Review: White Cat by Holly Black

Book: White Cat by Holly Black
Genre: YA SF
Rating: A
For: Fun
From: It was a gift!

This is a book I've just recently been hearing lots about (just opposite of what I was saying about Wake yesterday, which I've been hearing about forever.) And for once, I've been able to read it soon afterwards instead of waiting and waiting for a chance to get to it!

This book is the first of a series called The Curse Workers. It's about a society where many people have an ability to manipulate other people simply by touching them (through dreams, memories, emotions, etc.) This "curse work" has been outlawed and therefore, to help prevent the working of curses, everyone must wear gloves. (I'm still not sure how this particular law is enforced though.) Of course, there are those who disregard the law and insist on keeping up the practice which creates a whole new meaning to the mafia/con world.

We meet our main guy as he is just waking up from sleepwalking on the roof of his dorm. Cassel, as he is called (and a name that quite grew on me I must say) comes from a family of curse workers, yet he himself has no power of his own. This whole sleepwalking thing is quite suspicious to him and he wonders what's really going on. Is someone "working" him? And if so, why? And who?

Because of this particular incident, he is given a sort of leave of absence from school and he uses that week or so to begin solving this mystery, which appears to have a lot to do with his family and what they are really up to. And it may also have something to do with another terrible incident that happened in Cassel's past.... one that haunts his life relentlessly.

And what's up with the white cat? Well, you'll have to read it to find that out!

I really enjoyed this unique take on the whole paranormal/magic thing. I also enjoyed hearing the story from the guy's point of view. We need more of those out there! It's a fast-paced story, filled with several plot twists that for the most part I didn't see coming. I love it when that happens. Those, wait, what? moments! Great stuff.

Years ago I read Tithe by Holly Black and was not impressed at all. She redeemed herself for me with this one. It was much much more enjoyable.

Bottom line: I really liked it a lot!

Other reviews:

The Page Flipper
I'd So Rather be Reading
You've GOTTA Read This
Stella Matutina

More information about author Holly Black.

Review: Wake by Lisa McMann

Book: Wake by Lisa McMann
Genre: YA SF
Rating: A
For: Fun
From: The library

I've been wanting to read this one forever its seems. Nearly every time I go to the library, I check to see if it's in, and finally the other day, there were tons of them! So I knew it was finally time to read it.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to see what other people are dreaming? In this book, Janie knows all about it and she does NOT think it's very cool at all. In fact, it's basically become a curse, especially since she has no control over it and if she is in the vicinity of anyone dreaming, she is sucked right into their dream with them. Meanwhile, her physical body is paralyzed as if she's having an epileptic fit. Not fun and quite inconvenient to say the least.

And things get especially creepy when the guy she sorta kinda likes falls asleep nearby and she learns what he happens to be dreaming about. A little bit good and a lot bad.

I really enjoyed this whole dream idea. Quite an interesting concept. I also really liked the guy in this book, one of those shy, quite types who on the surface looks especially nerdy and needy, yet as it turns out, there's a whole lot more going on than what you can see. Love that!

Most likely I'll read the next one, called Fade, I believe. However, I'm a little worried because I think most of th allure of this story is the figuring out of things, and now that all the mystery is "solved" I'm not sure if the sequels will be as fun. If you've read them, let me know!

Bottom line: Totally enjoyed it. Couldn't put it down.

P.S. Beware the language in this one.

Other reviews:

Bookfoolery and Babble
There's a Book
Books Love Me
Sadie-Jean's Book Blog

And don't forget to check out author Lisa McMann's website here.

Review: Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody

Book: Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: A-
For: Fun
From: The library


My friend Jenny has been loving this series lately, and so I decided I had to find out what it was all about. This first book is quite a small thing and I figured I could fit it in the line up quite easily and read it quickly. However, sad to say, it still took me awhile to read it. I think it was a mixture of what was going on in real life and because it was a little slow to start and took awhile to get into.  (Also, it may have to do with the fact that she started this book while a teenager.)

The premise of this book is that a long time ago in the history of this society, something happened called the Great White, a nuclear holocaust of some sort. Because of that event, many people have been tainted and have ended up with strange and unique gifts. These people are labeled misfits and are condemned to death or banishment.

One of the locations for banishment is Obernewtyn, a place from which no one has ever returned.

So as you may have guessed, this is where we go with our main character, Elspeth. Once there, she begins to uncover the secrets and corruption of this place. And from there, it all gets quite intriguing! In fact, I think I read most of the whole second half in one sitting. Not only that, I found myself wondering about the characters after finishing, which is always a good sign for wanting to continue with the series, don't you think? Yes. I will be finding out what happens to them.

Bottom line: I really enjoyed it.

Other Reviews:

Presenting Lenore
Bart's Bookshelf
Stainless Steel Droppings

What the author has to say about it:

The Sunday Salon: Josh and Other Excitement!

Wow, it's been quite the weekend! Tons of excitement around here!

First off, I got the mail on Friday and found there a little surprise from Deanna (Ibeeeg) from Polishing Mud Balls. I knew she had something up her sleeve, but when I opened it I couldn't believe my eyes and nearly hyperventilated right on the spot! Inside was Josh Groban's new cd... and it was SIGNED BY HIM!! Personalized to ME! I guess Deanna's mom was lucky enough to see him at a signing in Chicago and so she asked her to get this for me. How well she knows me already!

Oh my. It's still freaking me out actually. If only I could have personally been there too. Maybe some day, huh. Anyway, thank you so much to Deanna... isn't she awesome though?

And then, Christmas came early when we all got new phones on Friday. I thought this day would never come. But come it did and now I'm in the process of learning what a "smart" phone can do and how to text on a touch screen. It may take some getting used to! But it will happen, and I'm going to have tons of fun with it!

Also on Friday (it was overload on Friday I'm telling you) we fit in Harry Potter. I enjoyed it. My brother said  there wasn't enough comic relief, but I thought there were quite a few cute and funny moments. Bummer we have to wait longer for the conclusion to the whole thing. I'd totally forgotten the book, but as I watched, it started coming back to me.

Finally on Friday we had a little mini family gathering with my side of the family. Ate more pie and played Catch Phrase a bit. And I showed my sister the above tidbit and we squealed like teenagers! Yeah, she gets it.

Saturday I got a much needed haircut, hung the outside Christmas lights and did just a teeny tiny bit of Christmas shopping, but at least I can say I've started. To those who can say they have finished, I say you are amazing.... or crazy... one of the two.

Oh then there was Thanksgiving of course. This was with my husband's family, the side of the family where we've had the recent and still raw loss. So for the most part, it was a fine Thanksgiving, but there were also moments where we just wished things were normal and we were ALL there, without that "someone is missing" feeling.

Earlier in the week there was the BIG BLIZZARD of 2010! Wow, I've never ever EVER seen the news and the weather guys get us all worked up about an approaching storm like they did this time. They sent everyone home early from nearly everything and we proceeded to batten things down and hunker down, prepared to light a fire and cozy up with the family all safe and sound. And we kept saying to the kids... "any minute it's going to get here!!" And then we waited, and waited and waited. We built the fire, watched a movie, told the teenager she was confined to home and waited, and waited and waited! Finally, we went to bed, and heard nothing all night long. We got up to absolutely no change. Yeah, for us, the blizzard never came! It was the most anticlimactic non-event we've ever experienced! Pretty funny. (Places just a bit north of us did get hit though, some harder than others. But still, I think we have had WAY worse than this in past years.)

Whew, like I said, it's been an exciting week!

And yes, I've been reading. in and through and amongst it all. For the last few days I've been totally loving North of Beautiful. Really loving it. I also finished Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld, which was very fun too. Ugh, I'm getting massively behind in reviews. But still, I had hoped to read much more than I did during this vacation weekend. Isn't that always the case? Oh, well.

Well, so I think that's all I had to report on. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, whether it was a holiday for you or not! Now, on to December!

Oh wait, a video... the song Josh signed on, and one of my favorites on the new album:

Music Stuck in My Head: Carol of the Bells

Yes, it's officially safe to break out the Christmas music now, right? And so today I thought I'd highlight one of my most favorites, Carol of the Bells.

I like my Carol of the Bells done up in many many ways.

There's the all guys a capella version, which I really really love:




The piano version, and there's many of these, but I picked the George Winston one:



The choir version, by the Mormon Tab of course!:



The ladies Celtic version,:



This awesome rock version by TSO:



And finally, a handbell choir:



Do you like Carol of the Bells? What's your favorite version?

Weekly Geeks 2010.38: Antique Books

I decided I better do a quick Weekly Geek since I posted the question, even if it was a day late! :)

So the question is what old books do you have? Where here old means like, old, like ancient, like antique. And I do have a few, most of them come from my grandparents. So I took some pictures of a few of them for you:

These books were my grandpa's favorites when he was a kid. (He's the one that turned 90 this summer.) One day, he just up and gave them to me. The dates on them are 1927 and 1928.

These Hardy Boy books are my father-in-law's. They are from the 1940's.

The green book is my mom's history book from 1958 or so. The blue book is my grandpa's English book from 1934. What I love about the English book is all the signatures of all the kids inside whose hands this book traveled through. It's like a time capsule.

The Bobbsey Twins book I just found at a thrift store and fell in love with it. It's date is 1929. The Pinocchio book is one I inherited from my grandma. It's from the 1960's. It's a flip book where this side is Pinocchio, but the other side is King Aurthur and the Round Table...but its cover is torn off sadly.

This one also came from my grandma and is dated 1902. I have no idea why she had it. I wish I knew if there was a story behind it. The pictures inside are wonderful

 And my favorite is the husbandry book that was found in a pile of junk on my grandpa's farm. I'm not sure he ever used it, but perhaps his uncle, who he bought the farm from in 1948 or so, used it. It's date is 1899, and I find it a most fascinating, old thing! Inside is all sorts of knowledge about how to run a farm and deal with livestock, including cool fold out overlays of cows and horses like this:

Not that this will ever come in handy for me, but I'll always remember that day we were on the farm going through this junk and I latched onto this old book and my grandpa thought I was crazy!

What cool old books to you have around  your house?

Books I'm Thankful For

Well, I'm thankful for all books, but especially these:

The Box Car Children: because it sparked my imagination as a kid and made me forever fascinated with the idea of living in a box car

The Hiding Place and The Diary of Anne Frank: because they made the Holocaust real to me.

Anne of Green Gables: because I learned that books can just be fun and happy

Harry Potter: because it was so fun to be part of a world-wide book club!

Howard's End: because I will  remember it as the first book I read with an online community

Twilight: because it gets people talking about books with much emotion and passion, positively or negatively!

The Tale of Two Cities: because it was the first book I remember discussing with a class and therefore becoming extremely attached, invested and emotionally involved.

Good Night Moon: because it was my favorite book to read to my little kids

The Enchanted Cup: because it was the first book I remember just grabbing off the shelf and ending up loving. It also began my love for the Tristan and Isolde story.

The Book Thief: because it showed me that writing can be so much more than just.... writing. (NEWSFLASH!!! I'm hearing that Markus Zusak will be coming to the library in March!!! I'm still in shock over this news!!)

The Maze Runner: because it's the first New York Times bestseller where I can say "Hey, I know that author!"

Seabiscuit: because it proves to me that you never know what sort of book you'll love ( a non fiction book about horse racing? Who knew?)

The Kite Runner: because it taught me that I can love love love a book, while others can hate hate hate it!

Ender's Game: because it demonstrates the "blow you away" ending in a big way

Okay okay, I'll stop now! What books are you especially thankful for and why?