Fahrenheit 45amazing!

Okay so this is a classic by: Ray Bradbury and I must say wow I understand why its a classic. The whole idea for the book is just phenomenal and some of the (could be) quotes are so true. Then even speak for culture today. The whole basis for this book is firemen, which are now bookburners, there is one fireman named Montag who all of a sudden kind of comes to light in his mind what he is doing so then he struggles with these new idea and then everything hits the fan. Its great read it. End of story. 9 pretzel bites

TEE

I'm so envious of this writer

Envy

This is the third book in the Luxe series by Anna Godbersen (you'll find a review of the second book and more information about the series in general here). I didn't like this one quite as much as the second, but it was still really addicting to read. I did think that it felt a little more stereotypically romance novel-y than the last one. I don't want to give too much away, but basically all the problems that developed towards the end of the second book completely explode in this book. Every time I thought things couldn't get any worse, they did. There were several times throughout the book that I wanted to yell at the main characters, "WHAT are you doing?" So, overall, not quite as good as the last one, but the series overall is definitely really fun and worth reading. 7.5 pretzel bites

KAY

An abundance of awesomeness

An Abundance of Katherines

I just finished this book by John Green that I got for Christmas. It's about this former child prodigy named Colin. He's dated (and been dumped by) 19 girls, all named Katherine. Just after his high school graduation, he gets dumped by Katherine XIX, who he's convinced was the love of his life. To shake him out of his depression, his (hilarious) best friend Hassan convinces him to go on a road trip, and madness ensues (I kind of just always wanted to use that phrase. There's not that much madness).

If I were to describe my feelings towards the book in terms of math (if you read the book, you'll see why math is appropriate), I would say they were like a segment of a downward facing parabola, where x is how far I am through the book and y is my enjoyment of the book. The graph is entirely in the first quadrant. To say that in non-mathy terms: in the beginning, I wasn't so sold on this book. For starters, I didn't like the cover. By the middle, I loved it. I didn't like the end so much. I think I generally place too much emphasis on endings, but this one felt a little too perfect. The middle, though; the middle was wonderful. It was funny and contained all kinds of true interesting facts, and there were some lines in there that I had to stop and reread a couple times because they were so well-worded. The characters were real and entertaining, and I thought Colin was totally relateable, despite the fact that I am not a former child prodigy who has been dumped by 19 Katherines. I give it 8 pretzel bites.

KAY
Okay so I (TEE) gave this to KAY for an X-mas present and of course i had to read also. I have read all of John Green's books. He as a fact is a really good writer. Also this is my favorite book of his. Mostly because of the premise. 9 pretzel bites. That is my short paragraph.
TEE

Liar liar?

Liar

Okay, so this book (by Justine Larbalestier) is a shocker not going to lie. Be prepared, in part 2 to have the pants scared off of you. So essentially the premise for the whole book is there is this girl and she is a compulsive liar, so for a while she just gives you backround story about her life. But the things get really "hairy" (you'll understand if you read the book!) after her secret boyfriend is brutally stabbed to death in central park. Then she makes some unlikely friends and then comes part 2 and then part 3, but revealing anything about those sections would totally give away the whole book. So just go out and read it. Its really a page turner, took me no time at all to finish it because I was so enthralled. I will say this though, at one point or another you are going to end up saying to your self "What the heck?!" Trust me. It takes some odd turns. Not are they always for the best. So i would give it 8 pretzel bites!

TEE

The gossip girl of the 19th century

Rumors

This is the sequel to the book "The Luxe" by Anna Godbersen. These books are so addicting and fun to read. I don't want to give too much away for those who haven't read the first one, but the books track the various love stories, scandals, etc. of some high society people living in New York in 1899. This book opens with a wedding scene, and you know Henry is getting married, but you don't know to who. It sucks you in right away.

My friend called the series "the gossip girl of the 19th century," and I think that's a perfect description. However, even though "Gossip Girl" is entertaining, it also kind of makes me feel like an idiot. With the Luxe books, that doesn't happen. Godbersen doesn't underestimate the reader; she's not afraid to use big words. I really like her descriptions, because she allows you to get a clear picture in your head, but her descriptions aren't so long that they make you bored. Also, you can tell a lot of planning went into the books, because there are so many minor characters and connections.

Plus, I like hearing the descriptions of 1899 high society, and I also just like looking at the dresses on the book covers. So, overall, it's kind of girly, but really fun to read and you will definitely get sucked in. My step-mom and I have been talking all about the books and our favorite characters, etc. all week. I give it a solid 8.5 pretzel bites.

KAY

winter break = reading

Teen Angst? Naaah...

This is a book by the infinitely entertaining Ned Vizzini (I've been reading a lot of him lately). It's made up of essays that he wrote about his life when he was in junior high and high school. The book was easy to read, and I found myself wanting to keep reading. There were a couple funny parts, but overall I didn't find it as entertaining as his novels (both of which were reviewed earlier here and here, and which I highly recommend). Plus, a lot of the essays didn't have much of a story, or carry much emotion. At the same time, though, I do really love Ned Vizzini, and he's totally relateable, especially because the end of the book dealt with a lot of stuff that I'm going through now (college apps (which I should probably go work on), etc.). Basically, I think you should definitely read both of his novels, and if you want to read this book you can, but it's not like a must read. 7 pretzel bites!

KAY

Storyline exausted....

Angles and Demons is the prequel to The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I had not read The Da Vinci Code when i read this book which i though was very cool because I had no idea about what Robert Langdon (The main character) was like. I came to this book witha totally fresh idea of what it was going to be like. Well actually thats not true. I did watch a two hour long history channel special on it. But that was mainly about the age old clash between science and religion. But I digress. The book was very well written and contains lots of elements that a good book should have. But... it was lacking. It was very stereotypical, The good guy was an a diver a harvard proffesor a real all american. The villian was some heathen from eastern Europe. The "girl" was some exotic girl who must be saved. But in the end the good guys win. It was fairly boring and rather disappointed with the storyline. But there was a few twists in the plot and at times it was rather exiting. So i suppose 6 pretzel bites

TEE

The one book I've managed to finish since school started!

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

This is a book translated from French by an author named Muriel Barbery. It has two main characters. The first is a concierge in a fancy apartment building in Paris. She's really smart and loves to read Tolstoy and watch obscure Japanese movies, but she tries to hide all this from the residents of the building. The second is a 12-year-old girl who lives in the building. She's a loner and a genius. She's decided to kill herself on her 13th birthday, unless she can find something before then that will convice her not to. The two alternate telling the story, which is mixed with lots of philosphy and general reflection on life. The book is a little slow in places (especially in the beginning), but gets more interesting when this mysterious Japanese guy shows up.

The book wasn't meant to be a comic work, but there were some really funny lines, and those lines were made even funnier due to the fact that the humor came unexpectedly. I'm reading a Dickens book for school right now, and the humor in this book kind of reminded me of Dickens humor. You're calmly reading and then you have to stop for a second and go, "Hey! That was actually really funny! Well done, writer!" There were also some really beautiful, thought provoking lines.

The ending of this book made me really angry at first. I really didn't think it should end like it did. But once I read the very last chapter, I wasn't quite so mad any more, and I decided that I suppose the ending kind of did work. Plus, Barbery's overall theme is a theme I use a lot when I write, so I can get behind her on that one. 7.5 pretzel bites!

KAY

the movie vs. book dilemma

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

I really hate seeing the movie before I've read the book. Then, when you read the book, it's totally distracting because you keep comparing the movie to the book. It's especially bad if you just watched part of the movie on HBO a day before reading the book. Unfortunately, with "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, this is exactly what happened to me, because I didn't know there WAS a book when I saw the movie. If you haven't seen the movie yet, READ THE BOOK FIRST. This is ALWAYS the way to go. And in this case, the book was completely different from the movie apart from the basic concept. Both the book and the movie have their merits, and I enjoyed them both, but sometimes the book characters seemed a little more complex and real, especially Nick's ex-girlfriend Tris, which I appreciated.

Alright! For those of you who have neither read the book nor seen the movie, it's about two straightedge, music obsessed, bridge and tunnel kids from Jersey, both of whom are getting over some messy relationships. Know what their names are? Nick and Norah! That's right! Basically, the book is about this long, eventful night they spend together in NYC. I really enjoyed it. It was funny, and witty, and once I stopped comparing it to the movie (it's hard! get out of my head, Kat Dennings and Michael Cera!) I had a lot of fun with it. It's one of those books where by the end you're so jealous of the characters, because you want a night as amazing as that, and additionally, you really wanna know the characters, because they seem like they'd be fun to hang out with. I give it 8 pretzel bites!

KAY

And I'm back.

Old School

Not to be confused with the movie "Old School," this is a novel by Tobias Wolff. I read it right after rereading his memoir "This Boy's Life" for school (Just a note: "This Boy's Life" is excellent and I highly recommend it, but since this time I was reading it for school, I've refrained from reviewing it. I like to keep my school reading separate). "Old School" is about a boy who goes to prep school on scholarship in the 60's. He wants to be a writer, and the book centers around the writing competitions that are held to win a private audience with famous visiting authors.

It was interesting to read the book right after reading Wolff's memoir, and I couldn't help but put him in the shoes of the main character (something you're generally not supposed to do, and an issue that is actually addressed in "Old School"). I know that Wolff also went to prep school on scholarship. I just couldn't help but wonder how much he drew on his own experience. Not for the plot so much, but just the underlying emotions. Anyway, "Old School" was great. It's pretty short, and it keeps you reading. It was fun to read Wolff's depiction of the various famous authors and the experience that comes with reading each of them. The way he talks about writing is really interesting, too. And the short story within the book, "Summer Dance," was really good, at least the pieces we got. It reminded me of Salinger.

My only complaint is that I wish it had ended about 40 pages earlier. Maybe the ending wouldn't have been as tied up, but I feel that the section where the main character is no longer in school gets a little off track and isn't as interesting to read. Overall though, great book. 8 pretzel bites!

KAY

Falling in love with Ned Vizzini

Be More Chill

So after I read "It's Kind of a Funny Story," which I reviewed here earlier, I was like, "Man. I like this Ned Vizzini. Let's see what else he's got." And this is what else he's got: "Be More Chill." It's about this dorky teenage boy that swallows a tiny computer that tells him how to be cool. I know, it sounds really nerdy. But it's NOT! It's amazing! Someday, I want to be able to write like Ned Vizzini. I read this book in two days. For part of that I was on the plane, and I was laughing out loud it was so funny, which earned me a lot of strange looks but I don't even care. I think I liked the beginning the best, before he swallowed the computer (the squip) and became all cool, just because Vizzini depicted high school life so accurately and hilariously. When he got all cool it seemed a little less real, but still, I loved it, and the ending was perfect. 8.5 pretzel bites!

KAY

Reading all I can before school starts...

The Alchemyst

Okay! So this is a book that came before one of the books that Tee reviewed earlier. It's by Michael Scott (the office! haha). It's about these twins and this magical adventure they get into. The book worked in a lot of real mythology and facts, which was cool. In theory, it kind of reminded me of "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman, but for younger kids.

However, "American Gods" is extremely well-written and this book was... not so much. I like it in theory, but I didn't really feel attached to any of the characters, which made me not care so much what happened. There were a couple of humorous moments, but overall I wasn't really feeling it. And it really started to irritate me that they kept calling humans "humani." Maybe I'm over-analyzing. I know Tee and my stepmom Michelle both liked it (read Tee's review of the third book in the series here), and I'm sure a lot of younger kids probably like it, but it just failed to make a connection for me. 6 pretzel bites.

KAY

More non-fiction (a memoir)!

A Wolf at the Table

This book, by Augusten Burroughs, is a true story about how crazy his dad is. He is, to quote the back of the book, "sociopathic." Burroughs has written several other memoirs as well. The ones I've read are "Dry" and "Running with Scissors" (his most famous one). Based on these books, Burroughs has earned a reputation for talking about how messed up his life is in a really hilarious way. However, "A Wolf at the Table" is not like this. There are some very funny lines, but overall it's not a funny book. It's kind of creepy. Plus, there are some things that happen to his pets which made me sad.

My problem was that it wasn't creepy enough. It kind of walked the line. There were some really intense moments where I'd get all caught up and start going, "Wow, his dad is a PSYCHO." And then there'd be a lot of heavy description and I'd lose interest a little bit. Plus, most of it was told from his point of view as a child and then towards the end it suddenly jumped through his adulthood which felt a little... rushed. Overall, I think if you're going to read just one Burroughs book, it shouldn't be this one. I prefer the other two I've read, not just for the humor, but also for the structure. I give it 7 pretzel bites.

KAY

For Whom The Bells Toll

Metallica;This Monster Lives
This is a relative rarity for our blog. A Non-fiction book! This was a book about the guy who shot the movie about the thrash metal band Metallica. It was pretty short only like 400 pages. It really gave me new respect for Metallica. They aren't as indestructible as their music says they are. Yes, the movie/Documentary is about them being spoiled rock stars. Their biggest problem wasn't moneyand none of them died. Their problem was that they just didn't like each other! Psh. Hetfield was getting drunk all the time and he was being a total control freak over lyrics and writing the all the music. Ulrich was just generally pissed off. Newstead had just exited from the band. Hammet was being a peace-keeper. There were little everyday problems for normal people. The band almost falls apart, which is like why? The biggest issue they had was Hetfield going to rehab for a year and everybody being in limbo. Check it out if your a serious Metallica fan. Otherwise do what i did. Get it in a college (used) book store for 2 bucks. Nice. 6 pretzels.

TEE

The Office?

The Sorceress
Okay, this is a book that totally kicks butt! It makes me want to have super powers! Okay i got a little ahead of myself there but this really is a good book. The weird and funny thing is they are written by Michael Scott? The Office? Ha!! No not really, but it is a coincidence.
Its the third book in a series of books beginning with the The Alchemist. Its basically about two twins who have magical powers and stuff which is really cool. They meet cool historical people ( HINT HINT Shakespeare). It gets a great 8 pretzel bites.

TEE

It was on sale..............

NEXT
For some reason i could only find an image of this in white but the copy i bought was green and yellow? Oh well i doesn't matter that much. It was another good Crichton book. It dealt with the issue of genes. But yet again he left a hole. Bigger than in State Of Fear. It has to do with the purple sea turtles if any body can help me with that post a comment. But I really liked it still. Unfortunately there isn't that much i can tell you without giving anything away. 7 pretzel bites

TEE

Fear?

State Of Fear
I love Michael Crichton. I just read his latest and unfortunately final book. (RIP)
I think this may be my favorite of his books. Its was accurately titled also. You'll find out once you read the book. His views of the media and the general world at large were so profound! And the way he precisely managed to sneak them in through crazy scientist and beautiful women. All sorts of guises. Typical Crichton. This one gets 8 pretzel bites. One thing that bothered me though is he left a small hole in the story. He does this in a lot of his stories. I don't know if its on purpose or if its just by accident. But its kinda odd how some characters seem to fall off the earth and are never heard from again. Oh well I'm not complaining it was a darn good book.

TEE

Sequel?

Hunger
Wow. This is the second book in the Gone series by Michael Grant.
The 1st book in the series was great. This one in truth was very sequel-like and it had big shoes to fill- i don't blame it cause they were probably size 8 shoes. Anyway I felt it kind of reached the apex of the story then just ended but not in a cliff hanger kind of way more in a let's hurry up and finish this kind of way. But i think there will likely be another sequel so that should work out nicely. All in all i give this a book a solid 7 pretzel bites. In case you haven't read the first one i will try to fill you in with out giving away too much stuff.
So basically all these kids are just sitting at school when all of the sudden all the adults and kids over 15 disappear. Everybody freaks out. Then they discover there is a giant dome around the whole countryside and it hurts to touch. So they have to learn to cope with all that. Its titled Gone. You should go check it out.

TEE

Because it's one of my favorite movies

Fight Club

I was a little bit mad at this author (Chuck Palahniuk) because I read his book "Choke" and I was really disappointed. However, "Fight Club" is one of my favorite movies, and I figured I should read the book that it was based on and give our pal Chuck another chance. For any of you who don't know, "Fight Club" is about a man whose life is kind of stuck who goes on to help form a club where men beat each other up and the madness that ensues (and quite a lot of madness ensues). That synopsis was very brief, but I don't want to give anything away.

"Fight Club" is worth reading (also, I just liked reading the author's note at the end about the history of the book). First of all, it made me realize just what a good job they did with the movie, and how cool they made it visually. They could have totally screwed it up, but they didn't. For the first 3/4 of the book or so, the movie follows pretty closely. However, the endings get a little different. Two guys I know were arguing, because one of them said the movie ending was a cop out. And the other guy said that the book ending was kind of a cop out. You decide. I think I like the movie ending better, but hey, maybe it is a cop out.

While I was reading "Fight Club," I had a lot of people tell me, "Oh, I didn't like the movie. It was too violent" or "I didn't understand the movie. I bet the book would be easier to understand." And to that I say: 1. Yes, it's violent. That's part of the point, and that's part of what makes it good. 2. The movie is much more clear-cut than the book, so don't look to it for simplicity. The book is very cryptic in some places, but I think that really adds to Palahniuk's overall style and makes the book more interesting. Chuck redeemed himself a little bit. 7.5 pretzel bites!

KAY

I love Sarah Dessen

Along for the Ride

I just finished reading Sarah Dessen's newest book, "Along for the Ride." To give a basic plot summary: a girl who's always kind of kept to herself and been overly caught up in school goes away the summer before college, meets a boy, learns some things about herself, etc. As far as Dessen's books go, this character (Auden) has been the one I've been able to relate to the most. It wasn't my favorite book of hers, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy it a lot. It's definitely worth reading. If you haven't read any Dessen before, I'll let you know that she constantly makes subtle (or not so subtle) references to characters/events in her old books in each of her new ones, so if you want to pick up on those, you might want to read the books in the order they were written. Some of the earlier stuff you can take or leave, but I definitely recommend "Someone Like You," "This Lullaby," "The Truth About Forever," and "Just Listen."

Okay. Now I just have to talk about Dessen's books in general. I always end up reading them the same way. I start out reading fast, because they're so easy and fun to read. Then I hit a certain point and I realize that I am now in a Sarah Dessen mood and don't want to move on to reading anything else, and then I start reading extremely slowly to make the book last as long as possible. This is not easy to do, because I really want to keep reading it quickly. Here's the thing: her books are predictable. They follow a sort of formula. They're a little cheesy. But you fall completely in love with them anyway. They're like Disney movies. You know how things will turn out, but you find yourself completely engrossed and enjoying yourself anyway. Plus, I have a lot of respect for her in that she can create these realistic teenage girls that I can totally relate to, and that she's writing teen fiction that's not all trashy and ohmygodyousleptwithmyboyfriend. Basically, I think Sarah Dessen rocks, and I give "Along for the Ride" 8 pretzel bites.

KAY

This book became popular a really long time ago, but...

A Thousand Splendid Suns

I know, how behind the times am I? My family lent me "A Thousand Splendid Suns" (by Khaled Hosseini, the author of "The Kite Runner") about a year ago, and I just now read it. Anyway, for those of you who don't know, this book follows two characters, Mariam and Laila, who live in Afghanistan. It begins when the Soviets are in power and ends after the Taliban is gone, so it covers a pretty large stretch of time. I think some books that take place over long periods can get really slow and boring, but this book wasn't like that at all. In fact, I had to stop myself from flipping ahead to see how certain situations would turn out. The pacing and style of the book were very similar to "Kite Runner," but I liked this one better. Part of that could be due to the fact that it was easier for me to relate to the female characters.

One interesting thing about this book is that although by the end the time period is pretty close to the present, it still seems like it's happening such a long time ago, because living situations in Afghanistan are so different from the U.S. Obviously, I knew customs were different in Afghanistan, but I don't know if I ever fully considered how different they were so recently.

I expected this book to be completely depressing. It wasn't. It was sad, certainly, heartbreaking in places. However, depressing, to me, equals painful to pick up and read, and this book wasn't. I found myself loving and rooting for the characters, and in the end, there is a bit of hope. 8.5 pretzel bites!

KAY

UGGGG

Civil Action

Wow just got done with a big read. Civil action by Jonathan Harr. All i can say is wow. I now know way more than i ever wanted to know about lymphoma and bankruptcy. It was a totally true story unfortunately. It wasn't really well written it was basically a 500 page book of facts. It was basically just painful to get through. So this sad little story gets a pitiful total of 4 pretzel bites.

Tee

Latest summer reading

The Lie

Alright. I just finished reading this book by Chad Kultgen. Let me give you a basic plot summary: Boy likes girl. Girl is actually completely materialistic. Boy's best friend just loves demeaning women in general. Everyone tries to ruin each others' lives.

I was a little disappointed by this book. The back makes it sound really intriguing and intense. In reality, a majority of the book was pointless descriptions of sex. The characters all seemed shallow and one-dimensional. I hated all of them. I understand what Kultgen was going for: a story where there is no hero, no happy endings, something to confuse and challenge the reader. And I guess he accomplished that, to some degree. It was an easy book to get through, but overall I was disappointed, and got a little bit scared of college (although I'm pretty sure it's not actually the way it's portrayed in this book). 6 pretzel bites

KAY

Good summer reading

Airhead

I just finished reading this book by Meg Cabot. I don't think it's my favorite of hers (that's probably "All American Girl"), but it was still a good, fast, light summer read. It's one of those perfect books for when you're just lazing around, and there were lots of very funny parts. It's one of those books you could sit around reading all day and still be enjoying yourself. Basically, it's about this girl who's always been nerdy who suddenly ends up as a supermodel (for reasons I won't get into).

I have to say, it's a little frustrating when you know/figure something crucial out before the narrator, and that's what happened with this book. Then you end up reading these big long sections where the narrator's like, "What is going on?" and you're like, "C'mon, figure it out already," and that can get a little old. However, that's not totally the author's fault. I guess it's more my fault for reading the back cover. The other complaint I have is that not a whole lot happened in the book. Not that that's always a bad thing, but this mostly just felt like a lot of intro. Then again, that also makes sense, since there's a sequel that I'm sure Meg Cabot wants people to go read now. I'll add it to my list of sequels I'd like to get to. 7 pretel bites!

KAY

A review of...

Franny and Zooey

Alright. So this book, by one of my favorite authors J.D. Salinger, was divided into two sections. Can you guess what they were called? If you guessed Franny and Zooey, you're right! They're brother and sister (Zooey is a guy), and the book is basically about this mental collapse Franny suffers and her resulting interaction with Zooey. The Franny section was pretty short (originally the two sections were published seperately in "The New Yorker"). I liked the Franny section a lot better. It was similar to a lot of Salinger's other short stories. I really like and respect the way he can create stories by giving weight to these moments that could be deemed insignificant. He makes you feel like you know a lot about these characters while giving very little exposition or direct description, which is pretty amazing. A lot of his work (Franny section included) has that beautiful heartbreaking effect which all my favorite books seem to have.

That being said, I didn't like the Zooey section quite so much. I think it got a little wordy and slow. I'll tell you right now that nothing really happens in this book, which can be okay, but sometimes gets a little hard to read. If you've never read Salinger before, don't start with this book. In fact, I don't think I would recommend reading this book at all unless you've read "Nine Stories," which is his amazing collection of short stories. If you have read "Nine Stories," then "Franny and Zooey" is interesting because it deals with the Glass family, the family of a few characters from "Nine Stories" (Boo Boo and Seymour). Overall, I give it 7 pretzel bites.

KAY

So I just finished this book called...

It's Kind of a Funny Story

Here's basically what it's about: this high school kid is extremely depressed, cracking under all this pressure, and about to kill himself, and he ends up in the mental hospital. I know, it sounds like a complete downer. Here's the thing: it's not. It's actually a really funny book. At the same time, though, the author (Ned Vizzini) doesn't take the issue of depression too lightly. But he also doesn't make it sound overly dramatic and fake. That is hard to do.

This is one of those books that you don't get bored of. You want to keep reading it. I have to say, I liked the first third or so of the book (before he ends up in the mental hospital) better than the rest because it was a little more real and easier to relate to, but I definitely never got sick of reading. Throughout the book, I was constantly relating to the main character. A lot of the issues in his life are similar to the issues in mine, and I bet a lot of other teens would agree. He's a character that's very accessible, and uses just the type of humor that I enjoy. In fact, a lot of the book sounds like something I might have written (although Vizzini is a much better writer than me, obviously). I give this book 8 pretzel bites!

KAY

yet another review!

The Lies Of Locke Lamora
Okay so this book was really good its a debut album by a writer named Scott lynch. He obviously worked on this one for quite a while and there will definitely be a sequel he just left way to huge of a cliff hanger. I do have to say i am waiting with a slightly baited breath for the next one! Anyway is basically about a medieval group of con artist named the Gentlemen Bastards. Of whom the leader is a rather mysterious boy named Locke Lamora. It was a thrilling but quite long took me a week to finish it and i wasn't hurrying. It definitely gets 9 pretzel bites. So go to your local library pick it up and please do not out it down until your hungry then go eat some actual pretzel bites then finish the last of the book.

TEE

Also as promised another book review!

The Firm

So basically this book was about a young full of ambition lawyer who is in the top of his class at Harvard and he gets recruited by a very private exclusive law firm based in Memphis. All the lawyers are very wealthy they all drive Ferrari or Bentley. This appeals greatly to the main character because he comes from a poverty family and his brother is a convict They have an exactly zero turnover rate. This as discovered by the main character and hero Mitchell Mcdeere is entirely because everyone who wants out gets killed in very suspicious circumstances. Then the F.B.I contacts him and things just go down hill from there, It was a great read very mysterious and full of intrigue. Just my kind of read. plus i love John Grisham's thrillers. So i would say about 8.5 pretzel bites

TEE

As promised: a book review!

Everything is Illuminated

This is the second book I've read by this author (Jonathan Safran Foer). The other, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" (I know you're supposed to underline book titles but I can't figure out how to do that), is one of my favorite books. That one gets TEN pretzel bites. Go read it. I didn't like this one quite as much, but I still enjoyed it a lot. Part of it is not entirely Jonathan Safran Foer's fault. "Everything is Illuminated" is not a Holocaust book in the traditional sense, but it does deal with the subject quite a bit, and I feel like these horrible things like the Holocaust and slavery have been written about so much in such a mediocre way that they don't feel as big or as important as they ought to.

That being said! Jonathan Safran Foer is not a mediocre writer. Far from it. Actually, he's one of the three writers that I respect the most. He has a way of writing things that are beautiful and funny and heartbreaking at the same time. I think sometimes his writing actually borders on something beyond storytelling, something more like visual art. Also, even though this book was kind of about the Holocaust, it also kind of wasn't. It's like the Holocaust was just a jumping off point to show how big life can be.


The book had two alternating sections. Part of it was this sort of magical realism thing Jonathan (the character) wrote about his family history. I liked that because it sort blurred the line between what was believable and based in reality and what was just complete fantasy. In this section, I found the word "crespucular" (one of our SAT vocab words which I thought was completely worthless. I guess he proved me wrong). The other part was written by a character, Alex, who didn't speak English very well, so it was all a little off in this hilarious kind of way that sometimes ended up sounding really nice. For example, he says "KGBing" instead of "spying" which I think I'm going to start using now.


So! In summary: I wanna be Jonathan Safran Foer. I wanna use the word KGBing. This book is beautiful and funny and heartbreaking. 9 pretzel bites!

KAY

HOLA future amigos!

Chica chica what up. Okay. But on a more serious note we like to read and we will post reviews about the books we read. We will rate them on a scale of one to ten pretzel bites. Because they be delicious. Go tell your mom to go buy you some so you can stop sitting in front of the computer. Go hurry up you're becoming obese just sitting there. Your skin is getting pasty from the shallow glow of the monitor. After you're full of pretzely goodness, go read a book we reviewed.

KAY+TEE