From the dust jacket:  “They say if you stare at him long enough, you can see what’s written on the wall behind him.   They say a lot of things about the Schwa, but one thing’s for sure: no one ever noticed him. Except me. My name is Antsy Bonano—and I can tell you what’s true and what’s not, ’cause I was there.  I was the one who realized the Schwa was “functionally invisible” and used him to make some big bucks. But I was also the one who caused him more grief than a friend should. So if you all just shut up and listen, I’ll spill everything. Unless, of course, “the Schwa Effect” wipes him out of my brain before I’m done….”

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Unfortunatley, this is a very forgettable novel, which is ironic since The Schwa is also a forgettable character within the book… he is partially invisible and can only be seen if the characters in the novel really look hard.  I understand how The Schwa must feel, being unseen all the time, and I think this is a good coming of age novel for middle school students, perhaps even 9th graders, but beyond that, I don’t think the novel has much clout.  Now, Shusterman was writing for the specific age group just mentioned, so in that case, I think he does a pretty good job, but for the older crowd, those of us checking the novel out for our beloved young, it’s not so interesting.  One of the aspects of the writing that was disconcerting is that there seems to be no consistency in the dialogue/accent used.  In one sentence, the main character, Antsy, will say something using the Brooklyn accent, or say something completely ungrammatical, which is okay… but in the next sentence, he’ll say something that is out of character for him, something overtly grammatical, or something using exceptionally high vocabulary words, and it’s somewhat of a disconnect.  I wondered if maybe Antsy was doing this depending on his situation, like children sometimes do, but it’s not that either.  Antsy doesn’t speak one way in front of grown-ups, and one way in front of his peers, he just changes back and forth constantly, which I really didn’t like because I felt like the writing was forced.  It’s as if Shusterman wasn’t sure how a middle school student speaks, so he threw some random sentences into the mix.  I highly doubt tweens will notice, but I was not enamored by this novel.  Two stars. 

From the dust jacket: “In the year 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Alue, come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, to investigate an unexplained disappearance. Multiple murderess Rachel Solando is loose somewhere on this barren island, despite having been kept under constant surveillance in a locked, guarded cell. As a killer hurricane bears relentlessly down on the island, hints of radical experimentation and covert government machinations add darker, more sinister shades to an already bizarre case. Because nothing at Ashecliffe Hospital is remotely what it seems.”
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I saw the movie prior to reading the book, and I must say, the book and movie are virtually one in the same. The director of the film did a phenomenal job capturing the novel on the big screen, and I honestly think that you could just watch the movie, and forgo reading the novel. Blasphemy!!! I know. But, by just seeing the movie, you could save yourself a ton of time and go read something else… something that doesn’t have such a perfect movie rendition, or better yet, something without a movie version…

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the book is bad. I enjoyed the novel and I thought the characters were full of life. I really felt like I knew them, and I think this psychological thriller is very well written. I love the twist at the end (twist at the end of novels are my favorite), and overall I think it’s a really good read. Lehane is a great writer. But, like I said, reading the book, and watching the movie, are one in the same, so you might want to save some time and rent it. Three stars.

Usually I’d write the synopsis here, but there doesn’t seem to be one.  All the back of the book states is that it’s about “a boy of many faiths.  A 450-pound Bengal Tiger.  A shipwreck.  A lifeboat.  The Pacific Ocean.”  Interested? 

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I don’t know where to start… if you really liked the movie Cast Away, you might like this novel.  I decided to read Life of Pi because it has been a recommendation on tons of book lists, and the idea of a boy and a tiger stranded at sea together is very intriguing, but, I HATED Cast Away, and I really disliked this book.  In fact, I wouldn’t have even finished it if I hadn’t read the last chapter halfway through the novel.  It’s a bad habit of mine, I know, but in this case, it actually lead to me finishing the entire novel, instead of chucking it across the room and obtaining something better from the bookshelf.  Wow.  Seriously, the entire first section of the novel should go right in the trash.  I couldn’t care less about how Pi got his name from a swimming pool, or how his father ran a zoo, or how Pi couldn’t decide on one religion so he chose three… I just don’t care.  It also isn’t pertinent to the storyline.  All Part 1 does—all 117 pages of it—is give background information of the main character, and once the real story begins, the story about the shipwreck and the tiger, all of part one becomes obsolete.  Just cut part one right out of the book and you’ll be good to go. 

Part two is much better, but there is an overkill of description because there are no characters for Pi to talk to, so he describes everything.  I guess I never really knew that I loved dialogue so much, until it was completely taken away from me in this book.  Halfway through part two I became restless and I read the end, and there is such a huge twist at the end of the novel that it redeemed the book, a tiny bit.  But… this book is so dry that you might not even make it to the ending.  My suggestion:  Read the last chapter first.  Then you can decide if reading the entire novel is worth your time.  It wasn’t worth mine, but at least the twist at the end moved the book up one star, in my opinion, and one star is all it’s going to get.

Synopsis from the dust jacket: “I am a beast. A beast! Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright. I am a monster. You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And, I’ll stay this way forever—ruined—unless I can break the spell. Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.”

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This was a really adorable adaptation of the “Beauty and Beast” fairytale.  It’s not sappy and “lovey-dovey,” and it’s set in present day, which I really liked.  But, my favorite aspect of the book is the characters.  The Beast, Kyle, actually CHANGED.  You can see the changes taking place as the story progresses, no overnight transitions, like authors are sometimes prone to do.  I felt like the characters had souls, and that was a really nice change, in terms of “fairytales.”  I also liked that the story started out in a chatroom, with other fairy tale characters, such as the frog prince, and the little mermaid, all IMing each other about their transformation… when it’s the Beasts turn to tell his, our story begins.  Very ingenious. 

I picked up Beastly the other day because a movie rendition is coming out, less than a month from now (March 4).  After I saw the trailer and realized the book was written by Alex Flinn, I went straight to Barnes and Nobel to get it.  I have a lot of respect for Alex Flinn and her YA books.  Breathing Underwater is another one of her novels, about a young abusive teen, and my students highly recommended that book, so I read that a few months ago.  Pure talent.  I am very excited about the movie rendition of this book, though I can already tell from the trailer and movie poster above that it is going to shy away from the book (as they always do), at least in terms of what the characters look like.  Pick up a copy of this novel ASAP and read it BEFORE you see the movie.  You won’t be disappointed!  Four stars for a very cute, very well written novel!

From the back of the book: “‘It has never been easier to make a great living doing what you love. But to make it happen, first you need an EVIL PLAN. Everybody needs to get away from lousy bosses, from boring, dead-end jobs that they hate, and ACTUALLY start doing something they love, something that matters. Life is short.’ -Hugh MacLeod

Freud once said that in order to be truly happy people need two things: the capacity to work and the capacity to love. Evil Plans is about being able to do both at the same time. The sometimes unfortunate side effect is that others will hate you for it. MacLeod’s insights are brash, wise, and often funny.”

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I was pleasantly surprised this afternoon when FedEx pulled up and delivered a package I wasn’t expecting.  Upon grasping the envelope, I knew it was a book, but I couldn’t fathom what the title was, seeing as I haven’t ordered any new books lately.  The book turned out to be an advanced copy of Evil Plans: Having Fun on the Road to World Domination, by Hugh MacLeod, which won’t be out in bookstores until the middle of this month.  Imagine my surprise!  An invoice was located inside the book, and it looks like I apparently won the advanced copy from a drawing on Goodreads.com.  I knew I loved that website!!!!

Because Evil Plans is an advanced copy, I pushed my other books to the side and began reading it right away.   Very interesting…

Honestly, I had no idea what the book was about when I put my name in for the drawing.  I just liked the title of the book.  As I read the back cover and flipped through the pages, I thought that this novel might be similar to Apathy and Other Small Victories, by Paul Neilan (a phenomenal book, if you love sarcasm), but it wasn’t.  It turns out that Evil Plans is more or less a self-help book.  I was not expecting that!  However, it was funny and very insightful.  Instead of being long and drawn out, each chapter is a quick read, and the author is a cartoonist as well, so there are many supplemental cartoons to enjoy (though I didn’t find them funny… I probably just don’t understand them.  Dry humor and I don’t get along very well…?).  What I did like was that most chapters told a true story about how someone pulled away from the traditional work of 9-5 and became their own boss, mainly through using the internet. 

 If you hate your job, or feel like it’s a dead end, then I do recommend this book to you, because it has a ton of good advice about becoming your own entrepreneur.  I currently love my job, which is a prerequisite MacLeod says you must have in order to begin an as entrepreneur—you must love what you do (or, I guess, what you’re about to do), so I guess I’m golden for the time being.  I’m only going to give this book two stars, since it wasn’t as interesting as I hoped, since it doesn’t pertain to me, but perhaps one day I’ll decide to branch out and become my own boss.  In that case, I’ll turn back to Evil Plans.

From the dust jacket: “Beware the Wheel of Fortune… Johnny, the small boy who skated at breakneck speed into an accident that for one horrifying moment plunged him into… the dead zone.  Johnny Smith, the small-town school teacher who spun the wheel of fortune and won trip into… the dead zone.  John Smith, who awakened from a seemingly interminable coma with an accursed power: the power to see the future and the terrible fate awaiting mankind in… the dead zone.”

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This was my first bout with Stephen King, and I must say, I’m not impressed.  I’ve never had a hankering to read King’s novels, but just this once I decided I’d give it a go.  This book was the predecessor for the television show, after all, and I did love that show!  But the book… just doesn’t cut it for me.  The idea behind The Dead Zone is great, but I really wasn’t into the story line King presented.  It’s a shame, really.  There was so much potential for this novel, and it just fell flat.  While reading the book, I felt like I was reading a Charles Dickens novel, and that King was being paid per word!  It was unnecessarily long.   I need a fast paced story, and while the book deals with the paranormal, which I usually love, there are just too many boring sections in the novel to win my affection. 

 The fact that I have no affection for any of the characters is also a drawback.  That seems to be one of the biggest issues I have when reading a novel.  If I don’t care for the characters, it’s all over.  Nothing in the world could make me like that book.  And, that is the case with this novel.

I wanted to see Johnny running around forecasting the future, battling evil, saving lives, etc., but in all the 400 pages of the novel, there were only three riveting sections that dealt with Johnny “seeing.”  And, each time he did combat the future, it pushed him further into himself, until he shut out the world completely.  Now, I agree that being able to “see” could be viewed as a curse, which is the mind-set that Johnny adapts, but even so, he is a very melodramatic character.  For instance, he falls in love with Sarah after only a month, and once he wakes from his coma, he never gets over her, even though five years have passed, she looks different, and he ultimately loses contact with her.  Really?  A month long relationship has that much hold for him?   But that’s not even my main issue with the book.  The main issue I have is that it’s depressing.  Not one good thing happens to Johnny, and the story left me depressed.  Though there are periods in the book when things are “looking up,” they inevitably crash down just as quickly.  I certainly won’t be giving this to my students to read.  Two stars is all I award this novel.

Currently, I’m going through my bookshelves reading any books I haven’t yet read.  I buy up books by the dozen, and then put them on my shelves, where they patiently wait for me to pick them up and read them.  However, since I buy books quicker than I can read (alas), I tend to forget about the ones I previously bought.  As a new stack of books comes in, the previous stack gets pushed to the side.  To combat this, I’m working in a top to bottom, left to right format that forces me to read everything I already own.  It will also save me a little money seeing as I have over 60 books in my Barnes and Nobel “wish list,” nearly all of which are hardcover, since most of them are still “new.”  I’m hoping that when I finish off my bookshelves my “wish list” books will then be in paperback format (much cheaper).  However, this also means that most of the books I’ll be reading for the time being are older.  As much as I’d love to be reviewing novels “just off the press,” I really think I ought to finish what I already have.  It is only fair. 

Hence, I just read The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan.  I’ve wanted to read this book for a while, but it’s HUGE!  Over 500 pages, hardcover… and other books came in before I got to it, so it’s been sitting on my shelf for a long, long time; I actually bought it when it first came out because I had just then finished Riordan’s Percy Jackson series (last May).  If you haven’t read those, then I highly suggest you do—they are much shorter than The Red Pyramid and are a wonderful read.  I learned so much about Greek mythology and the stories were fantastic, even if they are meant for young teens.  My students love them (though the movie stank to high heaven).  But anyway, this isn’t a review of the Percy Jackson books, so back to The Red Pyramid…

Without further ado, I’ll give you the synopsis from the dust jacket: “Since his mother’s death six years ago, Carter Kane has been living out of a suitcase, traveling the globe with his father, the brilliant Egyptologist Dr. Julius Kane. But while Carter’s been homeschooled, his younger sister, Sadie, has been living with their grandparents in London. Sadie has just what Carter wants—school friends and a chance at a “normal” life. But Carter has just what Sadie longs for—time with their father. After six years of living apart, the siblings have almost nothing in common. Until now.  On Christmas Eve, Sadie and Carter are reunited when their father brings them to the British Museum, with a promise that he’s going to “make things right.” But all does not go according to plan: Carter and Sadie watch as Julius summons a mysterious figure, who quickly banishes their father and causes a fiery explosion. Soon Carter and Sadie discover that the gods of Ancient Egypt are waking, and the worst of them—Set—has a frightening scheme. To save their father, they must embark on a dangerous journey—a quest that brings them ever closer to the truth about their family and its links to the House of Life, a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.”

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I loved this book!  I give it four stars right off the bat (fives are rare gems indeed).  Even though it is written for “tweens” and very young adults, and not in a mentally engaging way for an older crowd (cough, cough—me), I still really liked it.  Riordan has a way with words.  While some of the storyline of The Red Pyramid seemed “juvenile” to me, it didn’t override the story, and I just had to keep reading.  Riordan is capable of entrancing adult readers too, and that’s what I love about him—that’s why I’m able to keep on reading his books.   Sometimes I pick up young adult books to peruse and end up putting them right back down… I feel like they are trying too hard to reach “kids” through the lingo used, etc.  Thankfully I’ve never had this problem with Riordan.

The Red Pyramid is written much differently from the Percy Jackson series in that the reader actually becomes a part of the story through the use of second person narration.  You, the reader, are actually “reading” a transcript of voice-recorded tapes that the two protagonists left behind.  You are, therefore, invited right into the story, as your quest becomes finding “the locker” and using the combination that the protagonists give you—but in order to do that, you must “hear” their tale, because you, too, could be like them.  I am highly interested to see how Riordan is going to continue this usage of second person narration in the upcoming sequel, The Throne of Fire, releasing this May—just a few months away.  The end of The Red Pyramid makes it sound like you (the reader) have to find the locker and meet the protagonists in Brooklyn in order for the story to go on, so this narration style could get quite interesting.

I also just want to point out that in this book it is vital that you read everything.  For instance, there is a “Warning” listed on the page between the table of contents and the first chapter, and an “Author’s Note” after the completion of the novel.  Both of these aspects are actually a part of the novel themselves, though traditionally an author’s note deals with “thanks” and the research component of the novel.  However, times are changing, and I’ve noticed in newer books that the author usually has some type of introduction to the story prior to the first chapter (a must read, but usually glanced over by accident).  Likewise, on occasion the author will also have something after the conclusion of the novel, so it’s good practice to read everything just in case!  Happy reading!

Four stars for this novel!  

From the dust jacket: “Ram Mohammad Thomas has been arrested.  Because how can a poor orphan, who has never read a newspaper or gone to school, correctly answer all twelve questions on the television game show Who Will Win a Billion?—unless he has cheated?  As the story unfolds, Ram explains to his lawyer how he knew the answer to each question by telling a chapter of his amazing life—from the day he was salvaged from a dustbin to his meeting with a security-crazed Australian army colonel while performing as an overly creative tour guide at the Taj Mahal.  Stunning a television audience of millions, Ram draws on a store of street wisdom and accidental encounters that provides him with the essential keys not only to the quiz show but also to life itself.”

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You know those people who continually tell you that the book is SO much better than the movie, and that you just have to read the book because the movie left so much out?  Well, they’re right!  I always read the book first, before seeing the movie, but in this case, I did it backwards because… I didn’t know there was a book!  Forgive my ignorance… I’m going to blame it on the fact that the novel used to have a different name, Q and A, prior to the movie rendition coming out… sad to say the editors were right; Swarup will sell more books under the new title, but they got the title WRONG!!!  More on that later.

So, Slumdog Millionaire the book, versus Slumdog Millionaire the movie… no contest!  The book wins!  THEY AREN’T EVEN THE SAME STORY!  Yep, imagine my surprise!  I actually put off reading this book because the movie was really depressing for me, and I didn’t want to read about a girl forced into sexual servitude, or brothers feuding to the point of death… that stuff is too morbid for me.  But, I should have known!  I’ve seen enough books-turned-movies to know that Hollywood changes things all the time; it’s their artistic license, something my 9^th graders are learning in our film studies unit right now. 

The only aspect of the book that was the same as the movie was the idea that an eighteen-year-old Indian orphan was arrested for winning the grand prize on the game show.  Okay, so a few of the stories, perhaps two, make it into the movie, but that’s the end of the similarities.  The names are different, the grand prize amount is different, the love story is different, the trials and tribulations of the main character are different… it’s just a completely different story, and I must say, I PREFER THE BOOK.  It’s much happier, for one thing.  While life as an orphan on the street is a terrible thing, Swarup focuses on the good things in the main character’s life (Ram), while the movie focuses on the morbid… and the REAL reason Ram went on the game show will blow you away.  When I got to the final question in the book, it ALL made sense.  It’s been a long time since I’ve read a novel that is successfully able to move backwards and forwards throughout a story AND tie it all together in the end.  Swarup did a phenomenal job with this book, and I agree with him that the name of his book should have remained  Q and A, but once again, producers and editors “change” things through artistic license, and now Swarup’s book is only known through the movie title.  Of course it will sell more with the same name as the movie, but the title DOESN’T do it justice… hello, Ram won a BILLION! 

Five stars for the novel!  

Two stars for the movie:

From the inside of the dust jacket:  “Four hostages are rescued from a group of religious extremists in Barcelona.  After five years of being held captive together, they make a vow to always watch out for one another.  But they never expected this…  The world they have returned to has been transformed—by water.  And the water is rising.  As climate predictions are tossed aside and the earth’s major cities are threatened, the former captives find themselves fighting this new threat on all fronts.  In his element, NASA scientist Gary Boyle throws himself into researching the extreme weather.  The storms can’t stop Helen Gray from searching for the baby she had in captivity.  With London drowning, British military officer Piers Michaelmas is at the forefront of his government’s response.  And the former USAF captain Lily Brooke finds herself in the employ  of a financial mogul—a man whose resources and ego outmatch any government’s in reshaping the future.  But water continues to flow from the earth’s mantle.  Entire countries disappear.  High ground becomes a precious commodity.  And finally, the dreadful truth is known:  Before fifty years have passed, there will be nowhere left to run.” 

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I really don’t know how many stars to give Flood.  I’m on the fence.  It took me ten days to read, and usually I read a book a day.  Now, I know this is a long novel, but had it been riveting, I would have finished it in two days.  The first segment (2016) was very interesting to me.  It was about 110 pages long, and I was really into it, but then the book just lost its intensity.  The second segment (2017-2020) seemed very scientific, and while I guess that information needs to be there in order to authenticate the story, I was bored out of my mind.  I kept putting the book down.  Everything seemed to develop so slowly, and the fast paced flooding of the world was now inching along.  Honestly, I lost interest, and when I realized that this novel actually takes place over 30 years, and is written in chucked sections, skipping up to five years at a time, I was really put off. 

But, I always finish a book.  So I read on, in spurts.  The character development, I feel, was non-existent.  On one occasion I wrote a friend about the novel and stated that, “At this point, I hope all the characters drown—the character development is non-existent anyway, and I wouldn’t care if they all died… but they won’t because I read the last page (bad habit). Ugh.”  I always find it sad when I’m reading a novel and the characters don’t “speak” to me.  I feel like that is happening more and more often, and I don’t know if it’s the books I choose, or just me. 

However, Flood wasn’t all bad.  Like I said, the first segment was riveting.  The middle was… bland.  But it picked up again.  Somewhere in the middle of section three (2020-2035) it started to get interesting again, and once section four came about (2035-2041), it really picked up.  The ending, section five (2041-2052), which was gratefully the shortest section, yet spanned nine years, was satisfying in its own right, though there really isn’t any closure.  It’s very ominous and left open for the readers interpretation.  I hate when books do that, but it fit this novel very well. 

All in all, I think this book would have been phenomenal had it been pared down to about 200 pages, and not 500 (my copy is 500 pages, but it is my understanding that there are longer copies out there… bigger print?).  The story itself was a great idea, and it was scary, though not is a horror show kind of way.  It really makes you think about the stability of the earth, and what is to come in the future. 

I do wish there was a better way to go about tracking the story over the 30+ years the novel covers, but perhaps there is no better way than to jump around.  I understand that it would be inconceivable to have the earth flood any quicker—you’ll have to read it to see why—but still, all the minute details, and the long stretches in between the story (jumping from 2020-2025) just wasn’t my style.  Perhaps you’ll find it more satisfactory. 

And so, we’re back to my beginning statement: I really don’t know how many stars to give Flood.  I’m on the fence.  I’m in between “it was okay,” and “I liked it.”  I mean, in retrospect, it was just okay; I’m never going to re-read it, but I liked parts of it, and in the end, it really made me think, and I actually couldn’t sleep!  So… I’m somewhere in-between.  Let’s go with two and a half stars. 

This is my new theme song!!  

Thanks to www.juliansmith.tv (for making this) and http://www.alicemarvels.com/ (for sending me an email with the video).  This is just too good, and so are BOTH of those sites!  Check them out!