9,901 pages to go … “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”

I picked up this book because the title caught my eye. (I actually want a dragon tattoo.) At the time, I didn’t really know anything about “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson (644 pages). I knew I had seen in around, but that’s really about it.

So I went in blind and was surprised — I think maybe pleasantly, I’m not really sure.

It is really slow to pick up. I might have even put it down had a friend not encouraged me to continue. It takes about 250 pages before things start to get really interesting.

Larsson spends a lot of time on the history of things, which wasn’t really necessary and doesn’t necessarily come back as being important to the later plot.

I actually didn’t know that the author had died before the book the was published (it’s actually part of a trilogy). I know it’s wrong to say this, but I can’t but think that if he was still alive he would have been edited better. Maybe the publisher felt that you shouldn’t mess with it too much? The book would have been a lot better when some cuts — probably 250 pages worth of cuts.

I still say that it was a good read. It reads really fast for the last two-thirds of the book. So if you pick it up, stay with it, it will be worth it.

Be warned though, the ending is written in such a way you’ll probably want to continue the trilogy. I know I am.

10,545 pages to go … “Maximum Ride: The Final Warning” (Book 4)

Wow, so you know how I have been singing this series praises? Yeah, well, it ends here.

The fourth book, “Maximum Ride: The Final Warning” by James Patterson (256 pages), was bad.

Don’t get me wrong, it was still was a quick read and I still enjoy the characters (mostly), but the plot of this book was TERRIBLE. I don’t even want to talk about it. This might end up being like the Twilight series, just stop with the third book and act like anything after didn’t happen.

OK, I’ll give you two words: Global warming. Enough said.

I am going to go ahead and read the fifth book since I already own it, but I might be jumping ship.

10,801 pages to go … “Dear John”

I never read what is normally categorized as “romance” so when my friend gave me “Dear John” by Nicholas Sparks (276 pages) I didn’t know how well I was going to enjoy it.

Two things that made me interested in this book: It’s about a soldier and what I thought was going to be letters. I came to find out however that it is not told in letters, which was a bit of a let down.

It’s one of those books that gives you a peak at the ending, and then flashes back to the beginning. Usually I don’t mind this. It can be a very powerful storytelling tool — when used correctly. In this case, I don’t think knowing really enhanced the story at all. Actually, I think it hindered it.

The most interesting thing about the book wasn’t even the main story, I thought that some of the secondary plots were much more compelling such as John’s relationship with his father.

I did read it in one sitting. It was a surprisingly easy read and just kind of flowed.

I don’t think I’ll be picking up any other books by Sparks any time soon, but it was better than expected.

11,077 pages to go … “Maximum Ride” (Books 1-3)

I never thought that I would ever pick up a James Patterson book. His writing just never interested me before. I kept seeing the “Maximum Ride” books in the young adult section, but I never really gave them a second glance, until my Mom said that she has read them and that I should give them a chance. So I did … and now I am about to start the fourth book in the series.

“Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment (Book 1)” by James Patterson (434 pages), “Maximum Ride: School’s Out — Forever (Book 2)” (409 pages), and “Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports (Book 3)” (405 pages), were excellent reads. They are long, but they read really quickly and you don’t even notice. You’ll want to finish them in a day and go out and by the next. Just hope that it isn’t in the middle of night when all the book stores are closed, which is want happened to me after the first book. Plan ahead people!

Back of Book 1:

WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE.
Do not put this book down. I’m dead serious – your life could depend on it. I’m risking everything by telling you – but you need to know.

STRAP YOURSELF IN for the thrill ride you’ll want to take again and again! From Death Valley, California, to the bowels of the New York City subway system, you’re about to take off on a heart-stopping adventure that will blow you away…

YOUR FAITHFUL COMPANIONS: Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel. Six kids who are pretty normal in most ways – except that they’re 98 percent human, 2 percent bird. They grew up in a lab, living like rats in cages, but now they’re free. Aside, of course, from the fact that they’re prime prey for Erasers – wicked wolflike creatures with a taste for flying humans.

THE MISSIONS: Rescue Angel from malicious mutants. Infiltrate a secret facility to track down the flock’s missing parents. Scavenge for sustenance. Get revenge on an evil traitor. And save the world. If there’s time.

I do admit that the back of the book sounds pretty silly, but it’s really compelling. It’s like “Twilight.” It sounds really stupid, but once you get reading, they suck you in and just want to read the next one and the next one.

So basically this group of kids (ages range from teen to about 6) were genetically experimented on, and now they want revenge. They want to stop it from happening on other kids, to find out who their real parents are, etc. Oh right, and save the world.

If you have ever read any of the “Uglies” by Scott Westerfeld, Maximum Ride reminds me a little of that series. Teens being experimented on want to fight the man. The big difference though is that Maximum Ride is what I wanted the other ones to be. Eventually, the “Uglies” series just started to get repetitive and boring. I am about to start Book 4, and I can say that this series is neither. Patterson doesn’t force horrible “teen speak” on the characters either. The main character Max can get a little annoying with how over-the-top smart ass she is all the time, but it’s just a slight distraction.

The books flow seamlessly from one to the next. There isn’t any time lapse between them (at least not yet). I figured there might be with the fourth, just because the first three are considered “The Fugitives” ones while the fourth starts the “The Protectors.” Not sure exactly why the separate inter-series titles, perhaps because there are going to be a lot of them, but I’m not sure. He doesn’t spend much time at all explaining what happened in the books before — which drives me crazy — so I appreciated that.

Want fun, quick, suspenseful reads? Then I would definitely recommend picking up this series. Don’t let the fact that it was written by James Patterson deter you — you won’t regret it!

12,325 pages to go … “Dragon’s Keep”

“Dragon’s Keep” by Janet Lee Carey (320 pages) has been sitting on my shelf for some time. I had originally picked it up because it has to do with dragons … and I LOVE dragons.

It’s set in the old days, when kings and castles and whatnot. The time period isn’t really my bag to begin with, but I thought I would give it a chance anyway.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Carey weaves a really interesting story. It seemed like a fairy tale. This book tells the tale of the princess Rosalind that was born with a dragon claw instead of her left ring finger. This is a concern because if people found out, she would probably be burned as a witch, no one would want to marry her, etc. So she is forced to wear gloves and be subject to a ton of outlandish cures by healers that her mom calls to the castle. Of course, she is nearing marrying age, so this little problem must be solved ASAP.

It is especially important because Merlin said this prophecy of Rosie hundreds of years ago:

Three things the stars say of this queen.
She shall redeem the name Pendragon.
End war with the wave of her hand.
And restore the glory of Wilde Island.

So there is a lot on her shoulders.

It was a very interesting read. You can kind of figure out what’s going to happen, but the story does take some twists and turns that I didn’t see coming.

One of the problems that I had with the book was that the author spends like 300 pages building it up and everything and then the ending takes like 20 pages … Not that I needed it to be drawn out endlessly, but I felt a little cheated in the end.

It’s pretty interesting, I would say that overall it’s OK.

12645 pages to go … “Hostage”

“Hostage” by Willo Davis Roberts (144 pages) was another case of me being interested by the cover.

While it was interesting, I would say that it was OK. It is really easy to read the whole thing in one sitting. It is definitely aimed for the younger reader — which makes it a little too young for my taste.

Back of the book:

Kaci enjoys reading mysteries and adventure stories as long as there are other family members around and especially when she has a big bowl of popcorn nearby. Sometimes, though, she longs for a little excitement and wonders what it would be like to have a real adventure.

Kaci is feeling this way at the time her family moves to a house in a new development that is supposed to be safer than their old neighborhood. She likes everything about the new place except the nosy neighbor next door, Mrs. Banducci. She’s a pain, always asking too many questions. She’s around the morning Kaci comes home from school to get special medicine for her allergy attack, and her questions are about the deliveries made that morning to Kaci’s house. What were they? Kaci doesn’t know. She also doesn’t know, when she gets to her front door, why it is open. No one is supposed to be home.

Although she doesn’t realize it right then, this is the start of Kaci’s big adventure. The new development, it turns out, is not so safe after all. A neighborhood where Mrs. Banducci is probably the only person home all day is ideal for thieves who want to break in and steal — thieves who don’t care what they do to you when they find you in a house where they don’t expect you to be. Kaci’s adventure is one that can even make her value Mrs. Banducci.

12789 pages to go … “Fallen Angels”

Wow, after reading “Fallen Angels” by Walter Dean Myers (336 pages), I just couldn’t find anything that caught my interest. It’s been bad for the project. I’ve just been skipping around and reading 20 pages of this and 20 pages of that, etc. Hopefully, the slump will end soon!

“Fallen Angels” is a book about Vietnam. It starts right in the action, and ends in the action. It’s told from one soldier’s view. A scary look at the war and hoe it affected people. It was quite the page turner.

Back of the book:

“A coming of age tale for young adults set in the trenches of the Vietnam War in the late 1960s, Fallen Angels is the story of Perry, a Harlem teenager who volunteers for the service when his dream of attending college falls through. Sent to the front lines, Perry and his platoon come face-to-face with the Vietcong and the real horror of warfare. But violence and death aren’t the only hardships. As Perry struggles to find virtue in himself and his comrades, he questions why black troops are given the most dangerous assignments, and why the U.S. is there at all.”

Don’t really know that much about Vietnam — usually stick to WWII stuff — so I found it really interesting. I will probably try to check out his novel on Iraq soon.

13125 pages to go … “Deadly Little Secret”

“Deadly Little Secret” (A Touch Novel) by Laurie Faria Stolarz (272 pages) stood out to me in Borders because of the cover. It was compelling and I liked the texture of it. (Yes, sometimes I judge books by their covers). I haven’t read her other popular series “Blue is for Nightmares,” which I hear is  than this one.

Back of the book:

Some secrets shouldn’t be kept…

Until three months ago, everything in sixteen-year-old Camelia’s life had been fairly ordinary: decent grades, an okay relationship with her parents, and a pretty cool part-time job at the art studio downtown.  But when a mysterious boy named Ben starts junior year at her high school, Camelia’s life becomes anything but ordinary.

Rumored to be somehow responsible for his ex-girlfriend’s accidental death, Ben is immediately ostracized by everyone on campus. Except for Camelia. She’s reluctant to believe he’s trouble, even when her friends try to convince her otherwise.  Instead, she’s inexplicably drawn to Ben.and to his touch.  But soon, Camelia is receiving eerie phone calls and strange packages with threatening notes. Ben insists she is in danger, and that he can help-but can he be trusted? She knows he’s hiding something… but he’s not the only one with a secret.

It was an OK read. Nothing super exciting. It took a little while for the book to pick up, but after the first 50 pages or so, I couldn’t put it down. Not because of the great writing (because there isn’t any), but just because it was interesting.

There are a lot of similarities between this book and “Twilight.” There aren’t any vampires, but some of the things that happen/plot points are the same. I didn’t mind the crossover, it was just a little distracting. For example, not every teen couple needs to start out at lab partners.

I am going to have to read the next one since it’s not really a standalone book. Yes, the major conflict is resolved and you find out who the stalker is, but you can tell that the author is just getting started. Knowing how YA books go, I’m guessing there will be at least four to the Touch series.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book, but if you have nothing better to do, there are a lot worse books out there.

13397 pages to go … “Space Cadet”

After “Starship Troopers,” I just had to check out more books by Robert A. Heinlein. So, I went to the library and picked up “Space Cadet” (223 pages).

I enjoyed it. I would say that “Starship” was much better. “Space Cadet” reminded me a lot of “Ender’s Game,” with how they were training the cadets, etc. I know this book was written in 1948, but still.

I was still a really interesting storyline. A lot more space stuff in this one, with a little more explanation … not too much but it was definitely borderline on the amount that I will tolerate.

One reason that I love Heinlein — at least so far — is that he doesn’t drag anything out. Generally, the major battle/scene/conflict comes in the last 75 pages. It is then resolved, etc. within those pages. He’s not one to have conflict, resolution, and then there’s another 100 pages to wrap things up. It’s able to stand on its own — no need for tedious wrap-up (::cough, cough:: Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol” ::cough, cough::).

If you are going to venture into Heinlein land, I wouldn’t start with this one, but I wouldn’t necessarily skip it over either.

13620 pages to go … “The Stonekeeper (Amulet, Book 1)”

The graphic novel “Amulet (The Stonekeeper Book 1)” by Kazu Kibuishi (200 pages, 100 pages count) is beautifully drawn. The story is compelling, and while it might seem a little choppy in places, it makes up for it with the high interest factor.

Description of the plot taken from front cover:

After the tragic death of their father, Emily and Navin move with their mother to the home of her deceased great-grandfather, but the strange house proves to be dangerous. Before long, a sinister creature lures the kids’ mom through a door in the basement. Em and Navin, desperate not to lose her, follow her into an underground world inhabited by demons, robots, and talking animals.
Eventually, they enlist the help of a small mechanical rabbit named Miskit. Together with Miskit, they face the most terrifying monster of all, and Em finally has the chance to save someone she loves.

The graphic novel just feels like a start to an amazing story. You won’t feel any sort of closure with Book 1, but I can’t wait for Book 2!