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