January's Book List - 12 Books

Today, I'd like to post my list of books that I read in January. I decided to keep track of the books I read this year, so I'm recording them in a word document on my desktop. Easy, right? January was a good reading month for me. I read a TON! Some of the books good, and some were great...

Last year, I started reading the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series. I liked the first book - The Lightening Thief. It had an interesting premise, and I enjoyed learning more about Greek mythology. So, in January I decided to try to finish the series. Not only did I finish that series, but I also read the 2 books in Rick Riordan's next series, Heroes of Olympus.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan

Book 2 - The Sea of Monsters

In this book, 13-year-old demigod, Percy Jackson, and some friends, must rescue his satyr friend, Grover, from the Cyclops Polyphemus, and save Camp Half Blood from a Titan's attack by bringing back the Golden Fleece to cure Thalia's poisoned pine tree.

Book 3 - The Titan's Curse

Now 14 years old, Percy leads a group of friends to rescue Annabeth and the Goddess Artemis, who have both been kidnapped.

Book 4 - The Battle of the Labyrinth

Percy tries to stop Luke Castellan and his evil army from invading Camp Half-Blood through Daedalus's labyrinth. He tries to find Daedalus and convince him not to give Luke Ariadne's string, which would help Luke through the Labyrinth.

Book 5 - The Last Olympians

Percy leads his friends, including a mortal who can see through the mist, in a last battle to protect Olympus. The battle takes place in New York City, at the Empire State Building - the entrance to Olympus. (I bet you didn't know that!)

Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan
Book 1 - The Lost Hero

A new group of teenage demigods star in this novel, which still has many of the characters from Camp Half Blood. Jason wakes up as a demigod, and has no idea where he's come from. The group at Camp Half Blood welcome him and two other demigods into camp. These new demigods have Roman mythology parents instead of Greek. The three are sent on a quest to rescue Hera, queen of the Gods.

Book 2 - The Son of Neptune

This story follows Percy Jackson, the demigod son of Poseidan, after he disappears. He ends up in a completely different camp of halfbloods, where Roman myths rule. He goes to Alaska to free the Greek god of death, Thanatos, and save the world from Gaia.

This series is even better than the last series- it has the characters from the Percy Jackson series, but adds several more. Riordan adds the Roman Gods/myths to the story in these books. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Beautifully written - jumps between modern day and the Salem witch trials. A woman who is pursuing her graduate degree in Early American History, stumbles on a book of "spells", and discovers that her early ancestor was one of the women tried and convicted of being a witch in Salem, MA - an unknown, undocumented witch. Interesting story.

The Litigators by John Grisham

As story about mass tort lawyers - amazing how much money and corruption is out there! A lawyer who works for a huge law firm, and makes lots of money, gets tired of working so many hours and never having time for his family. One day he just leaves. After "having lunch" at a bar, he drunkenly stumbles into a small law firm. The story unfolds as he starts to work for this law firm, which is run by 2 semi-corrupt, bumbling lawyers... the type that literally chase ambulances. As one of the partners jumps into a mass tort case, things quickly begin to unravel. Typical Grisham novel - engrossing. One of his better novels.

Book of a Thousand Day by Shannon Hale

Retold story from the Brothers Grimm - loved this book! A young princess refuses to marry someone she doesn't love, and she and her maid are banished to a tower for 7 years. This is a story about falling in love, loyalty, perseverance, friendship, honesty. Wonderful story! This book is in the Young Adult Fiction genre - one I read quite a bit. If you are only shopping in the Adult sections of the bookstore, you'll miss out on some great books.

Bitten by Robert Smith

This is an LDS fiction, a story about a missionary who is called to Tennessee and thinks his life is over. He serves almost his whole mission in Thelma's Way - a geniune back-woods town, meets the girl of his dreams, and after his mission, returns to claim her. This book was hilarious! I laughed out loud many times! A good, clean, fun story - with some great life lessons.

Fearless in High Heels by Gemma Halliday

This is the 5th book in the series. I read the other 4 last year. It's a fun series about a girl (Maddie) who designs shoes in Hollywood. Her best friend, Dana, is an actress. Her mom is married to a guy who owns a salon. It seems like Maddie is a magnet for dead bodies. She and her friends try to solve murders, and earlier in the series, she meets a detective named Ramirez. They end up getting married. In this book, she is pregnant with their first baby. I love the characters in this series. It's just a fun, entertaining read.

Saving Juliet by Suzanne Selfors

I thought this was a fun idea for a book. The book cover is what attracted me to the book. An actress who plays Juliet on stage at her family's theater, gets whisked back in time to Verona - and Juliet and Romeo's lives. The actor who plays Romeo also travels back in time. They save Romeo and Juliet, and fall in love themselves. Fun!

12 Books! I told you January was a good reading month!! I also started a book called Bad Buys of the Book of Mormon by Dennis Gaunt.

I'm planning on reading a chapter each Sunday, so it will take a couple of months to finish. So far, it's very entertaining.

So, that's it. If you live by me, and want to borrow some of these books, be my guest. The only books I can't lend out are the books owned by my kids - the Percy Jackson books are Matthew's.

Stay tuned next month for February's books...

Thursday Book Review - THE EYES OF THE DRAGON by Stephen King

Most of you who personally know me, know that I would never read a Stephen King novel. He's too scary and weird. However, last year, while I was recovering from a surgery, I had tons of time to read. Michael's girlfriend, Ashley, sent me a few of her books to read. One of them was THE EYES OF THE DRAGON by Stephen King. Believe me, it sat there forever - because I refused to pick it up. She tried to convince me - "Trust me, it's not like his other books - it's really good". After reading most of the other books she sent me - and realizing that she has REALLY GREAT taste in books - I decided to try reading it. And, you know what? It's a really great book! Seriously. Nothing like any of his other books. I loved it. Last month, my book club (Hi, ladies!) read this book, so, because I remember practically nothing during that crappy time last year, I decided to read it again. Loved it again!

I guess the genre of this book would be Fantasy Fiction. The story takes place in a kingdom called Delain. After the King of Delain dies, the kingdom is in an uproar, as the successor to the throne, Prince Peter, is imprisoned in the Needle - a four-story high tower, and Prince Thomas takes the throne. Could the evil magician, Flagg, have anything to do with the state of affairs, as the kingdom plummets into darkness and despair?!

I love the way that Stephen King becomes a storyteller - literally talking to his readers as if they are present. It's delightful. This is a book for young and old. There are a few descriptive words about body parts and actions in the first 10 pages of the book, but after that, it is a clean read.

Be prepared to be swept into a kingdom of worthy princes, puppet kings, dragons, and wizards... will good triumph over evil? Will all be right with the world again? I'm not telling - you have to read it for yourself!

Illustrations by David Palladini

Book Review - The Remarkable Farkle McBride

For Thursday's book review today, I thought I'd review John Lithgow's The Remarkable Farkle McBride. Yep, you read that right - this cute kids book was written by John Lithgow - the actor. C.F. Payne is the illustrator. The reading level is ages 4-8.

The book starts out by introducing us to the musical prodigy, Farkle McBride - no matter what instrument he tried, "his musical passions were unsatisfied"! Throughout the book, we find Farkle playing instrument after instrument. John Lithgow's gift with words mirrors, in some ways, Dr. Seuss in Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? As Farkle plays the violin, we can hear the sounds... Reedle-ee, Deedle-ee, Deedle-ee Dee! The flute is next... Rootle-ee, Tootle-ee, Tootle-ee, Too. My son, Alex will guess this next instrument... Vroom-pety, Doom-pety, Doom-pety, Doom (trombone). This continues through the rest of the book, as Farkle tries to find an instrument he likes, until he realizes that he can put all of the sounds together! One day, the conductor of the local orchestra catches a cold and Farkle must replace him... can you guess what happens? "So he took the baton and he gave the downbeat, And KA-BOOM! the foundations were shaken by glorious music, bombastic and sweet!"

I love this book - the rhymes are genius, and the illustrations superb. And the best thing of all - there's a surprise on the last page. A huge four-page fold out of the entire orchestra. On the inside of the front page, C.F.Payne (illustrator) says: "My gratitude to Maestro Jesus Lopez-Cobos and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for their help in producing this artwork."

How fun that these illustrations are of real musicians! I think you and your kids will love this book! (Click on the picture of the book above to go to Amazon.com and buy a copy.)

Book Review - "Discovery" Books

It's been quite awhile since I did a book review, so I think I'll do one today. I think I've explained before that I collect children's books - especially those that have incredible illustrations (of course, the contents are very important to me as well). My kids are all older now, and so in the last few years I've started to collect what I like to call "discovery" books. These really cool books focus on one topic, with pockets, loose pieces, pop-ups, etc. Some of my favorites are the "ology" books - Pirateology, Egyptology, Dragonology, Wizardology. They are all New York Times bestsellers. They are printed by Candlewick Press. LOVE these books. I probably love them more than my kids do! In fact, I use my kids as an excuse to buy the books, but they are really for me. The list price on these books is $19.99, but Costco quite often stocks these books and they are only around $10.00. That's an incredible deal, believe me.





I love these books for several reasons:
1. There is so much to look at and read. The pages are just full of hand-drawn pictures (even the borders of the pages are hand-drawn).
2. It's fun to open the envelopes and pull out the letters, maps, directions, etc. that are inside. It's like getting a little gift!
3. It brings fantasy to life. Some of the books look like journals - it makes them seem real.
4. Some of the books have real information - like the books on Egypt and Pirates. Some have make believe information - like the books on wizards and dragons. (I LOVE make-believe.)

Discovering every little surprise in these books is quite an adventure. I highly recommend these books. By-the-way, there are "ology" type books specifically for girls too - with subjects like Fairies. For obvious reasons, I've never bought any of these, so I don't know much about them. They are also found at Costco. There are others "discovery" books besides the "ology" collection. I have a total of eleven, I think. Here are some pictures, showing my entire collection.




The titles I have include: The Chronicles of Spiderwick, The Wandmakers, The Dragon Hunter's Handbook, Nephiteologist, Warriors, Pirate Soul, Knights, Disney's Pirates of the Carribean, Pirate, Wizardology, Egyptology, Pirateology, and Dragonology. There are a TON more in book stores.

Go and pick up one of these books and immerse yourself in another world. I know you'll love it as much as I do.

Citizens! Your Emporer, Trent Trendycrest, demands your attention!

It's been awhile since I last posted, because I had a surgery done. I'm back home now, so back to blogging. I'm glad it's book review day. Hmmmmm. What book should I review? So many books, so little time....

Oh, I know! Here is a wonderful book - a story you'll no doubt recognize, but done in a completely different way. The Emperor's New Clothes - An All-Star Illustrated Retelling of the Classic Fairy Tale.


This book was done as a benefit for the Starbright Foundation. Here are the things I love about this book:

1. It's told by several different very famous people: Liam Neeson, Harrison Ford & Melissa Mathison, Angela Lansbury, Nathan Lane, Jason Alexander, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Madonna, Carrie Fisher & Penny Marshall, Melissa Joan Hart, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jeff Goldblum, Dan Aykroyd, Robin Williams, Geena Davis, Calvin Klein, Rosie O'Donnell, Fran Drescher, Joan Rivers, Steven Spielberg, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, and John Lithgow! WOW!

2. When I say "told by", it's true. The story is recorded by the above celebrities on a CD that comes with the book. You can just listen and turn the pages. LOVE IT!

3. It's illustrated by several different very famous people: Quentin Blake, Maurice Sendak, Peter de Seve, Etienne Delessert, C. F. Payne, Mark Teague, Steve Johnson & Lou Fancher, Daniel Adel, Carter Goodrich, S. Saelig Gallagher, Gary Kelley, David Christiana, Chris Van Allsburg, Berkeley Breathed, Kinuko Y. Craft, Steven Kellogg, Tomie dePaola, Michael Parashevas, Fred Marcellino, Don Wood, Graeme Base, and William Joyce. That list includes many of my family's favorite illustrators.

So, to give you an idea of how each of these famous people play a part in this wonderful book...

The story is told by a moth, illustrated by Quentin Blake. Each character in the story is played by a famous person and illustrated by a famous person: i.e. The Imperial Prime Minister, as told by Liam Neeson and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. The Weaver Thieves, as told by Harrison Ford & Melissa Mathison and illustrated by Peter de Seve. Etc., etc. This is such a clever way to tell a story. I can't wait to turn the next page and listen to hear who is next going to chime in with part of the story. It's a very fun book to share with your kids.
(This is the paperbound cover)
Here are some of the inside pages...
The Emporer as told by John Lithgow and Illustrated by William Joyce

The Empress as told by Madonna and illustrated by Daniel Adel

The Dresser's Spectacles as told by Jason Alexander and illustrated by Mark Teague

You can go to Amazon.com and find this book in Hardbound or Paperback. It's definitely worth getting for your library.

FYI: The Starbright Foundation benefits seriously ill children. The proceeds from the sale of this book benefit the Starbright Foundation. From the chairman, Steven Spielberg: "Most children in hospitals are scared. I've found that they desperately want to know what's happening to them. Helping kids find answers to their questions about disease and giving them creative ways to cope with the challenges of serious illness if what Starbright is all about." All 23 celebrities and 23 acclaimed illustrators donated their time and creativity to help produce this book.

To learn more about the Starbright Foundation, go to www.starbright.org OR contact The STARBRIGHT Foundation, 1990 South Bundy Drive, Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90025, 1-800-315-2580.

(This information came from the inside the book)

Happy Reading!

Runny Babbit Rook Beview

Have you seen the book, Runny Babbit - A Billy Sook, by Shel Silverstein? It's adorable, and the perfect book to give kids of any age in their Easter basket.

I gave this book to my son, Matthew, a few years ago. A typical Shel Silverstein book, it's full of fun rhymes and black and white sketches.

There are cute characters, too: Millie Woose, Snerry Jake, Toe Jurtle, Wormy Squirm, Goctor Doose, Bumping Jean, and Skertie Gunk.

This book was completed prior to Shel Silverstein's death in 1999 - it was a work in progress for over twenty years. It was printed in 2005.




Here's a quote from the pirst fage:

Way down in the green woods
Where the animals all play,
They do things and they say things
In a different sort of way -
Instead of sayin' "purple hat",
They all say "hurple pat".
Instead of sayin' "feed the cat",
They just say "ceed the fat".
So if you say, "Let's bead a rook
That's billy as can se,"
You're talkin' Runny Babbit talk,
Just like mim and he.

This is such a fun book to read out loud to your kids - you'll all laugh so hard, that you'll snort. I promise! Run right out and buy it NOW!

Ploppy Sig, Gillip Phiraffe, Rirty Dat, Calley At and Kittle Litten, Flutterby, Batty Meaver, and Franny Fog will all thank you. ;-)

Bood-gye...Nor Fow...

BOOK REVIEW - The Jolly Postman

The other day, my son, Michael, called from a bookstore. He was there with Ashley, his girlfriend, and he wanted to show her one of his favorite childhood books. But, he couldn't remember the name. As he described it to me, I went and picked in up off of the book shelf, where I've kept a good majority of the kids' books I've collected over the years. It was a joy to sit there and look through this book. I'd love to share it with you.

The book is called "The Jolly Postman or Other People's Letters" by Janet & Allan Ahlberg. I believe it was published in London. This book is written in rhyme. It's about a postman who delivers letters and packages to characters from popular fairy tales: the three bears, the witch in the gingerbread house, the giant at the top of the beanstalk, Cinderella, the big bad wolf, and Goldilocks. The fun thing about this book is that each time the postman delivers something, the next page is an envelope that is addressed (i.e. Mr. and Mrs. Bear, Three Bears Cottage, The Woods) and when you turn that page, you can reach inside the envelope and take out the letter (or whatever is inside) and read it. So, for example, the witch receives an advertisement - Hobgoblin Supplies Ltd. Everything for the modern witch. The page is covered with ads for witch supplies. Goldilocks receives a birthday card from Mrs. Bunting and Baby. It is so charming! I really love books that you can interact with and this one is probably one of the first of it's kind. Imagine how excited we all were when Santa brought another "Postman" book, this one called "The Jolly Christmas Postman". The envelopes in this book have even cooler surprises - puzzles, games, books, and cards.

These books are still available for purchase and I know your kids will love them. Obviously they made an impression on Michael! :-) Here's what they look like:



One of the best things about keeping books and other things from childhood is the memories that come crashing all around you when you look at these things. I can almost remember what the kids' hands looked like when they would pull out one of the surprises from these books. I can almost remember their sweet little voices. And I can't wait to share these books with grandkids! There's nothing quite like a good book to share!

Reluctant Readers Beware...

Thursday is book review day and I've picked a set of hilarious childrens book to talk about: The "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series.

I bought the first book in this great series for my son, Matthew, who, at the time, was 11 years old. Matthew likes to read, but doesn't read a lot. I thought this book might get him more interested in books. He LOVED it! My son, Alex, who is 14, has read the first book as well. He couldn't put it down!

Jeff Kinney (the author) has created a really cool set of books. These books are written just like a diary - lined pages with "hand-written" entries and "hand-drawn" illustrations. This is the diary of Greg Heffley, a kid who is in middle school and is pretty much a wimp. He's very funny, too. Here are a couple of excerpts from the first book:

Saturday - "Most kids wake up early on Saturday to watch cartoons or whatever, but not me. The only reason I get out of bed at all on weekends is because eventually, I can't stand the taste of my own breath anymore."

Wednesday - "[There is a] piece of cheese that has been sitting on the blacktop since last spring. This kid named Darren Walsh touched the Cheese with his finger, and that's what started this thing called the Cheese Touch. It's basically like the Cooties. If you get the Cheese Touch, you're stuck with it until you pass it on to some else. The only way to protect yourself from the Cheese Touch is to cross your fingers. But it's not that easy remembering to keep your fingers crossed every moment of the day. I ended up taping mine together so they'd stay crossed all the time. I got a D in handwriting, but it was totally worth it."

Haha! The journal entries are funny, but the illustrations are my favorite part.

So, there are 3 books (so far) in the series:
Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw

There is also a very cool "Do-It-Yourself Book". This is a fun fill-in-the blank kind of book. Your son/daughter will have hours of fun writing in this book. Some of the pages included in this book are: List Your Injuries (with a picture of a body), Practice Your Signature, Five Things Nobody Knows About You, The Baddest Thing You Ever Did As A Little Kid. About half of the book is just lined pages - a place for your young writers to put some of their own thoughts down. I just love this do-it-yourself book!

I've been able to find most of these books at Costco for $7.49 each (hardbound). I bought the do-it-yourself book (paperback) at Scholastic books. Look for these books in the book orders that your older kids bring home.

By-the-way, I LOVE reading these books as well. They are very entertaining. Kids of any age will really enjoy this series.

Happy Reading!

Book Review: The Book of Lost Things by John Connelly

This book is about a boy who loses his mother during World War ll in London. He uses the books on his shelves for company – the books his mother taught him to love. He uses his imagination as a way to deal with his mother’s death and soon finds that fantasy and reality start to merge together. As he tries to cope with his dad re-marrying, he is propelled into a world that is populated by versions of the heroes and monsters from popular fairy tales that he’s read.

This book was an excellent read. I couldn’t put it down. John Connelly is a great writer. I enjoyed recognizing the fairy tales that were familiar to me. It was very interesting to see how the fairy tales reveal themselves in the characters in the book. For instance, there is a woodsman in the tale. There are creatures that are half wolf and half man. They are the Big Bad Wolf character from the fairy tales.



One of the things that fascinates me in this tale is that the books in the story start to whisper to the boy. He sees a psychiatrist because of the problems he having dealing with his mother’s death. While sitting in the doctor’s office, he hears the books on the shelves start to whisper to him. When the doctor says something smart, they cheer for him and when he says something dumb, they call him names. David can hear all of this, but no one else can.

At the end of the book, there is an interview with John Connelly and he’s asked if this is a children’s book. He replies that it’s a book about childhood and growing up, but probably not a book for children to read. My youngest is almost 12. I think that I’d be comfortable reading it out loud to him. He would probably be ok with it. There are some grown up themes and a few things that are a little disturbing, though, so a child younger than 12 might have a problem understanding the book.
This book is described as a series of fragmented stories inside of a story. “Everything you can imagine is real”. You can other reviews and buy the book on Barnesandnoble.com. The book starts at around $20 for the large paperback – brand new. I’m sure you could find it used on Amazon.com.