Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging

I read this book a while back and was looking up something about it and found out it was made into a movie! I had no idea, never heard of a movie of it before. I watched the trailer and went to Netflix to put it in my queue. When I put it in my queue, it showed up under saved movies and was unknown when it would be available. Finally, it showed up as available now.

I thought this was such a cute teen movie! I enjoyed it a lot. I just loved their small English town by the sea, would love to live there myself! It's been a while since I read the book but it seemed to follow the book pretty well. Most characters seemed great but Jaz (the main character, Georgia's best friend) didn't really act or look how I pictured her. And I was a little annoyed how relatively easy it was for Georgia to get Robbie to like her after her never having a boyfriend. But it was fun and cute, all wrapped up neatly at the end in a fun way.

Inglourious Basterds

I will start by saying that I don't really enjoy Quentin Tarantino movies. Not my thing. However, my husband wanted to get this from Netflix and I said I'd watch it. It seemed to be an interesting concept and I couldn't pass up Brad Pitt.

Turns out I loved it. There were still too many violent type scenes for me and had to look away for some. It wasn't at all what I expected it to be about, according to the trailers I saw. I liked the other stories better than the Basterds parts. Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa was awesome. I'm glad to see him up for lots of major awards.

I love alternative history so I loved that part of the movie too.

Funny thing. I read that this movie was a "spaghetti western" set during World War II. I've seen the term spaghetti western many times but never really knew what it meant. I assumed it had something to do with what happened in some westerns. I was surprised to find out that they are western movies that were directed by Italians and Spanish directors/producers. I thought they were totally something else, but not sure what.

Movies

I've never really written movie reviews but decided to write a few when the mood strikes me. There's been a few movies I've seen lately that I feel like writing about so I will write a few posts about them.

The Quality of Life Report

Lucinda is a reporter from New York City who decides after doing a report about Prairie City in the midwest, to move there. The story is about her trials and tribulations to what she believes would be a simpler and nicer life.

My first problem with this book is the man Lucinda begins to date and eventually buys a farm with him. I just couldn't see her with that type of man, and he is the type most sensible people would walk away from immediately. It just bothered me and I couldn't get past that. Also, I couldn't believe how naive Lucinda was about some things or all the mistakes she made. It was easy to read, an ok story, but one of those books you keep getting annoyed at the main characters.

Inkspell

This book is the sequel to Inkheart, in which Meggie and her father can read characters of of books and become particularly involved with the characters of a book entitled Inkheart.

Inkspell has characters returning to their book along with Meggie and other major characters, including the author of Inkheart.

I love the concept. It sounds like a great concept that booklovers would love. I read the first book and said, eh, it was ok. I decided to give the second book a try. I really shouldn't have.

The book was longer than I thought, 600 some pages. And most of it dragged with not much of anything happening or nothing interesting happening. I wasn't really entralled with the Inkworld. I should have quit this book but didn't. I read the description for the third book and decided that it sounded boring and that I didn't need to read it. I am disappointed in this series.

Mirror Mirror

I love the genre of the retelling of fairy tales. I haven't read one of Gregory Maguire's books in a while. I read Wicked in the summer of 2002 and listened to Confessions of the Ugly Stepsister in the fall of the same year. Wicked was ok but got too philosophical for me. I really liked Confessions, though.

Mirror Mirror is the retelling of Snow White set in 16th century Italy. The character of the evil queen is Lucrezia Borgia, modeled after the real historical person. The dwarfs are not at all like the Disney version of happy little men but quite different and not very likeable.

I don't really know what say about this book. It was interesting but didn't turn out to what I thought it would be. I did like hearing about the Borgias and that made me do some research on the real Borgias.

Fun facts about my 2009 reads

I kept some new stats this year, thanks to Literary Feline

Total books read: 49
Total authors read: 44

Authors
male: 17
female: 27
new : 29

Genre
fiction: 15
young adult: 18
crime/mystery: 6
fantasy: 4
sci fi: 1
non-fiction: 6

Book Size
pint size (200 pgs or less): 13
intermediate (201-350 pgs) : 21
substantial (351-500 pgs): 11
door stoppers (500+ pgs): 4

Year of Publication
oldest: 1924 (Giants in the Earth)
several from 2009

1920s- 1
1940s- 1
1960s- 1
1980s- 2
1990s- 10
2000s- 35

Places visited in books
New York City, Prince Edward Island, magic kingdom of Landover, Florida, Barbados, Chicago, Wisconsin, Forks, Washington, Netherlands, Philadelphia, Oregan territory, Massachusetts, London, Dakota territory, Pompeii, Texas, Soviet Union, Los Angeles, Hogwarts, Washington, D.C., Australia, Louisiana, Elkhart, Indiana

Top 10 of 2009

in no particular order

American Band-Kristen Laine
Good in Bed- Jennifer Weiner
Child 44- Tom Rob Smith
Free-Range Kids- Lenore Skenazy
Loving Frank- Nancy Horan
Boston Jane- Jennifer Holm
Who P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit? - Gary Wolf
Casual Rex- Eric Garcia
Starlight Barking- Dodie Smith
The Most Wanted- Jacqueline Mitchard

My 2009 books

It's that time again! Here's the books I read this year:

January
1. Tomorrow Will Be Better- Betty Smith
2. Before Green Gables- Budge Wilson
3. Witches Brew- Terry Brooks
4. Jack's New Power- Jack Gantos

February
5. Jack's Black Book- Jack Gantos
6. Loving Frank- Nancy Horan
7. Twilight- Stephenie Meyer
8. Melanie Martin Goes Dutch- Carol Weston

March
9. Last Night at the Lobster- Steward O'Nan
10. Boston Jane- Jennifer Holm
11. Starlight Barking- Dodie Smith
12. A Woman of Her Tribe- Margaret Robinson

April
12. Giants in the Earth- O.E. Rolvaag
13. Sweet Sixteen Princess- Meg Cabot
14. Afternoon of the Elves- Janet Taylor Lisle
15. Eleven Karens- Peter Lefcourt
16. Just Don't Make a Scene, Mum- Rosie Rushton

May
17. Josie and Jack- Kelly Braffet
18. The Cuckoo Sister- Vivian Alcock
19. Pompeii- Robert Harris
20. Audacity of Hope- Barack Obama
21. Good in Bed- Jennifer Weiner

June
22. Jinxed- Carol Higgins Clark
23. Valentine Princess- Meg Cabot
24. The Most Wanted- Jacqueline Mitchard
25. The No Spin Zone- Bill O'Reilly

July
26. Child 44- Tom Rob Smith
27. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince- J. K. Rowling (reread)

August
28. The Civil War in Fairfax County- Charles Mauro
29. Free-Range Kids- Lenore Skenazy
30. Who P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit? -Gary Wolf
31. What's French for Eww?- Katie Maxwell
32. All-American Girl- Meg Cabot
33. The Rudest Alien on Earth- Jane Conly
34. Ready or Not- Meg Cabot
35. The Slightly True Story of Cedar Hartley- Martine Murray

September
36. Maybe Baby- Tenaya Darlington
36. Voyage- Stephen Baxter

October
38. Ya-Yas in Bloom- Rebecca Wells
39. If Only it were True- Marc Levy
40Sisters Long Ago- Peg Kehret
41. Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism- Georgia Byng
42. New Moon- Stephenie Meyer

November
43. Diary of a Mad Bride- Laura Wolf
44. Casual Rex- Eric Garcia
45. Anonymous Rex- Eric Garcia

December
46. Life Without Lawyers- Philip Howard
47. American Band- Kristen Laine
48. London Holiday- Richard Peck
49. The Lost Symbol- Dan Brown

The Lost Symbol

I read The DaVinci Code shortly after it came out and really enjoyed it. This book started out page turning and I couldn't wait to see what happened next. But it started falling apart for me somewhere in the middle. I figured out one of the mysteries of the book in the middle, which didn't seem that hard to decipher. The final secrets didn't seem too exciting or shocking to me either. I got tired of Langdon explaining everything and his and other main characters dumb moves. And saying SMSC (Smithsonian Museum Support Center) bugged me the whole book since I used to work in the same complex for the American Indian Museum and everyone calls it MSC, not SMSC, small nitpick but bothersome to me. And on the final pages of the book he even gets wrong the name of National Museum of the American Indian, calling it Native History Museum or something. So, yeah, I was a little disappointed but it was still interesting to read about supposedly ancient Masonic secrets. I have yet to read his other books, but I do own Angels and Demons and plan to read it some time.

London Holiday

I've read many young adult book by Richard Peck (The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp is one of my favorite books) but never any adult fiction by him. This book is the story of 3 old high school friends from Missouri, who have mostly gone their seperate ways, but reunite for a trip to London together. They stay at a small bed and breakfast and each have their own London adventure with a heartwarming ending. Nothing too special, but I enjoyed it.

American Band

I really loved this book. This book is about a season in a highly competitive marching band in Indiana. It brought back so many memories for me. Marching band was my life in high school and my band was also very competitive. It was interesting to compare Concord Marching Band to my high school experience. Much was the same. This book also delved into the personal lives of several students and the directors. It was a great book and I highly recommend it especially to those who were in marching band.

Life Without Lawyers

No doubt that America is too litigious. Philip Howard's book is full of examples of outrageous lawsuits and solutions to this problem. I read this book at the beginning the month and I really don't remember much of his solutions! I remember mainly about the education section but not much other than that. It wasn't as easy to read as I thought it would be but still an interesting subject.

Casual Rex/Anonymous Rex

I have had Anonymous Rex on my wishlist for a while and then I found 2 books in one and decided to try it. I wasn't really sure if I would like it. The books are about a P.I. in Los Angeles who is a dinosaurs. Dinosaurs didn't die out millions of years ago but survived and now wear"guises" so humans do not find out. An very odd premise, but it works.

I read Casual Rex first but it turns out it was a prequel. I was engaged almost immediately. Vincent and his partner Eddie find themselves immersed in a dinosaur cult mystery. A lot of fun. I really wasn't expecting much but really enjoyed the story. Anonymous Rex was good too. I was truly surprised how much I enjoyed these books.

Diary of Mad Bride

The book starts out with Amy as a bridesmaid in her friend Mandy's wedding. She isn't going to be a bridezilla like her friend. In fact, maybe she won't get married at all. Then her boyfriend pops the question. You can see where this is all going. The book is funny and I love diary style books.

New Moon

What can I say about New Moon that hasn't already been said? I'm not a big fan of the Twilight series, I will say first. I enjoy the books, mostly, but they won't be rereads for me and I haven't rushed out to get the next one. I will read it eventually. Beware, spoilers below if you haven't read it.

Bella, Bella, Bella. She annoys me to no end in this book. Does she have to be that dramatic? She just cannot live without Edward. I love Jacob though; my favorite character in the books. And Taylor Lautner in the movies isn't bad to look at either. He is so sweet. I didn't see the werewolf thing coming and it disappointed me a little although I could see where it was going. The creepiest image of the book to me was after Bella jumped and later realized the red flame in the water she was seeing was Victoria. I will see the movie, again eventually when it comes to Netflix.

I guess the books keep me entertained but I just get too upset with all the characters and their choices.

Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism

I just read Sisters Long Ago, which dealt with hypnotism, and my 4 year old picked this book next (probably based on front cover) to read next. How fitting.

Molly Moon is an orphan who finds a fantastic book about hypnotism and discovers that she is a natural. What happened in the middle of the book surprised me. It was a fun book to read and there are several other books in the series that I will be reading.

Sisters Long Ago

This book is a teen novel written in the 1990s. Willow experiences flashbacks to a previous life and wonders what it all means. She tries to find out how she is conncected with another girl who saved her life. And how this all fits in with her sister now who has cancer. There are some interesting topics in this book like reincarnation, hypnotism and dreams.

If Only It Were True

What would you do if you were in an accident, your body was on life support but you were seperated from your body and only one random person could see you? This is what happens to Lauren in this book. How does she return to her body? Only one person, a stranger, who now lives in her old apartment, Arthur, could see her. Some very interesting things happen in this book. There is also a movie based on the book, Just Like Heaven with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo, that I got from Netflix shortly after reading the book. The movie has a lot in common with the book but yet is different. I enjoyed the movie too.

Ya-Yas in Bloom

I loved Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood when I read it shortly after it was published. I didn't care too much for the Little Altars Everywhere prequel. This book starts with how the Ya-Yas met, some of their childhood, early married years and present day. I liked finding out more about them. Fun!

Voyage

One of my newest interest has been the U.S. space program, specifically the Apollo era. This novel is an alternative history of what might have happened if the manned moon missions continued and a mission to Mars took place. I was impressed with all the details about the space program and science in this book. Plus the development of several human characters. I loved the focus on the different aspects of the program-the astronauts, creation of the Martian lander, etc. It was a long book and took me a while to read but I really enjoyed it.

Maybe Baby

This was a interesting little book. It is about a family whose not very close at all anymore. The daughter becomes pregnant and decides to have a genderless baby. No one except the parents will know if it's a boy or girl. Interesting concept. I remember reading recently about a couple doing this, in Sweden I think?

The Slightly True Story of Cedar B. Hartley

This book is about a 12 year old girl named Cedar, her relationship with her new friend Kite, the circus, acrobats and so much more. I guess this book is classified as young adult but I thought of it more as a coming of age story and was surprised to see it classified this way. It is set in Australia so it was fun to learn some new words and phrases that I didn't know like what a squashed fly biscuit is. There are a lot deep thoughts from Cedar in this book that made me think. This book was a lot better than I expected.

Ready or Not

You know you have too many books when you just start looking through your books randomly and find a sequel to a book that you didn't know had a sequel and that you had no idea you even owned. That's what happened to me with Ready or Not. I had just read All American Girl and I assumed it didn't have a sequel. A few days later I found Ready or Not on one of my many book shelves. Hmp!

Anyway, this book takes place about a year after American Girl. I didn't enjoy this one as much as I did the first one. Samantha started to remind me more of Mia from the Princess Diaries but this isn't why I didn't like it. Most of the book is about Samantha's fixiation on one subject and I pretty much figured about her assumption and ultimately didn't like her decision.

All American Girl

Samantha becomes a national hero at age 15 when she stops a presidential assassination. Of course, her whole life in changed whereas she just wants to be herself; a similar premise to The Princess Diaries, also by Meg Cabot. Oh, and she also begins dating the president's son. The book was fun to read.

What's French for "Ew!"?

This is a fun young adult novel. I read another in this, which is about 16 year old Emily and her life since her family moved to Europe. This book focuses on her spring break trip to Paris. Emily has the worst luck but her adventures are hilarious. Oh, the book is written in a series of emails to her best friend in the U.S. I love books in this format. A fun book to read!

Who P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit?

I read Who Censored Roger Rabbit? last year and loved it. This book isn't exactly a sequel but it has the same characters. I love the inhabitants of Toontown and their interactions with 1930s Hollywood. It is also pretty funny and I love humorous books. Another highly recommended book.

Free-Range Kids

I was very excited to read this book. It certainly lived up to expectations. It was fantastic. This is pretty much how I want to raise my kids. I want them to be able to grow up with the same type of childhood that I had and not worry about every little thing that might happen to them; but it's hard not too worry! I don't like the trend of the "helicopter parents" and not giving kids any freedom. Skenazy brings data and facts to the argument that kids can do more than we think and the world is truly not a more dangerous place than it was 30 years ago. There was so much in this book that I agreed with. I was laughing aloud at timesl Skenazy is a funny writer at times and her style is very easy to read. I got this book from the library but I need to get my own copy.

The Civil War in Fairfax County

Civil War history is all around me where I live in Fairfax county Virginia. Although I majored in history in college, I have never been into military history.

I found out recently, though, that there could be Civil War trenches in my backyard, literally, as they have been found in my neighbor's yard. Fascinating!

I found this book at the library and decided to read it to find out a little more about the war in my area. It's a short book with lots of photographs. However, it took me a long time to read as I found it tedious in parts and a few times it seemed to abruptly change subjects. The book has a lot of first hand accounts of the war. I did learn some new information from the book but overall it was a tad boring to me.

Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince

I reread this book in July in preparation to see the movie. Have I seen the movie yet? No. Such is the life with 3 young children. I probably won't see it until it comes out on DVD now.

I haven't reread a Harry Potter book in a while. I think this is only the second time I've read it. It was very enjoyable again. I'd really like to reread book 7 now but I just have so many other books to read.

Child 44

I got this book last year from a big box of books that I won from Hatchette. I put it on my book shelves but it really didn't sound that interesting to me. I picked it up in July for a book group read not thinking I would really like it.
But I was wrong. It was a great book! It is set in the Soviet Union in the 1950s. A former MGB officer finds a disturbing pattern of murders. But officially, the state says there is no serial killers because they don't exist in the Soviet Union. He goes against the state to discover the killer. The theme of the book is definitely paranoia. I can't imagine what it was like to live the USSR then and fear everyone and everything.
The book is fast paced with a final twist that I did figure out before the end. I am glad I did read this book and highly recommend it.

The No Spin Zone

I used to listen to Bill O'Reilly radio show a lot and watch his TV show occasionally but haven't for years. (By the way, this seems the theme for this month-books I've had forever and authors I haven't read for a while). I found his show interesting and while I always didn't agree with his opinion, I respected him for it.

This book is broken up into chapters than can be read out of order as each chapter tackles and issue and deals with a person who's been on his show debating the issue.

I liked his first book but I found him more pompous and arrogant in this book. He seems to brag about how his ideas are right or just about himself in general.

The Most Wanted

I read the first chapter in this book and couldn't decide if I should read more or give it up. I decided to plow ahead and was glad I did. Arley is a 14 year girl who, on a whim, starts writing to a man in prison and within the year she becomes his wife. An interesting premise. I got annoyed at Arley a lot, though, and couldn't quite understand why she married Dillon. One chapter is told by Arley, the next by her friend and lawyer, Annie, and so on. It is a very emotional book.

Valentine Princess

I love the Princess Diaries books. I love almost any book written in diary form, though. This is a short book about how Mia and Michael spend their first Valentine's Day. I don't have much to say about it but I did enjoy it, as usual.

Jinxed

This is another book I got from the publisher ages ago. I used to read all of Mary Higgins Clark books but haven't read any for a long time. They all started to run together and sound the same. I think I've read 2 other of Carol Higgins Clark's Regan Reilly books.

This book was a quick and easy read and fun too. There were a lot of different characters whose story lines all came together. The characters were interesting and fun too.

Good in Bed

I've had this book sitting on my book shelf for a long time. I got it probably around the time in was published when some publishers were giving away free books for anyone who signed up. I received it and didn't think it would be my type of book. Especially from the name of the title.

Titles can be deceiving. I loved the book. The title isn't really what the book is about. I loved the main character Cannie. She was smart and funny. The book did get a little too fairy tale-ish for me in parts, but overall I really enjoyed it. I had no idea there was a sequel and I will have to get this soon. I will also check out some of Jennifer Weiner's other books since I liked this one so much.