I Did a Happy Dance

I did a happy dance this morning when I first signed on the Internet. It's not everyday that you wake up to the news that one of your favorite authors is releasing a new book. Sure, it's only a short novella, but I'll take it. Stephenie Meyer will be releasing The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner on June 5th. This novella takes place during the timeline of Meyer's novel Eclipse. Bree was a member of Victoria's newborn vampire army that was sent to eradicate the Cullens. This novella is told from her perspective and I think it will be quite interesting. Of course, Stephenie Meyer haters have already been blasting their vitriol all over the web. I'm not surprised. People do that when they just don't understand something (or they're jealous). I, for one, say, "Go Steph!!" I hope she keeps putting out stuff like this. It just deepens the mythology of the world she created.

Bring on the Pain!!

I made it thru the break-up scene in New Moon. It was brutal, just like it was the first time. I admit, I haven't gotten much farther. I didn't have too much time to read this weekend. I've been on the computer most of the day today, but I did manage to read a little. I think I'm going to put the computer away for a little while and read a little bit.

I have to look for a job. I finished college last November and I actually get to walk this May in the graduation ceremony. I want a teaching job, but with all the education cutbacks I don't think that will be happening. I need to find a full time job no matter what.

Re-reading New Moon

I finished re-reading Twilight. Still love it. I'm glad I got to re-read it. I think I made a good decision to re-read these books. I've started re-reading New Moon. I admit it is my least favorite book in the saga. I'm thoroughly "Team Edward" so I guess it makes sense that this is my least favorite of the saga since he is largely absent from it. Jacob...I have problems with. I do not like him. He's immature and pushy and he just GETS ON MY NERVES!!!! The break-up scene in New Moon seriously made me feel like my heart was being ripped out. It will probably take me a little longer to get through New Moon, but that's okay. I'm ready to get to Eclipse and the Breaking Dawn. I know a lot of people thought Breaking Dawn was bad for some reason. I think it is because Stephenie Meyer didn't do what everyone expected her to. I thought Breaking Dawn was great. I was glad she didn't do what everyone expected her to do. How boring would that have been? She honestly did things you didn't expect. I enjoyed that. I mean honestly, who expected the Volturi battle to go down the way it did?

Re-reading Can Be Fun!

So, I decided to put The Gatecrasher on hold so that I could re-read the Twilight Saga. It's kind of nice actually. I'm almost finished re-reading Twilight. I actually stayed up kind of late last night and read for awhile even though I already knew what was going to happen. I think that might be why I stayed up and read, because I knew my favorite part was coming up. (Chapter 13: Confessions aka "The Meadow Scene") Reading this book again just makes me feel happy. I remember the first time I read it. I was engaged and getting married in a few months. I needed something to take my mind off the pressure of planning my wedding. The first three books were out, but Breaking Dawn hadn't been released yet. I bought all three of them at once in hardcover and read them in quick succession. It took me less than a week to read all three of them and then I had to wait for Breaking Dawn like every other fan. Re-reading these books takes me back to that time in my life. So much has changed since then, but I still enjoy them as much (maybe more) than I did the first time!

I can't help myself

Sorry, it's been a while, but Spring Break with my husband home just didn't leave me much time for reading. I did manage to finish The Prophet of Yonwood. It was fine, it tied things together with The City of Ember very nicely. Last night I started reading The Gatecrasher by Madeleine Wickham. It's about a woman who gatecrashes funerals and memorial services and gets the grieving family to give her money. I have had a sudden urge today to re-read the entire Twilight saga. I've read them all already at least twice, the first three a few more times. I get this way about my favorite books every now and then. I have to re-read the Harry Potter series every now and then, too. I might actually stop reading The Gatecrasher for a little while so I can re-read Twilight. I might just go ahead and finish this book and then start on Twilight. I can't really decide. Either way the stack of books in my room is about to be neglected for awhile...

Stuck

I finished reading The People of Sparks and started reading The Prophet of Yonwood which is the next in the "Ember" series. These books have a bit of a political edge to them. They are very obviously anti-weapons and anti-war and eerily similar to the things that are going on in the our own world. I do not yet own the third book in the "Ember" series, The Diamond of Darkhold, so I won't be reading it for a while. I'm actually happy to have a break from Ember for a while. I need to read something different and I have a lot of "different" coming my way. The books in my stack that I have to read include titles from Nicholas Sparks, Charlaine Harris, L.J. Smith, and many, many more.

Can't Find the Spark

I've been reading The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau. I can't really get into it and I'm about halfway thru it. I'll finish it, I'm just not sure how long it will take me. I have a huge stack of books that I can't wait to read, but I've got to finish this one first! I'm not one of those people who read three different books at once. I start a book, I finish that book, then I move on to the next one. There have been a few books that I've just given up on, but those are few and far between. I can't seem to read Jane Austen books for some reason. I did manage to finish Sense & Sensibility, but only because it was for an English class in college. Maybe I can finish this book this weekend...

They LOST my book!!!

I am not having a good day. First, my dogs decided to follow another dog in the neighborhood down the road. I had to drive down the road looking for them and get them in my car before they got themselves killed. Then, I think UPS lost the book I ordered. I ordered Hourglass by Claudia Gray from booksamillion.com. No big deal, I order books from there all the time and have never had a problem. Well, UPS says they have delivered the book, however, it is not here. I've been here all day and I even looked around outside my house for it. It is not here. So, UPS delivered my book to someone else. I am holding out hope that he accidentally delivered it to my mother-in-law's work place. Since my first name is Paula and my father-in-law's first name is Paul, it might be there. It is not at my in-law's house because I already checked there. Frustration is the name of the game today.

?

So, I just read on www.ew.com that Hilary Duff is has signed a multi-book deal with Simon & Schuster. The first book will be called Elixir. I can't help but be a little curious. I mean, I did grow up in the time when Lizzie Maguire was extrememly popular, so I liked Hilary Duff. I'm just wondering if she can actually write. I guess we will see when Elixir hits stores!

A Bone to Pick

First, I should say that I finished The City of Ember last night. This morning I began reading The People of Sparks which is the second Book of Ember. There are still a lot of questions to be answered, but I find the books engaging and I think they would really appeal to the age group they were written for. In a few years, I think I'll encourage my nephew to read them. He's 7, and already loves to read.

Now, onto the bone I want to pick today. I am not a huge Dan Brown fan. In fact, I have only managed to read his three Robert Langdon novels. I tried to read Deception Point a couple of years ago, and I could not get into it no matter how hard I tried. So, I put the book down and never attempted to read it again. Now, I have read Angels & Demons, The DaVinci Code, and The Lost Symbol. I admit I enjoyed all of them. I find the history in the books fascinating. However, I feel that as the years have progressed, Mr. Brown's Robert Langdon novels have decreased in quality. In my opinion, Angels & Demons is by far the best of the three and The Lost Symbol is by far the worst. I don't know what really happened, but I feel as if The Lost Symbol was a bit aimless and did not have a satisfying conclusion. If Dan Brown writes another Robert Langdon novel I suppose I will read it, but I hope it's more Angels & Demons than The Lost Symbol.

A Day of Reading

I was able to actually finish Dead Until Dark today. I spent most of my day reading, and actually finished the book less than an hour ago. I knew what was going to happen. I've seen the first season of the TV show, and the first book pretty much follows that story line. There are a few small changes, but the basic plot of the book was turned into the first season arc. I did think it interesting that in the book, you discover that Elvis was made into a vampire (even if they don't say his name outright and he likes to be called "Bubba"). I have the second book in my possesion, but it is not the next book in my stack, so it will have to wait a little while. My next book is The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. If that doesn't show you how varied my reading preferences are, I don't know what will. You might think it's strange that I read books written for children, but I don't care. I enjoy reading all kinds of books, I don't care what age group it was written for. I mean, I don't think I was the target audience that J.K. Rowling or Stephenie Meyer were writing for, (or Dan Brown for that matter...but I'll save him for tomorrow because I have a bone to pick with Mr. Brown). I'll read almost anything once and things I really enjoy more than once. I love when people recommend books to me, so if any of you have a book you'd like to suggest, you are way more than welcome!

Undead Things

I started reading Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris yesterday and I am having trouble getting through the beginning. It's not that it isn't good, it's the fact that I've seen the first season of True Blood and the beginning of the book is basically exactly the same. I'm sure it'll pick up soon and I'll get more into it.

Busy Bee

Yesterday was a crazy day. I did manage to finish the first Vampire Academy book last night. I really don't know how I feel about it. I thought the way it ended was really good, but I feel like the author kind of didn't know where she was headed with this story and just came up with the most insane thing she could think of. Needless to say the end was really unexpected which is unusual these days. I can almost always tell how a book is going to end before I'm even halfway through it. J.K. Rowling is one of the few authors that consistently surprised me with the twists in her books. Speaking of J.K. Rowling, according to her most recent Tweet, she's writing something right now. That's good to hear. The next book in my stack of books is a Sookie Stackhouse novel. I haven't started it yet, but I will later today. I'm trying to be productive this morning, so I haven't got around to reading yet today.

The Joke That is Language Arts Class

I was substitute teaching today in a rural middle school for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Language Arts classes. They were reading decent books (6th grade was reading Number the Stars and 7th and 8th grade were reading The Outsiders). The students knew what was going on in their respective books, so that wasn't the issue. My issue was with the fact that the teacher doesn't actually make the students read the books. She reads the entire book to them. Now, I know that's better than nothing, but how are the students going to become better readers if they don't read? It just ticked me off a little bit, and also made my voice sound like sandpaper by the end of the day because I had to read two chapters aloud to each class. The teacher doesn't even make them follow along as she reads! How crazy is that? They should at least be looking at the book! It just irritated me.

I still haven't finished reading the first book in the Vampire Academy series. It's taking me longer than usual mainly because I had to work today and also because it takes me longer to read books that I'm not really into. I still have about 100 pages left and the books only a little over 300 pages long!