Once Upon A Time: Before Midnight - Cameron Dokey
Etienne de Brabant is brokenhearted. His wife has died in childbirth; leaving him alone with an infant daughter he cannot bear to name. But before he abandons her for king and court, he brings a second child to be raised alongside her, a boy whose identity he does not reveal.
The girl, La Cendrillon, and the boy, Raoul, pass sixteen years in the servants' care until one day a very fine lady arrives with her two daughters. The lady has married La Cendrillon's father, and her arrival changes their lives.
When an invitation to a great ball reaches the family, La Cendrillon's new stepmother will make a decision with far-reaching effects. Her choice will lead La Cendrillon and Raoul towards their destiny - a choice that will challenge their understanding of family, test their loyalty and courage, and, ultimately, teach them who they are.
Angelica's Note: Without giving anything away, I'll say that I just love this retelling of Cinderella. A 'must read' for Cinderella lovers.
Blood Red, Snow White - Marcus Sedgwick
The time for princes and Tsars and holy madmen was gone. In its place came a world of war and revolution, tanks and telephones, murder and assassination.
Beyond the vast plains, deep in the snowy forest, the great bear that is Russia wakes from a long sleep and marches to St Petersburg to claim its birthright.
Its awakening will mark the end for the Romanovs, and herald an era that will change the world. In 1917 the Bolsheviks hold power in the newly renamed Petrogard. Lenin and Trotsky govern from palaces where the Tsars once danced till dawn.
Another man played a part in it all. His name was Arthur Ransome, a journalist and writer who left his English home, his wife and daughter, and fell in love with Russia and a Russian woman, Evgenia. This is his story.
At times bleak, at others rich, poignant and tender, Marcus Sedgwick blends a fairy tale, spy thriller and love story in a novel that lingers long in the memory.
The Celebutantes: On the Avenue - Antonio Pagliarulo
Okay, so I took this book out to take a glimpse into the life of celebutantes. Just started, and the point of view changes at each chapter, which I am thankful for.
This is the official blurb:
The Hamilton triplets - Madison, Park, and Lexington - are accustomed to living in the public eye. Heiresses to a billion-dollar media empire, they have been raised in New York's most elite circles and, at sixteen, know firsthand the demands of being celebutantes. It isn't always about designer labels and lavish parties. There are people to impress, appearances to make, and paparazzi to outrun. Not to mention high school to finish.
But when fashion editor Zahara Bell is found dead in a one-of-a-kind frock from Lex's unreleased clothing line, and then the priceless Avenue diamond goes missing, getting to class is far from the triplets' minds as their first pair of Manolos. One of the girls is a suspect, and the sisters find themselves in the middle of a scandal that could sink their reputations and their father's companies for good. And the press is ready, willing, and able to lend a hand.
The Hamilton sisters need to stick closer together than ever before - the killer is still out there, and if they don't solve the case, their (sometimes) good name could become dirtier than a certain hotel chain.
Saving Francesca - Melina Marchetta
My old school, St. Stella's. only goes to Year Ten and most of my friends go to Pius Senior College, but my mother wouldn't allow it because she says the girls there leave with limited options and she didn't bring me up to have limitations placed upon me. If you know my mother you'll sense there's an irony there, based on the fact that she is the Queen of Limitation Placers in my life.
Francesca is at the beginning of her second term in Year Eleven at an all boys' school that has just started accepting girls. She still misses her old friends, and, to make things worse, her mother has had a breakdown and can barely move from her bed.
But Francesca had not counted on the fierce loyalty of her new friends, or falling in love, or finding that it's within her power to bring her family back together.
Angelica's Note: I haven't read this book yet, but judging from Ms. Marchetta's previous novels that I've read [Looking for Alibrandi and On the Jellicoe Road] I'm thinking this book will be just as fantastic.
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Friday, 31 October 2008
Reading on the Jellicoe Road ...
Oh. My. God. On the Jellicoe Road is such a fantastic book by Melina Marchetta [who also wrote Looking For Alibrandi]. You've just GOT to read it. The book is confusing [to the point that I actually dropped it and thought I couldn't take it any more. Lucky for me, I did pick it up again!] in the beginning, but as you progress through it, everything actually makes sense!! And the pieces all fit in together, like a jigsaw puzzle. I actually thought that this was one the books where the author, so ecstatic about making up a name [like "Jellicoe"], uses it so often that it gets really irritating. But I was pleasantly surprised, because Ms. Marchetta doesn't do that. Phew!
Anyways, this is the official blurb on the back of the book:
I'm dreaming of the boy in the tree. I tell him stories. About the Jellicoe School and the Townies and the Cadets from a school in Sydney. I tell him about the war between us for territory. And I tell him about Hannah, who lives in the unfinished house by the river. Hannah, who is too young to be hiding away from the world. Hannah, who found me on the Jellicoe Road six years ago.
Taylor is the leader of the boarders at the Jellicoe School. She has to keep the upper hand in the territory wars and deal with Jonah Griggs - the enigmatic leader of the cadets, and someone she thought she would never see again.
And now Hannah, the person Taylor had come to rely on, has disappeared. Taylor's only clue is a manuscript about five kids who lived in Jellicoe eighteen years ago. She needs to find out more, but this means confronting her own story, making sense of her strange, recurring dream, and finding her mother - who abandoned her on the Jellicoe Road.
---
I give it ***** !!
p.s.: A word on John Jellicoe. He joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1872. [Got this from Wiki when I searched for "Jellicoe" because it's an interesting word] Might be an inspiration for this book? I've no idea!
Anyways, this is the official blurb on the back of the book:
I'm dreaming of the boy in the tree. I tell him stories. About the Jellicoe School and the Townies and the Cadets from a school in Sydney. I tell him about the war between us for territory. And I tell him about Hannah, who lives in the unfinished house by the river. Hannah, who is too young to be hiding away from the world. Hannah, who found me on the Jellicoe Road six years ago.
Taylor is the leader of the boarders at the Jellicoe School. She has to keep the upper hand in the territory wars and deal with Jonah Griggs - the enigmatic leader of the cadets, and someone she thought she would never see again.
And now Hannah, the person Taylor had come to rely on, has disappeared. Taylor's only clue is a manuscript about five kids who lived in Jellicoe eighteen years ago. She needs to find out more, but this means confronting her own story, making sense of her strange, recurring dream, and finding her mother - who abandoned her on the Jellicoe Road.
---
I give it ***** !!
p.s.: A word on John Jellicoe. He joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1872. [Got this from Wiki when I searched for "Jellicoe" because it's an interesting word] Might be an inspiration for this book? I've no idea!
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Half Blood Prince and Beedle the Bard!
As all of you Harry Potter lovers out there know, the HBP is releasing next year and Beedle the Bard's releasing this year. Woo hoo!
Thursday, 16 October 2008
October the 16th, 2008!!! Birthday Bash!!
At last, here it is! The Sixteenth of October, Oscar Wilde's birthday [and mine, too!!]
Ah well, have a great day, whoever's reading!
Ah well, have a great day, whoever's reading!
Monday, 22 September 2008
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
The Lit List, by Esther Graham
Who is Esther Graham, you may ask? Well, she was my English teacher for seventh form, and not only that, she's one of the best English teachers I've ever had. Anyways, this Lit (short for literature) List is compiled by her, not me. I'm merely putting it up on my blog, so even if I do lose the hard copy she's given us, I won't lose the entire list. Don't forget to take the list [or part of it, anyway] with you the next time you visit the library. I won't, either.
NZ Writers:
Fiegel, Sia - Where we once belonged.
Grace, Patricia - Potiki.
Frame, Janet - Owls Do Cry; To the Is-Land; An Angel at My Table.
Hulme, Keri - The Bone People.
Jones, Lloyd - Mr Pip.
Mansfield, Katherine - The Garden Party and other short stories.
Knox, Elizabeth - The Vintners Luck; Daylight.
'Classic' British Novels:
Austen, Jane - Pride and Prejudice; Emma; Sense and Sensibility.
Bronte, Charlotte - Jane Eyre.
Bronte, Emily - Wuthering Heights.
Forster, E. M - A Room With a View.
Golding, William - Lord of the Flies.
Greene, Graham - The Power and the Glory.
Hardy, Thomas - Tess of the D'Urbervilles.
Lawrence, D. H. - The Picture of Dorian Grey.
Stoker, Bram - Dracula.
Shelley, Mary - Frankenstein.
'Classic' American Novels:
Recently I read a non-fiction memoir by Azar Nafisi called Reading Lolita in Tehran, and it completely re-inspired my love for classic novels, including the first two on this list. She is an Iranian English professor who dared not to wear the veil and set up a secret book club for her female students after they were banned from attending university. I highly recommend that book too - but you'll have to read it in tandem with the books she discusses.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby.
Nabokov, Vladimir - Lolita.
Faulkner, William - As I Lay Dying.
Lee, Harper - To Kill A Mockingbird.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher - Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Modern and Post-Modern American Writers:
My favourite on this list is Extremely Loud ... about a boy who loses his father in 9-11 and goes in search of him around New York City. It's accessible, clever, and fun to read.
Delillo, Don - White Noise.
Foer, Jonathan Safran - Everything is Illuminated; Extremely Loud; Incredibly Close. [Check the movie out, too!]
Heller, Joseph - Catch 22.
Kerouac, Jack - On the Road. [Classic novel for the Beat generation]
Pynchon, Thomas - The Crying of Lot 49.
Proulx, E. Annie - The Shipping News. [She also wrote Brokeback Mountain]
Salinger, J. D. - The Catcher in the Rye.
20th Century Women writers:
I have grouped together these writers because their main concern is to write about women's lives, issues, and relationships. Some of them reflect on the unique struggles women face in a male-dominated world and have become feminist classics [e.g. Oranges are not the Only Fruit, The Handmaid's Tale] or reflect on what makes us women [The Passion of New Eve, Orlando]. Many of these books are also modern classics, and have been inspirational for women around the world.
For me, the best author on the list [and possibly the most complex] is Toni Morrison. She, like Angelou and Walker is an African-American writer whose stories reflect on the struggles of black women, and the legacy of slavery.
However, I would recommend starting with Mrs Dalloway, an early 20th C novel which is beautifully written and remains as poignant and relevant today as it was then. Then read The Hours by Michael Cunningham [or see the film!]
Atwood, Margaret - The Handmaid's Tale; The Robber Bride; The Blind Assassin; Cat's Eye.
Atkinson, Kate - Behind the Scenes at the Museum; Human Croquet.
Angelou, Maya - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
Carter, Angela - The Passion of New Eve.
Cunningham, Michael - The Hours.
Morrison, Toni - Beloved; Sula; Song of Solomon; The Bluest Eye; Paradise.
Plath, Sylvia - The Bell Jar.
Rhys, Jean - Wide Sargasso Sea [read it after Jane Eyre]
Spark, Muriel - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
Tan, Amy - The Joy Luck Club; The Kitchen God's Wife; The Bonesetter's Daughter.
Walker, Alice - The Color Purple; Possessing the Secret of Joy.
Winterston, Jeanette - Oranges are not the Only Fruit.
Woolf, Virginia - Mrs. Dalloway; Orlando.
Modern British novels:
Banville, John - The Untouchable.
Barnes, Julian - England, England; Flaubert's Parrot; Taking it Over.
Byatt, A. S. - Possession.
De Bernieres, Louis - Captain Correlli's Mandolin.
Haddon, Mark - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. [Great childrens/adults book]
McEwan, Ian - Antonement; The Cement Garden, Saturday.
Smith, Zadie - White Teeth.
Kureishi, Hanif - The Buddha of Suburbia.
Futuristic novels:
I'm not a big sci-fi reader, but I do enjoy novels that imagine the world in the future.
Atwood, Margaret - The Handmaid's Tale [Women have become mere vessels for child-bearing]
Bradbury, Ray - Fahrenheit 451 [All the books get burnt]
Burgess, Anthony - A Clockwork Orange [Violent youth is reformed by brain washing]
Orwell, George - 1984 [Written in 1948, imagining a world ruled by Big Brother]
Huxley, Aldous - Brave New World [Genetic engineering and happy drugs control society]
European writers:
These books are written by Italian, Czech, Russian and German writers who have been translated into English. The opening lines of Calvino's novel are, "You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveler. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade."
Calvino, Italo - If on a Winter's Night a Traveler.
Eco, Umberto - In the Name of Rose.
Hesse, Herman - Narziss and Goldmund.
Kafka, Franz - Metamorphosis.
Kundera, Milan - The Unbearable Lightness of Being; Identity.
Doestoyevsky, Fyodor - Crime and Punishment.
Post-colonial writers:
[Writers who write about countries under colonialism and independence, and writers from post-colonial nations, e.g. India, Pakistan, South Africa, etc.]
Disgrace is a book that you read, and immediately think, 'I have just read a good book'. It is set in modern South Africa and concerns an English professor who was involved in a sex scandal at his university, and his liberal daughter who is attacked but refuses to revenge. It won the Booker Prize. Michael Ondaajte's English Patient is also wonderful, and has everything a good novel should - love, loss, and meditation on what it means to be human.
Conrad, Joseph - Heart of Darkness.
Coetzee, JD - Disgrace.
Desai, Kiran - The Inheritance of Loss.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Purple Hibiscus.
Ishiguro, Kazuo - When We Were Orphans.
Lahiri, Jhumpa - The Namesake.
Martel, Yann - The Life of Pi.
Ondaajte, Michael - The English Patient.
Roy, Arundhati - The God of Small Things.
Rushdie, Salman - Shame. [Set in Pakistan]
Smith, Alexander McCall - The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series. [Just for fun. This is well-written detective fiction set in Botswana]
Another classic post-colonial novel is Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.
Magic Realist novels:
Most of these books are by Latin American writers. Their writers use colourful descriptions, unexpected metaphors and strange plots. They are deliciously imaginative, and full of odd happenings like a woman crying tears that turn to flood, of baking a cake that makes people fall in love [Like Water for Chocolate]. They often span generations of quirky characters who love, lose and struggle [The House of Spirits, One Hundred Years of Solitude].
Allende, Isabel - The House of Spirits, Ines.
Esquivel, Laura - Like Water for Chocolate.
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia - One Hundred Years of Solitude; Love in the Time of Cholera.
Rushdie, Salman - Shame, The Ground Beneath Her Feet; Midnight's Children.
[Angelica's Note: Well, that calls for a seriously long trip to the library, now that I've got holidays! I admit, I was ignorant about some of the books in this list, but I can't wait to read them out!]
NZ Writers:
Fiegel, Sia - Where we once belonged.
Grace, Patricia - Potiki.
Frame, Janet - Owls Do Cry; To the Is-Land; An Angel at My Table.
Hulme, Keri - The Bone People.
Jones, Lloyd - Mr Pip.
Mansfield, Katherine - The Garden Party and other short stories.
Knox, Elizabeth - The Vintners Luck; Daylight.
'Classic' British Novels:
Austen, Jane - Pride and Prejudice; Emma; Sense and Sensibility.
Bronte, Charlotte - Jane Eyre.
Bronte, Emily - Wuthering Heights.
Forster, E. M - A Room With a View.
Golding, William - Lord of the Flies.
Greene, Graham - The Power and the Glory.
Hardy, Thomas - Tess of the D'Urbervilles.
Lawrence, D. H. - The Picture of Dorian Grey.
Stoker, Bram - Dracula.
Shelley, Mary - Frankenstein.
'Classic' American Novels:
Recently I read a non-fiction memoir by Azar Nafisi called Reading Lolita in Tehran, and it completely re-inspired my love for classic novels, including the first two on this list. She is an Iranian English professor who dared not to wear the veil and set up a secret book club for her female students after they were banned from attending university. I highly recommend that book too - but you'll have to read it in tandem with the books she discusses.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby.
Nabokov, Vladimir - Lolita.
Faulkner, William - As I Lay Dying.
Lee, Harper - To Kill A Mockingbird.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher - Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Modern and Post-Modern American Writers:
My favourite on this list is Extremely Loud ... about a boy who loses his father in 9-11 and goes in search of him around New York City. It's accessible, clever, and fun to read.
Delillo, Don - White Noise.
Foer, Jonathan Safran - Everything is Illuminated; Extremely Loud; Incredibly Close. [Check the movie out, too!]
Heller, Joseph - Catch 22.
Kerouac, Jack - On the Road. [Classic novel for the Beat generation]
Pynchon, Thomas - The Crying of Lot 49.
Proulx, E. Annie - The Shipping News. [She also wrote Brokeback Mountain]
Salinger, J. D. - The Catcher in the Rye.
20th Century Women writers:
I have grouped together these writers because their main concern is to write about women's lives, issues, and relationships. Some of them reflect on the unique struggles women face in a male-dominated world and have become feminist classics [e.g. Oranges are not the Only Fruit, The Handmaid's Tale] or reflect on what makes us women [The Passion of New Eve, Orlando]. Many of these books are also modern classics, and have been inspirational for women around the world.
For me, the best author on the list [and possibly the most complex] is Toni Morrison. She, like Angelou and Walker is an African-American writer whose stories reflect on the struggles of black women, and the legacy of slavery.
However, I would recommend starting with Mrs Dalloway, an early 20th C novel which is beautifully written and remains as poignant and relevant today as it was then. Then read The Hours by Michael Cunningham [or see the film!]
Atwood, Margaret - The Handmaid's Tale; The Robber Bride; The Blind Assassin; Cat's Eye.
Atkinson, Kate - Behind the Scenes at the Museum; Human Croquet.
Angelou, Maya - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
Carter, Angela - The Passion of New Eve.
Cunningham, Michael - The Hours.
Morrison, Toni - Beloved; Sula; Song of Solomon; The Bluest Eye; Paradise.
Plath, Sylvia - The Bell Jar.
Rhys, Jean - Wide Sargasso Sea [read it after Jane Eyre]
Spark, Muriel - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
Tan, Amy - The Joy Luck Club; The Kitchen God's Wife; The Bonesetter's Daughter.
Walker, Alice - The Color Purple; Possessing the Secret of Joy.
Winterston, Jeanette - Oranges are not the Only Fruit.
Woolf, Virginia - Mrs. Dalloway; Orlando.
Modern British novels:
Banville, John - The Untouchable.
Barnes, Julian - England, England; Flaubert's Parrot; Taking it Over.
Byatt, A. S. - Possession.
De Bernieres, Louis - Captain Correlli's Mandolin.
Haddon, Mark - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. [Great childrens/adults book]
McEwan, Ian - Antonement; The Cement Garden, Saturday.
Smith, Zadie - White Teeth.
Kureishi, Hanif - The Buddha of Suburbia.
Futuristic novels:
I'm not a big sci-fi reader, but I do enjoy novels that imagine the world in the future.
Atwood, Margaret - The Handmaid's Tale [Women have become mere vessels for child-bearing]
Bradbury, Ray - Fahrenheit 451 [All the books get burnt]
Burgess, Anthony - A Clockwork Orange [Violent youth is reformed by brain washing]
Orwell, George - 1984 [Written in 1948, imagining a world ruled by Big Brother]
Huxley, Aldous - Brave New World [Genetic engineering and happy drugs control society]
European writers:
These books are written by Italian, Czech, Russian and German writers who have been translated into English. The opening lines of Calvino's novel are, "You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveler. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade."
Calvino, Italo - If on a Winter's Night a Traveler.
Eco, Umberto - In the Name of Rose.
Hesse, Herman - Narziss and Goldmund.
Kafka, Franz - Metamorphosis.
Kundera, Milan - The Unbearable Lightness of Being; Identity.
Doestoyevsky, Fyodor - Crime and Punishment.
Post-colonial writers:
[Writers who write about countries under colonialism and independence, and writers from post-colonial nations, e.g. India, Pakistan, South Africa, etc.]
Disgrace is a book that you read, and immediately think, 'I have just read a good book'. It is set in modern South Africa and concerns an English professor who was involved in a sex scandal at his university, and his liberal daughter who is attacked but refuses to revenge. It won the Booker Prize. Michael Ondaajte's English Patient is also wonderful, and has everything a good novel should - love, loss, and meditation on what it means to be human.
Conrad, Joseph - Heart of Darkness.
Coetzee, JD - Disgrace.
Desai, Kiran - The Inheritance of Loss.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Purple Hibiscus.
Ishiguro, Kazuo - When We Were Orphans.
Lahiri, Jhumpa - The Namesake.
Martel, Yann - The Life of Pi.
Ondaajte, Michael - The English Patient.
Roy, Arundhati - The God of Small Things.
Rushdie, Salman - Shame. [Set in Pakistan]
Smith, Alexander McCall - The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series. [Just for fun. This is well-written detective fiction set in Botswana]
Another classic post-colonial novel is Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.
Magic Realist novels:
Most of these books are by Latin American writers. Their writers use colourful descriptions, unexpected metaphors and strange plots. They are deliciously imaginative, and full of odd happenings like a woman crying tears that turn to flood, of baking a cake that makes people fall in love [Like Water for Chocolate]. They often span generations of quirky characters who love, lose and struggle [The House of Spirits, One Hundred Years of Solitude].
Allende, Isabel - The House of Spirits, Ines.
Esquivel, Laura - Like Water for Chocolate.
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia - One Hundred Years of Solitude; Love in the Time of Cholera.
Rushdie, Salman - Shame, The Ground Beneath Her Feet; Midnight's Children.
[Angelica's Note: Well, that calls for a seriously long trip to the library, now that I've got holidays! I admit, I was ignorant about some of the books in this list, but I can't wait to read them out!]
Thursday, 12 June 2008
Snuggle up, read on!
Dead Connection - Charlie Price
Murray talks to the dead. And the dead talk back. Is he a psychic? He comforts them in their lonely graves, and they provide solace for him - they are his best friends. When he hears a new voice in the cemetery, he's sure it's Nikki, the cheerleader who has been missing for months. But who will believe him? He's a loser. Can he even believe himself?
Along comes Pearl, daughter of the cemetery caretaker, who befriends Murray and tries to enter his world. Together they may prove the astonishing possibility that Nikki is closer than anyone thinks.
Dead Connection twists and turns with multiple points of view. A gripping and suspenseful story.
Angelica's Review: Gripping? Indeed. Spooky? Oh yeah. Don't read before you go to bed.
24 girls in 7 days - Alex Bradley
There are a few things sadder than Jack Grammar's love life. So when his friends take it upon themselves to get him a date to the prom by placing an intensely humiliating ad in the school paper, they think they are doing him a favour. Jack doesn't agree.
But then the most amazing thing happens: Responses to the ad are overwhelming. So overwhelming, in fact, that Jack must narrow the list down. A lot. Not an easy task. Turns out, the girls at City High are quite the competitive bunch.
From drive-by flashings to breaking and entering to cell phone stalkers, these potential prom dates will stop at nothing to snag the suddenly popular Jack. How will he ever choose just one?
Angelica's Review: Erm ... fluffy. I generally dislike these kind of novels, but if you really need a break, this is the book for you teenagers. I kinda liked Jack's dialogues at some points. But that's it.
The Girl in Times Square - Paullina Simons
Lily Quinn is struggling to finish college and pay her rent. In bustling New York City, the most interesting things seem to happen to the people around her - until her best friend and roommate Amy disappears.
That's when Spencer O'Malley, a cynical NYPD detective, enters Lily's world. Though he is wary and wrestling with his own demons, he and Lily are irresistibly drawn to each other.
But fate isn't finished with Lily. Two pieces of extreme, life-changing luck - one good, one bad - are on their way. And, unknown to her, Spencer's search for the missing Amy is heading for a revelation that will make Lily question her most dearly-held beliefs about both her friend and her family ...
The Girl in Times Square is a heartrending and powerful story of love and lies, life and death.
Angelica's Review: Nope, haven't read it yet. Will review when I finally get around to reading it.
Murray talks to the dead. And the dead talk back. Is he a psychic? He comforts them in their lonely graves, and they provide solace for him - they are his best friends. When he hears a new voice in the cemetery, he's sure it's Nikki, the cheerleader who has been missing for months. But who will believe him? He's a loser. Can he even believe himself?
Along comes Pearl, daughter of the cemetery caretaker, who befriends Murray and tries to enter his world. Together they may prove the astonishing possibility that Nikki is closer than anyone thinks.
Dead Connection twists and turns with multiple points of view. A gripping and suspenseful story.
Angelica's Review: Gripping? Indeed. Spooky? Oh yeah. Don't read before you go to bed.
24 girls in 7 days - Alex Bradley
There are a few things sadder than Jack Grammar's love life. So when his friends take it upon themselves to get him a date to the prom by placing an intensely humiliating ad in the school paper, they think they are doing him a favour. Jack doesn't agree.
But then the most amazing thing happens: Responses to the ad are overwhelming. So overwhelming, in fact, that Jack must narrow the list down. A lot. Not an easy task. Turns out, the girls at City High are quite the competitive bunch.
From drive-by flashings to breaking and entering to cell phone stalkers, these potential prom dates will stop at nothing to snag the suddenly popular Jack. How will he ever choose just one?
Angelica's Review: Erm ... fluffy. I generally dislike these kind of novels, but if you really need a break, this is the book for you teenagers. I kinda liked Jack's dialogues at some points. But that's it.
The Girl in Times Square - Paullina Simons
Lily Quinn is struggling to finish college and pay her rent. In bustling New York City, the most interesting things seem to happen to the people around her - until her best friend and roommate Amy disappears.
That's when Spencer O'Malley, a cynical NYPD detective, enters Lily's world. Though he is wary and wrestling with his own demons, he and Lily are irresistibly drawn to each other.
But fate isn't finished with Lily. Two pieces of extreme, life-changing luck - one good, one bad - are on their way. And, unknown to her, Spencer's search for the missing Amy is heading for a revelation that will make Lily question her most dearly-held beliefs about both her friend and her family ...
The Girl in Times Square is a heartrending and powerful story of love and lies, life and death.
Angelica's Review: Nope, haven't read it yet. Will review when I finally get around to reading it.
Wednesday, 9 April 2008
New books for the term break!
The Strawberry Picker - Monika Feth [translated by Anthea Bell]
Eighteen-year-old Jenna is sharing a flat in Brohl, Germany, with her friends Caro and Merle when a girl is killed nearby. The murder seems to have parallels with two crimes that have taken place in the north of the country, and everyone is scared.
Then one day Caro is found murdered - stabbed seven times and with her necklace missing, just like the other girls. At the funeral Jenna swears revenge in front of everybody, and in turn attracts the attention of Nat, a handsome and mysterious strawberry picker. With Jenna sidetracked by love, Merle sets about solving Caro's murder herself. But as the answer dawns on her, another horrifying reality emerges ...
[I've just started reading it - might be interesting]
1-800-WHERE-ARE-YOU - Meg Cabot
Jess Mastriani - dubbed "Lightning Girl" by the press when, after a huge storm, she developed a psychic ability to find missing children - has lost her miraculous powers. Or has she? She would like the media and the government to think so. All Jess wants is to be left alone, by everyone except sexy Rob Wilkins - who hasn't called, by the way ...
But it doesn't look like Jess is going to get her wish - especially not while she's stuck working at a summer camp for musically gifted kids. Then the father of a missing girl shows up to beg Jess to find his daughter. Jess can't say no, but now the feds are on her trail again, as is one ornery stepdad, who'd like to see Lightning Girl ... well, dead.
Eighteen-year-old Jenna is sharing a flat in Brohl, Germany, with her friends Caro and Merle when a girl is killed nearby. The murder seems to have parallels with two crimes that have taken place in the north of the country, and everyone is scared.
Then one day Caro is found murdered - stabbed seven times and with her necklace missing, just like the other girls. At the funeral Jenna swears revenge in front of everybody, and in turn attracts the attention of Nat, a handsome and mysterious strawberry picker. With Jenna sidetracked by love, Merle sets about solving Caro's murder herself. But as the answer dawns on her, another horrifying reality emerges ...
[I've just started reading it - might be interesting]
1-800-WHERE-ARE-YOU - Meg Cabot
Jess Mastriani - dubbed "Lightning Girl" by the press when, after a huge storm, she developed a psychic ability to find missing children - has lost her miraculous powers. Or has she? She would like the media and the government to think so. All Jess wants is to be left alone, by everyone except sexy Rob Wilkins - who hasn't called, by the way ...
But it doesn't look like Jess is going to get her wish - especially not while she's stuck working at a summer camp for musically gifted kids. Then the father of a missing girl shows up to beg Jess to find his daughter. Jess can't say no, but now the feds are on her trail again, as is one ornery stepdad, who'd like to see Lightning Girl ... well, dead.
Friday, 11 January 2008
Some more titles ...
Hey if there are any spelling errors, they're only most likely to be typing errors. Please bear with that, as I am typing this at super-fast speed ..
Shades of Simon Gray - Joyce McDonald
Smart, reliable, hardworking, trustworthy Simon Gray is every parent's ideal teenager - or is he? One night Simon crashes his Honda into an old oak tree, and suddenly the lives of Simon and his friends begin to unravel. What dark secret are they hiding?
Simon himself, trapped in a coma, seems to be having conversations with a man who was hanged for a murder two hundred years ago, from the same tree Simon smashed into. But was this man really guilty? And what is his connection to Simon?
Simon's accident unleashes strange events and forces sinister secrets to light in this eerie, suspenseful tale of hidden crimes and passions, both past and present.
Angelica's Review: This book was okay ..
Shooting the Moon - V. M. Jones (--also by V. M. Jones is Buddy, which is a great read--)
At 14, Pip's life is finally his own. His domineering dad is focusing his ambitions on big brother Nick, and as for Pip's climbling - his passion in life - he's going one way ... up. Even his love life's finally sorted: he doesn't have one.
Beneath the tranquil surface currents are stirring, but Pip is wrapped up in his own emotions, oblivious to the new forces undermining everything he believes indestructible.
When Pip heads into the wilderness with Dad on the traditional McLeod first hunting trip he faces a dramatic choice and discovers what it means to confront issues of life and death ... and, threatened by the ultimate loss, learns what matters most of all.
Angelica's Review: Ooh, a great read ..
Violet Eyes - Nicole Luiken
Angel Eastland knows she's different. It's not just her violet eyes that set her apart. She's smarter than her classmates and more athletically gifted. Her only real companion is Michael Vallant, who also has violet eyes - eyes that tell her they're connected, in a way she can't figure out.
Michael understands Angel. He knows her dreams, her nightmares, and her most secret fears. Together, they begin to realize that nothing around them is what it seems. Someone is watching them, night and day. They have just one desperate chance to escape, one chance to find their true destiny, but their enemies are powerful - and will do anything to stop them.
Shades of Simon Gray - Joyce McDonald
Smart, reliable, hardworking, trustworthy Simon Gray is every parent's ideal teenager - or is he? One night Simon crashes his Honda into an old oak tree, and suddenly the lives of Simon and his friends begin to unravel. What dark secret are they hiding?
Simon himself, trapped in a coma, seems to be having conversations with a man who was hanged for a murder two hundred years ago, from the same tree Simon smashed into. But was this man really guilty? And what is his connection to Simon?
Simon's accident unleashes strange events and forces sinister secrets to light in this eerie, suspenseful tale of hidden crimes and passions, both past and present.
Angelica's Review: This book was okay ..
Shooting the Moon - V. M. Jones (--also by V. M. Jones is Buddy, which is a great read--)
At 14, Pip's life is finally his own. His domineering dad is focusing his ambitions on big brother Nick, and as for Pip's climbling - his passion in life - he's going one way ... up. Even his love life's finally sorted: he doesn't have one.
Beneath the tranquil surface currents are stirring, but Pip is wrapped up in his own emotions, oblivious to the new forces undermining everything he believes indestructible.
When Pip heads into the wilderness with Dad on the traditional McLeod first hunting trip he faces a dramatic choice and discovers what it means to confront issues of life and death ... and, threatened by the ultimate loss, learns what matters most of all.
Angelica's Review: Ooh, a great read ..
Violet Eyes - Nicole Luiken
Angel Eastland knows she's different. It's not just her violet eyes that set her apart. She's smarter than her classmates and more athletically gifted. Her only real companion is Michael Vallant, who also has violet eyes - eyes that tell her they're connected, in a way she can't figure out.
Michael understands Angel. He knows her dreams, her nightmares, and her most secret fears. Together, they begin to realize that nothing around them is what it seems. Someone is watching them, night and day. They have just one desperate chance to escape, one chance to find their true destiny, but their enemies are powerful - and will do anything to stop them.
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