July's Blurby Recap

Still not reading as much as I usually do in the summer. I'm blaming it on working outside the home for 12 hours a week. I must have used those 12 hours for lots of good reading. But here's what I accomplished this month:

Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings: The beginning of Garion's adventure in which he learns his life up to this point may not have been what it seemed to be.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin: Mr. Westing dies and sends bunch of people who are connected to him somehow on a quest to figure out his murderer.

The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham: Kitty's husband makes her go with him to fight a cholera epidemic after her learns of her affair.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart: Frankie wants badly to infiltrate the boys' secret club.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy: A father and his son are among the last survivors of a post-apocalyptic America and follow the road to their final destination.

One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke: Lily dreams of a day where all her family can solve their differences and come together happily.

This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen: Remy has issues with love but learns that maybe she can change her views.

For my favorites of the month I'd have to say The Road, and One Whole and Perfect Day.

What did you read this month?

Favorite Past Posts

For the Blog Improvement Project this week, the task is to create a page with some of our favorite posts highlighted then add the link to our page. So here's my list:

Favorite Reviews

Farworld by J. Scott Savage
The Hunt for Dark Infinity by James Dashner
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Most Commented On

Reading: Luxury or Necessity?
A Comment or Two on Comments
Weekly Geeks: Judge a Book by Its Cover
Decorating the Tree

Favorite Personal Posts

A Few of My Favorite Things
A Personal Meme
Ramblin' Friday Thoughts
A Look Back: Two Year Blogiversary

Miscellaneous Favorites

Weekly Geeks: Author Pictures
Weekly Geeks: Author Fun Facts (Markus Zusak and John Green)
Review: The American Idol Concert
Seven Song Music Meme

Booking Through Thursday: Recent Funny

Booking Through Thursday

What’s the funniest book you’ve read recently?

A simple question from Booking Through Thursday this week. And I can't really think of an answer since most of what I read isn't really that funny I guess. I'm thinking the last "funny" book I read was Just One Wish by Janette Rallison. Even though it also had its very serious moments, there were a lot of funny ones too. In fact, if you feel in the mood for light and funny, read any of her books. They are perfect for that.

Review: One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke

Book: One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke

Genre: YA

Rating: A

For: The Printz Project (Printz Honor 2008)

This book follows the stories of several members of one family, and how they work to all come together and drop their differences for one whole and perfect day.

There's Lily who feels she is the "sensible" one in her family, the one who cooks, cleans, plans and manages the day to day stuff that keeps them alive. She's even been too sensible for love, and she's sick of it. She's ready to throw caution to the wind and admit to liking Daniel.

There's Lily's brother, Lonnie, who's off to university (as they say in Australia), and barely keeping contact with the family. That's because he's been branded a slacker and no one thinks he can get his life back together. Especially Pop, his and Lily's grandfather.

Pop has his own issues. He finds his mother's wedding dress and it brings back all kinds of memories. Maybe he should make it up with Lonnie. And there's that homeless girl that keeps nagging at his brain.

And the list goes on with all the people in the story and their various stresses. I totally enjoyed the simplicity of this book. The problems weren't HUGE issues, just normal every day type things that everyone has to deal with. At first, it was a little hard to keep track of everyone as the story jumped from viewpoint to viewpoint, but soon, it started to make sense where it was headed and I couldn't wait to see how it all shaped up.

It was wonderful and uplifting, which was quite refreshing to me.

Other Reviews:

Liv's Book Reviews

and that's all the reviews I can find at the moment. Please let me know if you've reviewed it so I can link!

Review: This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

Book: This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen
Genre: YA
Rating: A
For: Fun

I have an ongoing quest to get caught up with all the Sarah Dessen books. This one appeared at our house from the library, and so I dropped all other reading plans and picked it up. Besides, it seemed like a perfect thing to read after The Road.

This story is about Remy, who is helping her mother plan her fifth wedding, and because of this example in her life, she's down on love. She keeps herself distant and breaks ups with guys whenever things seem to be getting complicated.

Then she meets Dexter, who sings in a struggling band. He's different and suddenly she feels all her former rules falling apart.

In the end, I liked this book simply for the statement it makes on love. And I like that Remy is forced to rethink her position on the subject.

Like all Sarah Dessen books, this has its "why'd she have to throw THAT in moments." But I enjoyed it despite them.

Other Reviews:

The Book Nest
Reviewer X

Books.Lists.Life.

Library Queue

Random Thoughts and Other Junk

We just got back from camping today, and my brain is fuzzy. But I feel the need to post, so I figured I might, just might, be able to handle a random style one before I completely succumb to some more Gilmore Girls dvds! :) Ah, Rory and Jess.

So yeah, we went camping. I took, I think, five books along. I settled on one, after arrival, and read about 100 pages of it. That one was The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson, which is the sequel to Mistborn. It's okay so far, but hasn't really grabbed me yet.

Then I came home to find The Naming (The first book of the Pellinor series) and an ARC for a new E.L. Doctorow book in my mailbox! PLUS, I just checked out Drood from the library last week, which looks like something totally up my alley. So, now I'm having thoughts of abandoning Vin the Mistborn, for one of these other books. Ah, the stress.

I just watched two very very fun teaser clips from New Moon. But, you can only click here on this link if you are a fan, because, you know, you just won't get it if you aren't! That's because there's lots and lots of fan screaming. I loved it. Ah, Jacob.

So, back to camping. We only had half our kids present. Two oldest kids are off on adventures of their own. I missed them like crazy! I thought it would be great to only have to deal with, and keep track of two kids. But, I think I'd rather have all my kids there with me. Ah, family.

Speaking of which, I thought I'd share a picture I love of my husband and oldest kid who turns... dare I say it... 20 in just a month. Dang, where does the time go? Silly boys.

Well, that appears to be all my random thoughts of the day. Have a nice rest of today!

Review: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Review: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Genre: Dystopian

Review: A

For: TBR and Pulitzer Project (2007 winner )

I wanted to embed the trailer for the upcoming movie to illustrate the scariness and gut-wrenching feeling of this book. But, it's disabled of course, so click here for The Road trailer if you're interested.

After hearing about this one for, I don't know, at least a year now, I was really anxious to read it. But, I had no idea what to expect really. That's because most of you that have reviewed it seem to either love it or hate it. So yet again, it was another one of those books I was a little nervous about.

So what category do I fall in now that I've read it? Hopefully there's a middle ground (I almost said "road" but decided that would be too much) for some of us because I neither loved nor hated it!

For those not yet familiar with the story, it's actually very simple. There's been an apocalyptic event years before the story begins, and there's only a few survivors left. Two of them, a dad and his young son, are among them, and their whole existence is walking down the road, trying to survive. Some of the stuff they come across and have to deal with is simply awful. Very scary in fact. This is the part I didn't like so much.

But the relationship between these two is wonderful and beautiful.... and so so sad. And their perseverance to survive is inspirational. This, as you know, is the part I enjoyed.

So tell me, if you've read The Road, did you love it, hate it, or fall somewhere in the middle? Do you plan on seeing the movie?

Other Reviews:

Hey Lady! Watcha Readin'?

Trish's Reading Nook

Book Haven

Reading Adventures

Passion for the Page

SherMeree's Musings

Diary of an Eccentric

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