Keeping the Moon

I finished Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen last week. I loved it! Kaati I think you would love this one as well. Especially since you liked This Lullaby and are living somewhere else for the summer.

Colie (short for Nicole, I think this a really creative nickname for Nicole) used to be overweight along with her mom who started doing aerobics and is not a Richard Simmons type selling work out videos and being healthy. Colie lost a lot of weight, but still feels like an outsider. She is spending the summer with her aunt who is overweight and a little on the wierd side while her mother tours Europe to promote a new video or book or something. I loved Colie's voice and perspective on life.

Has anyone else read this one? I read it while on a short vacation to Niagara Falls, NY and Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. It was so good I couldn't put it down and my husband didn't understand why I wanted to finish it while sitting at our campsite enjoying a fire (he thought I should be talking to him).

has anyone read...

has anyone read anything by Janet Evanovich!?!?! O.M.G. her Stephanie Plum books are hilarious!!!!!!! I love them so much and would like to talk w/ someone about them!!! (but I haven't read Twelve Sharp yet, so if you have, don't bring that up!).

i'm just really in need of some social chat and/or a library.........

Til later!
-Kaati

other books i'd have no problem discussing... Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, A Great and Terrible Beauty/Rebel Angels by Libba Bray, and anything by David and Leigh Eddings.

:-)

i haven't read much!!

well, i've been in kentucky since the 28th, but i haven't made it to the great madisonville library yet.... i did manage to go to the onalaska library sometime in june. they didn't have any of our reading list books!! i was shocked!! they truly do have a small selection! on a better note, i did get to go to a barnes and noble in evansville, id (the BEST b&n i've ever been in.... two stories, a seperate music shop, a starbucks, escalators, lots and lots of comfy chairs.... i was in heaven!!! lol). there i got This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

I read This Lullaby the other night and I really like it!! I'm positive it's the first book I've ever read about that specific age group (just graduated high school-20). And of course, I just love "love" stories, but the fact that the main girl Remy pretended she didn't believe in love at all made it better... she was so stubborn about her beliefs. And the deal with her mother and marriage, yet her mother still had a positive attitude towards love. I just really wanted to hit Remy and knock some sense into her by the end of the book!! Of course, the main male character, Dexter, had my heart the entire book! He was perfect (in my mind!). If anyone else had read this book yet, let me know!!

I started Pride and Prejudice yesterday. I'm only on chapter 5, so I think I'll go sit out in the gorgeous weather! I'll probably be done with this book before I check the blog again, so if you wanna talk about this one too, it's fine by me!!! :-)

Adios! Kaati

What I've Been Reading So Far This Summer

Although I haven't had too much time to read yet this summer (except for re-reading the Belgariad), I have had the chance to read a pretty darn good book. It doesn't have an name, per se, but the thing on the front cover is the prescription sign (the one that looks like and RX, only connected together) and I don't know how to do that on the computer, so I'll just assume that you all know what I mean. Anyways, it was a good book, definitely made you think, since it's about prescription drug addiction and dealing, specifically in high school. Maybe I'm just really naive, but some parts of it weren't too believable to me (mainly just the amount of conversations the main character, Thyme, overhears dealing with teenagers taking prescription drugs). I definitely recommend it, though, especially since then I'll be able to talk to someone about the book more specifically! Well, just thought I'd post a little something about that, since it was a pretty darn good book (even if the ending was a little ambiguous, which usually drives me insane), and I said I'd blog, so here's me attempting to do so. Well, I'll talk to you guys later!!

*~Kari~*

Perks of Being a Wallflower--Discussion

Check out the photos from 2nd lunch's discussion.

Sara Dessen Summer

It's that time of year! Summer is almost here. This summer we are discussing ANY and ALL of Sarah Dessen's young adult novels, Just Listen, The Truth About Forever, This Lullaby, Dreamland, Keeping the Moon, Someone Like You and That Summer.

Also share with us what else you are reading--the good, the bad and the ugly. Summer is a time when you can get caught up on all those books you haven't had time to read because you've had too much homework!

Happy reading!!

Mixed Tapes in Perks of Being a Wallflower

I haven't heard anything about The Perks of Being a Wallflower. What do you think? Are you glad you are reading it?

I am about one-third of the way through it. I haven't heard about mixed tapes in forever. Do you still make mixed tapes/CDs? If so, what does it feel like to receive a mixed tape/CD from friends? Do you recognize the songs that are on the tapes Charlie and the other characters make for each other? What do these songs make you think of?

In high school (1996, yes I am that old), a friend of mine and I put together a mixed tape as a graduation present for our friends. She and I had fun putting it together and I know of a few friends (those that still have cassette players) that still listen to them even now ten years later. I think I feel a sense of nostolgia when I listen to the songs that were on that tape (I have most of them on CD and now on my iPod). It makes me think of a time when things were very different then they are now. It makes me think of moments that happened while listening to the songs.

Happy reading...

Wow

I just finished Jump Ball: a basketball season in poems by Mel Glenn. It's just... so sad. It's about this basketball team, told from a lot of different perspectives through poems. Some of the players see basketball as their entire lives, while others see it as a game in high school. The manager of the team has a crush on a player from the Ukraine, and it's cool to see how that relationship unfolds.
It's a very good book. I'm definitely recommending it to friends.

I finished Rewind by Jan Page last night. It's about a boy who starts a band, and on the night of his first gig he dies. Then his spirit goes back in time, and he sees his parents and their band. He hadn't gotten along with his dad during his life, so it's a different thing for him to see him as a teenager. He also tries to stop the death of his parents' best friend.
It's very very very good. Just the whole what is time thing that goes on.

I'm going to start Friday Night Lights. I don't know if I'll finish it, because it's so long. I may end up just watching the movie. :)
But I plan on catching up on some reading this weekend. Soccer practice takes up so much of my time these days!

Next Book--Uglies

In March we will be discussing Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. I thought it was so interesting and thought provoking. I can't wait to hear what you will have to say!

Welcome!!

Welcome to our new bloggers!

I am excited to get some fresh voices and posts. I look foward to reading and participating in your discussions on any all topics that have to do with books and reading.

Just Finished...Currently Reading...Looking Forward

I just finished...
Stained by Jennifer Richard Jacobson, In Weaver Falls, New Hampshire, in 1975, seventeen-year-old Jocelyn looks for answers when her lifelong neighbor and friend, Gabe, turns up missing and she learns that, while her boyfriend has been telling everything to a priest, Gabe has been keeping terrible secrets. I enjoyed this one alot and it was a really quick read. I would highly recommend it.

Light Years by Tammar Stein, Maya Laor leaves her home in Israel to study astronomy at the University of Virginia after the tragic death of her boyfriend in a suicide bombing. I thought this novel was very good. I really felt Maya's fear and my hear went out to her. This was Stein's first novel and I look forward to reading what she writes in the future.

Currently Reading...
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers (Audio), Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, just out of his Harlem high school, enlists in the Army in the summer of 1967 and spends a devastating year on active duty in Vietnam. I have been meaning to read this one since I was in 6th grade and all the cool boys were reading it and liking it. It really makes you think about war and how it really is. I would be curious as to whether or not Myers faught in Vietnam or who he based his characters on if anyone.

Sexy by Joyce Carol Oates, Sixteen-year-old Darren Flynn, a popular, good-looking high school athlete who lacks self-confidence, learns that his jock friends are hatching a revenge act against their English teacher for failing a member of the swim team. I just started this one and don't have an opinion about it yet. The chapters are really short which to me makes the novel a little chopped up.

Looking Forward To...
Night by Elie Wiesel, This month's Oprah Book Club pick. A true account of the author's experiences as a Jewish boy with his family in a Nazi concentration camp.

What have you all been reading lately?

Just Finished, Currently reading...

I just finished... um. Taming a Liger. Napoleon Dynamite devotional book... it was interesting.

Currently reading Same God, Different Churches. It's interesting to read about why there are different denominations, what each is like. Also reading poetry by various poets. Elias McConnell is pretty good (he was Eli in Elephant, if anyone has seen that movie, with the school shooting...)

I probably won't pick up another book for a little while. I'm swamped with homework, and getting ready for solo ensemble. And last minute college applications... Sorry I couldn't stop by the high school when I was in wisconsin!!

Just finished...Currently Reading...Looking Forward To...

I just finished...
The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen [audiobook], I thought this was thought provoking and entertaining. I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed This Lullaby. The main character's, Macey, dad died and now she feels like she has to be perfect for her mom, but that changes when she begins work for Wish, a catering company. Wish and its other employees are a little bit chaotic and like nothing Macey has experienced in a while. I encouarge you to read it if you haven't.

Currenly Reading...
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, I had heard this was a dark read, which it is, but I am finding a lot of hope in this novel. It is fulfilling my goal of reading at least one non-fiction book per term.
Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo [audiobook], I haven't really read much historical fiction lately and it is good to revisit it once and a while. This book takes place in Europe during World War I or The Great War. Tommo, the narrator of the novel, is fifteen and a soldier for the British military fighting in Belgium (at least that is where he is now). I am finding it interesting, as I usually do when I read historical fiction.

Looking Forward To...
Eldest by Christopher Paolini, The sequel to Eragon has my name on it over break!
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, I have read it once, but I must re-read it so I'm prepared for book club next month.

What have you all been reading lately?

Contest 4 U

Hey!

I thought some of you writers would be interested in this contest...

http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/youngwarriors/

Happy reading and writing!

Feed

The discussion of M.T. Anderson's Feed occured yesterday. I was happy to see everyone who attended and participated in the discussion.

Feel free to continue the discussion here...

Violet lists all the things she wants to do before she dies. Do you share any items on the list? What can we learn about her from her list? And what could someone learn about you from your list? (From Candlewick Press' Reader's Guide to Feed)

...I'll post my comments after I hear some discussion from you.

Happy Reading!!

Whee! Library Card!!!

I finally got a library card. I'm happy. I checked out 10 books.
I got Black by Ted Dekker on audiobook,
Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman
Names Will Never Hurt Me by Jaime Adoff
Faerie Wars and The Purple Emperor by Herbie Brennan
Jude by Kate Morgenroth
Dark Blue by Melody Carlson
Pride and Prejidice and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

and ofcourse, Feed by M.T. Anderson. I've finished Names Will Never Hurt Me, and got into Full Tilt before thinking that I should read Feed. But you guys know how fast I can go through books.

Please say hi to Ben Lang, and Rachel H and everyone for me. I miss you guys so much. Hopefully the library card will give me some consolation... lol. I'm hoping to visit the school when I come home for Christmas break (i get out earlier... haha!). I might just creep up on you, so watch out!

I have to finish my homework now.

Life

Hey everyone! I'm sorry that I haven't been involved. My new school's library isn't too great. I'm hoping to get a card for the town library soon.
Life's been going good, for the most part. Adjusting to a really small town. And looking at possible majors and careers.
Hey, Bee, I've got a question for you. Do you like working at the LMTC? I've been looking at getting a degree in library media, and then maybe a major in sports management. Then i could be a... Libraristican. A librarian/statistician. hehehe.
I hope to be back home either next week, or before christmas. And I'll try to get my senior pictures to you guys, too. once i get them taken.....
peace out!

<3 laura

Finished Feed

Has anyone else finished Feed? What are your first impressions? Would you recommend it to others? Why or why not?

November Discussion--Feed by M. T. Anderson

We've moved on to a new book...Feed by M.T. Anderson.
In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble.

Those of you who have read, start posting I would love to hear your thoughts, questions, comments and concerns. I know it has been and interesting read for me and now I have started listening to it as well.

Hi everybody!

I know it has been literally forever since you all heard from me. But I am doing just fine. After an entire summer of basically being homeless, I now have a place to live permanently. I am back at the school that I left and I am settling back into my old routine.

Marching band, of course, is running my life at this moment. Between that and working two or three nights a week, I have no real spare time to pick up a book and just relax. I will definitely try to go along with the books that you all are reading and I will attempt the participate in the online discussion. I miss all of you terribly.

If you'd like to, my AIM screen name is: secretdesires513 and my email adress is: wickedwiccan1988@yahoo.com


:-) Don't be strangers!