Sunday, May 31, 2009

Princess in Love by Meg Cabot

Princess in Love by Meg Cabot
Young Adult


Mia Thermopolis, princess of Genovia, a small country in Europe, is in love. The only problem is that she's not in love with her boyfriend, but with her best friend's older brother. To add to her troubles, she has finals coming up soon and is worried that she won't be able to pass Algebra, her mom is pregnant, and her Grandmother still insists she complete princess training before she heads to her first official visit of Genovia.

Like the previous two books, this one is written in the form of Mia's diary. She is a bit over dramatic, as I suppose most girls that age are. Despite that, it was still entertaining and an easy read. This series has at least 10 books in it and I only have one more in my collection. Once I finish the forth book in the series, I'm not quite sure I'll continue on.


First Line: "Over. That's what my life is."


Rating:

(4.5/5)

Ultimatum

Ultimatum by Matthew Glass
Thriller


Democrat Joe Benton has just taken office after a Republican administration in the year 2032. Benton has promised domestic housekeeping by reforming education and health programs. What Benton does not know is that global warming is accelerating at a rate unpredicted. Relocation along the coastal areas will have to be massive.

Benton must now change his priorities and try to work with China at really reducing both their emissions. Each country views the other as an enemy and wants no change while the other country must change. Gradually talks disintegrate to the point of the threat of nuclear war.

Glass has written a wonderful political thriller. It is most interesting how the president works with his advisers and cabinet to try to resolve issues. The research that must have gone into this book is impressive and the analysis of the situation very in depth. The reader is made to be more 'eco' aware than ever before. What is scary is that it is such a probable scenario.


First Line: "He came on to the stage just before eleven o'clock."


Rating:

(4.5/5)

Friday, May 29, 2009

Driving Sideways

Driving Sideways by Jess Riley
Fiction/Literature


Whenever my daughter or I read a great book we share it. Driving Sideways was first read by Lauren and she passed it along with a great review read by the author no less. Knowing that the author might read your review is very daunting to me. I am not an English major and tend to write in short but sweet sentences. But here goes.

Leigh Fielding has a kidney disease (PKD) and for the last five years has been on a restricted diet and constrained by being on dialysis. Now thanks to the late Larry Resnick and his transplanted kidney, she is free. She plans an adventure to Los Angeles. Leigh hits the road planning to stop in Colorado to pick up her best friend and see a few tourist sites in between Wisconsin and California.

What follows is a funny and sweet trip about friendship. Leigh is hi-jacked or rather her purse is, by a seventeen year old, Denise and forced to give her a ride. She also feels that she is finding new things to like because Larry is 'showing' her the way. Leigh wants to visit his family to thank them. Leigh also wants to re-connect with her long-lost mother.

The characters in this book are engaging and that is why it is a book you just can't put down.


First Line: "It's strange how much you can change in just one year."


Rating:

(4.0/5)

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Mystery


Mikael Blomkvist is a financial journalist that specializes in uncovering the truth about companies. He is partial owner of a magazine called Millenium, but is sued for libel when he goes after a Swedish business tycoon and cannot prove some of his claims. With his career in ruins, Blomkvist gets a strange offer from another CEO of a large company, Henrik Vanger. Blomkvist heads to the middle of nowhere Sweden to be asked to solve a 40 year old murder mystery. Vanger's niece disappeared 40 years ago during a family function and Henrik wants Blomkvist to find out which one of his family members murdered his niece.

Solving the mystery introduces Blomkvist to the incredibly large, quite odd Vanger family. The family has many skeletons in their closet and not all family members are happy that Blomkvist is there.

We also learn about Lisbeth Salander, a troubled young woman with an extraordinary mind. She is a great investigator and incredibly details oriented, yet is not entrusted to her own finances or her own legal representation. She's brought in to the investigation and an unlikely friendship is created.

After getting over the confusion of the number of characters in this book and trying to keep the entire Vanger family straight, I really enjoyed this book. It was a bit of a chance of pace where the person investigating the mystery was not a cop and approached the crime differently. Also, since the crime happened so long ago, this also added a layer of complexity. This becomes quite the page turner.

There are two more books in the series, which I suppose is why the ending wasn't all that satisfying. While the mysteries were solved, the relationships between the characters were left quite open and left me wondering what was going to happen. I will be looking out for the next two books in the series as I'm interested to see how the characters continue on.


First Line: "It happened every year, was almost a ritual."


Rating:

(4.5/5)

Monday, May 25, 2009

Rooftops of Tehran

Rooftops by Mahbod Seraji
Literature/Fiction


This book is set in Iran just before the revolution. Pasha is a seventeen year old who spends his evenings on his rooftop joking around with Ahmed, his best friend. They discuss school, their futures and Ahmed's love. But Pasha has a burdensome secret. He has fallen in love with his beautiful next door neighbor, Zari. He watches from a distance falling more and more under her spell.

Zari is betrothed to a young medical student, Doctor, who is an activist. Pasha feels the guilt and keeps his love a secret even from his best friend. Zari and Pasha's friendship grows and Pasha finds himself liking her betrothed and feeling more and more guilty about his feelings for her.

Then one evening reality comes crashing in. Pasha unwittingly shows the secret police their quarry, Zari's betrothed. Pasha feels even more guilt as it is him that led the secret police to him. The Shah is a powerful despot and his secret police are everywhere. Now Pasha and Ahmed are potential targets of the secret police.

Unlike North Americans, Persians show all of their emotions from anger and distress to laughter and love. This novel shows the emotions of young love and the brutality of living under the Shah's regime. I found this book to be full of information about the pre-revolution days in Iran and loved the story about the thwarting of two young loves.


First Line: "I hear someone's voice chanting, and the repetitive verses lap like water at the edge of my consciousness. "



Rooftops of Tehran at Chapters
Rating:

(4.0/5)

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

From the Rooftop

From the Rooftop by Christopher Meades
Short Stories


My friend gave me this book to read and am I happy she did. This is a great collection of short stories. I rarely read short stories but these had me engrossed. The stories range from the sad to happy, lovable to bizarre.

I laughed out loud when I read Outsourcing. What a great commentary on our telephone connections. I felt truly sad when reading about Alzheimer's in Hold On.
Bizarre is the word I connect with The Punctuation Code. I don't think I 'got' it.

My favourite story is 20 years for love. The story really has a message and yet is sort of funny as well. It is about how we see others and how they see us.




Rating:

(4.0/5)

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Conspiracy in Death by J.D. Robb

Conspiracy in Death by J.D. Robb
Mystery


Eve Dallas is back and on the case of a sleeper who has his heart cut out, pointing the finger towards a doctor or someone in the medical field. Dallas has to deal not only with a murderer on the loose, but a cop with a bad attitude that was on the scene of the murder and files a complaint about Dallas. Using her smarts and her husband's resources, she links the crimes with other crimes out of state to determine who the murderer is.

This series never disappoints in its level of suspense. However I'm getting tired of the killer targeting Eve. I think in about 75% of the Eve Dallas novels I've read, the killer tries to send Eve a message by either directly threatening her or someone she's close to. Can't Robb find another way to create suspense?

We finally find out the first name of Roarke, which was completely unexpected. It's nice that we continuously get pieces of the character's past, as well as some glimpses into what the future could possibly be. With more than 20 books left in the series, I just hope that it's no Eve Dallas alone in a room with the killer, trying to talk him/her into a confession and not get killed at the same time. Enough is enough!


First Line: "In my hands, is power."


Rating:

(3.5/5)

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Diary

Diary by Chuck Palahniuk
Mystery


This book is extremely twisted and creepy. The reader would expect nothing less of a Palahniuk book.

Misty Wilmot was once a talented artist who painted pictures of imaginary houses. She married to her college sweetheart who caught her attention with the antique costume jewelry he once wore. She married and settled down on an island, had a and lost interest in her art.

Her husband , a contractor, is in a coma after a suicide attempt. His clients are threatening lawsuits because he walled up rooms with wild and vile messages written all over their walls. Misty now works as a waitress at the hotel, hoping to make a life for her and her child while coming to terms with her husband's bizarre writings.

All of a sudden her creativity returns and she starts to paint once again. Little does she know this is all a conspiracy and she is only a pawn in a much bigger picture.

I had a little trouble st first getting 'into' the story but WOW once I did I could not put the book down


First Line: "Today, a man called from Long Beach."


Rating:

(4.0/5)

Friday, May 08, 2009

Dont Call Me a Crook!: A Scotsmans Tale of World Travel, Whisky, and Crime by Bob Moore

Dont Call Me a Crook!: A Scotsmans Tale of World Travel, Whisky, and Crime by Bob Moore
Biography


This book was written in the 1930s by Bob Moore, a Scotsman, to chronicle his life (and I believe, to make him some money). The publisher then found this book at the New York Library and brought it back to life, cleaning it up, and adding footnotes to it. The cleanup probably helped make the book flow better, but I found the footnotes a bit distracting.

Bob Moore learned some engineering skills at a young age when he attempted to enlist but was too young. Instead, he was put on a ship and became an engineering apprentice. These skills allowed him to take various jobs throughout his life. As Moore goes from Europe to Canada to the USA to China, he cons anyone he can to get more money for the next leg of his journey. He even sends his wife back to Scotland, with his child and doesn't seem to give his family another thought. This includes working on a millionaire's yacht, helping a friend come illegally in to the USA from Canada, and working on an oil boat travelling in China.

The book is a page turner simply because you wonder what situation Moore is going to get in to next. Yet there is no possible way you can finish this book liking him. He is a thief who attempts to justify his crimes by saying he only swipes from people that deserve it (a lonely woman on a train deserves it?). He is an egotist in that he thinks he is much kinder to people than he should be (stealing from people is a kind act?). The worst thing to call him? A murderer! He admits to crimes of murder throughout his book or manslaughter at the very least.

Regardless of the lack of morals from the Moore, the book is still quite interesting. It gives you a good picture of what life was like in a variety of cultures in the early 1900s.


First Line: "It is a pity there are getting to be so many places that I can never go back to, but all the same, I do not think it is much fun a man being respectable all his life."


Rating:

(3.5/5)

Saturday, May 02, 2009

The Black Book by Ian Rankin

The Black Book by Ian Rankin
Mystery


John Rebus is back for another installment in his series and is investigating or involved in a variety of cases that look to not have anything to do with each other. Rebus' partner is bashed in the back of the head infront of a local cafe, a butcher's family member is stabbed, and Rebus is made to take part in a steakout of a local gangster. How could any of these cases possibly be connected? Of course, Rebus finds a way while he deals with his girlfriend kicking him out and his brother with a shady past coming out of jail.
I seemed to have problems focusing on this book. It could have been because I was trying to read it while in a crowded, noisy, and uncomfortable airport. But I found it to be a little unorganized and wasn't surprised at the end. There were also a few too many characters to remember who was doing what.
Not my favourite Rebus book, but it definitely won't stop me from continuing in the series.


First Line: "There were two of them in the van that early morning, lights on to combat the haar which blew in from the North Sea."


Rating:

(3.5/5)