When all the books come into the library at once!

You know the feeling.... you go to the library once a week to do your book haul and you look at the rack and your books aren't there. Where are they?  The books are on the bottom rack because there is a HUGE pile. You start to panic.

Then you discover that you didn't bring your book bag in with you so you have to carry all these books to the check out. Luckily it's self check out.  You walk over there with a huge stack of books in your arms.

Thinking... how I am going to read this in three weeks.. knowing another shipment you will be picking up in one week!  Looking down into the pile you see a book you have been dying to read!

 

Now as you stand there checking out you are trying to decide... do you push that book in front of all the other books on your TBR pile (of library books of course).   You then think to yourself... I know I can read all these.  I am practically a professional reader........

 

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Will O' the Wisp by Tom Hammock Graphic Novel Review

Will O' the Wisp by Tom Hammock

I love graphic novels.. I saw this one on Netgalley and the cover was really intriguing. The I was in the comic book store the other day and I saw this book on the shelf and I really wanted to read it.  I love how it is package, in a diary format almost.  The book has a little clasp on it and everything.  Here is the goodreads description:

After her parents' accidental death by mushroom poisoning, young Aurora Grimeon is sent to live with her estranged grandfather on Ossuary Isle, deep in the southern swamps. Joined by her grandfather's pet raccoon Missy, Aurora explores the fog-covered island of graves. Along the way she meets its sinister residents who care for the tombstones and mausoleums, living out their lives by the strange rules of Hoodoo magic. When ghostly things start happening out in the swamp and island residents start disappearing, Aurora thrusts herself into the middle of the mystery, uncovering secrets that might be better left buried. 

I think this book is great.  I loved the mix of fantasy and horror.  Plus the artwork helped make this book extra spooky (illustrator is Megan Hutchinson). I loved the color scheme in the book too.... blues, greens and browns. Looks like maybe this will be a series? "An Aurora Grimeon Story” is written on the top of the cover so I can only hope there are more books. The plot basically follows this girl Aurora whose parents die from eating bad mushrooms, so she has to move to swamp and live with her grandfather.  She meets a lot of neat characters and encounters a blue orb that floats around the island.

Will O' the Wisp has a great cast... including Aurora's sidekick a raccoon named Missy.  Missy is hilarious and cute to me at the same time.  Aurora herself I think is a great female character too.  There is even a little spark of romance in the book. This video tells about the making of the book and gives us an even better glimpse into the artwork.



I loved this book... it is a little scary so even though the art is whimsical and fun I wouldn't say it's for kids.  I love that I was able to sit down for like an hour and read it and just enjoy myself!   I received this book from netgalley for free for an honest review.

The crystal ball says:

Sun is shinning!!!  Great day to go outside and read this book.


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Lego Marvel Superheros-Video Game Review

I love the Lego games.  Lego Marvel Super Heroes is so fun. I know a lot of gamers who tell me these games are for kids.. for 8 year old kids.  Yeah right! They are fun and addictive.  I run around bashing things and shooting everything in sight.  I will say though that compared to the other Lego games I thought this one was easier.  The bosses were almost too easy.  It was fun though seeing all the different characters together. 

My friend (a guy) who is a gamer was at my house while I was playing and he wouldn't join up with me.  I could tell he wanted to play, and was helping me out by suggesting things to do.  I find it sad that because it is Legos and looks like a cartoon that he refused to play.  I mean.. who was I going to tell???  I requested that my library get the game and they did.  I love my library!

 

It's try that the formula hasn't really changed from one Lego game to the next.  I do feel that the last few games have more of an open world areas that I don't love.  It takes forever to get from one mission to the next.  In this game you run around New York (I think) ... in Batman 2 you run around Gotham.  I prefer the Harry Potter Lego where you follow the story line along and don't really have to run around these big world parts.  

There are side missions in this one like the other ones.  In the Lego games one of the side missions is to save someone.  So in Harry Potter you would save trapped students... well in this game you save Stan Lee!  I love it.  And Stan Lee actually voices his character.  There are actually a few characters that are voice actors from the movie the Avengers. 

If you love games that are easy going and a fun two player game then this is the one for you.  Don't be embarrassed to play either..  I promise it's OK to look like a kid every now and then.  8 out of 10!

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Hollow City by Ransom Riggs - Review

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

Let's be honest.. I thought the first book should've been a stand alone.  When I got to the end of book 1 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and discovered it was starting to sound like a cliff hanger ending I was bummed.  I wasn't sure if I was going to read the second book.  But I am glad I did.  Here is the goodreads description:

The extraordinary journey that began in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children continues as Jacob Portman and his newfound friends journey to London the peculiar capital of the world. But in this war-torn city, hideous surprises lurk around every corner. Like its predecessor, this second novel in the Peculiar Children series blends thrilling fantasy with never-before-published vintage photography to create a one-of-a-kind reacting experience. 

Look at the cover.  Yea... pretty spooky and neat. These photographs that Riggs uses are what drew me to the book series to begin with.  Then as I researched where the pictures came from I was even more excited. He found them just at flee markets, and antique stores. I would really love to know though how many are edited.  I noticed when you try to look it up he is quoted as saying "some are edited".  But I suppose that adds to the fun mystery of the novel.

This story started out slow for me.  I was like.. ughh.. the story seemed to be written for the pictures.  Like you would read about a house on a bunch of logs.. which was only written to add the picture to the book. Then all of a sudden the plot takes off!!  I was totally sucked in by that point.  No more writing for the pictures to fit.. then it became a great story. I do think the book kind of had second book syndrome.  The entire book is a journey (first book spoilers coming right now) to get Miss Peregrine back to her normal self from the bird).  We don't even solve that puzzle till the end of this book.   I wanted that plot line moved along a little faster.

I do like seeing the Peculiars abilities becoming stronger in this novel.  We even pick up some additional characters though I didn't ever feel like their stories were that strong yet. I think this is a good magical realism book, and maybe even a little horror to it.  It's brutal and I love it. I feel like we don't see this enough in YA books.  The romance is still bananas to me.  Jacob and Emma in love?  That was his grandfather's love!  NOOOOOOooooooo.  It's like Han, Luke and Leia!

One of my favorite parts of the novel is being able to travel from place to place in different times.  The 1950s, the present, to even lands where animals can speak and smoke a pipe! This time around I am ready to read book 3.  There is an amazing twist in the story at the end and a great cliffhanger. 
There is still a movie in the works for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Tim Burton is set to direct it!  I haven't read the graphic novel based on the series yet either.  I need to do that.  It would be interesting to see this story drawn out. Read this book!


Be sure to check out my review for the first book Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

The crystal ball says:

Clouds are covering! A read that lets me down every now and then but peaks out of the clouds!

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Do teens want to read YA Classics???

Do teens want to read Young Adult classic books???? If you read my post about Goodreads and it's book clubs  then you know I have had issues with staying motivated and keeping my clubs going.  Especially my Young Adult Book Club.  I have been moderating it now for 6-7 years.  Well with so many young adult books clubs on goodreads there seems to be less and less participation in the group as far as group reads.  In fact.. really it's only my co-mod, myself and another member that read along. This month I figured since really we are the only ones reading I would me the poll all classic YA books since I have been wanting to read a classic for a while now.   The response wasn't great.  Clearly the teens in the group are very upset that the list was complied of books that were written in the past. 

Scroll below to see the comments on the poll.  I find it sad that teens aren't even interested in attempting a classic.   I mean the comments are crazy!  I must be ancient to teens.  For one thing my YA group used to be one of the only groups on goodreads and now they are everywhere.  You can't look through the groups without finding tons of them. I suppose that what we consider "classic" books do seem to teens like school.  I mean.. I remember having to have to read Great Expectations and The Scarlet Letter.  OH NO (I actually liked both). I do think though by having teens read only classics in school that this does cause them to think of these books as torture... I think that present day some high schools do have newer books in their reading programs but mine didn't. 

I was excited about this month.. having a poll full of classic reads and thought the group would also be excited about it.  I have learned in the past I get more participation in a group read if that book is popular that month... so I try to make sure one of those books are on the list.  But this time I thought we could branch out.  Boy was that a crazy idea! 

What do you think??  Are you a teen and love classics?  Loathe them?  What is your opinion about teens and reading classics?  If you are a librarian or teacher how do teens react to classics?


BARE with me... I had to copy and paste the conversation from goodreads,  You should also be able to click on the links to get to the original post:

* The Princess Bride by William Goldman

 

  30 votes, 16.9%

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

 

  27 votes, 15.2%

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

 

  24 votes, 13.5%

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

 

  22 votes, 12.4%

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

 

  21 votes, 11.8%

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

 

  17 votes, 9.6%

The Complete Stories and Poemsby Edgar Allan Poe

 

  12 votes, 6.7%

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

 

  11 votes, 6.2%

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

 

  9 votes, 5.1%

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

 

  5 votes, 2.8%

178 total votes

change your vote • embed • invite friends

 

Poll added by: Angie
Voting started on: January 21st
Ends at: January 28th

This Poll is About

Authors:
Madeleine L'Engle, Mark Twain, Arthur Conan Doyle, Anne Frank, William Goldman, Charles Dickens, T.H. White, S.E. Hinton, H.G. Wells, Edgar Allan Poe

Books:

Post a comment »

Comments (showing 1-17 of 17)

date    newest »

message 1: by 

Jan 21, 2014 12:59PM

Oh my gosh I want to vote for pretty much all but one or two of these. How can I decide??

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message 2: by 

Jan 21, 2014 01:02PM

Seriously? Can we get some novels that have been written in the last 10-15 years most f these are 60+ plus old, they appeal to adults but it's not what young adults read. The outsiders is the most modern and that was written i the 1960's.

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message 3: by 

Jan 21, 2014 06:28PM

The Princess Bride, because I already own it. :D

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message 4: by

Jan 21, 2014 07:44PM

  ___ wrote: "Seriously? Can we get some novels that have been written in the last 10-15 years most f these are 60+ plus old, they appeal to adults but it's not what young adults read. The outsiders is the most ..."

Pat I read half of these when I was in my early teens so they do appeal to young adults, maybe not to you but they are worth reading. Don't put your reading tastes onto everyone else please just read something else if you don't like the book that's chosen.

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message 5: by  (last edited Jan 22, 2014 05:15AM)

Jan 22, 2014 05:13AM

Exactly my point. YOU read them when you where younger. Back when there was no internet and Smart phones, the world is a different place, modern successful authors like Stephenie Meyer Anthony Horowitz (Author) Mark A. Cooper Suzanne Collins Eoin ColferJ. K. Rowling Ally Carter understand what young people of today want to read.

I am not trying to cause an argument it's just you are like the teachers at my school and Liberians who think we want to read books written 60 + years ago. Some of the modern young adult authors are fantastic and so are the books you have on the list.
My frustration is that the list contains everything written over 50 years ago and you want us to vote. Not a single book written in the last 30 years, Nothing from Anthony Horowitz? Eoin Colfer? etc. I will vote on a book you have but would really like to have the chance to vote on a book that is popular TODAY. My little sister was given an Enid Blyton book last week by her teacher to read, my sis hates reading and is being forced to read a book written by an author who has been dead for 50 years, and written over 80 years ago. If young people are going to start reading they need something they can relate too. As we get older we can choose or not to pick up a 100 year old novel and read it. I asked my friend s in class who has read a book by Edgar Alan Poe? They looked at me like I was high. Who cares was the most popular answer. If I ask who is your favorite author they come come with the names I gave above, yet you don't have a single book in the list.
Sorry f my answer offended you, I like the group and read the updates, I just saw red when I got an email with this list of really old novels and really could only think that reading any of them was like a form of punishment rather than enjoyment.

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message 6: by (last edited Jan 22, 2014 05:18AM)

Jan 22, 2014 05:18AM

  ____ is right i would not read any on that list.... Edgar Alan WHO? lol :)

Please put some real young adult books on a list that people 12-16 actually enjoy reading

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message 7: by 

Jan 22, 2014 06:01AM

I actually am pretty happy that we will be reading a more classic book this month. I'm always telling myself that I need to read more, but they are so intimidating. I think it will be nice to have a group read for one to help push me along. Usually we do read more current YA books, but I'm okay with switching it up one month out of the twelve...

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message 8: by  (last edited Jan 22, 2014 06:21AM)

Jan 22, 2014 06:20AM

That's what I thought people over 21 would say _____.


Maybe this isn't the right group for young readers. I just started my own group for those 21 and under.

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message 9: by 

Jan 22, 2014 06:25AM

I will join your group _____, these books are like "???" most written by cavemen.  _____ should join your group as well.

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message 10: by

Jan 22, 2014 06:41AM

  ___.. Thank you for saying something. _____ I will join your group if you allow girls to join, I am 14 and would not read any of this months books I would rather suck on mice vomit, or as Jason Steed said in Absolutely Nothing

“He's given me enough homework to last ten years. I'm gonna die of nerdism."

I thought that was so funny.

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message 11: by 

Jan 22, 2014 08:21AM

Wow...I wasn't going to say anything, but this just makes me so so sad. I was reading classics when I was 14 and loving them, and now I'm 18 and still lovin them. I think it's perfectly fair for there to be ONE month out of years and years that this group has been around that has classic novels (which many many young adults DO like!). Especially since (and I may be wrong now, but at least this is how they used to do it) the books are chosen randomly from a list that group members add suggestions to.

I'm not trying to fight anybody or anything, I do see the point that one of you was making about kids being forced to read this type of thing when they don't even like reading, but honestly...this isn't school. This is a voluntary online book club for people who do like reading and want to be able to discuss books with other people. So let us just have this one month out of the year to enjoy some classic discussion, okay? Please? :)

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message 12: by 

Jan 22, 2014 09:00AM

Good point _____, sorry if I offended anyone,

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message 13: by 

Jan 22, 2014 12:57PM

  _____ wrote: "Good point _____, sorry if I offended anyone,"

That's okay. I just needed to get that off my back, heh heh.

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message 14: by 

Jan 23, 2014 11:57PM

wow so because I read them when I was a teenager I'm ancient and there was no internet??? I'm 23 ... we definitely had internet and I was reading Artemis Fowl and Harry Potter alongside Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre. I love classics and modern YA and I encourage trying new things. Also I totally agree with ______ that this isn't mandatory. It's not like you don't like reading or you wouldn't be in a bookclub so if you choose to read the book that's chosen awesome if not that's cool too it's nice for those of us who enjoy these books to talk about them.

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message 15: by 

Jan 24, 2014 08:35AM

Love this:) It gets me to finally pick up and read one of the classics off my list:) It may not be the one chosen for the group as a whole, but I will be reading one. Thanks much!

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message 16: by Angie

40 minutes ago

Mod

Have you actually participated in any of the group reads? No I didn't think so. Most book club picks are modern and this month we are doing a classic. You can easily just skip March's group read. I am shocked and saddened at the comments in this thread. Maybe if you participate in a group read you would see that we don't just read old fogie books. Kim and I work hard at this group so trashing it is fun isn't it?

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message 17: by

17 minutes ago

______ wrote: "Seriously? Can we get some novels that have been written in the last 10-15 years most f these are 60+ plus old, they appeal to adults but it's not what young adults read. The outsiders is the most ..."
Holy shit reading that made my IQ drop 10 points.