Notes From the Midnight Driver

This is one funny book by Jordan Sonneblick. Not so much laugh out loud funny (though there were parts like that), but situational funny that you're glad you don't have to take part in. I can't remember how it was that I came across it, but I know I saw something about it on amazon. This is the story about Alex, a decapitated lawn gnome and a old spiteful Yiddish man.

With the opening of the book, Alex has just gotten himself smashed on his parent's vodka, hops into his mom's minivan and attempts to drive to his dad's house to confront him about dating his third-grade teacher. However, one block after he's started driving, he ends up on his neighbors front lawn with a headless gnome underneath the bumper of the minivan. (I just have to say that when I read this opening paragraph I started laughing out loud, especially when the police man lets Alex know he's just decapitated someone and he thinks he means a real person- wow it was funny!) Obviously, Alex ends up getting arrested, and ends up having his day in court and is sentenced with serving 100 hours of community service at the convalescent home his mom works at- she chooses an ornery old man for him to "help" because none of the on-call nurses can handle him.

Of course this is a coming of age story, but with a funnier twist: Alex is one sarcastic and satirical kid and so his inner thoughts and monologue are very funny to listen to. Because he's so witty and gets away with lots of things, Alex makes excuses for everything wrong he does. Sol (the Yiddish old man) quickly preys upon this and "helps" Alex grow up in a sense (more like making fun of him until he bucks up). A connection is made between the two unlikely friends through their guitar playing and conversation, and Alex learns what responsibility is and what it means to be a friend.

I really liked reading this book for its general humor and charm. I did read it within a time period of 32 hours, so you can see that it kept my focus. It's definitely worth reading today, if you're looking for something fun and light.

Book Buying Obsession

I've decided to start recording all the books I've bought in the past month. Some of the book blogs I follow started this (though they do it every week), and I thought it would be interesting to inform the masses just how many books I end up buying every month. So, for March (thus far)...

From the Bookstore-
Sold- by Patricia McCormick
The Truth about Forever- by Sarah Dessen
Honey, Baby, Sweetheart- by Deb Caletti
A Bargain for Francis- by Russell Hoban
Madame Bovary; C'est Moi- the great characters of literature and where they came from- by Andre Bernard
Keturah and Lord Death- by Martine Leavitt
Wintergirls- by Laurie Halse Anderson

From the Provo City Library Booksale-
Dreamland- by Sarah Dessen
Water Shaper- by Laura Williams McCaffrey
Twice Upon a Time series- Sleeping Beauty; the one who took the really long nap- by Wendy Mass
Buried Onions-by Gary Soto
Sparks Fly Upward- by Carol Matas

Soon to be books owned by myself-
Chains- by Laurie Halse Anderson
Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary- by Brandon Mull

This is a sad addiction that I have and I'm sure I'm going to kick myself later for buying all these, but sometimes you need a good pick me up to your day, and going to a bookstore to buy a book (or getting a package from amazon.com) is an inexpensive way to get some cheap thrills. Lets be honest- I could have more serious addictions that would cost me so much more.

Authors I've Met

So I realized that I haven't written about any of the authors I've met. So, here goes:

Meg Cabot
Orson Scott Card
Rick Riordan
Stephenie Meyer
Shannon Hale
Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Mull
Gail Carson Levine
Michael O. Tunnel
Chris Crowe- who was my YA lit professor
James S. Jacobs- who was my Children' lit professor (currently working on a Lloyd Alexander bio)

I'm going to meet Laurie Halse Anderson this coming Thursday in Salt Lake also. I am SO excited! I can't believe she's coming here, and that I'll get to see her. YAY!

3 Willows

So I finished reading 3 Willows by Ann Brashares last night (or I should say this morning). It's been in my stack of books to read, and since it came out fairly recently I wanted to hurry and get it read so that I could get a review up. When I say that I stayed up into the early hours of the morning to finish the book, that may not mean that I necessarily found so good I couldn't put it down. This would actually be the opposite. I thought it was okay. I probably won't ever read it again, and will most likely never buy it, which I'm sad to say because I love Ann Brashares. This was a disappointing start to a new series that seems too caught up in the rediscovering of friendship between 3 girls that it looses its charm (and my interest). I appreciate that Brashares has begun a new series, and so bravely after her successful Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, but this one flopped. I had high hopes for this book and was so ecstatic to get a copy of it at the library, but found quickly why there weren't as many people on hold for it as I thought there would be.

3 Willows tells the story of three girls who used to be good friends: Jo, Ama, and Polly. Each girl is doing something different for the summer - Jo is going to her family's beach house, Ama is accepted into an outdoor scholastic camping program, and Polly is contemplating modeling camp. At the start of the novel you realize that each girl has fallen out of their friendship threesome, and now only have awakward run-ins with one another. However, the way in which the stories tie together seem to promise a friendship reunion. Each storyline is unique and individual to the girl, but the only part of the novel that I liked was when one of the main characters ends up making a special connection with her dad. That was just about the only part of the book that I could relate to and that I found interesting whatsoever. This book wasn't my cup of tea, but who knows, it could be yours.

*Also, a side note, the original Sisterhood members (Lena, Carmen, Bridget, and Tibby) are mentioned (and one of them makes a cameo), and Lena's younger sister Effie has a small role in one of the girl's summers. It was really weird to read their commentary about how obsessed they were with finding an object, like the pants, that could help solidify their friendship. My policy on things like this is that authors shouldn't mention characters from their previous works, even if the setting is in the same town and school, unless they're writing sequels. It just doesn't work out- it makes the author look like they can't write/sell anything after their greatest success without mentioning it, and it just leaves that reader frustrated, especially if the current book being read isn't that great.

Something Cool...

So I meant to write about this last Friday, but forgot and then I had a crazy school week, so here it is: I got to handle a book that was from the early 1400's. It was so cool! For my Medieval lit class we took a trip to the special collections department of the BYU library, which has all the manuscripts and items that are too valuable and old to keep on the main floors. It was so cool to see different folios of old manuscripts, and actual items that were from centuries past. The book that I got to touch was a book written in Middle English from Toledo, Spain (the curators have no idea how it ended up in Spain) with the original leather bindings and gold-leafing. The pages were vellum (which is really thin animal skin), and on some of the pages you could see the remnant hairs from the fur. The book itself was at least 6 inches thick, though with time and wear it had become a little bit bigger than its original size. The subject of the book was a bishop's liturgy complete with almanacs and sundials on the front couple pages; the illustrations throughout the book were so detailed and small that it seemed like a Where's Waldo hunt. Some of the funnier illustrations included a dragon with a man's head, and a stork with a baby's head on it, which was quite humorous.
All I can say after taking that little fieldtrip is that I'm fast becoming a nerd when it comes to all things Medieval. Watch out Medieval club, here I come.

E.L. (Elaine Lobl) Konigsburg

E.L. Konigsburg

Website: I can't find an author website for her, but this is a link to her main publisher's website: http://www.eduplace.com/kids/tnc/mtai/konigsburg.html
Books Written: Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth (all one book), From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, About the B'nai Bagels, George, All Together, One at a Time (all one book), A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver, The Second Mrs. Giaconda, Father's Arcane Daughter, Throwing Shadows, Journey to an 800 Number, Up from Jericho Tel, T-Backs, T-Shirts, Coat, and Suit (all one book), Talk Talk, The View from Saturday, Silent to the Bone, The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place, The Myterious Edge of the Heroic World, My Father's Daughter
Notable Awards:For Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth: Newbery Honor Book
For From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler: Newbery Medal, Lewis Carrol Shelf Award, William Allen White Children's Book Award
For The View from Saturday: Newbery Medal
Other Awards: Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from Carnegie Mellon University
Her Niche: It's been a while since I've read her books, but from what I can remember, she writes about younger children facing their own personal problems, whether big or small. She does write for a younger audience (elementary-middle school) but I still enjoy reading her books today. I remember reading four of her books in one summer because they were so good (and seeing as she's won the Newbery twice, it's a no-brainer that her books are amazing).
Why I like her (a lot) and why I think you should too: Konigsburg has a way of capturing her audience within the first couple pages. Her characters go through personal adventures that ultimately help them grow up a little in the process. For myself, I attribute her books to summer reading because of two different reasons: first, I would walk to the library and read her books in the nice air conditioning before the walk home, and second, a lot of the time her books are focused in the summer months because she writes about a younger audience and that's the prime time for them to go on adventures.
The funny thing about my relationship with E.L. Konigsburg is that I never meant to pick up any of her books. My mom and I went to Barnes and Noble to get some books one evening; I wanted the Chronicles of Narnia books but my mom was hesitant due to the covers (go figure). She then had a sales associate help us find more "suitable" books for me and he suggested From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I never thought his suggestion would actually be worthwhile, but here I am, years later, and in love with her writing.
Which of her books I've read: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The Second Mrs. Giaconda, T-Backs, T-Shirts, Coat, and Suit, The View from Saturday (twice). On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being "This book was sent by the gods for us mere mortals to read" and 1 being "This book wouldn't even make good toilet paper") here's how they rate:
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler: 5
The Second Mrs. Giaconda: 4
T-Backs, T-Shirts, Coat, and Suit: 4.5
The View from Saturday: 5
Obviously, Konigsburg's books don't disappoint.

Book reviews are coming soon

Don't worry- I'm reading and will continue posting book reviews as well as author reviews, it's just that I've been so busy with school and work, I feel as if I don't have time anymore. Reading has kind of been on the back burner with having to run ridiculous amounts of errands, even though I'm trying to win this book race thing. My life is crazy busy. And I'm sure it doesn't help that I'm rereading items and not getting to the things that I really want to read because I'm trying to finish reading the series before moving on to bigger and brighter things. My life is so complicated.