October 29, 2010

The only problem I had with this book was Todd's way of talking. (I don't think first-person books should be written in dialect, because our way of talking always sounds both natural and neutral to us. It only sounds like dialect to other people.) Other than that, I loved it. The very best thing that Ness did, was deal with how the lies and ignorance lead Todd to doubt everything. Beautifully done. I'd recommend it to fans of The Hunger Games

And yes, I'm eager to get the sequels and find out what happens next.

As an aside, according to the respective authors, both this and Feed come out of the same idea, the constant stream of info into modern lives. Very different books.

Library copyThe Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness  

Ever since working at the library, I have been open to many different genres of books, and the one section that I was very surprised to be reading was the Young Adult Section. Ever since I could read, I read from the Juvenile Section and then moved right into the Adult section. Missing the Young Adult Section entirely. I don't know but I just never really got into the Young Adult Books when I was a Young Adult. But now, that I have been working at a library, and working along side someone that is SOO into the Young Adult books, it's got me reading some of those books, some of those genres. And the one genre that really got me intrigued are the Dystopia books. The definition of Dystopia is a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding. In other words, it means, that if something bad that would ever happen to America, the government will come right in and "take care of things" for you. Where the government will be responsible for EVERYTHING that YOU do in your LIFE!!!! In other words, Marshall Law will be in affect. And there is nothing that you can do. Now in these books, the author is showing you a world where this is already in affect for many many years and something happens to a young person that they actually open their eyes and see what their world has turned into and they must fight to get their country back on it's feet again and away from the government. The kids must be like 12-18 year olds and there is bloodshed and romance mixed into this just like this book.

Matched by: Ally Condie. A Dystopia book that has The Giver all written over. A young girl is set to be matched to her lover. She sees the picture of the man for her, but also sees a glitch in the system and sees yet another man; a man that should not be trusted; a man that the Society sees as a troublemaker and all who are associated with this man is also accused of trouble making. Yet, somehow, she can't stay away from him. As long as she's with Him she is led down a path that NO one thought of going and it will change her life forever.

An interesting book; a really good read.

The only problem is that there are so many of these dystopia books!! These young authors like telling the young adults about how the government could actually control you and your family and there is nothing you can do about but retaliate and there may be some lives lost but you might find love, or what may feel like love.

BLAH!!!

How about a book that shows kids what to LOOK for when the government is TRYING to take over and show kids on how to KEEP their constitution the way it is and teach them the legal way of keeping their world the way it is BEFORE the government takes over and tells you who to love, where to love and how many children you should have and what you should for breakfast every morning! That's Entertainment!!

Never before has it taken me that long to finish a book as it did with War and Peace. I started this work an unbelievable 8 years ago! I didn't read it during all this time, there were long breaks and several attempts to finish it. The main reason why it took me so long was that I had this huge one-volume edition which just was too big for my hands and too heavy for my handbag. But the end of last year my library finally had it as an ebook and this really helped! Now I'm just glad to finally be done!

I had watched a miniseries of War and Peace before reading the book which made reading it a lot easier: I had the character's faces on my mind and this helped remembering who was who. There really are a lot of characters!

War and Peace is an enormous work and it deserves to be read. It's just that tiny bit too long. The peace parts can be read fairly quickly, but the war parts are often very very slow going. I'm not really interested in battle descriptions or at least only up to a certain point. When they are hundreds of pages long with every detail and often repetitive that's a bit too much. He reaches the peak when he even uses mathematical equations! What I didn't like about Tolstoy's style is that whenever he uses an image or an example he explains it. It seems like he doesn't believe his readers can understand what he's saying. He's also often quite preachy which isn't my cup of tea.

I was at war with this work for a long time, now I'm finally at peace with it but only barely. After all the effort I put into reading it I just hoped that I would love it in the end. It's a good book but it will never be one of my favourites.

  Yes, I am a grownup! Yes, I am reviewing a coloring book! Why? Because, I don't always want to be a grownup! I want to be a little kid coloring and watching Disney movies! I actually find coloring very relaxing, so when I found The Time Garden by: Daria Song I got really excited. I started coloring in it the very night that I got it! I have colored in it off and on now for quite some time, I even had my boyfriend coloring in it a little bit! I really like it!

 My only complaint is that some parts of it are too intricate, I use a marker with a really small tip and I still had trouble coloring in some parts of it. But, other than that this is a really creative coloring book that I would suggest to coloring enthusiasts of all ages!

For more information click here

* I received this book from Blogging For Books in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you for reading!

Yours truly, signing off!

Kenzie

Let me start this off with a huge apology! I disappeared for about two months and I had no intention of doing so! Life has been a bit hectic as of late and I hope to be back to blogging regularly pretty soon.

I'm going to start this off by telling you why I stopped blogging. At the beginning of October I had big plans for reading. I was trying to complete my yearly goal. So, I was mainly focused on reading, not blogging. I had planned on doing a monthly Wrap-up but, that was about it for the month. About mid-October I would say, I hit a reading slump. It wasn't the small kind that I could get rid of by switching genres. It was a beast of a slump! When this kind of thing happens I usually just stop all things bookish to give myself a bit of break! After so many feels, and tears, and giggles my mind and heart just need a break from all those fictional characters that wear on the emotions!!

During the last week of October, when I would normally post a Wrap-up I was out of town visiting family. The next weekend, I headed to Universal Studios with one of my best friends. So, time sort of got away from me. All throughout November I have been dealing with this reading slump! I think I am on the brink of coming out of it. At least, I hope I am! I do plan on trying to pick up where I left off but, the holidays are right around the corner! Everyone knows there is never enough time to do what one wants to do during the holidays!

I know this is a book blog and I will get to the bookish things soon enough but, here is a brief update on my life during my hiatus!

-I found out I am going to be an aunt again! Another little niece for me to spoil rotten!

-School decided to start kicking my butt!

-College applications are in full swing!

-Spending quality time with family!

Alright, back to the bookish things!

Currently reading: Falling Kingdoms by: Morgan Rhodes

Last read: Life and Death: Twilight Re-imagined by: Stephanie Meyer

My thoughts on those will be posted soon!

I'm gonna go ahead and wrap this post up now! Expect a combined Wrap-up for the past two months, I will have it posted as soon as I can! Thank you for reading!

Yours truly, signing off!

Kenzie