The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was recommended this book by a dear friend, who is also a devoted bookworm like myself. She said that she reads this book every year to her nieces and nephews at Christmas time. She said that if I was looking for a quick read and something that is a great story with a whole lot of heart this is what I should read. And as usual, my bookworm friend, knocked it out of the park. The book took me back to my days of reading Fudge-A-Mania, the Ramona B Quimby series and so many other fantastic great reads when I was in public school. The best thing about this book was the message. I'm not going to give it away but damn... The Herdmen's have a point and by George, they've got it!

If I could give it more stars I would :)


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Unlucky 13

Unlucky 13 by James Patterson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I chose this book because normally James Patterson books are an easy read. While this was an easy read, after a certain point in the book there was, what seemed to be, a rush to finish the book. My favourite part of the book was the storyline of the belly bombs, something that will happen in the future if it already hasn't. The other storylines of the women's murder club members were kind of lame and definitely predictable.

I am finding not only with children's books but with a lot of adult book authors that they are writing just to be able to fill the demand for their books. The quality is not the same as it was when they started and certainly goes down hill with each new book they publish. This leads me to believe that the time for them to bow out has come and gone or is coming and they are ignoring all signs that are pointing to it. This is troublesome because it causes the book market to be flooded with tons and tons of books that are poor and ok, leaving the readers less amazing and awesome choices to be found. Having to admit your time of being famous is over is not a bad thing because you are still able to leave people with good impressions of your best work. Writers need to observe their 'best before date' more frequently. (MY MINI RANT)

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The Tale of the Duelling Neurosurgeons

The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: The History of the Human Brain as Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery by Sam Kean
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

A dear friend recommended it to me, and I thought it could be a really heavy read, which I was but it was so FASCINATING. For the time I was reading this book, all I could talk about was the new things I had learned and what I found more interesting than the last time I had spoken about the book, (which wasn't very long).

I loved how the book was able to capture how far neurosurgery and things relating to the brain went back as fair as Medieval times and then the advancements that have come with great success. By far my favourite part would have to be learning about the face transplants. I found that completely interesting and just wanted to keep reading about it. I also liked how the chapter started about the lady that would make facial prosthetics that would hide face deformities or injuries. She was an artist and she used her talent to help people. The lengths she would go to by creating features that the person had before, ie. wire whiskers and beards, was outstanding. The mention of Phineas Gage was not surprising because he is one of psychology's go to people for personality changes after his accident, but the thing I liked about how Kean wrote about him was that he found a lot of information prior to the incident and also after the incident. It was like Kean really wanted you to get to know Gage as a person and then see the huge changes that would effect his life and the people around him. I had never known so much about Phineas Gage until this book. All I knew prior was that he was the guy that got a railroad tie through his head, but even that description doesn't really explain what happened nor the instrument that it happened with.

I could rant till the cows come home about how fabulous this book is. It truly grabbed my attention and made me think but also absorb so much information that was not known. One thing that was frustrating was that I was unable to figure out the pictograms for the words at the beginning of the chapters. I think I really only got 2/12 but I will be writing Kean to get the answers because I am very curious.

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME book!

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Gone Girl

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Well this book took an extremely long time to finish and there was a huge break in between. I was in the first third of the book and it was dragging beyond belief. I said to myself, "This is neither enjoyable, nor relaxing and is constantly putting me to sleep......SWITCH!" So after a long break and a discussion with a very good friend, (that did give away some very important information), I decided to try again. Well the book is now done and I am not any better for sticking it out, and I probably have lost some valuable reading time. I just could not get over how poorly written this book was. Not only were the characters lame, I actually hated AMY.... and NICK..... and MARGOT.....and ANDIE....oh hell I hated everyone, and overly intelligent but the ending was a complete let down. I would not recommend this book to anyone. It seemed to me like Flynn was trying to write a masterpiece like Herman Koch..... the delivery is just not there and the shock and awe factor is slightly there but not as dramatic as Herman, therefore causing an unsuccessful horror. Not many people can do what Herman does, so people like Flynn should just leave the heavy stuff for the professionals. Case and point.


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Summer House with Swimming Pool

Summer House with Swimming Pool by Herman Koch
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I like how bizarre Herman Koch's stories are. They take acts that people dream of doing and put them into action. They display people at their worst. Whether it's avenging a family member or committing an act that is criminal on so many levels, Herman captures and makes it so interesting. Although this book did not have the curiosity factor the same as THE DINNER, when you find out what is going to happen and the cause you have a hard time putting the book down. You want to continue the read, see how things are going to be construed or covered up. How the toll is going to be taken and ruin people's lives, whether they are directly affected by the incident or not. The thing I liked in particular about this book was watching the character shift in the lead character of Marc. It's slow but once it hits climax the ball is definitely rolling. There were sometimes where I considered not finishing this book but then I remembered how amazing THE DINNER was when you found out the hidden story. This was my mantra for continuing and I'm glad that I did because Herman Koch did not disappoint. This is a slower pace book to begin with but please stick with it because it's quite interesting..... the saying KARMAs A BITCH comes to mind.

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The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The one significant line that stood out to me from the whole book:
"My thoughts are stars I can't fathom into constellations." (only because I am obsessed with stars and the meaning and beauty behind them.)

As for the rest of the book, it sucked.

The author used the heart strings of the reader and the sympathies towards young adults with terminal diseases, especially cancer. It's a story of young love that is at the hands of fate and however long it allows these two main characters to suffer. Whether it is due to the hands of cancer or separation from the young lover that is lost. A tale that is played out predictably and not near as successful as the famous story of Romeo and Juliet. Although there are no warring families, it lacks the sincerity and passion that the classic provides. Nice try John Green, but it was a fail.

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Private LA

Private L.A. by James Patterson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Mediocre read, but boring. The bad guys were interesting but with the main characters being boring you can't have a book based on the bad guys being the only interesting component. James Patterson is starting to write the same stuff over and over again without any change. He's just not as mysterious as he used to be, he's more predictable. And his storylines are getting more predictable all the time.

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