Lisa's Book Blog

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson

2010-07-30T22:25:00.001-06:00

I really liked The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but this second book in the series is even better. The plot is more action packed, with some really scary moments as Lisbeth Salander becomes the hunted one in the police search for a triple murderer in Sweden. The reader finally gets insight into Lisbeth's past and the events that have caused her to become so eccentric as an adult. Many of the characters from the first book are all here again, well-woven together. The story picks up very smoothly from where the first book left off. I also think the plot is tighter in this second book. I liked the mystery. As for the murders, two are unfortunate but the third may have the reader cheering a little.
In this book, Lisbeth becomes a brilliant nemesis for the authorities who are trying to find her. Mikael Blomkvist joins in the search for Lisbeth also, not realizing that she has seen him kissing another woman and has vowed to hate him forever. His search for her begins to look quite fruitless, as she is so adept at avoiding someone when she wants to. As in the previous book, there is a surprise at the end.

I think it would be advisable to read the first book before taking on the second, as there is a lot of detail and many characters to be familiar with before starting into the second book. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

2010-07-16T10:56:00.001-06:00

Even though I finished the book, I can't really say that I liked it. The main character is Piscine "Pi" Molitor Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, India who gets shipwrecked and spends several months on a lifeboat with a live tiger. The story is autobiographical as Pi talks about his adventures and how he manages to stay alive. In the beginning of the book, Pi is searching through the various religions to find one that speaks to him, finally deciding that God is everywhere and that he can embrace the good points of more than one religion at once. The author did a good job with this part of the story - I found it entertaining and funny. It was toward the middle of the book that I began to feel bogged down by the descriptions of life on the lifeboat and began to hurry the book along to it's finish. The author had lots of good ideas - they were just drawn out a little too long for my liking. I give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars

The Last Juror by John Grisham

2010-07-16T10:14:00.000-06:00

I listened to this one on audiobook and I liked it a lot. A young journalist buys a failing newspaper in a small southern town and has plenty to write about as he also gets drawn into a trial surrounding the rape and murder of a young, single mother. Everyone in town knows who committed the murder - a young man who comes from a bizarre, anti-social family - but the jury's verdict in his trial is less than satisfactory. Several years later, the original jury members find themselves in danger as they begin to die, one by one. This book is about the young journalist's fight to keep the remaining jurors alive as he experiences prejudice in a town that is still segregated along racial lines.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

2010-07-12T21:44:00.001-06:00

I recently finished this and I have to say that I liked it a lot. It started out slowly, although I had been warned about that so I gave it a good 100 pages before expecting any real excitement. The author does a good job of developing interesting characters and using Sweden for a setting brought on a whole new vocabulary with regard to names and places. There were subtle things too, such as their coffee-making method, mixing the coffee in a pan with boiling water and then straining it somehow. (It reminds me of the glass coffeemaker that I have, different from a drip-style, where I pour in the hot water in with the grounds and stir with a spoon.) The character of Lisbeth Salander, "the girl" with the tattoo is both amazing and shocking at the same time. She is woven in and out of the story in a variety of places and she is anything but ordinary. There are a lot of different characters to keep track of and there are several shocking occurrences that the reader does not expect.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a mystery, characters that are extraordinary and who can place themselves in another country easily as a setting for the book. 5 out of 5 stars.

Theodore Boone:Kid Lawyer by John Grisham

2010-06-24T21:32:00.000-06:00

I just finished this fun story, written for younger readers by John Grisham, who usually writes books for adults. Typically, his plots center around courtrooms, crimes, lawyers, the legal system, etc. and in Theodore Boone I found the same themes and writing style, except that the difficulty level was toned down in order to be readable by kids and young adults. The plot was easy to follow, based on a murder and the ensuing trial, with youngsters as key characters and the suspense very heavy right up until the end. Theodore was a strong, smart protagonist whose knowledge of the legal system was impressive. John Grisham's storytelling ability was as sharp in this story as it is in his novels for adults. He offered plenty of explanation for the events in the courtroom and he did a good job of explaining the legal background for what was going on. Younger readers or adults who'd like an understandable picture of the courtroom scene would all enjoy this book. Five our of five stars.

Bite Me - A Love Story by Christopher Moore

2010-04-14T19:07:00.005-06:00

If I had to describe this book in one word, I would have to say "wacky". It's a love story with a bite - Christopher Moore's latest vampire tale, filled with crazy characters and goings on, set in the city of San Francisco. The city's inhabitants are being stalked by an enormous, shaved vampire cat named Chet who unwittingly makes dozens of new vamp kitties every night, finally coming to the attention of two detectives, Cavuto and Rivera, as well as the street-dwelling Emperor of San Francisco and his two dogs Bummer and Lazarus. It seems that everyone is after a piece of Chet.
Tommy and Jody are vampire ringleaders with human shapes, although they are also able to dissolve into a cool vamp mist when necessary. With the help of their goth Girl Friday Abby Normal, who imprisoned them both in bronze statues, they managed to escape their prisons by way of the mist thing and unleash themselves on the city. Its one of those books in which everyone is chasing after someone (or something) else. And it's very funny - I recommend it as a light, humorous read! 4 out of 5 stars.

Her Fearful Symmetry pt. 2

2010-02-04T13:43:00.003-07:00

The girls have arrived at the flat in London and have been there for several weeks. They've gone exploring, but have yet to meet Robert, the deceased aunt's boyfriend, who lives in a flat on the floor above them and really should have introduced himself to them by now. He is fascinated by them but terrified of them at the same time, so he follows them around town, kind of stalker-style, until one of the twins begins to sense that they are being followed. Meanwhile, the other twin makes friends with Martin, an obssessive-compulsive who also lives a floor above them, and she periodically visits for tea in in his very unusual home as she tries to get a grip on what's bothering him.
The book continues to be compelling because the characters are interesting and as I head into the second half, I hope to see Robert become friends with the twins and even perhaps for Martin to come out of his dwelling, into the world. More on this one later.

About Bookstores (not a book review)

2010-01-19T13:54:00.004-07:00

I love them. When I walk into Barnes and Noble it feels amazing, huge, with so many books that I want to look at all of them. It's also really colorful and loaded with bargain books, which keeps people coming back, I'm sure. My second favorite store is the Tattered Cover in H.R. It's really different looking than the one downtown. In the H.R. store, the building is huge and airy, with tall ceilings and a very spread out look. It reminds me of B&N except there don't appear to be as many books in the Tattered. Or maybe it's just the layout - I don't know. I used to go to the Tattered in the evenings to get tea and read a book, as they have this great area full of couches and easy chairs, plus tables for using laptops. There is an atmosphere at the Tattered that B&N does not have, in spite of it's many books and seating areas, plus the Tattered has a clientele that seems dedicated to paying more for books in order to support the independent bookstore. By sheer volume, B&N overwhelms with material of every kind but lacks that small, neighborhood feel of the Tattered. I'm glad to have them both.

The Tarot Cafe, vol. 1-5 by Sang-Sun Park

2010-01-18T12:13:00.003-07:00

This has been my foray into the world of Manga, which I had never heard of until I picked up the first volume of this series. I think of it as a graphic novel. The main character, Pamela, reads tarot cards in her little shop, The Tarot Cafe. The various customers who come in for readings make up the stories in the book and they consist of humans, vampires, fairies and other creatures. As an aside, Pamela has a dark secret of her own that she must work out as she also tries to help her visitors. Each volume of the series takes the reader closer to understanding what haunts Pamela's past.

I think the illustrations in these books are beautiful. The artist gives the characters big, deep eyes, refined features and interesting clothing so that they are attractive without being inappropriate. I have looked at other Manga books and I wouldn't say that it is a favorite genre in general or that I have purchased any others than this series. There was just something charming about these little books in particular, attractive to me because I like the Tarot and vampires and the charming illustrations. 5 Stars out of 5

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

2010-01-13T23:40:00.004-07:00

Right now I'm reading a book called Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger, who also wrote The Time Traveler's Wife.

So far I'm liking Symmetry because it's a ghost story. There has been one excellent chapter in which a woman who has passed away finds herself back in her apartment in England, trying to deal with feeling incomplete and unable to affect the world around her. She can't see her face in the mirror, which is very disturbing to her, so she decides to start moving things around in the apartment - books, pencils, anything that she can force to move makes good practice until she gets pretty good at shoving things off of desks and so forth. She finds that she can indulge her love of reading by turning the pages of a book, as long as the book has been somehow opened for her to begin with.

Two very unusual twin girls are about to move into this same flat, relatives of the deceased woman who left the place to them to live in for one year. I'm uncertain as to how they will get along, living with a ghost who tosses paper clips around when she's bored.
More on this one later.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

2010-01-12T15:25:00.004-07:00

I can't believe I only recently read this book, and it was because I saw the movie on TV (the one with Keira Knightley, where she flashes those brown eyes of hers when she's mad). I loved the story and I went and got the book to read. There were some significant changes from the movie back to the book but the basics were all there and there was a lot more verbal explanation of things in the book.

This love-story-that-almost-doesn't-happen is very good. What an amazing story for the author to have come up with - it had so many twists and turns and it takes right up until the end for the reader to see how things will turn out for the characters. Even if it's an oldie, I enjoyed it. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman

2010-01-12T14:54:00.004-07:00

A kid in England trades his dad to a friend for two goldfish. Mom returns from the store and tells the kid to go and get his dad back. This is another charming, crazy, different book by Neil Gaiman, a 32-pager illustrated by Dave McKean. The point of the story is that dad has been re-swapped among the neighborhood children so many times by now that it takes forever to get him back. He's a passive fellow who just reads his newspaper and apparently makes no fuss as the kids are handing him around.

Ok, I love Neil Gaiman's weird sense of humor and how he can take some seeming impossible thing and make it believeable. It says that the book is best suited for younger readers, but older kids liked it too and an adult would enjoy it once through also. 5 out of 5 Stars

Dead Until Dark, etc. by Charlaine Harris

2010-01-12T14:38:00.003-07:00

This volume started the series of vampire books by Charlaine Harris that the TV series "True Blood" is based on. I haven't seen the show but I did read all of the first 7 of the books and enjoyed them. The characters were engaging. Ms. Harris did a good job of bringing in new characters with each new book. There was a good blend of humor and the occasional gripping "Oh no!" kind of thing, where the reader feels genuinely shocked about something.
I wouldn't say that the writing in these books is ultra polished, but the story line kept my attention and I went easily from one book to the next as they became available. I would recommend them.
4 out of 5 stars

Columbine by Dave Cullen

2010-01-12T14:17:00.003-07:00

Because I work in close proximity to the high school, my community has lived with the aftermath and it's hard to know what to say about the Columbine shootings that has not been said. However, I was absorbed by Dave Cullen's book because he did bring out many points of information that I didn't know and he did it in a palatable way.

This was a thick, hardback book, engaging and easy to get into. In a few spots I got a little bogged down with timelines, but other than that, the information seemed accurate. I recognized so many names and faces as the pages went by - that gave the reading a surreal quality. It was like reading about third-party people and then going "Oh, I know/knew him/her personally - they are not just a character in a book."

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the facts and interviews about Columbine, told in a story format.
4 out of 5 stars

Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn

2010-01-12T13:41:00.005-07:00

Everyone has their own opinion about this series - some hated it it, some loved it, some thought it was poorly written, others stuck with it because it was a vampire story, they liked the story line, etc. There are as many opinions as their are people to offer them.

I read all 4 books and liked them all. Were they the most professionally written books I've ever read? No. But that didn't seem to be the deciding factor for me. Once into a book I could not put it down. I loved the vampires - even the evil ones - and I thought the Cullen family was a modern, humanistic way for vamps to live among humans without hurting them. The plan wasn't always perfect but it worked ok for the most part. At times, I didn't care as much for the character of Bella, because I wanted her to be more talkative and assertive. More could have been done with that character, I think, to make her a more interesting partner for Edward.

I picked up Twilight and just glanced at it, right after it came out in paperback at a local bookstore. I had no idea what it was or that it was a vampire story. At first I didn't buy it. I ended up going back the next day to get a copy and being really glad I did, of course, as it led to reading the other 3 books when they came out. Eventually, now that the hype is out there, I'd like to read them again and see if I react differently to a second reading than I did to the first.

The Society of S by Susan Hubbard

2010-01-12T12:51:00.005-07:00

I liked this book very much because I like vampire stories and this one had a different spin. It is the story of a 13-year old girl named Ariella who lives a sheltered life with her scientist father and just a few other people in her circle of aquaintances. Her mother left her as a baby and Ari knows very little about her. Ari's father provides her with a fabulous education, home-school fashion, but provides little interaction with other children.

In the course of the story, Ari discovers that her family are vampires but that her mother was mortal, so Ari is something of both. In essence, she can choose whichever lifestyle she likes. Undecided, she decides to set off in search of her mother, who lives in sunny Florida, and a road trip ensues.

I liked the family dynamics in this story, the way the father kept his daughter from finding out about her true heritage until halfway through the book. The girl was smart and began to put things together, but this also caused her to want a united, happy family, which she knew might not ever happen.

I enjoyed this book and I'm glad I read it. There is now a sequel called The Year of Disappearances that I would like to read as well. 4 out of 5 Stars

The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman

2010-01-12T12:04:00.004-07:00

Something a little different with this one. The book's format is large, extra-picture size but the book is located in the fiction section of our school library. It's a great story anyway, for its only being 32 pages! The illustrations by Dave McKean are what really make the book and lend so much to it's atmosphere.

Lucy hears scratching sounds behind the walls in her house but no one believes her. They say "If the wolves come out of the walls, then it's all over." No one will say what "It" means.

Finally, the wolves do come crashing out of the walls and the family has to move out into the yard. Lucy goes back in to retrieve her pig puppet and then returns to the garden with her family. They are stuck in a real dilemma, wanting to go back into their house but terrified of the wildly partying wolves that have taken it over.

In the end, it resolves itself with Lucy, the pig puppet and the family getting back into their house. You will have to read the book to see how they do it.

The illustrations are dark and a little sinister, fitting perfectly with the nighttime escapades of Lucy's family and the Wolves in the Walls. 5 out of 5 Stars

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

2010-01-12T11:45:00.006-07:00

I loved this book so much! I've recommended it to all kinds of people although it is considered a young adult story. IT is Neil Gaiman at his best. Because of the rather grisly crime that is committed in the opening scene, I debated about whether to put this book out on my school's library shelves. I finally decided that with a preparatory book talk, older students could handle the crime scene and then be very enriched by the remainder of the story. It is just too good to pass up.

Nobody "Bod" Owens loses his family during a terrible murder when he is a baby and when Bod escapes by crawling out of his crib, the murderer comes looking for him. Bod toddles up the hill and ends up at the cemetery gates, where the ghosts take him in. They know he is in trouble, gathering around him protectively. The family values exhibited in this story are amazing. Bod is raised to understand that he cannot ever leave the confines of the cemetery, for evil lurks without and he would be in great danger. There is one being, Silas, who is able to come and go at will and brings things in to Bod, such as food and clothing, books and other necessities. Bod is educated in all subjects by the various ghosts, reads profusely and has many wild adventures inside the fences of the graveyard. He even makes friends with a mortal girl who accompanies her mother when she comes to the cemetery for visits. The girl appears at various stages of the story and figures in as an important character near the end. Bod eventually grows restless and his desire to leave the cemetery is a problem as the murderer continues to search for Bod, intending to kill him.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves a sweet, coming-of-age story and wants to see some good family values in action as a "village" gathers around a helpless child to help him grow up. 5 out of 5 Stars

The Lovely Bones

2009-12-04T22:33:00.005-07:00

The Lovely Bones is now in the theaters but I don't think I will see it - the story was too disturbing to me. It was very well written and provided a deep view of death, from the viewpoint of the deceased teenage girl. When a violent crime occurs, we typically think about the steps and processes involved in solving the crime. In this book, the missing and presumed dead girl observes her family and her killer from her vantage point in "heaven". This was not a happy book or one that had the expected, reassuring ending. I wanted them to catch the crazy who did this to her and they didn't. It does cause the reader to think about the difference between a happy ending and one that brings justice and closure to the situation even though no one feels any better over time. That said, it is still worth reading. 4 out of 5 Stars