An Overwhelmed Creative

It's been a while since a book drew me in so much, since I just couldn't stop reading. The Selection may not be a classic, but it's one of the best book series I've read. Everything just flows and even when sometimes the characters are a little immature, it's because they are. They are teenagers thrown into adult situations expecting to make adult decision. Still, our two main characters, America and Maxon, are responsible and honorable and I like that. This story feels really thought out and you can't help but enjoy it and keep reading to know how the predictable ending will actually take place. It's just a joy, I can't say it enough. Book three is the culmination of America's life at the palace as she falls in love with Prince Maxon, expecting him to love her back the way she needs him to. It's not just about that, it's about the future of a country, a deadly rebel force attacking more and more often and family. The ending does ta...

I just had to keep reading this series. Usually I read the first in a series and I either abandon it because I just feel the author will drag it endlessly or I wait a while before I read the next book, but not with The Selection. I immediately put this book on hold in the library and started reading it right away. Not only that, I also borrowed the audiobook and began hearing it on my way to and from work. I couldn't put this book out of my head. The story continues right where it left off, with The Selection now The Elite, meaning out of the 35 girls only six remain. Things get more complicated for our heroine, America, when her past love, Aspen, begins pursing her after he pops up as a guard in the palace. The rebels attack more and more and the deadly ones become more and more deadly. The peaceful ones reveal their plan to both the Prince and America and it becomes more than just a story about boy meets girl.  It's so exciting! I'm loving it! There's...

I finally decided to read the second installment of the Red Queen series. Mostly I did it for my daughter. I considered the first one appropriate for her and she read it. We talked about it and I enjoyed hearing her point of view on different issues (especially the ending). I was dreading the second book because I read in many places how horrible it was. It wasn't that horrible. When my daughter checked it out from the library, I did, too. Not only that, I also checked out the audio book version to be able to continue it to and from work. My daughter is an amazingly quick reader and I am not. It was thanks to the combination of book and audio book that I was able to finish it before she did (that and the fact she lost it the day after she checked it out). Things happen for a reason. The Red Queen world is a horrible, dark world. It's like the Age of Apocalypse (from the X-Men comic books), in which mutants rules and humans are slaves. In this world, things are pret...

What a wonderful series! "Wild Game" is the last collection of these fantastic post-apocalyptic story by Jeff Lemire where humanity is being wiped out by some sickness while babies are being born as hybrids (animal-human). The last chapters narrates the fate of Sweet Tooth, the oldest of the hybrids, and allies as they finally reach Alaska, where the truth is revealed about what really happened and how the sickness started. Like the rest of the volumes, the story just flows, with surprises and unexpected turns and wonderfully written characters. The last fourth of this volume is the aftermath of the characters fates as the world continues on under the rule of the next step of evolution. I cannot recommend this series enough. I hadn't enjoyed a graphic novel this much since I discovered Saga. I am glad the story was able to wrap in six volumes, giving me closure and satisfaction. It couldn't have been better. cheers

My children got this award winning graphic novel by author/illustrator Cece Bell for Christmas from my brother and his wife. They usually are spot on with the books they get for my kids and when I saw my eight year old son reading this book over and over I just had to see what it was about. El Deafo is almost like the author's memoir of growing up deaf, her struggles, her thoughts and how she wanted to fit into society even when she was different. The characters are all bunnies and the main character, Cece (just like the author), wasn't born deaf. After getting sick she looses her hearing and then need hearing aids to be able to listen to the world around her. Through the book, Cece goes through different friends, all understanding what it means to be her in a different way. Cece, through it all, imagines herself as a superhero, "El Deafo", because she reads Batman comic books and she thinks of her hearing aid as one of Batman's gadgets.  The book...

My thirteen year old niece recommended The Selection to me. I am beginning to go to her as a source of good book reading material because she also recommended the Water Fire Saga and I loved that series, too. The Selection is a post-apocalyptic story where things aren't as bad. The United States doesn't exist anymore and four world wars have happened. The country that was formed instead of the United States is a monarchy, where the subjects are divided into castes. Each family is assigned a number and that describes your socio-economic status. The Ones are the rich, the eights are the poor.  When a prince is born, the monarchy creates a Selection, which is the process of choosing thirty five girls in a certain age range (16 to 20, I think, but I may be mistaken) to go live at the palace where they meet the prince. The prince, at the end of this Selection, will choose a wife. The main character is a girl named America Singer. She is a Six, a musician. She is a p...

I got this book in our family's Christmas gift exchange this past December. We have now decided that buying a gift is not our favorite activity and instead have been experimenting with different gift exchanges. This year we did a book White Elephant. I got this book, got stolen, and then got it back. It was a book I had heard about before Carrie Fisher died and had been curious at the time. I had since forgotten about it. Honestly, I never would have bought the book myself, but since I had it, I had to read it. The book feels like being in the same room with Carrie Fisher and she's just talking to you. At first it's interesting and personal, especially in the beginning... until she gets to Harrison Ford. When she starts telling how she had this long affair with him during the filming of A New Hope, it all goes downhill. Sure, it was exciting, we all love Harrison, but it gets tiring after a few dozen pages of reading how she loved him, but she didn't, but h...