Apparently, the Private books are a new series for James Patterson. We're up to five or six now, and I don't see signs of stopping.
Private: Berlin is the newest in this series. Obviusly, it takes place in Germany. One of the members of the Berlin office of Private has been murdered, and the rest of the team must solve the case. The case revolves around things that happened around the time of the fall of the Berlin wall, and the effects today.
Mattie is the main character, and she was once engaged to the team member who was murdered. The murderer is also going after the victim's childhood friends, and killing them the same way he killed "enemies of the state" before the fall of the wall.
As far as the Private books go, this was not as interesting as its predecessors. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as interesting or entertaining.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
How to Save a Life
TAYSHAS book #6: How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr.
This is a book about Jill and Mandy. Jill is a high school senior whose father has recently died. Her mother decides she wants to adopt a baby. Mandy is a pregnant high school dropout who is looking for someone to adopt her baby. Jill is angry at the world, and Mandy is relatively innocent to the workings of the world.
Sweet book. It pulls at your heartstrings because it is told from both girls' perspectives. I won't elaborate, but there were too many similarities to my own life. It made the book uncomfortable for me at times.
This is a book about Jill and Mandy. Jill is a high school senior whose father has recently died. Her mother decides she wants to adopt a baby. Mandy is a pregnant high school dropout who is looking for someone to adopt her baby. Jill is angry at the world, and Mandy is relatively innocent to the workings of the world.
Sweet book. It pulls at your heartstrings because it is told from both girls' perspectives. I won't elaborate, but there were too many similarities to my own life. It made the book uncomfortable for me at times.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Gatsby
Until recently, I had not read F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. In fact, the last time I read it, I was a junior in high school, and that was twenty years ago. I just finished it today with my juniors, and I forgot how much I enjoyed this book.
It's interesting how you can see things differently in twenty year's time. Daisy has no backbone; she does what Tom wants, then Gatsby (or tries to anyway), then Tom again. I just wanted to scream, "Do what YOU want woman, not what some man wants!" Tom, well, I wanted to cause injury to him because he's such a douche bag. I mean, really? Not only do you abuse your wife and cheat on her, but you abuse your skanky mistress too? Well, aren't you classy. Gatsby, I want so much to like him, but he's hung up on a woman who has clearly moved on. A woman that he may or may not have raped, mind you. Not my cup of tea. Jordan reminds me of people in my life who are liars. Not your average, tell little white lie liars either, but the ones who lie and believe that lie to be true, even though everyone around them knows it's a lie. Nick is the only redeeming character, as it should be, I guess.
The Great Gatsby is another reason I am glad I was moved to the junior team this year. I like the book, and it's so much easier to teach something when you enjoy it.
It's interesting how you can see things differently in twenty year's time. Daisy has no backbone; she does what Tom wants, then Gatsby (or tries to anyway), then Tom again. I just wanted to scream, "Do what YOU want woman, not what some man wants!" Tom, well, I wanted to cause injury to him because he's such a douche bag. I mean, really? Not only do you abuse your wife and cheat on her, but you abuse your skanky mistress too? Well, aren't you classy. Gatsby, I want so much to like him, but he's hung up on a woman who has clearly moved on. A woman that he may or may not have raped, mind you. Not my cup of tea. Jordan reminds me of people in my life who are liars. Not your average, tell little white lie liars either, but the ones who lie and believe that lie to be true, even though everyone around them knows it's a lie. Nick is the only redeeming character, as it should be, I guess.
The Great Gatsby is another reason I am glad I was moved to the junior team this year. I like the book, and it's so much easier to teach something when you enjoy it.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
The Diviners
The fifth book on my quest to read as many TAYSHAS books as I can was The Diviners by Libba Bray. It takes place in New York City in the 1920's. The book centers around a young woman named Evie, who is a diviner. Her "special power" is that she can read a person's secrets from objects that they own. In fact, it is because of this power that Evie is sent to live with her Uncle Will in New York. Uncle Will runs a museum of supernatural things.
Strange murders are occurring in New York, and they are linked to a religious "cult." Evie and her uncle help the police solve the murders. That's the basic story. It was fantastic.
What I didn't care for was the subplot involving Memphis and his brother, Isaiah. I get that the author had to show that there are other diviners so that she can sell a sequel, but this subplot had NOTHING to do with the rest of the book. Easily, a couple of hundred pages could've been shaved off of the book had they left this out.
Strange murders are occurring in New York, and they are linked to a religious "cult." Evie and her uncle help the police solve the murders. That's the basic story. It was fantastic.
What I didn't care for was the subplot involving Memphis and his brother, Isaiah. I get that the author had to show that there are other diviners so that she can sell a sequel, but this subplot had NOTHING to do with the rest of the book. Easily, a couple of hundred pages could've been shaved off of the book had they left this out.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
I Hunt Killers
This is #4 for me from the TAYSHAS list. I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga started a little slow for me, but got better as I read into it.
Jazz is in high school, and is the son of one of the most sadistic serial killers this country has ever seen. His dad, Billy Dent, taught him everything about killing before he was caught, convicted, and confined. Jazz wants to rise above his heritage, and wants to be normal. He fears he'll be just like his father, and he fights against it.
Unfortunately, a new serial killer has come to town emulating the murders that Jazz's father committed. Jazz wants to help the cops, and once they realize that Jazz may be their best chance to catch the killer, they let him.
Toward the end, there's a nice twist that makes you want to read the inevitable sequel. I'll be reading it for sure. Also, ABC Family is making this into a movie. I just hope they don't screw it up.
Jazz is in high school, and is the son of one of the most sadistic serial killers this country has ever seen. His dad, Billy Dent, taught him everything about killing before he was caught, convicted, and confined. Jazz wants to rise above his heritage, and wants to be normal. He fears he'll be just like his father, and he fights against it.
Unfortunately, a new serial killer has come to town emulating the murders that Jazz's father committed. Jazz wants to help the cops, and once they realize that Jazz may be their best chance to catch the killer, they let him.
Toward the end, there's a nice twist that makes you want to read the inevitable sequel. I'll be reading it for sure. Also, ABC Family is making this into a movie. I just hope they don't screw it up.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Titanic poetry
I am on a roll with these TAYSHAS books. I just finished The Watch that Ends the Night by Allan Wolf. It's a book of free verse poetry written about the sinking of Titanic in 1912. I don't usually like poetry, which is ironic since I am an English teacher, but I didn't mind this.
I do love historical fiction, and this book fit that genre nicely. The poems are written by all manner of beings, from the iceberg the ship hit, to ship rats, to passengers, and those working on the ship. This book tells the story, beginning to end of Titanic. It references the building of the ship, and the lives of those on the ship prior to boarding the ship all the way through the sinking of the ship, and making their way to New York. I went ahead and read the notes section too so I could learn a bit more about the characters I was reading about. Being fiction, the author took some liberties, but they were seamless, and I only know about them because the author tells the reader in his notes where some of the falsehoods lie.
Reading the different points of view opened up Titanic in a whole new way for me. The sinking of the ship is still depressing to me, and my heart hurts for all the lives lost. Reading this book brought it all back. Still, it was a good book, and I am glad I read it.
I do love historical fiction, and this book fit that genre nicely. The poems are written by all manner of beings, from the iceberg the ship hit, to ship rats, to passengers, and those working on the ship. This book tells the story, beginning to end of Titanic. It references the building of the ship, and the lives of those on the ship prior to boarding the ship all the way through the sinking of the ship, and making their way to New York. I went ahead and read the notes section too so I could learn a bit more about the characters I was reading about. Being fiction, the author took some liberties, but they were seamless, and I only know about them because the author tells the reader in his notes where some of the falsehoods lie.
Reading the different points of view opened up Titanic in a whole new way for me. The sinking of the ship is still depressing to me, and my heart hurts for all the lives lost. Reading this book brought it all back. Still, it was a good book, and I am glad I read it.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
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.
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.
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