Review: Ruby Red

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

Everyone thinks that Charlotte is the one in the family to inherit the time travel gene. Her birth date was predicted by Sir Isaac Newton, after all, and he knew a thing or two about equations. As a result, she has spent her entire life training for time travel; she is fluent in several languages, is a history-wiz, and knows how to ride horses and fence. And she is the only one in the family who can tell her grandmother to mind her own business. But Charlotte does not inherit the gene. Her cousin, Gwyneth does.

Reading Challenge Update

Here is a list of all the book I have read for the Semi-Charmed Book Challenge so far (Points are in parentheses next to the books):

A Storm of Swords By George R.R. Martin (10)- Different Genres
The Scorch Trials by James Dashner  (10)- Different Genres
Divergent by Veronica Roth (5)- Author I never read before
Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (20)- Number in the title
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards (15)- The ________'s Daughter
Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier (15)- Translation
The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore (20)- Holiday story
The Hobbit  by J.R.R. Tolkien (25)- Re-read this book

Total Points: 120 (200 to win!)

Review: Mr. Penumbra's 24 hour Bookstore

Mr. Penumnra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Simply put: I thought this book was awesome. I only wish I had a chance to read it before the author came to the library I intern at. It would have been fun to talk to him about the characters in Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore and not seem completely clueless (which I was). For details on why he was there, check out this link.

Clay is a currently unemployed graphic designer. In his desperation to enter the ranks of people with money, he stumbles into a book store and asks the old shop owner for a job. The question Clay has to answer before he gets the job is about what he likes to read, and then is hired for the night shift in the 24 hour bookstore. Employment: Achieved.

Book Challenge Update

So here is where I'm at so far for the Semi-Charmed Book Challenge:

1. book by an author I have never read before: Divergent by Veronica Roth (5 pts)

2. 2 out of 3 books of different genres: A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin (fantasy) and The Scorch Trials by James Dashner (Dystopia) (20 pts)

 3. I'm almost done with a book in the number in the title: Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. (20 pts)

So far I have 45 points. Go Me! I have until January 31 to finish the challenge. I might have to start reading shorter books. Divergent was only around 300, but A Storm of Swords was over 1,000.

Any book suggestions for the other categories? I'm still on the lookout for authors with the initials J.G!

Review: The Scorch Trials

The Scorch Trials by James Dashmer

The Scorch Trials is the second book in “The Maze Runner” trilogy. It begins exactly where The Maze Runner left off. Thomas and the Gladers have escaped from the maze and WICKED, and are now safe with their rescuers. At least they thought they were until they woke up to a bunch of Cranks -zombie-like people who have been infected with the Flare- and find their rescuers dead. Not only are the Gladers not safe, they are still in WICKED’s clutches.
When the Gladers realize they are not safe, many things happen at once:
1. They discover Theresa has gone missing and Thomas can’t communicate with her telepathically
2. Theresa seems to have been replaced with a kid named Aris who can also use telepathic communication
3. The Gladers find out that there is another group that has gone through exactly what they went through, except it was a group of girls
4. The group has no access to food for three days

Review: I Am Number Four

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

I am Number Four is about John Smith (that’s his name for now, anyway). John is not a normal boy, but is in fact an alien from the planet Lorien. John’s planet was attacked when he was young, and he and nine other children escaped with their protectors and headed for the nearest planet that would support life: Earth.
The race that destroyed Lorien, the Mogadorians, are now after the nine who escaped. The nine are protected by a charm, though, so they can only be killed in the numerical order they were given. One through three were found and killed, and John is number four.

And they all come flooding in at once!

Has this ever happened to you?

I requested a lot of books from the library. At least 10, probably more. Not all of them were recent, either. Some of them had very long waiting lists for a small number of books.

The past few days it seems that every single book I have ever requested has come in. This includes both e-books and paper book. The paper books I can at least wait a few days before I pick up, and I can also renew them. But the e-books? Those I have to download within 72 hours of receiving an email notification and I cannot renew them. This isn't the first time this has happened, either. It's as if the library waits to send my books all at once so it is almost impossible to read (and store) all of them. It's a literary conspiracy!

This also means that almost all of the books I plan to read for the book challenge have come in from the library. Now I have an additional challenge: reading them before I have to return them all!