Behold- The Thing That Reads Alot!

I have a new reading goal: Read every single book mentioned or shown on Gilmore Girls, being read by Rory or Jess. I looooove Gilmore Girls, so so much, and I always wanted to be just like Rory- you have no idea how muhc I want all those books she has stashed everywhere!
I keep looking everywhere for some kind of list- Wikipedia, goodreads.com, etc.
So far, I have: The Fountainhead, Dawn Powell books, and Howl. Plus classics, like Jane Audten and Sylvia PLath (both of whose work I was going to read soon anyways).
Umm, this is going to be Very. Difficult.

French MIlk, by Lucy Knisley Review

Title:French Milk

Author: Lucy Knisley

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Pages: 208

MSRP: $15.00 (I KNOW! It's a paperback, a thinnish one too, and they're charging HB?)

Rating: * * * */5

This isn't YA, just one of those random good things you find when you're just killing time at the B 'n' N. My mom actually found this in the travel section, and thought I might like it. And I definitely did!

Lucy K., the author, is a gifted cartoonist, destined to be famous for it, and this is a kind of comic book about the month and a half she and her mother spent in Paris, France, for their birthday- Lucy's 22nd, and her mom's 50th- and what they did. Things like visiting Oscar Wilde's grave, watching fireworks on New Year's Eve from the Eiffel Tower, hanging around in cafes, an, obvious due to the title, drinking the French milk Lucy was practically obssessed with.

What interested me so much about this is my love of Paris, and all things European- I want to backpack across Europe someday, like Lucy (author) and her friend Nelly did. I liked reading about the food there, and the scenery, and the cafes the went to, plus the meuseums.

It's different from most books because it's not actually words, just photographs, drawings, and random musings of Lucy's. It's apparently a journal she kept eight days before going to Paris to after getting home again.

Despite its being a paperback and the MSRP being the same as a hardback book (!!!), get a discounted copy like I did, because trust me, it's WORTH IT!

Erk, I really want to go to Paris even more now, though...

Wating On Wednesday

First off, thanks to Harmony Book Reviews on Wordpress for Waiting on Wednesday! She didn't really have the idea, but I saw it there first. It's books available for preorder that haven't been released yet, found by spending very productive (;P) time leafing through Amazon and Barnes&Noble sites.

OoO Shiny... I've read some mediocre reviews for it, but oh well. It's owrth a try- I just hope they get ii in at the two libraries! It's only hardcover... :( why do manufacturers do that to us, their loyal customers? *sigh* It came out May 14. Look for it!

June 11, and I'm counting down. Classic literature meets modern teen fiction? Beautiful! Absolutely can't wait... Best part? It's coming out in paperback and hardback! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So this is the one I'll be buying first. Now, for the Ava Gardner of the books I'm pining for...

Loove the title, and I was so unbelievably happy to see that is got published in America two months ago! I've wanted this book for aout a year- it's a UK book, so I couldn't get it, but I read about it on an Irish blog and I think it sounds great. Too bad it's only hardback... But maybe it's worth it?

Okay, there's more, but these are the top three, any look good?

This is probably going to be a monthly thing, so till August 1!

Palace of MIrrors Review; School's Out, Summer's In (And so are new books!)

Before I review on this post, let me just say that: SCHOOL'S OUT, SUMMER'S IN!!!!!! Probably been like that for awhile for most of you, but my schools had a ton of makeup days. SO here's a nifty little icon for you:

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) : ) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

.l. Hey look, it's a baby chicken on the left! ...What, nobody sees the resemblance? Okay, so maybe I need to lay off the coffee. Sorry, people. Decaf from now on! (Maybe.)

Anyways, to what the mission of this post is, reviewing Palace of Mirrors, by Margeret Peterson Haddix. No clapping for it, because I personally was very "meh" about this book. Three starz. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.

Title:Palace of Mirrors

Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix

Publisher:Simon & Schuster

MSRP:

Pages: 297 pg's

Rating: * * */ 5 starz

"Somewhere in the world I have a tiara in a little box. It is not safe for me to wear it... It is not safe for me to tell anyone who I really am. But I know- I have always known."

That's the beginning of it, and from there I was drawn in, I thought it was goign to be a really great book- not that it wasn't good- but then I realized it wasn't. Why in a second...

Cecelia has always known she was the true princess of Suala, hidden away as a newborn to protect her from the enemies that killed her parents, the king and queen, when she was born. No one but her, Sir Stephen (the knight who teaches her the proper protocol and lessons for being the future ruler of Suala), and Nanny (who Cecelia lives with in a village of Suala), so to everyone else she seems lie just another peasant girl.

But when she's about to turn fifteen, she starts to grow tired of waiting, of Sir Stephen's endless lessons, and she and her best friend, Harper, run away to the Palace of Mirrors, where the decoy princess, Desmia, lives- where, as Cecelia repeats along with the phrase "I'm the true princess" to the pint where it's redundant and annoying- to"thank Desmia for her bravery in serving as the decoy for the true princess' life" and- actually, I don't know what they thought they were goingto do, I guess take over the throne, but there were so many unacknowledged obvious faws that there's no way that's what they were going to do- only to find when they get there that- sorry for the cliche phrase- everything she knows is a lie.

Characters: The only character I really liked was Ella, who was in "Just Ella," and it continues her story a little bit. Her book was like a feminist continuation of Cinderella, where the happily ever after isn't so happy or forever after all. Anyways, she was so calm and sweet, which was why I liked her. The main character, Cecelia, seemed kind of self-absorbed to me, and ignorant, but that's not how the author meant her to come across, I think, she just did. And Harper, her best friend she travels with, was supposed to seem sweetly stubborn and secretly devoted to Cecelia, in a way, but he was more annoying. They kind of reminded me of Rugrats, which was pretty hilarious, when I pictured it. Again, just me?

Desmia just seemed unstable to me, when she was perfectly sane and just meant to seem like she didn't know what she was supposed to be doing. She was suppposed to come across as innocent and clueless, needing Cecelia's help, and I guess giving clues to the truth through that.

I thought she just needed some little yellow pills with smiley faces on them, actually.

Plot: Actually, a really excellent plot. It kept you interested, it wasn't predictable, it was exciting enough at times- I thought of at least four ways the story was going to go, none of which were right. The ending could have been better- it was supposed to be romantic, it wasn't, "Eelsy," which is Cecelia's nickname (I don't see how the got that from that, but I don't get how they get Meg or Bob from Margaret or Robert), thought it out too much.

If her work is slightly better in the other books she's written. I might give them a try, but none of them seem like they would... Anyone able to back this up?

Being NIkki review coming soon! Also North of Beautiful, which was new when I got it in February. Tsk tsk tsk, shame shame shame, I've had so many of the books I'm working on since LAST YEAR- Perfect You among them. I don't even remember anything about them by now. HELP!

Peace out, Meggin

P.S. I may never finish the S.D.C.! I'll have to buy most of them, that'll take a WHILE.

Wanted List

I just can't finish a single book lately- it's taking forever since I'm, er, multireading, I guess is the word. So to let the blogosphere know I haven't lost Blogluv and will continue posting, am not dead, etc. I'm posting books I plan to get soon. Here we go:

• Broken Soup- Jenny Valentine
• Uglies- Scott Westerfeld
• Audrey, Wait!- Robin Benway
• Bound South- Susan Rebecca White
• Margaret Peterson Haddix books
• The Musician's Daughter by Susanne Dunlap
• The Girls
• Wintergirls- Laurie Halse Anderson

Annnnnnnd there it is! Any book recs would be massively appreciates, adoring public (just kidding, public! ;) ) :P

Peace out, Meggin

P.S. I know this isn't an IMM post, but it was the closest thing to file it under.

The Reader's Rights

Hey people! I'm reading a lot of books at the same time in short snippets lately, so not much is getting done, but the ones I'm working on are all almost finished; be prepared for a sudden storm of reviews. I'm ashamed to say that I copied this from "Valentina's Room" blog, in a little text on the side column. I thought it was really cool, I'm putting it at the bottom; I've tweaked it a little, though, with new "amendments" and cutting parts off, maybe. So without further ado, the Reader's Rights!

The Reader's Rights

• The right to read.
• The right NOT to read.
• The right to not finish books.
• The right to skip pages.
• The right to skim instead of truly reading.
• The right to reread.
• The right to read anything.
• The right to read banned books.
• The right to mistake a book for real life.
• The right to read anywhere.
• The right to read out loud.
• The right to be quiet.
• The right to fall in love with characters in books.
• The right to know what everyone else is reading.
• The right to have too many books.
• The right to carry a book wherever you go.

Funny, and cute, right? Well, I thought so. I added a lot, skipped a few that I didn't get (The right to "dip in"? Anyone able to explain? May be Irish slang, blog I got this from is Irish...?). If you have any to add, just leave them in a comment! And feel free to ad this to your blog, if you like it.

Oh, in other news, I'm not doing so good on the Dessen challenge. I have already read Lock and Key, which I loved and hated at the same time, and have just started Someone Like You. But I have to buy the others, so it'll take a while.

Peace out,

Meggin

Everything Is Fine. by Ann Dee Ellis Review

Title: Everything Is Fine.
Author: Ann Dee Ellis
Pages: 154 PP
Publisher: Little, Brown and Co.
MSRP: $16.99
Rating: */5

Mazeline's (Mazzy for short) life is falling apart. Because of a terrible accident (I won't tell you, you'd have to read the book to find out- which I don't recommend doing), her mom won't get out of bed or do anything, for that matter, and her dad's pretty much abandoned the family. Mazzy is in charge now.
This was SO annoying! She did embarrassing, stupid things for no reason, like she karate chopped at random and kept putting oranges in her bra- AND WEARING THEM IN PUBLIC. That was a little funny at first, but, um, ew.
And the color scheme made you want to throw up! That's what it looks like, too. All these grungy colors in stripes, yeah.
And I HATED the characters- they were all so cruel- like, Mazzy was a total spaz when it came to society, because of her messed up life, and the others were just dumb. And there was no romance. A good book needs some, at least a little like, right? I think so.
The plot didn't have much going on. It wasn't exciting, key points were never explained sometimes (not even the subtlest of clues), and the writing wasn't interesting.
People, I am just not having a good streak with books lately. Trust me when I say you shouldn't bother with this book.
Okay, anyone have some good book recommendations to save me from this deep pit of biblioangst?

In My Mailbox ( 9 Books)

I almost got "The Geek Girl's Guide To Being a Cheerleader" yesterday, but I didn't want to watch the character turn into a prep, so I bought a book which I knew was at the library but would have to WAIT for (God forbid :P)- so I'm not buying books for a bit- how will I ever survive when I grow up and have all my money as my own? Sure, I could build a house out of the books I spent all my money on- but I'd have to take apart my house to reread a book!

Okay, before I get to crazy, let's get to the point, shall we?

Anyways, here's my latest weekly queue of books:

P.S. It's 4:30 on Tuesday when I'm getting this Sunday post done- tsk, tsk, tsk, shame shame shame. I used to look forward to writing blog posts- and I still do, I'm just lazy about it... Maybe I have a serious case of the It's A School Day's?

Peace out, Meggin

So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld Review

Title: So Yesterday
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Pages: 225pp
Publisher: Penguin Group
MSRP: $16.99
Rating: * * */5


Not a new book, I know, but my site reviews the books I read- like this one.

This book didn't impress me, honestly. The plot was pretty good, the writing was funny, but parts were just... odd. The ending wasn't very satisfying, more anticlimactic, actually. I didn't really feel any which way about the characters- the narrator, Hunter Braque, and Jen, as well as the other characters, were just there.
It does make you think a bit though- Westerfeld's books are known for that- like, about what is cool anyway, and who decides what is and isn't cool? 'Coz I want to talk to the person who decided all this; they made some serious mistakes.
So, some background info: Hunter is a teen who is hired by a certain company (this book has a thing about not naming brands, so it gives hints, which was kind of fun; I think this company, which everyone calls "the client," is Nike) to find what's "cool" lately. So, he goes "cool hunting" one day in Manhattan, where he lives, and meets a girl named Jen, when he asks to take a pic of her shoelaces because of their design. Jen is an Innovator, at the top of the Cool Pyramid, who comes up with the at-first-unpopular trends second-level Trend Setters like Hunter make cool.
He takes her to a meeting, and then another at a street in Manhattan to meet his boss Mandy, but they find just her phone in an abandoned building- she's been kidnapped!
There was this cool thing about paka-paka, Japanese animation color sequence, that was in there, which actually happened in '97. It gave kids seizures, apparently. I thought that was so cool. Um, not the seizures, the paka-paka thing!
Over all, this book is worth reading, despite the average rating.
Mmkay, gotta get cracking on my other books!
Peace out, Meggin

Sarah Dessen Book Challenge

Em over on Em's Bookshelf (link on Blogs & Other Sites) is hosting a challenge: Read all nine of Sarah Dessen's books. Her goal is by June 30, but yours could be, say, by the end of '09 or by the end of the summer. Here are the rules:

1.) Read all books by Sarah Dessen.

2.) Set your own time frame. Mine is by the end of '09, Em's is June 30, but do whatever works best for your schedule. Remember, this is supposed to be fun, so don't stress! :)

3.) Comment on this post or link to it on your own blog. The more people who know about it, te more people that will cheer us on!



She has a related contest going on to get you excited about it. Make a button for the challenge, and the coolest one wins, the prize being... AN EARLY RELEASE COPY OF ALONG FOR THE RIDE, DESSEN'S NEWEST BOOK!

Here are a few she made to get your creative juices stirring...





Okay, get cracking on those S.D. books, make some buttons (which I can't because I am pathetically clueless as to techy things as that) and tell all YA book enthusiasts you know about the challenge!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Review

Title: The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Pages: 550 pp (paperback, without counting the book club guide, etc. in back)
MSRP: $11.99
Rating: * * * * */5



Wow, two fivers in a row! This book deserves it more than any other book I've read. No wonder it's won so many awards- it's great! I honestly can't say how much I loved this, and how many times I plan to reread it, and how many people I'm going to make read it.
The writing was perfect- it was wise, funny, heartbreaking, and true. I loved the narrator- Mr. Zusak made it Death, and it's not as scary and dark as you might think. He's "haunted by humans," as it says on the last page.
It's about a girl named Liesel Meminger. Her brother dies on a train on the way to their first foster home, and at his burial service is where she gets her first book: The Grave Digger's Guide, I think it's called. That starts a beautiful love with books and words, and soon she's getting them everywhere she can: Nazi book burnings, the mayor's library. Oh, I didn't mention this starts in Germany, 1939, during the Holocaust.
Another place she gets books is two homemade ones, from the Jew that comes to live in the Hubermann's (Rosa and Hans Hubermann being her foster parents) basement later on.
There's also Rudy Steiner, the boy next door with the lemon-colored hair, who becomes her best friend/partner in crime.
This book, I should warn you, is incredibly sad- I was crying like crazy at the end. But it's worth your time and money to read, trust me.
Okay, don't you have a book to go buy and love?
TTFN, Meggin ;)

In My Mailbox (4 books)

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE, everyone! I got Being Nikki yesterday! I didn't know it was out yet, so it was a happy surprise when I found it on the B&N shelves, they had just stocked it on there. It's still a baby, just 6 days old :). I got 2 books besides that, library ones, one by an author I hate and another I hear is great. So far, both are living up to their previously set standards.Also, one that isn't actually YA/Teen, but still looks really good, which I haven't gotten far in due to trying to finish my big stack of books already there.

Well, I'm off to read and write a review.

Adieu, Meggin

P.S. Oh, and thx bunches to The Story Siren blog for this weekly meme, inspired by Alea!

Does This Book Make Me Look Fat? Review

Wow, it's been a week since I updated... Testing has been going on at my school, and we just finished. YAY! So I've (GASP) been not wanting to read as much, so I've just been playing cards in homeroom, talking to friends, etc. But it's over, and I'm back to my bookish self!





Title: Does This Book Make Me Look Fat?
Author: Various authors, edited by Marissa Walsh
Pages: 216 pp
MSRP: S16.00
Publisher: Clarion Books
Rating: * * * * */5

This book finally rescued me from my low ratings. It's hilarious, true, and revealing, plus it makes you feel better about yourself- truth is, it sucks for EVERYONE to try on jeans.
The book is a collection of 14 authors, each one magnificent, and it's edited by Marissa Walsh, who wrote the intro. It's a collection of not just short stories- there's a verse-story, true stories of people who had issues with themselves like everyone else, and there's even a comic. My personal one was Pretty, Hungry, the verse one, which was by Ellen Hopkins. Some of the authors were ones whose work you've heard of and maybe love, like Ellen Hopkins or Jaclyn Moriarty, others are more famous for adult-targeted books, like Wendy Shanker.
It made me laugh, cry a little because it was so sad how people with eating disorders treat themselves, and made me feel better about my own body. It's nice to know other people go through the same thing!
There's also a chapter in the back called Supplements, which has lists of good songs, movies, web sites, TV shows, and books.
Everyone can relate to this book, even perfect pretty-popular types (especially the Mirror, Mirror story by Megan Maccaferty). You must read!
P.S. No, this book doesn't make you look fat.

Oh, and before I go, you should know I survived a tornado yesterday. Yup, cheer! And I didn't even end up in Kansas (low blood sugar, sorry for the lame Oz reference. I'll eat an apple and get back to you. ;)) It blew through Kentucky, there was a funnel cloud right over my school, and I got out early, right in the middle of the storm. Smart. One good thing: They let us have our cell phones out, so we could call parents, but I just texted my friend in the classroom across the hall.
Peace out! -Meggin

In My Mailbox (8)

I went a bit overboard with this week's books... but they were all sooo good-looking!
This post will be exceedingly long if I write about all of them, so I'm going to just post their pics and you can Judge a Book By It's Cover today, literally!

The last one, with the huge GIULIO!!!!! on it, I just found out, is a sequel to something with an equally long title. Annoying, since I won't know any of the characters. But I've heard really good thigns about some of the others, like If I Stay and North of Beautiful!

Now you know what I got, what'd you get this week?

TheDisreputable HIstory of Frankie Landau-Banks

Title: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Author: E. Lockhart

Pages: 352pp

Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children

MSRP: $16.99 US

Rating: * * */5

I think the book jacket blurb can best explain this, so here it is:

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14:

Debate Club.

Her father's "Bunny Rabbit."

A mildly geeky girl attending a highly competitive boarding school.

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15:

A knockout figure.

A sharp tongue.

A chip on her shoulder.

And a gorgeous new senior boyfriend: the supremely goofy, word-obsessed Matthew Livingston.

Frankie Landau-Banks:

Not a girl to take no for an answer.

Especially when no means she's excluded from her boyfriend's secret society.

Not when her ex shows up in the strangest of places.

Not when she knows she's smarter than all of them.

When she knows Matthew is lying to her.

And not when there are so many, many pranks to be done.

Frankie LandauBanks at age 16:

Possibly a criminal mastermind.

This is the story of how she got that way.

This is one of those books where it's good parts are awesome (like I loved the obscure little bits of info, like the panopticon theme of Alabaster Prep, the boarding school Frankie goes to), but there were also more than it's fair share of... well, stupid or boring parts, basically (like Frankie's sudden obsession with neglected positives. That was just embarrassing to read, frankly).

Another thing is all feminism-I mean really, I 'm all for equal rights of men and women and all, but don't write a novel about it- literally.

I couldn't bring myself to like Frankie, actually, I didn't much like any of the characters. Her boyfriend Matthew was annoying, and falling in love with the leading man ranks high in the Laws of a Great Book. The closest you could come to liking Frankie was admiring her courage and, some may say, slightly psychotic, brilliance. She made the men- including Matthew- follow her instructions just by pretending to be another character. Of course, all the pranks she had them do, particularly the Library Lady, were secretly feminist statements that kind of took away from the entertainment.

Some parts of this book, I was fascinated, but other times I felt it necessary to skip a page. Maybe it's worth a try- it's not like I didn't enjoy it a bit, but just don't spend 16 bucks on a hardback edition like I did months back when this was new.

Okay, off to bed with me... yes, I know it's only about ten, but I am sooo knocked out I just want to go read myself to sleep. Bye, ya'll!