An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan

August 13, 2009 by Christina

Aidan’s trilogy is probably the best retelling of Pride and Prejudice through Darcy’s point of view because Aidan has a good sense of who Darcy was as a whole person, how he thought, what drove him to do the things he did, the type of brother and friend he was. So many others just steal all of the conversations from Austen and then add in the thoughts they think were going through Colin Firth’s or Matthew Mcfayden’s head as he […]

Categories: 2009 Reads, Austen Inspired, Europe, Fiction, United Kingdom • Tags: Pamela Aidan

The Tempest by William Shakespeare

August 12, 2009 by Christina

Fiction — print. Washington Square Press, 2005. Originally published 1609. 272 pgs. Received from PaperBackSwap. In my humblest opinion, “The Tempest” is the most confusing play written by Shakespeare. I actually saw a production of the play long before I was tempted to pluck “The Tempest” off my shelves that left me befuddled and wondering what in the world was going on. I was afraid it was the acting and how far away I was from the stage that contributed […]

Categories: 2009 Reads, AP Literature, Classics, Europe, Fiction • Tags: William Shakespeare

The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare

August 9, 2009 by Christina

Fiction — print. Washington Square Press, 2005. Originally published 1623. 304 pgs. Received from PaperBackSwap. I saw a production of “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” when we arrived in Montana that was set during the nineteenth century and unfortunately was lost in translation. I picked up my copy of the play because I wanted to flesh out something of the things that were confusing — scene changes that didn’t happen, voices that where muddled due to a lack of microphones […]

Categories: 2009 Reads, Classics, Europe, Fiction • Tags: William Shakespeare

College Girl by Patricia Weitz

August 9, 2009 by Christina

Weitz’s novel, the first book I checked out of my new library, caught my eye because, well, in a few days I’ll be one myself. That’s where I hope the similarities end because College Girl‘s main character, Natalie, is a poor girl embarrassed by her lack of money and lack of experience at her upper-class East Class college. She’s also incredibly whiny and despite being the driving force for her academic achievements, refuses to take responsibility for her actions or […]

Categories: 2009 Reads, Fiction, North America, United States • Tags: Patricia Weitz

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

August 7, 2009 by Christina

This, this right here is the reason why I am so against abandoning books because, honestly, I probably would have given up on To Kill a Mockingbird had it not been summer required reading for my freshman year of high school. I know — blasphemy! It’s a book that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961, it’s one of the most challenged books of all time, and one Yann Martel sent to Stephen Harper, the current Canadian Prime Minster. Despite all […]

Categories: 101 Great Books, 2009 Reads, AP Literature, Classics, Fiction, North America, Reread, United States • Tags: Harper Lee

Professor’s Guide to Getting Good Grades in College by Lynn F. Jacobs and Jeremy S. Hyman

August 6, 2009 by Christina

Jacobs and Hyman actually sent a copy of this book to my mother for her to review on her blog, but since I’m the one actually headed to college I picked up the book a read the whole thing in our drive across Wyoming. The first few chapters are pretty chatty, and there were times when I felt like the professors were repetitive and talking in circles. However, once the book moves onto what to do the first week of […]

Categories: 2009 Reads, Education, Nonfiction, North America, United States • Tags: Jeremy S. Hyman, Lynn F. Jacobs

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough

August 4, 2009 by Christina

Fiction — print. Avon, 1977. 692 pgs. Received from PaperBackSwap. Last Christmas, while waiting for a table at a restaurant, my dad and I perused the shelves of Barnes & Noble. He was shocked at how many books on display I had read, but he was equally shocked that I had never read nor heard of The Thorn Birds. I ordered a copy off PaperBackSwap and opened to the first page to find a quote that made me aching to […]

Categories: 2009 Reads, Chunkster, Fiction, Oceania • Tags: Colleen McCullough

Falling Into the Sun by Charrie Hazard

August 2, 2009 by Christina

When I was approached by Spoonbill Cove Press about reading and review Falling Into the Sun, I immediately nullified my own no ARC policy (especially useful during a move across the US) and accepted the request. The book, based on Hazard’s personal experience, sounded incredibly interesting, and I wanted to read it. But then once the book arrived at my doorstep, I hesitated over picking it up because I wasn’t sure I wanted to read a book I was convinced […]

Categories: 2009 Reads, Fiction, North America, United States • Tags: Charrie Hazard

Cousin Kate by Georgette Heyer

August 1, 2009 by Christina

Kate is surprised to receive an invitation to live with a distant aunt, uncle, and cousin  who buy her new clothes and provide all the amenities a young lady of quality needs. Kate begins to realize, though that her aunt’s apparent benevolence hides an ulterior motive — to assure succession of the title, her aunt intends Kate to marry her cousin Torquil, until his increasingly bizarre behavior culminates in violence and tragedy. I put off reading Cousin Kate for almost […]

Categories: 2009 Reads, Europe, Fiction, United Kingdom • Tags: Georgette Heyer

WITSEC by Pete Earley and Gerald Shur

July 26, 2009 by Christina

I selected WITSEC because of a novel I’ve recently read and a television I watch every Sunday night. There are very few nonfiction books written about this origination due to the nature of their work, so I was excited to find one co-written by the founder of the Federal Witness Protection Program. I’m also not the only one who’s discovered it as I noticed several story lines transferred from print to television by “In Plain Sight.” The Federal Witness Protection […]

Categories: 2009 Reads, Nonfiction, North America, United States • Tags: Gerald Shur, Pete Earley

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

July 25, 2009 by Christina

Fiction — print. Harcourt, 2006. 336 pgs. Library copy. It’s a sign of a good book — especially a good science fiction novel — when the reader begins to panic and worry about their location relative to the action in the book and how much food is in their pantry. Because Life As We Knew It focuses on the moon getting knocked closer Earth and the ramifications of a closer lunar force — changing of the tides causes massive flooding, […]

Categories: 2009 Reads, Dystopia, Fiction, North America, Science Fiction, United States • Tags: Susan Beth Pfeffer

Specials by Scott Westerfeld

July 24, 2009 by Christina

Fiction — print. Simon Pulse, 2006. 384 pgs. Library copy. The real problem with Specials, the third book in the Uglies trilogy, is that the main character, Tally, is so difficult to relate to now that she has become “special.” Specials are meant to be weapons with unbreakable, ceramic bones and diamond-like nails; she’s deadly and can’t stomach “weakness.” “Maybe this was what being special was really all about: dancing along with the rest of them, while feeling like the […]

Categories: 2009 Reads, Dystopia, Fiction, North America, United States • Tags: Scott Westerfeld