Months and Seasons by Christopher Meeks

Months and Seasons is a collection of short stories. In it we meet a variety of people in different stages of life, dealing with different conflicts and life altering events. They all search for happiness for themselves and their loved ones.

Some of my favorite stories include Dracula Slinks Into The Night about a man attending a Halloween party (I really identified with this guy!), The Farms at 93rd and Broadway about a husband and wife attending a hypnotist show, The Sun Is a Billiard Ball, two stories that eventually weave into one, The Old Topanga Incident where a whole man's life burns to the ground, Months and Seasons about one man's perception of what he wants, and Breaking Water about a woman reinventing her life.

I really liked the variety in the stories. Some were humorous where as others were more serious. With some short story collections it ultimately feels like the same story repeated over and over again slightly different each time, this is definitely not the case here. This collection provides peeks into many different lives in way different ways all by the same author!

On a side note, I really enjoy when an author includes a peek at their next book. At the end of this book we get a peek into The Brightest Moon of the Century with the story The Hand. I really like his idea of a collection of stories of one man's life throughout his life, covering 30 years. Meeks compares it to The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing, another book I need to read. I really liked The Hand and look forward to reading the whole collection.

3.5/5 Stars
Review copy provided by author

This Week In Books Or Why I'm Glad We Don't Have Earthquakes In My Part of the Country

I swear to you, one week I won't have any new books. It WILL happen.

Monday: Why I Let My Hair Grow Out arrives from a bookmoocher.

Tuesday: Matrimony arrives from author Joshua Henkin. Thanks for the referral J. Kaye!

Wednesday: The Grift arrives in a very very large stiff envelope!

Thursday: I decide to browse the friends on the library bookstore for 10 minutes between buses. I find practically brand new copies of The Other Boy and Forbidden Boy. Thought it would be fun to try this author. They are both 2 dollar and I also get one for my sister. I think I'll have to make this a weekly ritual! (Thursday is the only day it's open late enough for me to go) Also I come home to find A Great and Terrible Beauty from a bookmoocher.


Friday: Queen of Babble in the Big City arrives from a bookmoocher.

Saturday: Alphabet Weekends arrives from a bookmoocher.

I thought this would be the end of any more bookmooch books for me for awhile. But in the past few days I've had a few mooches. Very excited!

What's new in books for you guys that aren't part of the book ban challenge?

Booking Through Thursday

• Do you or have you ever read books about the Olympics? About sports in general?
• Fictional ones? Or non-fiction? Or both?

And, Second:

• Do you consider yourself a sports fan?
• Because, of course, if you’re a rabid fan and read about sports constantly, there’s a logic there; if you hate sports and never read anything sports-related, that, too … but you don’t have to love sports to enjoy a good sports story.
• (Or a good sports movie, for that matter. Feel free to expand this into a discussion about “Friday Night Lights” or “The Natural” or whatever…)

I don't believe I have read any books about the Olympics/Sports, it's possible I may have in like elementary school but it's washed from my memory. That's when you know it's required reading, I wouldn't be caught dead otherwise reading about sports! I did used to like the Olympics when I was younger, not sure what's happened.

Er, I sort of strongly dislike sports. Would rather be doing just about anything besides playing or watching sports. I did dance for 12 years when I was younger but that's really all. I watch just about any movies but there are a few categories I try very hard to avoid and they are: War, Horror, and Sports movies. Most everything else I'll sit through. There are exceptions though, one of my favorite movies is Bend It Like Beckham. In cases where the story outshines the sports I'll watch it. Even with the tv show One Tree Hill, I was unsure if I could take all the basketball but it has faded nicely into the background. A friend told me I'd like Friday Night Lights the tv show, even with the sports. I only watched the first episode a few months ago, so I'll have to pick that up again some other time.

So in general Me+Sports= pure torture. I hated having to play in pep band in high school during sporting events!

Do sports make your brain go numb like me? Or do you love them?

Tuesday Thingers!

Favorite bookstores. What's your favorite bookstore? Is it an online store or a bricks-and-mortar store? How often do you go book shopping? Is your favorite bookstore (or bookstores) listed as a favorite in LT? Do you attend events at local bookstores? Do you use LT to find events?

What isn't a favorite! I guess the only ones I don't like really are the ones that sell maps and really rare books. Those aren't my thing. I have a few favorite bookstores. Borders (for the most part I always have my coupon in my purse, so that sort of keeps me from buying too much, though I go about every week), Half Price Books (have coupons for them too, don't need them as much) I usually leave with a bag of books, Amazon for things I can't find in either of those two places or when I want to buy several books together, art books, anything where the price can't be beat by anyone else. I need to feel like I'm getting some sort of deal or I won't buy. That's probably a good thing. I've been buying a lot more from Amazon this year then past years.

When I'm hard up I'll go to Barnes and Noble. I will browse just about anywhere. Another favorite that I don't get too that much is Book Alcove in Maryland. It's about halfway across the country from me, whenever I visit my relatives I go there and leave with a bag! I love discovering new bookstores, as I've talked about in the vacation post a few weeks ago. Another favorite is Big Brain Comics, best comic book store in my area. They carry a few of my things too!!

I go book shopping at least once a week probably. I'm always browsing Amazon. I have my next two orders worked out in my head to take advantage of their 4 for 3 deal. I'm trying not to place the orders until I make a dent in my TBR pile. But my birthday is coming up... and I always place a Amazon book order for my birthday! It's a present to myself!

I haven't been able to find any of my local stores on librarything and nothing comes up when I enter my city. I've attended a few events at some local stores, most recently the Breaking Dawn Midnight Party and a David Sedaris Reading and Signing. I definitely hope to go to more. I come across signings at Borders since I'm there so much but it's never been anything I was interested in. It's usually local authors. The "famous" authors go to stores closer to the heart of the city.

What's your favorite bookstore? Do you need to leave your purse in the car if you go into a bookstore or take someone with you that won't let you buy anything? Do you need to block Amazon.com on your web browser?

Violet In Private by Melissa Walker

Violet In Private is the third book in Melissa Walker's, Violet series. It picks up when Violet is just about to begin college at Vassar for the Winter/Spring term. She's decided maybe she doesn't really want to be a model anymore and would rather concentrate on being a normal college girl. The modeling world isn't quite ready to let her go though, her friend Veronica is constantly asking her to come to New York to go to parties and appearances with her for their Mirabella campaign and her agent, Angela is constantly calling her. Though she isn't really modeling anymore, a discussion is started in her Sociology class about her Mirabella ad and she's invited to be an Intern at Teen Fashionista magazine, she just can't shed the world of fashion. She's excited about her internship except for the fact that she has to work under Chloe, her best friend/true love Roger's girlfriend, talk about awkward.

This is my favorite in the series yet, they actually got better as they went along! I loved the first one and it has just built and built on this great foundation. I really liked seeing Violet in college, enjoying dorm life, cute boys and new friends. I also liked to see her balance her college life with her modeling life and her friend's from high school/home life. It was very enjoyable to read! My favorite part was her and her best friend/true love Roger. Roger sounds fantastic, where can I find myself a Roger! The ending definitely made me hope for another in the series, if not I'll just use my imagination. It's just great! If you haven't read this series I'd recommend it. I also think this would be a great place to start for anyone that doesn't normally read Young Adult literature but is interested in trying it out. Some YA can be slightly eye roll worthy for people that are no longer young adults themselves but not this series!

4.5/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

What's your favorite new series? Do you gravitate towards series books like I do?

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

I won't write too much about this book since it's either been said or you haven't read the book and I would never spoil it for you!

Breaking Dawn is the 4th and final book in Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. It had it's ups and downs but it's not my favorite by a long shot. Don't get me wrong I liked it but it was no Twilight or Eclipse, those are the best in my opinion. Breaking Dawn starts off basically right where Eclipse left off just a few weeks before Bella's birthday. Er I'm not really going to say anything else, the rest is pretty tied to the plot!

In this book, like in Eclipse, Bella isn't the only narrator, Jacob joins in the task for part of the book. I kind of liked that but at the same missed Bella's voice. I liked Bella at the beginning of the book and after she got through some of her inner issues in the middle of the book. While she was going through this struggle I really didn't like her so much. After she makes it through I like her a lot more though, maybe even more so than in the previous books. I was hoping for more from the rest of the Cullens, maybe some more back story but they pretty much just stayed in the background the whole time which was pretty disappointing to me. Maybe I'll get this in Twilight Official Guide coming out the end of this year, fingers crossed!

For the most part I was pretty happy with the ending, I guess maybe it could have been a little more exciting but besides that pretty good. I'm glad I know how the story ends I'm just not sure about all the plot elements that got us there.

3/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

What are your thoughts on Breaking Dawn, the final installment of the Twilight series?

One More Year by Sana Krasikov

One More Year is a collection of short stories that explore the lives of people from the former Soviet Union. Some have immigrated to the United States and others still live or have returned to Russia. The collection explores all sorts of relationships, from care takers, to husband and wife, to uncle and niece. Many different parts of life are captures as snapshots.

Some of my favorite stories include Asal, about a relationship not normally talked about, Better Half about a young couple that marries too soon so one can remain in the United States, and There Will Be No Fourth Rome about an aunt and her niece.

To me, the stories slowly reveal themselves like peeling back an onion. You know so little in the beginning and slowly more and more information is revealed. I really like this style of writing, it keeps you on your toes and you have to pay very close attention. It's not just laid out from page one.

It is a quiet sort of collection that explores everyday life, but not the life that I'm used to or the struggles I've had to face. For that, I really enjoy it. I feel like I learned things I hadn't really known or thought about much before. I can definitely understand the comparisons to Jhumpa Lahiri. I have read her novel The Namesake, which I also enjoyed.

You can find One More Year, in stores this Tuesday, August 12th.
4/5 Stars
ARC provided by publisher

Do you like short story collections? What is your favorite?

Bookmooch Inventory Bookstack Meme (what a mouthful!)

Over the last few weeks I've been posting pictures of the books I've gotten/received each week. I just love bookstack pictures, taking them, looking at them, thinking about them. I also love browsing people's bookmooch inventories, but for some reason I always seem to miss good books because I'm so visual, I recognize the covers (or spines) much easier than a name when I'm quickly glancing through a list.

I somehow came to the conclusion that it would be amazing to see bookstack pictures of people's bookmooch inventories. It would be fun, you could browse others inventories (though it would only be a snapshot since things can get mooched very quickly) and also maybe get a few people some mooches. Not that I have a ton of points right now....

So I'm asking any bookmooch members that are interested to take a picture of their bookmooch inventory and along with a link to it and maybe a little bit of information, do a blog post of it! A sort of meme.

I'm really hoping someone with an inventory upwards of 100 books will take a picture, I want to see it all inside one shot! We probably won't be able to see the titles but I just want to see people's physical inventories! It sounds so fun to me! If you'd like to play along, leave me a comment with a link so I can come visit and anyone else that is interested can as well!

Here's a link to my inventory (pictured above). A little bit about it, 5 of these books are my sister's. We added them over the last few months, no one has mooched from her yet. I told her eventually if no one does she can go and sell them to a used bookstore! I thought it would be fun for her to take part in! The other books are either ones I decided I didn't want after reading them or sometimes not reading them. I also like to swap out books for ones that are in better condition or a different format than the ones I have sometimes. I'm sure mine is very small compared to a lot of other users!

Tell me a little bit about your inventory! Don't forget a picture and a link!

If you aren't a member of Bookmooch you should join!

This Week In Books Or Why I Need to Read About 4x Faster

This week was a steady stream of books. Cringe.

Monday: well nothing Monday

Tuesday: When We Were Romans appears on my doorstep.

Wednesday: My mailbox is over flowing with packages that include The Wordy Shipmates, The Shiniest Jewel and from bookmoochers Uglies and Peaches. (I have so many first in a series books i need to read but that means I'd have to finish the series... I love series!)

Thursday: The Necklace is waiting on my doorstep and inside of the mailbox is Queen of Babble from a bookmoocher.

Friday: I quickly walk over to the downtown B&N (even though I'm a Borders girl) between my express bus and transfer bus to seek out Death By Bikini (I've been thinking of doing it the entire week and finally did) and when I get home, out of the mailbox pops Meet Delaney.

Saturday: I think I'm going to try and avoid Borders this week. We will see how that goes!

Booking Through Thursday

Are there any particular worlds in books where you’d like to live?

Or where you certainly would NOT want to live?

What about authors? If you were a character, who would you trust to write your life?

I'm not sure that I would want to live there, but I would love to visit Harry Potter's world and specifically Hogwarts! I'd also like to visit the Cullen's home from Twilight, to witness some of their powers.. wouldn't want to stay long! I'd like to drop in on the characters of Ghost World, again, wouldn't want to stay too long, too depressing.

I'm sure there are places I wouldn't even want to visit but right now I can't think of any.

I have a hard time choosing favorite authors so I'm not sure who I would trust to write my life.

Who would you want to write your life?

Tuesday Thingers!

What other weekly memes or round robins do you participate in? Is this the only one? Why Tuesday Thingers and not some other weekly Tuesday meme? Or do you do more than one?

The only other meme I participate in is Booking Through Thursday. I may participate in more in the future but only these two for now. I've started doing a "This Week in Books" for myself but that's just me LOL! I guess it's sort of like what some people do for the Sunday Salon, which I would be interested in participating in sometime. I like them because it keeps me posting at least two times a week and it doesn't take a ton of time to do. I also just really like answering these sorts of questions! I like Tuesday Thingers because I love love Library Thing and love interacting with the other members be it the groups/forums or something like this. I also like learning more about Library Thing :)

What weekly memes do you participate in? Which others should I join?

Book Vault’s Birthday Contest Riddle

This is the next leg of The Book Vault’s birthday book riddle contest! For more information on the contest, go here: http://the-book-vault.blogspot.com/2008/08/birthday-contest.html

Each correct answer counts as an entry into the drawing on August 29^th!

Riddle:
Discovered during her shift at the local movie cinema, this starlet is flown to NYC for the first time and is soon the new face in fashion.

But an older model, whose name begins with the same let as the starring character, is not too pleased with this new threat. And this new starlet realizes fame has a darker side too…

What book is this?

Know the answer? Send Dominique an email at bookvault@yahoo.com with:

“BDAY CONTEST” in the subject line

and:

Name:

The Riddle: Discovered during her shift at the local movie cinema, this starlet is flown to NYC for the first time and is soon the new face in fashion.

But an older model, whose name begins with the same let as the starring character, is not too pleased with this new threat. And this new starlet realizes fame has a darker side too…

What book is this?

Answer: (full book title + author)

The name of the site where you found the riddle:

Your site’s URL: (if you have one)

Please send a separate email for each riddle you answer!

Good luck!!

Schooled by Anisha Lakhani

Schooled is a look inside the tutoring/private school world of Manhattan. Anna Taggert is a new graduate from Columbia. She is beyond excited to begin her career as a teacher and is invited to teach at Langdon. Though her parents don't exactly support her choice and her best friend is living in the luxury that Anna knows she will never be able to afford on a teacher's salary she starts the year optimistic.

She quickly learns that this is no ordinary school, giving homework and giving in class assignments get her phone calls from mothers, having lunch with the mothers gain her friends, and doing just about nothing in class but assigning the students to do research in the library gives her high praises. Anna soon realizes that her students for the most part are being tutoring, and she's unsure if any the homework her students turn in is their own true work. Anna vows to not let the children, parents, and tutors get away with this "tutoring" but it quickly gets taken out of her hands. Eventually Anna finds her way into the world of tutoring sort of accidentally and does exactly what she was previously fighting against. It's her journey through the highs and lows of the tutoring world.

I really enjoyed this book. I could relate to Anna, wanting to do something good in the world but also wanting to have fun, and have a little bit of money. She wanted her dream to come true of teaching but also living a great life with a nice apartment and time for friends. I could sympathize with her choices, thinking she could really tutor these kids and help them without just doing the work for them. It was also really funny. I especially liked the part about Tweebles the robot (you'll have to read to find out about this one), also the crazy teachers and parents and Anna trying to create lessons her students would like. It was very very fun! I didn't go to private school but always wondered how it was different then public school. I believe they have different things to offer but also just like with anything it is what you make of it.

You can find Schooled in stores tomorrow!
4/5 Stars
Review copy provided by publisher

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging Giveaway Winner!

Thank you to everyone that entered my first giveaway! It's been a lot of fun!

Random.org has chosen: Lenore!

Congratulations!

I have emailed you so please email me back with your contact information so I can send the book to you!


I asked those who entered to tell me the funniest book they have read this summer, here are the suggestions I got!

Toni McGee Causey's two Bobbie Faye books
Model: a memoir
Guide to Pirate Parenting by Tim Bete
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
Bobbie Faye's Very (very, very, very) Bad Day: A Novel by Toni McGee Causey
Tan Lines by J. J Salem
Wild & Hexy by Vicki Lewis Thompson
Brain Droppings by George Carlin
The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich
Perfect on Paper
Shining City by Seth Greenland
When you are engulfed in flames by David Sedaris
A Little Less Talk and A Lot More Action by LuAnn McLane
Meg Cabot's YA "How to be Popular"
"How LaJuanita Mumps Got to Join Augusta National Gold Club Real Easy!" By Todd Sentell
bennett madison's "the blonde of the joke"
Garfield, Calvin & Hobbs, and Foxtrot
Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty
Aisling Grey series by Katie MacAlister
Land of a Hundred Wonders by Lesley Kagen
A Twin Novel by Avi and Rachel Vail
The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex
The Wouldbegoods by Edith Nesbit
princess diaries IV
Me & Mr. Darcy by Alexandra Potter
"Fifteen Minutes of Shame" by Lisa Daily
Fact of Life #31 by Denise Vega
SCHOOLED by Anisha lakhani
Megan McCafferty's series - Second Helpings is my fave
P.G. Wodehouse books
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
One Butt Cheek at a Time by Amber Kizer
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
Pratchett's "Nation"

Thanks again to everyone that entered and helped promote this giveaway!

This Week In Books Or Why I Didn't Think This Post Would Happen

This week was pretty under control when it came to book buying/books coming in the mail that is until this afternoon... I actually didn't think I had enough to post!

Monday: The Summer of Naked Swim Parties arrives from a bookmoocher.

Thursday: The Liar's Diary arrives from J. Kaye (I'll be reviewing this book for her site)

Friday: Got Breaking Dawn at the midnight release.

Saturday: Pop over to the library for a quick look where I spy on the for sale shelf, The Memory Keeper's Daughter and two V.C. Andrews books, with "holes" as Melissa Walker has talked about recently! In the mail comes Just Listen from a bookmoocher, and Garden Spells from Marie at the Boston Bibliophile, which I recently won and a postcard telling me that my copy of Violet In Private is ready for pickup at Borders! So I go back and get it! Then after getting my sister at work we stop over at the new used bookstore to check it out. The first time I went they didn't have much they had just opened. This time they had a lot more! I picked up Trudy, from a local press, and Laguna Cove, both YA books.

What did you buy this week? Did you buy Breaking Dawn? Did you have to fight someone for the last copy in the store?

Breaking Dawn Midnight Release Video and a Thank You!

Me and my sister went to the midnight release of Breaking Dawn last night. She was kind enough to get my wristband when the store opened in the morning so we were in the first group! It actually went so fast we were out of the store and home by 12:15! We live about 5 minutes from the store but still! Very quick! I'm only 100 pages into the book so far but it's pretty good! I was hoping to be further but ended up doing a bunch of errands and some er, book shopping...

Did you go to the midnight release? Or did you pick your copy up during normal business hours. While I was making the rounds today I noticed Barnes and Noble had no extra copies, Target had a healthy shelf full and when I went back to Borders, the had about 20 boxes behind the counter! They were the most prepared!

A big thank you to Ambeen at the Ravenous Reader and The Bookshipper for nominating me for a blog award!

Nick and Norah's Infintie Playlist (my probably newest favorite movie)

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist


This book really got me into my YA spree. The movie looks like it will pretty good too! What fall movie are you excited for? Remember Harry Potter and Twilight are winter movies! ;)

This Year In Movies: July

This was an even worse month than June. It's just darn right pathetic! I guess I was away for an entire weekend and had some unplayable dvds from Netflix that held up my tv show watching (gotta watch them in order!) but still! It's horrible!

Speak- based on the YA novel. Someone pointed out that this was a movie so I rented it. Oh it made me cry! It was very good though.

WALL-E- the Pixar movies keep getting better and better. This was really really good.

Semi-Pro- He just needs to stop making sports movies, worst one yet. I do want to see Stepbrothers still.

The Tracey Fragments- Weird in a bad way. This made about no sense to me and had no conclusion that I noticed. If you want to see an Ellen Page movie just watch Juno, again if you have to.

Mamma Mia!- This was fun! I wanted to re experience the excitement of last year's Hairspray. It was pretty good, but Hairspray still wins.

Mad Men Season 1- Love it!

My Blueberry Nights- The beginning was best.

Love Songs- A French Musical! This was a different sort of movie, usually musicals are really over the top this wasn't, it's very hard to follow subtitled singing, it happens too quickly. I really like the main guy!

Booking Through Thursday

What are your favorite final sentences from books? Is there a book that you liked specially because of its last sentence? Or a book, perhaps that you didn’t like but still remember simply because of the last line?

OMG! I have no idea! I definitely remember closing a handful of books very satisfied with the final sentence, but for the life of me I can't remember one!

Can anyone help me, what are some good ones?

Giveaway Reminder: Ends Saturday Night!

Don't forget my very first giveaway, for Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennsion ends this Saturday August 2nd at 11:59 PM Central Time. Click here for all the details! Thank you to everyone that has entered so far!

Who's going to the midnight Breaking Dawn release tomorrow night? I'd love to swap stories!

Tuesday Thingers!

Cataloging sources. What cataloging sources do you use most? Any particular reason? Any idiosyncratic choices, or foreign sources, or sources you like better than others? Are you able to find most things through LT's almost 700 sources?

I use amazon the most. I also manually enter a lot of things like comics and zines (still have a stack to read and enter!) I use amazon because they usually have what I want and I manually enter because the zines/comics don't have isbns.

Here's the breakdown:

471	amazon.com
93	Amazon.com
77	Manual entry
28	manual entry
9	Library of Congress
7	amazon.co.uk

Not sure why there are two amazon's and two manual entries. Does anyone else's show up like that? I think the amazon uk is for some of the books I bought while in England. Not sure what I used the Library of Congress for.

What's your breakdown look like? You can find it at your Librarything Profile and then under Statistics.

Mad Men Season 2

Mad Men Season 2 premiered Sunday night. Mad Men, set in the early 1960's takes place in the advertising agency of Sterling Cooper. You get to see all the office politics, important clients and meetings and also behind the scenes person lives of the characters.

I love this show. I was bummed I heard about it after the first season started (or maybe ended) Having a background in graphic design I jumped at the chance to see what my field was like then. So that, combined with my curiosity about this time period has got me hooked! And the attractive guys in suits (and hot glasses!)

I netflixed season 1 the day it came out and awesomely finished it Saturday night. This show has been on my queue for I kid you not a whole darn year. I figured I would watch for season 2 on dvd but just had to find out what happened so I decided to watch it live instead.

The season premier was just EH. It jumps ahead a year and two months. So we basically come into the middle of things. Of course they aren't going to spell it all out for you so I guess I'll just wait it out, things will be explained.

Anyone else enjoy this show? What are you watching this summer?

The No Complaining Rule by Jon Gordon

The No Complaining Rule could be considered a self-help book. Though the way the information is presented brings it into an entirely new category.

The No Complaining Rule is told as a story. The story of Hope, Vice President of Human Resources at a computer company. The story starts out with Hope going through some person problems, she comes into work to find out the company is also experiencing some problems. Her boss, Dan leaves it up to Hope to help them find their way out of this mess, specifically with employee moral and negativity. Through some encounters with others Hope bases her plan for long term improvement on the No Complaining Rule. She uses this rule for her company but also herself and her family.

Throughout the book we get to learn about the No Complaining Rule ourselves and how it works. When I originally heard about this book I was expecting lots of lists, bullet points, and charts. There are hardly any in this book! I really liked the way this information was presented. It was presented in an entertaining way which in the end helps you retain the information much better than a bunch of lists and charts.

This book has made me think a lot about my negativity and complaining. I'll take a short detour and talk about my experiences with complaining. I, personally don't like to complain to people that aren't my family or close to it. I complain to them a lot they already know me, what can i do about it (ask my mother). I think that too much complaining can be seen as a weakness. But on the other hand if someone asks me how I am I'm not going to lie and say "Oh fantastic".

Here are the things I mainly complain about (ask my mother again):
1. I'm tired
2. I'm tired
3. My blank hurts (insert a rotating variety of body parts)

In the book they explain how there are two kinds of complaining, random mindless complaining that has no reason or point, it is done out of boredom and just stresses everyone out. Then there is complaining for an actual reason. It is explained that it is alright to complain but you better come prepared with a way to take action to fix this complaint. It's also pointed out that you should complain to someone that can actually do something about your complaint not just a random bystander.

It is suggested that you take a week to try out the No Complaining Rule, it sort of showcases to you all the negativity you feel and let out of your mouth. It puts a spotlight on it so you can start to control it. It is also explained that once you complain you should add a but to the sentence and add something you are thankful for. For example: I hate getting up at 6am every morning to go to work (I do), but I am thankful that I am able to have a job (I am).

There is definitely a lot of great information presented in this book and it is done in such a way that it's rather exciting! It is great for upper management, managers, regular people, just about anyone!

The No Complaining Rule was released earlier this summer in June.
3.5/5 Stars
Review copy provided by author

Do you complain a lot? What do you complain about the most?

Lookalikes 3.5

Do you guys remember this post where I showed 3 covers that were all either from the same photo shoot or the same darn image. Well Steph/Reviewer X has kindly pointed out yet another one! Can you believe it! That has got to be one rich photographer. I'm almost tempted to hunt these books down, find where they got the images and see what else he/she has in this series.

Keep your eyes peeled for more, I know I will!

Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo

Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth is the story of young Fenfang's journey away from the sweet potato fields of her village and into life as a twenty something in modern day Beijing.

Fenfang works as a film extra among other jobs. There she meets Xiaolin an Assistant to the Producer. Though there isn't much actual romance between them they live together with his family for several years. She also befriends an American student named Ben and his cast of friends.

I really enjoying seeing the world through Fenfang's eyes be it her use of the phrase "Heavenly Bastard in the Sky" to the cockroaches in her apartment to her film script outline of "The Seven Reincarnations of Hao An" to the Old Hens in her apartment watching her every move. Fenfang's is a quiet story and for that I truly enjoy it. I don't believe I have ever read anything quite like this before, it's a beautiful portrait of what it's like to be a young woman in modern day China. It's funny, exciting and a little bit sad.

This book is literally told in twenty small atmospheric fragments. I really like how each fragment has a descriptive title. There are also small black and white pictures sprinkled throughout the book. The dust jacket art is just beautiful. I really can't think of a more beautifully designed book and cover.

This book has renewed my interest in visiting Asia and now specifically China. Has a book ever made you want to visit a place? Have you visited that place?

Look for Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth in stores August 5th.
4/5 Stars
Review copy provided by publisher

This Week In Books Or Oooh I Found Some Room In My Closet (For Books!)

Monday: The Elite arrives, I won it from the Book Vault's Contest!

Tuesday: My first half day off of work. I get home and am greeted by Swimming With Strangers. Head off to the dentist. During my cleaning I think about going to Borders because it's right across the street. I figure I'll stay away. Then I find out I have two cavities! So I go to Borders and find out they are having a 3.99 Summer Clearance Sale (never seen one of these before)
So I pick up:
It's Not About the Accent
Love From London
The Glass Castle
The Romance Reader's Book Club
Tender Is the Night
Geek High
all for the price of one new hardcover book ( I don't even really care for hardcovers!)
I come home from my appointment feeling a little guilty (though I had just this past weekend made a bunch of room in my closet for books) only to find out Schooled had arrived while I was out!

Wednesday: Months and Seasons arrives from author Chris Meeks.

Thursday: Homegirl arrives from a fellow LibraryThing member who saw my mention of looking for a copy on the message boards and reserved it for me on Bookmooch! Thank you!
American Wife also arrived from a fellow LibraryThing member who saw my mention of wondering if the ARC I requested would ever arrive. She offered to send me her extra copy, how sweet Thank you!

Friday: Aberrations arrived from author Penelope Przekop who I had a nice conversation with earlier this week :)

Saturday: Creepers arrived after only requesting it the beginning of this week. Also the Penguin Classic, A Mixture of Frailties arrived.

Since I have written this post early in the day who knows what else will happen this afternoon. My sister has decided we should go to Borders and I will not say no to that!

Not surprisingly at Borders I got two books. On clearance, Unhooked and not on clearance but about the coolest sounding book of all time The Mysterious Benedict Society. Has anyone read this, it sounds amazing!

Booking Through Thursday!

What are your favourite first sentences from books? Is there a book that you liked specially because of its first sentence? Or a book, perhaps that you didn’t like but still remember simply because of the first line?

I'm horrible about remembering these kinds of things! The first one that comes to mind is from the Great Gatsby, the book I picked as my "favorite" my junior year of high school. I haven't really picked a new one since, just added more.

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

I can't recall any books I liked specially for their first line, I'm sure I've read some books that started out promising and didn't end that way. I can't remember any though!

What's your favorite first line?

Thank You's and Giveaways

Over the past few months I've been pretty lucky when it comes to blog giveaways so I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who's giveaway I've won! You have all inspired me to hold my own giveaway! I just posted it Sunday and it's been a blast! I've gotten a whole list of hilarious books to add to my wish list!

Thank you to author, Elizabeth Scott! I won Audrey, Wait in her book wish contest!

Thank you to Dominique at the Book Vault! I won a copy of The Elite!

Thank you to author, Melissa Walker! I won a copy of Secrets of My Suburban Life in her Win-It Wednesday contest!

And most recently...

Thank you to Marie, the Boston Bibliophile! Yesterday I won an ARC of Garden Spells!

In Giveaways...

A Book Blogger's Diary is having two giveaways, one at her blog, A Bookworm's Diary for Joy is the Greatest Gift and the other is for How the Other Half Hamptons (which has a pretty sweet cover!) enter both by July 31st!

Don't forget about my giveaway going on right now for Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal-Snogging. Find the details here!

Oh my it's my bedtime!

Have you won any giveaways lately?

Blog Award!

Carrie K. at Books and Movies has nominated me for this blog award! How sweet!

Here are the guidelines:

Once an award is received, the rules are as follows:

1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Nominate at least seven other blogs.
4. Add links to those blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.

Here are my nominees:

Bookroomreviews
Tracy shares my passion for not only books but tv and movies and most importantly So You Think You Can Dance!

The Page Flipper
Back from retirement, The Page Flipper is one of my favorite reviewers of YA books.

Reviewer X
Reviewer X is also another blog I turn to for YA suggestions. Very passionate reviews!

The Story Siren
I can't keep up with the Story Siren's YA reviews. She's a reading machine!

In the rules it doesn't say I can't nominate someone that already has been nominated...

J. Kaye's Book Blog
J. Kaye is also a reading machine! She's probably the most friendly blogger I have ever met!

Presenting Lenore
Lenore, like myself not only blogs about YA but other types of books as well. I love the balance!

S . Krishna's Books
S. Krishna blogs about books very similar to my taste. She's my new favorite blogger!

Summer Blowout by Claire Cook

Bella Shaughnessy works at her family salon(s) with her brother and four sisters (two of them half). And also her two stepmothers, thought we see them much less. Her over the top father runs the whole business. He's been obsessed with Italy forever even though they are of Irish ancestry. If this isn't the setup for a hilarious story I don't know what is. I immediately thought of the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and all the inter family antics.

Bella has been divorced from her ex-husband Craig for about a year now ever since, while they were separated he starting sleeping with/going out with her half-sister Sophia. This understandably creates some family tension.

At a college fair where the salon has a booth, Bella meets a man by the name of Sean Ryan who turns her onto the idea of creating beauty kits. Through this interaction they begin a friendship and maybe even more.

Now all these human characters are great, but Precious/Cannoli the dog takes the cake. I can't remember ever loving or wanting a dog this much! She has so much personality!

The story is pretty simple and straight forward. I think the book really shines when it is just Bella being herself or making observations. I love the part of the "Silly Siren" bride and family whom no one can understand when they speak. Bella is just funny!

I really enjoyed this book and definitely want to read more by author Claire Cook.

3.5/5 Stars
ARC provided by LibraryThing Early Reviewers

Violet By Design By Melissa Walker

Violet By Design is the second in this series. I'm going to try and keep it vague for people that haven't read the first book, Violet On the Runway.

Violet had quit modeling but couldn't resist a trip overseas. She did get into modeling for the travel! So Violet is off on another modeling adventure while her best friends Roger and Julie are off to college. While Violet is in Brazil she meets the young designer, Paulo. She eventually becomes the face of his campaign. They start a romance... that's all I will say on that. Violet's modeling friends, Sam and Veronica are back this time (and Veronica is less bitchy-yay). I'm not going to say anymore, no spoilers here. I'll just say I'm glad we get to see more of Violet's modeling friends getting along and especially her friend Roger! ;) I'm keeping this short, apparently blogger is going to be going down for some maintenance soon.

Melissa, there needs to be a movie if only so I can see a real live depiction of Roger!!

To read my review of the first book in the series, Violet On the Runway click here.

Violet In Private is in stores August 5th! Can't wait!

Visit Melissa Walker's blog! She recently did a blog about the making of the Violet On the Runway cover. Thanks Melissa!

4/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

Tuesday Thingers!

Bop over to the Boston Bibliophile to join in! And thanks again to Marie for the ARC of Garden Spells!

Today's topic: Recommendations. Do you use LT's recommendations feature? Have you found any good books by using it? Do you use the anti-recommendations, or the "special sauce" recommendations? How do you find out about books you want to read?

This is a feature I look at briefly every now and then and every time I scroll past it I think to myself "I need to spend more time exploring that feature". I do agree with what some people have said about how it always lists other books in a series you have some of, that's sort of a given, we know about those already.

How do I find out about books I want to read? Everywhere! Mostly blogs these days. I used to look at the Amazon 100 Best Sellers a lot but not so much anymore with all the wonderful blogs out there! I do like the Amazon recommendations feature though.

Where do you get book recommendations?

The Watercooler Effect by Nicholas DiFonzo

The Watercooler Effect explores the idea of rumors from multiple angles. I'm sure we have all had some sort of experience with rumors but it's really nice to see the idea of a rumor laid out in front of you. I've never thought about rumors in such detail but really enjoyed this exploration.

We learn about how and why rumors start. The difference between rumor, gossip, and urban legends. The personal gain of passing on a rumor in your social circle and how rumors can be successfully snuffed out among other things.

Some of his examples of rumors I had never heard about and others I had. I really enjoyed reading the urban legend section. He talks about how people rather believe something even if it may not true than risk the consequences if they do happen to be true. I very easily identified with this. What parent wouldn't rather keep their child home from school for one day then risk the rumor of a child bring a gun to school being true.

Reading the study results was also interesting. I'm not sure exactly how it would have worked but some nice graphics of some of the different concepts would have helped me retain the information even better.

I liked the use of examples in this book, they help me remember information better then just plain facts. I was expecting them to be more flushed out, longer examples like those in The Tipping Point, Blink and Freakonomics. I like how those books frame the information inside an example more so then use smaller examples to illustrate the information within the text.

I think fans of Malcom Galdwell's work and Freakonomics would enjoy this book.

Watch for The Watercooler Effect in stores in September.

What's your favorite book that explores one subject matter in great detail?

3/5 Stars
Manuscript provided by publisher

GIVEAWAY! Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging

Do you guys remember me raving about Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison about two weeks ago? Well I liked it so much and it was so hilarious I went out and hunted down another copy to share with one of you guys!

So here's how it's going to work:
Leave a comment on this post telling me the funniest book you have read this summer!

For one additional entry, blog about this giveaway and leave the link in the comments here.

Open to residents of the US only. Sorry everyone else, I still love you!

Please leave your email address in your comment so I will be able to contact you if you are the winner. :)

The giveaway will end Saturday August 2nd at 11:59 PM Central Time. (That's the day Breaking Dawn is released!)

For anyone picky like me when it comes to books here are some condition notes: I bought this book new from Half Price Books but it has that black mark on it's underside and a couple little pokes in the cover like a staple was sitting on it! I found the best of what they had. That's where I got mine too! So it's not perfect but it's pretty good! It also doesn't have that "Extras Inside" feature.

Comment away, I look forward to hearing about all the books that are making you guys laugh this summer!

This Week In Books Or How I Accidently Went To A Half Price Books Tent Sale

I really didn't intend to go to a Half Price Books Tent Sale. I was just there like I normally am and they happened to be having a tent sale. I couldn't not go out to the parking lot. I had never been to one! And to be fair only that right pile is from the tent sale. I had been wanting to do a week in books post for awhile now and thought this would be the perfect time.

So let's see:

Normally priced Half Price Books books (Left pile, top six)- Lenore pointed out the book The Myth of You & Me about a week or so ago in the comments of Melissa Walker's post about Best Friend Breakups . Some other new releases mostly YA and a book about books! This was my original intent in going to HPB, after returning the Tent Sale books to the car we went back into the store.

New independent bookstore (Left pile, next two)- Today was their grand opening, big article in Friday's newspaper. I bought The Overachievers and got a "free classic" (Wuthering Heights).

ARCS (Left pile, next three)- Librarything's Early Reviewer's Summer Blowout, which I am reading right now, 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth, and The No Complaining Rule (thanks J. Kaye!)

Bookmooch (Left pile, bottom four)- Freakonomics what! I love that book, I only got to read half of it about a year ago before having to return it to the library.


Half Price Books Tent Sale Books- Flowers in the Attic, Melissa Walker talked about this "classic" in her vlog on YA New York this week, I feel really bad, I mooched a copy yesterday and found this one today so I canceled it! :( A hardcover copy of Nick and Norah's Playlist for a dollar! what!!

I also bought several books I had already, that were better copies or paperbacks so i could swap out my big hardcovers! So I gave my bookmooch inventory a nice bulk up today.

I also got a few things for some giveaways! So look for the first any day now!

What book(s) did you buy this week that you probably shouldn't have?

Booking Through Thursday

Do you buy books while on vacation/holiday? Do you have favorite bookstores that you only get to visit while away on a trip? What/where are they?

LOL. I actually sort of answered this last week for Tuesday Thingers but that's ok! I'm a serious book shopper while on vacation. Books are souvenirs to me. I always pack light because I know I'll be coming home with books. That doesn't stop me from bringing several with me as well.

About two years ago when I went to visit my grandparents on the east coast and go on a two week vacation to Delaware I managed to buy, I kid you not 18 books. There may have been more! I hid them under my bed so my parents never knew how many I had actually purchased. My sister knew though and rolled her eyes at me several times. A lot of the books came from this great used book store called The Book Alcove, I now go their every time I visit my grandparents. They have the BEST selection I've ever seen in a used bookstore and the best prices too. That summer I believe I went there 2-3 times in a matter of a few weeks.

I went to London several years ago to study abroad for a month. I thought my suitcase was going to be overweight because... you guessed it I bought books. Really nice, big, heavy, museum books! I got some absolutely fabulous books there.

Last year while visiting my grandparents (and going to The Book Alcove) we visited a friend in Baltimore. I had done my research and knew that Atomic Books was close by. We all went, I bought a stack of comics and zines, my grandpa got a magazine, and my friend a book. Great, great times. My dad knew how very excited I was that he gave me some cash so I could get even more things! Now that I have a REAL job that probably will not be happening anymore... haha!

This past weekend I was on a mini vacation for a wedding and my friend took me by two bookstores, the one we really wanted to go into was closed. I settled for a magazine ;)

Where/what is your favorite vacation bookstore spot?

The Heartbreak Diet by Thornia Rose

The Heartbreak Diet is the memoir of a woman who's husband begins an affair that eventually separates them. They also have two children together. It is told in the format of a graphic novel.

You'd think due to the subject matter this would be depressing. In fact, what sold me on reading this was the format. I love graphic novels but usually try to avoid this sort of subject matter, it just makes me sad. I'm very glad I decided to read it. Rose has a great sense of humor about her life. She goes back and tells the story of how she and her husband met and formed a family. She also takes us through her healing process and the fun times with her children. I loved this book. Throughout the book are "Words of Wise Women" with great illustrations of famous women.

The graphic novel format is relatively quick to get through but I love how she broke her story up into different sections, like by day of the week or coping mechanism. Her illustrations are beautiful as well. There is a great amount of detail in them. I have a very large respect for cartoonists. It looks like she draws with an ink brush of some sort. If you mess up you have to start over! That is very tedious!

I think this book would be great for anyone that is the least bit curious about graphic novels. There are no superheros, zombies, or talking animals. It's a story we can all identify with and would be a great introduction into the genre.

I will definitely be reading this over and over again. Rose mixes real life situations with a great humor for life.

4.5/5 Stars
Review copy provided by publisher

Do you read graphic novels? If yes, what is your favorite? If no, do you plan to?

Violet On The Runway by Melissa Walker

Violet on the Runway is the story of Violet Greenfield. She's very very tall and very thin and because of this insecure. One day while working at her local movie theatre (I would love that job!) Violet is discovered by Angela Blythe of Tryst Models. This begins her whirlwind journey into modeling in New York City.

I really enjoyed this book. You get to put yourself in the shoes of someone realizing every girl's fantasy. What would it be like to become a model in New York City? I really looked forward to enjoying the luxurious life with Violet, being pampered and fussed over and going out on the town. I also liked the pop culture references. I just started reading the next book in the series, Violet By Design. Violet reveals that her "public" favorite movie is The Royal Tenenbaums! That is my favorite movie!

I did miss Violet's friends Julie and Roger (I think I have a crush on him!) while she was away in New York and lost touch with them. Eventually they find each other again and for that I was very glad. I wanted to pinch Violet but nobody is perfect and she soon realizes her mistake.

I really liked watching Violet grown into a young adult. She learns a lot through her experiences. Not everything she encounters in the modeling world is a dream come true. But Violet handles it and becomes a better person for it. She also becomes a more confident person that can stand up for herself.

Violet on the Runway is the first in a series of 3 currently. I'm always extra attracted to books that are part of a series. I really like getting to know a character on a larger level than just one book.

I love the cover designs of her books. The color palettes are beautiful and the pictures are really fun but still leave a little to the imagination!

Visit Melissa Walker's awesome blog! Tomorrow is Win-It Wednesday!

Also watch for Violet In Private in stores August 5th!

4/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

Tuesday Thingers!

Today's topic: Book-swapping. Do you do it? What site(s) do you use? How did you find out about them? What do you think of them? Do you use LT's book-swapping column feature for information on what to swap? Do you participate in any of the LT communities that discuss bookswapping, like the Bookmooch group for example?

I totally do it! I joined Bookmooch in October of 2007. I started very slowly adding only a book or two at a time and right now I'm the most active I have ever been there. I haven't tried any of the other sites, Bookmooch is working for me right now so I think I will stay there. I have no idea how I found out about the site it could quite possibly be through the link on Librarything. I know I had heard of it long before I actually joined. I never had anything to give away though.

I think around the time Bookmooch was created I was busy giving away a few bags of books to Half Price Books. How I wish I knew about it back then, I would much rather put them on Bookmooch and give them to people that wanted them (and get books in return) than take them to a bookstore that will do whatever they want with them.

So far I haven't really had any bad experiences with Bookmooch. It seems like a lot of people go into it and list a ton of books and then have to go send them all out when they get mooched right away. I slowly gave away one every once in and awhile. I kinda liked it that way.

I used to look at the Librarything book swapping column before I actually joined Bookmooch, to see what I was missing. But since then I really don't pay attention to it. I rather just look at my wishlist or search right in Bookmooch. I am a member of the Bookmooch group on Librarything. I have asked several questions and everyone has been so very helpful!

A great deal of my books I've listed on bookmooch are library sale finds of books I already have. Slowly, I've been better about actually getting rid of my own books, it's just so hard!

Visit my profile here and my inventory here! Let's be friends :) A lot of the books currently in my inventory are my sister's. She's eagerly awaiting her first mooch request :)

I actually got two smooches a few weeks back and that really got me going big time. I started getting more mooch requests around the same time. It's been a very fun time!

In the last month I've mooched:
Coffee and Kung Fu
Towelhead
The Man of My Dreams
Forever
Thirteen Reasons Why
The Market
The Boyfriend List

and have Freakonomics and We Thought You'd Be Prettier on the way!

I think it's also helped to bulk up my wishlist. For the longest time I had like 40 books on my list. Really expensive nice graphic design books that of course no one would give away. I think I'm around 130 now. It's nice to actually see books available. I was very used to never ever seeing anything available.

Do you use bookmooch? What's the most exciting thing you have mooched?

Booking Through Thursday

What would you do if, all of a sudden, your favorite source of books was unavailable?

Whether it’s a local book shop, your town library, or an internet shop … what would you do if, suddenly, they were out of business? Devastatingly, and with no warning? Where would you go for books instead? What would you do? If it was a local business you would try to help out the owners? Would you just calmly start buying from some other store? Visit the library in the next town instead? Would it be devastating? Or just a blip in your reading habit?

I think I would be ok. Bummed for awhile but ok in the long run. The reason for that is because I spread out my buying between a lot of different places: Borders, Half Price Books, Amazon, random other stores. Now if two of these were gone, then we might have a problem. I think I would be sad if Borders was gone (or eaten up by B&N) I'm really fond of their weekly coupons and Borders Rewards program and that's the nearest bookstore to me. I have walked there.

I'd be sad if our library was gone because it's very nice. I really doubt that it would ever happen in this lifetime because it's the main branch and people have their weddings in the building the library is in for goodness sake!

What would really make me upset is if I was unable to get a discounted price from any store. I feel better about my buying habit when I know I'm getting a discount, even if it's just a few dollars. If I was forced to pay full price I would probably buy much less. And I would be very sad.

I think that if my favorite store was an independent store and it went out of business that I'd be pretty upset. Since it would be a one of a kind store. I guess maybe it's good that's not the case. I'd probably talk about it for years and years.

Tuesday Thingers!

Since we're past the Fourth of July and the summer season has officially started, what are your plans for the summer? Vacations, trips? Trips that involve reading? Reading plans? If you're going somewhere, do you do any reading to prepare? Do you read local literature as part of your trip? Have you thought about using the LT Local feature to help plan your book-buying?

My plans for the summer are to work. I started my first "real" job about five months ago. What I am looking forward to this summer are the releases of Breaking Dawn and Violet In Private. My reading plans include reading those two books, and cross my fingers a lot of the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series (which means I should start buying them, but i shouldn't because i have nowhere to put them, and i don't want to check them out from the library because I'm supposed to be reading books from my big TBR pile!) and tons of other things!

When I do go on trips I usually try and scout out interesting and unique bookstores or libraries to visit (along with art museums) Sometimes I'll scream and point from the car forcing my family to turn around so I can go into an amazing looking store we've just passed! While my sister is shopping for clothes I'm shopping for books.

I think the Librarything Local feature would help a lot next time I go on a trip. When I went to the UK for a month I believe I did some research before and during the trip about sights to see. I'll usually look at the displays of local books but never usually buy anything from them. I did get two tiki books in Hawaii though (pretty sure I could have gotten them anywhere though)

Some of my favorite bookstores around the country include... The Book Alcove, somewhere in Maryland, great used bookstore for a cheap price. Atomic Books in Baltimore, Maryland comics and zine heaven. The Borders Express stores on Maui (after all the nature I needed something familiar to bond with!) The Atlantic Bookstores on the east coast (our location closed about a year ago) all the bookstores in Bethany Beach Delaware. If you can't tell bookstores are where I get my souvenirs!

What was your favorite bookstore you visited while on vacation?

Who's been to Powell's cause I want to go there so very badly! A friend gave me their map/flyer once and I just about passed out!

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

Now I just said Audrey, Wait! was hilarious but this is also hilarious! A different kind of hilarious.

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging is the first of nine (so far) in Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series. It's basically Georgia's diary we are reading. This book starts right before Georgia is to return to school. She's 13/14 years old. She has a crazy cat named Angus and a little sister named Libby who may have peed somewhere in her room. At first I thought it would be a sweet read made for maybe junior high readers. But it was hilarious, just hilarious! I'm ready to read all the rest of the books now! Georgia and her friend Jas get into some hilarious situations along with their other friends and frienemies! I just adore this book!

This series takes place in the UK so there may be some words Americans are not familiar with. Georgia has provided us with a hilarious glossary in the back of the book. I think the difference in language allows for new laughs that we haven't seen overused in American books.

The books were originally released with different, cartoony covers. These new covers are so very beautiful in my opinion. The color palette and photography work together magically. Check out most of them here.

What series are you hoping to read more of this summer?

4/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway

Audrey, Wait! is the story of a normal girl that breaks up with her boyfriend who just happens to be in a band. Next thing she knows he's written a song about her, it ends up on the radio and catches like wildfire all over the country and world! Audrey becomes an unwilling celebrity and this is her journey.

I had heard tons of good things about this book and it did not disappoint. This book was hilarious but with a strong heart. I'm in love with this style of writing, hilarious and full of popular culture references and asides. It reminds me a bit of the style of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist which I also adored. Audrey's cat, Bendomolena cracked me up every time she was mentioned. I want to be friends with Audrey, James, Victoria, and Jonah. I only wish I was as cool as them when I was in high school.

Each chapter is headed with a song quote. Which makes a great soundtrack for reading this book! A good portion of the musicians I recognized but I didn't begin to appreciate this type of music until I started college. But thank goodness I did!

This is the most beautiful cover I have seen in a long time. I actually looked up the design firm, Rodrigo Corral Design. He has done tons and tons of book covers and jackets including James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. All I want to know is Sir, how can I get your job!

Thanks to author Elizabeth Scott! I won this book in her last book wish contest!

4/5 Stars

A New Dawn: Your Favorite Authors on Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series edited by Ellen Hopkins

Well I guess I was on a mini anthology kick here! Listen up all Twilight fans, this will get you through the final month up until Breaking Dawn's release!

I happened to be in Borders one Saturday, like most weekends! and the Special Edition of Eclipse had just come out. There was a big display right in the front entrance that included the Special Edition of Eclipse, the paperback of New Moon and this book. Definitely an impulse buy but it was well worth it!

Classics lovers with love some of the essays that go into comparisons with Romeo & Juliet, Dracula, and Pride and Prejudice among others. I really enjoyed the tour of Forks, Washington, the battle between Edward and Jacob as the best boyfriend for Bella, the history of vampires and the history of werewolves. As you can tell I pretty much liked this whole anthology!

I think some of my lesser favorites dealt with Edward: sociopath or not? and two fan girls debating with two scholars. Another thing that was just slightly off putting was several of the authors explaining how they didn't want to read these books at first and then finally they did and they liked it. I guess I went through that myself but it's not really something I'd be proud to mention! It sort of made me wonder if they should be writing essays for this book.

Does anyone have any ideas about what is going on, on the cover? I'm not really making the connection. I swear I see a faded scar on the girl's hand, either that or some sort of printers error. Is that supposed to be Bella? I'm not sure I'm buying that...

Overall, I really enjoyed this anthology. I'm surprised more people haven't talked about this book. I wonder if because it's a "Borders exclusive" some people don't have access to it.

Are you a fan of the Twilight series, and if so do you have Breaking Dawn pre-ordered?

I'm dragging my sister to the midnight release! Who knows when the next one of those will ever be! I thought I'd never get to partake in that kind of excitement after the last Harry Potter book was released!

3.5/5 Stars
Purchased by myself

Have I Got A Guy For You- Edited by Alix Strauss

Have I Got A Guy For You: What Really Happens When Mom Fixed You Up is a anthology of 27 stories of woman and their mothers who set them up on blind dates.

It's hard to give a summary since this is a anthology. So let's see some of my favorites involved Hindu Matrimonials, "Cousins", the Perfect Son In Law, and a live-action game of Dungeons and Dragons. For the most part this was a good natured look at blind dating. It was funny!

Most of these matches end up in mismatches. But I found myself hoping that something good would come from these blind dates and in a few cases something did! Most of these mothers had their daughters best intentions in mind so it made the stories more lighthearted and loving.

It seemed like a large group of friends got together to contribute to this and a good number of them happened to be Jewish and live in New York, nothing wrong with that but it was definitely a theme throughout.

Reading these all in a row could get a little bit repetitive but at the same time anthologies are nice because you can set them down and pick them back up without losing your place. This is one of the many reasons I love anthologies. I read several stories a day for maybe 3 or 4 days.

I love love love anthologies. The idea of look at one subject (be it vague or specific) from multiple angles introduces you to many new and exciting ways of looking at a subject. And also getting to sample a bunch of different authors at the same time! I still need to go back to this one and look up some of the authors other works. (There are great bios in the back) I love that anthologies have the potential to lead you to your new favorite author.

What's your favorite anthology?

Thanks to J. Kaye for featuring this book on her blog.
3/5 Stars
Review copy provided by publisher