Friday, March 27, 2015

The Reading Promise

What a disappointment. I love reading and books, so a book about reading is a sure winner, right?

The idea of this book had such promise, but the execution was dismal. The book had parts about the reading promise, but a lot of other parts that were just stories about the author's life and not related to books or reading. I found the narrator to be too precocious and her father to be a bit of a martyr about being a single parent and being a school librarian.

I read to my daughter, but probably should read more. I picked this up thinking that it would give me inspiration. Instead it just wasted some of my limited reading time.

I know parents who still read to their tweens and teens. I remember loving being read to. Having a streak like Ozma and her father is something to aim for, but sadly this book didn't entertain.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Famous in Love

Do you ever read and enjoy a book and then see negative reviews on Goodreads? I really hate when that happens. It makes me question my judgment. Famous in Love was one of those books.

Famous in Love the story of a teenager picked to star in the latest YA hit book's movie adaptation. Her two leading men are potential love interests. (Though one is 22 while she's 17, which made me a little skeeved out.) The movie is based on a book trilogy (a la Divergent or Hunger Games) and this book only covers the making the first movie.

I can see where some of this book's negative comments are justified (insta-love), but I sped through it.  I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, which will be out later this year. The series is scheduled to have at least 3 books. Suspend Some belief and it's a fun read.

I purchased Famous in Love for my library. I'm anxious to see what the circ stats look like. I hope people pick it up and enjoy it like I did.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Kissing Ted Callahan (And Other Guys)

slight spoilers:

I read an excerpt of this from the YA Buzz Books Spring 2015. It intrigued me. I enjoyed this, but wasn't crazy about it and didn't like it as much as I thought I would. I liked the platonic relationship between Riley and Reid. It's nice to read something different than the best friends falling in love plot that's common. The loss of the book Reid and Riley shared lead Riley to think the same thing I did: How stupid to write all of that down. (As in these characters are stupid.) Ted wasn't much of a character. He was just there. As Riley's love interests Garrick was so much more interesting. The rest of the characters seemed to be too young and too old at the same time. Uneven. I will purchase for my library, but it won't be at the top of my list.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

New Tag: Purchased for Library

I'm the YA person at my library. Part of my job is collection development. Since I started at the beginning of last summer, I've been a weeding machine. It's hard pulling books that you loved when you were younger, but I always remind myself it's so the new books have more visibility.

Probably my favorite thing about my job is buying new books. Our library has a pretty small book budget. My portion of it is approximately $4700. Can you imagine getting to spend $4700 on books? It's a dream come true. 

I'm making a new tag for books that I've purchased (purchased for library) so you can see what I'm spending some of the money on. 

Saturday, March 14, 2015

The Forgotten Killer

I remember hearing about Amanda Know but the case wasn't something I paid attention to until I read Douglas Preston's The Monster of Florence. (Link to my review of that book.) Preston was (insanely) accused of murder by the same prosecutor as Knox. His story was unreal--this happened in modern times? in an industrialized democracy? in Europe? 


Since then I've paid much more attention to the case. This Kindle Single explains Rudy Guede and his role in Kercher's death. I can't imagine how anyone with any facts (as opposed to the Italian police and prosecutors who said they just knew she was guilty without any evidence) would think Knox and her boyfriend had committed this crime. 

If you are at all interested in the case or in the justice system, you should read this. 

Our American justice system is far from perfect, but Knox's story will realize how lucky we are for the rights and liberties we have in the US. Amanda Knox's story tribulations with the Italian court system do not appear to be over. I hope Preston's research will help her in some way. It convinced me that she didn't commit the murder. 

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead

I originally heard about this book from one of Nancy Pearl's Book Lust books. I had an upcoming 4 hour trip so when I saw this audiobook at the library I picked it up. (Not that I didn't have a ton of books on my phone already...)


The star of this book is the setting of post-Katrina New Orleans. It's absolutely fabulous. I don't know if I've ever been more enamored of a book's setting. Claire goes to New Orleans for a missing person case. The book is set about a year and a half after Katrina in the slowly recovering city while Claire tries to find a prosecutor who vanished in the chaos of the hurricane. 

In addition to the main plot line, we learn about Claire's childhood and friends. This mystery is also very intriguing. 

I was expecting something humorous, so this book's darkness was a surprise. It's very gritty. 

I also read Gran's follow-up in the Claire DeWitt series: Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway. Sadly, I didn't think it measured up to the first book. But, how can you outdo a book with a premise of a person missing after a hurricane? The plot of Claire's childhood friends continues, but isn't resolved in the series' second book. The goodreads summary of the City of the Dead says that it is the first in a series. Since the Bohemian Highway didn't tie up Claire's personal issues, I hope there will be another book that does just that. The author's website sadly doesn't offer much hope for it anytime soon though. 

Monday, March 9, 2015

Can't Wait!

Books I'm looking forward to:



Missoula by Jon Krakauer
I always enjoy Krakauer's books.


P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han
I feel like I'm going to die if I don't find out what happens with Lara Jean and Peter. I don't know how I'm going to make it til May 26.


Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen
I was already excited about Dessen's new book, but then I read a sneak peek and now really can't wait. Sarah Dessen is one of my favorite authors.
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