The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1910

Title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1910

Author: Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill

Publisher: Top Shelf 2009

Genre: Graphic Novel

Pages: 80

Rating: 3 /5 stars

Reading Challenges: Graphic Novel; Support Your Local Library

How I Got It: Library Loan

The new volume detailing the exploits of Miss Wilhelmina Murray and her extraordinary colleagues, Century is a 240-page epic spanning almost a hundred years. Divided into three 80-page chapters - each a self-contained narrative to avoid frustrating cliff-hanger delays between episodes - this monumental tale takes place in three distinct eras, building to an apocalyptic conclusion occurring in our own, current, twenty-first century. Chapter one is set against the backdrop of London, 1910, twelve years after the failed Martian invasion and nine years since England put a man upon the moon. In the bowels of the British Museum, Carnacki the ghost-finder is plagued by visions of a shadowy occult order who are attempting to create something called a Moonchild, while on London's dockside the most notorious serial murderer of the previous century has returned to carry on his grisly trade. Working for Mycroft Holmes' British Intelligence alongside a rejuvenated Allan Quartermain, the reformed thief Anthony Raffles and the eternal warrior Orlando, Miss Murray is drawn into a brutal opera acted out upon the waterfront by players that include the furiously angry Pirate Jenny and the charismatic butcher known as Mac the Knife.

I admit absolute disappointment in this slim comic. I had such high hopes after my enjoyment of Volume 1 and 2 of LXG. Unfortunately, this one felt completely disjointed to me. I didn't connect to any of the characters. I had trouble to following the storyline. I found the singing to be an interesting, yet ultimately distracting, storytelling device. I don't think I will be attempting to find the other two Century volumes.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Title: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Author: J.K. Rowling

Publisher: Scholastic 2003

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Pages: 870

Rating: 5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: HP; My Years -- 2003

How I Got It: Own it! (in pretty hardcover no less)

This one is a reread for me. It's been awhile since I read the series. I remember reading the first couple of books out loud to the boys when they were infants. SO that's what, eight years ago? I read the last few books as they came out, but overall it's been awhile.

Instead of doing a traditional review, I thought I would just give you some of my reread thoughts. Things I noticed, things I loved, quotes I like, etc. And then I will have a mini review of movie vs. book.

Book fun:

Favorite scene: This is so tough... But I think I'm going to have to go with the big battle in the Ministry of Magic. The way it's written, I am right there in the thick of the action. I almost find myself ducking when spells are thrown.

Favorite character(s): I have a few for this book...

Dolores Umbridge -- A great villain. In this case, we get a bureaucrat for a villain. I just want to smack her every time she coughs. Ugh!
Luna Lovegood -- She's a great addition to the whole crew. I love her weirdness. And underneath she has a great way of looking at the world. I especially love her for helping Harry deal with Sirius' death.
Fred and George Weasley -- They are still my favorite Weasleys. I love them every time they pop up. In this book, they get to be more than just the jokesters. Love them.

Other odds and ends:

While I like the book, I think it's my least favorite of the series. There are so many story lines that it seems very schizophrenic at times. We are introduced to so many new characters (Grawp, Firenze and the centaurs, various Order of the Phoenix members) that I have a hard time connecting to all of them. I think this book could have used a bit more editing to condense some of those storylines.
I cry every time I read the chapter at the end where Dumbledore finally lets Harry know about the prophecy and his plan. I want to yell right along with Harry at the beginning, but I'm always in tears by the end. Very powerful section of the book.
I do love the comeuppance that Draco, Goyle, and Crabbe get on the train ride home.

Favorite quotes:

"Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have." -- Hermione to Ron (pg. 459)

Movie fun

My favorite scenes:

The scene with Luna and the thestrals is just beautiful. I love their conversation among the Forbidden Forrest and the creatures. I especially love the addition of Luna's lost shoes.
As edited at the final battle is, it's still amazing looking. I especially loved Lucius and Bellatrix, very sinister. And the falling of the shelves is just a gorgeous bit of movie magic.

Things I wished to see, but didn't:

More of Fred and George -- They're just amazing

Other odds and ends:

Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge is delicious casting. She is down right evil.
The wall of educational decrees is an inspired bit of set dressing.
They kept my favorite line from the book in the movie. Hee hee!
It makes much more sense to have Cho faultlessly out the Dumbledore Army. It does help edit the various story lines and characters.

Harry Potter:

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

Title: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

Author: Seth Grahame-Smith

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing 2011

Genre: Paranormal; Alternative history?

Pages: 336

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Vampire; Support Your Library loan; Book2Movie

How I Got It: Library Loan

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.
Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

I love these mixes of history and fantasy. I think I've found my second favorite genre (after zombies, of course). This book reads like a historical biography. Except in this case, Smith added the elements of vampires throughout the history of Lincoln's life. If I didn't know any better, I would think this was nonfiction. Every addition feels unnatural. I loved the pacing, breaking his life into "boy, vampire hunter, and president." Through it we get a sense of Lincoln (even if half of it is make believe). I've never been a huge fan of Lincoln's; I prefer the Roosevelts and Jefferson. But this book made me a fan. I heartedly recommend!

Movie Review:

I finally got around to seeing the movie. A was pretty disappointed. While the book has a gravity, the movie makes it too cheesy, too modern. That ridiculous fight scene among the horses was almost too much to watch. But I will admit that I loved the scene in the plantation. It was a very modern fight scene done well. The character of Will was a great role. I loved the inclusion. I was very upset that the movie excluded so much from the book. We only got to see Abraham's struggle at the end, after the Civil War started. Random note: How amazing was Alan Tudyk as Stephen Douglas! An uncredited role, but so great.

Kick-Ass by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.

Title: Kick-Ass

Author: Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.

Publisher: Marvel 2011

Genre: Graphic Novel

Pages: 192

Rating: 5/5 stars Movie: /5

Reading Challenges: Graphic Novel; Support Your Local Library; Books2Movie

How I Got It: Library Loan

Dave Lizewski is just an ordinary American teenager. Then an idea hits him: why not become a real life super hero.

J had me see the movie when it came out, but I had never gotten around to reading the graphic novel. Amazingly, my local library had it just sitting there on the shelf begging for me to take it home. And home it came. I read it in one little sitting last night. It's über violent. It's über gorey. But at the heart, it's a great little story about a nobody that starts a crime fighting revolution and sorta finds his way. Plus, I was excited to actually get the references to other comic book characters and series. I think I'm turning into a comic book reader. Anyway, I really enjoyed Kick-Ass. It's not light and fluffy. It's gritty and nasty, but in an awesome comic book way. And I read that Volume 2 is due to be released this June 2012. I must keep that on my radar.

Movie:

I'll admit that when J proposed watching this, I was hesitant. I bloody, gorey action film about a comic book geek that want's to be a super hero. I was worried that it was going to be cheesy. But then I found out that Nicholas Cage was in the movie. I'll see anything he's in, even the absolutely horrible stuff. He's my movie kryptonite. So we watched, and I'm glad we did. I love seeing the interplay between Dave's regular life and his after hours fantasies. It was an interesting take on the genre. And Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Red Mist was perfect casting. Hands down the best performance of the movie was Chloe Grace Moretz. Her Hit Girl had all the vulnerability of a child but the strength of a superhero. I loved seeing the interactions between her and her dad. Best scene of the movie: where Big Daddy shoots Hit Girl to teach her to anticipate it in the future. Disturbing but amazing.

Wonderland by Tommy Kovac and Sonny Liew

Title: Wonderland

Author: Tommy Kovac and Sonny Liew

Publisher: Disney Press 2009

Genre: Graphic Novel

Pages: 160

Rating: 5 /5 stars

Reading Challenges: Graphic Novel; A to Z -- K; Support Your Local LIbrary

How I Got It: Library loan

Among the numerous curiosities that have gone unexplained in the classic tale Alice in Wonderland, perhaps the most perplexing might be who, exactly, is the “Maryann” that the White Rabbit mistakes Alice for at the beginning of the story? Lewis Carroll first made us ponder this and, years later, Walt Disney again made viewers wonder who Maryann might be in his classic feature length film based on Carroll’s book.
Now, the amazingly talented folks at SLG Publishing, through a licensing deal with Disney, have finally answered this age-old question. In their beautifully executed comic book series, WONDERLAND, readers experience Alice’s fantastic world as they’ve never seen it before. Writer Tommy Kovac’s Wonderland is missing Alice herself, but it’s still populated by the other characters that make the world such a curiously exciting place. The Queen of Hearts is present, barking orders to lop off people’s heads, as is the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter and the rest of Wonderland’s beloved cast. And there are some new faces, too, including the book’s main protagonist, the mysterious Maryann herself. All are beautifully illustrated by Wonderland’s artist, Sonny Liew.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is one of my favorite books. I love the fantasy element, the absurdity. I was very excited to learn who Maryann is after all that talk from the White Rabbit. All the characters from the original make appearances. My favorite is still the Cheshire Cat. Although in this volume, he's a lot more funny than creepy. And we get some newish characters in the Queen and King of Spades found at the bottom of a treacle well. We even get an appearance by the Jabberwocky. A definite must for fans of the original Lewis Carroll story.

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

Title: Something Borrowed (Darcy #1)

Author: Emily Giffin

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin 2005

Genre: Romance

Pages: 322

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Semi-Charmed Challenge -- Bad Review; Mixing It Up -- Modern Fiction; Mount TBR; Book2Movie

How I Got It: I own it!

Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney at a large Manhattan law firm and a diligent maid of honor to her charmed best friend Darcy, Rachel has always played by all the rules. Since grade school, she has watched Darcy shine, quietly accepting the sidekick role in their lopsided friendship.But that suddenly changes the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel finally confesses her feelings to Darcy's fiance, and is both horrified and thrilled to discover that he feels the same way. As the wedding date draws near, events spiral out of control, and Rachel knows she must make a choice between her heart and conscience. In so doing, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk everything to be true to yourself.

I picked this book up for $1. It had been on my list for a while, but I had read a few bad reviews for it... So I was unsure of whether or not read it. Then some friends and I saw the movie version. Now I had to read the book. The reviews were right. The entire time reading this book, I couldn't decided if I liked any of the main characters. At the end I came away with the idea that cheating is okay if you do it with your "soulmate" or if the other woman is a narcissist. I just didn't see it as an truthful exploration of relationships. To me, it was a gimmick. Plus, I didn't find Dex attractive at all. He's just the lying, toying scumbag. I thought every relationship in the book was unhealthy. In the end, I read this as a cautionary tale. Don't be friends with people like Darcy, Rachel, or Dex.

Movie

Hmmmm.... This wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good either. The addition of John Krasinski's Ethan was an improvement. But adding in the love quadrangle didn't work at all. I've decided that I don't like Kate Hudson in anything except for Almost Famous. Overall I came out of it feeling very blah and wanting some action or zombie fun to cleanse my palate. Definitely not a movie that I need to see again.

Something (DNFed series)

#1 Something Borrowed
#2 Something Blue
#3 Baby Proof
#4 Love the One You're With
#5 Heart of the Matter
#6 Where We Belong
#7 The One and Only

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

Title: Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

Author: Jane Austen and Ben Winters

Publisher: Quirk 2009

Genre: Jane Austen; Fantasy

Pages: 340

Rating: 5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fantasy; Mount TBR

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters expands the original text of the beloved Jane Austen novel with all-new scenes of giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, and other biological monstrosities. As our story opens, the Dashwood sisters are evicted from their childhood home and sent to live on a mysterious island full of savage creatures and dark secrets. While sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her romantic sister Marianne is courted by both the handsome Willoughby and the hideous man-monster Colonel Brandon. Can the Dashwood sisters triumph over meddlesome matriarchs and unscrupulous rogues to find true love? Or will they fall prey to the tentacles that are forever snapping at their heels? This masterful portrait of Regency England blends Jane Austen’s biting social commentary with ultraviolent depictions of sea monsters biting. It’s survival of the fittest—and only the swiftest swimmers will find true love!

This is another book that languished on my TBR bookshelf for way too long! Thankfully I came to my senses during the Bout of Books Readathon and added it to my immediate TBR stack. I had high hopes after reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (and subsequent sequel and prequel). I wanted it to be just as good. It isn't, but only fractionally so. This book blends Austen's story of two sisters (well, three, but Margaret is too young to be much of a character) looking for a place in the world. Only this time, Colonel Brandon's face has tentacles, Willoughby is a treasure hunter, there is a pirate, Barton Cottage is on a mysterious little island, Bath is the Sub-Marine Station Beta on the ocean floor, and all manner of sea life want to kill humans. Every day is fraught with perils, both from the sea and of the heart. I loved the blending while keeping Austen's own words. The twists at the end are fun, but wrapped up a bit too neatly. Of course that is keeping with Austen's own works. Maybe it's because I love zombies so much that P&P&Z holds a spot over this volume. It was good, but not absolutely amazing. There were some great illustrations and characters. And that Lucy Steele, watch out for her! I would recommend to lovers of Austen and monsters. Great Saturday read!

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Title: Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Piorot Mystery #9)

Author: Agatha Christie

Publisher: Harper 1934

Genre: Mystery

Pages: 336

Rating: 5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mixing it Up -- Mystery; Support Your Local Library; Semi-Charmed -- Always wanted to read

How I Got It: Library loan

Famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot must sift through clues--some real and some planted--to find a murderer aboard a crowded train speeding through the snowy European landscape.

This is one of those books that I have always wanted to read, yet somehow never got around to it. I finally snatched it off of the library racks and took it home. A classic mystery that had me guessing until the very end. Loved it! The characters are colorful. The setting is inspired. The clues are given but not completely obvious. Now I understand why this is such a classic. It has everything you want for in a great mystery. I just can't believe it took me this long to get around to it.

Hercule Poirot

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
The Murder on the Links (1923)
Poirot Investigates (1924)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
The Big Four (1927)
The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928)
Peril at End House (1932)
Lord Edgware Dies (or Thirteen at Dinner) (1933)
Murder on the Orient Express (or Murder in the Calais Coach) (1934)
Three Act Tragedy (Murder in Three Acts) (1934)
Death in the Clouds (Death in the Air) (1935)
The ABC Murders (1936)
Cards on the Table (1936)
Murder in Mesopotamia (1936)
Death on the Nile (1937)
Dumb Witness (Poirot Loses a Client) (1937)
Murder in the Mews (Dead Man's Mirror) (1937)
Appointment with Death (1938)
Hercule Poirot's Christmas (A Holiday for Murder) (1938)
Sad Cypress (1940)
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (An Overdose of Death) (1940)
Evil Under the Sun (1941)
Five Little Pigs (Murder in Retrospect) (1942)
The Hollow (Murder After Hours) (1946)
The Labours of Hercules (1947)
Taken at the Flood (There is a Tide) (1948)
Mrs McGinty's Dead (Blood Will Tell) (1952)
After the Funeral (Funerals are Fatal) (1953)
Hickory Dickory Dock (1955)
Dead Man's Folly (1956)
Cat Among the Pigeons (1959)
The Clocks (1963)
Third Girl (1966)
Hallowe'en Party (1969)
Elephants Can Remember (1972)
Poirot's Early Cases (1974)
Curtain: Poirot's Last Case (1975)

Paris in Love by Eloisa James (DNF)

Title: Paris in Love

Author: Eloisa James

Publisher: Random House 2012

Genre: Travel memoir

Pages: 258

Rating: DNF

Reading Challenges: Semi-charmed -- Memoir; ; Dewey -- 910s; Mixing it Up -- Travel

How I Got It: I won it!

In 2009, New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James took a leap that many people dream about: she sold her house, took a sabbatical from her job as a Shakespeare professor, and moved her family to Paris. Paris in Love: A Memoir chronicles her joyful year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

With no classes to teach, no committee meetings to attend, no lawn to mow or cars to park, Eloisa revels in the ordinary pleasures of life—discovering corner museums that tourists overlook, chronicling Frenchwomen’s sartorial triumphs, walking from one end of Paris to another. She copes with her Italian husband’s notions of quality time; her two hilarious children, ages eleven and fifteen, as they navigate schools—not to mention puberty—in a foreign language; and her mother-in-law Marina’s raised eyebrow in the kitchen (even as Marina overfeeds Milo, the family dog).

I am sad to say that this was a DNF. I read almost halfway through this book before deciding to put to down and move on. Please don't take my DNF to say that it is a horrible book. It's just I could get behind it at all. Let me explain. The structure of the book is short vignettes. At least, that's what the introduction implies. I thought I would be reading short vignettes or essays from James' life in Paris. But no. These "vignettes" are based mostly off of Facebook posts James made throughout her year in Paris. Most of them are one paragraph Facebook statuses. They are short with little to no context or commentary. Many of them would be great FB posts, but fail to intrigue me as a reader who is not personally acquainted with the author. Occasionally, James has an essay that caught my attention. She uses an occurrence to then comment on cultural differences or life lesons or sheer comedy. Those were good. Those kept me going for another 70 pages. But in the end those were too few and far between. I just couldn't get through the intervening paragraphs. I feel like this could have been a much more interesting book with a little curating. Take those interesting pieces and expand to create essays (of more than one paragraph). I feel like I could have gotten behind that book. Alas, this was not that book. And so, I move on to other selections...

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

Title: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Author: J.K. Rowling

Publisher: Scholastic

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Pages: 734

Rating: 5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: HP

How I Got It: Own it!

This one is a reread for me. It's been awhile since I read the series. I remember reading the first couple of books out loud to the boys when they were infants. SO that's what eight years ago? I read the last few books as they came out, but overall it's been awhile.

Instead of doing a traditional review, I thought I would just give you some of my reread thoughts. Things I noticed, things I loved, quotes I like, etc. And then I will have a mini review of movie vs. book.

Book fun:

Favorite scene:

Ron and Hermione's row at the Yuletide Ball. I love that we get to see their love blossoming this early in the series. They're so cute.
Harry-Hermione-Krum love triangle nonsense. The hate mail in the lunch room was beautiful. Hee hee.
Amazing Dumbledore speech at the end of the movie. So moving!

Favorite character(s):

Definitely Fred and George. I just adore those two. They pop up from time to time and always say the right thing. I love their' backstage antics and wild dreams. I really wish we could have gotten more from them. As a side note, I also really enjoyed Bill and Charlie in this novel.
And as little as she's actually in it, Rita Skeeter makes an excellent villainous figure. I love that Hermione traps her as a beetle at the end. Hee hee!

Favorite expressions: Loads of Ron's "blimeys"

Other odds and ends:

Forgot how much time we spend with the Dursleys at the end of the summer. They are so icky.
And how much we get to see of the Quidditch World Cup. I really love those scenes.
The explanation of the Dark Mark's appearance at the World Cup makes much more sense than in the movie.
I felt like we already knew Hagrid was half-giant, but guess I was wrong...

Favorite quotes:

"Why do they have to move in packs?" -- Harry in reference to having to ask a girl to the Yuletide Ball. Love the uncomfortable match making. (pg. 388)
"Aren't you two ever going to read Hogwarts, A History?" (Hermione) "What's the point?" said Ron, "You know it by heart, we can just ask you." -- Hee hee. I love Ron's little comebacks.

Movie fun

My favorite scenes:

All three tasks, especially the lake task. I love the visuals on all three tasks. They really put me on the edge of my seat every time I watch.
Final showdown with Lord Voldemort. It was amazing to see Voldemort in the flesh.
All the scenes with David Tennant as Barty Crouch Jr. I just love David Tennant.

Things I wished to see, but didn't:

Nifflers, blast-ended skrewts, unicorns, and all the crazy magical creatures Hagrid takes a fancy to. They're so real in the book, I really wanted to see them in the movie.
Sirius. He has a couple of great scenes in the book that just don't make it into the movie. Boo!
The stunning of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle on the return tain. Man, I really wish I could have seen that.

Other odds and ends:

They really cleaned up Krum and Karkaroff for the movie. I liked them much more in movie than the book. Hmm. Interesting...
While slightly interesting, I am glad they didn't include the House Elf Liberation Front in the movie. It gets a bit tedious towards the end of the book.
Miranda Richardson is delightfully evil as Rita Skeeter
Trivia from IMDB: In the first draft of the script, a subplot featuring the Weasley twins and Ludo Bagman, the head of the Ministry's sports department, was featured prominently. In fact, it was reported that Martin Landham was cast as Bagman. In the subsequent drafts, the subplot was dropped, and the character of Ludo Bagman makes no credited appearance in the movie. -- wish they had kept it

Harry Potter:

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

Title: A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle #1)

Author: Libba Bray

Publisher: Delacorte Books 2005

Genre: YA

Pages: 403

Rating: 5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Young Adult; Mount TBR; Semi-Charmed Challenge -- Trilogy

How I Got It: I own it!

It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to?

I am ashamed to say that this book has been on my shelves for almost two years. I wanted to read this trilogy when it was published, but I it somehow kept getting thrown back on the TBR shelf. After the move, I promptly unearthed it and placed it on my immediate TBR shelf.

The first 50 pages, I was so-so. It didn't really strike me as amazing. It didn't grab my attention right away. And I felt that Gemma was a petulant 16-year-old. Thankfully the story started growing on me. I began to be pulled deeper and deeper in the mystery of the Order and the other Realms. I too hated Felicity and Pippa in the beginning. But soon, I became to see their behavior was a result of their deeper insecurities. At the end, I felt for Pippa and Felicity. But I never seemed to get a handle on Ann. Hopefully, the second book gives us more. I loved Miss Moore. We better get to see more of her. I found the twists toward the end to be predictable, but not so obvious as to be annoying. A good read for an afternoon at the pool.

Gemma Doyle

The Frog Prince by Stephen Mitchell

Title: The Frog Prince

Author: Stephen Mitchell

Publisher: Harmony 1999

Genre: Fairy Tales

Pages: 188

Rating: 5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Semi-Charmed Challenge -- One day read; Telling Tales; Support Your Local Library

How I Got It: Library loan

In this brilliant jewel of a book, the best-selling author of Tao Te Ching: A New English Version expands and deepens the classic fairy tale in the most surprising and delightful ways, giving new emphasis to its message of the transcendent power of love.
The Frog Prince tells the story of a meditative frog's love for a rebellious princess, how she came to love him in spite of herself, and how her refusal to compromise helped him become who he truly was. This is a magical book that moves (amphibiously) from story to meditation and back, from the outrageous to the philosophical to the silly to the sublime. Profound, touching, written in prose as lively and unpredictable as a dream, The Frog Prince tickles the mind, opens the heart, and holds up a mirror to the soul.

Interesting retelling of the fairy tale. We get to see more of the Princess' and Frog's inner thoughts through the journey. I like the idea of teaching life philosophy through fairy tales. They are the easiest to understand. We can explore deeper meanings through classic well-known stories. The slim novella only took me an hour to read and yet I feel like I could spend many more hours contemplating the messages included. I don't have much else to add. I like it. I want to read more fairy tales/reinterpretations/philosophy stories. I really should add some more to my TBR list.

Two great passages:

What may appear to be proud, ungrateful, and headstrong from the outside may from the inside express an unshakable integrity of character. Pride, if is doesn't step over the line into arrogance, is simply an unprejudiced self-esteem. Ingratitude is the appropriate response to a kindness that has hooks on it. Headstrong is another word for trusting your own heart. -- pg. 103
There remains the question of meaning. A frog turns into a prince. A lost son is found. A queen long dead steps down from her pedestal, flushed with life. Is this wishful thinking? Whistling in the dark? And if it isn't, if such transformations are images of what can actually happen to us, in us, what do they entail? What do they look and feel like? -- pg. 184

Side note: Listening to Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds while listening was a good choice. Soothing acoustic music set the mood for this books.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Title: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

Author: Katherine Howe

Publisher: Voice 2009

Genre: Historical fiction (well, sort of)

Pages: 384

Rating: 5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Historical Fiction; A to Z - P; Mount TBR; Semi Charmed Challenge - Place I've Always Wanted to Visit (Salem, Massachusetts)

How I Got It: I own it!

A spellbinding, beautifully written novel that moves between contemporary times and one of the most fascinating and disturbing periods in American history-the Salem witch trials.
Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie's grandmother's abandoned home near Salem, she can't refuse. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie discovers an ancient key within a seventeenth-century Bible. The key contains a yellowing fragment of parchment with a name written upon it: Deliverance Dane. This discovery launches Connie on a quest--to find out who this woman was and to unearth a rare artifact of singular power: a physick book, its pages a secret repository for lost knowledge.
As the pieces of Deliverance's harrowing story begin to fall into place, Connie is haunted by visions of the long-ago witch trials, and she begins to fear that she is more tied to Salem's dark past then she could have ever imagined.
Written with astonishing conviction and grace, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane travels seamlessly between the witch trials of the 1690s and a modern woman's story of mystery, intrigue, and revelation.

Beautifully written story across the years. I love it when an author competently bridges decade gaps to create a cohesive storyline. Some of my favorite parts were the interludes set in the 1690s and 1700s. Howe manages to create believable worlds, characters, and grounded settings. The detail that she put into the descriptions of the houses and clothing was very remarkable.

I loved the characters and connected immediately with Connie. She may be a bit too serious and a bit too much a loner, but she feels like me in another life. I loved how Connie took the logical steps in solving the mystery of the key. I could see myself following in her footsteps, moving from clue to clue, realizations dawning. The mystery wasn't hard to guess, but the book was written in such a way that I kept reading, not caring that I knew the ending.

After speeding through the book, I read Howe's notes at the back. They made my love of the book make sense. Howe is a historian specializing in New England and Colonial America. She based Prudence Bartlett on Martha Ballard -- famous midwife of the early American period. I've read her journals. Now I see why I felt those parts were familiar. Howe based Deliverance's grimoire on the Key of Solomon. I never read it, but read of it. I think How's attention to detail and historical basis resonated in the historian and academic in me. They made me love the novel even more.

The Radleys by Matt Haig

Title: The Radleys

Author: Matt Haig

Publisher: Free Press 2011

Genre: Vampires

Pages: 400

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Vampires; Mount TBR

Just about everyone knows a family like the Radleys. Many of us grew up next door to one. They are a modern family, averagely content, averagely dysfunctional, living in a staid and quiet suburban English town. Peter is an overworked doctor whose wife, Helen, has become increasingly remote and uncommunicative. Rowan, their teenage son, is being bullied at school, and their anemic daughter, Clara, has recently become a vegan. They are typical, that is, save for one devastating exception: Peter and Helen are vampires and have—for seventeen years—been abstaining by choice from a life of chasing blood in the hope that their children could live normal lives.

Such a moody vampire story. In many ways, it is a coming of age story. It just happens that the people involved are vampires. I loved seeing the story from the vampire perspective. What would happen if you were a vampire, but didn't know it? What happened when you found out? How would you react? I especially loved Rowan. In many ways, he's the traditional romantic style vampire, but doesn't know it. This book is a refreshing change form the Twilight style vampire story. BTW the author questions at the back reveal that Matt Haig sees Robert Downey Jr. as Matt Radley. Delicious choice! I would love to see this book turned into a movie.

Allison Hewitt is Trapped by Madeleine Roux

Title: Allison Hewitt is Trapped

Author: Madeleine Roux

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Genre: Zombie

Pages: 352

Rating: 5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Zombie; Mount TBR

How I Got It: I own it!

One woman's story as she blogs - and fights back - the zombie apocalypse

Allison Hewitt and her five colleagues at the Brooks and Peabody Bookstore are trapped together when the zombie outbreak hits. Allison reaches out for help through her blog, writing on her laptop and utilizing the military's emergency wireless network (SNET). It may also be her only chance to reach her mother. But as the reality of their situation sinks in, Allison’s blog becomes a harrowing account of her edge-of-the-seat adventures (with some witty sarcasm thrown in) as she and her companions fight their way through ravenous zombies and sometimes even more dangerous humans.

I do love me some zombie stories. I heard such great things about this book. I finally got around to reading it for the Spring into Horror Readathon hosted by Castle Macabre. Wait a minute you say... wasn't that last week. Why yes it was... However I was driving across country all last week and I've finally gotten settled in enough to actually catch up on my reviews. SO, here we go.

I have really come to love first person zombie stories. There's something about fighting right alongside someone that just puts me in a good reading mood. Allison is such a great character. She has her faults, but they make the reader like her more. She seems very real. I particularly liked the fact that she starts her zombie apocalypse as a clerk in a bookstore. As part of the first big encounter with the zeds, she almost gets turned into kibble because she pauses to grab a few books. Yeah, that would be me... From there we go on a whirlwind adventure of survival. We meet the usual zombie threats. But we also encounter the human threats. I really think they're worse than the zombies. I sped through this novel, on the edge of my seat, holding my breath, to see if Allison makes it. I won't tell you the ending, but I will say that I can't wait to read the not a sequel-but set in the same world, Sadie Walker is Stranded...

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Title: The Picture of Dorian Gray

Author: Oscar Wilde

Genre: Classic Horror

Pages: 248

Rating: 5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Classics - Horror; Movies; Mount TBR

Oscar Wilde brings his enormous gifts for astute social observation and sparkling prose to The Picture of Dorian Gray, his dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. This dandy, who remains forever unchanged—petulant, hedonistic, vain, and amoral—while a painting of him ages and grows increasingly hideous with the years, has been horrifying, enchanting, obsessing, even corrupting readers for more than a hundred years.

Dorian Gray... so full of promise, so wasted in the end. I have forgotten how truly terrifying this novel is. To watch a man degrade himself to be nothing more than a hideous reflection of his former self is true horror. Wilde shows the psychological horror well. In the novel, we are served a cautionary tale. And yet I wonder if Wilde saw himself as Gray or Lord Henry. Was he the tempter or the tempted? These questions intrigue me more after reading about Wilde's own life and subsequent court cases. I am leaning toward the idea that Wilde is Gray who finally had to face his own portrait in the end.

On the writing of the book, I have one big issue... Chapter 11 just kills me. The first half of the book follows Gray's introduction to Lord Henry and the pleasures of the world. We view his tragic relationship with Sibyl Vane. We note his continual detachment from morality. The second half of the book chronicles his downfall. Yet in the middle we are "treated" to one ridiculously long list of the things he collected in the in between years. If I had to read one more paragraph about embroidery, I was going to throw the book down in disgust. The transition just isn't there. And it blemishes an otherwise amazing horror novel.

Movie Version -- 2009 Starring Ben Barnes and Colin Firth

I watched this movie a few months back and my initial reaction was: that was really bad. I wanted to try and rewatch it to pinpoint exactly why I felt it was horrid. So I attempted a rewatch.

I think my main problem with this movie is that it tries to sensationalize the story. It turns a psychological thriller in the view of Poe into a supernatural thriller complete with romance. I just don't agree. The story itself is a much more interesting psychological descent into corruption and madness. I could have done without all the sex scenes. I'm no prude, but those just seemed so out of place. And the romance with Harry's daughter just felt forced. Overall, I just couldn't connect with the movie at all.

Side Note: I love Alan Moore's version of Dorian Gray in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I feel that if Dorian hadn't of faced his portrait when he did but continue to live, he would have become the Dorian of Moore's universe. And the movie version: just bad. Anyone who has read LXG would agree that the movie could have been great, but it should have been rated R. Only way for it be good.

Side Side Note: I did love Stuart Townsend as Dorian Gray in the movie. Delicious!

Bad Doings and Big Ideas by Bill Willingham

Title: Bad Doings and Big Ideas

Author: Bill Willingham

Publisher: Vertigo 2011

Genre: Graphic Novel; Fantasy

Pages: 512

Rating: 5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mixing It Up - Graphic Novel and Comic; Support Your Local Library; A to Z - B

How I Got It: Library Loan

Collecting dark tales of the fantastic by FABLES creator Bill Willingham! She’s one of the Sandman’s former lovers and a woman feared by gods. She is Thessaly, the fan-favorite character from THE SANDMAN: A GAME OF YOU, and the last of the deadly Thessalian witches. Now, Thessaly is on the run from a creature called Fetch, who might be composed of different beings killed across the eons by Thessaly herself.Then, in PROPOSITION PLAYER, a professional Vegas poker player collects vouchers for the souls of a roomful of people as a bar prank, not realizing that he’s just anted up for a game he never imagined. Joey is suddenly caught in the middle of a battle between heaven and hell. Can he bluff his way out of it?
This title also features numerous short stories starring members of The Sandman’s cast, as well as dark fantasy tales from HOUSE OF MYSTERY and more.

I fell into this volume with wild abandon today. I absolutely adore Willingham's Fables series, but confess that I never read any of his other work. This volume offered me a great opportunity to expand my Willingham. I loved that he does a short introduction to each piece. These gave me an idea of his professional growth and how see save each work.

I think my favorite story was Thessaly. At initial glance, she's just an ancient witch living her quiet life. But the series delves into the much darker workings of the universe and other worlds. We get to see the big bads and bigger bads out there. Thessaly's quiet, but she makes up for talking with her actions. I especially loved the inclusion of various gods of the dead. Nice touch!

My second favorite had to be the short House of Mystery tales thrown in the back. Willingham goes from the funny horror story to the truly bizarre and disconcerting. Hats off to you! Now I really need to read The Sandman series.

The Walking Dead: Book 4

Title: The Walking Dead: Book 4

Author: Robert Kirkman

Publisher: Image Comics 2008

Genre: Graphic Novel; Zombies

Pages: 304

Rating: 5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Graphic Novels; Support Your Local Library

The hardcover features another 12 issues of the hit series along with the covers for the issues all in one oversized hardcover volume. Perfect for long-time fans, new readers, and anyone interested in reading a zombie movie on paper that never ends.

Every time I think this series has reached the limit, the next chapter just flies right past the previous limit. It is crazy! I cannot even begin to imagine where the series is going. Yet I want to continue reading it until the end. I like how this book focused more on the threat from fellow survivors than the zombies. We get a real feeling of what the survivors we follow are up against. It makes for a suspenseful read. I'm also interested to see how the television series departs from the comic storyline. Should be an interesting read. And you know I always love my zombies!

The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg

Title: The View from Saturday

Author: E.L. Konigsburg

Publisher: Atheneum 1996

Genre: YA fiction

Pages: 176

Rating: 5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Young Adult; A to Z -- V; My Years 1996

How I Got It: Library Loan

HOW HAD MRS. OLINSKI CHOSEN her sixth-grade Academic Bowl team? She had a number of answers. But were any of them true? How had she really chosen Noah and Nadia and Ethan and Julian? And why did they make such a good team?It was a surprise to a lot of people when Mrs. Olinski's team won the sixth-grade Academic Bowl contest at Epiphany Middle School. It was an even bigger surprise when they beat the seventh grade and the eighth grade, too. And when they went on to even greater victories, everyone began to ask: How did it happen?It happened at least partly because Noah had been the best man (quite by accident) at the wedding of Ethan's grandmother and Nadia's grandfather. It happened because Nadia discovered that she could not let a lot of baby turtles die. It happened when Ethan could not let Julian face disaster alone. And it happened because Julian valued something important in himself and saw in the other three something he also valued.

One of my favorite childhood books is E.L. Konigsburg's From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Ever since then, I have reread that book every few years. Yet somehow I never read any of Konigsburg's other books. I finally picked this one up from the library.

And I'm so glad I did. I loved this story of four students and their teacher, each on a journey and not even realizing it until the end. I loved how each section of the story was interlaced with personal recollections from each of the four students. I could imagine my sixth-grade self right alongside them for every adventure and obstacle. The book is a quick read, but so dense with material. This would be the perfect book to read on a rainy day. If I was teaching middle school langauge arts, this would be on my permanent list of books to discover. Now I really want to read the rest of Konigburg's material.

The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson

Title: The Ghost Map

Author: Steven Johnson

Publisher: Penguin 2008

Genre: Nonfiction - Science (epidemics)

Pages: 320

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mixing It Up -- Science; Dewey -- 600s; Mount TBR

How I Got It: I own it!

A thrilling historical account of the worst cholera outbreak in Victorian London-and a brilliant exploration of how Dr. John Snow's solution revolutionized the way we think about disease, cities, science, and the modern world. The Ghost Map takes place in the summer of 1854. A devastating cholera outbreak seizes London just as it is emerging as a modern city: more than 2 million people packed into a ten-mile circumference, a hub of travel and commerce, teeming with people from all over the world, continually pushing the limits of infrastructure that's outdated as soon as it's updated. Dr. John Snow-whose ideas about contagion had been dismissed by the scientific community-is spurred to intense action when the people in his neighborhood begin dying. With enthralling suspense, Johnson chronicles Snow's day-by-day efforts, as he risks his own life to prove how the epidemic is being spread. When he creates the map that traces the pattern of outbreak back to its source, Dr. Snow didn't just solve the most pressing medical riddle of his time. He ultimately established a precedent for the way modern city-dwellers, city planners, physicians, and public officials think about the spread of disease and the development of the modern urban environment.

Epidemics have always fascinated me. I also thought that was the one area of medicine that I would have enjoyed. Instead, I became a social studies teacher. Thankfully, I still get to read about epidemics through books like The Ghost Map.

Johnson blends historical narrative, science, and social commentary to create a very readable account of a devastating epidemic. I have read some science history texts that have bored me to tears. Too many of them focus solely on the science, not mentioning the human effect. Johnson uses both sides to tell a remarkable story. And it's one that I haven't heard before. It definitely opened my eyes to the way society and specifically city living has changed the microbe world. I would definitely recommend this book to the geeky historical minds out there.

On a side note: while reading the book, I experienced a nasty stomach bug for about 24 hours. I was convinced that I had cholera and obsessed about it for about half a day.