Cursing Cats

Apologies for the late blog post. I assumed incorrectly that I would have time to keep up with this because we weren't having many people over. Man, some people are a pain, you know who you are. Just kidding, Thanksgiving was lots of fun and I am now very sleep deprived.

The Curse Workers:

White Cat

By Holly Black

Cassel comes from a family of Curse Workers - people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all criminals. Many become mobsters and con artists. But not Cassel. He hasn't got magic, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail - he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Cassel has carefully built up a facade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his facade starts to crumble when he finds himself sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he must unravel his past and his memories. To find out the truth, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen

I have to admit that I predicted several things that happened later in the book, but that didn't keep it from being an interesting read and there were a couple of key points that took me by surprise.

At first glance the world of White Cat doesn't seem very different from ours, but as the book went on there were all these little details that gave it a different twist. It's our world if there just happened to be magic.

One detail that I really liked was that everyone wears gloves. Because Curse Workers can do so much with their bare hands and there's no way to tell who is one just by looking, it's considered as essential to being dressed appropriately as wearing pants.

The idea of Curse Workers reminded me in some ways of the Contractors in the anime Darker Than Black. They have these incredibly powerful abilities, but they pay for it every time they work a curse in ways that they can't control. This provides a very reasonable way to keep Curse Workers in check as the more powerful the Curse the more painful the payment.

I doubt I will read the second book in the series because I had a hard time liking one of the main characters and was completely neutral about the other. I think the two things I liked the most was the mystery about what had really happened in the past (I was only half-right) and the world itself. The world fascinated me more than the characters which is not very conducive to reading more in the series.

One of the things I didn't like about this book was that all the characters in this book had a rather skewed moral compass. There were spots were I had difficulty seeing how the actions of the protagonist were any more morally correct than the villians. It was more like they were all just rivals in the mob.

Overall, I liked the book enough to finish reading it, but that's about all. I've found that I tend to only like about a third of Holly Black's books, but they always sound interesting and make me want to try them.

Picture This

  Registration is the worst time in a students life. It's worse than finals. On a happier note, I got all classes that I needed and am taking 14 credits next quarter.

  Today, I'm revisiting some childhood memories.

The Story of Ferdinand

By Munro Leaf

Illustrated by Robert Lawson

   Once upon a time in the Spanish countryside there was a gentle bull named Ferdinand. While all the other bulls fought and butted heads and all tried to be the biggest, fastest, roughest bull, Ferdinand was content to sit under the cork tree and smell the flowers. At first his Mother was concerned about him sitting all alone under the cork tree, but she soon saw that he was happy and she let him be, sitting and smelling the flowers. So he sat and smelled, and he grew bigger and bigger.

   One day three strange men came to the field looking for the biggest, meanest, fastest bull and all of the bulls tried their hardest to prove that they were the best, but not Ferdinand. He just shook his head and made his way to his cork tree. But this time he doesn't look where he's sitting down and he sits right on top of a bee.

   YEOW, it hurt so much that he immediately jumped up, kicking and howling, snorting and stomping his feet. The three men all stared in amazement and said, "This is the biggest, strongest, fastest bull we've ever seen!", and they took Ferdinand to Madrid to fight with bullfighters.

   This was one of my absolute favorite books and even now, when we got it for my five-year old sister, I really enjoyed reading it aloud to her and found it very entertaining.

  It's such a simple story but in many ways it's very timeless.



Blueberries For Sal

By Robert McCloskey



   K'plink, k'plank, k'plunk. Sal and her Mother have come to Blueberry Hill to pick blueberries so that they may can them for Winter. Sal's mother tells her not to eat all the blueberries because they need them. Three berries go into Sal's bucket and one into her mouth.

   At the same time Mama bear and her cub come to Blueberry Hill to eat blueberries for the Winter. Both parents and children get separated and begin following the wrong parent.

   This is another picture book that I remember quite vividly from my childhood. I remember the sound effects of the berries hitting the bottom of the pail being highly entertaining. Rereading it as an adult this is less amusing to hear copied over and over again by small children. It's a wonder my Mother didn't throw me out of the house more often.

   That being said, it's still a very cute story about a girl who is helping her mother and wanders off. Something that all children that age do. The illustrations are great. A good part of my enjoyment of this book came from the pictures. There were so many little details that were going on.

   Now I have a challenge for you readers: While I was writing this post I was trying to remember the name of a book I loved as a kid.

  It was about a king who refused to get out of the bath and as the story went on more and more people squeezed into the bathtub. I remember it being hilarious and the pictures were beautiful, but I can't remember the name.

  Hopefully my description rings a bell for someone and they can tell me the name of it.

Zombie (Un)Life

If you have any book recommendations or books you'd like me to review, I would be happy to hear them. I'm always looking for new books and I am trying to branch out on what genres I'm reviewing. So far it's been mostly fantasy, since that's what I read lot of the time.

You may notice that I've been giving the summary straight off the back of the book rather then writing my own. That's because sometimes it does a good job and it's kind of a pain writing my own. If I feel that the summary doesn't cut it, I will write my own.

My Life As A White Trash Zombie

By Diana Rowland



Um, this is certainly a different variation of a genre I've been reviewing. This is a romance zombie book.

'Living with her alcoholic deadbeat dad in the swamps of southern Louisiana, she's a high school dropout with a pill habit and a criminal record who's been fired from more crap jobs than she can count. Now on probation for a felony, it seems that Angel will never pull herself out of the downward spiral her life has taken.

That is, until the day she wakes up in the ER after overdosing on painkillers. Angel remembers being in an horrible car crash, but she doesn't have a mark on her. To add to the weirdness, she receives an anonymous letter telling her there's a job waiting for her at the parish morgue—and that it's an offer she doesn't dare refuse.

Before she knows it she's dealing with a huge crush on a certain hunky deputy and a brand new addiction: an overpowering craving for brains. Plus, her morgue is filling up with the victims of a serial killer who decapitates his prey—just when she's hungriest!

Angel's going to have to grow up fast if she wants to keep this job and stay in one piece. Because if she doesn't, she's dead meat. Literally.'

Before I get started talking about the actual book, I really like this book cover. I'm not sure why but I really like it and it's part of the reason I decided to read this book.

Wow, where to begin with this book. I suppose I should start with, I actually did enjoy this book a lot. This isn't the first zombie book I've read, but it is the first that: Is from the Zombie's point of view, Is a Zombie Romance, and Is about Zombie survival.

Angel is an interesting character because I wasn't really expecting to like her at all. She doesn't have a lot going for her and she has done lots of things I would never do.

At the beginning of the book she's a druggie (becoming a Zombie cures this and she never has to deal with kicking the habit) and she's on parole for having a stolen vehicle (her boyfriend knew this guy who she could buy a cheap car from).

She's been fired or quit every job she's ever had, so when she gets this job, driving a van for the morgue and picking up bodies, everyone in her life assumes that this is going to be just like every other time.

No one in her life seems to actually care about her well being very much. There's her dad, who's a drunk and semi-abusive, and there's her boyfriend, who is kind of a jerk in negligent way.

This is a romance (not as much as I was expecting) but a lot of this book is Angel turning her life around and realizing that she's not a loser just because everyone says so, she's a loser because she acts like a loser.

One review I read about this book made a connection between the Zombies in this book and the recent trend of Vampire books. I see where that connection can be made, but I felt like the book was enjoyable enough to read, that I never stopped and started mocking it, like I've done with several of the new Vamp books I've tried.  It was free of tacky Zombie puns in a way that Vampires seem unable to shake.

The Zombies in this world are not the shamblers you see in the movies, in fact, in this world they are self-aware and eating brains keeps them alive. Now, unlike with Vamps nowadays, there is no cheating this. It has to be human brains, no substituting for animal brains. It doesn't work like that.

Angel spends the first half of the book not knowing she's a Zombie, she reluctantly follows the instructions left her via mysterious note that neatly blackmails her with her deepest fear. As the book goes on and she figures out that the instructions she's following are saving her unlife and trying to teach her how to survive without overwhelming her all at once.

Now this is an adult book and adult things are mentioned, but nothing is ever explicitly described. I don't actually remember how much cussing there was. I tend to filter those things out and not even notice.

This was only a little over 300 pages so this was a fairly short read. I think I finished it in two sittings.

Oh yeah, and there's a serial killer going around and decapitating people. That always makes things interesting.

Dragons Be Here

First off, I want to say sorry for the long absence. I got caught up in a lot of homework and then it was just really hard to get started again. But I'm back now and hopefully I'll be able to keep this up for a while yet.

Seraphina

By Rachel Hartman



'Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.'

Seraphina is one of the best dragon books I've read in a long time and I felt like I really couldn't sum it up anymore concisely then the summary on the back of the book.

 It begins with both a birth and a funeral. Prince Rufus has been found murdered in a suspiciously draconian method and this does not bode well for continued peace.

Seraphina is a very gifted musician who is the assistant to the court composer and whose father is intimately involved with making sure the treaty is kept. She gains much attention for the haunting solo she plays at this funeral and soon she is teaching Princess Glisselda harpsichord.

Of course soon she has learned things she'd rather not and Seraphina's deepest secret is threatening to be revealed.

One of the things I love most about this book is the dragons themselves. While they may look human it is very plain to anyone who meets them that they are not. They move awkwardly and stiffly, their blood is silver, and they don't understand emotions well at all. The newer the dragon the more obvious their wrongness.

Political intrigue and mystery are also elements that I really enjoy in this book. There are players on both sides that don't want the treaty to work. On the human side, we have The Sons of St. Ogdo, who believe that Dragons are all monsters that should be wiped out and not allowed to integrate their evil into society. While on the dragon side, we have old Dragon Generals who feel that they gain very little with this peace and lose much, most notably their hoards.

It is very unclear throughout the book, until the end that is, just who it is that benefits from the death of Prince Rufus.

Someone did complain that some of the names in this book were too similar and that made it confusing, but I didn't find it to be that much of a distraction.

There is some romance, but I thought that it felt more like a subplot rather then a major component of the plotline.

Overall I found this to be a very sophisticated young adult book. It's 467 pages so it's longer then some of the books I've reviewed but I don't think it's a laborious length at all.

First Guest Post

You know how I mentioned a few posts ago that there would be a guest post? And then not only was there not a guest post but a whole week elapsed without a new post of any kind?

Well, sorry about that and here is our first guest post written by Rebekah McKenzie!

Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books

By Tony Reinke

I reordered this book, something I never do, and spent the next couple weeks wondering if I had blown $11. The reviews were great but then they always are.

What had caught my eye was the questions the book promised to cover: Do you need help finding time to read? How do I prioritize what books to read? Is reading non christian literature a waste of time? 

The book, a mere 200 pages, opened with a funny story and a promise of short chapters and a helpful overview and I was optimistic, I started to read and was impressed. 

Tony Reinke has written this short book of advice in two main sections 1) A theology of reading books and 2) A collection of practical suggestions for reading books. 

His insightful advice is practical and will challenge even the best readers to select, read, think about and share the written word more proficiently.

This book is a great tool you should use in your endeavor to become a mature Christian who knows, loves and reflects The Word.

"Christians can read a broad array of books for our personal benefit, but only if we read with discernment. And we will only read with discernment if the biblical convictions are firmly settled in our minds and hearts. Once they are, we have a touchstone to determine what is pure gold and what is worthless."

Two for the Price of One

Today I'm writing about two books by the same author, yay, hence the title of the post.

I love this author's name, Vivian Vande Velde. It sounds so fantastical. I'm sure that it's a pen name but still. Okay, I just wanted to get that out there before I started to talk about the books.

Dragon's Bait

By Vivian Vande Velde

Accused of being a witch by a greedy neighbor Aly is left as an appeasement to a dragon that has recently moved into the area.

The dragon isn't interested and would have passed by but Aly herself unwittingly draws his attention. 

Now Aly is faced with the decision of whether or not to take the dragon, Selendrile, up on his offer of revenge, and is that really what she wants?

Dragon's Bait is a very short book, only 196 pages. It was the first book by this author that I ever read and it was a good representation of the kind of books she writes. Quirky, yet it seems like a straightforward story at first glance. It's probably most suited for 10-15 years old but its an entertaining simple story anyway.

There are many classic fantasy elements to this story: A falsely accused main character, a young female left as an offering to a dragon, a quest of revenge, disguises that may or may not work in real life.

There are some twists as well, dragons can speak any language but only when they have taken on that shape which uses that language.

I have to confess I hate books that seem to have an obvious moral to the story. It always makes me feel like the author just created a story for the sake of rubbing a moral in my face. But someone else pointed out to me that there is a small moral at the end of this book. And I'm not telling you what it is so you have to go read it yourself.

Heir Apparent

By Vivian Vande Velde

At an unspecified point in the future, technology will have progressed to the point that you can go to gaming centers and be completely immersed in a variety of games. 

You are the character and the character is you. Your thoughts are your character's thoughts and your character's pain is your pain.

For Giannine's birthday her father's secretary sends her a gift card to Rasmussen Gaming Center and she's determined to make the most of it even braving a protest to get into the center.

Heir Apparent is a game with many ways to win. All you have to do is survive long enough to be crowned king. Unfortunately Giannine isn't as good at this as she would like and she keeps dying. 

Then something happens. It's different this time and she receives a message from outside the game. The equipment she's connected to has been damaged and they can't pull her out because of her immersion. The only way to get out is for her to win the game, but she only has a few hours left before permanent brain damage occurs. 

Now Giannine is stuck in a court full of deceivers with no idea of who to trust and time is running out.

I found Giannine a little annoying at first but I kept reading because I found the premise of the book to be so intriguing.

This is a little longer than Dragon's Bait, about 250 pages I would guess. It's perfect for 12 and up.

Life as We Knew It

Life As We Knew It

By Susan Beth Pfeffer

Miranda is an average American teenage girl. She talks about friends, family and complains about school. Especially all of these extra homework assignments about the moon that all of her teachers are giving. 

Who cares if some asteroid is going to hit the moon? Stuff hits the moon all the time, but everyone's making a fuss because it's big enough that you're supposed to be able to see it hit.

Suddenly it matters though. The asteroid is bigger and denser then predicted and it knocks the moon off kilter. Suddenly everything is in chaos and the ocean is raising and volcanoes are erupting worldwide.

May 18th is  the day that the world as we know it changes.

Gas prices jump to five dollars in a day and in a week you're only allowed five gallons per person and it's close to seventy dollars. People are frantically buying supplies and soon the stores will be all empty.

First the power starts to go and then it shuts off altogether.

Ash from volcanoes is always in the sky turning it a perpetual grey. Some days you can't even see the sun.

Sickness sets in and medicine runs out.

There is virtually no one untouched by the disaster and everyone knows someone that didn't make it.

This was written in 2006 so the idea of the price of gas leaping to five dollars was a little more dramatic but it was kept fairly timeless in the sense that it's not set in a particular year and doesn't have anything that would make you think 'Oh, this is set in ___.'.

I am not a crier. I very rarely cry but both times I have read this I have teared up and had to watch something happy. There is character death in this book so if you are looking for something lighthearted this is not that book.

The book itself is only 337 pages and it's written in a diary format. It's target audience is 12 and up. I think that I had a little more perspective about the magnitude of the disaster when I was a little older then 12. I read this for the first time when I was 14.

The main character is definitely a teenage girl, especially at the beginning, but it's necessary to the story to show how it changes everyone either for better or for worse.

It actually made me think a lot about what would I do and how I would cope with all of the uncertainty and death.

There are other books in the series that are basically the same event from different characters point of view in different parts of the country. I haven't read any of them. I want to but I haven't gotten to them yet.

While this book can be sad at parts I still think that it's a good book that people should read. This author also write some very good children's books that I recommend and are not nearly as sad as this one.

I know I've recommended this to people before and I'd like to hear your thoughts on this book.