A Tale for the Time Being: A Novel by Ruth Ozeki
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh my what a fantastic read! 5 Stars for sure! I loved every bit about it. I love it's magic and it's beauty. It was such a pleasant to read. I especially loved Nao and her courageousness even when it didn't show. I knew she was a strong person form the beginning despite her bullies and scandals. I highly recommend this book and hated having to give it back to the person with whom I borrowed it from. A great summer read too.

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City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was a little lost at first since it has been years since I have read the first 2 books but I got into a groove rather quickly and was absorbed in it. This one was probably better than the others thus far. The whole Angel-Demon thing was great and I love how it was "us against them". I Don't want to do a spolier so that is the best I can give.

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Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It was a very interesting read. It's all about race, class, caste, and so on. I see some humor in it but also some seriousness. Her writing and thoughts are straight to the poinnt which makes this an easy and caturing read. It is definitely a book open for a serious discussion so I highly recommend it for book clubs.

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Divergent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Loved it of course! Ordered the next 2 in the series. I don't know why I've waited so long to read this! I did the same with The Hunger Games Trilogy Boxset but the good thing is that I don't have to wait for the next book to be released!

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Hippie Boy: A Girl's Story by Ingrid Ricks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Saw this book on Amazon for free 99¢ and thought I would give it a shot. It was OK. I did enjoy it and it was a fast read but eh....

I enjoyed a lot of it but I just felt that there whould be more and I am sure there was. I know a lot of authors have to cut short their pieces but sometimes it is not always good. Most of the time I think it is hard for them to decided on which should stay ofr go.

IN the end I liked it. I wish there were more to it then for what it was.

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The Shadowy Horses - Susanna Kearsley

The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Nice comforting quick read. Always a pleasure reading about my undergraduate degree ;-)

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Review: The Value of Life - Andy Crowson

Format: e-Book

Genre: Fiction

Published: January 2011

Pages: 413

Read in March 2012

Rating: 3/5 Stars

I read this because I just got the nook and it was a free book. It had potential but there were things that were said too quickly and I missed it. It just jumped a lot and I had to go back a few times to things that I missed. But it was still an OK read. A man goes and kidnaps kids for ransom and never really hurts the kids. You have feelings for the kidnapper and you are not really sure why. He is no real monster but kidnapping is still bad. I think that there was a great story line but was written too quickly and I think it needed more passion it in.

Goodreads

I am sure you are all well aware that I am an active member of Goodreads aka GR. I have my own GR group called Everyone's Choice. Please feel free to join in on the discussions and/or simply create your own. There we do Book Challenges of all sorts. If you have tried it yet, I highly recommend it. I have use Shelfari and LibraryThing but GR is better by far.

I have also won 9 books from the site so far. They have the contests that you enter and what you have to do, besides enter, is put it in a folder (or bookshelf) and name it First Reads and by entering in the contest you are required to post your review as soon as you finish it. The more you do this the more you win. It is a great way to spread the word of new books and also it is great for the authors and publishing companies to hear reviews before the are officially released to the public. I love to see which books I win. They are so random! Here is a list of what I've won thus far

1- Hummingbirds: A Novel by Joshua Gaylord

2- Eating Animals by Jonathan Safon Foer

3- Courage of Fear by Barbara Foyer

4- Paulo Coelho: A Warrior's Life - The Authorized Biography by Fernando Morais

5- Truly, Madly by Heather Webber

6- Sleep No More by Susan Crandall

7- The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths

8- The River in Winter by Matt Dean (to be read)

9- Heavy Metal Pulp: Pleasure Model: Netherworld Book One by Christopher Rowley (to be read)

I always mark them ARC's (even if they are not) when I review them here so that people now that it may not be released yet.

I hope this helps and I hope you join my group. It is very comfy and cozy!

Eating Animals - Jonathan Safran Foer

A Modern day yellow journalist with a modern day Jungle. If you like animals or if you have a weak stomach I don't recommend it. But if you like facts and the truth then go on and read it. We all associate food with multiple things such as dates, holidays, and so on. So animals play a large role in all of our lives. Even if you are a vegetarian. it's the circle of life!

I really did enjoy it. Most of it I was already aware of because I have read into it and I also have friends who don't eat meat for these reasons. But there is a lot to it that I wish I didn't know and things that I did not know of or simply just never thought about. A lot of things make sense like, pollution, and illnesses (asthma, flu's, etc.) And how stress is not good meat but animals with adrenaline (blood flow) is good meat -now you can only imagine what happens there. I like how he compares city living to country living. Either way we are all screwed. There is so much going on that we have lost control.

I am not a big meat eater simply because I don't like it. I eat steaks on occasion. I eat chicken and turkey quite a bit and ONLY eat baby shrimp, when it comes to seafood (all other are just YUCK!) but never did I stop eating it throughout the book. I was very much disgusted (especially about the Shit and the perversions) In fact I was eating a chicken gyro as I was reading it. I don't have a weak stomach and I am pretty good and accepting the truth even though I don't like it or agree with it but I came to the conclusions that I have no control over it nor do I want to get involved (that sounds bad doesn't it? I don't mean it like that per say, but there is just too much going on in the world that I am not going to drop everything to fix. Especially if the damage is already done.)

Hummingbirds: A Novel - Joshua Gaylord

I had a lot of thoughts about this book but still cannot put all of them into words but first I would like to say I like the voices of the book. It is very contemporary. Even though there is a lot of poetic scandal (?) in the book you are never quite on any ones side and that is what I liked most about the book.

You didn't hate anyone nor did you feel bad for anyone. Things just happened and I never really felt against anyone and I thought that was kinda nice. It's nice to read a book for pleasure and feel for everyone as a whole but not hate them or love them. It kinda felt like everyone is your friend and you are hearing all sides of their stories. I liked it and I recommend it to people who enjoy a nice read. There is nothing too complicated about this book and no one drives you mad but there is this beauty in the way Joshua writes and you will not know it until you indulge yourself in it.

Sarah's Key - Rosnay

Sarah's Key is about a young girl who's family is being taken away to the Concentration Camps. Sarah lives in France and of course is Jewish so when the French police come to take them away her and her family think nothing of it. Sarah's little brother Michael locks himself in the secret cupboard because he is scared so Sarah leaves him there and takes the key with her. When she realizes that they might not come back to get Michael the story unfolds and now it's about Sarah's journey to get back to him.

I did enjoy this however, I would have liked to hear more about Sarah's story rather than Julia's. Julia is the present day inhabitant of Sarah's old apartment and Julia is putting the pieces together of the past to find out what happened. I like Sarah's story more than Julia's. In the present day there is too much talk of Julia's life and blah blah. All those pages that did not have Sarah, Michael, or Jews in it could have vanished and it would have been great! I liked Sarah's story and I felt that the book would have been really strong if it would continue on. There was so much going on in Julia's life that Sarah's story got cut off and things happened so quickly. I mean I guess that's how things are and I guess if Rosnay was trying to point that out they kudos but I still would have like the story more to be about Sarah and less about Julia.

My next read is House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski and it seems like it is going to be a long read. it is too much work. His style of writing is different and creative but I hate to work while I am doing something for pleasure. I will continue on in hopes that it gets better.

A Northern Light - Jennifer Donnelly

Okay, so this is a YA and people have been pestering me to read it so I did and I gotta say it is very different from my last read and my current one but it was cute. I did enjoy it but I don't think I was ready for it after reading The Lie. But who is reading for much after reading that? LOL

Well, I did like the teacher Ms. Wilcox. I literally got chills when I found out her true identity and also loved Weaver. I don't blame him for anything that he has ever done but i truly would love to know what happened to him after. It just kinda let it hanging in the air. The only real complaint I have about the book was that it ended very suddenly. I kind of felt like the writer has so many pages left to write and just jotted down the ending very quickly. Usually you have some sort of inclination of whats going on but the ending just jumped right in with no leading... You would probably know what I mean if you read it or will read it for that matter. It was a good read and a quick one as well. really not what I prefer but hey, I gave it a shot and I liked it!

Anyways, the book I am reading now it Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.I am flying through it already! This is a book that I am reading for my work book club.

Finished The Lie

First off I would like to say that this book is like a car crash, you just can't look away. I am not really sure how I feel about it. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it yet I gave it 4 stars... It is hard to say what I thought. I hated all the characters but I felt myself hating Heather more so. I hated how she was. Why do I hate her more than Brett? Brett was egotistical and plain out disgusting but he was real and true. He never out up a front and was honest. And Kyle...Well i hoped the very best for him and I understand him, a little. You do dumb things for love and his might not have been the best but now his life is ruined and it seemed like it may have been going somewhere.

Oh and don't forget poor Erin! I hated every minute of Kyle and Erin's last meeting. I just wanted to reach in the book and punch him in the face! I was never hoping for their relationship to work. I actually didn't trust Kyle as much as I had in the beginning but what he did to her was just horrible! She really will never forget it and he may have ruined her idea of men for quite awhile. I am sure she will not be dating anytime soon.

I have to now read his first book, The Average American Male it didn't get great reviews but it seems to be flying off shelves and it is also soon to be a movie so it has to be some sort of good.

I am now reading a YA A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly. It is completely opposite for Chad Kultgen's book but it was next on my list so...?? I will let you know how it goes.

The Lie

So I am now reading The Lie by Chad Kultgen. I friend of mine recommended it to my Goodreads book club and I was curious so I took it out from the library and I gotta say it is a bit disturbing but yet fascinating to me and I really can't explain why. Every chapter thus far is in the voice of three different people. One, Brett, who is a very rich and popular kid who doesn't have any regards for women and uses them completely and then there is Kyle, who is a sensitive yet bright guy who happens to be best friends with Brett, although he is not sense in the same financial status, and finally there is Heather, who is the girlfriend of Kyle and who very much wants to attention of Brett. All of them are in college and every chapter is leading up to something but I can only guess that it gets bad and I sense revenge...

I am not really sure why I am interested in this book but something is allowing me to continuously read it and try to avoid putting it back down.

This is Chad Kultgen's second book. His first is called The Average American Male and I might just read it if The Lie doesn't entirely piss me off but I think it is actually going to be a movie - the Average American Male. On the IMDb it is said to be out in but no other information is really available. Kutlgen's books did not get any really good reviews but it is in high demand and they sell out so I think everyone may just agree with me in not truly knowing why we like to read his stuff.

I am only about 100 pages in and I started it only hours ago so I am hoping it will be one of those 1-2 days reads.

Still reading Shantaram...

Well, I am still reading Shantaram. I got no reading done this weekend because I had much to do. Friday we had the Brooklyn Cyclones game. Saturday we went to a BBQ. Sunday we went to our friends house in Long Island and in the car on the way there I read some articles for school and then on Monday, since I had the day off I let my babysitter have the day off too so it was just me and the girls. Once I got them to nap my sister and her husband came over and took us all out to dinner. Once I got them down I jumped in the shower and I was going to read for a bit and then take care of some chores but that never worked. By the time I got home from dinner, we went to look at an apartment that we may move into (but not for another year or two - it's a long story) and when I got home I was done. i was so tired that after I got the girls ready for bed, I took the baby into bed with me and left my husband with Marley and I went to sleep. I think it was like 8pm.

So, I got to read on the bus on the way into work today and this part of the book is not the greatest but now it is starting to get better. I am at the part where he is at the war and blah blah now it is getting good because he just found out about Khader and so on... I just wasn't getting into the war part so much and then Khader & Lin got into one of their rants and I found myself reading but not really paying attention to what I was reading. I don't know maybe I am just ready to get to the next book. Or maybe I am just reading too much from pleasure to school to work. Who knows? But at least now it is getting better again. I still love the book.

I am going to start The Girl Who Played with Fire right after this.

So Far SO Good

I am really enjoying Loving Frank. I love the idea that it's based around the early 1900's. It amazes me that the times have indeed changed! The story is an affair with Frank Lloyd Wright and it captures how then, it was a sin to have an affair and is shows how people who literally banish you if you were apart of such a scandal. NOW people opening cheat and lie and it's OK. I think I like it better as it was then than now...Sorta. I believe that marriage is sacred but I also believe that what you do in your private life should be left behind closed doors and to totally ban people because of what they do it...well...I don't really know. I am caught between the two. I def don't believe in adultery, that I can honestly say is not a good thing but I also believe that work and home life should be separate and people should get hired or fired based on their work conduct not home life. Does this make sense?

Well, anyway, To the right is an image of Frank Lloyd Wright from xroads.virginia.edu It was said to be dated around 1889. i thought it would be nice to have an image of him when the story was basically written around. I am hoping that others are enjoying this story as much as me. I am only on Page 140 but it is amazing still and I hope this becomes one of my all time fave! Kudos to Nancy Horan for writing a smash hit on her first published novel!!!

See you all on Goodreads.com!