Cinder

TAYSHAS book #2, Cinder by Marissa Meyers.

New take on Cinderella. She's a cyborg. Only one stepsister is heinous, and halfway through, I knew what the "surprise" was.

Unlike most Cinderella stories, this one didn't piss me off. I actually enjoyed this one, even thought the premise is not what I typically read.

Anna Dressed in Blood

Now that we have the official TAYSHAS list, I have started on my quest to read as many of them as I can. Yes, there is something in it for me if I am the faculty member who reads the most books from the list, but that's not why I'm doing it. I'm a reader who teaches high school. If I can recommend some books that are aimed at them, and get them to read, it can only be a good thing.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake was my first successful foray into the TAYSHAS books. I say this because I read two that were on the preliminary list, but were cut from the final list. I couldn't have chosen a better start on this if I tried.

Cas Lowood is seventeen and a ghost killer. This means that all those "urban legends" about ghosts who do something to people, he tracks down and kills. He's been doing this for a while-partially because it's his destiny (his father was a ghost killer too), and partially to avenge his father one day. His father was killed by a particularly nasty ghost. Cas's mother is a witch, but you could call her a good witch, since she doesn't generally get involved in the dirtier side of withcraft.

Cas and his mother move frequently due to the nature of ghost killing. He moves to where the ghosts are. Thunder Bay is the city they are in right now. Cas is supposed to be killing Anna, a girl who was murdered in 1958, but has been wreaking havoc in her old house ever since.

Because he moves around alot, Cas doesn't have many friends, and this all changes in Thunder Bay. Carmel, the girl he meets on the first day of school, becomes a good friend to Cas, as does Thomas, a young psychic and witch. Good thing they become his friends because Cas is really going to need their help to kill Anna. Strange things happen when they go to carry out this task, and it's for that reason that I read most of the book after I got home from work today: I wanted to know what was going to happen. Don't you love when books draw you in like that?

Charlotte

Charlotte...Pride and Prejudice Continues by Karen Aminadra

I may have mentioned it before, but Pride and Prejudice is one of my very favorite books. Sadly, Jane Austen never added to the story herself, but several modern authors have taken it upon themselves to continue the story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Some of these "sequels" are very good, some not so much. Charlotte falls somewhere in the middle.

As the title suggests, this story is about Lizzie's friend, Charlotte Lucas, who married Lizzie's cousin, Mr. Collins. Mr. Collins has always been portrayed as something of a ninny who is interested in ingratiating himself with his betters. At the beginning of this book, he is the same. By the end, he is transformed.

Charlotte, has always been an understated character, in my opinion. Austen didn't give us much to work with, so authors tend to do what they will with her. In this one, she is somewhat strongwilled, and invites the ire of Lady Catherine. Oh, and somehow Darcy's cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, falls in love with Charlotte.

This story follows Mr. Collins and Charlotte as they discover their true feelings for one another. Nice story, but not as captivating as the original.

Revolution

Just finished reading Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly.  This book was given to me for Christmas by a student in my first period class. A student who has uncanny similarities to myself. She wrote a sweet message to me in the front.

I would've read the book simply because a student gave it to me. I mean, if they have taken the time to select a book for me, the least I can do is read it. I'm usually leery about reading books people buy for me, unless it's something specific I have requested, so I was a bit leery going into this as well. I am so glad I read it though, as this is one of the best young adult books I have ever read.

This book starts out in modern day Brooklyn, and our heroine is Andi. Andi is damaged. She goes to a swanky school, but hangs out with the wrong crowd. She's isolated everyone around her because she doesn't feel like she deserves to live. Why?  Because two years before, her brother, Truman, was killed, and Andi feels responsible for his death.

Andi lives with her mother, who has coping issues of her own. Andi is a musician. It's Christmas break of her senior year, and she is facing being kicked out of school because she has not written her senior thesis. When Andi's absent father finds out, he goes ballistic. He has Andi's mother put in a mental hospital to cope with her grief, and drags Andi to Paris with him.

The purpose of the Paris trip is for Andi's father, a Nobel proze winning geneticist, to determine whether a heart in a jar belongs to the lost king of France, Louis-Charles, son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. While in Paris, Andi is supposed to be working on her senior thesis about a composer who, apparently, had a huge influence on artists like Led Zepplin and Radiohead.

While staying with her father's friend, G, an historian of the French Revolution, Andi comes across a guitar case-a very old guitar case, with a defective lock. I should mention that Andi wears a key around her neck that belonged to her brother. One day, Andi is messing with the lock, and on a lark, tries her key-it works. They key opens a secret pocket within the guitar case. In the secret pocket is a diary, the diary of a young girl, recounting events from the French Revolution.

Throughout all of this, Andi is spiralling downward. She pops antidepressants like m&m's, and thinks often of killing herself. Only music seems to save her. One day, she is playing her guitar, and meets Virgil, with whom Andi feels an immediate connection.  Andi and Virgil become fast friends, singing each other to sleep over the telephone while she is in Paris.

Andi gets wrapped up in the diary of the young girl, Alexandrine, or Alex, who was the companion to young Louis-Charles, the dauphin.  Andi feels a kinship to Alex, and reads the diary to its end.

After planning to commit suicide one night, Andi runs in to Virgil, who literally saves her life. He invites her to play a party with him in the catacombs. Andi goes. She hits her head, and ends up in 18th century Paris, taking on the persona of Alex, based on what she has learned from the diary.

This book takes you on an exciting ride through the modern day and revolutionary France. Your heart bleeds for Andi and Alex when you read, and you just want them to be ok. I enjoyed this book for those reasons.

Hidden

A few months after I graduated from college, I was introduced to the House of Night series by PC Cast and Kristen Cast by my friend, Alex. She told me it was like a cross between Harry Potter and Twilight. In a way, I guess she was right. It's teen lit, so noone actually expects it to be good, and having read all ten books in the series, I think I can say, it's not good anymore.

The series had potential to be great, but it "jumped the shark" early in the series, and has never really recovered. I just read, as I said, book ten in the series, Hidden.

In this installment, Neferet is wreaking havoc (what else is new?), and Zoey and the nerd herd have to save the day. Again, what else is new? You'd think that after ten books, the Casts would be able to think of something more creative.

My main problems with the series are as follows:
1. They are vampyres in name only. Everything they do suggests witchcraft, not vampyres. Blessed be, Merry meet, and calling the elements? Totally witchcraft.
2. The heroine, Zoey, is a whiny teenage girl. For crying out loud, make the heroine a stronger person. I have no problem that she's a teenager, but, for heaven's sake, does she have to whine and snot cry so much?
3. Neferet is evil. No, really? Got it. Perhaps changing the villain with each book might help. The whole "Neferet is trying to take over the world and Zoey is in her way" is old.
4. The authors try to hard to talk like modern teenagers and fail miserably.
5. The characters are annoying, except perhaps Aphrodite. She's the only "real" one in the whole series.

I'll finish the series. I have too much time and money invested in it to quit now, but I don't expect them to get better.

Private: London

As you know, James Patterson is one of my favorite authors. His books are suspenseful, and a fast read. His newest offering, Private: London, is very good.  This new Private series is one to get involved in.  It's not as good as the Alex Cross series, The Women's Murder Club series, or even the Michael Bennett series, but they are well worth the read.

Private: London is about Dan Carter, an agent for Private, who is charged with keeping a young girl safe. Said young girl was kidnapped on her 13th birthday, and watched her mother being raped and murdered because her father didn't pay the ransom. While in college in London, the girl is kidnapped again.  Dan Carter has to find her. Additionally, some sick bastard is murdering people, and cutting off their ring fingers. Dan's ex-wife is in charge of finding out who was doing that.

There's a ton of drama and suspense, and you won't want to put this book down. I know I didn't anyway.

Lost

Long time, no post. Between teaching, parent choir, and knitting scarves, I haven't exactly had time to read lately. But, I am on winter break, and I have several new books, so maybe I can get back on track. 

Lost by Gregory Maguire. I tried to read this several years ago, but couldn't get into it. Having read nearly everything else he's written-some good, some not so good-I thought I'd give it another shot.

Winnie Rudge is the protagonist. The book starts out with her at an informational meeting about overseas adoptions-research for her next book, she says. Then Winnie is off to London, also research, but she has a cousin there that she generally stays with. The house this cousin owns belongs to a great-great grandfather, Ozias Rudge, who is said to be the inspiration for Dickens' Scrooge. 

When Winnie gets to Rudge House, she cannot find her cousin, John, and there is a renovation going on in the house. The renovators release a ghost, and the existence of said ghost plagues Winnie throughout the book. This ghost forces Winnie to examine her life, and visit the past to see where things went wrong.

This book was only ok. It took nearly two months to read because I could put it down. If a more interesting read came up, I read it instead.

Onto the next one...