Book Seven
Starting Time: 12:30 am
Ending Time: 1:07 am
Title: California Diaries: Maggie, Diary 1
Author: Ann M. Martin
Genre: Teen drama llama
Pages: 180
Summary: Maggie is torn between auditioning to sing in a garage band, and being the perfect little daughter her movie producer father wants her to be.
Thoughts: Not bad. I tend to relate to school perfectionist stories. The poetry was dreadful, but that’s to be expected.
Three and a half cupcakes
Book Four
Starting Time: 5:35 pm
Ending Time: 8:32 pm
Title: Ophelia
Author: Lisa Klein
Genre: Shakespeare fanfiction. Well, it is.
Pages: 328
Summary: Hamlet and beyond, from Ophelia’s point of view.
Thoughts: Hamlet is one of my favorite Shakespeare’s, and I’ve always loved Ophelia and wished she was given more respect, so I was very happy to see this in the store (even though Becky pointed out that the very pretty model on the cover looks like a girl version of Michael Cera, and now I can’t unsee it; I call her Sara Michael). It’s a decent story and a decent pastiche, and though I think this tomboyish, authority-flouting Ophelia is very much a modern construction and not terribly well-rooted in the play, I like her. I especially liked that not only did Ophelia get her story told, but that Gertrude’s character was explored in far greater detail and redeemed somewhat, plus the book was crammed with various female characters, all distinct individuals and well outnumbering the men. My two quibbles were a) that the final third was really Jesus-y, which is fine but not really my style as a reader, and b) scenes from the actual play were glossed over, assuming a familiarity with the material that I doubt the target audience has. I certainly could have done with a refresher. Oh well, it was still good.
Three and a half cupcakes
By Jessica Day George [LibraryThing - Amazon]
Creel’s family doesn’t have much money, so her aunt hits upon the idea of sending Creel to the local dragon. But Creel isn’t interested in waiting around for a knight to come rescue her, and instead bargains with the dragon for her freedom – and a pair of very special blue slippers. On the road to the capitol where she plans to seek her fortune as a dressmaker, Creel befriends another dragon who is very surprised by her footwear, but it’s not until she reaches the capitol and finds herself embroiled in a tangle of conspiracy, diplomatic intrigue, magic, and a very cute prince that Creel begins to suspect that her slippers are more powerful than she ever imagined.
By Ally Carter [Carter at LibraryThing -- Carter at Amazon]
Cammie Morgan is a normal teenage girl… Or as normal as any of the girls who attend the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. It may look like a high-end boarding school for spoiled heiresses, but Gallagher Academy is actually a school for spies. Cammie and her classmates all speak fourteen languages, can disarm a bomb in seconds, and can kill with their bare hands — but sophomore year is the beginning of something new for Cammie and her friends. It’s their first time taking Covert Operations, a class that teaches them the real ins and outs of being a spy. Cammie’s doing great on her first homework mission, until she hits a snag she never counted on. Cammie gets sighted… by a boy. And none of her training has taught her how to handle a normal relationship.
(Mild spoilers after the cut.)
Read the rest of this entry »
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Mea culpa.
By Lloyd Alexander [series on LibraryThing — series on Amazon]
Taran longs to be a hero, but he seems destined to be merely an Assistant Pig-Keeper. However, even that’s a pretty big responsibility when the pig in question can tell the future, and when the evil Horned King, agent of the Death Lord Arawn, has his eye on her. With a ragtag bunch of companions, including the spirited Princess Eilonwy, the bumbling bard Fflewddur Flam, the loyal beast of indeterminate species Gurgi, the grumpy dwarf Doli, and more, Taran must fight first the Horned King, then Arawn himself – and discover who he is and what he really wants to be in the process.
By Bruce Coville [Coville at LibraryThing -- Coville at Amazon]
I’m going to do something a little new, here. It’s no secret that Bruce Coville is my favorite author, and I can’t pretend to be objective about his books — I get too caught up in fangirling. I read all of these books in marathon sessions over the course of a week, so I wasn’t pausing for deep thoughts. Basically, I just want to get these book reviews out there, so I’ve decided to include two short reviews here: one of Bruce Coville’s series The Unicorn Chronicles — including the newly-released book Dark Whispers — and one of his Rod Allbright’s Alien Adventures series.
The Unicorn Chronicles: A strange man begins following Cara and her grandmother, and the incident sends her from her home town into a whole new world — literally. Cara finds herself in Luster, the land of unicorns, where she must deliver a message the unicorn’s queen. But that’s harder than it seems: not all of Luster’s creatures like humans (or unicorns). Cara soon finds herself in the middle of a centuries-old war between the unicorns and a clan of humans who have sworn to hunt them into extinction.
Rod Allbright’s Alien Adventures: Rod Allbright is a typical kid — albeit a clumsy one. Then a group of aliens crash-lands in his science project, and reveal that the school bully who torments Rod is actually a villain wanted galaxy-wide for crimes of unspeakable cruelty. Things get even worse from there when it turns out Rod’s enemy may be the only one who knows what happened to Rod’s long-missing father.
By Sarah L. Thomson [LibraryThing - Amazon]
Mella’s got the rare talent of being a Keeper, someone who can communicate with and care for dragons. She tends the herd of farm dragons who produce eggs for her father’s inn, a tough job for a 12-year-old girl. But then everything changes—a knight and his squire, Roger, come to the inn in search of old dragons, the kind who fly and breathe fire, claiming they’re about to return to the country and need to be stopped before they become a threat. But Mella finds the dragon first, and as it dies she swears a solemn promise to take its egg to the dragon hatching grounds. Now, with Roger’s help, she’s got to carry out her promise—and unravel the mystery of what drove off the dragons in the first place…
By Carol Hughes [Librarything - Amazon]
When Joe follows the strange girl called Katherine who’s been sent to fetch him, he finds himself in a land torn apart by war, where the people live in fear of secret police and horrifying machines capable of immense destruction. With Katherine and a blind guide named Spider, Joe must make his way across the perilous no man’s land to the capital city in order to find his little sister, Hannah – for this is the land where sick children go, and Hannah is deathly ill. But as Joe finds himself awash in this land’s secret history and deceptive politics, two questions arise: Just who is behind this war, anyway? And is Hannah the one who needs saving – or is Joe?
By Jodi Lynn Anderson [Librarything - Amazon]
Having finally come to terms with the fact that a great destiny awaits her somewhere in North Farm, the part of the Ever After (sort of a realm of the dead) that even most spirits avoid, May and her companions set out northwards hoping to find a way home. Unfortunately, the Bogeyman is still after them, and he’s got a few merciless minions sniffing around.
Worse yet, when May finally reaches the Lady of North Farm, she finds out that the only portal that can take her and her brave companion, Somber Kitty, home is located under the Bogey’s own bed. How can they possibly sneak in under his nose and get home without getting caught?
By Anne Ursu [Book One: Librarything - Amazon / Book Two: Libarything - Amazon]
When Charlotte’s cousin Zee comes over from England to live with Charlotte for a semester, she hopes the novelty will inject a little excitement into her relentlessly boring life. Unfortunately, Zee may have brought a little too much excitement with him, for a few days after his arrival, Charlotte’s classmates begin to fall prey to a mysterious illness – the same illness that caused Zee’s parents to send him to America. But this is not just any old plague. Philonecron – half-god, half-demon, and Assistant Manager of the Department of Sanitation for the Greek Underworld – is stealing kids’ shadows, and he plans to use Zee to lead his new shadow army to overthrow Hades. Can Charlotte save her cousin and stop Philonecron before every dead person who has ever and will ever be is doomed to an eternity of torment?
Even though they’ve just saved the Underworld, Charlotte and Zee have been feeling pretty helpless. After all, the Dead are still drifting in eternal ennui, and Philonecron is out there somewhere, undoubtedly plotting revenge. And when Poseidon’s grandson is plotting revenge against you, the last place you want to be is out at sea on a cruise ship. But, of course, that’s just where Charlotte finds herself. Now she’s got to save Zee again, plus a cruise ship full of people, and go head to head with Poseidon himself. At least she’s got the cute new boy Jason Hart on her side…or does she?