The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

Chloe feels like her life is finally settling down. After moving from place to place due to her dad's job she's finally enrolled in a arts high school that her dad has promised her she'll be able to stay in for all four years. But then Chloe wakes up one day and begins to see ghosts - which freaks her out just a bit (understandably so) - and her school forces her into group home for treatment where she learns the others kids have some pretty unusual abilities as well.

The beginning of the book was super S-L-O-W. The author spent an inordinate amount of time setting up accessory characters and background information that were either never mentioned again or that could have been explained at a later date. That's not to say the action does pick up with a vengeance - literally once things got going I couldn't bear to put it down. Chloe is smart and thinks each situation through and the major cliffhanger ending had me pulling out my hair saying 'Eek! That's it?!?' I especially liked the villains in this book - they are nasty and vindictive and not at all who you would suspect. Yea for bad guys who aren't made of cardboard!!

My biggest beef is why is Chloe so interested in Simon (another kid at the group home)? Unfortunately for him, he has the personality of a turnip. Now, Derek - that boy has potential. I can't wait to see what he does in the next book.

Silly side rant: If have to read one more book where the protagonist's name is Chloe I think I'll shoot myself in the head.

reading order:
~ The Summoning
~ The Awakening

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

I have so many good things to say about this sweet, charming, hilarious, and poignant little book! It's got to be one of my favorites this year so far.

Miss Pettigrew is a governess who can't hold a job and is now at her wits end. In hopes of a new position, she is sent by her agency to an upscale neighborhood but instead of a house full of unruly children, Miss Pettigrew finds herself helping the lovely Miss Delysia LaFosse (a beautiful nightclub singer) who needs help managing the various men in her life. Nick - the handsome bounder who can melt you with a glance, Phil - the man who just might be able to back Miss LaFosse in his next production, and finally Michael - who actually wants to marry Delysia but who Miss Pettigrew doesn't exactly approve of. In a series of comedic exchanges where Miss Pettigrew throws off her straight-laced upbringing, she helps Delysia and her friends sort through problems while worming her way into everyone's heart. After spending a day withe Miss LaFosse Miss Pettigrew knows her life will never be the same again - as she truly learns the meaning of living.

I loved every single character who graced the pages of this book, I loved the illustrations that look like they were pulled from some 1940s magazine, most of all I loved Miss Pettigrew's discovery of herself and her extremely witty conversation. Her inner monologue was priceless and I found myself (like everyone else in the book) wondering just what amazing thing she would do next.

Just watch the trailer and see if you don't want to rush out and see this lovely film. Amy Adams just happens to be the PERFECT Miss LaFosse.

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

I have nothing but respect for the Printz awards. In the past they have chosen some truly aMAZing books (like The White Darkness or Looking for Alaska) some not so much my favorites but still, they always choose books just a little bit different, which is what I really like. Each book tends to deal with difficult issues surrounding teens that take my breath away and never fail to get me thinking. 2009's choice is no light-weight either. I've actually had Jellicoe Road in my TBR pile for several months now and just haven't had a chance to pick it up. Now that I've finished it, I'm just kicking myself for not reading it sooner.

Taylor Markham is head of her house at the Jellicoe School, where many of the students, like her, are orphans or have been abandoned by their parents. Taylor was brought to Jellicoe School by the mysterious Hannah after her mom left her at a 7-11 when she was 11. Each year, the students fight the Cadets, who camp near the school for several weeks and the Townies in a type of territory 'war' that determines control over various trails, streams, and buildings in the bush. This year, Taylor has been selected as the school's leader and is more than reticent to participate. Then Hannah unexpectedly disappears and Taylor knows it's connected to the disappearance of her mother and will stop at nothing to find out more. Joined by other students, the mysterious Cadet leader Jonah Griggs, and the Townie Santangelo, Taylor slowly unravels the story of her past and the stories of those she loves most.

To be competely honest, for the first part of the book I was pretty lost. There are several storylines and everyone seemed to have 'history' which made for some confusing reading. But knowing how many people have raved about it, I just kept reading hoping to make sense of it all. And it did. Taylor's story came together with such unexpected beauty that I found myself totally intrigued by each new revelation and it's effect on Taylor and her friends. That's not to say I missed some things along the way - I actually had to reread several parts after finishing becuase I totally missed one major revelation. Oops. But I can't say enough good about this book: there is such heartbreaking sadness, wonder and hope found here that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Set in modern NYC - where anything can happen - Kyle Kingsbury is Mr. Popular. He's handsome, rich and can get any girl he wants. But Kyle is spoiled, selfish and extremely unkind. As a prank he spurns a gothic chick who turns out to be a witch(!) who curses him to become as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside. Turned into a beast, his only chance to return to his human form is for him to find a girl who he can love and will love him (in beast form) before two years are up. Feeling hopeless after being spurned by his TV perfect father, Kyle encloses himself in a Brooklyn home with only a rose garden, tutor and housemaid as companions.

The best part of this book is that Kyle is a 21st Century teenager with all sorts of technology at his fingertips. Prefacing each section are chatroom logs that Kyle joins as a type of online support group for people who have been changed by magic. There he meets up with the frog prince and the little mermaid -- their conversations had me cracking up and wishing I could read their stories as well. I enjoyed this new take as it details Kyle's transformation into a beast instead of solely from Beauty's perspective after the Beast has already been transformed. Such a different take on a classic story that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell

I'll admit it first thing: I was a King Arthur groupie. Summers were spent at Renaissance festivals, and one year my best friend and I even made medieval dresses for ourselves - and it wasn't even close to Halloween. So coming into this lovely, lovely book which retells the story of Elaine, the Lady of Shalott, I was more than excited. Then I opened the book and saw it was all in verse and I sort of did a little dance around the house. Okay, so it was a big happy dance.

In this revised version of The Lady of Shaott, Elaine along with her brothers and father live in the soldiers camp under the direction of Arthur. She has become friend, sister and healer to the men but her only wish is that she could have more female friends. As war progresses, Elaine gets her wish when Lancelot, the love of her life, brings back Gwynivere to be Arthur's bride. But Lancelot is obviously in love with Gwyn and can only see Elaine as a young girl. To make matters worse, Gwyn is utterly beautiful and completely mean and nasty to Elaine. Which I thought was a totally delicious change.

Sandell may not have stayed completely true to Tennyson's original poem about Elaine, but this version was more filled with hope for the future. The cadence and smooth flow of events competely had me sucked in from the very beginning. Here's one of my favorite passages:

The warriors gather, but I am not welcome.
Or so Lavaian tells me, hurling
the words like rocks over his shoulder.
Stay here. The meeting is no place for a girl.
Leaving me here, alone,
to wait and wonder.
What will become of us?

Just so dang great.

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs

There are some people who have the talent of being able to take any situation and turn it into a great story (like the guy from Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock). A.J. Jacobs is another such engaging individual. He is smart, witty, and charmingly neurotic. His latest project is to pull every single commandment from the Bible he could find (over 700) and try to live each one as literally as possible for an entire year. So not just the 10 Commandments (which are pretty tough to get right all the time anyways) but ALL of them, even the ones most people think are crazy and don't understand.

What follows is an almost day-to-day account of Jacobs' successes and failures (it's hard to conquer lust when you work for Esquire magazine) in a very real, very personal way. In his quest to better understand the Bible and its' rules, he meets with various individuals including deep-south snake handlers, Creationalists, and Samarians while in Jerusalem to name a few. Perhaps my favorite interview was when he met with a Jehovah's Witness - whom he actually ended up out-talking. The man finally begged leave when his wife called him at 10:30pm wondering when he was going to come home.

As a side note, one reason why I liked this book so much is becuase he is constantly including lists - lists of rules, various Biblical interpretations, things he wants to work on, etc. I love lists and I like other list-makers, so thank you.

Surprisingly, although humorous, this book also constantly had me thinking about my own personal spirituality - which I don't think is necessarily intended, but a logical extension. Most likely it was due to Jacobs' honesty - if he could be so brutal in self-examination, why not me? But that doesn't mean I would only recommend it to someone religious - I think just about anyone would enjoy this engaging book.

Contest

Holy pile of books Batman!

Presenting Lenore is giving away two massive piles of books from Penguin.

The first set is a Penguin Reality Pack

The second set is a Penguin Fantasy Pack

You have until June 3 to enter so what are you waiting for?!?

Can I say really want to read Dull Boy?

Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli

Amazingly powerful story about a young orphan who roams the streets of Warsaw, Poland stealing food and striving to be invisible. He doesn't know much about the world until another orphan, Uri, finds him and gives him the name Misha, a history, and a way to become truly invisible. Misha records with unflinching honesty his first experience meeting a Jackboot (Nazi soldiers) and his own naive belief he was safe from them: he's a Gypsy and not a Jew. Above all, Misha is curious - excessively so - and his curiosity leads him into to more than one seriously dangerous situation after another. Sometimes bringing about unexpected happiness, like meeting Janinia and other times that led to profound grief as he is herded into the Warsaw Ghetto along with other Jews.

Without Misha's exuberance and curiosity, this book could have been devastatingly sad, but instead half the time I was chuckling over some new scrape he had gotten himself into. Misha witnesses firsthand the cruelty of the Nazis, poignantly illustrated in one scene where Nazi officers bring their girlfriends to the Ghetto to throw food to the prisoners as if they were birds in a park.

Spinelli is a masterful writer. This story could be read for its powerful plot lines, for its treatment of families and friendships, or for its rendering of one boy's horrifying experience in a Jewish Ghetto. Much can be gained from either perspective.

What stayed with me the most were the descriptions of his adult years - Misha's struggle to fit into society after facing so many horrors in his youth. I found myself going back and rereading multiple passages becuase I couldn't bear to put it down. So very moving.