Recipe for Murder by Lisa Harris

Recipe for Murder by Lisa Harris


rating: 1 of 5 stars
If I had noticed that this was a Christian mystery novel, I never would have requested it from paperbackswap.com. But, as it stands, I didn't notice it and it's a shame. I don't mind a little bit of religion in novels, but I need for it to be VERY subtle. However, in this case, the author even mentions in her blurb that she sees writing as an extension of her ministry. For me, that is NOT a good thing. It was far too preachy for me and I just did not like the book. If you enjoy mysteries with a Christian theme, then you will likely love this book. If you don't enjoy that, then just steer clear and save yourself the trouble. I wish I hadn't read it. I hate leaving such a negative review for a book, but it can't be helped in this case. Sorry!

Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult

Vanishing Acts: A Novel by Jodi Picoult

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a beautifully written and crafted novel, but I did not find myself as drawn in as I should have. For some reason, I did not connect emotionally to most of the characters. However, it is such a well crafted novel that I still enjoyed myself and didn't have any trouble finishing it. There is a strong chance that I will read another novel by this author in the future, even though I did not LOVE this book like so many others.

Night of the Loving Dead by Casey Daniels

Night of the Loving Dead by Casey Daniels


rating: 4 of 5 stars
Wow! I think this is my new favorite book in the series. I will admit that it was just a touch slow in the beginning and that I was worried that it wasn't going to live up to my expectations. Thankfully, I was very wrong! It quickly picked up and I soon found it difficult to put the book down. We finally get to learn a lot about Dan, which I really appreciated. I've been waiting for more of his story for way too long. :) Now I'm really looking forward to more in this series.

A TV Guide to Life by Jeff Alexander

A TV Guide to Life: How I Learned Everything I Needed to Know From Watching Television by Jeff Alexander



rating: 2 of 5 stars
I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. It wasn't bad, just not quite what I was expecting either. I've been a TWoP follower for a few years now, so I had an idea of what to expect from a writer on the site. Unfortunately, for me, the book didn't quite deliver as much as I was thought it would. It started off quite strong, but seemed to lose momentum as it progressed. There were a few laugh out loud moments though, so it definitely wasn't a total loss. I wanted to say that I loved it, but in truth, I thought it was okay. Not bad, but not great either. However, I feel the book was targeting an age range that is just a little older than I am, which could explain my slight disappointment. So if you were alive for more than just a few days of the 70's, you will likely enjoy this book more than I did. :)

Extras by Scott Westerfeld

Extras by Scott Westerfeld


rating: 4 of 5 stars
First of all, I must confess how much I love this series overall. I find the series to be fast paced, entertaining, and thought-provoking. Tally's story in the first 3 installments really captured my imagination. However, I was just a little disappointed with this installment. My disappointment is really very minor. I think I had expectations about the book that worked against me. I expected that the main character would be from the same part of the world as Tally. I expected that Tally would play an important role or none at all. Of course, some of my expectations were exceeded as well. For example, I would expect a futuristic Japan to be extremely technologically advanced and the author had some interesting ideas on that. I really enjoyed that exploration. At the end of the day, here's what I think happened. The "trilogy" was extremely popular and people wanted more. So, the author finally gave in to pressure and expanded the series. He was smart and chose a new character's story to tell and found a way to keep established ideas and people in it as well. Brilliant, really. But, I wanted something either entirely different or very similar to the previous stories. I did not really want a mix of the two, which is what happened. I imagine 99% of the fan base will love that approach, but I was mildly disappointed with it. Oh well. I still liked the book a lot and I love the series enough to recommend it to young adults and older adults, as well. I am curious to see how others react to the book and what the author will do next.

Kilt Dead by Kaitlyn Dunnett

rating: 4 of 5 stars
My biggest complaint about this book is that it ended very abruptly. I turned the last page fully expecting to see at least another paragraph or chapter, but that wasn't the case. Another small complaint is that I figured out who the bad guy was very early on and it was starting to get annoying that they weren't figuring it out in the book. But, overall, I really enjoyed it. I will definitely read the next book in the series, no doubt about it. I hope the characters evolve a little and that should make for a very good sequel. :)

Books Read in 2008

While I didn't keep up with my monthly summaries here, I did manage to update my list with the books I finished.

1. I Am America (and So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert 1/4/08
2. The Chick and the Dead (A Pepper Martin Mystery) by Casey Daniels 1/08/08
3. Lean Mean Thirteen (A Stephanie Plum novel) by Janet Evanovich 1/14/08
4. Body Movers by Stephanie Bond 1/22/08
5. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter 1/26/08
6. Bad Heir Day by Wendy Holden 2/02/08
7. Sorcery and the Single Girl by Mindy Klasky 02/08/08
8. Girl Walking Backwards by Bett Williams 02/13/08
9. The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro 2/17/08
10. Tell Me Lies by Jennifer Crusie 2/22/08
11. Grecian Holiday by Kate Cann 2/25/08
12. Confessions of a Teen Sleuth by Chelsea Cain 2/27/08
13. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer 3/02/08
14. Tombs of Endearment by Casey Daniels 3/09/08
15. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld 3/15/08
16. Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent, Surly, Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why It Often Sucks in the City, or Who are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me? by Jen Lancaster 03/27/08
17. Getting the Boot (S.A.S.S) by Peggy Guthart Strauss 04/03/08
18. The Places In Between by Rory Stewart 04/18/08
19. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld 4/23/08
20. Cashed In by Jackie Chance 5/9/08
21. Death by Chick Lit by Lynn Harris 05/15/08
22. The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot by Naomi Wolf 05/22/08
23. Specials by Scott Westerfeld 06/01/08
24. The Sound of Munich (SASS) by Suzanne Nelson 06/04/08
25. Karma Girl by Jennifer Estep 06/09/08
26. Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat hair by Laurie Perry 06/15/08
27. What's a Ghoul to Do? by Victoria Laurie 06/21/08
28. A Killer Stitch by Maggie Sefton 06/27/08
29. Demons Are a Ghoul's Best Friend by Victoria Laurie 07/01/08
30. How to Be a Villain: Evil Laughs, Secret Lairs, Master Plans, and More! by Neil Zawacki 07/07/08
31. The Trouble With Magic by Madelyn Alt 07/26/08
32. A Charmed Death by Madelyn Alt 08/09/08
33. If I Am Missing Or Dead by Janine Latus 08/13/08
34. Baggage by Emily Barr 08/23/08
35. Testing Kate by Whitney Gaskell 09/01/08
36. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini 09/06/08
37. Devil in the Details by Jennifer Traig 09/11/08
38. 50 Ways to Hex Your Lover by Linda Wisdom 09/27/08
39. Angel at Troublesome Creek by Mignon F. Ballard 10/01/08
40. An Angel to Die For by Mignon F. Ballard 10/07/08
41. Magic and the Modern Girl by Mindy Klasky 10/16/08
42. Shadow of an Angel by Mignon F. Ballard 10/23/08
43. Witch Way to Murder by Shirley Damsgaard 10/30/08
44. Flamingo Fatale by Jimmie Ruth Evans 11/06/08
45. Too Late for Angels by Mignon F. Ballard 11/13/08
46. Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster 11/19/08
47. Dead Cat Bounce by Sarah Graves 12/14/08
48. With or Without You by Carole Matthews 12/21/08
49. Hex Marks the Spot by Madelyn Alt 12/27/08

Altogether, I finished 49 books in 2008. I was a little disappointed with the final tally, but I had a hard time focusing on books. I think I just had a lot on my mind and found it difficult to concentrate on reading. Luckily, I think I'm getting back into reading a bit so I'm looking forward to finishing more books this year.

The best part about the books I did finish though is that I loved almost all of them. So while I may not have had the quantity I was looking for, I did have the quality I wanted. :)

End of Year Stats

I have a slight obsession with keeping track of how many times I go to the post office and how much money I spend there on my books and DVDs. For the record, swapadvd.com wasn't a factor in 2007, so that alone can partially explain why I spent more money in 2008. Anyway, without further ado, here are my end of year stats:

2008
January: 20.42
February: 14.69
March: 23.30
April: 15.48
May: 20.33
June: 21.97
July: 9.80
August: 12.53
September: 9.84
October: 30.29
November: 12.92
*December: 1.85
Total: $193.42
Total trips to the post office: 35

* My shelf was on hold for most of the month because I went out of town. Otherwise, that number would have been higher. It also had a big impact on January 2009's numbers. Trust me.

2007
January: 6.84
February: 8.67
March: 37.65
April: 9.06
May: 18.30
June: 29.79
July: 5.90
August: 14.44
September: 19.89
October: 6.41
November: 11.69
December: 18.06
Total: $186.70
Total trips to the post office: 41

So, there you go. It's actually rather fascinating if you ask me. It's neat to see that July is consistently a cheap month for me while March stayed on the high side. The difference between October 2007 and October 2008 is crazy too! I don't know why this fascinates me so much, but it does. To be honest, I haven't been posting books as much as I used to either. I have quite the pile of books just waiting to be posted, but with the current state of the economy, I'm hesitant to post too many at once. Spending money is one of my least favorite activities really. So, I am letting them pile up a bit more than I'd like in the meantime. The good news is that I still have plenty of credits and stacks of new (to me) books and DVDs. :)

Still around

Gee, what's this? Another neglected blog that I started? Say it isn't so!

I've really got to get better at updating these things. /big sigh

Today, I did my calculations for 2008 to see how many times I went to the post office to feed my PBS and SaDVD habits and how much money it cost. The final numbers are in! I went to the post office 35 times and spent over $190! Amazing, isn't it? In 2007, I went to the post office 41 times but spent less money. I will dig out the final totals later and promptly die a little on the inside.

Well, no, I love the swapping sites because I get so many new (to me) books to read and movies to watch and it's really much cheaper. I only read 49 books in 2008, but if I'd paid retail for them? Holy crap, that would have been a lot of money! Even a conservative estimate of $7 per book puts me in the $340 range. So, while I'm always a little shell shocked when I add up my yearly totals, it only takes a few minutes to calm down and realize that's it's not so bad. Plus, I joined Swapadvd.com in 2008 and I received some awesome movies. For example:

• Season 1 of House
• Seasons 1 and 2 of Nip/Tuck (season 1 was still in the original wrapper!)
• Season 1 of Strangers With Candy
• Juno
• Into the Wild

Plus, some others titles for me and family members. But, honestly, I got some great shows and movies for rather cheap. So, thank you PBS and SaDVD for letting me feed my habits for much cheaper than retail! You rock!

Books Read 04/08

Well, I'm late making this update, but it won't be a big deal because I didn't read too many books in April. In fact, I only finished 3 books in April. Sigh. For someone that usually enjoys reading a lot more, this is difficult to admit. I'm just in a reading slump of sorts. I can't wait for it to pass. Please, reading Gods, help me get back into reading again!

Anyway, here is what I read in April of 2008.

17. Getting the Boot (S.A.S.S) by Peggy Guthart Strauss 04/03/08
18. The Places In Between by Rory Stewart 04/18/08
19. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld 4/23/08

First up, is Getting the Boot, part of the Students Across Seven Seas series. This is a YA series, but I very much enjoy it. The books revolve around a teen girl studying abroad for a length of time and how the adventures affect her. Generally speaking, they are all great. This one wasn't a favorite for me though. The main character wasn't as likable overall, but it was still a fun read. This particular character was a little more rebellious than the typical SASS girl. I found that interesting and annoying at times. I liked the realism of a rebellious teen because it's quite common, but I also found it mildly annoying at times because I want these strong female protagonists to be better than that. I hated seeing her waste so much time on a jerk of a boy. Actually, that's a big part of what I didn't like about this one. Normally, the girls in these novels have some sort of boy character that plays an important part. But, at the end, the girls realize that they don't need a boy in order to be successful or better in any way. Of course, the main character in this one comes to the same conclusion, but not before wasting half of the book with him and getting into trouble because of him. Annoying! But, like I said, she eventually figures it all out and the ending is satisfying.

Oy. Next up, I read The Places In Between by Rory Stewart. I had high hopes for this book. Perhaps, my hopes were a little too high though because man, this book disappointed me. The premise is that Rory wants to walk across Afghanistan, following the route of a 15th century emperor. He begins his journey in 2002, which was during a tumultuous time of great change in Afghanistan. I wanted to gain a better understanding of the country and its people while reading this book, but sadly, I didn't really get that at all. I felt like I was getting a detached, unemotional play by play of an epic journey. There was a serious lack of information throughout the book. While the author mentions intimate details about his dysentery, he rarely gave anything else much thought. The book really needed some commentary or something. Oh well. Not every book can be a winner, right?

Finally, I read Pretties by Scott Westerfeld. I love this YA series! Book 2 was not a disappointment in the least. It left me wanting more. I'm not usually a big fan of futuristic/science fiction- like books, but this series is fantastic! I highly recommend that people of all ages give it a shot. It will give you a lot to think about as an adult. What would you do if you found yourself in Tally's position? I don't want to get too into a synopsis though because it's difficult to explain. Also, if you do decide to give the series a try, start with book 1 or you'll be quite confused.

Favorite book read: Pretties, of course!
Least Favorite book: The Places In Between

Number of books read April 2008: 3 (...sigh...)
Number of books read April 2007: 5