Friday, April 29, 2011

Follow Friday #1 and In My Mailbox #1



Alright! Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee and is a way for book bloggers to get to know each other better. Just go to her page and follow the directions, and you'll be making some new friends! This week's blogger is Marla @ Starting The Next Chapter.


This week's question...

Q. Keeping with the dystopian and apocalypse theme that seems to be running rampant on parajunkee.com, I have one very hard question for you: If you were stocking your bomb shelter, what books would you HAVE to include if you only had space for ten?

A: Had to go to my shelf and think about this for a minute. Here's my ten:

1. Burned by Ellen Hopkins
2. Perfect You by Elizabeth Scott
3. Waiting For You by Susane Colasanti
4. Anne Of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
5. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
6. And Both Were Young by Madeleine L'Engle
7. The Boys Next Door by Jennifer Echols
8. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
9. Summer In The City by Elizabeth Chandler
10. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher


To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list
2. (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers -Starting The Next Chapter
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
7. If you're new to the follow friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!




In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

It's where we post about the latest books we've purchased, gotten from the library, or received for review... it doesn't necessarily have to be ones you got in the mail. Although a lot of mine DO come from my mailbox. :)

I got several books this week. Ended up placing a couple Amazon orders due to their wonderful 4 for 3 deal AND bargain books. Also saw a really expensive book almost half price online. Can't pass those deals up.

So, what did I get?

Wings and Spells by Aprilynne Pike, Nothing Like You by Lauren Strasnick, I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder, Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz, Say Goodnight, Gracie by Julie Reece Deaver, AND from a private seller on Amazon, Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume One. I used to have the last one, but sold it when I thought I was over the whole Twilight thing. Apparently not. But then again, the pictures in there are pretty amazing.


And this one.

E.E. Cummings: Complete Poems 1904-1962

1136 pages of awesome.

E.E. Cummings is my favorite poet. The first poem I read by him was "If everything happens that can't be done" and I actually memorized it at one point, I love it so much. I was planning on buying all this books separately, since I already had an earlier edition in my book collection. Somehow it seemed easier to just get the complete works all at once instead of spending all the time trying to find every single book. This book will take me forever to finish.



That's it for today!

~Jessica

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Update Thursday #4 April 28th 2011

And so it goes...

1. Finished Deja Dead! Amazing book. Can't wait to write the review.

2. I'm in the middle of reading 6 books at the moment: The Center Of Everything, Virals, I Know You Really Love Me, Hold Still, Dance With A Vampire (book four in the Vampire Kisses series), and Sloppy Firsts (book one of a five book series). Somehow I should be focusing on one at a time, BUT, I like having the variety to choose from depending on my mood.

3. Well, I was GOING to post what I got in the mail this week on here, but I've decided to take part in the "In My Mailbox" thing this weekend instead. So, you'll find out either tomorrow night or Saturday night what I got in the mail this week. ;)

4. Yesterday before work, I went on Goodreads and started to write down lists of different series of books I've read and would like to read. Some of them I'd like to buy the complete series, and I've got only a handful of the books (like Kathy Reichs "Temperance Brennan" series and The Clique Series by Lisi Harrison), and can't remember what the order and titles of everything is! I had also been seeing certain novels from years ago being put together into duo and trio books, like Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's "Alice" series. I never read any of those, and wondered what books were part of the compilations. Now to make checklists!

5. Anyone else listen to music while reading? I do about half the time I read. I can't listen to anything too distracting though. Something new that's coming out soon in May is by an artist named Natalie Ryan. I discovered her when she friend requested me on Facebook after seeing that I like Paramore. Good music. Here's her website: Natalie Ryan Official Site.

That's it for today!

~Jessica

Delirium by Lauren Oliver


Title: Delirium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Published: January 1st 2011
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult Dystopian
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
Add to your Goodreads shelf
Caution: May contain spoilers

~*~

“It affects your mind so that you cannot think clearly, or make rational decisions about our own well-being.”

“The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don’t.”

What if love were a disease? Lauren Oliver has taken that idea and developed a world that believes that it is. In this world love (otherwise known as “amor deliria nervosa”) is the cause of everything bad. Once they discovered this, they developed and perfected a “cure” to be given so that all can “be happy and safe forever”. Yet not everyone is safe from love since the cure cannot be performed unless you’re 18. It hasn’t been made safe for anyone younger. So until then, there’s a chance they may catch the “deliria”. To keep everyone who has been cured and those who haven’t from catching the disease or spreading it, everything is watched closely by the government to ensure the safety of their people. The “uncured” youth go to separate schools, and so on.

Enter Lena Haloway, 95 days away from getting cured. She’s been looking forward to this for a long time. She’s been preparing for the day she turns 18, preparing for her planned future. Then she meets Alex, and everything changes. In those final days before the procedure, she begins to learn about the other side of the spectrum. It causes her to question the reasonableness of the regulations around her, the ones she grew up trusting and believing in. She’s torn between the two worlds: the one she’s always known, the one where love is gone forever, and the one outside the fence, the one where love is embraced.

This book was enthralling. Lauren Oliver has an amazing voice. You know those books that keep you up at night, the ones that you cannot stop thinking about for weeks? This is one of them. Lena’s story is gripping and it stays with you for awhile.

Delirium is book one of a trilogy. The second book will be released next February. I’m marking my calendar.


My Rating:

Exceptional: Stay up until at least 1 AM


See also my reviews for  Hana  and  Pandemonium, also by Lauren Oliver.

Monday, April 25, 2011

My Shelves

After reading on another blog about shelving, I decided to make it my project, or, add it to my other project. I was in serious need of organizing some stuff on my shelves, mostly due to my laziness and chaotic work schedule and other responsibilities. A lot of things were getting just tossed onto my shelves... as you can see here...




There was candy, makeup, plushies, ponies, photos without frames, frames without photos... no organization (well, not too much)... It was just a disaster. And since we moved to this house, I barely bothered to care where anything was. I just let it all go. Doing this isn't a good thing for me, the less organized my room is, the more irritable I am. That's why my boss suggested I take a couple days off, just to relax. I had decided to use these upcoming days off to finish organizing my room. But, since I was bored last night...

Ta-da!!!



I organized most of it! Didn't really do anything with my section of Garfield and other Sunday Comic books-slash-childhood books section. Those were already not too bad. Sure, they weren't in any sort of order, but, they look good.

And in organizing everything I discovered that I had TWO COPIES OF THE SAME BOOK. I stared at them for a minute straight. How did THAT happen? Hmmm... perhaps due to not organizing your shelves sooner?

This I am proud of--my Y.A. shelf (pre-this week's mail):



*sigh* It feels good to organize. I can't wait until I can finish the rest of my room!

~Jessica

Review: What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones


Title: What My Mother Doesn't Know
Author: Sonya Sones
Published: February 1st 2001
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
Add to your Goodreads shelf
Caution: May contain spoilers

~*~

Now I’m not sure if it was after loving this book that got me into reading books in verse (stories told in poetry form), or if it was after reading Burned by Ellen Hopkins that I searched for more and found Sonya Sones. In any case, I simply adore books in verse. I love almost every one I come across. All of the books by Sonya Sones are superb.

The following is from the back cover:

“My name is Sophie.
This book is about me.
It tells
the heart-stoppingly riveting story
of my first love.
And also my second.
And, okay, my third love too.

It’s not that I’m boy crazy.
It’s just that even though
I’m almost fifteen
it’s like
my mind
and my body
and my heart
just don’t seem to be able to agree
on anything.”

The story follows Sophie and what she encounters and discovers in her adolescence. We hear about her boys and boyfriends, her best friends, her family, and her views on everything. Sones touches the deepest of subjects to the lighthearted moments of growing up. The word pictures used paint vivid details that often spark memories for those of us who aren’t teenagers anymore.

Sophie’s take on the world is thoroughly funny and true to life. Her ability to balance maturity and silliness epitomizes being in the middle teens. The whole falling in love aspect--the questioning of what one doesn’t know, how much it tears us up trying to get and answer, and those moments of truth when you know what it is--just great. Sophie contends with several issues: parental arguing, boyfriends and ex-boyfriends and potential boyfriends, and her own personal fears and feelings. The weird thing is, there doesn’t even seem to be any sort of plot. Yet when you finish it, you see how it all ties together beginning to end in more ways than one.

All in all, a very worthwhile read. Being written in poems makes it even better, and a very quick read as well. Sones gets you to feel the experience yourself through the descriptive wording.


My Rating:

Exceptional: Stay up until at least 1 AM

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Update Thursday #3 April 21st 2011

Here we go...

1. Getting there with Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs. Very intense. Almost 3/4 of the way through.

2. My next two reviews will be for What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones, and Delirium by Lauren Oliver. (Yep! Jumping on the bandwagon!) Writing out the first, expect that soon. Thinking about what to write for the second.

3. Recent book purchases! I went to Barnes and Noble the Saturday after getting a membership. Spent about an hour and a half there. Here's a list of what I got: The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson, The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard, Hold Still by Nina LaCour, Beautiful by Amy Reed, Craft, Inc.: Turn Your Creative Hobby into a Business by Meg Mateo Ilasco (another book on how to sell handmade things), and Jane Austen's Little Advice Book by Cathryn Michon and Pamela Norris (I love Jane Austen, and yet have never read one of her books in entirety, just watched a bunch of movies based on her books). I've been into some deep topics lately fiction wise. Speaking of which...

4. I should pick out a fun read to break up the intensity of the books I'm in the midst of. What to read... I'll search my shelves later.

5. I'm expecting 3 packages of books in the mail by the beginning of next week. Thanks a lot Amazon for your Bargain Books and buy 4 books for the cost of 3 deal! Bah! You'll find out what they are by next weeks update. ;)

6. I am recommending to my readers the blog of a friend, Angie. It's called Eastern Sunset Reads and she reviews books of various genres including paranormal and fantasy and much more! I'm usually more into the young adult novels of that nature, but I'm going to check a couple of them out and expand my reading horizons.

Well, that about does it for today. I have a movie to watch for the first time (Toy Story 3, I know, I am SOOO behind) and I want to get closer to finishing a book tonight. I've only got so many days left in the year to meet the 50 mark. *crosses fingers*

~Jessica

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Dragging my feet

Let's just say that sums up my life as of late. Don't get me wrong, I love to read... sometimes I love to do other things... like catch up on season 5 of Futurama. (Netflix online rocks.) Sometimes I get obsessed, and time falls away from me. Working full time stinks too when you don't have enough time to read more than a couple pages on your lunch break. Thank goodness for days off because days off = I can stay up late = I can sleep in = I can stay up reading and sleep in! Jessica staying up late reading on days she has to work = very tired Jessica in the morning. I should know... I did that earlier this week. Lol.

Tomorrow you will hear the latest and greatest on Update Thursday #3. Until then, goodnight!

~Jessica

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Review: Sisters In Sanity by Gayle Forman

Title: Sisters In Sanity
Author: Gayle Forman
Published: August 16th 2007
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
Add to your Goodreads shelf
Caution: May contain spoilers

~*~

Many readers are probably more familiar with Gayle’s “If I Stay” (especially with the sequel recently released). It was due to knowing of them that I stumbled across this when filling up a cart on Amazon. The premise is about a girl being sent away to a center for rebellious teens by her father.

That girl is Brit Hemphill, 16 years old with magenta and black hair and tattoos. She’s in a band (Clod) with friends Denise, Erik, and Jed, the guy she’s in love with. The book opens with her trip to Red Rock Academy, disguised as a family trip to the Grand Canyon by her dad. In the first few weeks she has an attitude, but Virginia (or V, as she prefers to be called) helps her get started off right. She makes three other friends, Bebe, Martha, and Cassie, and the five of them together keep each other sane.

The rules at Red Rock are very strict. You’re given “levels” numbered 1-6, one being the lowest and six being highest. There’s hardly any contact with people outside, and when you can it’s limited to family only. They will withhold things from you unless you do what you’re told to do. You get level upgrades for telling them what they want to hear. Basically, the place isn’t a legitimate institution, it’s just taking money from overly concerned parents. Of course, the parents don’t realize this, the truth is always hidden when there are visitors, not to mention they’re warned to not listen to the complaints of their child (since they’re child is out of control and not to be trusted).

While it seems to be difficult to abide by the rules, there are ways around them, like to write and receive letters from non-family. There’s also a way to sneak out briefly at night. As the months go by, the girls grow closer. Brit is even able to keep in contact with Jed and her band.

Then somebody gets caught breaking a rule and dynamics change. The girls attempt to stay right but it gets harder. When one of them ends up in the hospital thanks to the negligence of Red Rock, Brit reaches a breaking point. At that moment she makes it her resolve to shut Red Rock down.

I will not say any more as to what happens in the end. You will not be disappointed as you take on Brit’s journey.


My Rating:

Very Good: Stay up late

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Coming up...

I was wondering what book I should review next. Then I finished Sisters In Sanity last night. Definitely worthy of being next. I originally planned on catching up with all the older books I've read, then add in some of the ones I've recently read. Considering I'll be reading 50 books this year, I may have to tweak it to one older book, then the current one I've just finished. Now to find some time this weekend to write out my next review...

I just joined a couple of book blog groups on Goodreads to connect with some fellow book bloggers/book blog lovers. Best thing I've done today. Already got some great followers and it hasn't even been an hour! :D Love it.

Hearts and hugs to all of you fellow book lovers! <3

~Jessica

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Update Thursday #2 April 14th 2011

Back again with Update Thursday! Here's the latest:

1. Posted my first book review today! It took so long to write out. I chose a hard book to review for my first. Still proud of it.

2. Apparently today is Support Teen Lit Day. I'm reading this list of things to do to support it, and I'd like to do several of them. Of course, all in one day without advance notice won't be possible. So I'm planning on doing some of them throughout my book blogging months ahead. Here's the link: Support Teen Lit Day

3. Read a couple of chapters of Sisters In Sanity by Gayle Forman.

4. Decided my next undertaking will be The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty.

5. I got my Official Barnes & Noble Membership Card in the mail today. You know what that means... MORE BOOKS! (and at a discount too!)

That's about it for now. Until next time!

~Jessica

Review: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Title: Thirteen Reasons Why
Author: Jay Asher
Published: October 18th 2007
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
Add to your Goodreads shelf
Caution: May contain spoilers

~*~

When I first heard of this book, I knew it would be intense. Anytime I had to set the book down, I couldn’t wait to pick it up again. I wanted to understand, as the title suggests, why. Why did Hannah kill herself? Why does anyone want to kill themselves?

The story surrounds clay Jensen as he listens to 7 cassette tapes. What’s on the tapes? Hannah Baker’s story of the 13 reasons why she killed herself just 2 weeks before. Thirteen reasons… thirteen people. Hannah has them sent to all of them, in order, else the things said on the tapes be made public. Considering the things that happened to her, all would comply.

As you read Hannah’s words, your heart aches. The actions (and sometimes ignorance, which in itself is an action) of people are seemingly harmless, at least to them they are. It’s okay to spread rumors (it’s just words), it’s okay to feel somebody up (it’s all in good fun), it’s high school, it’s expected. Is it? Is it really? I won’t deny that it happens, and I won’t say that some can’t handle the pressures and walk away with few scars and move on with their life. Because some can. For Hannah, it was the culmination of every moment, one on top of the other. Snowballing. Nobody knew what was happening to her on the inside. Sadly, most don’t notice when someone is heading down that road…

Suicide.

Some people make it obvious--isolation and depression. Others pretend everything’s fine, go through the motions, they’ve learned to tell people what they want to hear. There are subtle signs too, and often we have to remind ourselves to trust our instincts. If something is out of place in a room, we notice. When somebody is contemplating whether or not to take their life, they drop hints… “The signs were all there, all over, for anyone willing to notice.” … but nobody stopped her.

This book strikes a chord with me, since I know people who are bipolar or have major depression. I’ve never wanted to kill myself, but after reading what goes through the mind of somebody who wants to, I can empathize. One spot in the book summarizes the feeling well: “If you hear a song that a makes you cry and you don’t want to cry anymore, you don’t listen to that song anymore. But you can‘t get away from yourself. You can‘t decide not to see yourself anymore. You can‘t decide to turn off the noise in your head.” You can’t escape you.

You may think, Why read this if it’s just going to upset me? We already know she’s dead and nothing can change that. True. But this book can change YOU. This book can help YOU. You may not realize it yet, but after you finish it, you have hope. For you, for a loved one, a friend, a family member.

As a side note here--to anyone who is contemplating suicide or knows someone who is, please ask for help. You are an important person who is loved. Don’t give up.

In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline


My Rating:

Exceptional: Stay up until at least 1 AM

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

2011 Reading Challenge

Just noticed while editing my profile on Goodreads that there's a 2011 Reading Challenge. You set your goal, you read! I added the widget to my blog here so everyone can see my progress. I decided to read 50 books. According to Goodreads, I only read 23 books last year. This year will be better. Don't forget to set a reading goal too!

~Jessica

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Update Thursdays

I have decided that every Thursday I will update this blog with the latest on my current reading endeavors. In between those times I will include various reviews and quotes from books I have read. I think it's necessary for me to set up a little schedule, otherwise I may forget and continuously post only once a month at best.

This week on Update Thursday:

1. I finished Lauren Oliver's Delirium. Started it Saturday at work, finished it last night around 12:30 a.m. It was so intriguing I kept making time in between things to see what happened next! Of course, as always with a good book, you don't want it to end, and yet you can't wait to see how it ends. After recapping a few other books first, be sure to read my review on Delirium by the end of May.

2. Still rereading Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty in between a couple other books I haven't read yet.

3. Finished Eva Ibbotson's A Countess Below Stairs. It wasn't too bad, but not necessarily my type of novel to read. A nice ending though.

4. I'm debating on which book to finish next. I've been reading Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs for months now. She is very descriptive in her writing, not just with various adjectives, but also noting a lot of objects and observations in simile. A lot of the book deals with Temperance while she's by herself. It's very interesting, especially for a Bones fan to see where it all started (even though the book and the TV series is completely different), but very long as well.

Well, there's the scoop. Over the weekend I plan on adding in my FIRST review! Until then, happy reading!

~Jessica