My Thoughts On: The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

I finished this book one week ago. I probably should have come to this blog immediately and commented on this story, but I thought I would take a few days and think over it and process it. Well, a few days turned into a week…even as I have read two additional books while I have continued to ponder it.

Part of the controversial His Dark Materials trilogy, this book was every bit as exciting and full of imagery as The Golden Compass. I devoured it just like the first book. I fully expect to do the same with the final book, The Amber Spyglass.

As with The Golden Compass, I have no intention of writing anything about the plot of the story. It is too intricate and there is NO WAY to adequately give any kind of summary without taking something away from the story. The story is too amazing and beautiful for that. So, those of you who are interested and open-minded will just have to read it for yourselves.

As with The Golden Compass, I will say that if you are not open-minded, do not bother with this book. If you are able to look past controversy and make decisions for yourselves, take a shot with it and see for yourself whether or not you like it. I can’t promise you will, but at least you can make your opinion for yourself.

I thought this second book in the His Dark Materials series was brilliant and stunning, and I am eager to start the third and final book. But not yet! I have it in my possession, but I’m still not finished processing this one yet. This is one of the few instances where I am not going to leap immediately into the next book. I initially thought I wanted to, but I’m still replaying Pullman’s story in my mind. It is THAT big. And I think I’m still making my own opinions about it.

My Thoughts On: Beastly by Alex Flinn

Beastly by Alex Flinn

“Kyle Kingsbury, you are beastly.”

That’s what Kendra said.

Beastly is a modern-day version of the classic Beauty and the Beast. The author, Alex Flinn, has put her spin on it, and it is VERY charming. I enjoyed it so much! So much, in fact, that I read the whole thing in less than 24 hours.

Kyle Kingsbury is a very good-looking high school boy that is very popular. He has a beautiful girlfriend and popular friends. He casually and regularly picks on less-fortunate ‘ugly’ people without regard to their feelings. One day a witch named Kendra puts a spell on him and makes him beastly…so ugly on the outside that he can no longer fit into his own world, where he is comfortable. Kyle is given only two years to find a girl that can love him for who he is and prove her love to him with a kiss-a feat that will be quite difficult since Kyle is a hairy beast with claws, no lips, and long teeth. His father is embarrassed by Kyle and sends him away. He has only the housekeeper that his rich father hired, Magda, and his blind tutor, Will, to keep him company in his isolated and lonely world. Eventually Kyle realizes that he has changed for the better on the inside. Wanting to shed all that remains of his old self, he changes his name to Adrian. In an interesting twist, a beautiful girl named Lindy Owens comes to live in the house with Adrian, Magda, and Kyle. Lindy is forced to stay against her will for a long time, but she soon learns to love her home and is free to leave if she chooses. True love between Lindy and Adrian blossoms slowly, as it does in the classic fairy tale, and ends up with the beast being changed back into his former handsome self after a kiss from the beautiful girl who fell in love with the beast.

This story is very obviously a version of Beauty and the Beast, and I love that about it. It is also obviously not trying to copy Beauty and the Beast, and I also love that. It has things about it that make it modern and things that make it true to the classic. It is charming, as I said earlier, and cute and feminine. This is definitely not the story for a dude.

I think the only thing I didn’t like about Beastly was the book cover. I am very, very particular about the cover of a book. It is SO important because it is the first impression you get when you pick up a book. This particular version was borrowed from a good friend. It was the version with the movie tie-in cover featuring Vanessa Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer. Okay...if you have read the book already, you know that the beast was hairy. And you know that Lindy Owens has beautiful red hair. (Look back up at the cover…Exactly.)

Why is this important, you ask? Well, it might not be to you. But it was to me. I was literally reading a story about a hairy beast and his red-haired love interest, and every time I would sit the book down or flip the page, I would see the beautiful dark-haired Hudgens and handsome scarred-and-tattooed Pettyfer on the cover. These two are wonderful as actors, but they are certainly not who the book was describing. The screenplay may have been written differently than the book, and that is well and good, but Alex Flinn was explicitly specific multiple times throughout this book about a HAIRY BEAST and RED HAIR. I am not sure if this is bad casting for the movie or bad cover art for the book. Either way, it is the only thing I didn’t like about this book. Had I read the book with the other cover, I would have had no complaints at all…

It should be noted that at the time this is written, I have not seen this movie.

In summary, I LOVED this book. EVERYONE GO READ IT! But PLEASE get the ‘real’ Beastly cover. Please.

My Thoughts On: I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore



Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not like you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books-but we are real.

Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. We have lived among you without you knowing.

But they know.

They caught Number One in Malaysia. Number Two in England. And Number Three in Kenya. They killed them all.

I am Number Four.

I am next.   -(summary from inside book flap)

I finished this book a few days ago after reading it in a very short amount of time. I am thankful to a good friend of mine for offering her copy for me to read.

John Smith is Number Four. He is a Lorien Garde who moves frequently from small town to small town with his Cepan, Henri. Trying to maintain a very low profile and never cause trouble, he creates quite a scene on his first day in his new Paradise, Ohio high school. He soon makes a few enemies, a friend, and a girlfriend. Against the better judgment of Henri, the two make a home in Paradise and are soon located by the Mogadarians. Thankfully Number Four’s Legacies have developed just in time for the battle, but the battle comes too quickly to avoid human involvement. The end of the book brings a huge and nasty war between the Loriens (plus a few humans) and the Mogadarians. Lucky for Number Four, another Lorien shows up just in the nick of time…

I Am Number Four was an exciting book for sure. It held up to my “I-can-watch-a-movie-in-my-head-while-I-read-this” test. The very vivid language used by Pittacus Lore makes it very appealing to me. I also liked the first person narrative from Number Four throughout the entire book because I felt like through the entire story, I was hearing him recount his point of view on how the events of the story unfolded. There were no other points of view given that I can recall, which made the story a little bit narrow, but not at all hard for me to follow. I think to have added commentary from Sarah, Henri, Sam, Mark, or anyone else in the mix would have diluted how important Number Four is to his planet, and it would have shifted your attention away from the fact that there are only *six* of the original nine Garde left in the Lorien race. All in all, it was an interesting departure from the norm. This narrative structure is not one I would want to follow with every book I read (considering I read all the time) but given the nature of this book and the fact it is the first in an action/thriller series, I am drawn to it and I want it to continue this way. You know, it’s the Lorien Legacy schtick…a final note about Number Four is that since I had about 440 pages to spend one-on-one with the guy, I got to know him pretty well. For a hero, he also has flaws, which is a pretty central theme to any hero story. To watch his flaws develop, and be a part of his thought process the entire time, even as he knew he was making crucial mistakes, was a little bit cool to me.

Speaking of Pittacus Lore, the writer with the crazy name…the cover of the book tells us that Lore is Lorien’s ruling Elder and that he has been on Earth for the past twelve years preparing for war. How interesting. I love reading books written by aliens! Seriously, though, the book was really written by James Frey and Jobie Hughes. This fact makes me chuckle because I have joked to my husband a million times, “Who on Earth would name their kid Pittacus?” Well, in this case apparently it is a Lorien name, making it a moot point. Oh, the irony.

I am excited that the addition of the new character close to the end of the book makes me anticipate the next installment in the series. According to a very quick search on Amazon.com, it will be titled The Power of Six and will be released on August 23, 2011. I am thankful for the relatively short wait.



My Thoughts On: A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book One: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

A Series of Unfortunate Events,

Book One: The Bad Beginning

by Lemony Snicket

I started the A Series of Unfortunate Events series with Book One: The Bad Beginning. What fun!
I love the description on the back of the book:

Dear Reader,
I’m sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and clever, the Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe. From the very first page of this book when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news, continuing on through the entire story, disaster lurks at their heels. One might say they are magnets for misfortune.
In this short book alone, the youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast.
It is my sad duty to write down these unpleasant tales, but there is nothing stopping you from putting this book down at once and reading something happy, if you prefer that sort of thing.
With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket

This book was so much fun to read, as I suspected it would be. My librarian told me that there were twelve or thirteen books in this series, and that they were all quick reads for adults. She was right in terms of it being a quick read, but it is so nice to have a quick, fun read every now and then! I was advised that the movie is made of the first three books of the series, so my short-term goal is to read the first three books fairly quickly in relative succession so I can see the movie with my children.

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire have come to live with their uncle Count Olaf after the deaths of their parents in a fire at their mansion. Count Olaf is a despicable man who is trying to obtain their large fortune. He forces the children to do lots of things that only adults should do and many things that nobody should do. As a reader, your heart pulls for the children and despises Count Olaf and his weird troupe of actor-friends. By the end of the book, you begin to wonder how much can one group of children take.

My favorite parts of the book are some of the quotes from the writer, Lemony Snicket:

• “I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this, but first impressions are often entirely wrong.”
• “As I’m sure you know, to be in one’s own room, in one’s own bed, can often make a bleak situation a little better…”
• “Unless you have been very, very lucky, you have undoubtedly experienced events in your life that have made you cry. So unless you have been very, very lucky, you know that a good, long session of weeping can often make you feel better, even if your circumstances have not changed one bit.”
• “There are many, many types of books in the world, which makes good sense, because there are many, many types of people, and everybody wants to read something different.”
• “They didn’t understand it, but like so many unfortunate events in life, just because you don’t understand it doesn’t mean it isn’t so.”

All of these quotes are better when taken in context with the story, but are also good when standing alone.

Would I recommend this book to other people? Well, sure, if you are an adult that enjoys books written for children. I cannot speak yet for the entire series. I have heard it is very dark, but I will know more about the nature of the series a little later. I still haven’t seen the movie, and won’t until I have completed at least the first three books. I was told that the movie was a bit of a ‘failure’ by box office standards, but I am still excited to see how it holds in relation to the books.

**I am already well involved in I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore. I don’t think it will take me long to finish it becuase it is already quite exciting and doesn’t seem to be a very complicated read.

My Thoughts On: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

I always get sad when I come to the end of a book series. This time, I got a little bit doubly-sad.

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss’s family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans - except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss’s willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels’ Mockingjay - no matter what the personal cost.   -(summary inside the book cover)

The first two books in this trilogy, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, were nothing but action from cover to cover. My heart pounded from start to finish and I devoured them. There was a period of quite a few months from the time I read Catching Fire and Mockingjay (waiting for it to be checked in at the library) so after I gave myself a self-guided refresher course on the first two books, I jumped headfirst into Mockingjay and didn’t look back.

I had no idea who Katniss would end up with - would it be Peeta or Gale, or maybe neither of them? I knew she wanted to be the one to get rid of Snow, but would she get her chance? My goodness! I flew through the pages…and the book kept up with me…that is, until the incident with Boggs and Mitchell and the pods. And it seemed to me that from that point, the writer decided she was almost tired of Katniss and Gale and Peeta and everyone else. The end was good, but rushed. It lacked some of the details that I had been anticipating throughout the story, and some of the characters that were very richly developed over the course of the three books were just…ended.

I devoted hours and weeks and months of time over a period of three books to the journey from District 12 to the Games (not once but twice!), and from the Games to District 13, and finally to the Capitol. For Katniss, all roads led to the Capitol and President Snow. To me, as the reader, the journey from that lawn in the Capitol into the next twenty years took just minutes. I personally would have loved to see Ms. Collins expand on that much more than she did, given that I devoted so much of myself to all of it. But a book is a book, and we read it as it comes. And overall, it was just lovely.

I HIGHLY recommend this book and the entire trilogy to anyone who understands English. All ages, young adult to adult. This trilogy is fantastic! I literally haven’t met anyone who read it that didn’t like it. I have met people that wish the ending was a little expanded, like myself, but every single person I know speaks positively of these books. I am so, so, so sad that I am done with them, but I am so, so, so happy that I have read them.

***From here, A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snickett. I have never read any of them and I have never seen the movies. This will be a quick read before I get back into the His Dark Materials trilogy.***

My Thoughts On: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass

by Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass (or Northern Lights if you are somewhere else in the world besides North America) is the first book of the His Dark Materials trilogy by the very controversial Phillip Pullman.

This is the story of Lyra Belacqua and her journey north to find her friend Roger and her uncle Lord Asriel. Along the way Lyra befriends and travels with Iorek Byrnison, an armoured bear who eventually becomes the highly revered Bear King. She has to fight tons of obstacles and people along the way. The characters are all colorful and complex and incredible, as are each of the different settings of the story. In fact, there are so many facets to this story it would do me no good to try and give any kind of summary because it would get too bogged down and confusing. So even though it pains me, I simply cannot share any of the plot with you. I would if I could, but to do so would be to do harm to the story, and I won’t do that. It wouldn’t be fair.

What IS important is this: this story is a FANTASY. And it should be read like a fantasy. If you go into it trying to find things wrong with it, you will. If you begin this book with the ability to remain firm in your convictions and faith, you will be just fine and you may even (gasp!) enjoy it.

Nearly the entire time I was reading The Golden Compass (it was quite long!!) I could watch my own screenplay in my head along with the story. The imagery was quite vivid and detailed, which was wonderful. I have *not* seen the movie yet, but the movie that was created in my mind as I read was absolutely incredible.

Would I recommend this book to people? Hmmm, let me think a second. That’s a tough one…YES! Yes I would. But if you are one of the people who are ‘put-off’ by Phillip Pullman and his beliefs, just don’t read it. If you think Harry Potter or Edward Cullen are “bad” to read about, don’t even bother with this book. Otherwise, YES read this book. And then let me know what you think.