Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King

Heads up! I'm probably going to give some stuff away here but I have a lot to say.

Let's talk about Stephen King for a moment. I have a definite love/hate relationship with the man. I sometimes think that he is the most brilliant author alive today, especially when it comes to the Dark Tower series which may very well be the glue that holds the world together. However, he has a tendency to pull some cheap tricks that drive me mad. Example: An elderly gentleman tells a story to Eddie in this book about when he faced the Wolves. When he delivers the vital information to Eddie, he whispers it so the reader can't read it. When Eddie shares this information with Roland, again the reader doesn't see it. And that's cheap. Also, towards the end Roland pulls about three tie ins from other stories (two of which are not his) that almost made me throw the book. Also, there are characters in this book with accents you will not be able to understand. Even worse, you are going to start talking in the Calla accent. Be warned.

Despite all that, I couldn't put it down and you KNOW I'll be reading the rest of the series.

Anyway, we left off with the ka-tet wandering along the path of the beam. This book picks up in Calla Bryn Sturgis where most of the children are born as twins but every 20-25 years the mysterious wolves come out of the east and snatch one of every pair that is of appropriate age. The stolen children are sent back to Calla but they are sent back "roont." They are oversized and developmentally disabled. The town has allowed such behavior for a few generations but one farmer, Jeffords, has had enough. Luckily, they have received word of gunslingers.

Finally, we get to see the gunslingers at work. It's not all death and killing, you know, but a code of conduct and a proper way to ask for help. Roland, Susannah, Jake, Eddie, and Oi spend most of the book in preparation. They must gain the trust and respect of the townfolk. They must figure out as much as they can about the Wolves and how to kill them and then prepare the town for action. To complicate matters, Susannah is now aware that she is pregnant and that she is splitting into two personalities again. To complicate things even further, an ancient relic pops up that allows the ka-tet to go to New York where they discover that the rose is in danger and they must save that and Tower of Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind fame.

There really is a lot going on in this book. Sometimes King can get wordy in his longer novels but I don't think Wolves could have been a shorter book. It was exciting and it was good and I really can't wait to see what happens. As it is, I feel like I have run a marathon and I am glad for a little break!

Dibs in Search of Self by Virginia M. Axline

A number of months ago, a friend of mine handed me this book and told me to read it.  She said it was a quick read and really good, especially if you like happy endings.

Child psychology has never been a subject that I was likely to pursue.  I work with children on a daily basis and I've often thought it would be beneficial to put some studying in but for the most part my readings in psychology center on self help.  I was a little doubtful.  The first two chapters were slow but after that it really took off.

Dibs is the son of a scientist and an ex-surgeon.  His family has always values intellectualism.  Dibs, however, is different.  His parents have written him off as mentally retarded even though his teachers still have hope.  He does not talk at school.  He does not play with the other kids.  No matter what is going on he is always on the outside.

Axline is put in contact with his parents and takes Dibs into her care.  Using play therapy, Dibs begin to break down the walls that keep him so isolated from the rest of the world.  I keep catching myself talking to people like Axline talks to Dibs!

I never thought that I would love this book but I did.  It was wonderful to see a boy emerging so rapidly.  I highly suggest this book.

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

When I finished reading the first book in the Southern Vampires series, I wasn't sure as to whether or not I should continue.  I decided that I would try the second book and see how it went.  It went way better than I expected.  I even made those audible reading noises, gasps and giggles.  I hate that I enjoyed it so much, really, because that means that I'll have to read the third.

If you are a fan of True Blood, I would say that it is worth giving the books a chance.  They are similar enough to the show to feel familiar but different enough to keep you reading.  I spent a lot of time comparing season two to book two and discussing the differences with my boyfriend who is watching the show as well.

I really hate Sookie, though.  I am glad that she is not like Bella in Twilight.  She is special.  She's not just a mopey girl who managed to fall in with a vampire.  She even has a little more independence, though I would argue that she doesn't have much.  She is very strong, really.  She is brave and not just when it means saving the person she loves.  It is even when it means saving someone she doesn't really care for.  In this book, she sheds some of her innocence.  It actually gets a bit dirty in parts.

Another character thing that I noticed is that I really don't like Bill anymore.  He's just so greasy without meaning to be.  I prefer Eric who is greasy because he's Eric and makes no attempt to hide it.

Behind on Reading

I am desperately behind on my reading goal for the year.   According to Goodreads, I am precisely 18 books behind.

Lately, when I try to read at night, I pass out before I make it through the first page.  I'm tired.  There's nothing like propping yourself up on the couch to read, passing out, and taking a book to the face. I may have to switch to all paperbacks.

The most frustrating thing that could happen right now is finding a book that straddles the fence.  And just that happened this week.

I had started it before but got a book in at work that other people were waiting for and, thus, put it aside.  One day I went back to it because I left the other book at work.  (Also frustrating as hell.  I was so angry that I almost made the 20 mile drive to get the damn thing.)  That one day hooked me and when I finished Jeneration X, I could not wait to get started on it.

The book was All the Way Home by David Giffels.  I was enchanted mostly because I thought we would relate to one another.  Giffels's book is a memoir about buying a falling down mansion and restoring it while his family is growing. 

The day I looked at the house I bought, I went to look at my Dream House.  It was a 3500 sq ft farm house on 10 acres that had been built in 1881.  I fell in love with it when I was 9.  My best friend at the time's grandparents lived around the corner and until graduation I got to look out Sara's bedroom window and see the Dream House in all its ruinous beauty.  When I went to look at it, it was everything I dreamed.  The kitchen would have to be completely gutted.  In fact, they had built a small addition onto the kitchen for a refrigerator and covered an outside door from the formal dinning room.  There was a black potbelly stove.  The woodwork in the house was all original, dark and thick molding, massive doors, floors that had expensive woods along the outside and pine in the middle where a rug would cover the cheaper wood.  There was a formal dinning room and a parlor and two staircases.  One staircase was the "family" staircase.  It went up to the second story bedrooms from the dining room.  The second staircase was the formal staircase and went from the front parlor to the BALLROOM.  A BALLROOM.  A ballroom with plaster falling off the ceiling and a charred wall where another stove used to be.  A ballroom covered in dust and dirt, fallen ceiling, and books.  The thing about old houses like that out here is that they have usually been in a family long enough to have strange updates.  A basketball court, for instance, or guest quarters built onto the back.  It may have been strange and old and ugly on the inside but every last thing in that house was STRAIGHT and SOLID and completely workable.

The clencher was the photo on the fireplace of the house as it was when it was built.

I loved that house.  I still love that house.  If ever I were to win the lottery, it would be mine and the asbestos siding would go down and real wood siding would go up.  There would be a front porch again and the ceiling would be repaired.  What would I do with a ballroom?  Fuck if I know but, dammit, I want one.  I want a front parlor and I want a kitchen that will have to be completely gutted and made into the kitchen of my dreams.  The difference is that I could I house for a third of the cost that needed a lot less work.  It wasn't a compromise.  The moment I pulled into my driveway, I knew it was MY driveway, that this was where I belonged.

So, what was the problem with Giffels work?  Quite frankly, it was Giffel.  He tells us that he has a degree in creative writing and that is all fine and good but I can guarantee that he didn't write like that in college.  He was too pompous a lot of the time, bragging about his abilities while trying to make it sound like he was making fun of himself even when he wasn't.  I was stuck on one paragraph for a day, unable to go beyond it, simply because he said Heineken is a beer for men who think they are of a certain distinction.  (Boyfriend is a beer snob. Heineken is mostly for tools who don't know that green bottles make beer skunky.  Thank God for Michigan, the beer state, and microbreweries.)  We hear repeatedly about how classy his wife is, how beautiful, how out of his league.  Sometimes the writing was too embellished, too whimsical.  But mostly it was slow and somehow grating.

I'm disappointed.  The book was published in 2008 and that's when it went on my list.  It was soooo close to the top that I was constantly excited for the day I finally got to it.  Then I could barely read a chapter at a time.

So, about a week lost to this one before I gave up just 70-some pages in.  Bummer.

Jeneration X by Jen Lancaster

If you were feeling disappointed with Jen's last couple of books and you were considering giving up on her, don't! She's back again with a new memoir that is possibly one of her funniest.

Jen and Fletch have decided to move to the suburbs and buy their first house. It's quite a change from living in the city (No gunshots.) and paying rent (but your landlord not paying the water bill). Now they have privacy and enough property for the dogs to run. (So it's only natural that they would add another puppy to the mix.)

Jen is back to her escapades. She is watching the neighbors. She's surrounded by idiots and not amused. She is learning how to be an adult through legal proceedings, estate planning, and life insurance purchasing. And it is all laugh out loud hilarious.

What I enjoyed most about this collection is that suddenly Jen feels like a friend and I can relate to her. She is no longer the exceedingly bitchy woman with a handbag that costs more than my car is worth from Bitter is the New Black. Now she is willing to do undignified things and laugh at them. Some of her stories actually feel downright hillbilly.

Also, she really makes me feel like I'm very grown up myself!

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

In the past couple of weeks, Sookie Stackhouse has become pretty common around my house.  We started watching the TrueBlood show and quickly became obsessed enough to decide that the books may be worth a shot.  I ordered in the first one and started reading it right away because I figured it would be a quick easy read.  It would have been quick too, except that I've spent most of my time watching the show instead of reading the book.  It's made for an interesting experience.  Sometimes it gets a little confusing.

That, actually, would be my one complaint about Harris's writing.  Sometimes I just don't understand what is going on.  The example that sticks out the most is Bubba.  I had to Google to figure out who Bubba was.  Why couldn't this have been spelled out a little better for the reader?  It appeared to be a pretty common question about the series.

In general, I must confess that I like to show better.  There is more going on.  It makes me laugh more often.  I like the characters that don't appear in the book or are just barely mentioned.  However, I love READING what Sookie hears in other people's heads and I actually like Sookie better altogether.

If you don't know the story, Sookie lives in a little town called Bon Temps.  This is our world but vampires have "come out of the coffin," as the book puts it.  Science has led to the invention of synthetic blood which the vampires can drink for nourishment instead of using humans as a food source.  That doesn't mean they do.  Sookie meets her first vampire, Bill, and falls head over heels for him.  In the meantime, women who have slept with vampires, or fang bangers, have been showing up strangled.  A killer is on the lose and Sookie is sure to be on his list because of her relationship with Bill.  This is one time where hearing other peoples thoughts doesn't seem to be helping.  Sookie is sucked into a game of trying to figure out who the killer is, attempting to find her way through vampire society, and protecting the people who mean the most to her.

This was a fun read and I have already ordered the next book in the series.  I can't promise that I'll make it through the whole set, though.

Demons in the Spring by Joe Meno

I don't usually read short stories but I am always willing to make an exception for one of my favorite authors.  With Demons in the Spring, I never regretted making that exception.

Meno has a way with words.  His novels are always heartbreaking and difficult and this set of short stories follows suite.  The stories are odd.  There is one about a woman who becomes a cloud whenever her husband kisses her.  There is one about a girl who has a tumor that progresses the same way a city would until there is a sky scraper growing from her heart.  Even though the stories tend to contain strange subject matter, they always seem to be such quiet stories.  It is just a day in the life for these characters.  In this way the reader isn't surprised by something strange happening.  Of course it is possible.  Why wouldn't a woman turn into a cloud?

What I love about Meno's writing is that he always leaves me feeling raw.  Sometimes he fills me with loneliness and longing.  These characters are people with a great capacity to love.  If anything, I would say that is what holds this collection together.

Besides the writing, this is a beautiful volume.  I gasped when I opened the envelope it came in.  It has a beautiful light maroon fabric cover and each story has a different illustrator.  While I borrowed this from the library, it would be worth spending the money on.

I Love Everybody (And Other Atrocious Lies) by Laurie Notaro

When I think of female humor writers, my mind comes up with Laurie Notaro and Jen Lancaster first, probably because they are young enough for me to understand what they are talking about even if they are a little older than me. I mean, I love Jill Conner Browne but she has decades on me instead of just over a decade on me. Anyway, Notaro is definitely my girl. I love Lancaster but Notaro understands what it means to have to glue down everything in your yard and house. She has animals that poop jelly beans on her desk. She knows how to work the Costco sample system.

This was a great book. At this point, it's been years since I read Idiot Girl's Action Adventure Club and I feel like I need to go back and re-read it before moving on. Notaro is a Loudmouth Girl. She says the things that we all think. Her brain reminds me distinctly of my own. She has a tendency to go off on angry and hilarious rants. I laughed out loud, literally, and read bits and pieces to my boyfriend who now thinks that I may be crazy.

This was a great read and I can't wait to read the next one!

Grow the Good LIfe: Why a Vegetable Garden will Make You Happy, Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise by Michele Owens

Last year we planted our first garden. If was rough. Our pepper plants only produced one pepper a piece. The onions failed. The only plants that did very well at all were the tomatoes, which we couldn't keep up with, and the cucumbers, which an inexperienced pickler accidentally let rot in the fridge. This year I set out to learn something about gardening before starting again. I wanted some nice, easy advice to get me started and maybe some encouragement too.

I chose Owens's book because of the subtitle. I've spent a lot of time in the past year or so thinking about the quality of food I am eating and what it would mean to improve it. Gardening was one of my fights for better food and growing it was an attempt to save money. I am also in a constant pursuit of happiness and wisdom so this seemed like an all around good bet for me.

Now that I'm done with it, I'm just not sure. I feel like maybe I took some information from it. I found myself arguing about hybrid versus heirloom with my boyfriend in the store the other day and I certainly wouldn't have been able to do that a week ago. I also feel inspired to try new things. I also feel a little less worried. Owens argues that the best way to plant a garden is to throw some seeds down and see what happens which is the kind of laid back approach I am all for.

I did have issues with this book. Ownes's voice tends to take on a snooty tone at times. By the end of the book I felt like she was telling me that she was better than everyone because she had a garden and she eats locally. Sometimes, her point gets a little lost. She is honest enough to say that there may not be enough evidence to support her argument, which I appreciate because it is honest but after a while it feels like there isn't enough evidence to support most of her arguments.

If I could have given a 2.5 star to this book, I would have. It was right in the middle for me.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

I wanted to like it. I really, really wanted to. It is, after all, one of those books that has become almost legendary. I know a few people who love it, including one who has mentioned in conversation plenty of times that she feels bad for the monster.

I don't.

What happened here is that a teenage girl had a wonderfully frightening idea for a story to thrill her male companions. Then she wrote it and made the kind of mistakes that young authors tend to make. She took her horrifying tale and smothered it with morals. This is the type of writing that wouldn't make it past a 300 level creative writing class. There is too much that feels faked and forced and coincidental to a level that is positively exhausting.

It was exhausting to read. I could barely get five pages in before passing out where ever I was sitting. It was suggested that perhaps the language of the period was the issue but it was really the period of inaction that felt as if they dragged on forever. I ended up downloading a free copy to my Kindle and having a larger font helped but still it dragged on. I had less than 25% of the book left for well over a week but, as I said, the moment I started reading I fell asleep.

As for sympathy, I suppose that Shelley managed to create enough moral friction to arouse discussion. Who is the real monster? Is it Frankenstein or his monster? It is true that Frankenstein created the monster, which was probably not right. However, the monster obviously has free will and chooses to do evil. Nobody had my sympathy except possibly Frankenstein's father. Even Elizabeth annoyed me, mostly because she was such a very flat character.

My final opinion on this one, as given to a seventeen year old boy was, "If you have to read it for a class, do so. Otherwise, don't waste your time."

The Beginner's Guide to Natural Living by Larry Cook

So... Am I the only person who kind of thinks the natural living advocates are full of shit? I really don't mean to be ignorant and rude about this but it's been bothering me for a long time.

I ordered this book because I have been thinking a lot about my body and my health lately. I am a firm believer that the body can heal itself and that what you put in is what you get out. I had been thinking that maybe I wanted to invest in organic foods and make my own household cleaners and the like. (The smell of cleaners makes me nauseous. It has for a few years now but I usually just deal with it or don't clean the house.)

There are a lot of things about natural living that I just don't understand. Why do people who live naturally have to ruin everything for those of us who don't? Why do they insist that it will be easy when the first chapter is about how your water will KILL YOU unless you purchase an in home filtration system and then go on to tell you that you need to get rid of all your food and shop only at health food stores? If natural living is so good for you, why do you have to take supplements and give yourself enemas? And why, WHY is it always the government and big business conspiring against us?

Perhaps I am just an old woman, stuck in my ways, but that is not the way I want to live. I suppose this was a good book, a great starting place with tons of suggested resources. I cannot fault Cook's writing or coverage of the subject. This was my own fault for choosing to research the subject.

How the Hula Girl Sings by Joe Meno

If you've never read a Joe Meno book, I suggest you go out and buy one right now. I would suggest starting with Hairstyles of the Damned, which is what got me started and is also one of my favorite books. It's different from the rest of his work, for sure, but wonderful. I've found each and every one of his books that I've read since to be great, quirky, weird, and somehow heartbreaking.

This is the story of Luce Lemay who is an ex-con returning to his hometown after a three year stay in prison. He robbed the liquor store he had been working at and, while on the run, hit a baby carriage, killing its occupant. He never meant to kill any babies, or any adults for that matter, but he knows that he is returning home marked as a baby killer. He has a job lined up and a place to stay and his ex-con friend Junior is waiting for him. On the bus he meets Charlene. She is beautiful and she's also the little sister of a girl he used to fool around with on Sunday afternoons. And that's just the first chapter.

Attempting to build a new life on the crumbling foundations of an old one is difficult. A lot of people in town don't want Luce around. The one who wants it least is Charlene's ex-fiance. Luce is always trying to move forward, prove that he is a good man and do what is right even though he is guilt-ridden. However, things get violent in town and Luce needs to decide what kind of man he is, regardless of what others say about him.

A Field Guide to the North American Family by Garth Hallberg

This was a really neat little book. I never would have thought of telling a story like this but it was wonderful to read.

A Field Guide is the story of two families through the years. Each family has a father, mother, daughter, and son. They a neighbors and the boys are the same age. Instead of chapters, this story is told in entries which are alphabetical, just like in a field guide. Each entry is accompanied by a picture and cross references. For instance, "Adolescence" is cross referenced with "Boredom" and "Angst." There is a story here. The families face hard times. There is death and divorce. There are accidents and rumors. Everything comes slowly, in disjointed spurts because of the arrangement.

I would have gladly given this book five stars except that I kept getting characters mixed up, specifically the boys and the moms. It was handy to have a cast of characters in the front of the book to refer to but I wish there had been a little more character development instead. Still, I loved it.

Carrie by Stephen King

Carrie is the book that first got me really reading. I read it in junior high and I recall actually sitting in a pretty uncomfortable position for hours, devouring it page by page.

There is a danger in revisiting old literary loves. You never know if they are going to be quite like you remember. I wanted to reread this for a few reasons, though. I work with a few junior high girls that keep asking me for horror books. I've been getting into Stephen King a lot more recently. Also, I kind of wanted to know if it still stacked up.

I still love this book. It is decidedly juvenile and the first scene is kind of rough. It's embarrassing and harsh but it really sets the mood for the rest of the book. Even better, it is perfect to hook a twelve year old girl. I imagine that I related with Carrie when I was twelve. I felt like a loner and was hurt by the other kids. Then it was amazing (but still horrifying) to read about Carrie destroying the town, punishing the people who hurt her. Now that I am an "adult," I took something completely different from it. I felt bad for Carrie. I felt bad for the people who died, who never got to learn their lessons really. In today's world of school shootings this is a paranormal twist that might make kids think about violence differently.

For a first novel this is phenomenal and it's really not surprising that King developed into the author who brought us such masterpieces as The Stand, The Dark Tower, and The Green Mile.

The Slayer Chronicles: First Kill by Heather Brewer

Soon after the release of this spin-off series, an envelope arrived on my doorstep. Inside was a shiny new copy, signed, just dying to be read. I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that it took me this long to get to it. On the other hand, it was so worth the wait.

If you are familiar with the Chronicles of Vladimir Todd, you probably know Joss. Joss is Henry's cousin and he is a slayer. We got to see Vlad's side of the story, be an audience to the inner workings of vampire society. Now we get to see the other side.

When Joss witnesses a vampire killing his younger sister, he was horrified. At her funeral he is approached by his uncle, Abraham, a family member he cannot ever remember actually talking to. For the first time, someone seems to believe that a vampire actually killed Cecile and Joss is relieved to discover that he is not alone. Not only does Uncle Abraham believe him, he offers Joss a chance to become a slayer and take revenge.

A few years later, Joss is being called to training earlier than expected. In a cabin in the mountains, Joss meets other slayers and begins to learn about the new world he is entering. He makes his first friend, a girl named Kat whose father is the caretaker of the group. However, he is surprised to find his uncle especially cold. He seems to be doing everything in his power to make Joss fail. The training is grueling. To make matters worse, slayers are starting to die and the group is beginning to turn on itself.

This was a great read. There were times went it actually hurt to put it down. It has been wonderful to see Brewer's writing develop with each new book.

Copper-Toed Boots by Marguerite deAngeli

I have been working on reading the deAngeli books for a little while now because I work at the Marguerite deAngeli library and it just seems appropriate to read them. Five days a week I walk past original drawings and a collection of artifacts that includes her Newbery medal. The house she was born in is on a corner that I drive past multiple times a week. Perhaps because of this and because I have spent most of my life living within 20 miles of Lapeer, which is our "city" out this way, I really enjoyed this book.

Copper-Toed Boots is a story of pioneer Lapeer. Like all of deAngeli's stories, it is simple. Shad is just a typical boy. Maybe he gets into trouble a little bit more but most of the time his intentions are good. I say most of the time because there is the incident with the calf in the belfry. A lot of the stories come from tales deAngeli heard growing up. They are rooted in Lapeer history. As fun as it was reading about Shad's adventures, I think I actually had more fun trying to place everything in Lapeer. Where does the Flint River get just deep enough to swim in near Nepessing Street? Where would there be an abandoned mill two or three miles Flint way?

I really did enjoy this book. It was a nice, pleasant read. It was exactly the type of book that I want to share with my children someday.

Rock What You've Got by Katherine Schwarzenegger

I ordered this book for my library because I have a group of girls who are just in junior high. Junior high was when I started having my body issues and I wanted to have something on the shelves with both information and a positive message. I wanted to read it really just to see what it was about.

It was alright. I think that I would feel okay giving it to my junior high girls. There are a lot of facts and personal stories here that are aimed at making girls feel a little less alone. It reads easily enough. There are special sections just for moms. However, I just found her voice to be a bit annoying. Then again, I am not a 12 year old girl anymore! Another thing that I didn't particularly like was how often Schwarzenegger talks about how normal her life is when it obviously is a bit different than the average girl's.

This would be a great book to give a girl the first time you hear her cut herself down. I think that maybe the message would be lost on an older teenager.

Pink Smog by Francesca Lia Block

At first I was a little concerned when I saw that a prequel to the Weetzie Bat books was coming out. The thing that really threw me off was that the description said Louise couldn't get anyone to call her Weetzie, a nickname her father gave her. Wasn't it heavily implied in the original series that Weetzie was her real name? In fact, doesn't Weerzie, when asked about her strange name, exclaim, "Weetzie, Weetzie, Weetzie! I don't know. Crazy parents!"

But I am delighted to report that I loved this book. I can understand why Block is always going back to these characters. Sliding into Weetzie's L.A. is kind of like putting on a favorite pair of shoes. It just feels right.

Plus, isn't it comforting to know that somebody like Weetzie had an awkward stage too? This is when Weetzie is just trying to get by and maybe even fit in. She wants the popular girls' shoes and hair. When her dad leaves and her mother starts drinking even more, Weetzie is forced to grow up. She has to learn to love and see beauty and believe in herself. Really, isn't that what middle school is all about?

If someone as magical as Weetzie started out as a mousette, can't we all end up a little like Weetzie?

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

I had the honor of seeing Jennifer Brown speak at the MLA Spring Institute last year and I instantly fell in love with her. She was funny. She was down to earth. She was a great speaker. I couldn't wait to read her book.

This was a wonderful book. It was one of those perfect teen books. It dealt with serious subject matter in an honest way but was also full of hope. I wanted to read it constantly and actually got really frustrated at myself for being so tired all week and passing out every chance I got to read.

Val's boyfriend, Nick, shot up the school. That's pretty bad. His final shot was to his own head, killing him. That's horrible. What could make it worse? Nick targeted people who were on a list him and Val had created together and she's survived. The Hate List was meant to be a way to vent. Val started it one day when she was having a particularly rough time. Just writing down all of the people and things and ideas that she hated made her feel better. She never meant for anything like this to happen.

Now, two months later, she's going back to school to finish her senior year. She took a bullet to the thigh and she's been in the psych ward and she's in counseling. She's scared but just wants to get it over and fly under the radar. The only problem is that flying under the radar is now impossible. Some people thing she's to blame for the shooting. Other people think she's a hero. Val, however, has no idea who she is anymore.

Watching Val struggle to put her life back together was really satisfying. I couldn't help but cheer for her the whole way!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

After the release of the final movie in July, I decided to re-read all of the Harry Potter books, just like I'm sure everyone else did. I wanted to read them close together which was something that I hadn't done yet. I also hadn't gotten a chance to re-read The Deathly Hallows. These are books, after all, that you seem to take more from the second time around. However, the final volume got pushed to the wayside for a while. It was just too large for me to read it last year. If I had, I wouldn't have made the 100 book goal.

I'm glad that I finally got around to it.

I liked it a lot better this time around. When I first read DH, I felt like the first half of the book was pretty aimless. It dragged on and on and on. It consisted mostly of the boring daily "apparate somewhere random and camp" routine. This time through it didn't feel like it was dragging so much. I started to think about Harry gathering his own trinkets close to him and I was interested in the Dumbledore store too. There may not have been a lot of action but there was a lot to think about. Anyway, the last part more than makes up for it.

It's funny, really. I can tell you exactly what parts brought me to tears the first time I read it and this time it was completely different. Have I changed or do I just have a different outlook now that I know how it ends?

All in all, I would say that I am happy with Rowling's conclusion. I even got a little teary eyed in the last little epilogue chapter. There was a way that things HAD to happen and I think that Rowling managed to dance around that pretty well. I'm glad I made the time to go back to this book.

Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve

This was a WONDERFUL book. I can't stress that enough. It was fun and exciting and magical and just plain wonderful. Not bad for a book I picked out purely because the cover had pretty colors.

Polly lives on her family's rhubarb farm. Only, their farm is not like others. It's magical. They grow regular rhubarb and giant rhubarb and chocolate rhubarb. The children live in a castle. Polly's best friend is a plant. Also, it rains every Monday afternoon at 1.

Until it doesn't rain. That's when things get scary.

Suddenly, Polly sees her world falling apart. The plants are dying, her brother is sick, and her aunt wants to sell the farm. Polly believes in magic and she is sure that the world will be right again but how? Slowly, she uncovers clue after clue to her family's secrets. Then all she has to do is figure out how to make it rain.

This was the kind of book that you want to read and read and read again. I loved every minute of it.

How do you chose books?

So, I've been listening to Stephen King's The Gunslinger in my car this week. I read it years and years ago. I read through the fourth in the series when I was in high school. I think before I was even 16, which is when I started at the library.

What I was thinking today was that this book is not like anything that I every can imagine picking for myself. How did I chose this book all of those years ago, before I had met anyone who had read the series? I imagine that I went into the used book store and pulled it off the shelf because it didn't sound like the usual SK book.

Still, how do you pick a book? I have my list. I started my list during my senior English class. I took a list of suggested reading for a book report and wrote it down. I added books to it at work because I realized that I couldn't check out every book that sounded good. Then I found lists online and added them. Best modern literature. YA's dealing with tough stuff. Now I read reviews constantly for work and listen to NPR. I will never run out of books to read. Then there are the random ones I see at work. One of my next books is called Drizzle and I picked it because the cover was wonderfully bright and pretty. Then there are those authors who I usually feel are just going to be good: Nick Hornby, Francesca Lia Block, Stephen King, etc.

How do you pick books?

Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey

I can't help it. I love personal finance books. There's a reason I love them, though. They make me feel strong, motivated, and inspired. Ramsey is really good at this. While reading his books, I feel like I can take on the world and really accomplish my dreams.

I read Total Money Makeover about a year and a half ago and I got a similar boost from that. After reading, I built up an emergency fund and paid off my car a year early. However, I then bought a house. That is not part of the plan. After my offer was accepted on the house one of my cats was hit by a car and I had to pay tons of vet bills. Then I sunk $1700 into my car. Then I put a new roof on my house. Then I got to fix my car again after an accident.

This is life. Dave doesn't pretend that things like this don't happen. He acknowledges that not everything is your fault. Even better, he is constantly encouraging and annoyingly challenging. At the end of this book he asks, "Are you a man or a mouse? A woman or a wimp?" and my first thought was, "Well, I'm not a wimp!" I am excited to get started again, to get things under control. That is what Dave does. He gives you a simple plan and a reason for each step. If you're like me, you aren't going to work hard for anything that you don't understand. This is all very basic advice but sometimes we need to hear it.

My one warning here is that this book seems a bit more religious than I remember TMM being. It wasn't off-putting but because both books share basically the same information, that may be the deciding factor in which one you read.

Twelfth Grade KIlls by Heather Brewer

One problem with having a giant stack of books to read, most of them library books, is that it took me a shamefully long time to get here. I actually don't know how long it's been since I read the previous book in this series which made getting back into it a challenge. Eleventh Grade Burns apparently was a cliff hanger. I was a bit discombobulated when I started this one but I caught back on soon enough.

If you haven't read the previous books, stop reading now.

The start of this book is marked by the return of Vlad's long "dead" father, Tomas. Vlad thinks he is going crazy. His father died in a fire years before. Why would he see him now? He spends some time searching for his father and thinking he is crazy before he finds him. Now, things seem like they should be right.

But they aren't.

Vampires keep dying and Vlad keeps finding evidence that it may be Otis's doing. His trial is coming up and, if that weren't bad enough, if Joss doesn't slay him the Slayer Society will cleanse the town. Snow is now attending Bathory High, filling Vlad with guilt and confusion, and Eddie Poe is determined to become a vampire.

Needless to say, with so much going on every chapter is action packed. I read this one quickly, sometimes accidentally getting sucked into chapters at a time when I only meant to read one or two. I think that this was a fitting end to the series.

Passing Strange by Daniel Waters

If I had to pick which book out of this series was my favorite, this would be it. Hands down. Passing Strange is told mostly from Karen's point of view and mostly in first person. Mixed in are chapters from Pete's and Tak's point of view. They really added to the story but Karen is my favorite character from the series.

Karen has stayed above the lake where her dead friends are hiding. New laws have made it dangerous for her but she is "passing," pretending to be alive. She works at the mall and even takes her dad's car for a spin once in a while. When Pete walks into the store she's working at and doesn't seem to recognize her, she sees her chance to get some information. What follows is a dangerous game where she must get close to someone without letting them know she's a zombie. On top of this, weird things are happening. She's learning that she can heal.

This was a great read. It was exciting and dangerous and intriguing. I loved every minute of it and there were a number of times that were so exciting that I couldn't believe there was more to the book. Karen has issues and seeing her work them out felt really good. She became a friend, something that never happened with Pheobe as the main character in Generation Dead.

Wood Nymph Seeks Centaur by Francesca Lia Block

This was actually a pretty cute book but it's more like the kind of book you play around with than the kind you read. Like when you get an astrology book and you only read about your sign and your boyfriend's sign and whether or not you are compatible.

Block uses mythology to divide people into types. For instance, my boyfriend was nearly full on a merman. I fell somewhere between a banshee and an urban elf. We had a lot of fun reading about the types and figuring out what we were.

I don't know how useful it is but this book was pretty entertaining. Maybe someone single would find it helpful.

The Pretty Dead by Francesca Lia Block

I continue on my quest to read all of Francesca Lia Block's books.

I don't really know what to say about this one. It was a quick read and it was alright but I don't know that I really liked it. Part of that, I think, is because it is a young adult vampire book, which I have avoided like the plague. Still, I was engrossed in it and read it in one day.

Charlotte is a vampire. She is 17 and lives in a huge house full of pretty things. She is flawlessly beautiful. She has money. She has brains. But she is horribly lonely.

Then she meets Emily in her English class. She thinks that Em is beautiful and innocent and she wants to give her everything. She loves her. She dresses her up and gives her wine and takes her clubbing. Always underneath the surface is the knowledge that Em will die and she will be alone again. Em's boyfriend, Jared, makes a third in their group. Char and Jared sneak glances at one another but always there is Em.

Then Em dies. Charlotte seeks out Jared and together they begin to learn about one another. He knows her secret and she tells him of her past: The twin brother she lost and William, the vampire that made her, and all of their travels together. When William appears again, she can't help but suspect that something sinister is afoot. And she is right.

This seems a bit different from other vampire novels but also a little too similar. I don't know that I would read it again or suggest it to anyone but it was entertaining for today.

Slam by Nick Hornby

I love Nick Hornby. He never fails to make me laugh out loud like a mad woman. All of his characters just get to me and I find myself loving them even if they aren't doing the smartest or most decent things.

Sam's mother had him when she was 16 and he has planned on a different life than that. When a teacher takes him aside and suggests that he study design in college, he is excited to finally have an idea of what he wants to do. Him and his mother are close and part of that seems to be because of their closeness in age. At 15, his life consists mostly of school and skating and talking to his poster of Tony Hawk, which talks back mostly in quotes from his book.

Then Sam's mother introduces him to Alicia at a party and he thinks he's fallen in love. It's first love, young love. They spend as much time as possible together and they have sex. Lots of it. But after one little mistake, Sam finds himself in the same position his mother and father were in. At 16, Sam is going to be a dad and his mother is going to be a grandmother at 32.

The twist comes when he gets mad at his Tony Hawk poster while being a bit of a turd. He goes to sleep in his bed and wakes up... not in his bed. He wakes up a year in the future and stumbles through the day, not sure what is going on except that his lives with Alicia, has a baby named Roof, and goes to college. When he goes to bed at night, he wakes up back in his own time.

This is one of those books that is both hilarious and uncomfortable. At first I was confused by this "whizzing" into the future, as Sam calls it, but by the end of the book it all makes sense. I laughed out loud a lot, a couple of times in public. It's a story we've all heard before from a different point of view with a different twist. This is a wonderful first YA from one of my favorite authors that is definitely worth the read.