Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko

I'll admit that my review for this is not as thorough as it could be. Mainly because I read this for work and I know I will most likely have to read it at least two more times before the summer ends.

Al Capone Shines My Shoes is the sequel to Al Capone Does My Shirts, a 2005 Newbery Honor book. Moose is still living on Alcatraz with his family but now his sister Natalie is finally attending a school that will help her. Moose feels the family's group dynamic changing and life feels just a little bit freer now. Unfortunately Moose gets drawn back into trouble again by Piper, the warden's daughter and by the favor he called in from prisoner #85 Al Capone to get Natalie into school. Will Moose go too far in effort to keep everyone happy?

This sequel was a lot of fun, as it was full of action and all the characters I loved from the previous book. Piper is just as much of a pain as ever using what little power she has to get everyone in trouble so she can get her way. This book we get a little more insight into Piper, we find out what makes her tick and why she feels like she needs to have so much power.

We also find out more about what makes Moose tick. Moose spends a lot of the book analyzing the kind of person he is and the what makes his friends tick. He thinks that there is a lot more gray area where the cons are concerned then there actually is. I was on the edge of my seat watching him and his friends deal with the outcomes caused by those feelings.

I did have to laugh a little bit at the appearance of a love triangle in this book. It seems like authors just can't help themselves anymore. I don't want to give any details because I don't want to spoil it for anyone but I definitely know what couple I want to end up together if Moose's adventures on Alcatraz continue.

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

I read this right after I finished Mockingjay and I thought it was such a good pick to read after reading such a heavy serious series. It's light and sweet and just what I needed after reading a trilogy that in a lot of ways just scared the crap out of me. Lily's brother thinks she needs a boyfriend, so he sets up a red moleskin with some challenges at the Strand bookstore in NYC (if you haven't been there you should it's awesome.) Dash finds the notebook and takes the challenge. What ensues is a game of dares al over NYC, involving friends and family and an awesome puppet named Snarly. I really really loved Dash, and was kind of disgruntled with Lily which made this book kind of a mixed bag for me. However I loved Lily's family and how they interacted with each other so that balanced out my unhappiness with her character. Dash is a mellow relatable guy. His parents dragged him through an ugly divorce as a kid so he's looking forward to a nice quiet holiday alone. At the beginning of the book Lily just felt like a stereo type and a goody two shoes. She has no real friends at school but is the captain of the soccer team which keeps her from joining the loser pit. Her family is extremely close and she is not taking her parents being in Fiji over Christmas well. There are a ton of very fun and well developed minor characters including Boomer and Sofia on Dash's side and Lily's aunt, brother and cousins. The best parts of the book are watching how all of the characters affect Lily, how they make her become a fuller more developed person. The dares are funny and interesting and I think that are an interesting way to introduce lots of different characters and parts of the city but the best part is still watching Lily grow.

Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford

I just got the sequel to this today through inter library loan and I figured since after I read it I will post a review it might be good to look at my previous review and post it as a refresher of the first book.

This is by far one of the silliest, funniest, most enjoyable books I have read in a while. Jane Austen is alive and well living as a vampire in upstate New York. She owns a book store and has finally succeeeded in getting her last book published (all it took was 200 years).

This book is totally over the top in everyway. Many things happen that are just a little too convenient and there is some triteness, but honestly it is just so rediculously funny that it is totally worth it. The reader can expect cameos from Lord Byron and Charlotte Bronte and the biggest and best laughs of the book come from Charlotte's jealousy of Jane's success. This is not for you if you expect any kind of depth of character or a serious plot. It is a quick read that is good for a laugh and is highly enjoyable. I can't wait for the sequel.

Insatiable by Meg Cabot

Okay so it wasn't until I was like a quarter of the way through the book that I realized that this is JUST LIKE TRUE BLOOD. Mind reader meets vampire and they fall in love. Well Meena can't read minds, just tell you when you're going to die. She works for a soap opera as a dialogue writer and she's having a very bad week. She was passed over for a promotion and the prince of darkness is in love with her and she with him, wreaking all kinds of havok in her life.

Short chapters usually mean that pacing will be quick but honestly this book just felt like it dragged a little bit. I may have liked it better if it had been a little bit pared down. It felt like it took way too long for Meena and Lucien to meet and then it took way too long for them to find out each others secrets.

The characters were mostly all likable (except for Meena's brother Jon he was kind of a pain in the butt and I frequently found myself wanting to strangle him.) There were also some minor characters I would have liked to have gotten to know a little bit better. But it was mostly fun and I laughed a lot because of how over the top things got (Is everyone I know a vampire?) I also really like Lucien and Meena. Meena isn't passive about her powers, she makes it a point to try and help people once she has seen their future, even if (Although sometimes Meena spent a little too much time going on about things...this would have been a good thing to pare down, I'm just sayin'.) Alaric Wulf was sometimes likable and other times I just loathed him. He ran the gamut from complete jerk to kind. I find myself wondering if there is going to be sequel because it was left very open, particularly in the love triangle department.

There was one thing I was a little bit confused about(I'm going to try and be vauge cause I don't want to cause a spoiler). Knowing who Lucien is descended from and due to several brief mentions of a great grandmother named Wilhemina Harker I find myself wondering if all of these characters are supposed to be direct descendents of the characters from their Dracula counterparts or if the writer was just doing an homage.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

I really loved Will Grayson, Will Grayson. It made me laugh and it made me cry (God, I'm such a sap). This book is all about the characters and lately I've finally noticed that I really love character driven novels more then anything. Two young men named Will Grayson meet on a street in Chicago one night. You follow both characters as they try to figure out love and friendship. The Will Grayson's are alike in that they allow life to happen to them rather then being involved; however that changes for each of them over the course of the novel.

I feel like I have to comment on Tiny Cooper because everyone either loves him or hates, and he seems to be a big part of a lot of the reviews I have read. Tiny is an interesting character and a lot of fun, but truthfully the novel isn't about him and what really made this novel great for me was learning about the innerworkings of the two Will Grayson's watching them grow and develop, and start to take part in their own lives. Tiny was a good counterpoint for the two boys and provided a lot of the books humor, but at the end of the book it was the two Will Grayson's growth that really made me enjoy the book.

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

What a great book for fourth to sixth graders. It totally accurately portrays what first young romance is like, and it does it in a fun and funny way. Dwight is the weird kid in class, but he folds phenomenal origami and gets straight A's but only in math. He folds an origami yoda and claims it gives advice/predicts the future. Tommy a sort of friend of Dwight's needs to know if Origami Yoga is real because he asked a very important question and need's to know. The book is his case file, an organized collection of everyone's experience's with Origami Yoda so he can scientifically decide whether or not Origami Yoda is real.

Part graphic novel, part case study, I really enjoyed the read. Also includes directions for how to make your own origami yoda.

Fat Vampire: A Never Coming of Age Story by Adam Rex

It's been a while since I finished this book and I'm still not entirely sure how I know how I feel about it. It starts out as a funny read with a strong focus on nerdy/geeky humor. Doug is an overweight, geeky high school kid that gets turned into a vampire. He's into comics and computers and the book opens with him at Comic con in San Diego. Doug feels cheated regarding his transformation; he may be a vampire now but he's still an overweight nerd that no one really looks twice at. To make matters worse he's got vampire hunters chasing him for television ratings and his vampire mentor is kind of the pits.

The beginning of the book is extremely funny. It's very heavy on nerd/geek humor that maybe only a person that's really comfortable with their own nerdiness could appreciate (which I am), so I loved it. I couldn't stop laughing.

Then about three quarters of the way through the book, it suddenly gets super dark and serious. Friends are lost, personalities suddenly darken and the ending is extremely heavy. (I am leaving this ambiguous because I don't want to leave any spoilers.)

I will admit to really not liking the last page. It felt kind of unnecessary, like it should have already ended but the author was afraid that leaving it with such a dark ending would make readers unhappy.

I loved the beginning of the book and I liked the ending of the book. They were both very strong and definitely interesting. I'm just not sure I felt like they went together. The beginning and the end just didn't feel cohesive to me. However the since I did like everything I think it's still well worth the read.

Bite Me (Love Story, #3) by Christopher Moore

In what looks like the final entry of the Love Story series, Chet the vampire cat has become something of a problem, attacking both other cats and people, Jody and Flood are bronzed this time and Elijah's other fledglings return to the city to clean up his mess.

This is my favorite of all of the Love Story books (granted it's been a while since I read the first two, fortunately Abby spends the first couple of pages catching us up on the past two books via her blog.) This one was just as silly and irreverant as the first two, but it also has a few more serious and kind moments that I really enjoyed and that kept it from getting too rediculous.

I loved Abby's blog updates and I know that considering the time when the first book takes place blogs and texting are a little out of place but I loved it anyway. The only thing that really threw me about this book was that the book would jump from character to character and when it jumped character it also seemed to jump time sometimes and I couldn't figure out if things were happening the next day or earlier the same day. But I really liked how the ending worked out and was very happy, I hope everyone else enjoys it as much as I did.

Pixels

I haven't posted in a while cause life has been super hectic and busy. But I saw this video on The Fire Wire and it was just so cool I had to put it up. If you are a fan of old school video games or just love silly creativity check this out.


PIXELS by PATRICK JEAN.
Uploaded by onemoreprod. - Arts and animation videos.

Love to Laugh

The arrival of Black Friday heralds the start of the holiday season. And while the holiday season is great because it means pretty Christmas trees and menorahs, cookies and hot chocolate and a couple of days off; it can also be pretty stressful what with midterms and finals, crowded stores and trying to find the perfect gift for everyone on your list.

That's why I've put together a list of books gauranteed to elicit at least a chuckle if not a full on LOL. So take a break from all the stuff you've got going up and curl up with one of these reads.