Ten Thought Tuesday

1. So far, Breaking Dawn is so not what I expected.

2. I'm loving this week's Weekly Geek assignment! Mine'll be posted tomorrow.

3. Well, so far it appears that those who have entered my first book give-away will have excellent odds!

4. Moder (13 year old son) finished Farworld: Water Keep and is now anxious for the second book... and the first one hasn't even officially come out yet!

5. Oh, yeah. Camping was fun. I hiked to the top of quite a large mountain... 12,000 feet high. (See picture.) My legs are still hurtin'.

6. The mess in this house is not pretty. And it's not getting cleaned up anytime soon.... what with Breaking Dawn yelling at me and all.

7. There's STILL a fire on the mountain in my backyard... I'm getting really sick of the smoky air.

8. Hey... did I tell you I won one of the many blog contests going on? I won a $5 gift card for Borders from The Kool Aid Mom. Cool, huh? (And she had hundreds of entries! Hundreds! How'd she do that?)

9. Any David Archuleta fans out there? We've been constantly listening to his new song: Crush.

10. Well, enough thought production for now. Have a lovely Tuesday all you people!

The Sunday Salon: Follow Up to the First Post

Since I had a few questions about City of Ember, I thought I'd elaborate.

First the trailer for the movie that I said was coming. I wondered if I dreamt it, but nope, here it is:



And HERE is the IMDB information, which we all know is THE place to learn about movies.

And now a little story.

So, we're heading off on the camping trip. I decide to read this City of Ember book first. We got this one, AND the two sequels... (yes Table Talk.. there are sequels out) for Christmas last year and I'm just now picking them up. So, anyway. I start reading it, and get VERY much into the story right off. That first evening, after we've set up camp and played and ate, it's finally time to settle down to bed, and of course, read, read, read. I'm reading along, when suddenly, I start reading the next page and go... "WHAT?" Then I look back at the other page and up at the next page again. It didn't make sense. Then I look at the page numbers. "Oh, crap!" I said, and my husband, who in the meantime is trying to quietly do his own reading, said, "What in the world is the matter?"

Well, one page number was 120... and the next one was 152! I couldn't believe it! It makes me crazy! It is was a such a good part too!

So, I guess I'm heading to Barnes and Noble, which is where I think this book came from, to hope they'll exchange it for me after nearly a year. I bet I can even find the receipt!

Meanwhile, I've got my hands on Breaking Dawn, which is why I'm leaving you now to go and read that one!

(Have you signed up to win a book yet?)

The Sunday Salon: First Post and a List

I decided it's about time I joined The Sunday Salon party! I've been holding off, thinking I really didn't need to do one more thing, but it actually doesn't look too hard so, here I am.

If I'm understanding this right, the idea of the Sunday Salon is to report how your reading went each Sunday. And since I figured Sunday is my biggest reading day, normally I'll have lots to report.

However, today, I'm off camping as you may well know by now if you've been keeping up at all, so I thought instead, I'll list what I'm taking to read and hopefully I'll actually be reading from one of them or several of them, this weekend.

I'm taking a bunch because I'm ready to start a new book, and you never know what mood you'll be in, right? Of course I've still got "those two" books sitting there on an on-going basis (War and Peace, which I really am enjoying when I actually pick it up and read it, and The New Earth, which is coming so close to being a DNF!) But those don't count.

So here's what I'm taking and why:

Dragon Flight by Jessica Day George: because it's due at the library this week

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau: because it's going to be a movie soon and you know I have to read the book first

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon: because this one has been waiting so patiently for it's turn for both the TBR Challenge and the Awards Challenge.

Eugénie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: because it's a smallish one I want to read for both the TBR Challenge and the Classics Challenge and because it's about time I tried some Balzac!

Happy Sunday reading to you all! Have fun reading Breaking Dawn without me! No finishing it 'till I get back! :)

(Don't forget to enter my first giveaway for Farworld: Water Keep!)

July Recap

Even though I'm off camping, I'm trying out my new found use of the "schedule to post later" feature. I know... I'm a little slow, but hey, I'll get this all figured out one of these years!

The month started out slow, but ended up not so bad after all. Here's a recap of what I read with little bitty blurbs:

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George: A wonderful Danish (Swedish? Finnish? I forget now!) fairy tale re-told, with a bit of a Beauty and the Beast overtone to it.

Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult: Delia helps rescue missing people. When she learns things about her past, who will come to her rescue?

It's a Mall World After All by Janette Rallison: It's strange the things you learn while working in the mall. One of them is that it appears you best friend's boyfriend is two-timing her! Now... what to do about it!

Isolde, Queen of the Western Isle by Rosalind Miles: Tristan and Isolde meet under strange circumstances and fall in love. But life is not happily ever after for them.

Amazing Gracie by A.E. Cannon: Gracie has to deal with her moving, her new step-dad and her mom's major depression.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery: The Little Prince comes to Earth and tells the narrator about his other planetary travels.

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen: Macy is still trying to cope with her father's death after nearly two years. The summer her perfect boyfriend leaves for brain camp, she meets some new friends who help her do that.

The Never War by D.J. MacHale: Bobby Pendragon gets mixed up in the Hindenburg disaster.

All's Fair in Love, and War, and High School by Janette Rallison: Samantha decides to run for student body president, meanwhile her friend challenges her to go two weeks without insulting anyone.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger: Holden Caulfield wanders around NY while complaining about nearly everyone and everything he sees. This kid needs a friend.

War and Peace... still coming along... slowly but surely! :)

Favorites of the month: Isolde, The Truth About Forever, The Catcher in the Rye

(Don't forget to enter my first giveaway for Farworld: Water Keep!)

Farworld Blog Tour: Review, Interview and Give Away

I received this book, Farworld: Water Keep by J. Scott Savage, in May, read it in June, and have now had a month or so to think about it and to see what everyone else has been doing with it on their blogs. ACK! It’s made me nervous! Mr. Savage has been blitzing the blogging world for a few months now, having had tons of bloggers take him up on the request to be part of his blog tour promotion. There are reviews, Q and A’s and giveaways every where you look!

So now, it’s finally my turn!

First, a little review.

The heroes of this YA fantasy, 13-year-olds Kyja and Marcus, have a major task to accomplish: save Farworld from the Dark Circle. This takes them on adventure after adventure, bouncing back and forth between their two worlds, with hardly any "catch-your-breath" time in between. There’s always a bunch of nasty bad dudes chasing them, capturing them or thwarting their efforts to get to Water Keep where they can accomplish their first task in defeating the Dark Circle.

In the meantime, they learn about themselves and what makes them special. At first, they don’t think they have any powers at all, but they must learn to "find their magic." This, to me, is the main point of the story which is brought home by my favorite quote, said by Master Therapass to Kyja just shortly after the story begins:

"But magic is not just spells. The magic you see on the outside– making pots and pans fly or brewing potions to make boys swoon before you– is but a tiny fraction of the power of true magic. The real power of magic lies within you. Who you are, what you do, and mostly importantly of all, what you may become."

I totally enjoyed this book. I found myself holding my breath often, hoping for a good outcome for them, and even skipping my eyes ahead to the end of the chapter to make sure it did! I HATE it when I do that! But sometimes, it just happens!

You may also be interested to know what my own 13-year-old son, a very picky reader indeed, says about this book. He’s halfway through and has already deemed it worthy of five stars on Good Reads, and says it’s WAY better than Harry Potter! Strong words I’d say!

We will both look forward to going on more adventures with Marcus and Kyja and meeting all the other cool creatures (and probably some not-so-cool ones!) in the rest of the series.

Second, the interview!

After being on the blog tour for quite awhile now, it’s tough to think of questions that haven’t been asked already, but here’s my shot at it!

So, I’ve invited J. Scott Savage to take a break from all his virtual world travels and come back home here to Utah for a bit of a rest. His reaction? "Excellent! My kids will be glad to learn I’m still alive!" We met up at his favorite ice cream place, Cold Stone Creamery where I’m having an Oreo shake, of course, and he wants something with lots of berries.

I’ve divided my questions up into little categories:

For the book lover:

It’s All About Books: What was your favorite book when you were 13, the same age as our heroes?

J. Scott Savage: Technology Investing 101. Not really, if it had been, I’d probably be writing full time by now. I’d say it was a toss up between A Wrinkle in Time and The Outsiders.

IAAB: Oh, I loved both of those too! Great books!

Who/what is your favorite author/book right now? What’s on your night stand this very moment?

JSS: I don’t think it is humanly possible for me to nail one favorite author or book. My head would explode. But I have three books on the night stand. Neil Gaiman’s "Neverwhere," Stephen King’s "The Stand", and Stephen R Donaldson’s "Lord Foul’s Bane."

IAAB: Sounds like some exciting ones. I need to read more Gaiman, and I just read The Stand for the first time last year. Quite the book!

For the music lover:

Do you listen to music while you write, and if so, what?

JSS: A lot of people listen to music when they write, but with very few exceptions I need quiet to get into my story. Once I am editing, that’s a whole different story. I love to crank up classic 60s-80s rock.

IAAB: Rock on, dude! And if Farworld: Water Keep had a soundtrack, what songs would be on it?

JSS: Is there a song with "buy me" in the lyrics?

IAAB: LOL! Probably actually, sad to say.

JSS: Well let’s see there would be a lot of Led Zepplin, then maybe Hungry Like the Wolf, I’m Holding Out for a Hero from Footloose, Some AC/DC for the Dark Circle. And some really smooth Jazz for the Westland woods. And definitely Another One Bites the Dust for when MT is mowing down the dark creatures.

IAAB: Those sound perfect! I love to imagine what songs would go with a particular scene. Fun stuff.

For the writer wannabe:

Do you write your books chronologically, or skip around, bouncing from chapter to chapter?

JSS: 99.9% of the time it is chronologically. This is totally a me thing, but when I write out of order it feels like I am reading ahead in a book. I want to see the story through the same eyes my readers will.

IAAB: Do you revise as you go, or get it all down first, then revise the whole thing at once?

JSS: Everyone has the style that works best for them. The way I work is to write for a day, and then start the next day by editing what I’ve already written before I write more. It helps keep me in the story.

For the movie/celebrity fanatic:

IAAB: If Farworld: Water Keep was made into a movie, who would you like to see playing Marcus? Kyja? Master Therapass?

JSS: Marcus: I imagine him looking a lot like Freddie Highmore. But I want more attitude. Shiloh Lebuff is way too old. But I like his in your face acting. Who do you think?

IAAB: I think Freddie Highmore would work. I bet he could get some more attitude going on. There’s that other cute kid that seems pretty popular lately, Josh Hutcherson I think his name is. Maybe he would work?

JSS: Kyja: AnnaSophia Robb, but with dark hair.

IAAB: I bet she’d dye it for you!

JSS: For MT: Hmm tough one. You know what? We haven’t had enough black wizards in movies. Let’s go with Morgan Freeman. I totally think he could pull it off.

IAAB: Of course he could! He’d be perfect!

So, if YOUR life were made into a movie, who would you like to see playing you?

JSS: Who would I like to see or who would be realistic? Bruce Willis is a stud. But I don’t see him pulling off a quirky writer. Johnny Depp is awesome, but last time he played a quirky writer, he killed his wife. I’d say Tom Cruise for looks, but I’m not much of a couch jumper. So I guess I’m going to have to go with Beaker from the Muppets.

IAAB: LOL! Oh, ow...my head! Dang! I’ve got a brain freeze! Hate when that happens!

And now, about the book:

Those creatures, The Unmakers, creeped me out! Did they came straight from some nightmare you had? :)

JSS: I have a very warped imagination. I really like to come up with creatures or settings that are so different the reader feels like they are actually getting a glimpse into another world. The whole slurping thing freaked me out as I was writing it, which is a good sign. Of course once it was out, someone asked me, "Did you know there was a being called The Unmaker in one of Card’s books?" Oh well. At least it wasn’t the same creature.

IAAB: Oh, man... that crazy Card guy!

Water Keep and its inhabitants are fascinating. Will we be seeing more of them in the next books, or do we just move on to the other elemental worlds?

JSS: This is a a great question that no one has asked me. I think a lot of people assume that the elementals are just kind of placeholders—goals to complete the quest. But they are a huge part of the story. What are they really? Where did they come from? Why their unique powers? Why don’t they work together? There is a lot more about the elementals to come.

IAAB: Yeah, I can’t wait! Thanks, Scott, for hanging out and eating ice cream with me! Good luck with this book and all the rest that are to come!

And finally, the give away!

And hopefully you all aren’t totally "giveaway-ed out" by now. If you’d like to win a signed ARC copy of this book, Farworld: Water Keep by J. Scott Savage, let me know in a comment on this post and I’ll draw a winner from those comments on August 15. Double your chances if you post about my contest in your blog! (We can only do US and Canada addresses this time... sorry. :( )

Now, I’m outa here to go camping for the weekend, so when I get back, I hope to see a bunch of comments coming in... even from those of you who I know are readers, but never commenters! Now’s your chance to speak up!

Review: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Book: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Genre: YA Romance

Rating: A

For the YA Romance Challenge

So I'm officially in love with this author now. This was the second book I've read of hers now, and I loved it, just as I loved the first one (Just Listen.) I know she's been around awhile and I'm kind of late "discovering" her, but that's cool because I still have lots to pick from and catch up on!

This one was about a girl who's struggling with her father's death. Both her and her mom aren't dealing with it too well, not talking about things and such. She tries to be perfect for her perfect boyfriend, but learns that really isn't the way. During the summer, while he's gone to "brain camp" she meets some new friends that help her to see things a little differently and help her to break out of the rut she's put herself in since her dad died.

Wonderful story. I really look forward to catching up with all her other books!

Booking Through Thursday: Endings

Booking Through Thursday

I had a couple of people (Readerville and Nithin) leave me suggestions in response to last week’s post on Beginnings, but this one was already on its way! I mean, it was the obvious next question….

What are your favourite final sentences from books? Is there a book that you liked specially because of its last sentence? Or a book, perhaps that you didn’t like but still remember simply because of the last line?

Well, hmmm. Last lines just don't really stand out for me. The only one that comes right to mind and that I absolutely love is yet again from A Tale of Two Cities: "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." Man, I love that one!

But other than that one, I can't think of any. I'll have to go look! BRB.....

....back...

So, I just picked up a few of my favorites that happened to be laying around and here's some last lines that I've found:

"If you do, you start missing everybody." (From The Catcher in the Rye... which I just finished)

"And he leaned down once more to press his cold lips to my throat." (Twilight... of course!)

"I am haunted by humans." (The Book Thief... what a book.)

"As Mo had said, writing stories is a kind of magic too." (Inkheart... when's the third book coming?)

"No name can be read there." (Les Miserables... need to re-read)

Okay, so that was fun.