Surprised

Siren Sisters took me a while because I had to read it.  It isn't available on audio.  I just don't know.  It was good.  I guess throughout it though, I kept wondering why it was chosen to be considered for the Newbery book group.  I just kept thinking it would get to that point where I would say, "Oh!  I see!" But it just never did, for me.  Don't get me wrong- I can totally see why this would be a well liked book!  I just didn't get that "Oh!  I see!" "Yes, this could be a Newbery!" feel.

Stranger than Fiction

My thoughts about Strange the Dreamer are very strange.   I tried to get into this book four times before I made it.  And there were times when I thought I would never finish it.  And I hated it, a lot.  But now that I have finished it, I find that I can't say I hated it.  I just think it was too long for me.  But it was very original.  And it was VERY quotable.  Especially for someone very much in love.  I don't think that I will read the second book.  But then again, maybe I will.  It has been a couple of days since I finished it now,  and I do find myself going back in my head to the world Laini Taylor created.  There is no doubt that she is a very talented writer.  This just isn't my usual book.  But yes, I can see why this would be wildly popular.   I don't know if it is Printz-worthy, but then again, it is hard for me to judge being that I am so very much not a fantay person.  Yet...because I did enjoy the book so much, while it being so counter what I usually like-- maybe that does make it more Printz-worthy?  That it pulled in readers with preferences so counter?
Again, super well written.

Still Standing

Okay so.  I finished The Stand.
And it was "meh."
I mean, I did like it.
But it didn't blow me away.
And it was waaaay too long.
And I am just glad it is over!

Blurry....

So Boys of Blur is a Newbery Buzz Book.  My dear friend, Rebekah, tried to read it and didn't like it at all.   She even broke up with it. Although, she is more comfortable with breaking up than I am anyway. I am really trying to read some of the "good" books this year.  I don't know, honestly, if I will do this next year, obsessively try to read all of the books with the award buzz, but we'll see.  But I wanted to read this.  Plus, it was short!
While Rebekah didn't like it at all, I have to say that I did like.  I liked the atmosphere of this tiny town right near the Florida Everglades, on the banks of  Lake Okeechobee.  I liked learning about the sugar cane fields but I DIDN'T like reading about the poor rabbits.  I just can't imagine how scared those little rabbits must be.  Ugh.  It just makes me so sad.  A lot of  football players learned their speed from "running rabbits" in the sugarcane fields.
I like the main character, Charlie, a lot.  He is a good dude.  And I liked the whole family, really.  Cotton, especially.
Turns out that the book is inspired by Beowulf.  I had to read Beowulf in eleventh grade, but I didn't remember much about it so I found these little videos!  They are fabulous!  And then I got into the book even more.  I loved the book trailer, too!  But overall, it just didn't hold my interest as much as I wanted it to.  I am not sure why...maybe I wanted to know more about Charlie?  More about Mack?  About Bobby Reynolds?  I guess I just wanted more.  I still can highly recommend this book. Especially for fans of high school football and creepy stuff.  The battle between good and evil was well done!

Very Creepy...I only wish I had waited until October!

The Night Gardener took me a while to read because I really loved reading it.
First of all, what a great cover!
Second, what an original story!
Third, what a wonderful way with words Jonathan Auxier has!
I read this book while I was reading The Madman of Piney Woods and it was kinda cool that both have ties to the Irish Potato Famine.  Again, I am ashamed of my lack of historical knowledge.  I knew about the Potato Famine but I didn't realize how much the British contributed to the horrors that the Irish faced.
This book is GREAT scary story and Molly and Kip are really, really cool characters.  There is a lot of good vs. evil here and a lot to think about regarding greed.  Good. Good. Good!  I hope there will be an audio, because this would be cool to listen to with the right narrator.  Awesome!

But Not for Me...

Beautiful song.  What Came from the Stars is by one of my most favorite authors, Gary D. Schmidt, but man...I really didn't understand this book.  I think it is just too intelligent for me.  I listened to it and think that maybe, if I had read it, I would have been able to tell the characters apart a little better.  The book takes place in two worlds.  The parts that are in our world, well I really did like those.  But the other worldly part was just way too much for me.  If you like high fantasy, you will like this though.

Underwhelming

Just Babies:  the origins of good and evil was a big disappointment. It was a particular downer because I bought the book for a friend for Christmas and also because I bought the audio version for myself.  I had heard about this 60 minutes bit but I hadn't watched it and I just heard it was neat so I thought, well, I will get the book! I've mentioned by whole Calvinist upbringing and so this is very different.
The book didn't really talk a lot about the Baby Lab.  It went off on a lot of different tangents. Seems like this might have just been a nice journal article, instead of a whole book.