The House at the End of the Street

Last Saturday, I was at Barnes and Noble with Hannah. I made a deal with her that if she actually reads, I will buy her books. She's currently reading The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot. As we were in the young adult section buying her book, I came across the book I ended up buying for myself. I bought The House at the End of the Street by Lily Blake because I had seen the commercials for the movie, and wanted to see if the movie would be worth it.

Looking back, I wish I had looked at the title page of the book.  Had I done so, I would have seen that the book is based on the screenplay of the movie, which usually indicates the book is not going to be good. I paid $13 to read a book based on a screenplay. I am so ashamed.

This book is about Elissa, who moves with her mother, Sarah, from the Chicago area to the Seattle area (I think). Elissa's parents are divorced, and Elissa never sees her father. A partial reason for the move halfway across the country is because Sarah is worried that Elissa will end up a pregnant teen with no future.  She feels that moving will get Elissa away from bad influences.

The house they move to is large, and the rent is cheap. Why, you ask? Because it is next door to a house where a little girl was injured, became mentally impaired, and killed her parents.  The house is still inhabited by older brother, Ryan, who is a bit of an outcast. Elissa meets Ryan, and they become fast friends.  There are times when you think their relationship will come to more, but something always stops it.

I won't ruin the suspense, but Ryan is hiding things and Elissa gets caught up in it.

Perhaps if this had been a legitimate book that they made a movie out of, I would have enjoyed it more. The book itself was nowhere near as scary as the commercials for the movie make it appear. I am looking forward to the movie though.  I have a feeling that this will be one of the rare occasions where the movie is better than the book.

The Kingmaker's Daughter

The most recent offering from Philippa Gregory in her series about the Cousin's War is The Kingmaker's Daughter. It is the story of Anne Neville, the youngest daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. It begins when she is first presented to Elizabeth Woodville, wife and queen of Edward V.  It follows her through the marriage of her sister Isabel to George of Clarence, and her own marriage to the man who becomes Richard III. 

I have never given much thought to Anne Neville in my reading of British historical fiction, but I think I would have liked her, provided she is anything like Ms. Gregory portrayed her.

One thing I like about this book is the rivalry between sisters Anne and Isabel.  It is reminiscent of The Other Boleyn Girl, which is still my favorite by this author. Something I like about this series (as well as the Tudor series) is that Ms. Gregory visits the points of view of multiple people. I have read about Elizabeth Woodville, Anne Neville, Jaquetta Rivers, and Margaret Beaufort, all female players in the Wars of the Roses.

I look forward to the next installment.

World Without End

A little over two years ago, the miniseries, Pillars of the Earth, aired on Fridays on Starz. I enjoyed the series, so I decided to read the book. This, by the way, seems to be my curse: if I like a show or movie and it happens to be a book, I'll read it. Most of the time, it works out ok. There were two memorable instances where it did not: Carrie by Stephen King, and Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote.

Anyway, back to the point.

Not long after I read Pillars of the Earth, my quasi-sister-in-law purchased World Without End by Ken Follett for me. It is a sequel of sorts. It also takes place in the village of Kingsbridge, England, but it is 200 years after the events in Pillars. This time, they are building a bridge instead of a cathedral, at least at first. Instead of the long, drawn out love story of Jack and Aliana, it's Merthin and Caris.

The main thing I got out of this book is that monks are bad guys. Seriously. Caris' cousin, Godwyn, becomes prior of the cathedral after his uncle dies, but he is a most unscrupulous character. He steals from the nuns, lies, blackmails people, and instead of working for the good of the village, he does everything he can to thwart their efforts. His right hand man, Philemon, is just as bad.

When I was reading, I genuinely wanted to know what happened with/to Caris and Merthin, and Gwenda and Wulfric. I would go to bed at night wondering what was in store for them. Some of the characters I couldn't care less about, like the aforementioned monks, and Merthin's brother, Ralph.

There was one whole section that took place during a war, which just happens to be where I was when school started back. I have no problem watching wars and battles in movies, but I find them tedious to read about. So, when school started, I didn't feel too compelled to read because I was stuck at a part that was boring to me. I was so glad when I pushed through it.

A week ago, I was halfway through the book; today I finished. This was an ok book. Not my favorite, and definitely did not live up to its predecessor. However, I am glad I read it.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Long time, no see...er, blog. I started back to work the week before last, and the students started school this week, so I've been a bit busy. Too busy to get much reading done.  I am halfway through World Without End by Ken Follett, but I think I've only managed to read a chapter or so the past two weeks.

We bought the blu-ray version of The Hunger Games on August 18th, and watched it that evening.  One of the previews on the movie was The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I had heard about this book from my days of posting on the message boards on the-n.com. Didn't really give reading it much of a thought until I saw the movie trailer. The movie has Emma Watson, Hermione from the Harry Potter movies.  Love her. Also has the guy who played Percy Jackson in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Looked good, so I went in search of the book. I checked ebay and Amazon, but it was going to be upwards of $12 for a paperback, and that didn't include shipping. Fast forward to today...we were at Target, and they had it for $11.20. My husband bought it for me. Took a little less than twelve hours to read cover to cover, and I kinda feel bad that he spent that much for something I read so fast. :/

Anyway...The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. The format of this book is that of an epistle novel, meaning that it is written in letters. In this case, the letters are from Charlie to A Friend. Charlie, as well as all of the other names he mentions, is not his actual name. He changed them to protect the innocent, so to speak.

Charlie is beginning his freshman year of high school. He is the youngest child; his brother is a football star, and his sister is pretty and smart. Charlie cries easily and alot. Charlie has a troubled past, and has spent time in the hospital-the kind for mental health issues. Charlie doesn't have any friends until one Friday night, he goes to a football game and sees someone he recognizes from shop class, Patrick. Patrick is there with his stepsister, Sam, who Charlie has a crush on.  Patrick and Sam introduce Charlie to their friends, and they go to alot of parties and showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Charlie also has what I would term a weird relationship with his advanced English teacher.  The teacher insists that Charlie call him Bill, and gives him special assignments. Toward the end of the book, Bill invites Charlie to his house-a huge teacher no-no.

The book chronicles Charlie's freshman year, and everything he goes through. Then there is the epilogue, which parts of came completely out of left field for me. I had to go back and re-read something because I missed it the first time, and it makes the revelations of the epilogue make sense.

Pretty good book. Right up there with Go Ask Alice by Anonymous, and Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. 

I will be taking it to school on Tuesday when we go back, and putting it on my classroom library shelves.

Now to finish the Follett book....