Too many books

a blog about books I'm reading and other things

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

A Woman of her Tribe

A Woman of her Tribe is a young adult book by Margaret Robinson. Annette is a 15 year old Nootka Indian who is moving to the city to a new school with her mother, who is not an Indian. Annette feels as if she has one foot in the Indian world and one foot in the white world. She returns to her Nootka home during a school break and decides which world to live in.

The book was predictable but real. Nothing too exciting or amazing but interesting to learn a bit about the Nootka culture.

The Starlight Barking

This book is the sequel to The Hundred and One Dalmations by Dodie Smith. I really loved that book. It was much better than the Disney version.

In The Starlight Barking, all humans and animals are in a magic sleep except for dogs. The dogs can now do amazing things. They receive a message from Sirius, the dog star and their fate may be forever changed.

The same characters from the first book play a big part in this book such as Pongo, the Missus and Cadpig. I liked this book but not as much as the first. I would have liked a sequel that wasn't as fantasy based as this one. It was fun to see Cruella de Vil in this book again too.

Boston Jane


I have a new, very unspecific way of picking my next book to read. I used to just read in the order that I got the book (even though my pile is huge) but I decided to try something new. My 3 year old and 5 year old daughter's pick a random book from the shelf! This was my 5 year old's first pick.

I've had Boston Jane by Jennifer Holm on my shelf for a while. It didn't particularly look like a book I wanted to read but I give all books a chance. And I'm glad I did with this one.

The book was much better than I thought it would be. Jane is a tomboy in Philadelphia in the 1870s and then goes to a finishing school to become a young lady. At age 16, she travels to the Northwest Coast to meet up with her fiancee. However, there is a surprise in store for her there.

I loved Jane's adventures to and in the Oregan territory. I couldn't put the book down. And I found out there are 2 more books in the series, another 2 books on my wish list! I highly recommend this book!

Friday, March 06, 2009

Top Teen Books Meme

I found this at Pop Culture Junkie. Fun!

The following list of books teens love, books teens should read, and books adults who serve teens should know about was compiled IN ABSOLUTELY NO SCIENTIFIC MANNER and should be taken with a very large grain of salt.

Instructions:
Put an “X” next to the books you’ve read
Put a “+” next to the books you LOVE
Put a “#” next to the books you plan on reading
Tally your “X”s at the bottom
Share with your friends!

I'm also going to * the ones I actually read as a teen.

1. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy / Douglas Adams X
2. Kit’s Wilderness / David Almond
3. Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian / Sherman Alexie
4. Speak / Laurie Halse Anderson
5. Feed / M.T. Anderson
6. Flowers in the Attic / V.C. Andrews X * (more a book teens like than a teen must read!)
7. 13 Reasons Why / Jay Asher
8. Am I Blue? / Marion Dane Bauer (editor)
9. Audrey Wait! / Robin Benway #
10. Weetzie Bat / Francesca Lia Block
11. Tangerine / Edward Bloor#
12. Forever / Judy Blume X *
13. What I Saw and How I Lied / Judy Blundell
14. Tyrell / Coe Booth
15. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants / Ann Brashares X+
16. A Great and Terrible Beauty / Libba Bray #
17. The Princess Diaries / Meg Cabot X
18. The Stranger / Albert Camus
19. Ender’s Game / Orson Scott Card
20. Postcards from No Man’s Land / Aidan Chambers
21. Perks of Being a Wallflower / Stephen Chbosky #
22. And Then There Were None / Agatha Christie
23. Gingerbread / Rachel Cohn
24. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist / Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
25. Artemis Fowl (series) / Eoin Colfer #
26. The Hunger Games / Suzanne Collins
27. The Midwife’s Apprentice / Karen Cushman
28. The Truth About Forever / Sarah Dessen
29. Little Brother / Cory Doctorow #
30. A Northern Light / Jennifer Donnelly
31. Tears of a Tiger / Sharon Draper
32. The House of the Scorpion / Nancy Farmer
33. Breathing Underwater / Alex Flinn
34. Stardust / Neil Gaiman
35. Annie on My Mind / Nancy Garden
36. What Happened to Cass McBride / Gail Giles
37. Fat Kid Rules the World / K.L. Going
38. Lord of the Flies / William Golding X *
39. Looking for Alaska / John Green
40. Bronx Masquerade / Nikki Grimes
41. Out of the Dust / Karen Hesse
42. Hoot / Carl Hiaasen
43. The Outsiders / S.E. Hinton X *
44. Crank / Ellen Hopkins
45 The First Part Last / Angela Johnson
46. Blood and Chocolate / Annette Curtis Klause
47. Arrow’s Flight / Mercedes Lackey
48. Hattie Big Sky / Kirby Larson
49. To Kill a Mockingbird / Harper Lee X *
50. Boy Meets Boy / David Levithan
51. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks / E. Lockhart #
52. The Giver / Lois Lowry
53. Number the Stars / Lois Lowry
54. Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie / David Lubar
55. Inexcusable / Chris Lynch
56. The Earth, My Butt and Other Big, Round Things / Carolyn Mackler
57. Dragonsong / Anne McCaffrey
58. White Darkness / Geraldine McCaughrean
59. Sold / Patricia McCormick
60. Jellicoe Road / Melina Marchetta
61. Wicked Lovely / Melissa Marr
62. Twilight / Stephenie Meyer X
63. Dairy Queen / Catherine Murdock #
64. Fallen Angels / Walter Dean Myers
65. Monster / Walter Dean Myers
66. Step From Heaven / An Na
67. Mama Day / Gloria Naylor
68. The Keys to the Kingdom (series) / Garth Nix
69. Sabriel / Garth Nix
70. Airborn / Kenneth Oppel
71. Eragon / Christopher Paolini
72. Hatchet / Gary Paulsen
73. Life As We Knew It / Susan Beth Pfeffer #
74. The Golden Compass / Phillip Pullman #
75. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging / Louise Rennison X+
76. The Lightning Thief / Rick Riordan
77. Always Running: La Vida Loca / Luis Rodriguez
78. how i live now / Meg Rosoff #
79. Harry Potter (series) / J.K. Rowling X+
80. Holes / Louis Sachar
81. Catcher in the Rye / J. D. Salinger X+*
82. Push / Sapphire
83. Persepolis / Marjane Satrapi #
84. Unwind / Neil Shusterman
85. Coldest Winter Ever / Sister Souljah
86. Stargirl / Jerry Spinelli X+
87. Chanda’s Secrets / Allan Stratton
88. Tale of One Bad Rat / Brian Talbot
89. Rats Saw God / Rob Thomas
90. Lord of the Rings / J.R.R. Tolkien X
91. Stuck in Neutral / Terry Trueman
92. Gossip Girl / Cecily Von Ziegesar
93. Uglies / Scott Westerfeld
94. Every Time a Rainbow Dies / Rita Williams-Garcia
95. Pedro and Me / Judd Winick
96. Hard Love / Ellen Wittlinger
97. American Born Chinese / Gene Luen Yang
98. Elsewhere / Gabrielle Zevin #
99. I am the Messenger / Markus Zusak
100. The Book Thief / Markus Zusak

Read: 14

Have to Read: 12 (may be others; I am going to look up the unfamiliar titles)

Last Night at the Lobster

I've heard a lot about this book in the past year so I was happy when I reached the #1 position on my paperbackswap.com wishlist.

The book is very short but there's a lot packed into this short book. It is the last day of operation of a Red Lobster as a blizzard moves in. I enjoyed hearing the workers back stories and wish I could have got to know them a little more but that's not the point of this book. The characters do feel real I also liked hearing about how a restaurant runs.

Melanie Martin Goes Dutch

I read the first book in the Melanie Martin series about a year ago. She visited Italy in that book; this book is about her trip to the Netherlands.

This is a children's series that I have enjoyed so far. Melanie is 10 in this book and is written in diary format. One thing that's great about these books is all the information about the country she visits that she gives. Historical events, art, culture etc. Children can learn a lot from these books and I even learned a few things I didn't know. Plus Melanie and her family are funny.
 
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