Tuesday, May 31, 2011

May Book Pick


Favorite Book:

Shine by Lauren Myracle
I really enjoyed this realistic fiction book about an introverted and damaged girl who investigates a hate crime perpetrated against her childhood best friend.  It was heart-wrecking and beautifully written book that I wholly recommend.

Audio books: Since I have only been listening to the Bloody Jack series, I can't really pick a favorite for the month.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Weekly Round-Up 5/30


Weekly Round-Up is my wrap-up of last week's activities and includes what I'm reading this week, reviews I've posted, books in the mail and anything else of interest plus From the Library, my weekly listing of what I've checked out from the library.
This week I'm reading Blood Red Road (Young), Ultraviolet (Anderson) and Imaginary Girls (Suma) and listening to In the Belly of the Bloodhound (Meyer).

Last week I read Wrapped (Bradbuy) and Starcrossed (Angelini) and listened to Under the Jolly Roger (Meyer).


Night Star (The Immortals #5) by Alyson Noël
After fighting for centuries to be together, Ever and Damen’s future hinges on one final showdown that will leave readers gasping for breath. Don’t miss this explosive new installment of the #1 bestselling series that’s enchanted millions across the world!

Haven still blames Ever for the death of her boyfriend Roman, no matter how hard Ever’s tried to convince her it was an accident. Now she’s determined to take Ever down…and destroy Damen and Jude along the way. Her first step is to tear Ever and Damen apart—and she has just the ammunition to do it.

Hidden in one of Ever’s past lives is a terrible secret about Damen—a secret that illuminates new facts about her relationship with Jude, but that’s so dark and brutal it might be enough to drive her and Damen apart once and for all. As Ever faces her greatest fears about the guy she wants to spend eternity with, she’s thrust into a deadly clash with Haven that could destroy them all.

Now it’ll take everything she’s got—and bring out powers she never knew she had—to face down her most formidable enemy. But in order to win, she must first ask herself: is her own survival worth dooming Haven to an eternity of darkness in the Shadowland? And will learning the truth about Damen’s past hold the key to their future?

Friday, May 27, 2011

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Helen has grown up on Nantucket surrounded by the same old people and the water.  When a mysterious new family moves onto the island, she begins to understand all the things that have made her different her whole life and learns who she really is.
Meeting his eyes was an awakening.  For the first time in Helen's life she knew what pure heart-poising hatred was. --e-ARC
I badly want to paint this book with the Twilight brush.  I mean, Starcrossed involves a good girl feeling a pull to a boy to a mysterious new boy, a large family that moves into the area and keeps to themselves, the inability for anyone to answer a simple question, a girl who is better at being superhuman than the boy, and a large evil family bent on the destruction and/or assimilation of the smaller good family.  And all of that sounds really familiar. And I tried to fight the ongoing comparisons in my head as I was read, but it was all there.  It was still a really good book and a compelling book with plenty to offer on its own.

*slight SPOILERS*

This time we are involving not vampires, but Greek gods and the Trojan War.  It seems that the Fates want the descendants of the participants in that war to repeat the cycle.  And Helen and one of the Delos boys, Lucas, are drawn to each other.  At first out of instant violent hate and then later as something else, dooming them to repeat the cycle as well. I liked both Helen and Lucas and I thought their role together was very sweet and I really wanted them to get together.  I couldn't figure out how that was going to work since they wanted to kill each other at first.  But work out it did.  Although so many things stood/stand in their way, I don't know how the whole thing is going to get resolved.  Helen's best friend, Claire, is made of awesome sauce.  Seriously she is truly one great friend and I was glad to see her stick with her friend through the whole book.

There are a lot of subplots going on: Helen figuring out who she is, the Delos family, women attacking Helen, her missing mother, the romance, dealing with the Furies, and Helen's superpowers to start.  It is mostly wrapped up so I'm hoping the next book has a tighter plot.  The action is fast past and it moves right along.  I was glad of that because at nearly 500 pages, this book could have been a monster to read.  As it was I could barely put it down.  The writing is pretty straightforward and a little less telling and more showing might be a good idea.  It's written in the third person so the reader gets a bigger picture of the action and little more of other characters besides Helen.  

SPOILERS (highlight)  ** Okay, here is this thing.  Helen's mom tells her that she is Lucas' first cousin and so they cannot be together, right?  But Ajax dies 19 years ago and Helen just turned 17.  Simple math says that he cannot be her father.  Yet no one does the math in their head.  They are all just distraught and melodramatic about the whole thing.  Simple math would saved them a lot of trouble.**


Provided by NetGalley
Hogwarts: Fight or Flight

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Wrapped by Jennifer Bradbury

Agnes is about to make her debut into society and she has attracted the attention of a very weatlhy and well thought of man.  But Agnes is an extremely smart girl and doesn't want to be box into any roles.  At an unwrapping party at the man's house, Agnes finds an metal jackal's head and a new adventure begins for her involving solving puzzles, spying and sneaking out, something that well brought up young ladies certainly don't do.

This was a fun book.  At first I thought it was going to paranormal for some reason, but then it ended up being a mystery which is even better!  Agnes is definitely a different sort of girl.  Not content with doing only girl appropriate things, she has learned 10 languages and is fairly genius.  But this doesn't stop her family from trying to get her settled into a nice marriage, something Agnes is not set on entirely.  Then at an unwrapping party (a party where the guests unwrapped a mummy and find treasures hidden in the cloth (yes a real mummy)), Agnes finds a metal disc with a jackal's head on it and she ends up keeping it instead of returning it.  This one action leads her into the kind of adventure that she has dreamed of.  I enjoyed the fact that Agnes was so smart and that she wants to defy convention.  I liked how her relationship with Caedmon plays out and how they are more equals than anything. 

The Egyptian mystery was also interesting, involving mummies and the Rosetta Stone as well as Napoleon as the action of this story takes place after he escapes from Elba.  I got a real sense of the time period and how people in England thought at that time as well as a really fun adventure mystery.

Provided by Simon and Schuster Galley Grab
Hogwarts: Ancient Runes

Monday, May 23, 2011

Weekly Round-Up 5/23


Weekly Round-Up is my wrap-up of last week's activities and includes what I'm reading this week, reviews I've posted, books in the mail and anything else of interest plus From the Library, my weekly listing of what I've checked out from the library.
This week I'm reading Wrapped (Bradbuy) and Starcrossed (Angelini) and listening to Under the Jolly Roger (Meyer).

 Last week I read Behemoth (Westerfeld).  It's been a slow reading time for me.


In the Belly of the Bloodhound : Being an Account of a Particularly Peculiar Adventure in the Life of Jacky Faber by L.A. Meyer, read by Katherine Kellgren
The British crown has placed a price on Jacky's head, and so she returns to the Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls in Boston to lay low. But laying low isn't in the cards for a spunky lass who finds trouble even when she's not looking for it.

A school outing goes awry as Jacky and her classmates are abducted and forced into the hold of the Bloodhound, a ship bound for the slave markets on the Barbary Coast. All of Jacky's ingenuity, determination, and plain old good luck will be put to the test as she rallies her classmates to fight together to avoid being sold on the auction block in this new installment of the Bloody Jack Adventures.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Behemoth (Levithan #2) by Scott Westerfeld

Goodreads:
The behemoth is the fiercest creature in the British navy. It can swallow enemy battleships with one bite. The Darwinists will need it, now that they are at war with the Clanker powers.

Deryn is a girl posing as a boy in the British Air Service, and Alek is the heir to an empire posing as a commoner. Finally together aboard the airship Leviathan, they hope to bring the war to a halt. But when disaster strikes the Leviathan's peacekeeping mission, they find themselves alone and hunted in enemy territory.

Alek and Deryn will need great skill, new allies, and brave hearts to face what's ahead.


I loved this book as I have loved everything that Scott Westerfeld has written that I have read.  The action started right away with none of the "warm-up" needed like the first book since the characters are already known.  I enjoy the time that Deryn and Alek spend together and I like their relationship.  Sure it's built on secrets and lies but other than that, it's great.  They are a dynamic team and have a good rapport.  I can't wait to see what happens in the next book between the two of them. 

I love the alternative history that is going on and I'm glad that Westerfeld includes a "fact or fiction" at the end of the story because I really haven't brushed up on my World War I history in a while.  The science of both the Clankers and the Darwinists is impressive and it's fascinating to see how societies can focus on one thing and how it can effected their way of life.  I feel like Leviathan had a lot of the Darwinist way of life and Behemoth had more of the Clanker way so that was cool. 

And, as always, the illustrations are gorgeous.  I love the artwork so much and wish it was reflected more in the cover art.  The propaganda poster on the inside of the book is amazing, just like the map was on the inside of Leviathan.  This is one series worth physically owning (as opposed to e-book) because the illustrations are so great.

Illustrated by Keith Thompson

I just want to add this.  I don't love the cover.  It doesn't really match the first one that I have and I like it when covers match.  And I'm not fond of the picture of Deryn, mostly because I am not a fan of people on covers in general.  I like the old covers.




German cover that I also like



Hogwarts: Fight or Flight mini-challenge
Off the Shelf

Monday, May 16, 2011

Weekly Round-Up 5/16


Weekly Round-Up is my wrap-up of last week's activities and includes what I'm reading this week, reviews I've posted, books in the mail and anything else of interest plus From the Library, my weekly listing of what I've checked out from the library.
This week I'm reading Behemoth (Westerfeld) and Wrapped (Bradbury). I'm listening to Under the Jolly Roger (Meyer).

Last week I started Behemoth which is slow going for me for some reason, but I did fit in The Tales of Beedle the Bard (Rowling) because it is short.  I finished The Curse of the Blue Tattoo (Meyer) on audio.
Other reviews posted: A Tale of Two Castles (Levine)


Abandon by Meg Cabot


Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she's never alone . . . because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.
But now she's moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid.
Only she can't. Because even here, he finds her. That's how desperately he wants her back. She knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven, yet she can't stay away . . . especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.
But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.

Friday, May 13, 2011

The Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady by L.A. Meyer

Jacky has been sent to a girls' finishing school in Boston after being discovered aboard the HMS Dolphin posing as a ship's boy.  There she learns that girls are much more vicious and much more subtle about the ways that they fight and Jacky resolves to become a lady and to learn to fight like one too.  But finishing school cannot keep Jacky down for long as she makes her way in Boston.

Oh Jacky!  Always making crazy and rash decisions, getting in trouble and still managing to come out ahead.  Amazing.

Once again Jacky just flies by the seat of her pants and does whatever she wants without thinking the whole thing through.  But she is very clever and she has a knack for making the right kinds of friends so she always gets out alright in the end.  The first book was all about her dealing with boys and men and pretending to be a boy.  This book is all about her dealing with girls and trying to become a lady which is a bit against her nature.  She is much to wild to reign herself in and she refuses to let society do it as well.  I liked the ups and downs of her times in Boston and how she got away with the kinds of things she gets away with.  I'm totally ready for her next adventure.


14 hours

As usual,  Katherine Kellgren does an excellent job with the narrator.  She really adds a lot of feeling to the story, bringing the story to life.  Jacky can be a frustrating character since she does a lot of unthinking things and Kellgren captures Jacky highs and lows.  She also does a great job with the other characters, varying them each to add differences to their voices.  And I love her singing parts.  My only complaint, and this is because I am from Louisiana, was her New Orleans accent.  It was much too east coast Southern and not quite French enough.  New Orleanians have a harder, almost New York sounding accent.  It is a hard accent to grasp if you are not around here (kinda of like a Cajun accent but that is a separate topic).

Hogwarts: Charms

Bloody Jack
Whisper in my Ear

Thursday, May 12, 2011

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

I actually bought this book a long time ago and, I am ashamed to admit, I finally just read it.  It was really cute.  I loved the wizarding world fairy tales and Dumbledore's 
commentary afterward is genius.  The only one I knew before hand, of course, was "The Tale of the Three Brothers" because it is such a huge part of Deathly Hallows, but the rest were interesting to read as well.  My favorite, other than "The Three Brothers," was "The Fountain of Fair Fortune."  All the illustrations were pretty and I liked it and I'm glad I finally read it.

Hogwarts: Harry Potter related

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Don't Panic

It's the 10th anniversary of Dougla Adams' death today.  I am a huge fan of his work as you can see my the cover of my Nook and its name, Deep Thought.



I started reading the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in high school around junior year, if I remember correctly.  Then I read the Dirk Gently series, one of which has my favorite title of all time, The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul.  I'm not sure how many times I've read them, just a handful.  But they are always worth a read and a laugh.  I got my husband to read the Hitchhikers series when we started dating and made a fan out of him.  We've seen the British sitcom and the newer movie and liked them both. I can credit Douglas Adams with many of the jokes that go around my house and partly with my love of random British things.  Because of him, I have tried other authors like him like Terry Prachett and Neil Gaiman.  His books are genuinely different and funny and I'm pretty sure that everyone should try them at least once.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine

Elodie is a spirited girl who only wants to become a mansioner, an actor, but is thwarted in her ambitions by her lack of money.  So she becomes the assistant to Meenore, a dragon skilled in logic and deduction.  When the ogre hires the dragon to find out who is behind a strange turn of events at his castle, Meenore sends Elodie to be ITs eyes and ears.  And Elodie learns about using her mansioning and logic talents for other purposes. 

Gail Carson Levine can tell a good tale.  While some of her other books are retellings of fairy tales (Ella Enchanted), this one has a few aspects (Puss in Boots) but is a wholly original book.  And it is a very cute book.  I loved all the fairy tale touches and the characters were delightful.  I thought the solution to the mystery was easy, but that is because there tends to be a pattern in Levine's fairy tale books that gave it away.  I do wish there was more of the dragon and the ogre because I loved both characters, but I'm wondering if they are going to be more books with Elodie and her friends.

Provided by NetGalley
Publish date: May 10, 2011

Hogwarts: Care of Magical Creatures

Monday, May 9, 2011

Weekly Round-Up 5/9


Weekly Round-Up is my wrap-up of last week's activities and includes what I'm reading this week, reviews I've posted, books in the mail and anything else of interest plus From the Library, my weekly listing of what I've checked out from the library.
This week I am reading Besty and Tacy Go Downtown (Lovelace) and Behemoth (Westerfeld).

Last week I read So Much Closer (Colasanti), The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival: Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone (Low), and A Tale of Two Castles (Levine).
Other reviews posted: Shine (Myracle) and Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill (Lovelace).


Divergent by Veronica Roth
(because it has an amazing reviews so far)
In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

Friday, May 6, 2011

The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival: Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone by Dene Low

Petronella is all set for her coming out party when something horrendous happens. Her uncle swallows a beetle at tea and suddenly begins craving insects.  On top of that, a kidnapping occurs at her party.  So Petronella, a forward-thinking and boisterous girl, decides to help in the investigation and winds up saving nearly everyone.
Although James's laughter irritated me, he looked absolutely endearing, with a dark shadow of beard just beginning to appear.  I longed to stroke his cheek to feel its roughness even as I longed to punch him in the jaw for being so obstructive and medieval.  p. 132
Funny and charming.  Those are the two words that come to mind when I think about trying to describe this book.  I loved the Wodehouse style writing with the jokes and the very proper way Petronella has of speaking.  This had the air of a mystery along with a comedy of manners and I thought it was an entertaining little book.

Petronella is a spunky, smart and determined heroine and she takes it upon herself to protect her uncle's secret and rescued the kidnapped from her party.  Partly to do what is right and partly because she cannot stop herself and partly because she is very clever.  She is a 1930's British Nancy Drew in a way.  I liked her best friend, Jane, and Jane's brother (who is also Petronella's secret crush) James is very cute.  Although I do hope he wisens up or he is going to lose the fabulous Petronella.

I checked the author's website for the next book and was sad to learn that, although it has been written, it hasn't found a publisher yet.  I hope that it does soon because I would love to read more of Petronella's adventures.

Hogwarts: Charms
Take a Chance

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill by Maud Hard Lovelace

 Betsy, Tacy and Tib are 10 years old and decided that they must act more grown-up.  But they cannot resist a good birthday party and an election for the Queen of Summer.

This is the first Betsy-Tacy book with a plot.  The ones before were more anecdotal, but this one had a more cohesive storyline.  Betsy and her friends all turn 10 and they have a few adventures like "falling in love" with the King of Spain which leads to a feud with their older sisters about an idea for a Queen of Summer.  It was very cute and I liked how they resolved it.  There was some interesting commentary on treating immigrants nicely even if the language is (understandably) dated.  And there is a lesson on being nice to your siblings and getting along.

Hogwarts: 7 in a series

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

So Much Closer by Susane Colasanti

Brooke follow Scott Abrams, the boy she has been crushing on for two year, to New York after he moves there. 
So we go to Crumbs.  Sometimes in the midst of all your boy drama, you just need a cupcake.  p.185
Plot: It was very Felicity except in high school.  I didn't really like that show, or well, I lost interest in it.  But this book was alright.  There were some loose ends that I wish had been cleared up mostly the subplot involving her dad.  It's like all this anger she had and dropped on him and they never discussed it?  I don't know.  I wish it had been mentioned again.

Characters:  Brooke made me want to shake her.  She was very frustrating with her faux rebellion against the system and her anger/trust issues which seemed really deep.  She kept saying how this and that was another example of how people let you down, but I didn't really get the impression that many people had let her down.  Just her dad.  Sadie, the girl she meets in New York, was a sweet character and I liked that Brooke helped her.  It was a good example of character growth, something Brooke desperately needed.  Scott was a little bland.  I think he was intended as the kind of character a reader could mold into the perfect guy.  He certainly wasn't worth moving to New York for, but he wasn't a bad guy.  And John was very sweet and a good foil for Brooke's cynicism.  I'm glad that the book didn't get too lovely-dovely and I liked that the relationships were a bit ambiguous at the end.  It's nice not to see a character jumped from romance to romance.


Overall:  I liked it overall.  It was a good fun story despite the fact that Brooke was not my favorite character.  I'd say it is a good quick beach read.


Hogwarts: Muggle Studies

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Shine by Lauren Myracle

Set in a small, rural poor Southern town, Shine tells the story of Cat.  After her best friend from childhood is the victim of a horrific crime because of his sexuality, Cat decides to come out of her shell and find out who would harm her friend.

This was a beautiful and heart-wrenching book.  Cat's voice comes through loud and clear though she is a introverted character.  It is interesting to watch her progress from self-inflicted outcast to a strong young woman through her investigation of the crime against her friend.  Cat has a good reason for her introversion and that is tragedy itself.  While I wanted more resolution for that, I also feel like sometimes, in real life, there is no resolution when bad things happen to people.  So it was fitting.

As for the mystery aspect of the story, well, we all know I like a good mystery.  Cat does the mystery proper, interviewing people, trying to figure out the timeline and exactly what went down the night that Patrick was attacked.  Through the investigation, we learn a lot about the small town Cat and Patrick have grown up in and to anyone who has experienced tiny rural towns, it felt very real.  It was pretty dead on in its exploration of the mindset and the social structure of a small town. Also through the investigation we see how Cat became current day Cat and what happened to end her friendship with Patrick and all of her childhood friends.  Patrick seems like a great guy and what happened to him was horrifying.  The resolution of the mystery was bittersweet, but the book ended on a good note and I walked away from it glad that I had read it and sorry to see Cat go.  But I think she will be alright.

Provided by NetGalley
Hogwarts: Defence Against the Dark Arts
GLBT Challenge
350 Page

Monday, May 2, 2011

Weekly Round-Up 5/2


Weekly Round-Up is my wrap-up of last week's activities and includes what I'm reading this week, reviews I've posted, books in the mail and anything else of interest plus From the Library, my weekly listing of what I've checked out from the library.
 This week I'm reading A Tale of Two Castles (Levine) and So Much Closer (Colasanti). I'm listening to The Curse of the Blue Tattoo (Meyer).

Last week I finished  Leave It to Psmith (Wodehouse) and read Shine (Myracle) and Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill (Lovelace).  I finished listening to Bloody Jack (Meyer).
Other reviews posted: Summer Lightning (Wodehouse)




From NetGalley
Two Moon Princess by Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban
Publisher: Tanglewood Press
Date: June16, 2010
In this coming-of-age story set in a medieval kingdom, Andrea is a headstrong princess longing to be a knight who finds her way to modern-day California. But her accidental return to her family's kingdom and a disastrous romance brings war, along with her discovery of some dark family secrets. Readers will love this mix of traditional fantasy elements with unique twists and will identify with Andrea and her difficult choices between duty and desire.

Following from Simon and Schuster Galley Grab
Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Publish Date:  June 7, 2011
Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba's world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back. Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she's a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization.
Blood Red Road has a searing pace, a poetically minimal writing style, violent action, and an epic love story. Moira Young is one of the most promising and startling new voices in teen fiction.
Wrapped by Jennifer Bradbury
Publish Date:  May 24, 2011

Agnes Wilkins is standing in front of an Egyptian mummy, about to make the first cut into the wrappings, about to unlock ancient (and not-so-ancient) history. Maybe you think this girl is wearing a pith helmet with antique dust swirling around her.
Maybe you think she is a young Egyptologist who has arrived in Cairo on camelback.
Maybe she would like to think that too. Agnes Wilkins dreams of adventures that reach beyond the garden walls, but reality for a seventeen-year-old debutante in 1815 London does not allow for camels—or dust, even. No, Agnes can only see a mummy when she is wearing a new silk gown and standing on the verdant lawns of Lord Showalter’s estate, with chaperones fussing about and strolling sitar players straining to create an exotic “atmosphere” for the first party of the season. An unwrapping.
This is the start of it all, Agnes’s debut season, the pretty girl parade that offers only ever-shrinking options: home, husband, and high society. It’s also the start of something else, because the mummy Agnes unwraps isn’t just a mummy. It’s a host for a secret that could unravel a new destiny—unleashing mystery, an international intrigue, and possibly a curse in the bargain.
Get wrapped up in the adventure . . . but keep your wits about you, dear Agnes.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Favorite audio book series

I love to listen to audio books.  I usually listen to them on my commute to work and when I clean the house and occasionally in my office.  A good audio book narrator can do wonders for a book and bring it to life.  Sometimes I can listen to a book and know that I never would have made it through it reading it, but because a great narrator, I can finish it on audio.

1. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling- read by Jim Dale. 
Jim Dale is an amazing narrator and I could listen to him all day. 
2. The Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo - first five read by Simon Russell Beale, subsequent books read by Simon Jones. 
At first I wasn't happy about the narrator change.  I hate that.  But Simon Jones is a great reader and so I didn't mind.
3. A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket - read by Timy Curry.
This is another series that had a narrator change.  Books 3-5 are read by the author Daniel Handler took over narrator duties.  While he is just alright, Tim Curry is the better narrator.  He has the perfect voice for this gothic, dark-humored series.  And that leads to ...

4. The Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix - read by Tim Curry. 
Garth Nix is one of my favorite authors and so far I have had good luck with his books.  Tim Curry is once again the perfect narrator for this dark series filled with zombies, magic, and supernatural creatures.  His voice for the cat Mogget is dead on.

5. The Key to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix - read by Allan Corduner. 
I really love this whole series even if it gets a bit formulaic in the middle.  Allan Corduner does a great job of bringing Arthur and the denizens of the House to life.