Oops! Forgot something!

I forgot in yesterday's post to add in what I'm planning to read next. It's a little tricky this week because the sequel to Miss Peregrine comes out today. I have had it pre-ordered from Amazon for more than a year now, which usually means it gets delivered on the day it comes out. However, this time - that's not's what's happening. Now, I'm not supposed to get it until Thursday. This throws a bit of kink in my plans because since I finished Enders, I figured I could wait until Tuesday when I got Hollow City to start reading it. But, I don't want to go that many days without reading something. I started a book Monday night, but I'm not too far into it. I may break my normal rule, and just bring home Legend to read. I'm being even weirder for what I'll read next at school. I'm just going to randomly pull one out of the box from the Scholastic Warehouse sale. There's enough in there, that I may take too long to think about it if I actually purposely pick one out.

There's going to be a lot of new books coming in to the classroom later this week. I've got to spend my yearly budget soon, and Barnes and Noble is having their educator week. That means 25% off, which means more books with my budget! Most of them I haven't read, so it may take a bit for them to make it to a book talk...

What I'm Reading Monday - Home Sick, but didn't read much

You would think I'd have massive list of books I'd finished with a "too cold" day and three days home sick. But I don't read when I'm sick - it makes my brain hurt. So, I didn't read much during the week but with my internet not working at home on Sunday - I didn't have much else to do. I ended up getting more read than I thought.

At school

Legend by Marie Lu - I think I may have hit my limit for a while with dystopian "teens against the world" books for a while. Everyone that I know who has read this loves the series, but I'm not that excited about it. I suppose it doesn't help that I didn't read it for more than a week because of being gone.

At home

I honestly finished my book (last one one the finished list) right before I went to bed last night, so I'm not reading anything at home at the moment.

Finished

The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes - The book starts off during WWI until the main character is sent to a German prisoner camp. The last 2/3 of the book though, deal with a painting of her that is the center of a court battle. There has been precedence that items stolen by the Nazis during WWII are given back to the families of the original owners; however, in this book, it hasn't been set for items from WWI. It flashes forward to the present and our new main character has a painting of the woman from WWI in her possession, and now she's being forced to possibly give it up by law. The remainder of the book shows how she deals with it because it was a wedding gift to her from her husband who is now deceased. I didn't like this as much as Me Without You but it was still a really good read.

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton - This is a "classic" that I should have read but never did. Mrs. Longman started it last week and was talking about how much she liked it. It's very short and doesn't take long to read. The story centers around Ethan who is married but develops strong feelings toward his wife's cousin - who is living with the couple. The story culminates in Ethan and Mattie (the cousin) making a decision that deeply affects the trio for the rest of their lives. It shows a battle of doing what's right vs. following your heart. 

Starters by Lissa Price - I got this book last week because it was $2.99 for Kindle. I started reading it yesterday when our internet wasn't fully functional. It's another dystopian book, but teens (starters) are very, very limited in what they can do - and most have been orphaned during the spore war, which attacked mostly middle aged people. So, the world has been left to young people and senior citizens (enders), who have created very strict rules for the starters. And now, they can rent teens' bodies to relive their youth. But as Callie - a starter - finds out, there's something a little more evil to the entire plot.

Enders by Lissa Price - The internet was still down when I finished Starters, so I went ahead and got Enders so I could find out what happened (because of course, it ended with a cliffhanger). I was not as impressed with this one as the first. I thought there were a lot of holes in the story, and it jumped around a lot without explaining things very well. 

What I'm Reading Monday During A Too Cold Day

I didn't get as much reading done as I would have liked over the break, but I finally got a few books finished that I've started and just stared at for ages. And, I as I wrote this up, I realized most of the books I didn't like. That probably played into why I didn't read as much - and a week at Disney usually means I don't read much because I'm at the parks.

At school

Legend by Marie Lu: I have just started this, so I don't have much to say about this yet. It is the first in a trilogy, and for once, I was smart enough to start the trilogy after all three were out, so I can read them closer together than the rest of the series when I usually have to wait years to get the next book. It's dystopian and is a dual narrator. I'm a little sad I left this at work; I could have read it today since we didn't have school.

At home

The Girl You Left Behind by JoJo Moyes: This takes place during WWI in France. It follows a woman whose husband has gone off to war, but her town is also being taken over by German troops. She and her sister run a hotel, and it hasn't had much business since the war started, but that doesn't stop the Germans from deciding they'll live there and force her and her family to provide meals for them. I really enjoyed Me Before You by this author, so I'm hoping this book is just as good!

Finished

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins: I was hoping I didn't hate this book as much as I did the first time. No luck. I still got mad and kept saying it was stupid while I read it. I just didn't like it, and I don't think it holds up to the other two.

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon: It took forever to get into this book, but once I got into it, I really liked it. Granted it took most of the book, but I am looking forward to the rest of the series. Once I finally got used to the terms and figured out what was going on, I really did enjoy it.

The Position by Meg Wolitzer: I really liked her other book The Interestings but this one just didn't hold my interest. It was set up a lot like the Interestings, but it seemed like more of a "test" project for the other book - like it was a rough draft. I didn't like any of the characters, and when that happens, I usually don't like the book. 

The Map of Time by Felix Palma: I have looked at this book several times at the store, and then finally picked it up this summer. It's broken up into three parts, and each part is really its own story. The thing that made me mad is that it takes forever to figure out the connection between the three parts (and I mean you don't get it until the end of a 600-page book). I also got frustrated because I didn't think the book matched up with the description on the back. There were several times while I was reading it that I would say "This book needs to get over itself." It has an outside narrator who interjects too much and is somewhat pompous. There's a sequel that I got when I picked this one up, but I'm not convinced I'll actually read it.

The Heavens Rise by Christopher Rice - This was his first foray into the supernatural, and it seemed like he was trying to write like his mom (Anne Rice), and not like himself. It was a little wackadoo, and I'm not convinced I liked the premise at all. While her books still deal with werewolves, witches and vampires - they're somewhat based in reality and still have themes everyone can connect to. I'm not convinced this one did that. I did like his first two books, and I think he should go back to writing his genre - not his mom's.

Up next

I think I'll start The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight at school. It's one of the books I got at the warehouse sale last month, and I've got to get through that stack! I'm really not sure what I'll start at home yet since I'm not too far into the Moyes book. I think it will be something quick because the sequel to Miss Peregrine comes out on the 14th, and I want to be able to start reading that right away!