I finished the first two books of
The Vampire Diaries. A bit different from the TV series. The Elena on TV is more likable than in the book, but the Stefan of the books is hotter. The comparisons to Twilight are justified, although this was written first. Not great literature by any means, and Elena is really Too Stupid To Live, but the rest of the characters carry the story. The first two books in the series are what I like to call "cheesy goodness."
Just started
Graceling's prequel or companion
Fire. Very good so far.
I just started
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater because I had heard so many good things about it on the blogs I read. Also, it is about werewolves so how could it be bad. It is entertaining so far. I am only on Chapter 5 though.
I read
Shiver last month. Not my usual kind of book but I liked it.
I've also been reading
The Vampire Diaries series. I just started the fourth one this morning. I suspect I would have liked them more had I read them when they first come out.
Just finished
Thirteen Reasons Why, it was good but sad. I need to pick up something light and funny now.
I just started
Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough. It is quite a shift from the intense emotions of
Shiver but I am enjoying it.
I just finished book three of the
Evernight series,
Hourglass by Claudia Gray
It was exceptional, which was surprising because usually I don't enjoy series books. It had a little bit of everything and I'll definitely be looking for book four. It will be a long wait though, since book three doesn't even come out until 2010.
(That's why I prefer to discover a series AFTER all the books have been released). Hourglass was one of those books where I kept looking looking at the pages remaining to be read, and feeling sad that the book was going to be finished too soon!
I've been hearing a lot about
Graceling lately. Is it appropriate for the YA section -grade 7s & 8s - in a K-8 school?
>14 Did you get an ARC of
Hourglass?? Lucky thing- although saying that i don't actually like Lucas all that much (i am pretty sure that's his name) and Bianca could be pretty daft at times. But i think i wouldn't mind waiting for the paperback of Hourglass cos i really don't want to fork out loads of money for a book i'm only "meh" about. I thought it was only a trilogy but perhaps i'm confusing it with Alyson Noel's Immortals series which should hopefully be only a trilogy cos i don't think she'll manage to believably stretch it out beyond that.
>15 I'd reckon
Graceling would be suitable for anyone over 12 (i'm not sure what ages are in Grades 7 & 8 being british but i'm guessing it's fairly similar to the corresponding year 7/8) there's not too much mature content so it should be fine. There's also the prequel/companion book that has just come out called
Fire which should be pretty good as well.
I've recently read L.J. Smith's
Dark Visions omnibus which has a trilogy of stories about a group of psychics. Twas really good and I'm hoping to eventually get round to reading the Vampire Diaries but i've left the two omnibuses i have at home and my sister's reading the first book at the moment.
I'm listening to
The Hunger Games on cd, and also reading
Thirteen Reasons Why and
Point Blank (of the Alex Rider series).
Really loving Thirteen Reasons Why, it's gripped me and I can't put it down. Had to put a pause on reading Point Blank because I started Thirteen Reasons in the aisle at the book store.
Next up is starting the Gemma Doyle trilogy with
A Great and Terrible Beauty>16
Dark Visions was always my favourite of L.J. Smith's works; I've read it many times.
>18 i hadn't actually heard of it before i spotted it in a bookstore - I'm working on acquiring all of L.J. Smith's book as they get re-released in funky new covers and bind-ups. So far i've got the first four Vampire Diaries books, Dark Visions and the 9 Nightworld books (I'm getting impatient for
Strange Fate ).
#17 I hope you enjoy the Gemma Doyle trilogy. I loved them.
I'm reading The Luxe series by Anna Godbersen (I'm on book 3,
Envy). Thankfully I won't have to wait too long for the 4th one...they're such guilty pleasures!
I just finished
I am the messenger by Markus Zusak and it was freakin awesome! That is definately going on my list of recommendations. I've also been working on
Going Bovine by Libba Bray. It's completely different than the Gemma Doyle books, which I was kind of so-so about. It has an interesting premise being about a boy with mad-cow diease (it also has talking garden gnomes, food crazed angels and bowling obsessed cult members) and I'm not at all sure how it is going to end.
I'm glad to hear that Fire was good. I'm still trying to decide whether to read it immediately or wait a year for the paperback release.
I'm quite lucky in that the british version wasn't published in hardcover but a rather large paperback which cost almost as much as the hardcover would but i got it for £7 off amazon :D I love that site sooo much lol
I'll be a devil's advocate and just READ IT! :P sooner is preferable hehe
Not quite YA, but I got a kick out of the first one so I borrowed
Al Capone Shines My Shoes from my middle school library person friend. Moose's father is an electrician working in the Alcatraz prison and his family lives on the island. He attends school in San Francisco and has an older sister who is autistic. Moose actually gets to meet Al Capone!
Message edited by its author, Oct 15, 2009, 11:54am.
Am about a quarter of the way through
Going Bovine and am loving it. I wasn't a fan of the Gemma Doyle books so I was a little apprehensive about this one. But now I can't wait to get home so I can continue reading and see how it pans out.
>15 I'd read
Graceling first. Accelerated Reader lists it UG (upper grades) which means 9-12 to me and mentions that it has sexual situations and violence. I have it in my HS Media Center which serves grades 6 -12 but I don't encourage my younger kids to read it.
Fire will also be there with the same caveats -- sex and violence. (I'm 2/3s of the way through that one and enjoying it -- but I won't be recommending it to my younger readers.) I am not at all sure that either of them are "action packed" enough for younger readers.
I finally got
The Last Olympian from the public library and really enjoying the latest Percy Jackson adventure. I saw the trailer on IMBD and looking forward to the movie.
Message edited by its author, Oct 16, 2009, 7:47pm.
Thanks kmartin. Sounds like a reasonable assessment of
Graceling. I do get some very mature grade 8s looking for something beyond a typical public school library. So, at least, I can recommend it even if I don't have it. How do you rate Twilight series, just for comparison sake?
Message edited by its author, Oct 17, 2009, 5:38pm.
stefc80, I'd put the Twilight series in the same category. These are definitely for my more mature readers. IMHO, Cashore is a much better writer than Meyer. The books are more difficult to read for a number of reasons. The sentences and vocabulary are richer. The world is more complex and more foreign than the world of Twilight. Twilight was like popcorn;
Fire and
Graceling are more "protein-rich".
LOL! Thanks for the clear evaluation!
I've just finished
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and loved it! a definate must read. Now I'm starting
The Maze Runner by James Dashner, which was recommended at me by a friend, sounds very promising!
Message edited by its author, Oct 21, 2009, 9:25am.
Finally got my hands on, and consumed in three and a half hours,
Catching Fire. A very worthy sequel! Cannot wait for the third.
I've started
Graceling based on all the recommendations. Interesting so far.
Just finished reading
Percy Jackson and the last olympian I'm honestly saddened over the fact the Percy Jackson series is over! Although I hear that Riordan is going to make other Camp Halfblood series.
Just started reading
The Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede. It's going very slowly. A girl named Eff is the thirteenth in the family and thus is considered an unlucky child who will probably turn evil. It's sort of like Little House Series meets Harry Potter.
JaseD
I started out as a library science major. Still think about doing something like you are.
How many books do you need to read and is there a list?
Interesting list - I'm not familiar with very many of those. I've read Catcher in the Rye but it was back in high school and I've also read Forever - again it was a while ago. I've started
The Book Thief but have not read The Messenger.
Thanks for sharing.
>45
Ender's Game is one of my favorite books of all time. I wouldn't have picked it up to read (I'm not a sci-fi reader), but we had to read it in AP Lit when I was 17 as a "light, Christmas Break fun book." I couldn't put it down. Highly recommended.
I just read the first book of a new fantasy series that I really liked. Believe it or not it was written by a sixteen year old. Pretty amazing.
It's called The Fire Stone by Riley Carney and I highly recommend it!
I also agree with andtara that Ender's Game is excellent and I love the Artemis Fowl books.
I'm taking a break from all the paranormal/fantasy stuff I've been reading lately and am starting
What I Meant by
Marie Lamba today.
Really, really can't put down
After by Amy Efaw. It's about a girl in a detention center because she put her baby in a trashcan and then her trail for attempted murder. Was it premeditated? She is claiming she didn't know she was pregnant.
Message edited by its author, Oct 28, 2009, 3:38pm.
Tempted by P.C. and Kristin Cast arrived in my mailbox today. I have to read it fast so that I can donate it to my HS Media Center. I know that I have kids waiting to find out the next adventures of Zoe and Company.
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