What I'm Reading Wednesday #1

Currently Reading

Rotters by Daniel Kraus

SYNOPSIS:

Grave-robbing. What kind of monster would do such a thing? It's true that Leonardo da Vinci did it, Shakespeare wrote about it, and the resurrection men of nineteenth-century Scotland practically made it an art. But none of this matters to Joey Crouch, a sixteen-year-old straight-A student living in Chicago with his single mom. For the most part, Joey's life is about playing the trumpet and avoiding the daily humiliations of high school.    
Everything changes when Joey's mother dies in a tragic accident and he is sent to rural Iowa to live with the father he has never known, a strange, solitary man with unimaginable secrets. At first, Joey's father wants nothing to do with him, but once father and son come to terms with each other, Joey's life takes a turn both macabre and exhilarating.
Daniel Kraus's masterful plotting and unforgettable characters makeRotters a moving, terrifying, and unconventional epic about fathers and sons, complex family ties, taboos, and the ever-present specter of mortality.

What I'm Reading Next

The Companions by R.A. Salvatore

SYNOPSIS:

This latest installment in New York Times best-selling author R.A. Salvatore's beloved fantasy saga, The Companions moves Salvatore's signature hero Drizzt into a new era of the Forgotten Realms. As Drizzt's fate hangs in the balance, he reflects on the lives of the trusted allies who stood by his side throughout his early life--the friends now known as the Companions of the Hall. Meanwhile, the first stirrings of the Sundering begin.

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I have one other library book to finish and then I will be reading solely from my own shelves for a while since I have so many unread books. I'm going to spend March reading a lot of classics and children's books that I own but I won't be able to avoid the library for long because I have a few books to read before their movie adaptations come out such as The Maze Runner.
I wanted to avoid starting new series this year but I guess that isn't going to happen! :)

Stacking the Shelves #21

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by TYNGA'S REVIEWS that features the books we bought, borrowed, were gifted, and were given for review.

Top Shelf

(left to right)

Midnight Whipsers by V.C. Andrews
Twilight's Child by V.C. Andrews

Dawn V.C. Andrews
(These aren't in order and one of the books in this series wasn't there, but I loved the Dollanger and Casteel Family series when I was a teen. It's about time I read something else by her soon.)

Obsidian Ridge by Jess Lebow
(This is a Forgotten Realms fantasy novel and so far, I've only been interested in R.A. Salvatore's books but this one has a pretty neat cover and I thought it wouldn't hurt to pick up until I got home and realized it's the second book in the series. I really need a phone with a Goodreads app to take with me on my thrift store trips.)

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
(from the author of 'The Witch of Blackbird Pond'. This book is about a boy surviving in a Maine wilderness that is rescued by an Indian chief. I've always been very interested in Native American culture.)

The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings(I've read this book before and loved it. It's about a boy who raises a baby deer (a yearling). It's set in my home state of Florida. I haven't been to the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings State Park yet, but I plan to in the future.)

Annie, Between the States by L.M. Elliott(This is a historical fiction set during the Civil War.)

Bottom Shelf

(top to bottom)

Father Bear Comes Home by Else Holmelund Minarik(Illustrated by Maurice Sendak. This is a story of Little Bear of whom I loved to read about and watch on tv when I was a little girl. I picked this one up for my neice.)

Diary by Chuck Palahniuk(I'm slowly building up a collection of his books!)

Shiloh Season by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Summer Sisters by Judy Blume

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Have you read any of these books?
What did you add to your shelves this week? 

Friday Finds #19

Friday Finds is a blog meme hosted over at Should Be Reading that highlights the books you found and added to your To Be Read list, whether you found them online or in a bookstore and etc. They are not necessarily books that you purchased!

Here are the books I'm showcasing for this week!

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

(Becca over at Be Awesome, Be A Book Nut raved about this book a couple of weeks ago. It's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast)

Moonrise Kingdom by Wes Anderson

(I'm not sure if this was a book before the movie or if it's a book made for the movie, but either way, I will try to read it before I watch the film)

Roverandom by J.R.R. Tolkien

(This is one of those books that I am amazed to not have heard of before. I came across it on one of Sanne's (BooksandQuills) videos on youtube and now I can't rest until I own it!)

Book Review: Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

Title: Hollow City

Author: Ransom Riggs

Series: Miss Peregrine's #2
Publisher: Quirk Books

Publication Date: January 14, 2014

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal

Length: 396 pages

Format: hardcover

Source: Borrowed

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

SYNOPSIS:

The extraordinary journey that began in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children continues as Jacob Portman and his newfound friends journey to London the peculiar capital of the world. But in this war-torn city, hideous surprises lurk around every corner. Like its predecessor, this second novel in the Peculiar Children series blends thrilling fantasy with never-before-published vintage photography to create a one-of-a-kind reacting experience.

MY THOUGHTS:
Sometimes I feel as if it is easier to write a review about a book that I don't particularly love than it is to write one about a book that I never wanted to put down. I sometimes need to stew over my thoughts for a while with books that I love. Perhaps it is different for other readers but I feel as if I wrote my review right away I would gush over it and probably include a lot more spoilers.  Hollow City was a book that I loved. Perhaps not as much as the first book and then again, a little more than the first book.  How can I love it more and less than the first? I will attempt to explain. I sometimes find that the first book in a trilogy or series is always the best, for it is our first encounter with the story and it sticks with us more than the sequels.  The first book, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, really drew me in with Jacob's encounter with 'hollows', his excursion to a remote island off the coast of Wales to find his grandfather's childhood orphanage, and his trip through Miss Peregrine's 'time loop'. We were introduced to all the peculiar children which was very exciting and seeing photos of those characters really helped build my visualization of them. I just really loved the semi-creepy, macabre feeling that the black and white photos gave to the overall story.

Hollow City was not a sequel to disappoint. I did not find it lacking or dull and instead found it to be more adventurous with much more plot than the first. I came to know the peculiar children much more than I did in the first book and was introduced to quite a few new peculiar characters. Instead of one time loop, we are introduced to several new ones and we learn more about this hidden world that the peculiars live in all while going on a treacherous trip across Great Britain to save Miss Peregrine. The photos did seem a little more forced (and possibly photo-manipulated) this time around but I'm glad they were included (especially the 'emu-raffe' because otherwise I would never have been able to picture it). At times it seemed as if the author had shaped the story around the photos and I wondered how things would have happened if he had not found a particular photo for the story. Would it have been the same?
Overall, I thought it was a great continuation of the first book and I can't wait to read the 3rd book. I just hope we don't have to wait as long for it! 


My Rating:
5 STARS

2014 Book Review: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland...

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in A Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

Genre:
Juvenile
Fantasy

Published:
May 10th 2011 by Feiwel & Friends

Awards:
Locus Award for Best Young Adult (2012)
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Nominee for Children's Literature (2012)
Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy (2009)
Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Books of the Year (2011)

Pages: 
247

My Rating: 
4.5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis: 

Twelve-year-old September lives in Omaha, and used to have an ordinary life, until her father went to war and her mother went to work. One day, September is met at her kitchen window by a Green Wind (taking the form of a gentleman in a green jacket), who invites her on an adventure, implying that her help is needed in Fairyland. The new Marquess is unpredictable and fickle, and also not much older than September. Only September can retrieve a talisman the Marquess wants from the enchanted woods, and if she doesn’t . . . then the Marquess will make life impossible for the inhabitants of Fairyland. September is already making new friends, including a book-loving Wyvern and a mysterious boy named Saturday.

With exquisite illustrations by acclaimed artist Ana Juan, Fairyland lives up to the sensation it created when the author first posted it online. For readers of all ages who love the charm of Alice in Wonderland and the soul of The Golden Compass, here is a reading experience unto itself: unforgettable, and so very beautiful.

My Thoughts:

First of all, THAT TITLE! What a mouth full! It's a very fun and intriguing title, though, and is what interested me most and spurred me to read it. I've never been the biggest fan of the 'fairy' sub-genre. The books I have read were all very similar and covered the same mythical creatures and plot lines. This book, on the other hand, surprised me very much, kept me entertained and intrigued, and was overall a very fun and adventurous read.  I think the only thing in this book that I could relate to other 'fairy' fiction that I've read before is the mention of 'changelings'.  I'm very glad that I gave it a chance.

It starts out with our main character, a girl named September, who is quite bored with her life and jumps at the chance to whisked away to Fairyland by The Green Wind on a flying leopard. Once there, she encounters all sorts of  extraordinary characters and fantastical creatures. She sets out to right the wrongs of the evil Marquess and finds herself in one dire plot twist after another, traveling through seasons and questing for magical items.

I was quite surprised by this book. Firstly, because it is nothing like traditional fairyland stories. It is it's own imaginative world that was extremely fun to read. I think my favorite thing about this book was the Wyverary (a wyvern that claimed his father was a library). I also really loved the autumn/winter parts of the book even though they were a bit complex.

My only problem with the book was the very graphic killing of the fish and the death of the paper lantern (yes, there was blood involved, even with the paper lantern) that made me question whether or not this is truly a good book for young children. It would really depend on the child, seeing how this is a bit more than just a chapter book. There are also a lot of rare words that children would be confused by but I particularly love books that include big or rare words so that they expand the reader's vocabulary. 

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Here's a little book video for it!

January 2014 Wrap-Up

January 2014 Wrap-Up

I read 5 books this month. I suppose I could have planned my year out better but I ended up finishing up a pile of books that I had on hold at the library and I still have 3 more to go! After that, probably around May, I am going to try to tackle some of my own bookshelves. I have WAY too many books of my own that I need to read. I tend to get caught up in the shiny newness of library books.

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I had to pick someone up from Walmart on Black Friday (yes, it was hell) and found Cloud Atlas the movie for a few dollars so I bought it because I had already put the book on hold and planned on reading it so I could watch the movie. I really enjoyed them both. 

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchel
5 stars
(review)

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making

by
Catherynne M. Valente

4 stars

(review)

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

5 stars

(review)

The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson

3 stars

The Spindlers by Lauren Oliver

3 stars

(review)

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Stacking the Shelves #20

Friday Finds #18

Top Ten Tuesday #19

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Have you read any of these? What books did you start your year out with? 

Stacking the Shelves #20

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews that features the books we bought, borrowed, were gifted, and were given for review. 

Thrift Store Finds 

The Best Short Stories by Rudyard Kipling
Wings by Aprilynne Pike
Blood Promise by Richelle Mead
The Singing (Book 4) by Alison Croggon

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What did you add to your shelves this week? I'd love to know! :)