Yep, there's going to be a What's In A Name II! To learn more about it, click here. I hope you'll join me! Anyway, here's my list of possibilities:
Buildings:
The House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton
The Mystery of the Biltmore House by Carole Marsh
The Ravenmaster's Secret: Escape from the Tower of London by Elvira Woodruff
Time of Day:
Good Night, Maman by Norma Fox Mazer
The Night of Wishes by Michael Ende
Body Part:
Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
Medical Condition:
The Plague by Philip Wooderson
Relatives:
The Children of Hurin by JRR Tolkein
Profession:
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
The Empress's Tomb by Kirsten Miller
Witch's Business by Diana Wynne Jones
The Printer's Devil by Paul Bajoria
The Purple Emperor by Herbie Brennan
The World of King Arthur and his Court by Kevin Crossley-Holland
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
The Historian (book review)
This book was for the RIP III Challenge and the Chunkster Challenge.
The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova, is actually three stories intertwining to form a complex and fascinating novel. The first story is told from the point of view of a sixteen-year-old girl who is brought up by her father, a historian, and how, when he suddenly disappears, she sets out on a quest to find him...and find out more about the mysterious man/vampire called Vlad Dracula.
The second story is the tale of the girl's father, Paul. Orally and through letters, he tells her how, one night, he received a strange blank book with a woodcut of a dragon holding a flag with one word...Drakulya. He soon discovered that the word meant dragon, and how this related to Vlad the Impaler, the true Dracula, who had belonged to an elite organization called the Order of the Dragon, from his companion Professor Rossi. When Rossi disappeared under mysterious circumstances, Paul had evidence that led him to believe that he had actually been kidnapped by Vlad Dracula himself. Being a vampire, Dracula was still alive...and he had Rossi in his grasp. Paul was determined to get Rossi back, even if it meant facing Dracula himself. Joining him on his quest was a young Hungarian anthropologist named Helen. Together they trailed Dracula to Istanbul, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Eventually they found Rossi, who had his own story to tell.
Rossi's story was one of love and pain. He had fallen in love with a young Hungarian girl, but had found himself separated from her during his own quest to find Dracula. Eventually Rossi had settled down, but he had never forgotten the elusive vampire, and then he found himself stolen away to Dracula's secret crypt...
Now, on one moonlit night, all the stories come together in the climax. Dracula will come face to face with those who have tried so hard to stop him. Who will triumph in the end?
There is SO MUCH MORE involved in the story than this, but I don't want to give away too much!
This book was phenomenal. It was packed full of horror, ancient lore, culture, romance...anything you'd want in a classic vampire story! Any fans of Gothic literature CAN'T miss this book!
I give this book a 5 out of 5. It was great!!!
The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova, is actually three stories intertwining to form a complex and fascinating novel. The first story is told from the point of view of a sixteen-year-old girl who is brought up by her father, a historian, and how, when he suddenly disappears, she sets out on a quest to find him...and find out more about the mysterious man/vampire called Vlad Dracula.
The second story is the tale of the girl's father, Paul. Orally and through letters, he tells her how, one night, he received a strange blank book with a woodcut of a dragon holding a flag with one word...Drakulya. He soon discovered that the word meant dragon, and how this related to Vlad the Impaler, the true Dracula, who had belonged to an elite organization called the Order of the Dragon, from his companion Professor Rossi. When Rossi disappeared under mysterious circumstances, Paul had evidence that led him to believe that he had actually been kidnapped by Vlad Dracula himself. Being a vampire, Dracula was still alive...and he had Rossi in his grasp. Paul was determined to get Rossi back, even if it meant facing Dracula himself. Joining him on his quest was a young Hungarian anthropologist named Helen. Together they trailed Dracula to Istanbul, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Eventually they found Rossi, who had his own story to tell.
Rossi's story was one of love and pain. He had fallen in love with a young Hungarian girl, but had found himself separated from her during his own quest to find Dracula. Eventually Rossi had settled down, but he had never forgotten the elusive vampire, and then he found himself stolen away to Dracula's secret crypt...
Now, on one moonlit night, all the stories come together in the climax. Dracula will come face to face with those who have tried so hard to stop him. Who will triumph in the end?
There is SO MUCH MORE involved in the story than this, but I don't want to give away too much!
This book was phenomenal. It was packed full of horror, ancient lore, culture, romance...anything you'd want in a classic vampire story! Any fans of Gothic literature CAN'T miss this book!
I give this book a 5 out of 5. It was great!!!
Black Beauty (book review)
Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell, is an interesting book. It is a horse story told from the horse's point of view. Black Beauty, as he is called, grows up being sold constantly. Sometimes he belongs to masters who actually care about him, and sometimes he does not. He spends his days as a young horse at a fancy place called Birtwick park, where he makes friends (both human and horse) and is extremely well cared for. Beauty's time at Birtwick park makes up almost half of the book.
After Birtwick, Beauty has other masters, including an Earl who doesn't really care about him, and a kind and gentle cab driver. There are ohters who aren't even really worth mentioning because Beauty only finds himself in their care for about one chapter each (and the chapters are short). But eventually, Beauty finds himself sold to a kindly old man and his son on a farm where Beauty discovers an old friend from Birtwick. He lives out the rest of his days well-loved and well cared for. After all the rest of the strain he lived through, it is a happy ending.
This book was good. Sewell had a very clear message, and she pounds it into the readers' heads: don't maltreat horses! I believe that this is a very good message, and that it is wrong to mistreat animals, but Sewell might have made her argument slightly more subtle. It seemed to me as if every two chapters there was a maltreated horse found on the streets by Beauty and his master, and it seemed to get a little repetitive after a while. However, I still enjoyed the book a lot, and I thought it was a great horse story.
I would give this book a 3 out of 5.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
The Egypt Game (book review)
The Egypt Game, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, is the story of a unique game started by two girls...Melanie Ross and April Hall, when they discover that they have one thing in common...a fascination for all things Egyptian. So, along with Melanie's little brother, they set up their own version of Ancient Egypt in an old store yard. They are soon joined by their new neighbor, Elizabeth, and two boys who think the girls' game is kind of cool.
But soon, the six young "Egyptians" realize that their game may have gone too far. Strange things are starting to happen to the players. Have they stirred up the ancient gods of Egypt, or, even worse, is somebody stalking them...someone with malicious intent?
This book was absolutely impossible to put down!!! I was hooked until the very end. The author is great at building up suspense and leaving her readers hanging. I found it hard not to beg my mom to run to the bookstore and buy the next book, The Gypsy Game!
I know I haven't rated books in a long time, but this one was probably a 5 out of 5.
But soon, the six young "Egyptians" realize that their game may have gone too far. Strange things are starting to happen to the players. Have they stirred up the ancient gods of Egypt, or, even worse, is somebody stalking them...someone with malicious intent?
This book was absolutely impossible to put down!!! I was hooked until the very end. The author is great at building up suspense and leaving her readers hanging. I found it hard not to beg my mom to run to the bookstore and buy the next book, The Gypsy Game!
I know I haven't rated books in a long time, but this one was probably a 5 out of 5.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Two Girls of Gettysburg (book review)
Two Girls of Gettysburg, by Lisa Klein, is the story of two best friends and cousins who are ripped apart by the Civil War. Lizzie Allbaur is a plain girl growing up in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. She is extremely envious of her cousin, Rosanna, a Southern beauty sent to Gettysburg to live with her sister. When Virginia secedes, Rosanna resolves to stay. She has left the South behind, and has come to love the little town, Gettysburg. But when the young man she thinks she loves is killed in the conflict, Rosanna must return home...to a world she would have liked to forget. Her past is filled with treachery and forbidden love, and she feels as if she has to tell someone about it.
So, through letters, Rosanna directs Lizzie to her hidden scrapbook, where she has hidden a horrible secret. Lizzie, shocked and horrified by what her cousin has done, urges her to forget the past and return to Gettysburg. But Rosanna refuses.
Meanwhile, the situation in Gettysburg gets worse and worse. Lizzie must drop out of school to help her mother manage their butcher's shop. Every day she worries more about her father and twin brother, off fighting for the Union cause.
In Richmond, Rosanna marries an old crush. When he joins the Confederate Army, Rosanna follows as a field nurse. When her husband is killed by a fever, she stays with the army anyway, trying to do her best to prevent as many unnecessary deaths as she can.
Soon, the Civil War will bring Lizzie and Rosanna together again when the conflict reaches its turning point as the two armies converge in Gettysburg. But it will take courage and strength from both of them to make it through the battle alive...will they ever see each other again?
This was a great historical novel! Rosanna and Lizzie seem very real, and they have feelings that readers can relate to. In the author's note, she explains how she based her characters on real people who were at the battle, which I thought was very interesting. I am on the lookout for Klein's first novel, a retelling of Shakespeare's play, Ophelia!
So, through letters, Rosanna directs Lizzie to her hidden scrapbook, where she has hidden a horrible secret. Lizzie, shocked and horrified by what her cousin has done, urges her to forget the past and return to Gettysburg. But Rosanna refuses.
Meanwhile, the situation in Gettysburg gets worse and worse. Lizzie must drop out of school to help her mother manage their butcher's shop. Every day she worries more about her father and twin brother, off fighting for the Union cause.
In Richmond, Rosanna marries an old crush. When he joins the Confederate Army, Rosanna follows as a field nurse. When her husband is killed by a fever, she stays with the army anyway, trying to do her best to prevent as many unnecessary deaths as she can.
Soon, the Civil War will bring Lizzie and Rosanna together again when the conflict reaches its turning point as the two armies converge in Gettysburg. But it will take courage and strength from both of them to make it through the battle alive...will they ever see each other again?
This was a great historical novel! Rosanna and Lizzie seem very real, and they have feelings that readers can relate to. In the author's note, she explains how she based her characters on real people who were at the battle, which I thought was very interesting. I am on the lookout for Klein's first novel, a retelling of Shakespeare's play, Ophelia!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
School's Out--Forever (book review)
In School's Out--Forever, the second installment in James Patterson's bestselling Maximum Ride series, fourteen year old Max and her friends are on the run from the Erasers, ghastly wolf-human creatures spawned in a lab. The catch? Max and her friends, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel, aren't exactly normal either. They grew up in the same lab that the Erasers did, only they weren't given wolf DNA...they were given bird DNA! After escaping the horrible lab they grew up in, Max and the rest of the winged children found themselves constantly attacked by Erasers. But when an FBI agent discovers their secret and takes them in, the bird-kids have to face their worst nightmare--school! Their social life is progressing fairly well despite the fact that they are winged mutants on the run. That is, until the flock uncovers a stunning betrayal and finds themselves without anyone to trust once again.
Now, with the children discovering startling new abilities that are getting more and more powerful, they have to survive on their own while learning how to take down a whole new threat...one that doesn't just want to kill them, but destroy the whole world.
I thought this book was just as good as the first, if not better. It was filled with action, and it was a very fast read. Just like the first one, this book was full of mystery and left me wanting to immediately go out and get the next book!
Now, with the children discovering startling new abilities that are getting more and more powerful, they have to survive on their own while learning how to take down a whole new threat...one that doesn't just want to kill them, but destroy the whole world.
I thought this book was just as good as the first, if not better. It was filled with action, and it was a very fast read. Just like the first one, this book was full of mystery and left me wanting to immediately go out and get the next book!
Wrapup To the Read-a-thon
I'm so glad that I participated in this read-a-thon! Here is my final posting.
Start: 6:15
End: 7:10
Minutes: 55
Total Pages: 1432
Books Finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game, Two Girls of Gettysburg, The Graveyard Book
Reading now: Into the Land of the Unicorns
Start: 6:15
End: 7:10
Minutes: 55
Total Pages: 1432
Books Finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game, Two Girls of Gettysburg, The Graveyard Book
Reading now: Into the Land of the Unicorns
End of Event Meme
1. Which hour was most daunting for you? Between 1:00 and 2:00
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? The Graveyard Book, Maximum Ride, Coraline (even though I didn't read this for the read-a-thon)
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? No, I thought this year was great.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? All of the mini-challenges...they were very good distractions.
5. How many books did you read? I finished Black Beauty and totally read four books.
6. What were the names of the books you read? Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game, Two Girls of Gettysburg, The Graveyard Book
7. Which book did you enjoy most? They were all great books.
8. Which did you enjoy least? I liked them all equally, even though they were all very different!
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? I wasn't a Cheerleader.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? It is highly likely that I will participate again! I will probably just be a Reader.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? The Graveyard Book, Maximum Ride, Coraline (even though I didn't read this for the read-a-thon)
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? No, I thought this year was great.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? All of the mini-challenges...they were very good distractions.
5. How many books did you read? I finished Black Beauty and totally read four books.
6. What were the names of the books you read? Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game, Two Girls of Gettysburg, The Graveyard Book
7. Which book did you enjoy most? They were all great books.
8. Which did you enjoy least? I liked them all equally, even though they were all very different!
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? I wasn't a Cheerleader.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? It is highly likely that I will participate again! I will probably just be a Reader.
Yet Another Read-a-thon Update
I have now finished The Graveyard Book, which was very good, although extremely creepy, and my word count is up to 1,390.
Read-a-thon Post 12
Start: 1:20
End: 4:15
Minutes: 175
Total Pages Read: 1317
Books finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game, Two Girls of Gettysburg
Currently Reading: The Graveyard Book (for Carl's mini-challenge)
End: 4:15
Minutes: 175
Total Pages Read: 1317
Books finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game, Two Girls of Gettysburg
Currently Reading: The Graveyard Book (for Carl's mini-challenge)
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Read-a-thon Post 11
Start: 10:15
End: 11:30
Minutes: 75
Total Pages: 1,083
Books Finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game, Two Girls of Gettysburg
Currently Reading: The Castle in the Attic
End: 11:30
Minutes: 75
Total Pages: 1,083
Books Finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game, Two Girls of Gettysburg
Currently Reading: The Castle in the Attic
Another Mini Challenge
I've decided to participate in Sharon's mini-challenge. Here are my answers:
1. Go to this website. Find on the map a library cat that lives/lived closest to you (there are library cats in Canada). What is the cats name? What library is/was it located in?
George lives in Tompkins County Public Library in Ithaca.
2. Which library does Dewey live in?
Dewey lived in Seymour Public Library in Auburn.
3. What is the name of the library cat documentary film that Dewey was in?
Dewey was in the documentary Puss in Books: Adventures of the Library Cat.
4. What is Dewey's full name?
Dewey's full name is Dewey Readmore Books.
1. Go to this website. Find on the map a library cat that lives/lived closest to you (there are library cats in Canada). What is the cats name? What library is/was it located in?
George lives in Tompkins County Public Library in Ithaca.
2. Which library does Dewey live in?
Dewey lived in Seymour Public Library in Auburn.
3. What is the name of the library cat documentary film that Dewey was in?
Dewey was in the documentary Puss in Books: Adventures of the Library Cat.
4. What is Dewey's full name?
Dewey's full name is Dewey Readmore Books.
Read-a-thon Post 10
Start: 7:50
End: 9:25
Minutes: 95
Total Pages: 944
Books Finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game
Currently Reading: Two Girls of Gettysburg
End: 9:25
Minutes: 95
Total Pages: 944
Books Finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game
Currently Reading: Two Girls of Gettysburg
Read-a-thon Post 9
Start: 6:40
End: 7:40
Minutes Read: 60
Total Pages Read: 835
Books Finished So Far: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game
Currently Reading: Two Girls of Gettysburg
End: 7:40
Minutes Read: 60
Total Pages Read: 835
Books Finished So Far: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game
Currently Reading: Two Girls of Gettysburg
Read-a-thon Post 8
Start: 5:45
End: 6:15
Minutes: 30
Total Pages Read: 785
Books Finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game
Currently Reading: Two Girls of Gettysburg
End: 6:15
Minutes: 30
Total Pages Read: 785
Books Finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game
Currently Reading: Two Girls of Gettysburg
Read-a-thon Post 7
Start: 4:10
End: 5:10
Minutes: 60
Total Pages Read: 751
Books Finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game
Currently Reading: Two Girls of Gettysburg
End: 5:10
Minutes: 60
Total Pages Read: 751
Books Finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game
Currently Reading: Two Girls of Gettysburg
Read-a-thon Post 6
Start: 2:30
End: 3:30
Min: 70
Total Pages Read: 693
Books Finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game
Currently Reading: Two Girls of Gettysburg
End: 3:30
Min: 70
Total Pages Read: 693
Books Finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, The Egypt Game
Currently Reading: Two Girls of Gettysburg
Read-a-thon Post 5
Start: 1:15
End: 2:15
Minutes: 60
Total Pages: 562
Books Finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever
Currently Reading: The Egypt Game
End: 2:15
Minutes: 60
Total Pages: 562
Books Finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever
Currently Reading: The Egypt Game
Read-a-thon Update
I switched books from Eleven to The Egypt Game thirty-two pages into Eleven because I wasn't enjoying it. My page count is now 487.
Read-a-thon Post 4
Start: 12:10
End: 12:35
Minutes: 25
Total Pages: 446
Books Finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever
Currently Reading: Eleven
End: 12:35
Minutes: 25
Total Pages: 446
Books Finished: Black Beauty, Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever
Currently Reading: Eleven
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