Annette's Book Spot

Monday, January 14, 2013

Book Review: 12 Things to Do Before You Crash and Burn, by James Proimos

Even though the first scene of 12 Things to Do Before You Crash and Burn is the main character's father's funeral, the story is light and funny. It's not without a message, though.

After his famous day-time talk show host father dies, Hercules' mother sends him to stay with his Uncle Anthony. Hercules has always been bored when visiting his Uncle, but this time Anthony gives him a list of 12 things to accomplish in 12 days. Hercules has no intention of following through, but he definitely has accomplished the first task -- "Choose a Mission." From there, he just happens to make progress through the rest of the tasks on the list.

Herc is a typical teen -- obsessed with the opposite sex, which gets him in some uncomfortable situations. He also is somewhat famous, because of a picture that everyone has seen of him and his father. He doesn't relish this fame, since he thinks his father was an ass. (His word, not mine.)

12 Things to Do Before You Crash and Burn is only 120 pages long, and there's a lot of half pages. I read it in a little more than an hour. It's funny, but Herc grows and learns a bit about himself, his family, and some life lessons. There's not a lot of depth, but this is a cute little book about a teen trying to make it through a difficult time.

Published by Roaring Book Press, 2011
Copy obtained from the library
121pages (qualifies for my Books You Can Read in a Day Challenge!)

Rating: 3.5/5

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Stacking the Shelves - Another Library Week!

Welcome to the weekend and another edition of Stacking the Shelves, hosted by Tynga's Reviews. This week everything I obtained was from the library!

12 Things to Do Before you Crash and Burn, by James Proimos

The Always War, by Margaret Peterson Haddix

The Boy Recession, by Flynn Meaney

Rebel Heart, by Moira Young

Days of Blood & Starlight,by Laini Taylor

Can't wait to see what you have all added to the ol' pile. Please leave me a link. Thanks for visiting! Come back soon!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Book Review: All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky, by Joe R. Lansdale

When I first read this title I wondered why someone would name a book All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky. When I began reading and realized it's about the dust bowl, it all made sense.

All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky is a book about three kids who, because of circumstances beyond their control, end up escaping Oklahoma and having quite an adventure while trying to find a life for themselves.

Jack has lost both of his parents. His mother died of respiratory problems, and his father committed suicide because he couldn't handle it. So now Jack is alone, in the middle of Oklahoma, with dust storms occurring more and more often and no means of support. When two neighbor kids, Jane and her little brother Tony, make it to his house, he allows Jane to talk him into leaving. They take a car from another neighbor, who has died on his porch.

The adventures they have keep the pages turning quickly. They face danger and also encounter great wealth. But nothing ever stays the same for long. While somewhat far-fetched, it does make for an interesting tale. And that's what All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky is. An entertaining tale. Jane is a creative liar, and makes up a different story for every person they meet. These were some of the most humorous parts. Yes, it's historical, but we really don't learn much about that period except what the dust storms and locust attacks were like. And, how everyone, pretty much everywhere, was poor.

The ending is satisfying. Not everyone gets what they want, but it stays true to the characters. All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky is a quick, easy read. Those who enjoy some adventure with a little historical bent will enjoy it.

Published by Delacorte Press, 2011
Copy obtained from the library
227 pages (qualifies for my Books You Can Read in a Day Challenge!)

Rating: 3.5/5

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Book Review: Battle Fatigue by Mark Kurlansky

I thoroughly enjoyed Battle Fatigue. The historical time period is one I can relate to, and the book reads quickly and held my interest.

Joel and his friends are growing up in the years after WWII. Nearly every "Dad" in town is a war veteran. However, they have little on which to base their pretend war play, since most of these vets aren't talking. Joel says his dad has malaria from the war. But the reader knows those sweats and nightmares aren't caused by any mosquito.

As Joel enters his teen years, the Vietnam conflict is just beginning, and it is interesting to see everyone try to make sense of what is going on. There is a lot of confusion, and of course miscommunication on the part of the government and media, so that no one understands. As Joel graduates from high school and decides to attend college, he must also decide what to do about the draft. Can he really go to war and kill people? Joel sees what has happened to some of his friends who fought in Vietnam, and he doesn't like what they've become.

My father is a WWII veteran. I was a small child when my two brothers got very high draft numbers. I remember the tension in my house during that time. I remember my brothers' friends going to Vietnam. So, reading Battle Fatigue explained a lot of the feelings of that time to me from the perspective as an adult. As a child, I didn't understand much of the politics. I remember my brother saying he'd go to Canada if he got drafted, but I don't know if he really would have. Needless to say, I found Battle Fatigue very relatable.

I love historical fiction, and this story is rich with details of the 1960s and 70s. We go through Kennedy's election and assassination, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Civil Rights movement and King's assassination, Johnson's entry into Vietnam, and Nixon's election. Joel becomes part of the anti-war protests. Joel loves baseball, so famous baseball legends are mentioned throughout the story.

The characters, besides Joel, are not very individualized. I got confused when old friends were mentioned later in the book. I would have to think, "Now, which one was that?" since they all seemed to mesh together.

The setting and Joel's inner dialog and struggle with his decision are what make Battle Fatigue stand out. I would not hesitate to point boys who are interested in this time period to Battle Fatigue. However, this isn't a book with a lot of action or war scenes. It's about the inner struggle of one teen boy who has to make a very difficult decision. Battle Fatigue is quick and easy to read, but would only appeal to a certain niche of teen readers.

Published by Walker Childrens, 2011
Copy obtained from the library
242 pages

Rating: 4/5

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Book Review: Through the Ever Night, by Veronica Rossi @V_Rossibooks

The short review: Just read Through the Ever Night. You won't be disappointed. Well, you probably need to read Under the Never Sky first, but other than that, this is really great stuff.

I just didn't want to put this book down. It's told in alternating POVs like Under the Never Sky. The plot leaps ahead -- there's no filler here. The relationship between Perry and Aria is PERFECT. There's no dishonesty here -- they are meant for each other and they both know it. It's refreshing.

There's adventure and danger. Through the Ever Night has an ENDING, which I also love, but of course there's plenty of fodder for another story.

I could go on about the world Rossi has created. The tension between the Dwellers and the Outsiders is great. The danger of the aether storms -- scary! The reappearance of old characters, and some of them taking on new roles. There's a lot to keep you entertained.

Just read it. And I'm going to recommend this series to a LOT of teens. With the second installment, Through the Ever Night, the Under the Never Sky series has moved towards the very top of my favorite series list.

Published by HarperCollins, January 8, 2013
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
352 pages

Rating: 5/5

Monday, January 7, 2013

DNF Comments: Broken, by A. E. Rought

I don't often publish reviews of books I don't finish, but sometimes I feel I need to make some comments about why. I read about 130 pages (1/3 of the book) before I gave up on Broken.

I must admit that before I quit, I read some other reviews on Goodreads because I was so confused by this book. I don't usually read other reviews while I'm reading a book. But, I thought maybe I could be convinced to continue reading -- but, alas, the other reviews confirmed my suspicions.

The first line of the blurb says, "A string of suspicious deaths near a small Michigan town ends with a fall that claims the life of Emma Gentry’s boyfriend, Daniel." I've read 130 pages, and there have been no other deaths besides Daniel's. I thought I was reading about the wrong book!

This is supposed to be a re-telling of Frankenstein, and I've never read it, so I can't say much about that.

So, for 130 pages (and probably more) Emma is devastated by and trying to get over Daniel's death. She's in mourning. But when a new boy shows up at school, she's strangely drawn to him. And the weirdest thing is that he reminds her of Daniel. That's all that has happened. The new guy, Alex, is weird. Emma's parents are worried about her. Emma spends time in the cemetery, and sees visions of Daniel and has bad dreams. SO WHAT? When is something going to happen?

According to several of the other reviews I read, the synopsis of the book pretty much tells the whole story until the last 50 to 80 pages. I don't usually read the synopses, but I had to read this one, again, because I couldn't see a direction for this story in the first 130 pages. Now that I've read the blurb, I know the story for the next 200 pages. And, I'm not willing to stick with it any longer.

I also found some of the sentences to be...convoluted? Or complicated? I got the feeling Rought was trying too hard for "beautiful prose." I had to re-read on several occasions to get the meaning. (Reminder that this is an ARC and some of this could be cleaned up in the final copy.)

If you've read Frankenstein, you might enjoy Broken much more than I did. Because to me, it seems like that's the only thing Broken has going for it. If you know what happens in Frankenstein, I suspect you can see the story unfolding from that perspective. I could not, because I don' t have the background knowledge. Therefore, the story had no discernible direction.

If you've read Broken, please link your reviews. I'd like to know what you thought.

Published by Strange Chemistry, January 8, 2013
eARC obtained from Netgalley
320 pages

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Book Review:Prophecy by Ellen Oh

I'm not sure what to say about Prophecy. I enjoyed the book while I was reading, but it didn't blow me away. I'm feeling kind of ambivalent, and I'm not sure why.

Kira is the niece of the King. She's a warrior and a demon slayer, and everyone is afraid of her. Not your typical female. The Seven Kingdoms are under attack, and Kira's main job is to guard the crown prince. When the enemy army is coming and Kira senses demons, she must run away with the prince.

Most of the book is Kira's adventures keeping the prince away from the bad guys. And there are a lot of bad guys. There are a lot of characters which I found a little confusing, as well as all of the kingdoms (which ones are good? which ones have fallen?) All of the names of people and kingdoms are very strange. I know this is a creative element, but it was a bit much for me.

Also, there are often italicized words in a foreign language. They are italicized only the first time they are used and never defined. I was reading an eARC, so this could change, but I expected a glossary somewhere? Otherwise, what is the point? Several times I couldn't tell what was being described by the context.

I enjoyed the lore and the world. There are three things our heroes must find to defeat the demons. One of them is part of the quest in this book. I suspect the other two are going to be tackled in the next books. Some of Kira's escapes were a bit to contrived. That is one reason fantasy is not my favorite genre. If your hero is in trouble, just make up some magical creature or item to save them. I felt like that happened quite a bit in Prophecy.

I enjoyed Prophecy. I never wanted to quit. I just don't know if I liked it enough to read any more of The Dragon King Chronicles. If fantasy is your thing, you might like Prophecy a lot more than I did.

Published by HarperTeen, January 2, 2013
Copy obtained from Edelweiss
320 pages

Rating: 3/5

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Books You Can Read in a Day Challenge - End of Year Update!

Notice: I'd like to apologize for the appearance of my blog. Several weeks ago, my background disappeared and blogger decided to use my default background. I can't seem to change it (to another blogger background or anything else!) I haven't had a great deal of time to worry about it, but I have "googled" it and I know others are having this problem too. If you have a suggestion, please let me know!

Thanks to everyone who participated in my 2012 Books You Can Read in a Day Challenge. There were only a few of us, but that's OK. So how did you do? Let me know in the comments, or leave me a link.

If you are interested in joining me for 2013, here's a link to the challenge page. There's also a link on the sidebar of my blog.

My 2012 goal was to read 25 books, and I made it to 32. What is interesting is that I didn't read that many off of my original list. I just read a lot of quick books as I found them. So, the rest of my list for 2012 is on my 2013 list. Feel free to give me suggestions throughout the year!

Here's my list of books read in a day during 2012:

1. Skellig, by David Almond (audiobook, but I listened to it in one day!)
2. The Jinx, by Dougald Lamont
3.The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, by Jennifer E. Smith
4. Sean Griswold's Head, by Lindsey Leavitt
5. The Probability of Miracles, by Wendy Wunder
6. Mr. Popper's Penguins, by Richard and Florence Atwater
7. A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness
8. Wonder, by R. J. Palacio
9. Song of the Sparrow, by Lisa Ann Sandell
10. Thou Shalt Not Road Trip, by Antony John
11. Cross My Heart, by Sasha Gould
12. Gamble on Engagement, by Rachel Astor
13. Perception, by Kim Harrington
14. Unbreak My Heart, by Melissa Walker
15. Miracle, by Elizabeth Scott
16. Lies Beneath, by Anne Greenwood Brown
17. Timepiece, by Myra McEntire
18. The Chosen One, by Carol Lynch Williams
19. Something Like Normal, by Trish Doller
20. Choke, by Diana Lopez
21. Bruiser, by Neal Shusterman
22. Rikers High by Paul Volponi
23. The Fault in our Stars,by John Green
24. Forbidden Fire, by Kimberly Kinrade
25. Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have), by Sarah Mlynowski
26. Lockdown: Escape From Furnace, by Alexander Gordon Smith
27. The Raft, by S. A. Bodeen
28. Where Things Come Back, by John Corey Whaley
29. Guilty, by Norah McClintock
30. Hidden, by Sophie Jordan
31. Burn for Burn, by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian
32. The Giver, by Lois Lowry

Happy New Year everyone, and thanks for visiting.

2012 - Statistically Speaking

photo credit: http://captainkimo.com

I like to do these summary posts mostly for me, so I have a record, but if you are interested, here's my reading accomplishments for 2012.

You can see the detailed list of all my reviews on my 2012 Review Archives Page.

I'd also like to mention that really I'm posting about books I reviewed in 2012 -- I think there were a couple reviews at the beginning of the year of books I actually read in 2011. Likewise, I already have about 3 reviews ready to post in 2013 of books that I read in 2012. It just gets confusing if I try to keep track of all that, and it's pretty much a wash anyway.

If you are interested in favorite books of the year, you can check out my 2012 End of Year Book Survey.

The numbers:

I read 172 books in 2012, which was actually less than the 180 I read in 2011. I'm surprised. I thought I had read more this year.

If you look at number of pages, I read 55,278 pages officially. There were some unpaginated books too, so it's really more than that. Average book length: 331 pages. Still less than the 56,790 pages I read in 2011. Oh well. I really can't read any more than I do -- I do have a life, after all!

69 of the books I read were e-books, and 17 were audiobooks. Definitely more audiobooks this year than last.

Average book rating (out of a scale of 5) was 3.71. This may seem a bit high, but I never give "1" ratings -- if a book is that bad, I don't finish it. And I rarely give "2" ratings (7 this year, and one 1.5). 23 books got a 5/5 rating this year. That's about 13% of the books I read, which is a little higher than last year. Must have been a great book year!

Here's a link to my 2011 statistics, for comparison.

I'm hoping that 2013 will be about the same. I would always want to have bigger numbers, but I'm pretty happy with my numbers from 2012, and if I do that well this year, then I'll be happy with that!

How did your year go? Did you meet your goals? Are you surprised by anything? What about 2013? Are your goals the same, or are you making adjustments?

Thanks for visiting and Happy Reading!

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Book Review: A Certain October, by Angela Johnson

While I found A Certain October entertaining enough as I read it, I don't think it is a memorable book.

Scotty stays busy with her friends and family and taking care of Keone, her autistic little brother. A terrible accident kills a new friend of Scotty's and puts her brother in a coma. Scotty blames herself.

That's pretty much it. We get to know Scotty and her friends, then we experience the terrible accident and go through Scotty's turmoil afterwards.

The book is very short and quickly read, however I wouldn't necessarily recommend A Certain October to reluctant readers because even I was confused with the non-linear timeline. Other than that, the writing was easily read, and Scotty is an interesting, realistic teen character.

I just don't know when I would recommend A Certain October except to girls wanting a quick read. I've read several of Angela Johnson's other books and enjoyed them much more than this one. I would recommend The First Part Last in a heartbeat (and have many times!)

Published by Simon & Schuster, August 28, 2012
Copy obtained from the library
158 pages (qualifies for my Books You Can Read in a Day Challenge!)

Rating: 2.5/5