Candy Store

A genius writer Lauren Conrad is not, however, L.A. Candy is certainly addictive and entertaining. I am sure a lot of this book came from her experience on The Hills. Of course, she knows the in's and out's of filming a "reality" show, so I'm sure that was all pretty accurate. The content of the book is vapid and overly simple, but strangely alluring and highly addictive. One of the good things about this book is that the pages seemed to fly by so you never felt like you were bogged down. Things moved quickly and I liked that.

So now begins my reading of The Hunger Games trilogy. My husband decided that they had to be the next books I read, so I acquiesced and bought them. I'm on chapter 3 of The Hunger Games, so I don't really have an opinion about the book yet. I know it's gotten rave reviews from nearly everyone, so we shall see.

Hitler Just Screwed Up Everything, Didn't He?

Eva Ibbotson never fails to weave an interesting plot line. This book actually reminded me a little of The Sound of Music, actually. Austria before Hitler got to it, music, unlikely love connections. Eva Ibbotson never makes it easy for her lovers to get together, but they (usually) do in the end. It might not be in the time that they thought, or the way that they thought, but it happens. Ellen and Marek are no different. They belong together and they both feel it, but are determined to ignore it for different reasons all throughout the book. It absolutely made me want to scream sometimes! I was so frustrated that they just couldn't get together! Of course, when it seems like they have finally found each other, horrible things happen to drive them apart again!! I think this might have been the most frustrating of Eva Ibbotson's books so far! A Song for Summer is definitely a great book as long as the reader doesn't give up hope that everything will turn out all right in the end!

Dark Much?

Wow, talk about a dark book. The Chocolate War is a book I've had on my "must read" list for ages and had never gotten around to it. A small part of me wishes I had never gotten around to it. It was utterly depressing. I knew going into it that this was not going to be a light-hearted folly, but I thought it at least might have a happy ending! I know it might make me sound immature or unintelligent, but I just prefer a book to have a satisfying ending. The end of The Chocolate War just made me throw up my hands and ask myself why I had spent the last few days reading it! It was just bleak and left me feeling as if nothing had changed at all. I didn't feel that any of the characters grew. I felt like Jerry took a step in the wrong direction and that everyone else ended up exactly where they had begun. So what exactly was the point of the journey if nothing really changed?

Worth the Read

This morning, I finished reading I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore. My husband and I saw the movie about a week ago and it was good, but the book is better in a few ways. There's a bit more romance in the book which I thought was a good change. Also, they delve more deeply into the story of Lorien, Number Four's home planet. I know that things like this often hit the cutting room floor when it comes to movies, but I think, in some cases, that this is to the detriment of the characters. In my opinion, knowing details of what happened on Lorien made me feel more for these characters. To realize how brutally their home had been taken from them just made the heroes that much more heroic and the villains that much more villainous. I'm looking forward to the sequel. I need to find out what happens to Number Four. I really hope he gets to be with Sarah in the end.

What is Wrong with Amelia Bedelia

I work in an elementary school, so I am exposed to children's books all the time. (In fact, Scholastic Book Fair is next week and I am the librarian's assistant, so I will be selling lots of children's books next week). Today I was reading a book to some second graders. This book was Amelia Bedelia and the Cat. Now, I'm no stranger to Amelia Bedelia. I've read several Amelia Bedelia books over the years. However, it never occurred to me until today that Amelia Bedelia could have some form of Aspergers. I know that most people with Aspergers can take anything people say literally. They don't understand sarcasm or some of the strange little sayings we take for granted everyday. Amelia Bedelia always takes everything literally which gets her into all sorts of trouble and funny situations. I was just wondering if I'm the only person who has ever thought Amelia Bedelia may have aspergers. I hope this post doesn't offend anyone who has or knows someone who has aspbergers. One of my best friends has a sibling with aspbergers, so I know some of struggles that families can go through.