The Sunday Salon: May's Monthly Recap

Happy Sunday!

Seriously, is it the last day of May already? I guess summer is really here and I am guessing it will go by just as fast as the previous three months have gone. Hang on for the ride!

Today, I'm reading Beach Trip by Cathy Holton. I'm participating in a TLC Blog Tour for this one coming up the end of June. So far I'm enjoying it quite well.

Speaking of blog tours, this week I'll be hosting Paul Harris on my blog and his book The Secret Keeper. Be sure stop by on June 4th to see what I thought about his exciting book. I'll also be starting a new blog feature along with the review. Very exciting!

And now for my monthly recap. The month was really slow for me reading-wise, but I made up for it this past week. Here's what I read in May:

Blue Noon by Scott Westerfeld: The adventures of our Midnighter kids continue when the "blue" hour starts happening at random times in the day.

The Secret Keeper by Paul Harris: Danny, who had been a war corrospondant in Sierra Leone, returns four years later after recieiving a destressing letter from his friend. (Full review coming this week.)

My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison: Savannah messes up her wish to her not-quite-fairy godmother and gets sent on a crazy adventure.

Fablehaven: The Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull: Kendra and Seth's adventures continue after they get tricked by a member of the Evening Star society.

Wings by Aprilynne Pike: Laurel moves to a new school, meets a very nice boy named David, then suddenly her world is turned upside down when she learns who she really is. (Full review coming soon.)

Just One Wish by Janette Rallison: Annika takes off to the set of Teen Robin Hood to try and get the lead actor to come visit her sick brother. (Full review coming soon.)

My favorites of the month: Just One Wish and Wings. Truly, you need to read them both.

Weekly Geeks 2009.20: Guilty Pleasures

Time for Weekly Geeks again! This time we are questioned about our guilty pleasures. My immediate thought is: Is it a guilty pleasure if we DON'T feel guilty about it?

Maree, who poses this question, admits to being a big American Idol fan. I've made no secret about my obsession with the show either! And I don't feel guilty or ashamed about it. I have such fun with it, that it can't be a bad thing to enjoy a TV show, right?

Speaking of TV, which I think is the main guilty pleasure of many, I decided a few years ago to stop trying to resist. This happened around the time we got our computer program that records shows (just like a DVR or Tivo, but on the computer) and I could suddenly keep up with more TV. And fast forward the commercials. And watch whenever I had time.

So I decided to drop that guilty feeling and just watch TV if I wanted to. Now, besides American Idol, I'm addicted to a good handful of shows. I think it makes life just that much more interesting to have fun with TV programs.

Author stalking is a fun guilty pleasure. I wish I had more freedom to pursue this particular hobby, but life sometimes suggests there's other things that need doing.

Science fiction movies could be considered a guilty pleasure I suppose. I was insanely excited to see Star Trek the other day. I would LOVE it if someone kept making Star Wars movies. Awhile back, I checked out Firefly and watched all those episodes and then the movie that came after called Serenity. I know there's many other science fiction shows and movies that I'm missing out on. I know I'd love them all. Maybe this summer during the boring TV season, I can rent some DVDs and catch up on some of them! What are your suggestions?

Sneaking chocolate chips from the pantry by the handful is major guilty pleasure!

I guess that's all I can come up with for now.

So, what are YOUR guilty pleasures?

Review: Fablehaven:Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull

Book: Fablehaven: The Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull

Genre: YA/MG Fantasy

Rating: A-

For: Fun

This is the continuation of the story about Kendra and Seth and their adventures at their grandparents place, which just happens to be on a magical creatures preserve called Fablehaven. Some new and interesting characters are introduced, and right off the bat we get a feeling that one of them is hiding something.

My only problem with this book was that for me, it had a slow start. Granted, there was that sneaking around a mortuary business, and that strange dude that showed up at school. But then, it seemed like half the book was gone before anything really happened.

Then it made up for lost time and there was non-stop action and some majorly intense moments for both the kids. Some of the adventure reminded me of Indiana Jones type excitement, including lots of brain action/puzzle solving.

So, I'm quite sure I'll keep going with the series. Everyone says they just get better and better. I tend to believe them!

Other Reviews:

Becky's Book Reviews
Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-a-aholic

Booking Through Thursday: Unread

Booking Through Thursday

In the perfect follow-up to last week’s question, as suggested by C in DC:

Is there a book that you wish you could “unread”? One that you disliked so thoroughly you wish you could just forget that you ever read it?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The only book that I really wish I hadn't read is The Nanny Diaries. I just say nothing redeeming about that one at all. All the other books that I read, that perhaps I didn't really like, I'm still glad I read them. At least, right now, there's nothing I can think that I truly wish I hadn't read.

It'll be interesting to see what everyone else comes up with!

P.S. Happy BEA to all those who get to go! And to those who aren't, be sure to join the Twitty Party. All details about that can be found here at The Book Lady's Blog.

Weekend Movie Thoughts

This past Memorial Day weekend, we caught up, if only a little, with our movie watching.

First off, we finally got to go see Star Trek. I've been looking forward to this one forever it seems, and would have gone to see the first weekend it was out had life not been so crazy around here. But things have slowed down a bit, so we finally got to go this past weekend.

And of course, I loved it. I couldn't wait to see what Sylar, I mean Zachary Quinto, did with Spock's character, and my conclusion? He was amazing! And I loved all the other people that were cast for all the other characters. It was so cool how you could see the familiar personalities coming through, even though a different person was doing the acting.

And the action, and effects and music and... oh, everything... were all perfect. I loved it.

Then, on another day we went to Wolverine. I came late to the Xmen party, having only caught up with all three movies a year or so ago. So, knowing sort of how Logan became Wolverine, I was a little nervous for this movie. But despite some of the hard-to-watch stuff, I still totally enjoyed it. Pretty cool special effects in this movie too.

Review: My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison

Book: My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: A

For: a bit for fun and a bit for my F2F book group

Finally. I finished a book! For book club this past week, we discussed Janette Rallison's books. Everyone just picked whichever one they could find (and that wasn't easy as they're scarce at the library) and we talked about what we found, read and though. The general consensus, we love them! This books are the best for simple, fun, light and happy.

One of my book club buddies left me with two that I hadn't read yet, two of the newest ones. The first one I picked up and read nearly instantly was My Fair Godmother.

What a fun romp through several fairy tales this was! It's about Savannah, who gets quite depressed that her sister steals her boyfriend away. One night, her quite incompetent fairy... or fair we should say... godmother shows up in her room to grant her three wishes. Off handedly, without thinking, Savannah wishes that a prince would fall in love with her and whisk her off to a ball!

Well, things go down from there.

Much mixing up of wishes, and words and people begin to happen non-stop. Savannah ends up with an amazing mess to fix. And in the fixing, things just keep getting worse.

What a fun ride this was. I loved yet another fun book that twists several fairy tales all up into one. I loved how the plot ended up being quite complex (even though I just said these are simple books!) and kept me guessing how things might turn out.

I would list this as one of my favorite Janette Rallison books so far, but I'm told that the one I have to read next (Just One Wish) is even better.

To learn more about Janette Rallison and get list of all her books, click here for her official site and blog.

Other Reviews:

Book Nut

Deliciously Clean Reads

Presenting Lenore

One Librarian's Book Reviews

Weekly Geeks 2009.19: Summertime

This week for Weekly Geeks, we have two topics to pick from. The topic I'm choosing is this one:

Again with Memorial Day Weekend here in the U.S. starting traditionally on Friday evening, it also is unofficially the start of summer. You've probably been asked this in other meme groups in which you participate, but do your reading habits change over the summer?

I would say that yes, my reading habits change a bit over the summer. I usually decide to step it up and read more. I like to try to take it easy, not worry so much about what has to be done, and make sure there's lots of lazy reading days mixed in with the busy run-around days.

Do you choose lighter fare? What do you enjoy to take to the beach, for example?

Yes, my lighter fare would include lots and lots of YA books. And if I ever went to the beach, it would be something easy and fun. With love stories involved.

What is the ultimate summer book?

That being said, I also think the ultimate summer book would include a big fat soap-opera-ish classics. Like The Forsythe Saga, or Gone With the Wind. Or Middlemarch. I think summer is the perfect time to read this kind of stuff. A couple on my TBR that fit this bill: Vanity Fair and Bleak House.

OR what are your favorite travel guides -- official or unofficial guides?

I'm not really into travel guides, so I don't really know how to answer this question.

Along those lines, where do you vacation? Any places you recommend or even don't recommend?

Every summer we take our trailer up to the mountains, same place every year, and "camp" for the weekend. It's the perfect peaceful getaway. I do lots of reading there, but often I just end up sitting and smelling the trees and breathing the air.

This year for our big vacation, we get to go on yet another cruise. It's in our blood now I guess. We can't avoid it! We came across a great deal, and we went for it. Now, you may think that cruises and reading go together perfectly. However, so far, in my experience, I still have to make time to read while cruising, because there is simply so much to do! And I tend to feel guilty sitting and reading when I could be .... I don't know.... participating in all the activities that are offered!

Anyway, I am very much looking forward to the summer and fitting in lots and lots of reading.