Kari

With no words Tan perfectly brings to life the immigrant experience. The sadness and fear of leaving behind those you love, the loneliness, the fear of a new place and the joy and wonder and new experiences. Each person telling their own story to our immigrant and each helping a little along the way. There is a feeling of community and the whimsical surroundings convey beautifully how strange and different things seem to newcomers.

I loved it.

It was okay. Took awhile to get into the story and then it was just kind of your typical zombie story.

Holy crap I love this book! You can read my full review here: http://knowitnotsomuch.blogspot.com/2011/04/these-things-hidden.html

This review is for all four volumes of 7 Billion Needles.

This was on the border of being really interesting and making absolutely no sense to me. Everything was good until volume three when the subspecies and the Moderator were the focal point and things got very science-fictiony. It was intense.

I think that ultimately the series was about friendship. It seems so simple and almost cheesy after all that, but when it all came down to it there seemed to be the overriding theme of loneliness. Once Hikaru was taken in by Nao and Saya she wasn't so lonely and was able to open up more. Which then prompted her to help Chika who she saw as herself before Nao and Saya. Hikaru became a spectator (who actually mostly just ignored everyone) to an active human. She participated in life which ended up allowing her to save the world.

More sci-fi than I usually read, but I enjoyed it thoroughly!

I could not get into this one. I don't know if it was the vampires or if it was the religious stuff, but this one didn't pull me in and I started to feel like it was too similar to Anita Blake. I've been told the books get better down the road, so I'll probably read on, but this has been my least favorite so far.

While still not heavily invested in Dresden and his adventures I'm still finding the series enjoyable enough to continue on. There's something about adult books about faeries though that bore me. The endless back and forth negotiations maybe? There's just too much thought involved in a single conversation so it feels like a minute takes an hour.

This brought the feelings the first Tales from the Cafe gave me. I love the theme of quiet happiness. I love how the seemingly unrelated books force the borrower to reexamine their lives and goals. It was sweet and inspiring and it just makes me want to go to the library or maybe start felting.

We finally get some answers as to how the future ended up the wasteland that the kids are in now. But still, it's one thing after another! And they just have the worst luck ever. When there's a moment of good it is immediately followed by some catastrophe of some sort and it's generally Sho trying to keep everyone safe and together with someone else opposing him. Poor kid.

Michael Scott blends historical truth with superb fantasy in The Alchemyst. The book starts off quickly, jumping right into the fray. Sophie and her twin brother Josh seem to just be in the wrong place at the wrong time....Or were they?

I can see why some people felt that the twins were annoying. I liked Sophie, but Josh was kind of irritating thoughout. However, I chalked it up to being a 15 year old kid faced with unbelievable circumstances. I wonder how I would feel or react in his shoes and I doubt it would be much different.

I liked the combination of history and fiction. It makes things much more fun and makes me want to learn more about the people that Scott writes about. I found myself taking little breaks here and there so I could look something up!

It's a quick read with very little downtime. The action is basically non stop!

Sho's mother seems to be the only one who can hear Sho's cries for help as he's being strangled by his teacher. Not only can she hear him, but she can pinpoint exactly where she believes him to be. Unfortunately, he's not there - in that time.

Back at the school the kids are going nuts, believing if they sacrifice someone whose name starts with ‘TA' then their world will return to normal.

At this point it would seem that all of the adults are dead except for the crazy lunch delivery guy that they locked up. The tension basically is relentless. There is something around every corner and the kids are fighting not only the elements, but each other.

This was a quick cozy mystery read that I found myself enjoying more than I had expected I would. The characters aren't delved into too deeply and there is still much of Kelly's life that we don't know about. The ending of the book kind of left you hanging. The mystery was solved, but once the dust settles, what happened? But the descriptions of the yarns and knitting had me itching to grab my needles and start again. I loved that the book included two quick knitting patterns and a recipe for cinnamon rolls too!

I like how I pick up on little knitting tricks and whatnot while reading a mystery, but there are a couple of small things that bug me about the writing in this series so far. Everyone says everyone's name so many times!

“Secretive? Sure you're not exaggerating, Kelly?”
“Not at all Burt.”
(next paragraph)
“....just following procedures Kelly.”
“I don't think so Burt.”

And on and on like that. A quarter of the words in this book are names. No one says someone's name that many times in one conversation! The other little thing that bugs me is Kelly says “Brother!” a lot. I don't know who speaks like this!

They mystery was okay, but the book seemed to be more about Kelly's inheritance that was uncovered in the last book. Then, everything was wrapped up in the last chapter. shrug

Quick cozy read. My only real complaint is how much Kelly complains about how much work she has and how little sleep she's getting while she spends an entire day questioning people hours away from her home office all day. I know solving a murder is very important, but ugh! But I do love the little knitting lessons that happen here and there and the friends Kelly is surrounded with.

So much fun!! I would have LOVED this book when I was a kid. I feel so sad for my kid self for missing out on this book when I was a kid!

Getting more into the story & the reveal at the end was good! Stinks that I have to wait 4 months to read the next volume though!

One of my favorite books as a kid, it didn't hold up for me the way others have. Cory was just kind of annoying and seemed to be kind of thick headed.

This book was emotional for me. There were so many things that hit just right there for me. Katie was born the same year as my mom and I kept thinking about how hard things must have been for my Bachan and Jichan. They had 6 kids to raise in a time where finding good work when you were Japanese (or anything other than white) was hard. Having a sister and a brother also made things feel much more real also. But Kadohata writes so beautifully I can imagine everyone being able to relate somehow to her stories.

It felt like it took me forever to finish this book. Some stories were interesting but some were just boring. I understand the point, but they just didn't appeal to me. It was like reading a very ordinary, boring person's diary.

I ached for Eleanor, Nell. Ached. Despite the genre I wanted her to have a happy ending. Go figure.

Creepy and tense! I didn't want to put the book down, but I did once because the feeling of foreboding was so strong that I needed a quick break. Well worth the read!

I listened to this as an audiobook and it was much fun. The narrator was wonderful with all his different voices and there was so much dialogue I felt I could easily tell who was who.

The most interesting thing about this book was thinking how the radio show of it caused mass panic. But written before 1900 I love the ideas Wells had and was able to bring to life.

To be honest if I read this book before I ever set eyes on Eleanor & Park I probably wouldn't have read E&P which would have been a travesty! Don't get me wrong, Attachments is a great book, but it's on par with every other adult contemporary novel out there. Despite some references to D&D and Kevin Smith (which bumps my review up a whole star for that alone) this could have been any other Jennifer Weiner or Emily Giffin book.

But she's funny. And the book is sweet. She does really well writing in the male characters voice without it sounding stilted or strange. I loved Lincoln and wanted to punch Sam in the boob! Beth and Jennifer cracked me up all the time and I didn't see how everything was really going to come together in a not fairy-tale sort of way.

But it did. And I'm glad I read it.

I like these all right, but I don't love them the way I do other series and I can't figure out why!

This is a cute adventure series that is loads of fun to read, but not much appeal for adult readers except for the just the sheer fun of it. I love the creatures (Zita's spaceship is probably my favorite) and the expressions Zita makes at times. This is the perfect series for Emma who loved Cleopatra In Space!