Review: Before I Die by Jenny Downham

This is about what's-her-name who has very little time left before she dies of something-or-other. Does it matter? No. Anyway, she makes this list of things she wants to get done before she kicks the bucket, and of course the first one is sex, which I don't appreciate, and it goes on to other, mostly interesting ones (particularly doing drugs and saying yes to everything for a day), but it seems the underlying thing on her list is Be A Bitch, because she is. Really. A lot. Actually, all the characters are. There's one boy who's kind of not… but I only say kind of because they have pre-marital sex (which I don't approve of, silly me) and he gives her the drugs. Her best friend is one of the most selfish people I've ever read. And I pretty much wanted to slap all of them.

Two cappertillers.

reflection on The Hunger Games

Right! Forgot again about linking to other reviews.

books i done read (the one that made me bump the book up my library list)
and
Maw Books (the one that got it on my list in the first place)

Thank you!

Also, reading my post again, I sounded too harsh. I LOVE weird character names, though I still admit it was jarring. And seriously, Suzanne Collins has talent. EVEN THOUGH she didn't fool me with her he-betrayed-me!-no-he-didn't! shenanigans, I really, REALLY enjoyed this book.

Greg. I sound like I'm trying to copy the blogging style of Raych at books i done read. (Poorly.) Sorry.

Review: sickness

UGH. After a just delightful FIVE WEEKS of my cold, it seems to be receding. It started with a week of sore throat, then three and a half weeks of dreadful coughing with other symptoms sprinkled in as they saw fit. For the past few days it slowed to a runny nose, and I'm getting hopeful that it's about done.

Five cappertillers.

Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I finally gave in and read this popular book, and I'm glad I did. Why?

Firstly, THINGS I DID NOT LIKE.
I'm not a fan of books written in the present tense (in general). Now, this was better than most, and maybe it wouldn't have been better in past tense. But it put me off. ALSO at the beginning it seemed a little pretentious, as in "Oh, I'm such an exciting book!" This calmed down really quickly, though. ALSO really, 'muttations'? ARE YOU FOR SERIOUS, SUZANNE COLLINS? I groaned EVERY SINGLE TIME I read that word. It was horrible and ruined the drama. I'm sorry, but that was seriously the worst part of the entire book. ALSO the names were strange enough it took time to get used to them. The PC (Primary Character*) was named Katniss, which makes be go WHAT, and two of the MCs (Male Characters*) were named Gale and Peeta, which both sound like female names to me. Gale as in Gayle or Gail, and Peeta as in… well, names that end in A in European languages tend to be female.

The plot was also a bit predictable. Not overly so, but there weren't many things that surprised me. (This is where I move into THINGS I DID LIKE.) HOWEVER… I liked it anyway. This is rare. I think Suzanne Collins is an excellent writer to have pulled this off, and I curtsy to her. Curtsying emoticon, I guess.

I read this in one day, so it's definitely not a dragging book. The plot moves along quite quickly, and it's very exciting. Very hard to put down. I approve. As soon as I finished it I wanted to read the sequel.

Oh, there's another thing. All through the book I was thinking about how I couldn't imagine it having a sequel. It's just a one-book plot. (Like Chasing Vermeer, if you've ever read that. The sequel didn't have NEARLY the same spirit as the first. It was very sad.) UNLESS—I thought—it was like the Star Wars trilogy** where it was basically just one movie split into three parts, as in the second and third aren't additions but rather continuations. If you know what I mean. Anyway, that's how it was, and I really can't imagine NOT reading the second book if you liked the first one at all. It would be like not finishing… well, any book at all.

Recommended!

Eight and three quarter cappertillers.

*The code I learned was actually
M = Male
F = Female
M = Main
C = Character
and all that, so you could have MCs or MCs and FCs, or MMCs and MFCs and it was just confusing. I'm trying to change it to
M = Male
F = Female
P = Primary
S = Secondary
T = Tertiary
C = Character
and all that.

**I'm just linktastic today, aren't I?

reflection on Ella Enchanted

1. I should mention there's another (more proper) review on Ella Enchanted out there from Maw Books.
2. It was made into a movie. Sort of. The author herself describes it as "a different entity from the book," which is a very wise way to think of it. It made me very angry when I first saw it… when I was ten. Laughing emoticon.
3. I should really have a third point, to justify using these numbers. Um… Ella Enchanted, is, in my opinion, Gail Carson Levine's best book, no competition. I like her other books, especially the collections of short stories, and her book on writing is excellent. However, Ella Enchanted remains unrivaled.
   

Review: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

SUMMARY
It's Cinderella! Only Ella (of the cinders) is cursed and has to do everything she's told. OH NOES. Her father's mean, her stepsisters are cruel and dull (respectively), her Mandy is cozy, and her prince is pretty much awesome.

Okay, so I don't summarize well.

This was my favorite book from when my sister read it to me till I decided I couldn't have a favorite book. I don't have dates for either of those, but it was a number of years. Gail Carson Levine has a way of writing that I just couldn't resist; I read this over and over again, often staying up late, even when I knew what was going to happen next, could recite bits from memory. I laughed out loud.

AURGH I should refuse to say generic things like "thrilling" and "awesome," and I should describe the book and not my reaction. W00T THE TROUBLES OF A REVIEW BLOG

Ella was realistic. She was headstrong, she made mistakes, she was a person. Olga and Olive were slightly less realistic, and Hattie mostly just wasn't, but if you say a word against this book I will comment with angry exclamation points. (Read: murder you.)

It's about her struggles with the curse and everybody around her, and it's funny and startling and brilliant and I love it SO MUCH. CAN YOU TELL.

87 cappertillers.

Review: IF IT'S A SECRET by Oh My Darling

This is my review blog. It's pretty much just for books, but I've already reviewed a blogger and a blog and it's 0% books, so WHO KNOWS.

I pretty much wrote my first three posts before starting. That's why they're all posted so close together.

I wasn't going to have a review blog because I don't know how to review books, but then I realized: nobody does! Anyway. I have a column on the left that should show you other awesome blogs, and I just forgot where I was going with this sentence.

Or this post.

Hurm.

3 cappertillers.

Review: Oh My Darling by God

Aha! The first reveal: I am a Christian.

The next: I'm paranoid. Oh My Darling is not my real name. Gasp! It's not even related in any way. I'm trying not to connect this blog to my regular one (if possible), because that one's for my life and this one is possibly for people I don't know. (Also espionage sounds fun.) I mean, I'm doing it all on the same computer, so I'm pretty sure it's easy to find out who I am, but I doubt anybody cares that much. Laughing emoticon.

A few more things. I'm a writer; I'm a girl; I forget everything and I'm always late.

What do I rate this entity that is me?
16 cappertillers. (Out of I don't know how many. That's for you to decide.)