A Reader's Addiction

read: December 31, 2011 read in 30 minutes pages; very short Completely eerie and haunting, well written. Quick fast read. Nice free short story from Amazon.

Read: December 30, 2011 read in 45 minutes pages: approximately 20 Ok yes, this was incredibly short and some of the "tips" were more common sense when travelling in general but there were a few that were pretty funny. I even laughed out loud on a couple....like making the joke to you vampire friend that rabbits are "fast food" and that they just might not find this joke funny. Sorry I did find that funny. Anyways it was free and I'd recommend the short book to anyone hooked on the vampire craze at the moment, just because if you are reading the novels chances are you might get a laugh out of these tips. Added bonus there is a sneak peek of book two of Legacy of Ghosts by Joleene Naylor. So you could check that out and maybe read more of her books. I admit I did not read further because I'd rather start with book one not book two.

Read: October 17- December 28, 2011 read in too long!! pages: 272 This too far too long to read. Not a bad read at all I just think I wasn't really in the mood to be reading Sedaris at the time. And quite possible like the last of his books I read I must have stopped in the middle of one particular essay that may not have been the best or the funniest and I had a hard time getting back into the swing of reading him. Glad to mark it as read even though it was on my goal list for LAST year! I will continue with more of his books when my co worker brings me the next in the collection because he is good for a laugh with his ridiculous family stories, life experiences and view of the world. For my reading pace sake I'm hoping I am not handed another Sedaris for a few months at the earliest.

Read: November 26-December 27, 2011 read in a month pages: 387 I'm still working on my thoughts for this book. I liked it. I didn't really dislike anything about the book. I wish it hadn't taken so long to read. It took getting past the first 150 pages just to feel invested in the characters and for the plot to start taking shape and things moving the direction they should be moving. At that point I didn't want to put it down. I kept getting lost up to that point because it felt like there was so much going on that I couldn't keep up with everything. I think part of is was there was too much going on in my life at the time to stay focused when I was reading, and I had far too long of stretches. I liked the characters, and how things ended. I won't give anything away. I'll admit that yes this may take a bit to read but its not a bad story once you get into it. I'm not the only person who noticed it took a while to read. I mentioned reading it to a couple...

Read: November 27, 2011 read in 30 minutes pages ? Just a sad excuse for a short teaser story and an introduction to the Molly Murphy series. The young girl makes these ridiculous jumps to conclusions that the reader can't even begin to understand due to the lack of evidence. How the character made her assumptions, that she believed to be right and to solve the "mystery" is not made very clear. And given the mediocre writing, I'm not sure had it been much longer of a story that the writer could have accomplished showing how the character made her leaps in the first place. Although there was a teaser chapter included with the free download, I didn't bother. This was supposed to be set in the late 19th century but it does not read as such whether in the way the characters speak, nor in the attitude of the characters. It appears that aside from a pretty cover this story did little to encourage further reading. Thank goodness it was a freebie for the kindle!

Read: November 27, 2011 read in an hour pages: ? This is a very short story that introduces the Demon Trapper series and includes a bonus of the first two chapters of Forsaken. Setting is 2018, Atlanta, GA. A time where demons terrorize the city. These are no ordinary demons, but demons hell bent on destroying books. These are some foul mouthed little creatures, at least the ones introduced in this story and the beginning of book one, who flip the bird and pee on the trapper and other victims. There are 5 grades of demon, and given that the main character is just starting out, she is only confronting grade one. In order to stun the little suckers you read to them. Weapon of choice for main character Riley, the 17 year old the series follows, is Moby Dick. Apparently romance novels do nothing but piss them off even more so you go for the meatier denser type stuff. After reading a few sentences the demon begins to pass out and the trapper then captures the demon in a litt...

Read: November 25, 2011 read in approximately 2.5-3 hours pages: 78 This was a super quick read. An excellent introduction to the Steampunk Chronicles series! I'm looking forward to reading more by the author both in this series and anything else she has written. This snippet includes many elements I really enjoy like the historical aspect of being set in the Victorian era, the manners of the time and a strong female lead. I'd highly recommend the book and potentially the Steampunk Chronicles series if you enjoyed Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices - very much in the same vein. Fast paced and action packed with genuinely great characters! AND a kick ass heroine to boot!!

Read: November 23-25, 2011 read in 3 days pages: 306 This has been on my potenial to-read list for quite sometime. I remembering it being checked out a lot when I was working at the library. It always made me wonder how good it was. The cover is attractive so that could be why some kids were picking it up. And it doesn't hurt that it is about some vampires. Wait let me correct my spelling its not "vampires" it is vampyres". Like changing the spelling makes THIS series different and somehow more special than the others out there right now. I have to say if you read the Twilight series and were at all annoyed by how irritating Bella Swan was, well prepare yourself there is another character that makes Bella seem an interesting character. No joke. Bella is am improvement over this character. This book is following the thought process of 16 year old Zoey who has been Marked to be a vampyre fledgling. She is not a vampyre yet, but after this finishing school, and the educ...

Read: November 16-20, 2011 read in 4 days pages: 498 Yet another WOW. I know I'm overusing that word, but at this moment I don't care. I really really really enjoyed this book and CAN NOT wait to get the book once it is released. I was incredibly happy to have won the book as part of the First Reads giveaway and thankful that after having read the first novel I was able to continue the story so quickly by diving right into Clockwork Prince. Cassandra Clare has done it AGAIN! I couldn't but this book down much like the last two of hers I read. I have literally read them back to back and was not disappointed! It has been a GREAT November for GOODREADS!! Aside from the expected mistakes being in the advanced reader copy that has yet to be completely edited for those types of mistakes, I was EXTREMELY happy with the story. Although Clockwork Angel felt lacking for me in terms of action, Clockwork Prince DID NOT DISAPPOINT! The series seems more revolving around the characters ...

Read November 12-15, 2011 read in 3 days pages: 476 Wow. Okay what is it with this author and writing cliff hangers lately? I just finished City of Fallen Angles prior to reading this one and now this one is the same way! Two cliff hangers in a row. I'm not liking it since I hate to wait so long for the NEXT books!! Well actually with this series luckily I won the ARC a few weeks ago and was able to start that one the next day. I'm not sure what kept me reading this book other than the Shadowhunter world. I'm drawn into it and fascinated. I'm not entirely sure why. The action was lacking up til the end, which of course as I said does leave you hanging, though not quite as bad as it was in City of Fallen Angels. I liked the characters through this book though and I guess that is part of the reason I kept reading. I really love Jem. Seems like a great guy. Very sweet and kind and quite a contrast to Will. Tessa she is tolerable, though nothing too fabulous either as far ...

Read November 5-12, 2011 read in a week pages: 656 The only reason this took a week was because I literally did not pick it up once this week. I started this late last Saturday night and read up to page 558 all on Sunday. It doesn't take all that long to read, but it does take a toll. This story is incredible intense and I sit tensed up the entire time I'm reading. Even after I read I need a little time to recover once I'm done for the evening so I've stayed away from reading it all week. I focused on my other reading and knew I'd finish this the next time I picked it up. And I did. I'm looking forward to reading more in the series. Glad a friend shared this with me despite the violence involved in it.

Read November 5-12, 2011 read in a week pages: 424 Wow. Well I hate that I put off reading this as long as I did because after all I was not disappointed. I was a bit worried after I had read a few reviews. I hate that I read the reviews because sometimes they can sway my opinion without my meaning to let them. I was going into this a little frustrated with the author in the first place because she went ahead and signed on to write three more additional books to a series that was great as a trilogy and was only intended to be a trilogy. I remember reading the third book, City of Glass, thinking surely she could write more because Clary in the end is just getting exposed to this whole new world of the Shadowhunters and she really has no idea what it is all about or what it means to know she is a Shadwhunter. It would be perfect to explore that in additional books. Not to mention it would give the relationship between Clary and Jace the much deserved attention the trilogy could not give ...

Read: November 1-5, 2011 read in 5 days pages: 112 Well I read this so that I would have something to compare the movie too. I'm looking forward now to see Robert Pattinson in this role. It should be interesting. The book was not bad I liked it. Didn't like putting it down, so I'd say it kept my attention. The character Bel Ami is a down right scoundrel. He is fickle and has no sincere feelings for anyone but himself at any point in the novel. I'd say he progresses over time as in he becomes more and more self-involved and more concerned for his own ego than anything else. But honestly he starts that way within the first few paragraphs of the novel. His concern is for nothing but money and position, and who can he use to get there. The triangle and what later becomes four women in this novel mean nothing to him they are mere conquests. I'm surprised he was married to Madeline as long as he was. The women are strong, with the exception of Suzanne and to an extent her...

Read: October 22-31, 2011 read in 10 days pages: 293 I was hoping to be more wow'd by this book, as it was a very cute cover and a clever title I thought, and was pretty happy to have stumbled upon it at the library when I was literally browsing every shelf for a random book to read. Turns out it was just ok. I was not wow'd and while the title of another of her books sounds good as well I'm not thinking of reading it after this one let me down. I did like the southern down home feel. I liked the country phrases and while the characters were religious to an extent, I did not feel as though I were being hit over the head with the religion. So yay, big plus there. What didn't work for me was while I understand the reason for the bok being split into four parts because there was some stuff Catherine Grace dealt with in each of the sections. What didn't work for me was the third section how it seemed to lack any form. I don't mind a novel throwing in some epistolary...

Ok so Saturday morning I get an email informing me of a new Twitter follower. It is MJ Rose the author of The Reincarnationist and The Memorist. I've read The Reincarnationist and was a little let down as I really expected the novel to be good. It had an awesome premise and I thought it would be similar to Dan Brown's Davini Code.....turns out it was but not far enough away to be a great story on its own. Disappointment to say the least. But it is cool that she is following me, little ol' random me on Twitter. All my Twitter posts are for the most part are my Goodreads updates. Still cool either way. I will say this: while I didn't particularly enjoy it, I will one day be picking up another one of her novels to give her another chance.

Read: October 21-27, 2011 read in 6 days pages: 214 This story was just all kinds of strange. The characters were weird. You could tell when reading it that the family was just a little off. Not that that gave the town any reason to treat them as they did, however it sure explains alot. I liked the sisters. I found the uncle to be very strange and I really disliked the cousin that shows up on their doorstep. And I'm a little happy to find his stuff destroyed in the fire thanks to little sis and happy to see he is displaced from the home! I was a bit let down that the tragic event that took place is never replayed as things happened in the moment. Things are recounted a few times over the course of the novel through the uncle's memories and the sisters at one point, but given the distance of the retelling it had little chill effect aside from the nonchalance with which the sisters and uncle speak of the event as though it were not too horrible. The book was not fantastic but its...

Read: October 16-20, 2011 read in 4 days pages: 672 I'm still not sure what I should rate this book. I didn't hate Battle Royale, it is tolerable in a very twisted and sick way. While it is incredibly violent and reminds me very much of the The Crimson Labyrinth which I had a hard time with I was not as opposed to this as I was the novel. I'm not sure why the novel version of a similar idea of "survival of the fittest" bothered me more than this manga/graphic novel did. I'd think that seeing the images drawn out for me would have been worse. Course I'm not saying the images are tame by ANY MEANS and that it didn't bother me cause it did. This is incredibly graphic and could turn the stomach of some sensitive readers. While it didn't bother my stomach, it does make my heart race and makes me very tense. I'm literally jumpy as I sit here and type this. Crazy? Maybe but that's the honest to goodness truth. The first night I read a chunk of thi...

Read: October 15-16, 2011 Read in a day pages: 180 Not terrible. Not great or amazing though either. Literally a weekend book. In fact depending on your speed you could finish this is in a day. Young woman meets her father and step mother who is only 40 years old, which makes her younger than herself, in New Orleans to find out her father is losing his eye sight similar to the way her mother also lost hers years before. She returns to her childhood home with her step mother and her father in a coffin due to his death after surgery. Not sure exactly why he died, he did linger three weeks after his surgery though and the Dr did not believe it was the eye surgery that was the culprit. Either way Laurel returns to her childhood home and learns a little about herself, her parents and their relationship with one another and the true personality of the childish step mother she has. In the end Laurel finds that objects are not what she needs to cling to but the memories that she has of the lov...

Read: October 10-14, 2011 Read for 4 days - ABANDONED not finished pages read: 78 This reads very much like a text book. I have given up and will not be finishing the book. I just can't get through the book. The characters are incredibly flat. This is not so much a young adult book as it is a grade school book. It is educational in terms of one young girls experiences during the plaque that took over PA, and would be a great historical introduction for the younger crowd it is intended for. I do have intentions on reading her novel "Speak" however to see if the hype over it is true and whether it really is that great of a novel or not.

Read: October 7-10, 2011 read in 3 days pages: 396 Much much better than Revolution. I'm amazed really that this was written by the same author. This novel has much better characters and while there is SO MUCH going on in terms of issues the author touches on I was able to make a connection with the main character Mattie. Course it helps that she LOVES books and words as much as I do. Her thirst for knowledge is a characteristic I really enjoyed. It is inspiring as well. At one point she describes her teacher Miss Wilcox's library as though she has stumbled upon "Ali Baba's cave" and that she was "breathless, close to tears and positively dizzy with greed." There is the issue of race with the Weaver as the only black boy in Eagle Bay. His mom is working and saving all her money to get him into college. The character is interesting but there is not a lot covered on him other than his father was killed in front of him and his mom for not having moved from...

I'm nearly done reading A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, and will likely have a posting for that tomorrow afternoon. Wow. I'm having a hard time putting it down when I pick it up. (I only set it down this time because its a tough moment for Mattie and I couldn't get my own emotions in check, so I'm going to pick it up again before bed.) What a great story though. There is a lot going on and the book tries to tackle a lot of things. I'm enjoying the characters MUCH more than her novel Revolution. I could start reviewing it now although I have less than a hundred pages left. I'll wait though because I have a few quotes that I want to mention that caught me. On another book related note, I ordered a copy of the book The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern from Amazon.com and I can't wait to get it in my hands. I heard about it a few weeks back on NPR when they had interviewed her. From the sounds of it the premise of a circus that only starts after dark I w...