Annette's Book Spot

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Waiting on Wednesday - The Eye of Minds

I don't often participate in WOW, hosted by Breaking the Spine. But I'm crazy about this book, and can't wait to see what Dashner has come up with this time:

Cover image of The Eye of Minds by James Dashner

Michael is a gamer. And like most gamers, he almost spends more time on the VirtNet than in the actual world. The VirtNet offers total mind and body immersion, and it’s addictive. Thanks to technology, anyone with enough money can experience fantasy worlds, risk their life without the chance of death, or just hang around with Virt-friends. And the more hacking skills you have, the more fun. Why bother following the rules when most of them are dumb, anyway?

But some rules were made for a reason. Some technology is too dangerous to fool with. And recent reports claim that one gamer is going beyond what any gamer has done before: he’s holding players hostage inside the VirtNet. The effects are horrific—the hostages have all been declared brain-dead. Yet the gamer’s motives are a mystery.

The government knows that to catch a hacker, you need a hacker.

And they’ve been watching Michael. They want him on their team. But the risk is enormous. If he accepts their challenge, Michael will need to go off the VirtNet grid. There are back alleys and corners in the system human eyes have never seen and predators he can’t even fathom—and there’s the possibility that the line between game and reality will be blurred forever. (from Amazon.com)

Sounds great to me. Anyone want to send me a copy? ;) Thanks for visiting. Let me know what you are "WOWed" about in the comments.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

It's My 3rd Blogoversary!

Doesn't seem like I've been at this for three years -- well, really a bit more, since I originally started with another blog that was not exclusively about books. I've really loved every minute, and I'm so grateful to all of you for joining me on this journey. I do this for myself, but I have to admit, I enjoy the interaction with and appreciation of other bloggers.

Blogging has been such a learning experience for me (you'll see that if you go back and look at some of my early posts!) I still enjoy learning new things, and learning about new books from all of you!

Here's to another year! Thanks from the bottom of my heart!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Book Review: Rose Under Fire, by Elizabeth Wein

I can't believe how much I loved Rose Under Fire. You see, I really didn't like Code Name Verity at all.

Rose Under Fire is a companion novel, so it isn't necessary to have read Verity. One of the characters in Rose is a friend of one of the characters in Verity.

Rose is a U.S. civilian pilot in England, ferrying planes around for the Air Transport Auxiliary. She would love to be flying in combat, but in WWII, of course that isn't possible. The beginning of Rose Under Fire gives us the feel of the war in Europe. Although there is always the danger of the flying bombs, Rose's life is pretty exciting but mostly safe. Rose wants nothing more than to fly to Paris.

Her Uncle Roger, who got her this job because he's high up in the Royal Engineers, gives Rose her chance. He manages to get her assigned to fly him to Paris. On her way back, Rose runs into trouble, ends up in enemy territory and is captured by the Germans. She is sent to a concentration camp -- Ravensbrück, and that's where the story takes off.

Ravensbrück is where many young Polish women were experimented on by crazy doctors. They would deliberately infect them with gangrene, cut out muscle and bone, and do all sorts of other horrible things. These women were called "rabbits" and Rose became friends and somewhat of a protector to some of these women.

Life in the camp was horrible -- I'm not going to spend a lot of time on those details, but it's a special kind of society that you really need to read about. These women made so many sacrifices for each other, and plotted and schemed to save each other and really to keep their sanity. Rose recites and writes poetry. Another lady in the compound makes paper airplanes. Getting the paper was not an easy challenge! Rose Under Fire is such a multilayered story, it's impossible to explain everything in a review.

Rose Under Fire is written in a diary format, which works well for the subject. Rose is a hero, but there are many heroes in this story. The story is not totally linear, but is very easy to follow (unlike the experience I had with the disjointed narration in Verity.)

I would recommend Rose Under Fire to anyone, teen or adult, who is interested in women in the war, concentration camps, and just the resiliency of the human spirit. The book ends on a more upbeat note, and does include the Nuremberg trials of these horrible doctors.

Reading over this review, I just really didn't do this book justice. But I don't want to say more, because you have to read it to understand. Wein does a lot better job of writing than I do (hah! Big surprise!) This book should be added to the WWII/Holocaust book lists at all of your libraries.

Published by Miramax, September 10, 2013
eARC obtained from NetGalley
368 pages

Rating: 5/5

Sunday, September 15, 2013

A Beautiful Etsy Shop -- Mad Raven Woodworks, by Mike Rapp

Mike is a friend of my son and has been making beautiful things for some time now. He's recently opened an Etsy shop and I couldn't resist posting some pictures of his impressive pyrography (that's your vocabulary word for the day.) Here's some examples, but you should visit Mad Raven Woodworks to see them all!


Wouldn't this make a great wedding gift?

Photo: Just finished this one last night. I have no place for this box to go so I'm selling it for only $25! About 5 hours of work and I lined the inside with black felt. Message me if your interested..

I think this one is sold, but it's one of my favorites!

Mike also does custom furniture and restoration using a lot of reclaimed wood. You can see some of that on his facebook page.

Mike is the nicest guy you will ever work with (he's the best man in my son's wedding) and will be happy to customize your item, so if you are interested you should contact him.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Stacking the Shelves -- eARC Nutty -- Again!

Happy Weekend! I'm really appreciating weekends these days, since I'm "back to school!" Here's what I managed to grab this week:

For Review:

Into the Still Blue, by Veronica Rossi, from Edelweiss

Salvage, by Alexandra Duncan, from Edelweiss

Panic, by Lauren Oliver, from Edelweiss

Warrior, by Ellen Oh, from Edelweiss

Blackmoore, by Julianne Donaldson, from NetGalley

I can't tell you which one I'm most excited about. I love them all! How about you? What did you get that excited you this week? Leave me a link! And, be sure to visit the other blogs participating over at Team Tynga's Reviews.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Book Review: A Wounded Name, by Dot Hutchison

If you are interested in a fairly accurate modern retelling of Hamlet, then A Wounded Name fits the bill!

Hamlet's castle, in this case, is a boarding school. The story is told from Ophelia's perspective, which gives it and interesting twist -- as well as a more paranormal feel since Ophelia sees all kinds of ghosts and spirits. One of these is her dead mother, who wants Ophelia to join her at the bottom of a lake where there is a hidden city waiting for them.

It's been a REALLY long time since I've read Hamlet, but it's a classic, and I know the story. I'm a little shaky on some of the details. But I don't remember this hidden underwater city being part of the plot of the original, and it was the part that I found confusing. I didn't see what it added to the story, other than reinforcing the fact that Ophelia is apparently crazy, or at least her family thinks so.

All of the major characters are here -- even using the same names, so it's very easy to follow the story. Hamlet is called "Dane" and his father is referred to as "Hamlet."

The writing is beautiful. Sometimes too beautiful. All of the major lines we had to memorize in high school are in this book, as well as some other quotes almost directly from Shakespeare. But, even Hutchison's own writing is eloquent. Sometimes maybe too eloquent.

While I enjoyed reliving the story of Hamlet, and the book really ramped up at the end after a pretty slow, meandering start, I still had some issues. Mainly with the sense of time and place. The writing is so close to Old English, that I had trouble remembering that we are in modern times. It doesn't help that NOTHING modern is referred to for quite a while. I found myself distracted from the story because I was trying to figure out approximately what year it was. A little ways in, it mentions "Fortune 500 Companies" so I knew we weren't too far in historical times. Later, a motorcycle and a Limousine are mentioned. Finally on page 96, a cell phone is referred to and on page 114, email.

I also couldn't picture this boarding school. I didn't even realize it was supposedly in the U.S. until very close to the end of the book. Someone gets sent to France, but we never get a sense of WHERE they are leaving from. There aren't many descriptions of the actual school and home that they live in, other than to say there are three floors.

I have trouble if I can't picture things when I'm reading. I need to see the characters within the setting -- both place and time. I really missed that in A Wounded Name and didn't really enjoy the story because of it. As a side note, the cover of the book is perfect -- it really conveys the feeling of the story. The title, however, I don't really understand.

Anyone who is interested in a Hamlet retelling will enjoy this straightforward take on a modern version with a few additional embellishments.

Published by Carolrhoda Books, September 1, 2013
Copy obtained from Library Media Connection Magazine
311 pages

Rating: 3/5

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Audio Book Review: The False Prince, by Jennifer A. Nielsen

I would describe The False Prince as "simple but entertaining."

Sage is an orphan. One day a man comes and pays the head of the orphanage to take Sage away. It turns out that Sage isn't the only orphan the Conner has "rescued." There's also Tobias and Rodan. They are taken to Conner's castle, where they discover they are in a life or death competition.

Conner is one of the king's advisors. What no one knows is that the entire royal family has been murdered. The youngest son, Prince Jaron, was lost 4 years ago when the ship he was on was sunk by pirates. He was presumed dead, but now Conner wants to convince the country that Jaron is still alive. And one of these three orphans is going to become Jaron and be crowned king. The orphans know that the plan for the two of them that don't get chosen is certainly death.

They have two weeks to train and learn everything about the kingdom and Jaron. Sage is belligerent and uncooperative. He challenges Conner and all of the servants over and over. He's sneaky and learns more about Conner and the castle than he should.

The False Prince is simply written and well-told. I felt the story was on the "light" side. I think that middle grade students are the perfect audience for The False Prince. I never really felt my heart pound. I didn't feel the danger was real. I felt detached from the story and the characters. Something was missing as far as the depth of the story. For example, this book could be compared to something like The Girl of Fire and Thorns. But in that book, the main character is a strong, kick-ass fighter who I really became attached to. I just didn't get that with The False Prince.

There are surprising twists and turns. It's really an interesting premise and the plotting is great! The ending is pretty "happily ever after," but I didn't mind that either. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend The False Prince to my students -- especially the younger ones. And, I wouldn't mind reading the second book, The Runaway King at some point.

The audio book narrator, Charlie McWade did a good job with the narration, and I would recommend the audio version without reservation.

Published by Scholastic (and Scholastic Audio Books) 2012
Audio book obtained from Sync YA Literature
355 pages

Rating: 3.5/5

Monday, September 9, 2013

Book Review: Antigoddess, by Kandare Blake @KendareBlake

I really enjoyed the premise of Antigoddess and the creative touches that Blake used to tell the story.

I must admit though, I really only know the very basics of mythology. For some reason, my education never included one single class or even a unit of study that had anything to do with the Greek myths. I've never been very interested in pursuing the topic on my own, so what little I know comes from fiction based on these characters. So that is the perspective from which I write this review.

We have two points of view -- Cassandra and her boyfriend Aidan are in love, and going through high school as normally as they can. Cassandra can see the future, and her close friend and brother know this. I kind of like that it isn't a big secret. It's just a normal part of her life.

Athena and her brother Hermes are gods, and they are dying. Both in very different ways, but they are trekking through the desert in search of Demeter, who they find is also dying, and also differently. It turns out all the gods are dying and Athena and Hermes are determined to find out why and see if they can stop it. Demeter tells them they must find the Oracle and "make her remember." It takes a while to figure out what this all means, but it turns out they need to find Cassandra -- she's the Oracle. She doesn't remember her past, but really she's Cassandra of Troy.

There are several other secrets that I don't want to go into, because I don't want to give too much away. There are "bad" gods too. Ones who are also trying to find Cassandra. All the major Greek gods either are mentioned or make an appearance. And witches, and Odysseus, and Hector. The list goes on.

The climactic battle scenes are exciting -- I think this would be an interesting story to see on the screen. Antigoddess has an ending, but this is only the first book in The Goddess Wars Series. I'll be interested in seeing where the story goes.

Blake is a great writer; the unusual way the gods are dying is surprising. Feathers? Really? Who thinks of that? She gives each god their original personality with a modern twist.

I guess I really don't understand why the gods aren't all working together to figure out what's going on. But then we wouldn't have this story. And, I suspect this will become more apparent in future books.

Greek mythology fans should definitely be steered to Antigoddess. Anyone who likes an interesting paranormal battle between good and evil will enjoy Antigoddess.

Published by Tor Teen, September 10, 2013
ARC obtained from Library Media Connection Magazine
336 pages

Rating: 4/5

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Stacking the Shelves - Another Series Conclusion!

It's time for another sharing session, as we find out what new books everyone is collecting. I'm very excited about the book I got this week!

For Review:

Monsters, by Ilsa J. Bick from NetGalley

The final installment of The Ashes Trilogy!

So, how about you? Leave me a link and make me jealous! Don't forget to visit all the participating blogs at Team Tynga's Reviews. Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Feature & Follow Friday - My Favorite Bookshelves!

Welcome to my blog, and happy Friday! I hope you have an exciting weekend planned. Here's this week's question from Parajunkee and Alison:

Q: Bookshelf Tour. Give us a tour of your bookshelf.

My favorite bookshelves are those in my library. Here's a few shots:

Thanks for stopping by. I'm looking forward to seeing all of your beautiful bookshelves! Leave me a link!