Candy's Raves (and Rants)

63

Wow. I hated this book. I loved this book.

I hated the story. I hated that people like this exist/ed – her parents, the teachers, her older brother. Where do these people come from?

The writing was simply amazing. Julia has real talent and it shows. I had no idea the first sentence in the epilogue was coming. Tears sprang to my eyes for David, for what he had and what he lost. What a sad end of the book. Having said that, my copy had an interview with the author that made me feel better about it *laugh*

I was WAY invested in this book from the get go… she pulls you in, and even after it’s over, won’t let you go. I finished reading this last night and I simply couldn’t come write about it until now. I needed time to think about it, to get over my anger at her teachers – and her family. Her parents… what horrible people.

====
From the Publisher
One of the most compelling, page-turning memoirs to come along in years-by turns jarring, shocking, and funny-a keenly moving ode to the dream of perfect family

Sinners go to: HELL. Rightchuss go to: HEAVEN. The end is neer: REPENT. This here is: JESUS LAND.

Julia Scheeres stumbles across these signs along the side of a cornfield while out biking with her adopted brother, David. It’s the mid-1980s, they’re sixteen years old and have just moved to rural Indiana, a landscape of cottonwood trees and trailer parks-and a racism neither of them is prepared for. While Julia is white, her close relationship with David, who is black, makes them both outcasts. At home, a distant mother-more involved with her church’s missionaries than with her own children-and a violent father only compound their problems. When the day comes that high-school hormones, bullying, and a deep-seated restlessness prove too much to bear, the parents send Julia and David to the Dominican Republic-to a reform school there.

In this riveting memoir, first-time author Scheeres takes us with her from the Midwest to a place beyond our imagining. Surrounded by natural beauty, the Escuela Caribe is governed by a disciplinary regime that demands its teens repent for their sins under boot-camp conditions. Julia and David’s determination to make it through with heart and soul intact is told here with immediacy, candor, sparkling humor, and not a note of malice.

62

I wasn’t sure about this one. I read it because a friend of mine raved about it. Wow, I really really liked this book. I liked the journey, the puzzle, and I learned a lot – and the ambigrams are REALLY cool!! This was really great! I haven’t read Da Vinci Code yet, I hope it was as good as this one

====
From the Publisher

An ancient secret brotherhood.

A devastating new weapon of destruction.

An unthinkable target.

When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol — seared into the chest of a murdered physicist — he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati…the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth. The Illuminati has now surfaced to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy — the Catholic Church.

Langdon’s worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican’s holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces they have hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival.

Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair…a clandestine location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation.

An explosive international thriller, Angels & Demons careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war.

61

I read it here and there over the past week and this is really funny. The quotes are funny, but the setting he says this stuff in is just amazing to me. Ahhhh… what a whackjob, but I guess at least he can laugh at himself, right?

====
From the Publisher
“Most of you probably didn’t know that I have a new book out. Some guy put together a collection of my wit and wisdom — or, as he calls it, my accidental wit and wisdom. [Laughter] But I’m kind of proud that my words are already in book form.”
– President George W. Bush,
discussing and reading from George W. Bushisms

By now, most of you probably do know about George W. Bushisms, the bestselling collection of misstatements made on the campaign trail by our president. Now, in More George W. Bushisms, Jacob Weisberg reveals that the malapropisms didn’t stop on Inauguration Day:
“I’ve coined new words like misunderstanding and Hispanically.”
“I haven’t had a chance to talk, but I’m confident we’ll get a bill that I can live with if we don’t.”
“Our nation must come together to unite.”
“There’s no question that the minute I got elected, the storm clouds on the horizon were getting nearly directly overhead.”

These and many other presidential pearls are hilariously on display in More George W. Bushisms.

60

I’ll try to avoid spoilers since this book was released just today…

I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. I found the first half a little too “long” and “more of the same”. The next 400 pages were really great. The end – I don’t yet know how I feel. I liked it, but it still left me feeling unsatisfied, for lack of a better way of explaining it. This was also probably the darkest of the series, a lot of despair. I missed some of the humor of the other books and the sometimes silliness. I dunno… will have to see how I feel about it in a week or two.

You cannot deny the “magic” of these books though. The story, the characters, the writing. It all crushes you in. I’m sad to see the series come to an end…

====
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the seventh and final chapter of the Harry Potter saga.

59

Tom gave this to me several months ago laughing that I had to read it. It sat and sat. It’s some sci-fi political humor thing. I dunno. It was okay. Apparently people love this guy. I thought it was just “okay” to be honest.

*shrug* Finished it just in time for Tom to come back with our copies of Harry Potter 7 though! WooHoo! He’s on his way back with ‘em!

====
FROM THE PUBLISHER
In The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, George Saunders offers his most boldly imaginative fiction yet.

In a profoundly strange country called Inner Horner, large enough for only one resident at a time, citizens waiting to enter the country fall under the rule of the power-hungry and tyrannical Phil, setting off a chain of injustice and mass hysteria.

An Animal Farm for the 21st century, this is an incendiary political satire of unprecedented imagination, spiky humor, and cautionary appreciation for the hysteric in everyone. Over six years in the writing, and brilliantly and beautifully packaged, this novella is Saunders’ first stand-alone, book-length work—and his first book for adults in five years.

58

These books really aren’t that good, BUT it’s a way to visit with my favorite characters while waiting for the show to start again so I suffer through. This one was probably the worst of the lot – VERY corny. But I got to “see” Michael and Walt again so it’s all good. Worth a quick read for fans of the show waiting for the next one!

====
Back Cover:
“Someone is out there.”

Nick Hadley did some terrible things. The famed artist, sculpter, and professor was once the toast of the art world, but a scandal turned his life upside down. Nick needed a place to lay low for a while. In boarding Oceanic Flight 815, he got just that.

Now one of the many survivors of a plane crash, Nick has all the time in the world to reflect on his bad choices. The island life even seems to instill in him newfound artistic inspiration.

But Nick’s new drawings take on a sinister quality. He begins having dreams… horribly vivid dreams. And then come the voices… and feelings of guilt and pain. Is the island trying to tell him something… or is his past finally catching up with him?

I know this movie got mixed reviews, but I liked it overall. Tom and I watched this last night. I will say that I thought that they didn’t do as good of a job of helping us out with the timeline as Memento and others like it. It took quite a while before I was able to piece together the days. I think telling us the day would have helped a lot. I didn’t like the ending – but did at the same time – I know that sounds stupid. I guess it was unexpectedly expected, if that makes sense. ‘Course I love Sandra Bullock!

====
Description
A housewife (Sandra Bullock) is devastated when her husband (Julian McMahon) dies suddenly in a car crash. But when he reappears the next day as if nothing had ever happened, she realizes it may have just been a premonition. Can she prevent the horrible tragedy from happening all over again, or is she powerless to redirect fate? Amber Valletta and Nia Long also star.

57

Wow, I didn’t like this book at all. I only finished reading it because I really did want to know the end, but the story dragged and it was just too much of the same thing. Maybe there’s some deeper meaning, I dunno, but yuck. I cannot believe I found a King novel I didn’t really really like! But this was a stinker for me.

====
From the Publisher

The state police of Troop D in rural Pennsylvania have kept a secret in Shed B out back of the barracks ever since 1979, when Troopers Ennis Rafferty and Curtis Wilcox answered a call from a gas station just down the road and came back with an abandoned Buick Roadmaster. Curt Wilcox knew old cars, and he knew immediately that this one was…wrong, just wrong. A few hours later, when Rafferty vanished, Wilcox and his fellow troopers knew the car was worse than dangerous.

Curt’s avid curiosity took the lead, and they investigated as best they could, as much as they dared. Over the years, the troop absorbed the mystery as part of the background to their work, the Buick 8 sitting out there like a still-life painting that breathes — inhaling a little bit of this world, exhaling a little bit of what world it came from.

In the fall of 2001, a few months after Curt Wilcox is killed in a gruesome auto accident, his eightee-year-old boy, Ned, starts coming by the barracks. Sandy Dearborn, Sergeant Commanding, knows it’s the boy’s way of holding onto his father, and Ned is allowed to become part of the Troop D family. One day he looks in the window of Shed B and discovers family secret. Like his father, Ned wants answers…

56

This was a perfect book to read after reading 2 very thick books. Ahhh… a book I can easily finish in just a couple of hours. I found Ella to be so annoying in this book, I didn’t like her character at all this time around… Hmmmm…

====
From the Publisher
With perfect parents, perfect friends, and perfect poise, it seems like Ella Gerard has it all. But when her best friend, Lola, nominates her to run for school president against the wickedly popular Carla Santini, some of the less-than-perfect aspects of Ella’s life come to light. How can Ella come out a winner without losing face?

55

Trying to not share spoilers here…

Oohhh… I’m so mad at this book. I had heard already, of course, about the big thing that happened at the end, so I knew, but I was still angry about who/where/what/etc. ARGH! I was also disappointed at who the Prince was and how it was revealed. The ending of this one (save the very last “ending”) felt way too rushed.

Having said that, I’m all caught up for book 7 next week to come out

The book itself was really good and kept my attention. I’m still ticked off though. LOL

====
From the Publisher
The war against Voldemort is not going well; even Muggle governments are noticing. Ron scans the obituary pages of the Daily Prophet, looking for familiar names. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already suffered losses.

And yet…

As in all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate — and lose a few eyebrows in the process. The Weasley twins expand their business. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Classes are never straightforward, though Harry receives some extraordinary help from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince.

So it’s the home front that takes center stage in the multilayered sixth installment of the story of Harry Potter. Here at Hogwarts, Harry will search for the full and complex story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort — and thereby find what may be his only vulnerability.