Jul 18, 2011

It's Monday! What are you reading? #58

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is being hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.



This is a great weekly event where everyone can keep track of the books finished last week & the books planning to read this week!
 
 

I haven't done this meme in a long time, and I was regular...
Anyway, last week I finished re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling & then on Wednesday I watched Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows part 2 in 3D.


I also read Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley & it was good. I'm looking forward to reading the 2nd & 3rd Tales of Terror books!


I also read more than half of Wildefire by Karsten Knight & I'm enjoying it a lot, so I'll probably finish it this week.


I also plan to return to The World House by Guy Adams & to start reading The Killing Song by P.J. Parrish.



Have a great week everyone!!!

Jul 3, 2011

#66 - "Seven Sorcerers" by Caro King (ARC)


Title: Seven Sorcerers
Author: Caro King
Series: Seven Sorcerers, Book 1
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Imprint: Aladdin
Publication date: May 3rd, 2011
Pages: 336
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2042-7

Read from May 2 to May 3, 2011!

Summary:
Nin had never liked Wednesdays, but this one took the biscuit. On this Wednesday she woke up to find that it was raining buckets and that her brother had ceased to exist. Nin realizes she is the only person to remember Toby because whoever took him is about to make her disappear too. Enter Skerridge the Bogeyman, who steals kids for Mr. Strood. With his spindle, he draws all memories of Nin out of her mother's head. She escapes to the Drift, a land filled with the fabulous and the dreadful. What is the sorcerers' secret and will Nin and Toby escape their fate at the House of Strood?

My rating: 4 of 5

My thoughts on the book:
I enjoyed this book a lot! Although it had a little slow start, after that is just amazing fantasy. I loved the world Caro King has created, with all the interesting characters. I read this book in one sitting, it's quite fun & funny, with lovable characters, it's just great MG fantasy & I highly recommend it!

Challenges:

#65 - "Where Things Come Back" by John Corey Whaley (ARC)


Title: Where Things Come Back
Author: John Corey Whaley
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Imprint: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date: May 3rd, 2011
Pages: 240
ISBN: 9781442413337

Read from April 27 to May 3, 2011!

Summary:
Just when seventeen-year-old Cullen Witter thinks he understands everything about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town, it all disappears. . . .
In the summer before Cullen's senior year, a nominally-depressed birdwatcher named John Barling thinks he spots a species of woodpecker thought to be extinct since the 1940s in Lily, Arkansas. His rediscovery of the so-called Lazarus Woodpecker sparks a flurry of press and woodpecker-mania. Soon all the kids are getting woodpecker haircuts and everyone's eating "Lazarus burgers." But as absurd as the town's carnival atmosphere has become, nothing is more startling than the realization that Cullen’s sensitive, gifted fifteen-year-old brother Gabriel has suddenly and inexplicably disappeared.
While Cullen navigates his way through a summer of finding and losing love, holding his fragile family together, and muddling his way into adulthood, a young missionary in Africa, who has lost his faith, is searching for any semblance of meaning wherever he can find it. As distant as the two stories seem at the start, they are thoughtfully woven ever closer together and through masterful plotting, brought face to face in a surprising and harrowing climax.

Complex but truly extraordinary, tinged with melancholy and regret, comedy and absurdity, this novel finds wonder in the ordinary and emerges as ultimately hopeful. It's about a lot more than what Cullen calls, “that damn bird.” It’s about the dream of second chances.

My rating: 4.5 of 5

My thoughts on the book:
I loved this book. I didn't know at the beginning what to think of it. The same goes for the main character Cullen, but slowly I started to love this book & I liked Cullen, too! I liked almost all other characters, too. They were all interesting & I loved Gabriel from beginning, he's an amazing character! It's really good story, the characters interestingly intertwined & it's sad, yet funny & definitely complex. Since this was an e-galley I got from Simon & Schuster, this is definitely a book that it's now on my to-buy list & a book that I'd like to read again & I recommend it!
 
Challenges:

Jul 2, 2011

#64 - "Everfound" by Neal Shusterman (ARC)


Title: Everfound
Author: Neal Shusterman
Series: The Skinjacker Trilogy, Book 3
Publisher:
Simon & Schuster
Imprint:
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication date:
May 3rd, 2011
Pages:
512
ISBN:
9781416990499

Read from April 21st to May 1st, 2011!

Summary:
While Mary lies in a glass coffin aboard a ghost train heading west, her minions are awaiting her re-awakening by bringing lots of new souls into Everlost to serve her. Meanwhile Jackin' Jill has met Jix, a fur-jacker - a skin jacker who can take over the bodies of animals, most notably jaguars. Jix serves a Mayan god who collects Everlost coins, and has his own agenda. In the concluding volume of The Skinjacker Trilogy, Neal Shusterman reveals new sides of the characters of Everlost, who are pitted against each other in a battle that may destroy all life on Earth.

My rating: 5 of 5

My thoughts on the book:
I'm really late with this review, but I loved this book. Like the previous 2 books, I was wrapped up in the story, the characters were again colourful, interesting & likable, the story was funny, yet sad, it surprised me a few times, I even shed a few tears a few times (even for characters I disliked) & the writing was just so great. I love Neal Shusterman's writing style. I can't recommend enough this trilogy & definitely one of my favourites now! Just amazing!!!

Challenges: