Harry Potter Companions

So, I'm kind of really into this Harry Potter challenge... that ends in four days and since I am a little farther behind than I meant to be... I read two companion books for some quick points.  I think they are very fun little books that are even better because they were written for charity, but nothing compares with the books and they appeal to me much less as an adult who has definitely missed her Hogwarts acceptance than they did when I was a kid who was still hoping.

Quidditch Through The Ages
Quidditch is interesting enough on its own.  I really do enjoy reading about the sport as if it were real (it often seems like it is... at least I understand quidditch better than football).  My favorite part is how the golden snitch was created to protect the golden snidget... the bird that was the original object of the seekers search.  Yes... I'm a nerd, I like this fake history.

But what makes it even more interesting is the fun ways in which this book relates directly to Harry and Hogwarts.  This is a library book, complete with a sign out card (full of names observant fans will recognize... although I never saw Millicent Bulstrode as much of a quidditch fan, but JK knows best) and a message from the libraian, Madam Pince: A warning: if you rip, tear, shred, bend, fold, deface, disfigure, smear, smudge, throw, drop, or in any other manner damage, mistreat, or show lack of respect towards this book, the consequesnces will be as awful as it is within my power to make them.


I also love the "Praise for Quidditch Through The Ages" which has humorous and true to character blurbs from celebrities from the wizarding world, including the *cough* charming Rita Skeeter.  It's actually a really fun companion to the Harry Potter series (and should reassure those worried that Pottermore will be boring).


Magical Beasts and Where To Find Them
Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them I enjoy a little less.  It is different from QTTA because it is Harry's Personal school copy instead of a library books.  This means we get all kinds of fun notes from Harry, Ron, and Hermione... things like half a game of hangman and short conversations during class time.  Their comments on the magical beasts they've encountered is also enjoyable.

It's a fun resource, but not necessarily a fun read.  I find the topic less interesting that quidditch and the thing reads like an encyclopedia... and who reads an encyclopedia?  I think part of the problem is that magical beasts are very based in mythology and not unique to Harry Potter, so part of me would just rather go back and read the old tales of Greek and Roman mythology.

Overall, these two books are fun additions to the Harry Potter collection and a must-have for a true fan.  They count toward the following challenges: Read Me Baby One More Time, 100+. and Hogwarts Reading Challenge.  Track my Progress on the 2011 Challenges Page.

Ender's Game

I can't believe it has taken me so long to reread Ender's Game.  This book is amazing.  It reads very easily, moves quickly, and is highly entertaining, but is also one of the smartest books I've ever read.

I'm going to do my best to explain this book, but it's complicated, requires a lot of back story, and I don't want to give away the ending.  It's the future... the world has banded together to fight a common enemy, the buggers, an alien race who almost wiped out the planet in their last attack.  Humanity's only hope is that the Battle School, established to train young geniuses in strategy, will produce "the one" who is smart enough to take on the buggers and allow the human race to survive.  At the age of 6, they think Ender is that one.

The book is well-crafted.  For the most part we follow Ender who is incredibly easy to like and relate to (even though he is a six year old genius and I am a twenty-four year old non-genius).  But other points of view provide a full and complex understanding of what is going on away from the isolated battle school.  Because we understand everyone's motivations, there are no "bad guys".  Seriously, when you weep at the destruction of the enemy without hating the good guys... you know the book was a success.

Like the Hunger Games, Ender's Game raises many questions about war and what we are willing to do to protect ourselves.  It isn't nearly as graphic and Ender is much more likable, but both books explore similar themes.  I don't particularly like the last few pages, because (much like 90% of Mockingjay) I think they throw the themes at the reader a little too strongly instead of letting the reader come to his or her own conclusions.  But that is a very minor fault for one of the smartest books I've ever read.

There are three additional books in this series.  I've always been afraid to read them because Ender's Game is so perfectly complete and compelling.  I know that I will be disappointed if the sequels don't blow my mind and that is a lot to ask of a book.

This book counts toward the following challenges: 100+, Read Me Baby One More Time, and Fight or Flight for the Hogwart's Reading Challenge.  Follow  my progress on my 2011 Challenges Page.

Love Is A Many Trousered Thing

Only two more left in this series after this.  Love Is A Many Trousered Thing is book eight and I am having a total blast rereading this series.  I remember the first time I read this book I about died at the ending because the next book hadn't been released yet.  Lucky for me, I own them all now, so I can read the series as fast or as slow as I want.  And even though I know what happens in the end, I always finish the books in this series totally ready to start the next one.  I have to force myself to change it up, because this blog is already a bit too Harry Potter, Georgia Nicholson, Stephanie Plum.  I swear I read more than those three series!  Just not lately.

Book Eight, follows Georgia as she tries to figure out what she wants... massive spoilers in this paragraph... just fyi... there's  no other way around it without being totally vague and if I did that, I might as well not have this paragraph at all.  On to the story... Massimo has said he is free to date Georgia only seconds before Georgia's first love, Robbie the Sex God, shows up.  Clearly, the sane thing for Georgia to do (which she does) is ask about the footie scores, say she has a train to catch, and run away in the opposite direction.  Georgia has spent the entire series stalking boys into liking her and now she has too many.

Besides the love fandango is the usual madness that is the Ace Gang.  Rosie is still planning her Viking wedding, Jas still wears big knickers and has too many stuffed owls, and Dave the Laugh still pops into Georgia's mind more than he should.  The titches (first formers who Gerogia saved in a previous book) make another appearance and man do I love them.  They are like little tiny Georgia's... just as crazy and fun.

As always happens with these books (with the exception of Dancing in my Nuddy Pants and the final book Are These My Basooma's I See Before Me?) the book ends with the conflict resolving right before a twist that creates an even bigger problem.  I don't mind.  These books are laugh out loud funny and have plenty of conflict.  I bet I will once again be disappointed when I finish book ten and remember that it is the last one.

This book counts toward the following challenges: Read Me Baby One More Time, 100+, and seven in a series for the Hogwarts Reading Challenge.  Track my progress on the 2011 challenges page.

PS- I got behind on posting and I want to get all my reviews done by the end of the month so that I complete the Hogwarts Reading Challenge.  Get ready for lots of reviews this week! :)

Book Blogger Hop: 6/24-6/27

“When did you realize reading was your passion and a truly important part of your life?”

This is a great question.  I can't wait to see other people's responses.  I've always read a lot.  Like... a lot.  I was the kid who stopped in at the school library EVERY DAY to exchange books.  I was the kid parents tried to avoid the bookstore with because I wanted EVERY BOOK.  And even now, I'm the tenant that drives the building manager crazy because I get packages from Amazon at least once a week (and that's not even counting my kindle... I really should start heading back to the library).  

Lately I've been thinking about how important reading has been in my life (mostly because of the whole YAsave hashtag on twitter).  I won't go into too much detail because I try to keep this blog fun and light, but fifth grade was one of the hardest years of my life.  Looking back, books are what got me through.  Escaping to some far off land was a way to escape the hell that was my life, but it was more than just escapism.  Books were my own personal It Gets Better project.  They showed me that I wasn't alone and that my situation wouldn't last forever.  They showed me that there is so much more to life that what I was experiencing.

Realizing reading was my passion was something I always knew, but understanding how important it is in my life is more recent.

Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich

Like some of the previous books, Hard Eight uses Stephanie's job as a bounty hunter, but doesn't depend upon it for the plot.  Yes, she has some FTA's (failure to appear... aka a fugitive with a bounty) to apprehend and yes, they are hilarious, but the main story revolves around a favor... Stephanie is searching for her parent's next door neighbor's missing daughter and grand-daughter.

I wrote it like that on purpose... These books are so funny because Stephanie is so bad at her job.  Yet she always ends up successful, because she is willing to use the resources she has that are unique to her.  One of those resources is The Burg.  Everyone's got a cousin or a best friend's husband's uncle who can do a favor for Stephanie.  It turns The Burg into a character, instead of just a location and makes Stephanie's often surprising success believable.

But what I love about these books the most is the two love interests.  Both relationships advance in each book, but both seem satisfying, even though they are in direct opposition to each other.  Stephanie's job and the books depend on both men in her life and I love reading about them both.  I have no idea who I want her to pick in the end, but when she makes her final decision, the series will be over, so I'm happy with this dragging on as long as possible.

As always in this series, Hard Eight has dead bodies, a bigger-that-meets-the-eye plot for Stephanie to uncover, explosions, and sexy love interests.  Evanovich knows what she's doing.  In the words of Blake Snyder (author of my favorite book on writing Save the Cat), each book is "the same, but...different".  It has everything that made me fall in love with the series and just enough different that after eight books I'm still not bored.  In fact... I'm looking forward to the next nine books and four between-the-numbers novellas.

Hard Eight counts toward the following reading challenges: 100+, and Fight or Flight for the Hogwarts Reading Challenge. Track my progress on my 2011 Challenges page.

Startled By His Furry Shorts

The Confessions of Georgia Nicholson are some of my favorite books.  They are hilarious (Louise Rennison was a stand up comic before she was a novelist) and the characters are amazingly real and a little bit crazy.  I've said it before, but the books very much remind me of my other current favorite series, the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich.  Both have an insane main character, lots of humor, and delicious love triangles.

Startled by his furry shorts is book 7.  I'm going to make this short because I'm not sure how many times I can say "These books are hilarious" without losing followers.

In this book Georgia deals with feelings she may or may not have for Dave the Laugh.  He's no longer her boy-type mate giving her love advice, but he's dating a new girl and Georgia's not sure how to feel about him.  Then there is Masimo who is deciding whether or not he wants to be Georgia's boyfriend, because she has decided she can't be happy just having fun and him dating her and Wet Lindsay.  THEN, there is Robbie the former Sex God who has run off to New Zealand.  He writes to Georgia and sends Tom (Robbie's younger brother who is dating Georgia's best mate Jas) to give her messages as well.  He was her first real love and even though she is trying hard to move on, she still has feelings for him.

On top of all the crazy boy shenanigans, there is the usual craziness that is Georgia's life.  The school play has the boys from Fox Wood (including Dave the L) helping backstage.  This means that everyone starts replacing random words with pants (underwear), as in... What pants through younger window breaks and The hills are alive with the sound of paaaaants!  Also, Spotty Norman catches fire.  Then there is Rosie planning her practice viking wedding with her crazy foreign boyfriend Sven...

These books always end with me wanting more!  Startled By His Furry Shorts counts toward the following challenges: 100+, Read Me Baby One More Time, and seven in a series for the Hogwarts Reading Challenge.  Track my progress on my 2011 Challenges page.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Sometimes it feels really weird blogging about Harry Potter... at least blogging a book review.  Most people have read them, and for those that haven't, I've reviewed them before.  It's obvious I love them and I worry that i don't have new things to say each time... but I can't stop reading them.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is one of my favorite books in the series (although they are all my favorite book in the series at the time of reading).  It is Harry's third year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry and there is an escaped murderer on the loose coming after Harry.

There are so many things I like about this book, so I'll try to be brief:
-Lupin and Sirius, two of my favorite characters from this series, are introduced.
-Reversals: Every time you think you know something, it gets flipped on its head... over and over and over again.  And it never feels gimmicky.  The third book is full of twists and turns and heart-wrenching moments.
-The series really starts to kick off.  We get the prediction that Voldemort will rise again and see the event that will set it all in motion.  This is the book where the stakes of the entire world are raised, where things get serious and deadly and delightfully terrifying.
-No easy answers.  This book has a very satisfying conclusion even though almost NOTHING is wrapped up neatly.  We get answers and Harry survives.  That's about it.  It's the first time we learn that Dumbledore can't fix everything (an important point to make before delving into the rest of the series).  One of the reasons I love the Harry Potter books so much is that Rowling doesn't shy away from hard truths and a gritty reality.  In the hands of a lesser author, this book could have tied up nicely.  I'm glad it didn't.

I'm stopping here, because I feel it's impossible to say much beyond I LOVE HARRY POTTER.  Oh so much. This book counts toward the following challenges: 100+, Read Me Baby One More Time, and the Hogwarts Reading Challenge (obviously :) ).  Track my progress on the 2011 Challenges Page.

Book Blogger Hop 6/17-6/20

Been a crazy week, but I'm getting back in the swing of things with this week's Book Blogger Hop.  This weeks question:

“How many books are currently in your To-Be-Read (TBR) Pile?”

Such a fun question.  My TBR pile is HUGE... way to big.  I'll break it down by TBR pile...

I have a stack of 10 Stephanie Plum novels on my kitchen table.  I'm obsessed.  Halfway through the eighth one I though maybe I was done with the series for a while, but then I finished it and it was all I could do to start reading Ender's Game instead of To the Nines.

I also have quite a few in queue on my kindle.  Paranormalcy, Invincible Summer,  Boy Proof, The Rules of Attraction, Septimus Heap, Bird By Bird... I could go on... quite easily...

There are also a bunch of books on my shelf that I have been meaning to read for a long time, but my "official" TBR pile is on the kitchen counter.  I think at last count I have about thirty there.  All bought within the last nine months or so... all that I'm really excited to read.  And even though I read with the majority of free time that I'm not writing... it's impossible to find enough time to finish all these books... sequels to books I loved and that I pre-ordered.  Favorites remembered and bought used to re-read.  And those that you wonderful book bloggers gushed about so much that I HAD to buy them.

So I'm not giving you a number, because it's embarrassingly high.  But if the world ended and I was the only one remaining on the earth, I'd be pretty safe and entertained here in my apartment.  I'd last a long time before I had to relocate to a library.

Seven Up by Janet Evanovich

To start, I'm still not bored of the series.  Since the title, Seven Up, gives nothing away, the series follows Stephanie Plum, the New Jersey native who screws up everything from her job as the world's worst bounty hunter to her love life, which is a struggle between Ranger the bad boy bounty hunter and Joe Morelli the reformed bad boy cop.

In Seven Up Stephanie has to bring in Eddie Dechooch.  He's a bad dude, a killer, though never convicted.  However, he's also ancient.  He has cataracts and he can't get it up, accordingly to Grandma Mazur, who does not understand appropriate dinner conversation (love her!).  And Stephanie is getting a lot of flack for letting the senior citizen get away so many times.

As if that weren't bad enough, Stephanie has accidentally gotten engaged to Joe Morelli.  As Stephanie puts it they are more engaged to be engaged, but she still finds herself forced to the bridal shop to try on dresses with her mother and grandmother and with a reception hall booked!

If that wasn't bad enough, she can't stop thinking about Ranger, who will only help her bring in Dechooch if she spends the night with him.  That was the only part of the book that I didn't like.  I love Ranger and his deal is kind of sexy, but for the most part it makes me feel like he is scummy.  The fact that they are already clearly attracted to each other helps and I was able to ignore my moral compass to enjoy the book.

Seven Up counts toward the following challenges: 100+, Fight or Flight for the Hogwarts Reading Challenge.  Track my progress on my 2011 Challenges Page.

Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers

I love funny books and I love great characters.  It's the reason I'm obsessed with the Stephanie Plum books and the reason I always get sucked in to the Georgia Nicholson diaries even though I've read them plenty of times.

Then he ate my boy entrancers is book six.  I swear it's not as dirty as the title sounds.  In Georgia's world, boy entrancers are fake eyelashes.  And as always, Georgia is doing her best to entrance boys.  She is probably about as crazy as Stephanie Plum, but she's fifteen, British, and stalking boys instead of bounties.

In book 6, Georgia is obsessively trying to gain the attention of Italian-American, super sexy Masimo, who took over singing for the Stiff Dylans when Georgia's ex boyfriend left for New Zealand (to study marsupials and sing depressing songs to them while standing in the river... according to Georgia).

But it's never as straight forward as it should be.  Georgia is getting boy advice from Dave the Laugh, who is just a friend even though she can't stop snogging him.  There's also the added bonus that he might not be okay with being her boy-type mate helping her catch other guys.  (Oh man, I loooove Dave the L).  Then there is the fact that Masimo just got out of a serious relationship and is just looking for something fun, which means he's also seeing Georgia's nemesis Wet Lindsay.

As always hilarity ensues.  Georgia's family goes on holiday to Memphis, Tennessee and Georgia spends way too much time and money trying to track down Masimo who is visiting family in Manhattan.  As an American, it was very funny to see the British take on American life.  It reminded me a bit of the culture shock I experienced coming back to the states after living in England (man, I miss it!).

One of my favorite parts of the whole series occurs in this book.  Georgia's baby sister Libby sings a song about her bum (Libby is weird, funny but weird) and an American lady thinks she is adorable and tells her the American word for bum... fanny.  For those who don't know... in England, this is quite a dirty word referring to another part of the lady's anatomy.  When Libby starts using this word in England it is just classic!

At the end, we once again get a set up for the next book.  Love it!  Then he ate my boy entrancers counts toward the following challenges: 100+, read me baby one more time, and seven in a series for the Hogwarts reading challenge.  Track my progress on my 2011 Challenges page.

Hot Six by Janet Evanovich

As is probably obvious... I love this series!  It follows Stephanie Plum, the worst bounty hunter ever.  I'm going to keep my reviews pretty short, because I don't want to give anything away for someone just starting the series and because there's not much to say besides "I'm obsessed and still not bored yet..."  I'll tell you when I am, but I've been reading them back to back so I'm not sure it will ever happen.

In Hot Six, Stephanie is told to track down Ranger--her hot bounty hunter love interest/mentor.  Instead she goes against her boss/cousin, Vincent Plum, and her boyfriend/cop, Joe Morelli, to help Ranger figure out why he has been set up.  As if that weren't complicated enough, Grandma Mazur has moved into Stephanie's apartment and she's stuck on the couch.

As always, there is action non-stop.  I'm always impressed by the number of story lines that Evanovich weaves together.  They are all fun, funny, and unique, but it never gets so complicated that it's hard to follow.  They seem to complement each other so well and naturally tie together at the end.  It's just a little bit insane in a way that is so true to life.

As always the characters are awesome and hilarious.  Lula, the 200 pound, gun-toting, former prostitute.  Ranger, the sexy bounty hunter currently on the run who is way too dangerous for Stephanie to be attracted to (oops).  Joe, the reformed bad-boy cop boyfriend who desperately wants Stephanie to get a normal job.  Grandma Mazur the... INSANE OLD LADY who socializes at the funeral home.  I could go on, but I'll just end with Stephanie is every bit, if not more, insane than all the other characters.  Like I said, the plots are great, but the characters totally make these books!

Hot Six counts toward the following challenges: 100+, Fight or Flight for the Hogwart's Reading Challenge.  Track my progress on the 2011 Reading Challenges page.

High Five by Janet Evanovich

It is probably safe to say that I am obsessed with this series.  I'm going to try really hard to add some variety to my reading for the sake of this blog, but I definitely read three of these back to back and only stopped because the next one is in the mail.

What I'm loving about this series (besides the characters, who are all amazingly funny) is that even though we get the same kind of book each time, Evanovich keeps it different and interesting.  In every book Stephanie gets a case that proves to be a little unusual, she fails spectacularly at her job, a car gets destroyed, she finds a dead body, and she is stuck driving an old Buick.

You would expect it to get old, but it doesn't.  In High Five the main mystery revolves around her trying to find her missing uncle instead of her trying to capture her bounty.  She's getting better at the bounty hunter thing, but it still goes haywire as it only can for Stephanie Plum. When she destroys her (littler person) bounty's apartment  on capture, he decides to move in with Stephanie while they fix up his front door.

As always there is non-stop action that is over-the-top in the best, most hilarious way possible.  AND there is romance.  Lord, is there romance.  Stephanie has been dating cop Joe Morelli on and off for the entire series.  That relationship would be exciting enough on it's own, but there is also Ranger--the sexy Cuban-American  bounty hunter who has taken Stephanie under his wing.  I've been all about Joe the past four books, but things started to heat up with Ranger in this book and now I honestly love them both.  High Five ends with Stephanie choosing between the two of them and you don't find out who she chooses until the beginning of book six!!!

High Five counts toward the following challenges: 100+ and Fight or Flight for the Hogwarts Reading Challenge.  Track my progress on the 2011 Reading Challenges Page.

Shine by Lauren Myracle

What I like about Lauren Myracle is that she makes writing look easy.  I picked up TTYL a few years ago because the title made me laugh and found it totally entertaining and deceptively deep.  Since then I've been a fan (and wanted to point out how good they are since a lot of reviews I've seen have written the books off as a mistake the author made before writing Shine.  I may be exaggerating, but only a little..).

Shine is much, much darker, but comes across just as effortless (in the good way that means she worked her butt off writing it!).  It is so easy to read, the characters are real, the town feels alive (this from a girl who grew up in the south!), but the issues presented never felt too heavy or forced.

Like I said, the book was dark.  Shine takes place three years after the main character, Cat, is raped.  She has retreated into herself and dropped all of her friends.  But then her former best friend is the victim of a hate crime because he is gay.  Cat decides that she can't let people keep hurting each other.  She decides to find out what really happened and her investigation leads her to the major meth problem taking over her town.

It could have been so easy for Lauren Myracle to write "bad guys", but every single character was complex.  When you can relate to the kid who raped Cat, and cry for the person who committed the hate crime that starts the story... well, that's successful storytelling.  The book is dark (I really can't say it enough) and heartbreaking, but there's hope in there, too.  A little bit of romance along with Cat's relationship to her brother went a long way to turning a book about hate, hurt, and drugs, into a story of empowerment.  There was not one single relationship that did not get turned around in a surprising and emotional way.

I really loved this book.  For me, it's right up there with Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.  Both books are beautifully written and provide the encouragement to move past being a victim.

I received a free e-galley of this book from NetGalley.  It counts toward the following challenges: 100+, Defense Against the Dark Arts for the Harry Potter Reading Challenge.  Track my progress at the 2011 Challenges Page.