Top Books of the Semester

I've read 10 books over the course of the semester. I'm going to rank all of the ones that I've completed and reviewed and briefly explain why I'm ranking them in the order that I am.

1. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (306 Pages)
This book has quickly become one of my favorite books of all time. I absolutely loved the story, the writing, the world, the adventure... really everything about it. Absolutely my top book that I read this semester.
2. Always a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough (276 Pages)
Even though this was the second book in the series, it was better than the first in my opinion. I really love the idea of time travel and since they actually addressed it more in this book, I enjoyed it a lot. It had a lot of adventure and although it was darker, it was much more interesting in my opinion.
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien (340 Pages)
Although this book was rather slow at times, I love the world and the story so much that it has to be near the top of my list. It was very exciting and compelling and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
4. The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke (345 Pages)
This book stood out to me because of how different it was from most of the other books I read. It had fantasy, but was quite realistic and just really interesting. Much better than the movie from what I remember of it.
5. Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough (292 Pages)
This was the first book in the series, but I definitely did not think it was as good as the second one. I really enjoyed it for sure, but it simply wasn't as exciting and did not have as much interest as it could have. Either way, it was a fantastic book.
6. Avatar: The Last Airbender- The Promise by Gene Luen Yang, illustrated by Gurihiru (240 Pages)
I was quite impressed with this one being that it was a continuation from the television series that I love so much. It was really quite good with the story and art style matching the show. It was actually a good story that kept me interested and I liked it a lot.
7. Haven: A Stranger Magic by D.C. Akers (144 Pages)
For being as short as it was, I really liked this book. It left me wanting more and although it was rather infuriating that the end was a cliff hanger and the next book is not out yet, I have to admit that it was quite good.
8. The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (224 Pages)
It did bother me slightly how much I saw this book to be like Lord of the Rings, but it was still enjoyable to read. The story was different in some ways and it kept getting better as I went along, so I still think it was a good read.
9. Every Day by David Levithan (322 Pages)
A lot of things about this book bothered me. It was a bit unrealistic and creepy at some parts and I ended up not liking or connecting with the main character too much. It was not terrible, but it's not my top pick for a book to read.
10. Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass (322 Pages)
I did not end up liking this book too much because it was written more for a younger audience. As much as I think this is a good book for younger people, it was so predictable and I disliked the characters so much that I'd have to say that it's my least favorite book that I read this semester.

Those are all the books I've read this semester. I'm also currently reading Wool and it's fantastic so far!

The Book of Three Review

Title: The Book of Three
Author: Lloyd Alexander
Pages: 224
Version: Paperback
Publisher: Random House, Inc.

I've finished The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander! I liked it a lot. I decided to read it while waiting for Wool to come in at the library. I needed a book to read and it was laying in my brother's room so I thought, why not? It turned out to be the perfect length for me to read while waiting because I finished it right around when my book came in. It's a story about about an assistant pig-keeper who ends up on a long journey after the pig runs away. Taran (the assistant pig-keeper and main character) winds up running into people along the way and goes on many adventures with them. From getting captured by evil lady Achren to getting sucked into a lake by dwarves, Taran experiences many crazy things along the way. So I really enjoyed this book. It's not very long at all, probably took me around 4 days to read when I didn't even read it for long amounts of time. For the amount of things that happen in the book, I'd say it's quite short. The characters were all very good and the story is well written. This specific cover is the one that I have on my book and I think it's rather nice. This story was extremely similar to Lord of the Rings to me. I noticed it very quickly while I was reading it. The pig escapes, sending Taran on a journey much like the ring sends Frodo on a journey. Gwydion is sort of a mixture of Gandalf and Aragorn. There is an evil sort of king, Arawn, of the dark land of Annuvin much like Sauron and Mordor. There is a lesser evil that has her own castle, Achren which I compare to Sarumon. In addition, the horned king (shown on the cover) and his riders remind me much of the Nazgûl in Lord of the Rings. Also, Gurgi is quite reminiscent of Golem except not as sinister. I was just drawing parallels between the two books most of the time. That being said, it is a different story and I enjoyed it all the same. It's very fantastic and epic and the story is really nice. For me, the story got better as it went on. It started great and got much better by the end. I would recommend this book if you like books like Lord of the Rings type of epic fantasy books.

Haven: A Stranger Magic Review

Title: Haven: A Stranger Magic
Author: D.C. Akers
Pages: 144
Version: Kindle Ebook
Publisher: D.C. Akers

I've finished Haven: A Stranger Magic by D.C. Akers just yesterday. Let me just say right now that if you are thinking about reading this and you can read the books for Kindle somehow, you should just go download it now because it is currently free here. It was very short and very good which is probably why I finished it so quickly. I really enjoyed this book. It's about a sort of ordinary boy that sees a stranger outside his house one night. After that night, it seems like everything in his life starts to change. Like I said, the book isn't very long and seems to be just sort of setting up the story and also hinting at what will come next. That means that it ends with a pretty major cliffhanger which was fantastic, but also frustrating because the next book hasn't come out yet. I just want to know what happens next! The characters are all quite good. I like Sam a lot and his friend Travis seems to be really interesting although he isn't in the book that much. Sam's sister, Sarah is also interesting because after she was characterized as a mean, popular sister I thought she would just be that. But she's not. I don't know what's going to end up happening with her; perhaps she'll go on an adventure with her brother (at least that's what I'm expecting). I mainly just want to know what it going to happen with the whole other worlds/magic/Sam's parents' old life part of the story. I really love the whole idea of magic having to do with both the elements and the zodiac signs. I know that zodiac signs are associated with the elements so I'm guessing that it has something to do with that. I absolutely love the cover of the book as well. The colors are fantastic and the symbol for water on the front is really nice. It feels to me quite similar to the elements from Avatar: The Last Airbender except different in its own unique way. The symbol is close to the one for water from that too seen here. That is probably because that's the general symbol for water. I do actually really like the association that I make with Avatar: The Last Airbender because that is my favorite show and it's nice to have a book that somewhat relates that has a different plot. Anyway, I just really liked it a lot and can't wait for the next one. I highly recommend this book to people that like magic and things like that, but really if you're even slightly interested, I'd give it a go because it's free on Amazon right now.

Every Soul A Star Review

Title: Every Soul A Star
Author: Wendy Mass
Pages: 322
Version: Paperback
Publisher: Hachette Book Group, Inc.

I've finished Every Soul A Star by Wendy Mass this week. I'm going to go ahead and say right now that I think this book is probably geared towards younger people more near age 12. It's more of a middle school sort of coming of age book. That being said, it wasn't bad, just really not the best book for an older audience. This story centers around three main characters; Ally, Bree, and Jack. They are all very different people and by chance, end up meeting and becoming friends. Ally lives at the Moon Shadow campground and has for most of her life. She is the girl that is "different from every other girl". That leads me to Bree. Bree is essentially "every other girl". She is into clothes and make-up and wants to be a model. Jack is a slightly overweight kid that doesn't really have any friends. He has to go to summer school because he doesn't pay attention in class and spends all his time drawing and playing video games. Bree's parents decided to move to the Moon Shadow to take it over after Ally and her family moves away. Neither Bree nor Ally is happy with this. Everyone is at the campground for an eclipse. Anyway, I'll go ahead and say that I really did not like the characters much at all. And that was a big problem for me. Bree is one of the absolute worst characters I have ever seen in any book. I hated her for most of the book. She was so unlikeable and so superficial... I don't even really know what to say about her. The other two were fine, but they weren't really anything that spectacular to me. Another big problem I had with this book is that everything was so incredibly predictable. I knew exactly what was going to happen throughout the whole book and I really didn't like that. That being said, this book had an interesting setting and some really unique things about it that mostly had to do with the setting and the fact that it is centered around an eclipse. About the cover, I actually really like it and I think it's quite nice for this book (even if the person on it doesn't really look human). So anyway, I would recommend this book to younger people maybe around middle school aged.

Every Soul A Star and Predictions

This week, I started reading Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass. I am currently on page 259 of 322. This story focuses on three main characters; Ally, Jack, and Bree. They are all very different people, but they end up coming together at the Moon Shadow Campground for an eclipse. Ally lives at the campground and loves it there. She is home schooled and has a brother that she is very close to, Kenny. She is also very interested in astronomy and the stars and is very knowledgeable. Bree is one of the most popular girls in her school and dreams of nothing more than being a model. She doesn't really relate to her family much because her parents are scientists and her sister, Melanie is very smart and doesn't care what people think of her. So basically the opposite of Bree. Jack is a slightly overweight kid that likes drawing and science fiction books. He doesn't pay much attention in school and people tease him so he is supposed to go to summer school because he failed science. Bree is told that her whole family will be moving to the campground to take it over. That means Ally is being forced to move from the campground too. Neither of them want to move at all, but they end up being forced to no matter what anyway. Jack becomes friends with Ryan who is Ally's friend that visits the campground every summer. Ryan encourages Jack to start working out with him and Jack agrees. Jack meets Ally and Bree later sort of through Ryan. Ryan ends up really liking Bree because of how "hot" she is. Jack starts liking Ally because he thinks she is beautiful and smart. Since Jack is at the campground to get out of going to summer school, he is supposed to help with a special project to find exoplanets with his science teacher. However, his science teacher gets a call about his wife being pregnant and so Jack ends up having to do the whole thing himself with his friends. There is a massive storm the first day and so they end up hiding up in a shed on the hill they are supposed to use to look at the exoplanets. They continue with the experiment the next night and successfully take their data, possibly finding an exoplanet. This book is ok so far, but I think it's really meant for younger people because it's somewhat juvenile. I really really dislike Bree in this book which makes it much harder to like as well. We'll see how it ends though.

Now for the question of the week. Prediction is one of those reading skills that teachers all over America force on students. For some, this skill/obsession seems to happen naturally; for others, they would rather let the story unfold as it happens. What type of reader are you? Do you predict what's going to happen? Do you ever stop reading just so you can formulate predictions based on the story so far? How far do you take your predictions? Are you like me and let your predictions overtake you so that you HAVE to read the last page to see if you're right, or do you avoid reading the last page at all costs because knowing the ending ruins the story?

I would say I can definitely predict how a book is going to go sometimes. I don't go out of my way to predict what's going to happen or see if I'm right or anything, but I do think about what's going to happen next if I have some sort of good idea. I never really let prediction take much of a role in my reading though. It's not a very important aspect to me, I'm perfectly content with letting the story unfold as I go. I also don't really care if I'm right or not because of this, it's just not that important to me. I read to experience the story, not be right about what happens in it. Reading the last page isn't something that I usually do either unless I'm really bored with the book and wondering where it will go. I mean obviously I have to try and predict what will happen in books that I read for school usually because we have to analyze it so much, but when I'm reading for pleasure I really don't.

Every Day Review

Title: Every Day
Author: David Levithan
Pages: 322
Version: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House, Inc.

This book is about a person called A that wakes up in a new body every day. Essentially, he falls in love with the girlfriend of one of the bodies he inhabits. He ends up not being able to let her go and so decides to try and convince her to work out a relationship with him. The whole book is really about them seeing how this relationship can possibly work. I ended up reading this book in about three days I think. I finished it pretty quickly. At first, it took me a little while to actually get into it because I felt like I had to get used to the author's writing. For some reason it just seemed a lot different stylistically compared to books that I normally read. I decided to read this book because I thought the plot was a really cool and interesting idea which it definitely was. However, in the beginning of the book it starts out with sort of introducing A (the main character) and shows him in a guy named Justin's body. After A meets Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon, he realizes that Justin doesn't really treat her right and so tries to make his day with her really special, hoping to change Justin. Over the course of this time, A somehow completely falls in love with Rhiannon. I personally had a problem with this. I simply do not understand how he fell in love with her so deeply in a day. It seemed really unrealistic and strange to me. After this, he tries to go and see her whenever the body he is in is convenient to get to her. This seemed a bit... creepy to me. He knew her for one day, she has a boyfriend (whose body he was in), and yet he wants to see her and almost stalk her in a weird way. Soon problems start to arise and A ends up telling Rhiannon about his situation and confesses his love for her. Her character seemed to take it somewhat like a normal person would so that was good. Later on in the story, there is sort of another subplot happening while this romance plot is going on. I honestly don't really know why they put this other subplot in, it ended up not really going anywhere at all and didn't actually add much to the story. It would have been a really interesting addition if it had actually had some sort of role in A's life, but it didn't. This brings me to my biggest problem with the story. The ending. It did not satisfy me at all. It left so many things up in the air and yet it doesn't really seem like it can be continued. Basically, I didn't like the ending at all. In addition, the book was slightly inappropriate at some parts which I was not a fan of, but it wasn't terrible. Also, the cover is pretty nice, but I personally am not a big fan of the yellow that they tinted everything. Anyway, this actually is a pretty good book. If you like semi-unrealistic romance with a cool sort of underlying issue then I would read this for sure. However, if you want a really fantastic ending, I'm not sure this would be the best book to read. The ending makes sense, but.... just see for yourself.

Challenge 8- Once a Witch and Always a Witch Review

Title: Once a Witch

Author: Carolyn MacCullough

Pages: 292

Version: Hardcover

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Title: Always a Witch

Author: Carolyn MacCullough

Pages: 276

Version: Hardcover

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

So I just finished the second book of this series today. I originally read the first book because I read a review on Katie's Book Blog. The series consists of two books (Once a Witch and Always a Witch). I figured it would be best if I did a combined review for both of them. First of all, here's a bit about the books. Tasmin Greene comes from a family of witches and the night she was born, her grandmother predicted that she would be the most powerful of them all. However, Tasmin's Talent (specialized magical power) never showed up. She was somewhat of an outcast in her family because of this. Since she is "normal" she decided to go off to a boarding school in Manhattan to get away from all the magic. One day while she is at home working in her family's shop, a man comes in looking for her talented sister, Rowena. He ends up mistaking Tasmin for Rowena and asks her to find an old family heirloom for him. This strange request ends up sending her on a journey through time that unlocks secrets about her family and herself. I absolutely adored these books. I would say the second one was my favorite out of the two, but is definitely a lot more sinister and dark than the first one. I really liked the characters in the book which was nice. Tasmin is quite dynamic and I found her very interesting as a main character. The enemies of her family were also quite good even though they were truly evil people. Tasmin's sister, Rowena was also a really strange sort of antagonist to Tasmin. She was crazy and bitter, but did end up being important at the key times. And she also proved to be a major problem in the first book (not that it was her fault). As far as the story goes, I loved it. The first book was a lot of background and building up to everything in the second book. I would definitely say that the second book is much more exciting because most of the key events happen in that book. Once a Witch was necessary and also great though. The second book goes faster overall. I couldn't put it down. I actually had to make myself stop reading it so I would still have something to read while I was waiting to get my next book. It was fantastic. It has romance, time travel, magic, and some great enemies. I really did love this series. I also really like the covers quite a lot, the colors are nice and reflect the feeling of each of the books rather well I would say. I would recommend it to anyone that is looking for a pretty fast read and likes the things I mentioned above. I don't know if I can say much more without giving away some of the plot so I'll just leave it at that. It's a great series. I love it. Read it.

Challenge 7- The Hobbit Review

Title: The Hobbit
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Pages: 306
Version:  Paperback
Publisher: The Random House Publishing Group

What can I say about the Hobbit? It was absolutely amazing. I probably even enjoyed it more than Lord of the Rings which is really quite astounding to me. The Hobbit is much more fast paced and exciting compared to Lord of the Rings. It doesn't ever seem to drag on at any parts while Lord of the Rings definitely did. The overall story was very interesting and learning how Bilbo found the ring was quite cool to me. I love all of the dwarves as well, they are all very dynamic and unique. In addition, the interactions with the people that they meet along the way are fantastic. I really loved the whole section of meeting with Beorn in the forest. One thing that actually surprised me though was how little Smaug seemed to be in the book. He was obviously a major problem, yet it seemed to me he had come and gone so quickly. The biggest part of this book was definitely the journey, not really the final goal of the great wealth lying beneath the Lonely Mountain. Luckily, the journey was full of twists and turns and all kinds of exciting adventures. Having seen the first movie already before reading this, I did end up comparing it to the movie. It was strange how the crazy old wizard Radagast was in the movie quite a lot while he was simply mentioned once in the book. I thought it was really interesting to see that parallel and how Peter Jackson essentially took Beorn out of the movie and implemented Radagast instead and made an entirely new character. I am really excited to see the next movie when it comes out to find out what other things they decide to change and do differently. The book is beautifully written overall which is, perhaps, not surprising considering it is written by J.R.R. Tolkien. His talent to create this amazing world that is completely new and has such depth is absolutely astounding to me. I also greatly enjoyed the fact that Gandalf was in this book (and in fact, is on the cover of the version I read, shown above) considering he is my favorite character. The songs and poems that were carried along through Lord of the Rings as well were a nice touch and tie together of the books. I really like his poems and songs quite a lot. In fact, the Misty Mountain song at the beginning of the book translated over to the movie is absolutely incredible. I think they did a fantastic job of transferring that song from the book to an actual song and captured the whole mood of it very well. Overall, I strongly recommend this book to almost anyone, especially if you liked the movie. It really is fantastic and probably one of my favorite books that I have read in a long time.

The Hobbit and New Book Releases

This week I continued reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. I'm nearing the conclusion being that I am on page 235 of 306. I'll probably finish it up in the next few days. So form where I left off last week, the company ventured into the forest and met Beorn, a solitary shape-shifter that lives and associates mostly with animals. After telling their tale to him, he offered to help them by giving them a place to sleep and supplies when they set off. They end up getting to the edge of the forest where Gandalf leaves the party and Bilbo and the dwarves are forced to venture into a dangerous forest without him. They continue on the path for most of the way as they were warned to, but eventually out of desperation, leave the path and end up getting split up. All of the dwarves minus Thorin are taken captive by spiders, but Bilbo- who had been on his own- finds and rescues them. They venture forth and realize that Thorin is missing and then they all get captured by wood elves. Bilbo however, uses his ring to disappear and simply follows them. They are all locked up in cells and Bilbo ends up finding out that Thorin is there as well having been captured. Bilbo finally thinks of a plan to free them and they execute it one night and end up escaping floating down the river in barrels. They come to another town and are helped there. They rest for a bit and are given supplies. At this time, it has finally come for them to make the final trek to the Lonely Mountain. They arrive and search all over for the secret back door entrance to the mountain that was depicted on the map left by Thorin's father. Bilbo ends up finding it after many long days of searching. Once they all get up there, they cannot figure out how to open it for many days. Bilbo also figures this out when the sunset creates a shadow so he can see a keyhole in the mountainside. They open the door and Bilbo goes in and with the help of his ring, steals a single piece of treasure while Smaug, the greedy dragon, is sleeping. The dragon notices it is missing when he wakes up and gets very angry. Bilbo goes the next day to steal more of the treasure, but Smaug is smart and is only pretending to be asleep. Bilbo notices this and they have a talk, then Bilbo leaves. The dragon is so angry he searches for them on the mountainside, but they had hidden inside the tunnel and closed the secret door. The door ends up blocked from the outside with the damage Smaug caused and the only way out is through the dragon's den. The dragon has also left to take revenge on the nearby lake town for helping the company.

Now for the question for this week! This week, one of Ms. Motter's favorite series releases the new (and last) book in the series. When the last few books of Harry Potter were released, book stores and publishers made a HUGE deal having all night book parties with costume contests and other fun activities building up to the release of the book at midnight. Is there a particular title that you have been or are excited to be released? Do you think more people would get excited about reading if bookstores and publishers did big premier parties? Do you think more could be done to encourage reading when the movie version comes out?

 Previously, I was very excited for the last few books of the Maximum Ride series because of it being one of my favorite series. I woke up and went to the book store first thing to buy it and ended up  reading it all day and finishing it. I haven't really been keeping up with too many authors or books that are coming out recently. I plan to begin getting back into it after I finish The Hobbit though. Other than that, I can not really remember any that I got really excited for. Maybe because I always seemed to end up reading books that already had all the books in the series out. I think that the midnight release parties that they do are a really cool idea and I would love to go to one if I was excited about the release of a new book. I personally have not actually been to one though. In general, I'm sure if it is a widely popular book, premier parties would be wildly beneficial and fun. If it was a less well known book, then it probably would not work as well. Premier parties could definitely help encourage people to read the book just because they're a fun thing to do and it is awesome to be around other people that are as enthusiastic about the book as you are. As far as movies go, I think the fact that they make movies based on books encourages people to read the book before seeing the movie (or after sometimes). If a book is being made into a movie, it is usually fairly popular already so I'd say it usually just shows more people how it is so great that it's being made into a movie (and maybe they should read it if it is so good). The only thing I can really think of doing to encourage reading the book more is to make a bigger deal about the fact that the movie is based on a fantastic book. Maybe put something like that at the beginning of the movie instead of just saying something like "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix- based on the book by J.K. Rowling" (which is essentially how it is now).

The Hobbit and Social vs. Individual Reading

This week, I started reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien I am absolutely loving it so far. I am up to page 112 of the book and it is quite fast paced and exciting. So far, Bilbo has been taken on a journey that he really did not want much to do with. He is traveling with dwarves and Gandalf and will be acting as a burglar. They then traveled on to Rivendell and stayed there for a few days before moving on with their journey. The company went on up the Misty Mountains and encountered trolls that tried to cook and eat them. Gandalf then saved the day by distracting them long enough for the sun to come up and turn the trolls into stone. They found the trolls cave and acquired some Elven blades that were stashed away there. They moved on into the mountains and hid in a cave from the storm that was going on outside. While they were sleeping in the cave, goblins came through a secret entrance and took the dwarves and Bilbo to their city in the mountain. There, they ended up being saved by Gandalf, but they got snuck up on and Bilbo somehow woke up in a dark cave. He encountered a creature called Gollum and they had a riddle contest for Gollum to show Bilbo the way out of the caves. Bilbo finally wins the contest by asking what was in his pocket. Bilbo found a ring on the ground and put it in his pocket previously. This belonged to Gollum and he suspects that Bilbo stole it. Bilbo puts the ring on a disappears while Gollum is chasing him and Gollum tries to find him by searching near the entrance which leads Bilbo out. Bilbo has some troubles leaving the goblin city, but squeezes out the door barely with the ring on. He then ends up happening upon the dwarves and Gandalf near there and they set off at a quick pace so they can escape the goblins. They end up coming to a great forest and happening upon wolves so they climb up trees to escape. Alas, the goblins are coming and soon arrive to get them out of the trees. However, the day is saved by the great eagles who pick them out of the trees and take them to their nest.

Now for this week's question! Historically, reading tends to be a pretty solitary activity--we usually read books independently and don't often read when we are with others as it can be considered anti-social behavior as you aren't interacting with the people around you. In recent years, that seems to be changing a bit with the creation of book clubs, social media groups like good reads, book blogs, and even reading retreats where a group will go on a retreat with a group of people and spend most of the time reading. Explain whether you believe reading is best left a solitary activity or whether you believe making it social encourages more people to read.

 Reading is definitely a solitary activity. The actual act and experience of reading a book really can not be a group activity unless a book is read aloud. However, talking about opinions and experiences with books can be a group activity. Sharing feelings and things about a certain book can be social and change the experience with books. Even some sort of book group that all reads the same book and then talks about it can be a social kind of thing to go with the independent reading of books. Actually reading something is always individual and personal though. I think that sharing opinions of books is really interesting and different though. Getting to hear what other people think compared to what you saw, heard, and experienced is actually quite cool. So I do not think reading is a completely anti-social because it is something that can be discussed with other people. The act of reading a book is individual though because it cannot be shared unless a book is read aloud.