Best Book Trailer I've Ever Seen.

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Chaos:: So I was trollin' around and, well, since I had read Immortal City by Scott Speer I went on to find out more about the sequel. Then there it was! The book trailer! BEST ONE I HAVE EVER SEEN! I guess it's kind of cheating since the author is a -director- and is dating Ashley Tisdale *fangirls* but it's GOOD! So here it is, the book trailer to Immortal City....maybe this will convince most of you to go read it......BUT before you buy, borrow, or whatever, go check out my review from before *points up* the red words will redirect you to the page just by giving it a quick click ^_^  *points below* Go ahead and oggle the cover. It's gorgeous. 


SEQUEL Releases in April 2013 by Razorbill

A Review of 'My Name is Memory' by Ann Brashares

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"Lucy is an ordinary girl growing up in the Virginia suburbs, soon to head off to college.  On the night of her last high school dance, she hopes her elusive crush, Daniel Grey, will finally notice her.  But as the night unfolds, Lucy discovers that Daniel is more complicated than she imagined.  Why does he call her Sophia?  And why does he make her feel so strange?

The secret is that Daniel has 'the memory,' the ability to recall past lives and recognize the souls of those he's previously known.  And he has spent centuries falling in love with the same girl.  Life after reincarnated life, spanning continents and dynasties, he and Sophia have been drawn together, and then torn painfully apart-- a love always too short.  And he remembers it all.  Ultimately the two of them must come to understand what stands in the way of their love if they are to reach their true happy ending."

I love Ann Brashares to death.  I was laughing and crying through The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Sisterhood Everlasting, so I was hoping for this book to be just as nice of a read as those ones.  Brashares is truly meant to be writing romantic stories, so that really shone through in this book, but I still found My Name is Memory to be rather disappointing, compared to her other works.

I was really hoping that Daniel would change more as a character.  I mean, he's been reincarnated a number of times and in a variety of places to grow up from Ancient Turkey to Athens, to England, to Virginia, etc.  He's had families who loved him so dearly and ones who just couldn't care less.  It seems throughout the book that the only thing that changes about Daniel is his memory as he acquires new memories.  It was really disappointing to find that in almost all of his lives (whenever he reached an old enough age), he was always a doctor.  Sure, it's nice to do something familiar, but wouldn't that get boring if you became a doctor five to ten lives in a row?  I realize that Daniel is a complicated character to write, but I was still disappointed.  I didn't care for him as a character.  I didn't really feel the connection between Daniel and Lucy until the end of the book.  I felt it more in Daniel and Constance.

I didn't like that Brashares went through all of Daniel's lives.  It came to a point where I was constantly trying to scramble to connect where Daniel left off, how that will eventually connect to his future and "Sophia's" future as well.  Then after a while, it just got plain boring as Daniel kept finding Sophia, not getting together with her, and dying.  Again and again and again.  These things would have been more interesting if they were shortened or even edited out.

Let me transition to more positive things.

I really liked the cover!  This was a big reason that I picked up the book in the first place.

I also thought Lucy was a decent character.  I preferred it when she didn't know about the transference of souls, but at the same time, I thought it was cool that she was able to figure out who she was in the past.  For me, that would be really interesting to find out.  The story was a lot more interesting when told through the point of view of Lucy (or Sophia).

I also really enjoyed the ending.  That's where everything picked up.  The story transitioned from what felt like a couple hundred pages of explanation to being chased by someone who was incredibly jealous.  Just getting away from this guy (whom Daniel was brothers with in a past life) was kind of exciting.

Overall, this is an okay book.  I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Ann Brashares and also anyone who is in the mood to read something even remotely romantic.

I give 'My Name Is Memory':
Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

P.S. I'll make sure to finish my reviews before posting them next time... my changes must not have saved or something like that.

A Review of 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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"Today, F. Scott Fitzgerald is known for his novels, but in his lifetime, his fame stemmed from his prolific achievement as one of America's most gifted story writers.  'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,' a witty and fantastical satire about aging, is one of his most memorable stories.

In 1860 Benjamin button is born an old man and mysteriously being aging backward.  At the beginning of his life he is withered and worn, but as he continues to grow younger he embraces life-- he goes to war, runs a business, falls in love, has children, goes to college and prep school, and, as his mind begins to devolve, he attends kindergarten and eventually returns to the care of his nurse.

This strange and haunting story embodies the sharp social insight that has made Fitzgerald one of the great voices in the history of American literature."

This book just got sadder and sadder as I read through it.  Since it's only a fifty-two page book, that's a lot of sad in a short amount of time.  I watched the film version of Benjamin Button prior to reading this and though I watched it a while ago, I still don't remember there being this much downtrodden-ness.  I suppose that I should get to the actual review.  I'll start with the things that bothered me so that we can end on a positive note.

One thing that really bothered me was how harsh everyone was with each other.  Right away in the book, upon Benjamin's birth, he's not that well-liked because he's old and sassy-- everything that a newborn ought not to be.  His father is just rough with him from the get-go over something that neither he nor Benjamin has any control over: how Benjamin was born.  Later in the book, after Benjamin has gotten younger, he meets and marries his wife, which is great.  But once she gets older and Benjamin continues to age backwards, he fails to remain attracted to her and he essentially throws her aside.  That is maddening to me.  I can only imagine what Benjamin's wife, Hildegarde, is thinking and feeling as Benjamin stops caring about her and goes off to water and later to join the Yale football team.  He even has a son!  How does he just go off and do these things?  If I were Hildegarde, I'd just be peeved.  But probably something stronger.

When Benjamin becomes too young to take care of himself, he moves in with his son, Roscoe, who is also very rough with him.  The story comes full circle as Roscoe angrily implores why his father doesn't stop pretending.  I wanted to slap Roscoe.  You'd think that after spending any amount of time with his father, he'd realize that he's not making this way of being up.  What a stupid git...

This book was also sad because it made me realize how similar birth and death is and how life is so circular. One day you're not there then suddenly you're in existence.  When you die, you're there, then you're not.  You're so helpless at the beginning and end of your life.  You need to be taken care of, whether you like it or not.  I can imagine that when you're at an old age and you suddenly need to be taken care of like a child again that this is very frustrating.  Especially after you're so used to taking care of yourself.

I hope that I don't grow that old...

Overall, this book was terribly depressing and aggravating, but it still managed to evoke a reaction out of me, so that must mean that something was working for me on some level.

I give 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button':
Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

A Review of 'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak

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“Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau. This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.”
I first reviewed this book in December 2010, but I've recently picked it up for a second read (because I'm taking a Literature for Young Adults class and this was my first homework assignment.  My first class meeting was 6 February).  When I initially reviewed it, it had been a while since I had read it first (two years, maybe) and upon re-reading my own review, I realized that it really doesn't do the book justice, despite the positive review.  So here I am again, writing this review.  I hope that my writing has improved a little bit since 2010.

This was indeed a Christmas present many years ago from my Nani and it has since become one of my absolute favorite reads.  The interesting thing about this book is that you only need to read it once in order for it to stick with you.  Not that one read will ever be enough in a lifetime, I mean, look at me, re-reviewing this after another read-through!

One of the strong points in the novel is the characters.  I love that Zusak takes the time and gives each character a personality so distinct from all of the other characters.  Like, there's one character, Pfiffikus, who is rather vulgar and whistles a lot.  He's not a particularly important character in the novel, but characters like Pfiffikus add color to the pages and it's absolutely wonderful.

Liesel and Rudy are two characters I fell in love with.  I love how Liesel feels about books and words and it made me so proud that she put so much work and effort into learning how to read just so that she could understand.  I love how Rudy, while he is very much a typical boy, is also atypical in some ways.  He's a normal boy in that he picks on Liesel (because he likes her) but then he's not so normal because he's so open about his affections for Liesel.  He begs and bargains for her kiss for years.

I'm still giddy with excitement when I remember that the narrator of the novel is Death.  I think that I was able to get more out of what Death was saying, but I also came up with twice as many questions (which is great, because I hope to teach this book in my classroom someday).  It's such an interesting choice for a narrator and his (her?) voice is just wonderful.  I think it was a good choice.  It would have been nice to hear a little bit more from Liesel, but I can't bring myself to be angry or disappointed by the decision to make Death the narrator.  It just fits!

The story itself is just wonderful in general.  Until you get to the ending... then it's just devastating.  But that's a sign of a great book I think: one that makes you feel as the main character does.  And that's exactly what I got out of 'The Book Thief.'

This is a great book if you're a fan of fiction related to World War II, partcularly in Nazi Germany.  It's also good if you're a fan of words or are just looking for something profound to read.

I give 'The Book Thief':
Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

Happy Valentine's Day!

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"Valentine's Day sucks."  "Forever Alone."  "I hate Valentine's Day."

In third grade, I had a crush on this boy in my class.  He had dark hair, had a bigger build, spoke Spanish when he thought no one was listening, and his desk was right across from mine.  I thought he was cute!  I decided to make a card for him.  But not just any old card.  No.  I decided to make a fateful card that would be given to him on that fateful day in third grade.  A Secret Admirer Card.  (Dun dun duuun....).  I was going to day care at my grandma's house at the time and she liked to make cards, so I used some of her supplies.  I made a card with a hedgehog on it.  I punched out hearts, I colored in the hedgehog I stamped on the front, I wrote in awkward cursive:
Dear C,May your day be full of surprises!Love,Your Secret AdmirerI thought I was being poetic.  I was proud of myself.  I kept the card in my folder and made absolute sure that I remembered to take it with me when I went to school.  I handed out my Valentine's to everyone in the class, C included, and then I got my teacher to help me distract C so that I could put my special card in his bag.  Her plan worked and surprisingly, no one saw me.
We all dumped out our bags and started looking through all of our Valentine's, sifting through the candy and colorful pieces of paper.  He spotted my envelope.  It was not like the other Valentine's in his bag.  He slit open the envelope and read the card out loud with a group of his friends.  (I felt stupid as he read it out loud... I hated what I wrote in the card, but I knew it was too late).  His friends were laughing at him as he frantically tried to figure out who had sent him this card.  He accused the girl next to me, LT, but she was adamant that this card wasn't from her.  They had seen her write in cursive, but they hadn't seen me.
At the end of the day, the mystery still wasn't solved.  I was so excited, I just had to tell him.  I pulled him aside and said, "C, I sent The Note."  He nodded at this and walked away.  A week or two later, I decided that I wanted a response, so when I told him again (I'm so stupid) he said, "I don't want girls to like me."  He walked away.  I broke down in tears.

From third grade to eighth grade, he avoided me whenever he possibly could.  When I'd sit next to him, he'd switch seats.  When it came to choosing a high school, we were initially going to the same school, but I'm convinced that he switched schools when he realized we would be in the same building for another four years.

First crushes suck...

Fast forward to October of ninth grade.  I meet this neat guy.  He has brown hair, he's freakishly tall, he's a talented artist and he folds a lot of airplanes.  I ask him to Sadie Hawkins.  He said 'yes.'  Two months later, he asks me out.  I said 'yes.'  Over four years later, we're still going very strong!  I foresee a long future ahead of us.  Valentine's Day is no longer a traumatic time for me (I'm using 'traumatic' loosely here) and it's actually one of my favorite days of the year!  I couldn't be happier to have found my special someone :)

So no matter if you've found The One, are still looking around, or have no interest whatsoever in this kind of thing and whether you like this day or not, I wish you a Happy Valentine's Day!  It's a day to celebrate those you love, so go remind those you love (family, friends, etc.) that you're thinking about them!

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

A Review of 'My Name is Memory' by Ann Brashares

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"Lucy is an ordinary girl growing up in the Virginia suburbs, soon to head off to college.  On the night of her last high school dance, she hopes her elusive crush, Daniel Grey, will finally notice her.  But as the night unfolds, Lucy discovers that Daniel is more complicated than she imagined.  Why does he call her Sophia?  And why does he make her feel so strange?

The secret is that Daniel has 'the memory,' the ability to recall past lives and recognize the souls of those he's previously known.  And he has spent centuries falling in love with the same girl.  Life after reincarnated life, spanning continents and dynasties, he and Sophia have been drawn together, and then torn painfully apart-- a love always too short.  And he remembers it all.  Ultimately the two of them must come to understand what stands in the way of their love if they are to reach their true happy ending."

I love Ann Brashares to death.  I was laughing and crying through The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Sisterhood Everlasting, so I was hoping for this book to be just as nice of a read as those ones.  Brashares is truly meant to be writing romantic stories, so that really shone through in this book, but I still found My Name is Memory to be rather disappointing, compared to her other works.

I was really hoping that Daniel would change more as a character.  I mean, he's been reincarnated a number of times and in a variety of places to grow up from Ancient Turkey to Athens, to England, to Virginia, etc.  He's had families who loved him so dearly and ones who just couldn't care less.  It seems throughout the book that the only thing that changes about Daniel is his memory as he acquires new memories.  It was really disappointing to find that in almost all of his lives (whenever he reached an old enough age), he was always a doctor.  Sure, it's nice to do something familiar, but wouldn't that get boring if you became a doctor five to ten lives in a row?  I realize that Daniel is a complicated character to write, but I was still disappointed.  I didn't care for him as a character.  I didn't really feel the connection between Daniel and Lucy until the end of the book.  I felt it more in Daniel and Constance.

I didn't like that Brashares went through all of Daniel's lives.  It came to a point where I was constantly trying to scramble to connect where Daniel left off, how that will eventually connect to his future and "Sophia's" future as well.  Then after a while, it just got plain boring as Daniel kept finding Sophia, not getting together with her, and dying.  Again and again and again.  These things would have been more interesting if they were shortened or even edited out.

Let me transition to more positive things.

I really liked the cover!  This was a big reason that I picked up the book in the first place.

I also thought Lucy was a decent character.  I preferred it when she didn't know about the transference of souls, but at the same time, I thought it was cool that she was able to figure out who she was in the past.  For me, that would be really interesting to find out.  The story was a lot more interesting when told through the point of view of Lucy (or Sophia).

I also really enjoyed the ending.  That's where everything picked up.  The story transitioned from what felt like a couple hundred pages of explanation to being chased by someone who was incredibly jealous.  Just getting away from this guy (whom Daniel was brothers with in a past life) was kind of exciting.

Overall, this is an okay book.  I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Ann Brashares and also anyone who is in the mood to read something even remotely romantic.

I give 'My Name Is Memory':
Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

P.S. I'll make sure to finish my reviews before posting them next time... my changes must not have saved or something like that.

A Review of 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' by F. Scott Fitzgerald

To contact us Click HERE
"Today, F. Scott Fitzgerald is known for his novels, but in his lifetime, his fame stemmed from his prolific achievement as one of America's most gifted story writers.  'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,' a witty and fantastical satire about aging, is one of his most memorable stories.

In 1860 Benjamin button is born an old man and mysteriously being aging backward.  At the beginning of his life he is withered and worn, but as he continues to grow younger he embraces life-- he goes to war, runs a business, falls in love, has children, goes to college and prep school, and, as his mind begins to devolve, he attends kindergarten and eventually returns to the care of his nurse.

This strange and haunting story embodies the sharp social insight that has made Fitzgerald one of the great voices in the history of American literature."

This book just got sadder and sadder as I read through it.  Since it's only a fifty-two page book, that's a lot of sad in a short amount of time.  I watched the film version of Benjamin Button prior to reading this and though I watched it a while ago, I still don't remember there being this much downtrodden-ness.  I suppose that I should get to the actual review.  I'll start with the things that bothered me so that we can end on a positive note.

One thing that really bothered me was how harsh everyone was with each other.  Right away in the book, upon Benjamin's birth, he's not that well-liked because he's old and sassy-- everything that a newborn ought not to be.  His father is just rough with him from the get-go over something that neither he nor Benjamin has any control over: how Benjamin was born.  Later in the book, after Benjamin has gotten younger, he meets and marries his wife, which is great.  But once she gets older and Benjamin continues to age backwards, he fails to remain attracted to her and he essentially throws her aside.  That is maddening to me.  I can only imagine what Benjamin's wife, Hildegarde, is thinking and feeling as Benjamin stops caring about her and goes off to water and later to join the Yale football team.  He even has a son!  How does he just go off and do these things?  If I were Hildegarde, I'd just be peeved.  But probably something stronger.

When Benjamin becomes too young to take care of himself, he moves in with his son, Roscoe, who is also very rough with him.  The story comes full circle as Roscoe angrily implores why his father doesn't stop pretending.  I wanted to slap Roscoe.  You'd think that after spending any amount of time with his father, he'd realize that he's not making this way of being up.  What a stupid git...

This book was also sad because it made me realize how similar birth and death is and how life is so circular. One day you're not there then suddenly you're in existence.  When you die, you're there, then you're not.  You're so helpless at the beginning and end of your life.  You need to be taken care of, whether you like it or not.  I can imagine that when you're at an old age and you suddenly need to be taken care of like a child again that this is very frustrating.  Especially after you're so used to taking care of yourself.

I hope that I don't grow that old...

Overall, this book was terribly depressing and aggravating, but it still managed to evoke a reaction out of me, so that must mean that something was working for me on some level.

I give 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button':
Thanks for Reading!

--Jude