Meet me at the Bookshop

The Zahir

2009-12-22T19:15:00.003-05:00

Ok. I have come to the realization that Paulo Coelho is one of my favorite authors. He tells a story like a poet. I want to sit on a curb with him, some wine at our side, the night sky above our heads and talk about life, love, beauty and literature. I would have to tell him to read my favorite book-The Club Dumas and it would go from there and be a night to remember. Here are some things I took away from the book: the book is about a famous author whose wife disappears. Did she leave him, was she kidnapped? He just doesn't know. But he becomes an obsessed man in search for the answers, while still keeping up appearances, etc. After a few years he starts to date again, but still wonders what happened to his wife. He starts to use the words "ex-wife". He has ultimately come to the conclusion that she left him and ran away with her translator (she was a journalist).
One day, at a booksigning, he gets some answers when he leasts expects it, and the story begins.
This one is about love, loss, finding yourself again, and the hardest part-going in search for yourself. It reminds me of Revolutionary Road in a sense where, there has got to be something bigger out there than just sitting back and watching life pass you by. The major difference between the two books is that this one goes on a more spiritual journey, and that's where I became a little disinterested. Don't get me wrong, I love spiritualism and I believe in all that stuff, but the book is heavier on new age stuff than I had anticipated.
Also, this book opens up with a great poem called "Ithaca" by Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933) I suggest you look it up! :)

Jaws

2009-12-08T18:58:00.002-05:00

This book is as amazing as the motion picture! A great summer read. And did you know, the movie leaves out a scandalous love affair? I can see why they didn't use it for the film, but it makes for a great story in a novel!
I can't believe I made it through this book. I am glad its short!!! I was scared at times, but I think traveling through Mordor with Frodo and Samwise was scarier. I def went to sleep with nightmares then!

Revolutionary Road

2009-12-08T18:12:00.002-05:00

Wow. Wow. Wow and wow. One of the best books Ive ever read. The writing was superb, the emotional was real and the characters were amazing. A fantastic novel that hits you somewhere in the gut and doesn't let go. This book was written in 1961...with themes that are difficult to discuss even now.

Something also very rare...usually I side with one character and stick to my guns with them, but in this novel, I see both sides and they conflict within me. I want to hug Frank and not let go, and April I want to take her out and show her off, but I can't do both. Both characters are strong, and they all have ideals I can relate to. This book is amazing and I doubt any will top it.

The Traveller

2009-12-08T18:07:00.002-05:00

I thought the concept of this book was interesting. The novel, in the end wasn't. Though I am still fascinated by the author and how he "lives off the grid", I do not care for his writing or style. I did finish it, but not because I liked it enough. I finished it because I didnt think the author could screw it up so badly. He had something and went nowhere with it. I was disappointed. :(

Feast of Love

2009-12-08T17:41:00.003-05:00

I really loved this book, and I fell in love with this passage..

"Inside the stadium, I feel the hushed moonlight on my back and sit down on a metal bench. The August meteor shower now seems to be a part of this show. I am two thirds of the way up. These seats are too high for visibility and too coldly metallic for comfort, but the place is so massive that it makes most individual judgements irrevelent. Like any coliseum, it defeats privacy and solitude through sheer size. Carved out of the earth, sized for hordes and giants, bloody injuries and shouting and so massive that no glance can take it all in, the stadium can be considered the staging ground for epic events, and not just in football, in 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson announced his Great Society Program here."

The author is talking about the stadium at the University of Michigan. Wow. That paragraph took my breath away. I love the "hushed moonlight on my back" part. Mmhmm. This author has a way with words very few authors have nowadays.

Firmin

2009-12-08T17:38:00.003-05:00

I LOVE IT! If you love literature and are a bit romantic about it, you will too!!!!! This little guy was the voice of my soul when it comes to reading.

Miracle in the Andes

2009-12-08T17:35:00.002-05:00

Its possible to experience all things with this book. Pain, anger, frustration, fear, religion, morality, joy. Above all, this book takes you on a journey through humanity and you dont come out the same way you went in.

2008-12-15T22:02:00.001-05:00

Yes yes, I read this one for a third time. I can't help it, I wanted to be comforted. I read this one in between other books and when other books fell through, when they weren't interesting, I gave up and this one prevailed.
Richard, he yields the sword of truth with a mission of setting things right, and my favourite, he falls in love. I don't think I have ever read a book more than this one, i love it so.

The Road

2008-10-29T20:17:00.000-04:00

wow. more later. still reflecting on this one.

A Partisan's Daughter

2008-10-26T19:23:00.004-04:00

So, I would like to take this time and introduce to you one of my favorite authors. He is wonderful and I love the images I get in my minds eye when I read his words.
The first time I read one of his books I knew exactly what I wanted to read for the rest of my life.
This book, though it was incredibly captivating, I felt like it was missing something. i kept reading to find out what happens next, and nothing seemed to have happened next. Though it did manage to keep me on the edge of my seat the entire time, I felt a little saddened when it was over. The ending was lovely, the more and more I think about it.

Paper Towns

2008-10-20T13:52:00.004-04:00

This is a teen book. I picked it up on a whim, and I am oh so glad I did.
It takes place in Florida, with a guy named Quentin as it's main character. Quentin is in love with his childhood friend and neighbor, Margo. They have grown apart though, now that theyre in high school.

Then one day, Margo knocks on Q's window late one night dressed up as a ninja and asks to borrow his car, and asks if he can drive it. Hesitatingly, he agrees. (Q doesn't like to get in trouble, Margo does) :) But he is in love with her, so what is he gonna do?! Of course he is going to say yes. They spend the ENTIRE night getting revenge on all of Margo's friends who aren't really her friends, she realizes. And then, just like that, she disappears the next morning.

Q is distraught and can think of nothing but trying to find her. In his search he comes to find that he never really knew Margo at all. And this is my favorite part. He stumbles on her music collection and finds out that she loves stuff like Bob Dylan, Woodie Guthrie and Billy Bragg. Walt Whitmans Leaves of Grass also plays a really important part in Q's search for Margo.

This one was very well written. It was extraordinarily dark at times, and also very humorous (Q's friends are a riot). There were times when i was reading it late at night and I had to put it down because it was getting a little too dark for me...but I loved it a lot a lot a lot.

The Reading Group

2008-10-16T21:16:00.001-04:00

I re-read this book and fell in love with it all over again. The characters are breathtakingly real. Elizabeth Noble is a fantastic writer. She writes about mothers and friendship extraordinarily and brilliantly. She writes about books beautifully. There was not one single character I didn't understand and there was only one character I didn't love (because you weren't supposed to) Everyone was just so so so so so so amazing.

The Art of Racing in the Rain

2008-08-30T09:40:00.002-04:00

This book is told from the perspective of a dog. A dog named Enzo. (good name). Oh, that dog was wonderful. I wanted to hug him!
I wasn't sure about the title when I first started to read this one. I assumed that Enzo was into racing other dogs playfully. Nooooo. In this story, Enzo's owner is a race car driver who is known for racing in the rain better than anyone else. Enzo's favorite thing to do is to sit down with his owner and watch racing tapes. Denny talks to Enzo about technique and racing, and Enzo takes it all in.
Enzo is a beautiful dog and what he brings to Denny is more than companionship. What he brings to Denny cannot be described or explained. And what Denny brings to Enzo is so much more as well.
This book has a lot of sadness. Denny goes through some unfornuate times, which were so sad, I almost stopped reading it. It started to make me almost upset. (as upset as a book can make someone). There was something about Denny. Something I understood. I could understand his reaction to things, they would have been my reaction to things. Down to the conversations he had with his daughter...and so when things started to go bad for him, it hurt me a little more. So it was tough to read at times, but it was a wonderful book. And when I get another dog, you bet he is going to watch some dvds with me.

My Custom Van

2008-08-30T09:32:00.002-04:00

The title of this book is "My Custom Van: and 50 other Mind Blowing Essays that will Blow Your Mind all Over Your Face." Ahahahaha. How could you not laugh at that?
With essay titles like,

"An Open Letter to the Hair Stylist Who Somehow Convinced Me to Get a Perm When I Was in Sixth Grade."

"Announcing the Imminent Arrival of the Handlebar Mustache Certain People Said I'd Never Be Able to Grow"

and my all time favorite,

"Hey, David Sedaris-Why Don't You Just Go Ahead and Suck It?" You can only imagine the essay that follows, and it is laugh out loud funny and gross me out disgusting. Oh, I love Michael Ian Black. Always have, always will. :)

Tigerheart

2008-07-14T14:04:00.002-04:00

I have never ever read Peter Pan, nor have I seen any movies. I've seen "Hook", yes. And I have seen "Neverland" but this book made it quite clear, I need to read the book.
This story is about a boy named Paul whose Father tells Paul all the stories of adventures that The Boy takes place in...in a land called anyplace.
One day, Paul stumbles across a dead pixie and succeeds in bringing her back to life by believing. And the pixie then informs Paul of why she died in the first place. Because The Boy ceased believing in her...and she is eager to seek revenge on PP.
Together, Paul and the pixie travel to anyplace and find that The Boy is now a pirate! The story pretty much continues to be amazing and adventurous! It actually reminded me a little of the Matrix. Apparently, anything The Boy believes is possible is possible. And if he believes he is in danger, he is in danger. So the similarities are def. there.
This book is a story of dreamers, the imagination, pirates and the wonderful world of youthful hope. I loved it...and to be honest, I loved that this book isn't a childrens book, but one for adults. Heehee, there were some subtle adult like things mentioned..or left to the imagination. I liked it a lot.

The Book Thief

2008-07-14T13:57:00.002-04:00

It took me a while to really get into this book. It took me a really long time to get used to the Narrator-Death, and his way of explaining things.
In the end, I warmed up to him and I love love love the way he gave you a glimpse of what was going to happen without giving you any details until he got to that part of the story. And for me, knowing the outcome and finding out how it happens is actually pretty exciting!
I liked this book a lot and I liked all the characters. I even liked Liesels foster mother!!! I was actually quite fond of her and her determination.
But, yes, mostly I loved Rich and Max. Max for his compassion and Rich for his personality. Both of them were really great characters. I am extraordinarily glad I read this book it gave me a few new insights to life. :)

I Love You, Beth Cooper

2008-06-22T21:22:00.002-04:00

So, I needed a book like this today. And let me just tell you, aside from helping me cope with the last 24 hours, this book was pretty great. It made me laugh and I loved all the references to motion pictures and I really loved the character "Rich". :) He was a cutie pie and I love the friendship he shares with Denis. Def a mix between Superbad and Weird Science. Plus the opening chapter had a quote from a James Dean movie. That pretty much seals the deal for me in literature. :)
It really is a great read and I totally pictured the whole thing in my head as a movie.

New Moon

2008-06-01T09:58:00.001-04:00

Ok, so I don't want to give too much away, but listen...minor characters from Twilight had a major role in New Moon and Stephenie Meyer did a really good job at keeping me interested. She pulled a J.J. Abrams (you remember when all your favourite Lost characters fell to the background and "the others" became the main story line...yeah I hated it!) but Stephenie Meyer really did a good job. Though I missed my favourite characters like crazy, she really did have me caring for the new ones.

You know what's weird though, in my Twilight post, I wrote that she knew love as Shakespeare did. And it's funny because New Moon completely revolves around Romeo and Juliet. Not only does New Moon reference it a whole bunch, but the story seems to mirror the tragic play a little bit. It's kind of interesting. And it happens to be my favourite play, so I am not complaining. At first, I got a little sad when Edward (vampire) said that he had no respect for Romeo because he made really bad decisions, but he takes it back in the end for good reason! :) <3 See, I love love love Romeo. Yeah, he made some bad decisions, and even he knew he did..but he really did love Juliet. <3 And Edward really loves Bella.

Love Walked In

2008-05-27T11:53:00.005-04:00

This one was really cute. I love that Cornelia was a cafe manager, and I loved her enthusiasm for old Katherine Hepburn movies. Hell, I am not much of a Katherine Hepburn fan, but even I got excited as Cornelia would reference a scene from one of her movies.
I liked it enough to read the sequel, but I didn't fall in love with the characters as much as I felt I should...Several characters had some realistic flaws, but the kind of flaws that make me lose faith in humanity. Even some of the background characters! But overall, it was good. And I smiled a whole lot with Cornelia's character.

2008-05-27T11:53:00.001-04:00

Twilight

2008-04-17T23:37:00.003-04:00

So, I admit, I fell under Edwards spell as much as Bella did. :) Vampires just make me a little weak. It must be all that blood that they suck! Ha. Ok, seriously..the book was cute. The story was good and Stephanie Meyer sure knows love as much as Shakespeare did...(they just wrote about it differently). I do think it was a great great story, and I plan to read the sequels! One question though, how are we supposed to have a midnight party for this book??? Harry Potter? Easy! Vampires, not so much!

Unaccustomed Earth

2008-04-12T12:29:00.002-04:00

All I can say is that this book is amazing. Jhumpa Lahiri is one of my favourite writers. She just has a beautiful style and she really gets it. She understands humanity, and her insight is breathtaking!
I loved that last short story. It was longer than most and told in 3 parts...my heart ached for those characters in just a short amount of time. In all of her short stories, I immediately loved all her characters!!! Short stories hardly allow that to happen to me, yet all of hers did!

Special Topics in Calamity Physics

2008-04-12T12:09:00.004-04:00

This book was really really bizarre. I don't think I could recommend it to anyone. There was a plethora of pop culture information that often took away from the storyline. Even though the main character was the one with all this pop culture knowledge, it felt more like it was directly coming from the author and not the character. I will admit that I got a kick out of all the references to books and movies , but it was often overwhelming when you look at it as a whole.
Ha, I did love the main character's father though, Gareth. I loved that he quoted poetry to his daughter, Byron's "She walks in beauty like the night,". And just his characters fascination with literature in general. See below:

Gareth, on travel: "There's no education superior to travel. Think of the
Motorcycle Diaries or what Montrose St. Millet wrote in Ages of
Exploration. 'To be still is to be stupid, to be stupid is to die' And
so we shall live"

Fantastic.

I did find it weird, however, that I just finished reading a book about Rebel without a Cause, and that movie was mentioned about 8 or 9 times in the book. It was all random. The girl had a James Dean poster on the 2nd page. Sal Mineo was also mentioned a bunch, as well as the movie itself. RKO pictures was mentioned, too. I mean, why is it that whenever I read a book where an era stands out, I can't escape stumbling upon it again and again without trying to for about 6 months. It happened with the 60's last year...and now again with the 50's.

Live Fast Die Young Part II

2008-04-07T23:42:00.002-04:00

Wowsers! This book was amazing! I adored it oh so much. It gave me a new appreciation for filmmaking in the 50's. It also gave me a new appreciation for directors and what they have to go through to make a picture they are passionate about!
Best fact? I learned that I was on the sound stage that was used in the movie. And when I visited Warner Bros., it was a private tour so there wasn't anyone else on the sound stage and it was completely empty. (Sound stage 7) How amazing is that! Oh, If I had known Rebel Without a Cause was filmed there! Oh happiness and joy!!
I really highly recommened this book to anyone and everyone interested in film!

Livr Fast, Die Young Part I

2008-03-29T19:16:00.002-04:00

WOW! I have had this book for a little more than a year! And wow, why have I NOT READ IT until now is beyond me. I have learned so much from this book, and even some more about James Dean! I have learned so much that 1 post will not be enough! Also, I am not yet finished with the book.
Fact 1: The word teenager wasn't used until 1941.
Fact 2: The Griffith Observatory was used as Jor-ELs Krypton Castle in the Superman Series. Also, The Griffith Observatory is named after miming Tycoon Col. Griffith J. Griffith. He once served jail time for shooting his wife! Woah!
Fact 3: Dr Seuss once wrote a screen play for the original Rebel without A Cause, when it was based on the bestselling book "Rebel Without a Cause: The Story of a Crimial Pyschopath" The studio later paid the author for use of the title only.

Read this book and find out:
Which "Rebel" star's Father once pucnhed Frank Sinatra?
Who was the actor who inspired the main character, Jim Stark?
How far did Natalie Wood have to go to get the part?
Who did Dennis Hopper threaten with a gun, only to find out the victim waasn't home that night?
Who was the main consultant for "Rebel" and why did the Studio think this was a bad idea?
How did Natalie Wood prepare for her 5 minute crying scene in the first few minutes of the movie?

This book is amazing because its SO much about the history of Hollywood. (Color movies, talkies, silent movies, juvenile delinquents, classic stars..wow! You don't have to actually LOVE the film this book is about, but having seen it helps. This book is SO amazing. So SO SO SO SO AMAZING.

Names also mentioned in this are:
Howard Hughes! Who doesn't love Howard Hughes?
Elia Kazan (of course)
Marilyn Monroe
Marlon Brando
Erol Flynn
George Stevens

BEST Name Mention EVER? Bob Dylan saw Rebel 4 times as a teenager and even bought a red jacket. *swoon* I am going to fall over from all this swooning!

Interview With the Vampire

2008-03-26T09:21:00.003-04:00

I re-read this book because I really want to re-read the Vampire Lestat for a third time, but I had only read Interview with the Vampire once. And since its the first book in the Chronicles, I figured I would give it another go. Only so that I could understand Lestat better in the second one.
In Interview, you never really like Lestat. You sympathize more with Louis. He is just a likable vampire. In one part of the book he is traveling by ship *at night as vampires do* and he misses the blue of the ocean.
I also love that this book takes place in 1791, in New Orleans, then Europe.

"There was in me a great desire to see Europe and to know it, which comes not only from the reading of all the literature and the philosophy, but from the feeling of having been shaped by Europe more deeply and keenly than the rest if the Americans. I was a Creole who wanted to see where it had all begun."

And my favourite line, which Brad Pitt also perfected in the movie is "That morning, I was not yet a vampire and I saw my last sunrise. I remember it completely; yet I do not think I remember any other sunrise before it."

It makes me realise time and time again how much we really dont value whats important until you dont have it anymore. I try to see the beauty in things every day, but even some things I miss.

The Hobbit

2008-03-24T11:19:00.003-04:00

A tale about a Dragon, a hobbit, some dwarves-and some jewels! My hearties, this is a tale of adventure that everyone needs to read!
This one is so completely different than the Lord of the Rings. I would almost say that this one is childlike. It's innocent. It's magical. It's wonderful!!!
My favourite thing about this was the Dragon, Smaug. I loved that Tolkien took you into his thoughts. That the Dragon regretted not closing up all the entrances to the mountains, and that he wanted to roast Bilbo. I mean, cmon! The Dragon had personality and he wore jewels. I need to meet this Dragon, Smaug! I cannot wait to be introduced to him in the motion picture, but I don't think he'll be as likable!

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

2008-03-24T10:27:00.002-04:00

I cannot remember how long I've been wanting to read this book, never really knowing what it was about. If I had known that The Smiths were mentioned quite a bit, I would have read it years ago!
The book is bittersweet, melancholy, and nostaglic...but beautiful and profound. The music mentioned = remarkable. The characters were all so amazing. I even loved Charlie's sister (and his brother!)
Could I indetify with Charlie, what with being a wallflower and all? Yes, in some parts almost exactly. I haven't figured out what the perk is though, at least for me.
Some lines that stood out are:

"I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be."

"I had an amazing feeling when I finally held the tape in my hand. I just thought to myself that in the palm of my hand, there was this one tape that had all these memories and feelings and great joy and sadness. Right there in the palm of my hand. And I thought about how many people have loved these songs. And how many people got through a lot of bad times because of those songs. And how many people enjoyed good times with those songs. And how much those songs really mean"

-I definitly said that about my iPod! :) I am in awe of my iPod. :)

Charlie, about his father "I love him. And I don't know him."

and this is SO me...

"I would have told the table that, but they were realy having fun being cynical, and I didn't want to ruin it. So, I just sat back a little bit and watched."

and this is also me and I am sad to type it out, but here it is...

"You can't just sit there and put everybody's lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love. You just can't. You have to do things."

Inferno

2008-03-24T10:12:00.002-04:00

I do not have a picture for this title. Important to remember though, it's the Robert Durling translation...beautiful beautiful beautiful.
My favourite thing about reading this was researching what happened during or after Inferno was written.
A few scenes from Inferno had been depicted by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. And I loved researching pictures of the chapel looking for those small details.
The Canto that affected me most was Canto 13.

Canto 13
Seventh Circle, second subscircle: the violent against themselves-the posioned wood-Pier della Vigna-the chase of prodigals-the anonymous Florentine

Not yet had Nesses reached the other side, when
we entered a wood that no path had marked.
Not green leaves, but dark in colour, not smooth
branches, but knotted and twisted, no fruit was there,
but thorns and poison.
.....
I heard cries of woe on every side but we saw no
person uttering them, so that all dismayed I stood
still.

My belief is that he believed that I must believe
that so many voices, among those thickets, came
forth from people hidden from us.

Therefore, my master said: "If you break off some
little twig from one of these plants, the thoughts you
have will all be cut off."

I just picture this one and its quite stirring. It gives me chills even now.

Shopgirl

2008-03-23T20:43:00.002-04:00

My personality mirrors Mirabelles way too much to be comfortable. Even though I had read this when it first came out, I fell in love again with Steve Martins storytelling. I love his writing!!! I really do. And I love that he gets it. I also think that what he writes about Mirabelle is a lot of what he see's in himself. And Ray, too. Steve Martin, I heart you.

Einsteins Dreams

2008-03-23T20:35:00.006-04:00

In this book, which was more like short stories with a common theme, Einstein dreams about time. Beautiful philosophical dreams that created images in my mind I would never be able to create on my own.
I often wonderered what my dreams what be like if i could narrow it down to a common theme. Unfortunetly, I feel like an outsider in most of my dreams. Like I am walking into someone elses life, or like I am maybe a loner. Hmm...however, if it were a work of fiction and I didnt have to write what my dreams were actually about, then they would all be about love. Like my songs. My songs and poems and short stories are all always about love...always with that twist in the end. They are never "oh woe is I, you're leaving.." the end. Mine are more like "You're leaving, woe is I, but then whats this? Happiness is just around the corner, just make sure you dont miss that left..", or "i dreaming of you while you dream of me..." etc etc.

The Devil and Miss Prym

2008-03-23T20:12:00.003-04:00

The Devil and Miss Prym. Re-read. One word, amazing.

The Monsters of Templeton

2008-03-23T20:02:00.002-04:00

Ok, let me pose a question: Who doesn't like stories of the lockness monster. Right?
I was hoping that this would be a lot like that. WRONG.
Its about some pregnant chick who goes back home to find herself during her pregancy. And there is a monster in the neighborhood lake that had always been there...but it had died and thats just a back story. Like it'll be on the news or something, no biggie.
And so most of the book is the main character going through her genealogy..and her ancestors are the real monsters, not the one in the lake. I was a little dissapointed...

Rome Wasn't Burnt in a Day

2008-03-23T19:46:00.003-04:00

Joe Scarborough! Wow. I love this man, and I loved this book. It's mostly about government spending and the ridiculous things we spend money on, and the serious things we don't spend our money on.
I love Scarboroughs writing, I love his personality. He is to me what Jon Stewart is to everyone else. He is as funny, he is smarter, and I love how humble he can sometimes be, and how egotisical he can also sometimes be. Plus I love that he is addicted to Starbucks coffee. :)

Garden Spells

2008-03-23T19:42:00.002-04:00

Eh, this one was ok. It was literally about garden spells, which is where it lost me.
Are you witches? Or what? What's going on? Why do you make people fall in love with each other by putting a certain flower in their dish? And who wants to eat something with a whole bunch of flowers in it, anyway?
The storytelling and the characters were likeable but the whole idea of garden spells just threw me a little.

Return of the King

2008-03-23T18:47:00.003-04:00

While I was reading the Lord of the Rings, I was also watching the movies. But I made sure I didnt get too far in the movies. I only got as far as I had read. So I got to compare the movies and books pretty closely.
It didnt take me too long to read them and watch all of them. Maybe less than a month...um, by the time the 3rd movie was over, I had read all the books. And by the ending of the 3rd movie, I cannot remember a time when I had cried more. I wasn't just crying. I was a mess. I was sobbing. I dont know what came over me. But I went through a lot with these guys. I would get scared at night when Frodo and Sam were on their way to Mordor. I GOT NIGHTMARES. So yeah...I was pretty emotional. Its sort of embarrasing.
And Strider gets kinged! Can I say "kinged"? Crowned? Well, whatever. He is king and all is well.

The Two Towers

2008-03-23T18:43:00.002-04:00

So...this book is amazing. Didn't know if you guys knew that or not. But there it is. Thought I would let you know in case you didn't.
Also, I <3 Strider.
I need that on a bumper sticker. Right now.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

2008-03-23T18:21:00.007-04:00

This book is probably the best kids book I have ever read. The characters, though, are not as good as the inspiration you get from reading/viewing this book.
Let me explain. The drawings throughout the book are phenomenal! Really amazing! Take a looksie!

The sketches are throughout the book..sometimes in rows of pages,sometimes in just one or two, so that it can sometimes turn into a picturebook.

Now, the theme of the book is an amazing one. A little boy living in a train station. He steals toys from the toy store so he can take the toys apart to help fix an automaton. The automaton is the only thing he has from when his father was alive. He gets caught stealing the toys from the store keeper and is forced to work there. The store keeper though, has a secret. A secret I will not reveal. But I will say that film also plays an important part of this book in a way I have never seen in another book and it was breathtaking. The book takes a close look of the work of Georges Melies. He was an amazing filmmaker and he was really the first filmmaker to use special effects. He was so creative and just utterly brilliant. Being a magician also helped him use the special effects in a way that had never been thought of before. This picture is from his film "A Trip to the Moon". The picture also plays an important part in the book!

If you flip through the book (highly recomended) you'll actually find this picture. Amazing and beautiful and quite moving. Never before have I read about the love of film in such a way...never before has it been captured like this.

Romeo & Juliet

2008-03-23T18:16:00.002-04:00

I took this book with me back home to Los Angeles and read most of it on the plane trip.
When I opened up a newspaper on my return flight, a line was quoted from this very play. I gasped quietly. The line that the newspaper quoted was the exact line that I had last read where I bookmarked it.
You've gotta love that.

Fellowship of the Ring

2008-03-23T18:11:00.002-04:00

Mhmmm, the love of Tolkien begins...after so many years. For the first time, I understood it all. For the first time, I loved it all.
In Fellowship, I fell in love with the Shire, and I fell in love with a hobbits love of simplicity.
In Fellowship I fell in love with the Rangers of the North and their love of the hunt.
In Fellowship I fell in love with Galadriel.
In Fellowship, I fell in love. :)

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

2008-03-23T18:06:00.002-04:00

Wow. What can I say? One of the best books Ive ever read, plus I was also introduced to an amazing character!! Joe Kalavier is his name, drawing is his game! Seriously though, I loved him. I dont know how to describe what his character meant to me, and what this book overall meant to me. Superheroes, art, love, magic, hope, loss...yes, it was an AMAZING Adenture!!!!!

A Thousand Splendid Suns

2008-03-23T18:04:00.001-04:00

It only took me a few days to read this book. Beautifully written and what an amazing story. Khaled Hosseini is an amazing storyteller.
I know that the Kite Runner got a ton of press when it was released, but honestly, I prefer this one to the Kite Runner. I LOVED it!

After Hours

2008-03-14T17:05:00.002-04:00

I had always wanted to read something by this author. :) And this one was a weird one to start with. The book is incredibly bizarre and it follows 3 seperate stories with a few coincidences. In one, a girl runs into someone she knows at a late night diner. She is just trying to read and he comes over to her table because he recognizes her as his ex girlfriends sister. They hit it off then someone needs to her to transalate something for someone in a love hotel and she spends the rest of the night there.
The other story line is the girls sister who is sleeping in room and it pretty much revolves around that only it gets really creepy.
And the third story line follows a business man.
The author has a BEAUTIFUL style of writing, but I couldnt get past the weird themes his storylines played around.
I would like to read something by him again, though.

Some People, Some Other Place

2008-03-13T22:11:00.004-04:00

Mmhmm, ok. I picked this up because the picture on the cover of this book is probably one of my favourite photographs of all time. The street, the car. We used to have a 1949 Chrysler Highlander and I used to dream about it all the time. Not dream about it when I fell asleep, but wide awake. I would dream about a time in the 50's when this car would be around. I would wonder if James Dean ever saw this car, etc. Silly dreams like that. Yes yes, I love that picture. A week ago, I was in a bookstore cemeted to the poetry section and the man next to me had a pile of books. I look at him and asked to see a book in his stack without actually saying anything. His eyes said yes. The book in the stack was a book of photographs with this one of the cover.
And then he and I talked about photography for a little while. :)
This book however, came to me in a period where I immersed myself the civil rights movement without trying to. It was written really well though it bummed me out. It isnt something I would normally pick out for myself though...that darn cover moved me!

Life Of Pi

2008-03-13T20:10:00.001-04:00

Oh Pi, it was lovely re-reading your adventure. Thank you.

Le Città Invisibili

2008-03-13T20:05:00.003-04:00

Mmhm, this book was lovely. I felt like this book was more imagination than book. If I look back on this book, I remember images like dreams caught in the swirls of my imagination.
I must re-read this one. A chapter right before bed, see what happens.

On the Road

2008-03-13T19:57:00.002-04:00

On the Road. Wow. Ok,I get that everybody in the book represents a real life person. The names are somewhat changed, yadayadayada. But what did Jack Kerouac see in Neal Cassady? If he was anything like Dean in the book...then I don't understand it. I thought he brought some life to the party, but he was out of his mind, wild, crazy and just extremly out there. Can a person really be that non-sensical?
I always felt really sad for the character Sal. To me, he had such potential and Dean was always sort of a bad influence.
The entire book was not lost on me, not in the slightest. I loved the actual "on the road" theme. I love the chapter where Sal is a cotton picker. I really loved that chapter, actually. But the book and the characters were just not something i could relate to in the slightest. :(

The Lost Diary of Don Juan

2008-03-13T19:51:00.004-04:00

I read this one in April of last year. I picked it up because of Johnny Depp and the character he portrayed in the movie "Don Juan De Marco" I thought it was a very interesting subject. One man who is loved by many--and he is capitivated by one woman. I mean, it IS interesting.
The author did a good job with the character, but the one Johnny Depp portrayed will always be my favourite-if only for that part in the end when he tells the truth. Johnny Depp was remarkable in that scene--in that transformation. I love it!

Dream: A Speech that Inspired a Nation

2008-02-23T17:58:00.003-05:00

This book was all about one speech. And every page of it was amazing. It moved me so much. Around this time, I was going through a really strange 60's phase. The Kennedy's, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Sandy Koufax, The Graduate, etc. It was really strange because I read this book, and then watched the movie, "Bobby". I was moved beyond words. I wasn't expecting there to be such influence from Dr Martin Luther King, jr-or baseball (GO DODGERS!) And there are two Graduate references!!! One of the two references broke me a little bit. I think I felt my knees buckle. Let me just say that The Sounds of Silence will forever hold a place in my heart because of the two movies it has been portrayed in. And the way Emilio Estevez added Kennedys voice over the song? His last speech. And the topic of the speech!!!!! I did not feel quite the same after I watched that scene. It changed me a little bit as a person-it was that powerful. I wrote a song about it in the end. And this book revolves around that period in my life. :) Amazing.

City of Fire

2008-02-23T17:48:00.004-05:00

Haha, um. I pretty much read this book just for Los Angeles. I read it before I went back home, too, so I was really missing home because I hadn't been in two years.
And this book-not unlike myself-romanticizes Los Angeles. A character in the book mentioned a Los Angeles dawn. And how for one moment the world is perfect.
Listen, I know that Los Angeles has a pollution problem, but when you're there, underneath that sky-you can only marvel at its bright blue beauty. Example:

Just look at that sky! The book, overall...well, it was about a serial killer. So, it didn't bode well with me. But I don't regret reading it. It was about home. And I love home. <3

Zoli

2008-02-20T17:05:00.002-05:00

Oh, this book inspired so much. It was about a gypsy woman named Zoli. And though the book didn't flow very well, it was still extraordinarily interesting. It didn't romantasize the life of a gypsy at all. There was such a truth to this story and the lives of gypsies. In the book, a regular non-gypsy guy falls for Zoli. He brings her talent to the real world, and he tries to conform her to his way of life. The normal way of life. But Zoli struggles and in the end goes back to the ways of the gyspy because she cannot live in the real world. She prefers the opennes of the forest and the way the leaves feel against her naked feet. :)
This book inspired a song-about a friend, about a gypsy, about nature-about love. So I bought a copy of the book for my friend and wrote out the song in books pages. :) She once gave me a necklace in the style of the book cover. The necklace had tiny leaves all over it. I remember when she gave it to me. She said she bought it because it reminded her of me. I said I loved it because it was something that reminded me of her. We have that kind of friendship. And the book-Zoli-her character is the two of us put together.

Suite Francaise

2008-02-12T18:48:00.000-05:00

Wowsers, this book is amazing and at the same time utterly devasting. I love that there is a picture of a suitcase on the cover of this book, because thats where the manuscript of this story was found about 60 years later.
The author of this book, Irène Némirovsky was deported in 1942 to Auschwitz. Her two daughters escaped with a suitcase...the very suitcase which housed the manuscript. And it wasnt opened until a few years ago.
So, this novel has a lot of back story as well! And the novel is just so amazing. It's about the mass exodus from Paris right before the Nazi invasion and it follows different families from different backgrounds, with different histories, and how they each cope with the war differently. This book is so beautiful.

It's Superman!

2008-02-12T17:55:00.000-05:00

Heck yeah, its superman! Just look at that picture! That is art at its finest. Set in the 1930's, this is a better period piece than a novel about Superman. This Clark was my least favourite Clark that I've come across...which is good news for Dean Cain, who held that spot ever since he first stepped into the limelight as the man of steel.
Interesting as a period piece, though, if you are into that sort of thing. Also, from reading thing book, I learned that Lex is short for Alexander. MY FAVOURITE NAME EVER BELONGS LEX LUTHOR!!!! So-you also know that if you watch Smallville, which I do not, but I really love that SMALL fact because I LOVE THE NAME and I HATE LEX LUTHOR (unless he is played by a certain Michael Rosenbaum, because he's still a buddy!)

A Miracle in the Andes

2008-02-06T17:54:00.000-05:00

Where do I begin? What can I say? No book has ever moved me so. No book has ever terrified me so. No book has ever made me so strong. No book has made me feel so alive.
When I was younger, I read a book called "Alive" by Piers Paul Read. I did not include that book in this list because I read it in stages. I read half of it when I was younger and i read the other half when I was older. I do not know when, and I do not know why. But this particular story of survival is very dear to my heart. One of the survivors was very special to me. So you can imagine my surpise when he decided to publish his own account of what happened in those mountains. I did not hesistate to read his book.
What followed what was hard for me to get through. I remember pages where I was sobbing uncontrollably. But I read and read until the very end. And by the time I was done, my entire body ached. My heart ached. My hands ached. My eyes ached and I was exhausted. This book took so much out of me. So much, and it filled me with something else. Spirit, hope.
Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the story, I will fill you in.
A rugby team from Uruguay boards a plane headed towards Chile for a game. The team brings a few friends, some loved ones. The plane, though, does not reach its destination. It crashes in the Andes. A horrific crash. Half the plane goes missing. And the team of young rugby players are either dead, dying, missing, or barely suriving.
This book was written by Nando Parrado. He was unconscious for three days and one of the weakest surviving passengers. He lost his mother in the crash...his sister, too. Nando and the rest of the team who survived lasted 72 days in the snow, with no warmth, little food and they were surrounded by their long lost loved ones with no where to go. Hiking for help was akin to suicide. No one was dressed for the snowstorms. So they waited to rescued. To no avail. After many weeks of struggling to survive and a few failing attempts at trying to rescue themselves, Nando finally achievies his goal of finding help-though it took him many days. But he was asked to do the unthinkable. He must board another plane. He must lead the rescuers to the survivors via flight. His rescuers thought he was crazy when he directed them through the route he had taken. There was no way Nando made that journey. Surely he most have gone another way. And then, in the same exact position where the first plane crashes, the second plane hesistates, sputters. For a fleeting moment Nando believes that there may be another crash. But the pilots regain control and the few surviving rugby players are rescued.
This story is amazing to me because Nando was so strong. After losing so much, he still had so much to live for. The thought of his father back home alone gave him the courage he needed. To tell his father about his sister, his mother. I was utterly moved.
And...so this book stirred something within me. And though it may seem silly, I always viewed Superman as a personal hero. I strive to be like him. To have his strength, his pride, his honor. His truth. He is very dear to my heart on a very emotional level. I read this book RIGHT BEFORE I SAW Superman Returns. There are two plane scenes in that movie. The first plane scene was like pouring salt on an open wound. And the second, well..the plane almost crashes while trying to rescue Superman in almost the same exact way as the plane almost crashed in the book the second time. So I cried a lot the first time I watched Superman Returns. There were so many similiarities and I know that I am comparing a comic book character to a man who..well, no words can describe the type of man Nando Parrado is. But the both move me..they both inspire me to believe in whats good, whole. To have faith and to be strong. It doesn't matter that you are inspired by your father, a comic book character, or a rugby player, what matters is that you are inspired.

The Devil & Miss Prym

2008-02-04T21:33:00.000-05:00

If you want to know whether I adore you as a person or not-ask yourself one question. "Has Yvonne recommended this to me?" If I have, then yes, I adore you. :) This book is amazing. So simple, yet so profound. Coehlo is really great at writing such perfect stories so full of meaning. This book is really great!
I love battles between good and evil and this book perfectly touches on both sides with beauty that can be compared to a poet.
Ironically, I also read this while watching "Boondock Saints" for the first time, so I had a whole lot of food for thought that week!!!

The Attack

2008-02-01T22:18:00.000-05:00

So I wanted to read this one, Steven wanted to read it and Athena wanted to read it. We only had 1 advanced copy between the 3 of us. I took it home first and what did I do? I sped through it. Yeah. I read it in 6 days, guys. And they never even read it. :( I think it sat in someones box for months after I brought it back to the store. :( Sadness.

The Club Dumas

2008-01-31T21:51:00.000-05:00

Lucas Corso...Did I know love until then? This book had been in my possession for years and years. I remember that Oliver from B. Dalton loved this book and we talked about it often. So I bought it for Joe years ago. Joe didn't like it too much. So I wasn't really psyched to try it...but something made me go for it.
Saying that this book helped shape the next two years of my life is an understatement. It helped shape what I read, who I love, and what I live for-the written word.
Lucas Corso. That name! I loved him so much. He is my Harry Potter, he is my Emma. He is my Inferno and he is my Romeo. He is everything I ever wanted in a book character. Profound, clumsly. Foolishly in love. I ADORE the tiniest insignificant details in this book. In one paragraph, the phone rings while Corso is in bed. In reaching out to answer it, he drops his glasses. That moved me beyond words. The smallest thing and yet so real.
I love that Lucas went to great lengths to protect his books but smoked around them without hesistation.
I love that he couldn't sleep at night and I loved that he liked to drink a lot. He had SO many imperfections and he was so realistic. And that makes him my favourite book character ever.
So how does this book shape my life? A few of my friends read this one. Some fell for it as hard as I did, some with the romance of the book world and some with the overall charm. So we were all connected. We were the Club Dumas. Even now, we talk about it. Even now we are connected...we always will be. <3

A Dirty Job

2008-01-31T21:49:00.000-05:00

Oh, Christoper Moore. You make me laugh. Wow, I remember reading this book at the same time as Dustin!!!!
Though this book was great and funny and charming, it wasn't as great as Lamb, because how many people out there are lucky enough to have best friends named Biff?

The Neverending Story

2008-01-31T21:47:00.000-05:00

It was time to re-read a childhood favourite. This book will always be very dear to me. A comfort read.

A Total Waste of Make-Up

2008-01-31T21:45:00.000-05:00

I tried to read and I tried to read and I tried to read to no avail. It took me 6 months to finally complete a book after I started BN, and this was the one. I had this book and I swore myself off of chick literature, but hey, it was about Los Angeles and oh how I missed home. Oh how I missed it so. And this book filled that void. :)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone

2008-01-29T10:10:00.000-05:00

I read 4 books in 2005 guys. 4.
This one I re-read on a trip to California. :) I read it planning on reading all the other books in the series but I never got around to them. :( I was also sad because I didn't have too many other books with me on the plane. :(
After I got back I focused on closing the store down. The clearance was starting. The final weeks were coming to and end. I didn't actually finish a book until 7 months later.
Not only was it a new job, it was also a new house, and Joe had started his new career. Everything was SO new.
I tried to read but I couldn't get into anything, at all.
Anyway, this is the last B. Dalton Post.
Oh, those days are missed. But I do have to say that from here on out, none of the books that appear on this list has been a waste of time. They're all me. 100 % me. I stopped reading recommendations. Instead, I read friends favourite books. Books that friends were passionate about. Not because I wanted to read a good book, but because I wanted to know why they were passionate about the author or book. So it made me really happy to finally read On the Road. Even though I didn't like it, I learned a lot about Natacia and it makes me happy. :) So..yeah. Welcome to B&N Folks.

The Kite Runner

2008-01-29T10:02:00.000-05:00

Oh, Kite Runner. This book is SO incredibly written. The storytelling takes my breath away!
This was also one of the best book club meetings we ever had. I say book club but we were all so close and we all loved to read...so it was just a meeting of friends. We had the best afghanistan food and i was the only one brave enough to drink the rose water. It was delicious.
The book conversation was also incredibly interesting. Sandra and I had very strong cultures and we were raised with that culture as a back bone. And we were the only ones who agreed that the main character in this book was hard to forgive. We didn't sympathize with him. It was really interesting!
The book, though, was really hard for me to read. I mean...it was SO SO SO SAD. It was SO good but so OVERWHELMINGLY sad. I could never recommend this one off the bat because of the feelings it evokes..so powerful. If someone asks about it though, I do always say that the storytelling is brilliant.

The Reading Group

2008-01-29T09:59:00.000-05:00

Ok, wow. This book was pretty amazing. It was a more than chick literature. It was a story about how all these woman who know each other, but just barely, form a reading group and as they discuss the books, they find out so much more about themselves and each other. I highly recommended this one to anyone I come across who dig books like this.

Every Boy's Got One

2008-01-29T09:55:00.000-05:00

I actually really loved this book. It made me want a blackberry really bad. The idea of being able to email and chat with friends during a trip to Italy sounds pretty awesome. And I just like how a blackberry sounds. I would totally become a blackberry junkie. It would make my friends despise me.
Back to the book though, I really liked it. I was supposed to read it with Shelly because she told me about some book club she was reading it for and though she actually never got around to reading it-I LOVED IT. And I had jumped on another Meg Cabot read. :)

Wizard's First Rule

2008-01-29T09:48:00.000-05:00

Ok ok ok ok. I really like this series. Yea, I know. I've read it 3 times. What can I say? The man has a sword of truth. I mean, if I had a sword, it would be truth.

American Girls

2008-01-27T21:21:00.000-05:00

So, I was still at B. Dalton here...but much less reading happened in the next year. *much less*
I was a newly appointed Store Manager. I was busy busy busy busy. It would have been easier if I didn't close a store down, but closing a store was so new to me that I didn't want to screw up. It would have been a lot easier if I were a SM under normal circumstances...
As far as this book goes...It was good. Short Story books are interesting because some are REALLY good, some are crap and some are very insightful and worth the read even if the story wasn't that good. This book had a little of everything.

Briar Rose

2008-01-27T21:14:00.000-05:00

This is one of Sherri's book. It was also her last recommendation. B. Daltons last recommendation to me. The end of an era of reading.
One of the things that make me sad at BN is that no one is PSYCHED about reading. No one talks about books anymore. At B. Dalton, thats what we based our conversations on. Books and Pop Culture. I really miss Andrews and JP's hourly long discussions on the previous nights episode of The Shield. Sometimes their conversations lasted longer than the actual show.
Or that time the power went out because someone actually electricuted themselves somewhere in the mall. We hung out in the semi darkness of the store and read from Entertainment Weekly.
Or when customers would actually come in looking for you based on last weeks book recommendation.
*sniff* I miss talking about books.

Songbird

2008-01-27T21:10:00.000-05:00

Don't ask me what inspired me to pick this book. I used to randomly pick books off of displays.
This one was...overwhelming. Sad. Nazi's, prostitution, etc. There are some images I remember well from this book. But I wouldn't recommend it or read it again.

I Never Had it Made

2008-01-27T17:26:00.000-05:00

*swoon* Baseball, african american history, AND 1947??????????? This book was written for me. Thanks Jackie Robinson, for thinking of me when you wrote it.
In all seriousness, this is a really great book. Did you know that Jackie Robinson played football, basketball and was on track on top of baseball. Track was his most favourite! :) He excelled at everything he did. *unlike Michael Jordan, but I still love ya!*
I LOVE JACKIE ROBINSON. I love that he wasn't graceful about his being the first black man to play in the major leagues. He was angry and you bet it pissed him off everytime someone said something negative about him or to him, but he was strong enough of person to fight it and he fought it with everything he had. He takes endurance to a whole other level. Jackie Robinson, I adore you.
And I also really love the Dodgers, Brooklyn & Los Angeles. I bleed Dodger Blue. True Brue, you know it.

Truckers

2008-01-27T17:24:00.000-05:00

Terry Pratchett and books for kids should equal awesome right? Not so much. I was sad and dissapointed. And I dont think it was because I was on my way back to Virginia from Los Angeles.

Samurai Girl: A Book of the Sword

2008-01-27T17:22:00.000-05:00

For months and months I looked at this series in our teen section and I was so intrigued. When I finally got around to reading this one I found that I really really really really LOVED it! I was psyched. I was all about this book. But that's when the store had dropped its Model and it was really hard to keep in the section. *sniff*

Angus, Thongs, & Full Frontal Snogging

2008-01-27T17:20:00.000-05:00

British teen books are amazing.

A Single Shard

2008-01-27T17:18:00.000-05:00

A Single Shard is a young readers book and I was really disapointed by it. Sure, it was good and well written. I remember that when it came out, it received a lot of press. I didn't think it was *that* good. :(

Love Is Murder

2008-01-27T17:13:00.000-05:00

When I worked at B. Dalton, I had a massive book collection. Teen books, crap books, kid books and I couldn't bear to throw any away without reading them first. So on my 2nd trip back home to Los Angeles, I grabbed a handfulof books and read 4 books in 5 days. They were all easy thoughtless books, but a lot of them I read for work. I cannot stress enough how important it was for me to be able to know first hand what I would recommend in the kids section.
This book is a mystery though. And I liked it enough to recommend it to other people at work (Sandra and Shelly). Sandra went on to read the sequels. :)

Pontius Pilate

2008-01-26T22:39:00.000-05:00

Ok ok ok. This book was really amazing for me. Wow. It was a biography of Mr Pilate and obviously it's not all fact. However, it did cover a lot of the times back then, down to daily routines. It was very intriguing. I was always very interested in Rome and Roman figures and this one is probably my favourite roman-esque book. Even though a lot of it of course covers the crucifixation, the book shows you what it was like for Pilate and how he basically lived his life. The decisions he may have made and the reasoning for them. A very great book...it was written really well. Plus the book cover is really fantastic. I also like the whole picture. I have always been drawn to it.

Alexander: The Child of Dreams

2008-01-26T22:36:00.000-05:00

Yes yes, I read this one before and I loved it even more the second time. It was SO amazing. :) I wanted to kick some butt and wear armor after this book. Oh, I wanted to take 'em all down!

The Wizard of Oz

2008-01-26T22:32:00.000-05:00

I love the Wizard of Oz so much that I read it twice. I love the Tinman especially.
<3 I really need to watch The Wizard of Oz with Pink Floyd. :) Fun fun fun in the sun.

To Have and To Hold

2008-01-26T22:28:00.000-05:00

Only 18 more books to go until I started at Barnes & Noble! :)
Ok, this book here..well..it was UBER depressing. Really. And it makes me sad to even think about, so onto the next book!

Journal of the Dead

2008-01-26T19:42:00.000-05:00

A true story.

OK, this book is WAY too interesting for me not to write about it...2 friends-David and Raffi-from Boston decide to take a road trip (inspired by Kerouac). They stop in New Mexico for a night out under the stars. They take a few beers, a water or two and start their hike into the night.
The next morning, theyre lost. No water, no beer. No food. At the end of the short trip that lasted only a few days, one of the friends is dead. Murdered.
Since they had gotten lost with no food or water, they started to panic. David can no longer so on, so he asked his friend Raffi to take his life. Raffi then killed his best friend out of an act of compassion. Or was it murder?
This book is interesting to me because they were never more than a mile or two out. Something like this could have easily been prevented, but these guys lost it so fast. And I like how pyschological this book was. It was riveting.

Prophecy of the Stones

2008-01-26T19:40:00.000-05:00

So, as a children's dept manager, I was always looking for something really great to recommend to the youngsters. I really wanted to inspire kids to read, which is why this one stands out. This book is a really great read for girls around 13 or 14. I loved that this book was so easy to recommend.
I recently recommended it at BN. :)

Island of the Blue Dolphins

2008-01-26T19:38:00.000-05:00

YEAR RE-READ: 2004

Yes yes. I read this one when I was really little but I didn't include it because I read it before I loved to read. Anyway, I wanted to re-read it as an adult. I love how peaceful this book is.

How Soon is Never?

2008-01-25T19:55:00.000-05:00

This novel is all about Morrissey and The Smiths. The Smiths wrote a song called "How Soon Is Now?" It is probably they're most popular song, because it has been used in commericials, it is the Charmed Theme Song, and it was also on The Wedding Singer Soundtrack.
This book is about a man who reviews music for a living and how his life sort of went all wrong. It's also plays on the idea of what it would be like if The Smiths got back together. It was interesting only because of all the Smith and Morrissey references, otherwise it was kind of slow and depressing.

Children of the Alley

2008-01-25T19:52:00.000-05:00

It was time to get serious and this book was intense. Very colourful and very beautiful. A culture shock of a book. It was so intricate and I was tired by the end of it. But very beautiful. I would read another one of his books.

All American Girl

2008-01-25T19:50:00.000-05:00

Ok, this book was about art and ska and Washington D.C.. Ok sure, it was also about teenage girls and boys. I was 24 at the time. So what? I liked it, a lot.

Faking It

2008-01-25T19:49:00.000-05:00

My second to last book recommended by Sherri. A lot of poeople I know read Jennifer Crusie and love her a lot, but I felt she was more of a romance writer than a chick lit writer. Either way, it was cute. It wasn't for me.

Borderlines

2008-01-25T19:47:00.000-05:00

An autobiography about a girl in her early to mid-twenties and her pyscho best friend. Very Single White Female. I didn't want friends after this. Hahaa, thats ok though, because I didn't have any.

Romeo and Juliet

2008-01-25T19:45:00.000-05:00

What better way to start 2004 that another re-reading of Romeo & Juliet? At this time I bought all the books published by Folger Library and I remember loving how all the books looked together, stacked up neatly in my arms. Mhmhm...

2008-01-25T19:43:00.000-05:00

Oooh..I need more shark books in my life. This one was SOO SOOSOSOS good and scary. Scary because I am afraid of sharks, you see. :)

Autobiography of Santa Claus

2008-01-25T19:42:00.000-05:00

So I read this during the holiday season of 2003 and it had a lot of potential to be great, but it wasn't. It was my last christmas book. :(

Pandora

2008-01-25T11:28:00.000-05:00

This book was really beautiful. A Vampire in the times of Casaer Augustus then fleeing to Egypt, this book was written for me.

Count of Monte Cristo

2008-01-25T11:20:00.001-05:00

Oh No. I left this out. This book should be before "My Last Movie Star" :( I LEFT THIS BOOK OUT. What?! I cannot find a picture of the exact copy I read and i wont just tag any picture because Ive tried to read other versions of this book and they don't live up to the one I really love.
Oh, this book. Edmond Dantes. He was such an amazing character. He was so in love and he was so innocent...and then a sudden chain of events and he finds himself a prisoner. And oh, does he become a badass in jail. Upon exiting, he finds a treasure and builds up his reputation. Not as Edmond Dantes, he is supposed to be dead. But as The Count Of Monte Cristo. And he gets revenge on all those who has ever wronged him, while still sort of being the good guy. This book is by far my favourite classic. Love it!

UPDATE: I finally found a picture of the book I have!! and here it is!

Practical Magic

2008-01-25T11:07:00.000-05:00

You know, this book isn't horribly written-but I did not like it. :( Nope, not at all. As I get closer to the type of books I love to read, the kinds of books that didn't do it for me really dissapointed me. I started to have really high standards and I want to be moved everytime I read. Because life is short. And I don't read to escape..I read to live and I read to love. There is nothing in my life that I need to escape from, so I dont need that quick fix. But I want to read about beauty, tragic though it can sometimes be, I want to read about love and literature and books and music and egypt and dreams and..well, those are a few of my favourite things.

Life Of Pi

2008-01-25T10:45:00.000-05:00

You know, throughout the entire time I have been posting, I have been looking forward to writing about this book the most. It has moved me in so many ways...
It's about a little indian boy named Piscine. His family owns a zoo and they must move. Piscine has grown up in the zoo, and he knows a lot about animal pyscholgy. His parents have taught him about all the dangers of zoo animals and which animals to fear and why.
As the animals get sold, the family prepares to move. They must board the same ship as a lot of the animals.
One day there is an accident and Piscine stuggles to find his family but finds a boat after a while and he starts to panic. In his panic, his rescues a bengal tiger, a zebra, an orang-utan, and a hyena. It isnt until when everything in site has been rescued that he realises how grave his situation is. He is on a boat with a 450 lb tiger, a most fearsome creature. And so this book is about their stuggle to survive together. Are they ever friends and do they ever cuddle Walt Disney style? No no no. But they rely on each other to survive and it is a great great great great book on just life in general. I really really love this book and I know 2 or 3 people who don't like it, but it is so beautifully moving to me and I love how much I took away from this book. I am getting chills just writing about this one. I love that Piscine also pratices 3 religions. (Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam)

I also love that this book is called Life of Pi, because Pi is short for Piscine.

Angels

2008-01-25T10:36:00.000-05:00

Mhmm, this book is great because it takes place in Los Angeles. A girl from Dublin takes refuge there and its a culture shock for her and for me it was like going back home. My favourite part in this book is when someone tries to order fat free water.
You know, LA is sort of eccentric. Its true. We do have oxygen kiosks. Yes. You can pay for oxygen!
In Los Angeles, I have had a shot glass of wheat grass. It looks like this.

I am pretty sure that they have this in New York as well, but there is nothing like a fruit smoothie followed by a shot of grass with the desert sun shining down on you. The desert sun, my los angeles shining sun. A lot of people seem to forget about it being a desert. It's why i am always cold, fool.

Pleasure of My Company

2008-01-25T10:32:00.000-05:00

Though I still really love the way Steve Martin writes, this book wasn't as good as Shopgirl. I really really really love shopgirl. Oh so much!!! I even want to buy the audio to shopgirl so I can listen to steve martin read it as I follow his words with my copy of the book. Yah, because I would do that. I am not a big fan of audio because I don't allow myself to get lost in the story if I am busy doing other things.
The Pleasure of My Company was just really really depressing. The guy character in this book was more of a wallflower than the girl in Shopgirl but she wasn't borderline creepy. This guy was..

Sloppy Firsts

2008-01-25T10:27:00.000-05:00

This book reads like a teen book but B&N keeps it in fiction. I really liked it and I remember relating well to it, but I don't remember anything specific about it except for the fact that Krispy Kreme donuts were mentioned a whole bunch of times, and I've never had krisy kreme, so I didnt know what the big deal was. In Los Angeles, we had Wenchells. Or Winchells. I wasn't a big fan either way. And even now at Dunkin Donuts, I usually get a coffee and a muffin. No donuts for me. :)

Cloud of Sparrows

2008-01-25T10:23:00.000-05:00

I really loved this book a lot and I seriously need to own it and re-read it. And when I re-read it, I am going to read the sequel. It takes place in Japan in 1861! There's even a little bit of romance in there. I am pretty sure its been picked up for a movie...and because its awesome.

Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes

2008-01-24T23:39:00.000-05:00

Yeah. The Complete Stories Volume 1. It was pretty awesome. I went through a long phase of Sherlock Holmes. I shouldn't have read all of em at once though. I was sick to death by the end of it. :( And that's just WRONG! No one should be sick of Sherlock Holmes. :(

Interesting FACT: An episode of Sherlock Holmes was shot at Morrissey's house. Yay!!!

The Alchemist

2008-01-24T23:37:00.000-05:00

Ah, yes. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. He is a beautiful writer. He has this way of being so simple and so meaningful. Its an art form. I did not take away as much from this one as I took away from a book i read later on in my life. I was bored at times, but I still appreciated its beauty.

Stardust

2008-01-24T22:03:00.000-05:00

I was SO intrigued by this cover. And the star in this book-her name is Yvaine. So, yeah..it was pretty much awesome. The closest to being a star I'll ever get to. :)