July 19 - 25

The Heir by Kiera Cass
Well, when I found out that there was indeed a fourth book to the series, my previous comment about how it felt like there was more to the story kind of made me laugh. :-) however, when I realized it was set in the future and based about couples daughter, I was still a little like, ah. I read it though, and it was certainly different from the original series. It is largely predictable, but still entertaining enough. I will probably look for the books in the future, but not desperately.

The Key by Jennifer Anne Davis
I picked this book up from Amazon Kindle books for free while ago but never really got around to reading it. Honestly, my expectations of a free Kindle book were pretty low, but this one at least sounded slightly intriguing.

Wow.

I don't even think this book is really that groundbreaking or anything, but I freaking loved it. There were moments that I did not expect to happen, and even the romantic intrigue was different than usual in these kinds of books. And yes, there were parts that were brutally painful and unfair, and there was no consolation for that fact except to keep reading. That, right there, is a bold move for young adult novel.

Probably the most stereotypical aspect of this book is when Darmik at the end suddenly convinces himself she's playing him and gets all cold and stupid. Misunderstandings that almost seem will feel like this? That's pretty much the bread and butter of young adult novels.

 However. Ending it with the main character being hung in front of a crowd? Um, yeah, I definitely had to buy the next book.

Red by Jennifer Anne Davis
I loved the first book so much, that I stayed up really late finishing it, and woke up early to buy the second book and start reading it before work. In fact, I was enjoying reading it so much that I asked my mom to drive us into work when I usually drive us there. I crammed as much reading time into that day as I could, and when I got home, I came home and finished it. And then I bought the next book.

War by Jennifer Anne Davis
And wonderful way to wrap everything up. However, I will say that the actual ending felt very abrupt, in like the last big important hurrah was over in about 10 seconds. I suppose that might actually be more realistic, but it was almost a little underwhelming when one of your biggest enemies is just gone within a page of encountering them in the final battle (so to speak).

Holy balls, really, this whole series was just wonderful. I can't believe I now own each book and for only ten dollars total. GO! BUY THEM NOW! THE FIRST ONE IS EVEN FREE!

July 12 - 18

The Giver by Lois Lowry
I received a copy of this book for my birthday, and I hadn't read it in yeeears (seem to have a pattern going here lately!). I took it to the beach for my birthday and read it right through. And oh wow, did I miss a lot the first time (again, a pattern...). Re-reading this was well worth the time, and I'm so excited to read Gathering Blue again too now, and read the final book for the first time. Can't wait!


Inheritance (Eragon #4) by Christopher Paolini
And of course, I did jump right into the last Eragon book! Powering through, powering through. Busy week though, so less time for reading than I had hoped!

July 5 - 11

Brisingr by Christopher Paolini

Okay, so, somewhere in the middle of this book is where I forgot about what happened in the story, to the point where I actually had no idea (mostly) what was going to happen. It made it so exciting! And I was totally sucked into the story all over again! For example, I remembered that the lady made him a sword even though she said she wouldn't. But I totally forgot how she got around that---so clever! And the name for it, and what the name does? I was so caught off guard, you'd think I had been holding it at that moment! Anyway, really solid, and I can't wait to finish off the series (again)!

June 28 - July 4

Eldest by Christopher Paolini

Plowed through this one! I did get to the boring part about The Secret Lives of Ants that made me stop the first time I ever tried to read through this, and realized why I hated it so much: it's SOOO philosophical. Ugh. Pointless questions that can never be answered sometimes just don't need to be asked. Enjoy the mystery. Anyway, got past that and was pretty happy with the rest of the book. There honestly wasn't as much time in the elven forest as I remembered. It did have the political time with the Dwarves right before that though, so I'm sure for ten-year-old me, polotics to philosphy when I was used to magic and escapes was pretty difficult. Much better this time, though probably still not my favorite book of the series.

June 21-27

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

WHOA, I forgot how good this was! I did remember most of what happened in the story, but that doesn't make it any less good. I was also impressed by the vocabulary. There were words in there even I have only encountered once or twice, and a few I looked up! But not overdone in an Engfish, I'm-trying-too-hard kind of way either.

June 14 - 20

Eragon by Christopher Paolini
I've read this before, but it was YEAAARS ago when it first came out. I wanted to give it another go, and it was still really good! I was impressed with the vocabulary too: there were words in there I still don't know! It was pretty awesome, and I'm interested to see how I end up feeling about the second one, Eldest, since I didn't like it very much when I read it first years ago.

June 7 - 13

Teach like your hair is on fire by Rafe Esquith
I picked this book up at a goodwill for $3, and I would say it was definitely worth that investment and more. I didn't realize that this teacher was in elementary school, but for once that doesn't actually matter too much. Many of the activities and ideas that he uses with his children I could easily see being used with older students as well. I think that is the mark of something that does well: when it is easily adaptable and interesting for any age. He's going through each subject now as well, and so far I have seen reading, writing, math, and am currently hearing about social studies. Another little thing that I enjoyed is that he explained the story behind the title right away. I wasn't kept in suspense, it was a story that set the frame for the rest of the book well, and introduced him as a teacher. I'd say so far that this book is quite well done.

I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan
Finally! I have been waiting to read this book since I picked it off a shelf at the used bookstore. The title, of course, caught my attention. It sounded pretty funny too, as Lucifer is given a chance to potentially rejoin God in heaven if he can live sin-free in a human's body for one month. That's not in Lucifer's plan though, and he's basically just screwing around and having fun, which is a delight to watch. The descriptions and language in this novel I feel evoke the image of Lucifer well. They're very fluid and flowery and honestly quite stunningly beautiful at times. The humor is wonderful, as well.

I'm a little less than half way through right now, but I have had a little bit of a problem. For a book about the devil, there sure is a lot of stuff about the Bible and God. While it is an amusing and intriguing take on the whole matter, it still goes into long tangents about biblical things that kind of lose my interest. Not sure how much that will affect the rest of my reading but for now I'm hoping it gets toned down a little bit.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
While I have read this before, it was years ago in seventh grade. I think I missed a lot of it, particularly because I thought it would be more like a children's story with kids who stole books or a young boy Robin Hood or something. Either way, I read it and thought, "Eh." From what I remembered, I didn't think that was a totally fair estimate looking back with my adultish eyes. I decided I would reread it, and so I have. Already, I'm understanding more and seeing things I missed. I'm really glad I thought to do this. The perspective from death is very interesting, and I love the little inserts in the book with definitions and list.

The Last Wish  by Andrzej Sapkowski

I bought a book for Luke this week, but I kind of nabbed it for myself before I gave it to him and managed to read about 150 pages before I passed it along to him. It's the series by the polish author that the Witcher games are based on. This one was actually written most recently, but it's set up to be an introduction to the characters and world (in fact, it's literally called "An Introduction to the Witcher"). It's set up as a series of short stories to explain the one smaller main story. I'm interested to see where it goes, and what the main storyline will be in the later books.