Technical Difficulties

My computer is having the holiday blues and doesn't want to perform to the high standards that I usually hold it to. Therefore, with the many crashes and memory spasms preventing extended periods of use, the blog is on hiatus until the actual cause can be determined and fixed. 

Wish us luck!

"Waiting on" Wednesday: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are barely able to restrain our enthusiasm for.

My pick this week is Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler due out December 27, 2011 by Little, Brown.

Summary from Goodreads:

I'm telling you why we broke up, Ed. I'm writing it in this letter, the whole truth of why it happened.

Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped.

My Thoughts:

I hadn't really thought of putting this on my WoW radar because I had read one of the Series of Unfortunate Events books and was less than impressed. So with that in the forefront of my mind the first time I came across this title I just disregarded it. However, upon one of my library co-workers (who also reviews books professionally) saying that it was a really, really good read and right up my alley I decided to turn my radar back to it and am now anticipating it's release.

So, tell me, what are you waiting on?

Teaser Tuesday (11/15/11)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! 

My teaser:


"Prospero the Enchanter uses a pocket knife to slit his daughter's fingertips open, one by one, watching wordlessly as she cries until calm enough to heal them, drips of blood slowly creeping backward. 
The skin melds together, swirls of finger print ridges finding one another again, closing solidly once more."


The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, pg. 28 

Are You Listening? Audiobook review: The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) by Patrick Ness

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness


The Scoop:


On New World, in the town of Prentisstown, Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. But Prentisstown isn’t like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts (including animals) in an overwhelming, constant stream of Noise. Just a month before the birthday that makes Todd a man, he and his faithful dog, Manchee, whose simple, loyal voice he also hears happen upon an area of complete silence. While Todd tries to keep thoughts of the silence out of his Noise he fails. He knows that the silence is part of an even larger secret the powerful men of Prentisstown are trying to hide from him and ends up on the run from them with only Manchee as his companion. Todd and Manchee return to the location where they first heard nothing and the two stumble upon the strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn't she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? They convince her they mean no harm and encourage her to join their escape. And, so, Todd, Manchee and Viola must try and escape from their pursuers who can hear their every thoughts.

In My Mailbox (7)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme started by The Story Siren where bloggers share what books we have either received or purchased that week.

I got a great haul from the library over the past few weeks (and a couple of excellent new release purchases). Way more than I should have and will probably get through. I think I'm starting to show signs of a library book hoarder--although I do tend to return them if I don't get them read after 2 renewals. 

Purchased:

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (and autographed, too!)

Crossed (Matched #2) by Ally Condie

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

From the library:

Amplified by Tara Kelly

Entwined by Heather Dixon

Sweet Venom (Medusa Girls #1) by Tera Lynn Childs

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Girls Don't Fly by Kristen Chandler

Between the Sea and Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore

Past Perfect by Leila Sales

Unearthly (Unearthly #1) by Cynthia Hand

The Juliet Spell by Douglas Rees

Pure Red by Danielle Joseph

So, tell me, what's in your mailbox?

Teaser Tuesday (11/8/11)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! 

I have to double my teasers today because I finished one book that had such a fun tease in it before Tuesday came around. And, then, I also feel obligated to put in a tease for the book I'm actually reading. The rules do say to "grab your current read" and I wouldn't want to be accused of breaking any rules. ;)

Teaser #1:

"I took the trouble to secure Jack's other possessions and those, along with my clothing and jewel case, present a heavy burden. But I am certainly not going to carry anything. He is the man, and I am the princess."

A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn, pg. 102

Teaser #2:

"Though I was sure the Red Cross would show up soon, I still couldn't help wondering which of us would get eaten first if it actually came down to that. I decided quickly on Chaz, as he was both meaty and dispensable. Then I realized that with those criteria, I'd be dinner the following night."

Are You Going to Kiss Me Now? by Sloane Tanen, pg. 123

"Waiting on" Wednesday: The Queen of Kentucky by Alecia Whitaker

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are barely able to restrain our enthusiasm for.

My pick this week is The Queen of Kentucky by Alecia Whataker due out January 2, 2012 by Poppy.

Summary from Goodreads:

Fourteen-year-old Kentucky girl Ricki Jo Winstead, who would preferred to be called Ericka, thank you very much, is eager to shed her farmer's daughter roots and become part of the popular crowd at her small town high school. She trades her Bible for Seventeen magazine, buys new "sophisticated" clothes and somehow manages to secure a tenuous spot at the cool kids table. She's on top of the world, even though her best friend and the boy next door Luke says he misses "plain old Ricki Jo."


Caught between being a country girl and wannabe country club girl, Ricki Jo begins to forget who she truly is: someone who doesn't care what people think and who wouldn't let a good-looking guy walk all over her. It takes a serious incident out on Luke's farm for Ricki Jo to realize that being a true friend is more important than being popular.

My thoughts:

Just like my anticipation for Miranda Kenneally's Catching Jordan, I think my desire to read this book stems from my completion and absolute love for Catherine Gilbert Murdock's Dairy Queen series with its milkmaid/football-and-basketball phenom, DJ Schwenk. However, opposite to DJ and her story, I think this book will take the down-home, naive and humble aspects of Ricki Jo's persona, wratchet them up to the point where Ricki Jo becomes possibly unlikable and then bring her back down to earth to where she is ultimately supposed to find her place in the world (I'm thinking not of a book comparison here but of movies like Mean Girls and Clueless--which I loved--and other books and movies of that ilk). Those are the books that always make me feel good after finishing them. The ones that show the main character the (possibly negative) potentiality of what they are striving for all the while teaching them the lesson that maybe what they had wasn't so bad after all. Ah, good old-fashioned teen cliches. Gotta love 'em!

Teaser Tuesday (11/1/11)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! 

Well, it's been a long and busy week (Halloween parties take a lot of planning and prep--let me tell you) with little time left for reading so I'm STILL plugging away (quite happily, though) on the final book in Catherine Gilbert Murdock's Dairy Queen series.


My teaser:
"By the time we finished it was already time for afternoon milking, which Aaron quote-unquote helped with, which meant making Bill and me laugh our guts out while we did the actual work. The cows just flicked their ears like they'd heard all his jokes before. Once I couldn't help myself and squirted Aaron with milk, and Mark Donohue kicked me to teach me a lesson about fooling around with her own personal mammary glands."


Front and Center (Dairy Queen #3) by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, pg 138. 

What's New in YA--November 2011

Happy Turkey month, everybody! It's a brand new month and the start of the holiday season that brings us to the end of the year. That means there are brand new books to look forward to! Well, ok, there's brand new books to look forward to all the time but I'm one for the big picture and what's bigger than a month (I know, I know, a year, a decade, a millenium but I can only handle so much)? So, on a small scale, I love being prepared (no, was never a boy scout) and this lets me compile a list of what I can look forward to in the exciting world of YA literature for the coming month. And I'm here to share my preparedness with you. Each title is linked to goodreads.com.


01
Crossed (Matched #2) by Ally Condie
Playground by Fifty Cent
Dark Eden by Patrick Carman
Last Breath (Morganville Vampires #11) by Rachel Caine
Reckoning (Strange Angels #5) by Lili St. Crow
The Outcasts (Brotherband Chronicles #1) by John Flanagan
Tiger's Voyage (Tiger Saga #3) by Colleen Houck
Darker Still (Magic Most Foul #1) by Leanna Renee Heiber
Cinder and Ella by Melissa Lemon
Liar's Moon (Thief Errant #2) by Elizabeth C. Bunce


07
The Daughters Join the Party (Daughters #4) by Joanna Philbin



08
Inheritance (Inheritance #4) by Christopher Paolini
Faking Faith by Josie Bloss
Little Women and Me by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Prized (Birthmarked #2) by Caragh M. O'Brien
The Sharp Time by Mary O'Connell


15
Also Known as Rowan Pohi by Ralph Fletcher
Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1) by Tahereh Mafil
Wherever You Go by Heather Davis
The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff
The Pledge (The Pledge #1) by Kimberly Derting
Lightbringer by K. D. McEntire
Death Watch (The Undertaken #1) by Ari Berk


21
The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler


29
Legend (Legend #1) by Marie Hu
Kiss of Frost (Mythos Academy #2) by Jennifer Estep