Eats, Shoots and Leaves

Title: Eats, Shoots and Leaves

Author: Lynne Truss
Published: 2003
Read: Feb 2007
Number of pages: 204
Non-Fiction
Where I obtained the book: Barnes and Noble

How I discovered it: read the first one
My grade: B+

Just with an add of a comma, a panda who eats shoots and leaves and a panda who eats, shoots and leaves are two very different scenarios. In her book about punctuation,  Truss emphasizes that the comma and other punctuation marks are very essential tools when writing and how important it is to use them right! She has a strict, no-nonsense policy when it comes to using any kind of punctuation wrong. She sites an example as having seen signs with "Book's, DVD's, and CD's on sale!" many times. Of course this is wrong because the added apostrophes make the items possessive. 

Let me tell you, bad grammar and incorrect punctuation drive me crazy! The only time I think it's okay to let is slide is when someone is texting. It's a pain in the butt to have write correctly when you're texting, so I don't mind when people don't use commas or capitalization or spell things correctly then. 

However, there really is no excuse for everything else - ESPECIALLY when they know it will be read by the public. I once saw a sign that said "We're glad your here!" and it just made me cringe everytime I passed by it. We're glad your what is here? Really, if you don't know the difference between "your" and "you're" it's time to go back to first grade! 

Something I learned that I didn't know before while reading this book was the Oxford comma. This is the last comma in a list. The title of this book is Eats, Shoots and Leaves, but Eats, Shoots, and Leaves would be correct too and the comma after "Shoots" is called an Oxford comma. 

Sometimes I'll be uncertain about whether a comma goes or if I should have one at all, but for the most part I feel pretty I'm using them correctly. (I hope!) 

New Moon

Title: New Moon

Author: Stephanie Meyer
Published: 2006
Read: March 2009
Number of pages: 563
Fiction
Where I obtained the book: E-bay

How I discovered it: read the first one
My grade: F

After paying full price for the first book in the Twilight series (aptly titled Twilight), I decided I would not pay that much for the second book which was sure to be just as awful, so I got it off E-bay and I still probably spent too much for it! 

Here's a quick recap from the first book: Bella is in love with Edward, the vampire.

The good news about New Moon? Edward is absent for about 400 pages, so we don't have to deal with Bella talking about his "crooked smile" or his "rock-hard abs" or "perfect face" on EVERY. SINGLE. PAGE. 

The bad news? Edward is absent for about 400 pages and all Bella does is mope around about missing him and how she can't live without him. Good lord, girl, stop being such a pansy.

Here are some eye-roll inducing lines from the book:

(Bella and Edward are watching Romeo and Juliet: The movie captured my interest, thanks in large part to Edward whispering Romeo's lines in my ear - his irresistible, velvet voice made the actor's voice sound weak and coarse by comparison. 

Seriously, I feel like I'm reading fanfic!

"Before you, Bella, my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars - points of light and reason. And then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire, there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the metero had fallen over  the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by the light. I couldn't see the stars anymore. And there was no more reason for anything." 

::::gag::: and :::zzzz:::: And why is Edward so enamoured with an immature 17 (18?) year old girl? He's been around for at least over a hundred years, you'd think he go for an older, more sophisticated woman who's seen the world. Just saying. 

Okay, question...am I suppose to be rooting for Bella and Edward? Because when I read their scenes together, I feel nothing. I honestly don't care about them as a couple. Even though they make kissey faces and "gaze into each other's eyes", I don't feel like they are a couple. I don't get that arm, fuzzy feeling inside of me when I read about other couples that are well-written, well-developed and make sense. With Bella and Edward, I just feel...nothing. I think she has more chemisty with Jacob. At least with Jacob she got to know him and they spet a good time being friends beofre there was any attraction on her part. With Edward, it was just "OMG! He's hot - he's my soulmate!" I can't stand Edward. He's too perfect. He's so boring.

The book ends with Edward promising Bella that he'll make her a vampire after she graduates from high school. There's these bad vampires after her and the only way to save her it to make her a vampire or they'll kill her. Why the Cullen family can't protect her as a human is beyond me. There's this one asinine scene where she is taking a vote of the Cullen family on whether they want to join their familr or not and all but two of them are like, "Yeah! Become one of us! We want you to be in our family." Gee, how thoughtful of them to think of how her parents might react to their daughter becoming a vampire. And not to mention that becoming a vampire is a painful experience, I really don't think they have her best interest at heart. What a moron. 

House of Sand and Fog

Title: House of Sand and Fog

Author: Andre Dubus III
Published: 1999
Read: January 2006
Number of pages: 365
Fiction
Where I obtained the book: Borrowed from parents

How I discovered it: liked the movie, so decided to read the book
My grade: A-

Before this novel was made into a 2003 movie starring Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly, it was an Oprah book club selection. That was enough to make me not want to read it as I don't like people telling me what I should read, least of all Oprah. After watching the movie, which I thought was pretty good, I decided to read the book as my parents already owned it and I was looking for something to read at the time.

I'm glad I did because it was a very intriguing story told from the point of view of two different characters - Kathy Nicolo (the Jennifer Connelly character if you've see the movie) and Colonel Behrani (the Ben Kingsley character). The writing style is also different as well as the tenses so it makes you feel like they are two different people. One was told in the present tense and the other in the past tense, which is something I've never seen done much in books. You either get one or the other. 

Kathy's house has goes up for auction and the Colonel and his family has moved in and she's  trying to get her house back. The novel takes you through a journey of the characters' lives. The ending is not one that is happy! 

The Time Traveler's Wife

Title: The Time Traveler's Wife

Author: Audrey Niffenegger
Published: 2003
Read: August 2010
Number of pages: 536
Fiction
Where I obtained the book: Christmas present

How I discovered it: was always aware of it, but didn't read it until it was made into a movie
My grade: C-

I was excited to read this book because I am fascinated by time-travel. I loved "Timeline" by Michael Crichton and the Back to the Future movies and the TV show, Quantum Leap. The premise for this book sounded interesting with one of the characters, Henry, being a time traveler and going back in time to when his wife, Clare, was younger and before they met in real time. The novel started out promising, but by the time I finished it, I felt greatly disappointed. The book is told in first person by both Henry and Clare. Now I wouldn't have any problem with this, except for the fact that both the tones of their voices are exactly the same. There is really no difference between the way they're written. Niffenegger  should have just stuck with Henry's POV and called it "The Time Traveling Husband". This book is over 530 pages, but it could have easily been condensed. There are many scenes that could have been cut as they don't move the plot along at all. These include the scene where Henry and Clare are playing their pretentious game they made up with their friends, a scene with Henry talking to two young teens about his thoughts on music, etc. There are better examples, but those are the first two I could think of. Also, what's the point of being a time-traveler if you can't change anything about your history? I can't remember if Henry really can't do anything to change his past, or if he just doesn't want to mess with it, but if he knows somebody he loves is going to die, why not try to warn them when he's older? There's this one scene and the day just so happens to be THAT day in 2001. It's early in the morning and Clare joins Henry who's watching TV and asks him if it's happened yet and he replies, "Oh, it won't begin for  a couple more hours." Okay, seriously, if you KNEW that terrorists were going to attack the country, wouldn't you call somebody to warn them? I'm not sure who they would call - the FBI? The airports? CTU? Now of course it would look suspicious that he knew this was going on and he'd probably be questioned and the book would take place in a parallel universe where 9/11  never happened, but that would have been a lot more interesting then the actual plot!  There's also the really creepy plotline where he goes back in time and sees his wife between the ages of 6-18. In all of these excursions, he's usually in his 30s, sometimes in his early 40s and finds himself attracted to Clare when she's 13 or older and has to remind himself that she's not his wife yet. It's very creepy and uncomfortable, especially when they have sex on Clare's 18th birthday when he's 41. Maybe people find this romantic because she eventually becomes his future wife, but I felt like I had to take a long, hot shower after reading that.  Don't read this book. And don't watch the movie.

PS, I Love You

Title: PS,  I Love You

Author: Cecelia Ahern
Published: 2004
Read: October 2005
Number of pages: 512
Fiction
Where I obtained the book: Barnes and Noble

How I discovered it: browsing through the aisles of Barnes and Noble
My grade: A

This novel is so charming and has a clever premise that I can forgive the amateur mistakes from first-time novelist Ahern (who was in her early twenties when she wrote this) such as over-using cliches and repeating lines such as "he/she rolled his/her eyes to heaven". Of course, while I mad admit the story was enjoyable and fun to read, let's face it: the fact that she is the daughter of the Prime Minister of Ireland at the time probably helped her a lot to get it published. She's since published a handful of books - I've only read one other by her and didn't particularly care for it. 

This book is about a young woman named Holly who lost her husband, Gerry, to a brain tumor and before he died, he left her ten letters that she is instructed to open each month for the rest of the year. Inside are tasks he gives her to do and he signs each one with 'PS, I love you'. She learns to cope without him and leans on her family and friend for support and becomes closer to one of her brothers she wasn't so tight with before. She does meet a new guy and you think he might be a new love interest for her. 

This book was made into a movie with Hilary Swank and it was okay, but you might like the book better! 

Into Thin Air

Title: Into Thin Air

Author: John Krakauer
Published: 1999
Read: July 2010
Number of pages: 333
Non-Fiction
Where I obtained the book: Amazon.com

How I discovered it: already was aware of the story and wanted to read the book
My grade: A

I have always been fascinated about events from the '90s. I think it's because it was the first decade I actually remember certain things that happened. True I was around in the '80s and while I'm familiar with events like the Berlin Wall being torn down, the Challenger explosion, and uh, whatever else happened in the '80s, I don't remember when they actually happened because I was much too young.

"Into Thin Air" is about the incredible and tragic true story of an expedition to the summit of Mount Everest on May 10, 1996 when a handful of people were killed due to the harsh conditions. While I don't have a vivid "where I was when this happened" memory, I  vaguely remember hearing about this when it was on the news, (or more likely, it was probably Dateline NBC or one of those news shows who did a piece on it), but it wasn't until a couple years ago when I was reminded of the story when I found the made for TV movie  and found out about this book and thought it would make for a good read, but I couldn't seem to find it at any bookstore or at the two libraries that are near me, so I finally decided to order it from Amazon. It was definitely worth the wait. The book is pretty amazing, although it makes me never want to summit Mount Everest (not that I ever wanted to in the first place!)

Krakauer, a journalist who's also a climber, was sent to Nepal by Outside magazine to write an article about the commercialization of the highest peak in the world. Initially, he was just going to stay at the base camp, but wanting to summit the mountain, he asked them if they could wait a year so he could train and if they could finance the $65,000 it costs for an expedition to Everest. $65,000! I guess even death has a price tag! And this was fifteen years ago! I wonder how much it costs nowadays? 

The climbers who died that day ranged in age from 31 - 57 and included both guides and clients. They had to deal with altitude sickness - Everest is a little over 29,000 feet, apparently that's about the same cruising altitude of an airliner, so just think about that for a second! - even though they had oxygen, they had to make sure to preserve it and the high altitude made them delirious. There were also temperatures that got as low as 100 below and if any body part became exposed it would immediately become frostbitten. The climbers who first reached the summit started at around three in the morning and didn't get to the peak until a little after one in the afternoon - and that's just the halfway point because they had to then descend the mountain. That's when most of the people died. There was a huge storm and many of them were tired, freezing, and lacking oxygen.

It makes you wonder what would ever allure people to do something like that. It just seems like such a waste of life and it made me angry at some of the people in the book for the stupid decisions they made. For instance, one of the guides, saw that one of the clients was very tired and instead of insisting that they turn back, he urged him on to the top. Now this client has been on Everest before with the same guide, but he hadn't reached the top due to fatigue. I suppose the guide wanted to make sure he got to the top this time, which he did, but in the end it cost both of them their lives.

Very fascinating read. HIghly recommended. Climbing Everest? Not so much! 

Shanghai Girls

Title: Shanghai Girls

Author: Lisa See
Published: 2000
Read: February 2011
Number of pages: 309
Fiction
Where I obtained the book: borrowed from my parents
How I discovered it: I had read one of the author's other books
My grade: B-

I had read Lisa See's "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" in the summer of 2007 and enjoyed it enough to read "Shanghai Girls". While "Snow Flower" takes place entirely in China, this one starts in China, but then takes place in Los Angeles. The narrator is twenty-one year old Pearl Chin and she and her eighteen year old sister, May, are enjoying their privileged lives in Shanghai. They're young, beautiful, and rich and nothing can touch them...until they discover that their father has lost all their earnings and has arranged marriages for them with two brothers who are Chinese-American.

They don't want to move to America, but after Shanghai is attacked by Japan and their father has ran out on the family and their mother has died they don't know what other choice they have. Pearl finds out that May is pregnant but due to specific circumstances she gives the baby to Pearl to raise as her own. 

While the girls miss their home country, they grow to love and accept American traditions even though they know they're not wanted by everyone. And while they're wary of their new husbands and parents-in-law, they also come to accept them as well. I liked that See didn't make them two-dimensional abusive husbands which she could have easily done.

I felt like I was reading part one in a two book series because the ending definitely had a "to be continued vibe to it". I'm not sure if there is a sequel, but it would be nice because it didn't feel like the story has been finished. It's just sort of left hanging there by a thread. 

Twilight

Title: Twilight

Author: Stephenie Meyer
Published: 2005
Read: February 2009
Number of pages: 498
Fiction
Where I obtained the book: Barnes and Noble
How I discovered it: are you kidding me?! 
My grade: D-

Anyone who knows me knows that I cannot stand the crappy "Twilight" books, because, let's face it, they are indeed crap. I mean, if this can get published, then anything can. I only bought the first book out of peer pressure. After all, everyone was reading and raving about them. (It was only after I had read the first book that I found all the people who hated them as much as I did). Now I admit I have read three out of the four books in the series (I'll post reviews of those later), but I only read them because it was much too fun snarking about them in my LiveJournal and everyone thought my "reviews" were really funny.

The main character is a teenage girl named Bella wh0  has been sent to live with her dad (who she calls by his first name which is just really weird) in a small town in Washington. Bella is clumsy! She trips a lot! She nearly gets hit by a car! She can't do anything on her own; she's a moron of epic proportions. For some reason, half of the male population at her school keep asking her out. This doesn't make any sense as she never got that much attention at her old school and suddenly all these guys want her? Please. Mary Sue alert! Besides tripping, Bella also cooks a lot and swoons over after some guy. She's even willing to risk her life for him and turn into a vampire. Great role model for young girls there, Meyer.

Edward is a vampire. He doesn't kill people. He doesn't have fangs. He can go out in the sunlight (and he SPARKLES!) He can see his reflection (according to the movie). He doesn't sleep in coffins or turn into a bat and doesn't have an aversion to crosses. What a lame excuse for a vampire. Edward is really, really, really, really, really, really good-looking. He has topaz eyes and bronze-colored hair, a perfect face and a Greek God body. On every page, we are once again reminded about Edward's perfection and beauty. A good author would tell us this once and trust the readers to remember this detail about her character. I don't understand the appeal of Edward. The more perfect he becomes, the less appealing he is to me. He also treats Bella like a child. She even compares herself to one when he picks her up "like a little kid" or he's dancing with her like she's a five year old. It's sick and creepy and disgusting. Not only is he always picking her up (the girl is 17, for God's sake), but he's also always chiding her and condescending to her.

Why do Bella and Edward fall in love? Good question. I'm still scracting my head over this. Bella thinks Edward is HOT!!!111!! Edward thinks Bella smells good. It MUST be tru luv. A good writer would let two characters get to know each other and not just have them become a couple within the first 100 pages

Meyer is a horrible writer. How many times does she need to desribe Edward as "beautiful" and tell us how he smiled "his crooked smile"? Her characters are dull and uninspiring. She doesn't introduce the antagonist until page 400 and he somehow just pops out of nowhere like she just remembered she needed a climax for her book. The dialogue is absoluetly atrochious.

I hate this book with a passion; I really do.

Things I don't understand:

Why is Bella such a moron?

Why does she call her parents by their first names? It's just weird how she calls her dad "Charlie" to her mom and Edward and everyone else. I don't go around asking my mom, "Oh, when is Patrick coming home from work?"

Why are Edward, Mike, Tyler, that other dude, and Jacob all infactuared with Bella? Jacob I can understand because he's younger than her and she did flirt with him to get out information, but she desribes herself as cute, but not stunningly gorgeous and even says "physically, I'd never fit in anywhere." Did Meyer leave out the chapter where Bella gets breat implants? Why are these boys suddenly falling over themselves for her when she never got that much attention at her old school? I never got that and it made Bella quite Mary Sue-ish.

Is it suppose to be romantic that Edward watched Bella while she was sleeping? Because -eeee! CREEEEEPY! NOT romantic at ALL!

If Meyer were smart, she would have waited to get Bella and Edward together until the second or third book, and give them time to get to know each other in the first book. Their relationship just happens too quickly to be belivable. I know Bella is dazzled by his sparkling skin and "perfect face" and "Greek God body", but other than that, she hardly knows the boy. And why does Edward fall for her? Because she smells good? Because he knows she's wrong for him? I just don't get it. And he treats her like a child, always carrying her and chiding her. Edward is an asshole. I would dump his ass in a New York minute, I don't care how hot he is. Bella is too stupid (and IN LUV!!1!) to do that. Now I know the relationship between E/B is the main focus of the books, but I'd like to point out another fantasy series geared toward young adults that does the romantic relationship between the characters much better. If you've ever read Libba Bray's A Sweet and Terrible Beauty trilogy, you'll know that the romance between Gemma and Kartik isn't the main plot, but at least she lets the characters get to know each other and there's an attraction between them and we know they'll evenutally get together (even with another suitor in the mix), but they don't become a couple until the last book. And their interractions are more believable...and sweeter...than Edward's and Bella's. 

This book sucks...haha.

Lost on Planet China

Title: Lost on Planet China

Author: J. Maarten Troost
Published: 2008
Read: January 2011
Number of pages: 382
Non-fiction
Where I obtained the book: Barnes and Noble
How I discovered it: read and liked one of Troost's other books, The Sex Lives of Cannibals 
My grade: B

This was a very insightful and interesting read about the author's travels to China when he took a few months off and toured the vast country. He went all over: Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macau, Tibet, and Manchura. It was the next best thing to actually visiting China myself, actually, it was probably better because this book really didn't make me want to visit China that much...not that I ever did in the first place, but even if I did, this might make me change my mind.

I'll start with the positives first. Troost really liked Tibet and said it didn't feel like the other parts of China he had visited because the people were much more friendlier and the air was a lot cleaner. He and a friend hiked to Tiger Leaping Gorge (so named because apparently a tiger leapt across it) which is supposed to be beautiful, but exhausting to hike. There's also the fact that since they're right by the Himalayans, the air is very thin and it's very easy to get altitude sickness. (Hmm, I'm not making a very convincing case for Tibet, am I?) 

The part of his journey I found the most fascinating was at the very end when he went to Manchura which is in the northeast part of the country, bordered by Russia on the north and east and by Mongolia on the west. Obviously, it's very cold up there. He visited a sanctuary for Siberian tigers, which, according to the author, make lions look like house cats, they're that big. He saw six tigers and the biggest one was ten feet long. They viewed the tigers in their natural habitat in a small bus that had no special protection and he started to get nervous when the tigers got on their hind legs and pawed at the windows. However, when a caged SUV appeared, the tigers ignored the tourists because they know it's lunchtime as live chickens were released for their dining pleasure. The tigers also snack on cows, pigs, and ox. When they left the park, one tiger followed them out and they had to chase it big into the enclosure with the truck. I do think that would be a neat place to visit, though I sure wouldn't want my car to break down...

Troost reiterates the point that China (specifically the big cities like Beijing and Shanghai) is crowded and polluted. It is a country of one and a half billion people, so it's probably not a big surprise it's very polluted. He's someone who's traveled to quite a few places all over the world and said that the pollution was probably the worst he's ever seen it and one city he visited in particular was called "the most polluted city in the world!" (Not the kind of superlative you'd want for your city!) 

Because of the population, China has a one-child policy and because boys are more revered because they can continue the family names, girls are often aborted or put up for adoption for people from North America or Europe looking to adopt. Troost points out the obvious: that boys greatly outnumber girls and they can't continue the family name if they don't have a family to do it with. 

Not surprisingly, if you're a tourist from the West, you will most likely get rip offed. Troost wrote he finally learned how to bargain for things and felt like a smuck in particular when he paid 160 kuai for something that he found out later was actually worth 10 yuan.  10 yaun equals a dollar and a half, but I have no idea what equals a kuai. (Or how to pronounce it).

Troost and a friend met up with a man who offered to show them around the city they were in at the time and he told them that the Chinese will eat anything with four legs except for a table and anything with two legs except humans. Of course this means they eat dogs and cats which is one of the major reasons I would never be able to visit China. If I tell myself that they're just mangy alley or tom cats, then I can handle that instead of cute little kitties who like to curl up and purr in your lap. However, I think it's a little extreme that they skin the cats while they're still alive. (Well, at least in a market the author saw them doing that in). Geeze, I've seen people on competitive cooking shows get chewed out for not properly killing a crustacean in the most humane way possible. I'm guessing there's no Humane Societies in China.

The author touched on politics, the language, the food, the fact that the government keeps a tight reign on their people and you will never read a bad thing about China in the papers, but he didn't talk about the time zones (or zone, I should say). Did you know there is only one time zone in China? And this is a country that's about the same size as the United States. That would be like if the U.S. had one time zone, which is just...weird.  

If you're thinking about or planning a trip to China, I highly recommend this book. (It may change your mind about going, or it may give you some ideas about where you'd like to visit!)

 

The Alchemist

Title: The Alchemist

Author: Paulo Coelho
Published: 1988 (English version published in 1993)
Read: July 2010
Number of pages: 167
Fiction
Where I obtained the book: Barnes and Noble
How I discovered it: always knew about it and decided I should read it one of these days
My grade: C

I was intrigued to read this book because it was an "international bestselling phenomenon" as proclaimed on the front cover and on the back there were quotes from critics calling it "life-changing."  I must not have read the same book as those who called it that because I don't think it lived up to its hype or maybe it was so over-hyped that I didn't see what the big deal was. It wasn't a bad read, but maybe I'm not "spiritual" enough to get it. After I finished it, I was like, "that's it?" It's a short and sweet story for what it is, but I wouldn't call it "life-changing" or a "phenomenon". Also, why give the main character a name (Santiago) to only refer to him as "the boy" throughout the majority of the story 

Forever

Title: Forever

Author: Pete Hamill
Published: 2002
Read: End of August/early September 2005
Number of pages: 640
Fiction
Where I obtained the book: borrowed from my parents
How I discovered it: someone gave it a glowing review on a forum about books 
My grade: B

Forever is a very fascinating book about a young Irish man named Cormac O'Connor who is granted the blessing (or perhaps curse?) of being immortal as long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan. When we first meet Cormac, it's 1740 when he arrives in New York as a sixteen year old and the book takes us all the way to 2001 where he witnesses the terrorist attacks. Now that's a lot of history about New York and the book can tend to get a little dry at parts, but I would definitely recommend this, especially to anyone who loves history 

Corman is sixteen when we first meet him and while he does age with time, I can't remember if he ages more slowly than everyone else or just stops aging when he reaches a certain point. It's not like 2001 comes along and he looks like a 261 year old mummy. Nobody is none the wiser that he was born in the eighteenth century. 

Quite the interesting book; check it out sometime.

The Hunger Games

Title: The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins
Published: 2008
Read: January 2011
Number of pages: 374
Fiction
Where I obtained the book: Barnes and Noble
How I discovered it: word of mouth 
My grade: A

I just finished reading The Hunger Games and I could not put it down! After not being able to flip through Entertainment Weekly without hearing updates about the inevitable film version, or walking through a bookstore without seeing the book series on prominent display, or reading peoples' high recommendation of this book on forums, I put this book in the back of my mind for a future reading option. However, it wasn't until I was listening to a pop culture podcast and they were talking about this book and when somebody mentioned that this book was the opposite of Twilight, I knew I had to read this. After all, I loathe Twilight, so that would mean I would love this book, right? Not only did I love it, but it makes Twilight look even more boring and stupid than it already is! If you hate Twilight, you will love this book! If you like Twilight, chances are you'll hate it after reading The Hunger Games! 

The Hunger Games is what you would get if you combined the short story, "The Lottery" with the reality show, Survivor, and the Japanese movie, Battle Royale. It takes place in a dystopian future where the United States no longer exists and is now a place called Panem. It doesn't specify when in the future it takes place, but I'm guessing a couple hundred years. There are new technologies that I doubt I'll be seeing in my lifetime. 

Panem consists of the Capitol, which is really wealthy and where the Hunger Games are held. Also, part of Panem are twelve districts that each have their own specialty (mining, agriculture, etc.) and the higher the number, the poorer the district. Our heroine, Katniss, lives in District 12 - the poorest district. The citizens have to hunt for their own food and trade their goods for others. Even though this book takes place in the future, there were times when it felt like it took place in the past!

The Hunger Games have been going on for 74 years and it's something the Capitol (aka the Government) came up with to show that they are in charge, pretty much, and they won't tolerate other people rebelling against them or making their own rules. Each year a boy and girl between the ages of 12 and 18 are chosen from each district to fight in the Games (and it's done by drawing names ala "The Lottery") and they must fight to the death and the last one standing is the winner. At first, I thought they fought one on one in preliminary rounds, then the winners of those rounds fought other winners, and so on. Thankfully that wasn't the case. Instead, after the 24 contestants have had a week of training and prepping, they're put into a terrain that's controlled by the Capitol (they can control things like the weather and water flow). This is how it reminded me of Survivor: not only is this being shown on TV as the world's most effed-up reality show, but they do things you'd see on Survivor - build fires, make alliances, catch food (and sometimes they even "win" food and supplies), make shelter, etc. 

And then you add in the whole middle school and high school-aged kids killing each other with whatever weapons they can get their hands on, and you have the plot of Battle Royale! 

While reading this book, I found myself gasping several times because there were so many little twists and turns and if I didn't have other priorities, I would have probably finished this in one sitting.

  

The Mist

Title: The Mist

Author: Stephen King

Published: 1980
Read: July 2010
Number of pages: 230
Fiction
Where I obtained the book: Amazon.com
How I discovered it: from the film
My grade: B+

I saw the movie a few years ago and really liked it, so I thought I would check out the book which I could never find at the bookstore or library, so finally I just ordered it from online. Told in first person, the main character, David, goes to the grocery store with his young son after a massive storm has hit to get some supplies. A mist has arisen and there's something ominous lurking out there. He and the others are trapped in the store and the people become divided about what they should do in a Lord of the Flies like moment. 

From what I remember of the movie, it follows the short story pretty well. It's not one of King's scariest stories, but it's definitely creepy. There were a few scenes that made me shudder and the deaths do get pretty gruesome. The main difference between the book and the film is the ending. Without giving too much away in case you haven't seen the movie and/or read the book, in the film we know exactly what happens to the characters, but the ending in the book is a bit more ambiguous, you don't know the fate of the characters, though you can probably guess it's a grim one. I liked the ending better in the movie and even Stephen King admitted he did too. I kept picturing Marcia Gay Harden as the bible-thumping Mrs. Carmody even though in the book she's described as being fat and much older.

The Dante Club

Title: The Dante Club

Author: Matthew Pearl

Published: 2003
Read: July 2005
Number of pages: 464
Fiction
Where I obtained the book: borrowed from parents
How I discovered it: from a "what I've read recently" forum online
My grade: C+

This novel, which takes place in Boston in 1865 is based on a series of murders that are inspired by Dante's Inferno. Since I really enjoyed Inferno, I thought this would make for a good, grisly read. The characters are actually real people who had formed a Dante Club; they were the first to translate the cantos into English. While that is fascinating, the novel got a little dull at times and even though the deaths were gruesome, I wanted to be more shocked.  

I don't have the book with me, and as you can seen it's been a while since I've read it, but I would recommend reading the actual Dante novel before reading this, though you may find this interesting if you're into Dante's work. 

Queen of Babble

Title: Queen of Babble

Author: Meg Cabot
Published: 2006
Read: July 2009
Number of pages: 309
Fiction
Where I obtained the book: Library
How I discovered it: browsing at the library 
My grade: B

Title: Queen of Babble in the Big City

Author: Meg Cabot

Published: 2007

Read: April 2010

Number of pages: 307

Fiction

Where I obtained the book: abebooks.com

How I discovered it: from the first one

My grade: C-

Title: Queen of Babble Gets Hitched

Author: Meg Cabot

Published: 2008

Read: July 2010

Number of pages: 319

Fiction

Where I obtained the book: Library

How I discovered it: from the first two

My grade: C

Okay, I'm going to be giving out some major spoilers in this review, so if you're really set on reading these books, then don't read this. I normally don't like to give out spoilers in my book reviews, but these books weren't that great anyway, so I don't care!

You know how when there's a film trilogy, you see the first movie and absolutely love it and can't wait for the next two films, but when you see them, they don't quite meet your expectations the way the first one did? This is how this book trilogy by Meg Cabot was to me. Granted, Queen of Babble isn't anything award-winning and it's not the type of book that will make you look scholarly if you're caught reading it. In case you couldn't tell, the main character, Lizzie, can't keep her mouth shut and is always spilling secrets which gets her into trouble - sometimes hilarious, sometimes serious.

I really did enjoy the first book which I found to be cute, funny, and romantic. Lizzie finds herself spending the summer in France with her best friend and her best friend's boyfriend. There she meets Luke (the best friend of her best friend's boyfriend - I know, it's totally contrived) and they have a summer fling and end up falling for each other. I should also mention that Luke is ridiculously good-looking and super rich. Almost too good to be true, right? We'll get to that later.

The other storyline is that Lizzie finds her passion to be a wedding dress restorer and saves the day by restoring an old wrecked wedding dress that used to belong to Luke's mom to be used for the wedding of Luke's cousin (or someone...it's been awhile since I've read the book). 

The second book deals with Lizzie and Luke living together in New York. She's found a job working at a small wedding restoration shop with a French couple (or maybe that's not until the third book...) The major plot point of this novel is that Lizzie is hoping Luke will propose to her, but she's worried that he has commitment issues because he likes their arrangement just fine the way it is. Her best friend breaks up with her boyfriend, Chaz because she (the bff) has become a lesbian. Yes, I know, totally random. Oh, and Lizzie helps make a dress for a plus size girl who's marrying a well known man. The dress is gorgeous and she gets lots of publicity.

In the final book, Luke finally proposes to Lizzie, but Chaz has admitted that he has feelings for her (because he's known her all his life). Uh-oh, smells like a love triangle! When Lizzie finds out that Luke has been cheating on her, of course she goes for Chaz. I will admit, I did not see the whole Lizzie/Chaz relationship coming up - those two never really had any scenes together in the other books, except when they were all together with their significant others.

The problem with this series is that it got very tiring very fast. The way Cabot writes Lizzie is super annoying. While it was cute and amusing in the first book, it got really old in the second two and you don't blame her friends for getting irritated at her so often because I know I would! 

The Sex Lives of Cannibals

Title: The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific

Author: J. Maarten Troost
Published: 2004
Read: April 2009
Number of pages: 272
Non-fiction
Where I obtained the book: Barnes and Noble
How I discovered it: on one of the display tables at Barnes and Noble
My grade: A

The kooky title made me pick up this book at Barnes and Noble and reading the back cover convinced me to buy it. Troost, who was 26 when he spent two years in the Kirabati Islands in the South Pacific (aka the middle of nowhere) when his girlfriend had to move there for her job, writes a memoir about the experience. And what an experience it was! He documents his life on the tiny island, noting often that it is very hot and there is not much to do on the tiny island and it is very easy to go stir crazy. If you're planning a vacation to a tiny island near the equator, this book might make you change your mind. Moving from the United States to these tiny group of islands was quite the culture shock for Troost and his girlfriend. 

My favorite chapter was about the island's Poet Laureate, a young British guy who wrote to the head of the government and asked if he could be theirs and was granted his wife and a free trip to Tarawa. 

The book gets its name because the island was home to cannibals at one point. Usually I find travel writings to be a bit on the dull side, but this one was anything but dull. The ending may even surprise you.