November Accomplishments

2:21 PM Nikki

These are a few of my favorite 'first' lines read in November 2010.When I wrote essays at school I was always told to begin at the beginning and end at the end. I'm not at all sure that this story has an end. As for a beginning - well, in my opinion, it really begins - as I began - with my father. Anyway, that's where I'm going to start.The best time to talk to ghosts is just before the sun comes up. That's when they can hear us true, Momma said. That's when ghosts can answer us. Ruth Handler looked absolutely nothing like a Barbie doll. And she did not aspire to.  So there I was, holding a pink teddy bear in my hand. It had...


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Book Review: The Adventures of Ook and Gluk by Dav Pilkey

9:30 AM mixagrip

Posted as part of Tween Tuesday, hosted by GreenBeanTeenQueen. The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future by Dav PilkeyPublisher: Blue Sky Press (Scholastic)Publication date: August 2010ISBN: 9780545175302 Source: Review copy provided by publisherThings I Liked: This book is pure silliness.  The kung-fu cavemen are solely designed to bring out the laughs.  The illustrations match perfectly the style of the writing and story.  I loved the almost childlike drawings that tended to go along with the "caveman" talk.  I got the most entertainment out of the flip-o-rama action pages though.  It was loads...


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Bespelling Jane Austen

7:24 AM Nikki

Bespelling Jane Austen. By Mary Balogh, Susan Krinard, Colleen Gleason, Janet Mullany. 2010. Harlequin. 377 pages.From Almost Persuaded by Mary Balogh: Miss Jane Everett, middle daughter of Sir Horace Everett of Goodrich Hall in Hampshire, did not call as often as she ought at the vicarage in the village nearby. She called everywhere else--on tenants and laborers and others, on those who sick or elderly or in need of any sort. She took her duties very seriously. From Northanger Castle by Colleen Gleason: Miss Caroline Merrill smoothed her ruffled-hem skirt as she settled into the chair against the wall. She quickly tucked her feet under the seat...


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Nonfiction Monday: Candy Bomber

8:44 AM Nikki

Candy Bomber: The Story of The Berlin Airlift's "Chocolate Pilot". Michael O. Tunnell. 2010. Charlesbridge. 120 pages. When I was a boy I would watch beautiful silver airplanes fly high in the sky, going to faraway places with strange-sounding names. I didn't know then that when I grew up I would fly one of those silver birds myself. I never imagined I would fly food to boys and girls so they would not starve.Candy Bomber is a thoroughly satisfying read. Should a nonfiction book be charming and satisfying? Should a nonfiction book make you feel good? Why not! it's a good story--a true story--of how one man started "Operation Little Vittles" during...


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Huge Scholastic Prize Pack Giveaway!

7:41 AM mixagrip

I'm so lucky to be hosting another giveaway this week! To bring laughs to a child you know this Christmas, any of these books will be a big hit. Thanks to Big Honcho Media and Scholastic, you could win these books.Give the gift of reading to your child this holiday season! Scholastic books make the perfect stocking stuffer for any child on your list.We have a HUGE prize pack filled with the most popular children’s books in the marketplace to offer one lucky reader! Titles include CAPTAIN SKY BLUE, IT’S CHRISTMAS DAVID, OOK and GLUK as well as TONY BALONEY, ODIOUS OGRE and I SPY CHRISTMAS A CHRISTMAS TREE!  One (1) Winner will...


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Elfsorrow

7:00 AM Nikki

There is something oddly comforting about reading a James Barclay novel. It's like when the holidays roll around and the smells of good, home-cooked meals automatically make you relax and enjoy the day a tad more than usual. ELFSORROW fits this role perfectly.The novel starts with a very tense scene depicting the chaos Balaia is in. We are seeing the after-effects of the events from Barclay's first trilogy, and things are dire indeed. The Colleges of Magic are at war, and it seems like the whole continent's population has been made into a contingent of refugees. And that's just the tip of the metaphorical iceberg. A plague, called Elfsorrow,...


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Gratitude Giveaway Winner!

11:28 PM mixagrip

It's time to choose the winner of my Gratitude Giveaway: the signed ARC of Matched by Ally Condie!  It was a great contest and thanks again to all my readers and followers.  Before I mention the winner, I just wanted to (finally) share some of my favorite quotes from this awesome book.  Even if you didn't win, you should definitely still read Matched - it comes out on Tuesday!The meal seems like a dance; as though this is a ball as well as a banquet.  The waiters slid the plates in front of us with graceful hands; the food, wearing herbs and garnishes, is as dressed up as we are.  We lift the white napkins, the silver...


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Sunday Salon: Reading, Read, To Read #48

1:16 PM Nikki

Happy Sunday! Do you remember how I said I wasn't going to be joining many challenges in 2011? Well, I might have spoken too soon. I do plan on being more selective about it though.  What I've Reviewed:Bright Young Things. Anna Godbersen. 2010. HarperCollins. 400 pages.The Blending Time. Michael Kinch. 2010. Flux. 254 pages.  Libyrinth. Pearl North. 2009. Tor. 336 pages.Alcatraz Versus The Shattered Lens. Brandon Sanderson. 2010. Scholastic. 304 pages.Enchanted Glass. Diana Wynne Jones. 2010. HarperCollins. 292 pages. Cows Can't Jump by Dave Reisman. Illustrated by Jason A. Maas. 2008. Jumping Cow Press. 44 pages.   More Bears!...


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2011 Challenges: Victorian Literature Challenge

12:55 PM Nikki

I am joining Words, Words, Words' Victorian Literature Challenge. This is another reading challenge that was "easy" for me to join! I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Victorian literature. I do. The challenge is for all of 2011. It covers books written between 1837 and 1901.  I'll be reading Anthony Trollope, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell, and perhaps some George Eliot or a Bronte sister or two. Of course, I might add a few more authors along the way!I am joining at the Great Expectations level--5 to 9 books. It will probably be closer to five than nine. But I *hope* to get to at least five of these in 2011!1. A Study in Scarlet....


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2011 Challenges: Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge

12:33 PM Nikki

I am joining My Reader's Block's 2011 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge. When I saw that six of my twenty-four titles for the TBR 2011 challenge fit into this one--it was an easy decision to make! I'll be joining at the GOLDEN AGE GIRLS level. Reading five to seven books from female authors from the vintage years. POST LINKS TO REVIEWS AT HER SITE.All books must have been written before 1960 and be from the mystery category.1. The Mysterious Affair At Styles. A Hercule Poirot Mystery. Agatha Christie. (1920)2. Whose Body? Dorothy L. Sayers. (1923)3. Unnatural Death. Dorothy L. Sayers.(1927)4. Murder on the Orient Express. Agatha Christie. 19335....


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Library Loot: Fifth Trip in November

9:43 AM Nikki

New Loot:Dancing With Mr. Darcy: Stories Inspired by Jane Austen and Chawton House Library compiled by Sarah Waters. The Boy from Ilysies by Pearl NorthPrisoners in the Palace: How Victoria Became Queen With The Help of Her Maid, A Reporter, and a Scoundrel: A Novel of Intrigue and Romance by Michaela MacCollThe Ring of Solomon by Jonathan StroudEnchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth DurstThe Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers, A Novel by Margaret GeorgeLeftover Loot:An Expert in Murder: A New Mystery Featuring Josephine Tey by Nicola UpsonAngel With Two Faces: A Mystery Featuring Josephine Tey by Nicola UpsonA Hard Day's Write:...


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The Blending Time (YA)

7:10 AM Nikki

The Blending Time. Michael Kinch. 2010. Flux. 254 pages. Jaym stirred as morning light slanted across his cot. He squinted at the pumpkin sun pushing through layers of smudge. No hint of a sea breeze to clean out the Corridor. He'd need a level-4 breather to hit the pavement today. And now he needed to hit it hard. It was getting too close to Cutoff. S'teeners do not have it easy. Just ask Jaym, Reya, or D'Shay.The Blending Time has a promising premise, "In the year 2069, turning seventeen means mandatory Global Alliance work assignments that range from backbreaking drudgery to deadly canal labor." Three teens with different backgrounds...


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Enchanted Glass (MG/YA)

7:21 AM Nikki

Enchanted Glass. Diana Wynne Jones. 2010. HarperCollins. 292 pages.When Jocelyn Brandon died--at a great old age, as magicians tend to do--he left his house and his field-of-care to his grandson, Andrew Brandon Hope. Andrew himself was in his thirties. The house, Melstone House, was a simple matter of making a Will. But it had been old Jocelyn's intention to pass the field-of-care on in the proper way, personally. I am NOT a fan of this cover! If I wasn't already a fan of Diana Wynne Jones, if I didn't already know that she can tell some great stories, then I'm not sure I would have ever given this one a try. (What do you think? Do you like...


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My Top Ten MG Heroines

8:09 PM Nikki

10. Mandy. By Julie Edwards. Mandy, I admit, was a childhood favorite of mine. There was just something so heartfelt, so vital, about this young orphan girl who was searching for something to make her feel complete and found it in having her own little secret garden and cottage. Her dreams, her determination, her stubbornness made Mandy work for me. 9. Ida May stars in Julia Bowe's My Last Best Friend, My New Best Friend, and My Best Frenemy. (I would so want to be her friend, her best friend, you know, if she were real and I was a kid again.)8. Zoe Elias stars in Linda Urban's A Crooked Kind of Perfect. This book was so perfect--so absolutely...


Happy Thanksgiving!

11:03 AM Nikki

Happy Thanksgiving! I thought I would take a little time to share with my readers the authors I'm thankful to have discovered in 2010!Josephine Tey -- The Daughter of Time and The Man in the Queue.Alison McGhee -- Julia Gillian (And the Art of Knowing, Julia Gillian (And the Quest for Joy, and Julia Gillian (And the Dream of the Dog). Noel Streatfeild --  Ballet Shoes.Alan Bradley --  Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.Kim Echlin -- The Disappeared.Adam Gidwitz -- A Tale Dark and Grimm.Kate Milford -- The Boneshaker.Laurel Snyder -- Any Which Wall. Clare Vanderpool -- Moon Over Manifest.Mary Balogh -- First Comes Marriage. Then Comes Seduction. At Last Comes Love. Seducing an Angel. Lori Ann Bloomfield -- The Last River Child. Maryrose Wood -- The Incorrigible Children of Ashton...


Bright Young Things (YA)

6:56 AM Nikki

Bright Young Things. Anna Godbersen. 2010. HarperCollins. 400 pages.It is easy to forget now, how effervescent and free we all felt that summer. Everything fades: the shimmer of gold over White Cove; the laughter in the night air; the lavender early morning light on the faces of skyscrapers, which had suddenly become so heroically tall. Every dawn seemed to promise fresh miracles, among other joys that are in short supply these days. And so I will tell you, while I still remember, how it was then, before everything changed--that final season of an era that roared. I enjoyed Anna Godbersen's Bright Young Things. It's set in the summer of...


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Library Loot: Fourth Trip in November

4:32 PM Nikki

New Loot:Glitter Girls and the Great Fake Out by Meg CabotBespelling Jane Austen by Mary Balogh, Colleen Gleason, Janet Mullany, Susan KrinardA Darcy Christmas by Amanda Grange, Sharon Lathan, Carolyn Eberhart Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B. RossAn Expert in Murder: A New Mystery Featuring Josephine Tey by Nicola UpsonAngel With Two Faces: A Mystery Featuring Josephine Tey by Nicola UpsonA Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song by Steve TurnerLeftover Loot:The Blending Time by Michael KinchLibrary Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire and Marg that encourages bloggers to share ...


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Book Review: Nightshade City by Hilary Wagner

8:52 AM mixagrip

Nightshade City by Hilary WagnerPublisher: Holiday HousePublication date: October 2010ISBN: 9780823422852 Source: review copy provided by publicistDeep beneath Trillium city there lies a hidden city of rats. Run by an evil dictator and his vicious army for the last decade, the rats of the Catacombs are oppressed and run down.  But, a secret rebellion is stirring among the inhabitants, led by a mysterious figure from the past and three young rats who all lost their parents in the overthrow of the last ruler.  Will they be able to defeat these wicked rulers before it is too late?Things I Liked: The book has an exciting non-stop action...


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Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens (MG/YA)

7:25 AM Nikki

Alcatraz Versus The Shattered Lens. Brandon Sanderson. 2010. Scholastic. 304 pages.  So there I was, holding a pink teddy bear in my hand. It had a red bow and an inviting, cute, bearlike smile. Also, it was ticking."Now what?" I asked."Now you throw it, idiot!" Bastille said urgently.Alcatraz Smedry is back for his fourth adventure. (Alcatraz would want me to tell you it is yet another volume in his biography--not a fantasy novel at all.) The first three volumes are Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones, and Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Chrystallia. While we still don't know how Alcatraz ends up tied...


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What's On Your Nightstand (November)

7:22 AM Nikki

What's On Your Nightstand is hosted by 5 Minutes for Books. Here's what I'm reading.He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope. Trollope is one of my favorite authors--and I'm hoping to finish this one and Lady Anna before the year is through! (I'm signed up for the Trollope Classics Circuit Tour).Black Radishes by Susan Lynn Meyer. This children's book is set during World War II in France. The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James. I loved James' Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte. I'm hoping to enjoy this one as well. Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan. I'm still lacking one book on my 2010 TBR Challenge. This is one of my choices. I'm not...


The Poison Throne

7:00 AM Nikki

To all those looking for my review of this book, I have two words for you:talking catsTHE ENDOh, hold on, my phone's ringing...((beep, beep, boop, eep, eep, boop, oop))((...ring))((...ring...click))Hey, Steve. How's it going?((wah))Cool. So yeah, I just finished reading that Poison Throne book you guys gave me and I'm throwing a complete blank on how to write the review for it because just about nothing happened in the whole thing. I--((wah, wah, waah?))Yeah, really. Nothing. Well, nothing interesting anyhow. Like walking into an expensive department store and only finding second-hand clothing. Ugh. Well, it does have a few ghosts in it...


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