A Long Time But Still Reading...

It has been a long time since I have had the time to blog but I have still been reading! Of course! And I have just finished a book, the third in a series that I would like to recommend. The good books are the ones that I drop everything and read and this one fits that bill. The title is "River Secrets" by Shannon Hale and the series is entitled The Books of Bayern. I read the first book " The Goose Girl" and really enjoyed it and recommended it to one of my teachers to read. She loved it and recommended it to her students and so on and so on. The second book "Enna Burning" I found good but disturbing. This third book is fast paced, entertaining and well written, 3 things I look for. It is a fantasy series set in a group of kingdoms where politics, wars and personalities intermingle. The main character in this book is Razo, a very ordinary forest born, who has been asked to join a mission to Tira, an unfriendly neighbouring country still harbouring resentment over loosing a war with Bayern. This mission is to promote friendly relations but a group of agitators are wanting another war and are stopping at nothing to stir up trouble. Can Razo, who is not tall or strong but has the ability to notice details around him, find out who is behind all this in time to avoid another confrontation? Did I mention that helping him is a Tiran girl whom he has very uneasy feelings about?

What are you reading today?

Odd

It is very "odd" how I did not remember to post about this book I read as I thoroughly enjoyed it and it is written by award winning author Neil Gaiman as well! The title is " Odd and the Frost Giants".
This story takes place in the harsh northern Scandinavian woods where Odd, the main character, flees to the woods to escape his unhappy and unlucky life. After releasing a trapped bear he is followed by the bear, an eagle and a fox who reveal to him they are actually Norse gods trapped in animal forms by the evil Frost Giants. They ask Odd to reclaim Thor's hammer in order to release them. Can he do it? It is wonderfully written and just fun to read about a topic probably very new to many.

What are you reading today?

Favourite Author?

I have been reading - just no time to post my reads. But have read "The Mother-Daughter Book Club" and another by Annie Barrows, the author who wrote not only the "Ivy and Bean" series for younger readers but also the adult book "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society" which I have also just finished reading. But I did read and enjoy very much "The Unluckiest Boy in the World" by Andrew Norriss. I was entertained by the humour and touched by some of the messages that were timely for me. Andrew Norriss also wrote Ctrl- Z which I also enjoyed and am looking forward to reading more of his books.

What are you reading today?

Finally...

Finally... time to write about 2 completely different books that I have just finished reading. "The Gypsy Crown" by Kate Forsyth is about 2 gypsy children living in the 1600's in England who, with their menagerie of a dancing bear, a monkey, a dog and a horse, have the job of saving their family who have all been thrown into jail with the threat of execution in a month's time. Emilia's granny has told her to get both help and a family charm from 5 other gypsy families scattered around Southern England. Emilia, with the help of her cousin Luka, sets off on this adventure gaining and losing things needed and necessary. The only problem is the constable who is on their tail trying to capture them and have them hanged! Exciting!

Also quite exciting is "Swindle" by Gordon Korman. Korman writes many different kinds of books like "Schooled" and "Son of the Mob" and his adventures series too but this one is in the humorous vein! Griffin finds an old baseball card in a dilapidated mansion slated for demolition. When a pawn broker offers him $120.00 for it he takes it only to discover the pawn broker, Mr. S. Wendell Palamino, is taking the card to auction where it is estimated to be worth one million dollars! Needless to say Griffin is very unhappy and decides to put a plan into action, a plan to take back the card! With his friend Ben and a few other fellow students he has some hilarious results in trying to get the card. Does he get caught? Has he thought of all the consequences? Read and find out.

What are you reading today?

Mean Girls

"Poison Ivy" by Amy Goldman Koss is a mean girls type of book. In this book Ivy has been targeted and bullied for most of her school life. Everybody accepts it, even Amy who just tries to ignore what is going on around her. Enter a teacher who sees the injustice of this and holds a mock trial that will hopefully demonstrate that bad guys get what's coming to them. But the power of popularity is a force not to be reckoned with. There are many different narrators sharing their own points of view about the events and I think you will be surprised and maybe a bit outraged at the way the story unfolds. Not a totally satisfactory ending but lots of food for thought.
What are you reading today?

3 Weeks Later

I knew this would happen... just like you I am reading but run out of time to blog about the books and then I forget what I have read! Okay here are a few I still have hanging around the house.
Two books have come my way that have to do with travelling through time and war. The first is one that I heard about before I purchased it. Titled "Nick of Time" by Ted Bell, this book is hugely popular in other places and is just now making its mark here. Set in 1939 on a small island in the English Channel, Nick's father, a lighthouse keeper, is watching for German submarine activity in the days leading up to the Second World War. Nick is an adventurous boy helping his father but uncovers a very special machine hidden in one of the island's coves. A wonderful mix of history and adventure as an evil pirate travels through time looking for this machine.
History also plays an important part in "Day of the Assassins" by Johnny O'Brien when two English school boys discover a secret in the basement of their school. When trying to evade capture, Jack Christie is thrown back into the past where a plot to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand is going to be stopped. But this assassination is the event that initiates the First World War and if the war is stopped what consequences are there for the later world?
What are you reading today?

Catching Fire

"Catching Fire" is the title of the sequel to the very exciting "Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins that I first read last January. When we left the first book Katniss and Peeta had survived the games and headed home to be treated like royalty and live a life of luxury. All is good... except for rumors of rebellion in other districts because of the stance the two made in the games. Isolated from all outside information it becomes a huge shock to discover there is to be a new game comprised of all the winners of all the previous games. Katniss and Peeta head back to the arena for a new fight to the finish with new twists and turns at every side. Just as good as the first and another is on its way... You will love this series and don't miss it!

What are you reading today?