I just can't Lie: A Review of We Were Liars

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart has blown up in the book world. All of a sudden everyone and their friend was talking about this little book. No one wanted to say what happened. No one wanted to give a synopsis. It fueled the fire like gasoline. 

I came out with scars on my heart.

This book got to me. 5 out of 5.

If you did not know, We Were Liars is about Cadence Sinclair. She is from a rich and privileged family that goes to her grandparent's island every summer. Cadence, her two cousins, and the nephew of one of the aunt's boyfriends called themselves the liars. During the summer before they turned 16 something happened and two years later Cadence finally goes back to the island to find out what happened since she has no clear memory of the summer.

Best part of this book? The writing. Hands down. If this is just how Lockhart writes, they are going to very easily become a favorite author of mine. The book is beautiful. It slowly paints the picture of what happens with snippets that you digest like an addictive snack. Throughout the chapters there are moments of verse and vague poetic moments that are like the m&ms in the trail mix (the sweet part that you really look forward to). 

There is a bit of young romance in the book, and I'm pretty indifferent to it. They are young characters and I think that is why it didn't really bother me that it was kind of unrealistic, so many 'first loves' are.

The characters and family dynamics in this book are what really make the book. Here is this girl who keeps being told to hide her feelings, while being a very sensitive child on the inside that just wants to stop holding it together. But to be a Sinclair, she has to be normal.

I definitely recommend this book to those who love reading something  really beautiful. Don't think about the hype or what you don't know. Just go into it along with the character and discover the truth with her.

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The Great Gatsby: A Review.

So if you do not know what The Great Gatsby is, first of all you have been living under a rock; and second of all you are missing out.

The Great Gatsby is probably F. Scott Fitzgerald's most notable novel. It is considered a classic and an overview of the overly decadent 1920's. 

The Great Gatsby is a story that is told from the perspective of Nick Carroway, a stock broker from Illinois and currently living just outside of New York in West Egg. Nick just happens to live next door to the infamous Jay Gatsby, known for crazy parties, and even crazier stories about himself. 

One day, Nick is invited over to Gatsby's party, where he learns what all the noise has been about. There is drinking, eating, dancing, singing, and just all over mayhem sprinkled with expensive everything. 

Nick just so happens to be cousins with Daisy Buchanan, married to Tom Buchanan (major jerk). Little does Nick know that his mysterious neighbor has a history with Daisy until Gatsby asks him to set up a meeting between the two. Enter chaos.

My Thoughts

Having seen the movie with the handsome Leonardo DiCaprio before reading the novel, I'm actually pretty glad that I did. I really liked having Tobey McGuire's voice in my head for Nick's narration. I thought it was kind of odd that we are following the story of someone and we do not even get his name until around page 86. Nick himself, I actually kind of didn't like. I thought he was way too full of himself and thinking that he was better than everyone else, except Gatsby of course. There's even one part where he says that he is "the most honest person he's ever known." Bring your ego down a little there. I did like how invested in Gatsby he became though, sticking with him until the end through everything that happened.

I thought it was just the movie that I did not like Daisy in, but nope. I do not like her in the book either. She seems like a spoiled brat that just wants attention from anyone that she can get it. It's all about her and she does not care about the consequences of her own actions.

Tom Buchanan is a misogynistic jerk. He has way too much money. He has way too many women. And he gets away with everything he shouldn't. Not a fan.

Gatsby, what is there to say about Gatsby. He's the heart of the novel. I love how everything he does is to bring him to be the person that he believes that he is meant to be. He believes that he should be a rich, well educated man of society, and he becomes that. I feel so bad for him at the same time because his imagination is so strong and the reality of how everything should go never seems to live up to the dream. Gatsby is not perfect in any means, and does some questioning things, but he was a pure person deep down and the end makes me very sad.

I gave the book 3.5 stars. I did really like the book, but it wasn't quite good enough for me to be like, I REALLY liked it! I'm really glad that I finally finished this classic though.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: A Short Review

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is probably my least favorite of the Holmes books so far, and that is mainly because of the last short story in the book. Here are the titles of the stories in the book:

Silver Blaze

The Yellow Face

The Stock-Broker's Clerk

The "Gloria Scott"

The Musgrave Ritual

The Reigate Puzzle

The Crooked Man

The Resident Patient

The Greek Interpreter

The Naval Treaty

The Final Problem

The Greek Interpreter is actually one of my favorite episodes of the older Sherlock Homes show, so I really liked reading the story. The Resident Patient is also a really good one. 

My really only problem with the whole collection is The Final Problem. HOW DO YOU INTRODUCE THE GREATEST CRIMINAL MIND LIKE THAT??? It was like, all of a sudden Sherlock mentions that this guy is the greatest criminal mind, but all he says is that he's been behind a bunch of stuff. We don't get ANY preview of his criminality. We don't get to see him behind any crime. We don't get to see Sherlock going after him. Ughhhh. You could make a book just about the tet-a-tet between Sherlcok and Moriarty, but noooooooo. Why would we get that? 

Also, I hate the end. I understand that Watson couldn't be there because that would ruin it, but that also means that we don't see it. I also understand that is kind of the point so that he believes that Sherlcok is really gone, when duh-duh-duh he's not! :) I don't know. I just didn't like any of the story. I was so disappointed.

All in all, I still gave the book 5 out of 5 stars. I love Sherlock Holmes and all of the details in the stories to follow, and the characters. I will continue my Sherlock Holmes kick.

A Sign Of Four: Another Sherlockian Quest

I actually really loved the romance that blooms in this book! I did not even really see it coming. I took note that her name was Mary, and I kind of wondered at it, especially with how Watson kept narrating that they looked back on the events in certain ways, which made it more and more obvious that she became his Mary.

I don't know how I feel about Sherlock using cocaine. I'm not shocked because it is mentioned in the 1980's show and referenced in the current, and just seems to be a common knowledge of Sherlock. It makes me kind of sad, but at the same time I can see why he does it. He has such manic tendencies, that drug use is not surprising.

I like how it all went along, but I am definitely ready for Watson to get a lot better at observing and deducing himself. Obviously, I still loved the story and the chase, and of course the integration of Toby!! :) You'll only understand if you've seen The Great Mouse Detective.

Pictures from: Bored Mary and Watson Toby

A Study in Sherlock: A Review

I've always loved Sherlock Holmes. Anything Sherlock Holmes. Seriously.

My first memory of Sherlock Holmes is probably while watching The Great Mouse Detective. If you have not watched this movie, crawl out from under your rock and go watch it. Now. Seriously. It's Disney. It's based off of Sherlock Holmes and there's cute talking animals.

The second memory would probably be of a book that my mom had, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I always wanted to read it, and by the time I took it down, my younger brothers had ripped pages out and colored in it with crayons T_T

From there, I watched everything I could on Sherlock Holmes to fill the void of sadness. I even watched some of the black and white movies. I especially love the 1980's BBC show and obviously, I love the new Sherlock, duh!

Just recently, I read A Study In Scarlet, the very first novel introducing Sherlock and Watson and the beginning of their adventures.

I gave this book a 5 out of 5 Stars. :)

I loved it! It was really nice to read the introduction between Watson and Sherlock. You really get a sense of awe that Watson has for Sherlock, which I kind of hope doesn't stay. I like it for the first novel, because he does seem so beyond comprehension with his abilities. I can't wait to read more :) I have read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes before, and now I have all of the other works besides The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. It was not included in the ebook compilation that I bought because of apparent copyright issues in the US. 

Have you read any Sherlock Holmes? Do you love it? Have you seen any of the shows? How amazing is Benedict Cumberbatch?!

The Hobbit has burglared my heart

First of all, I want to give some of my background with JRR Tolkien. I'm definitely a fan, though not as religious of a fan as some others may be. I saw Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in theaters and immediately was spellbound into the world of Middle Earth and thirsting for more. I got my hands on probably the biggest book in my collection save for an Encyclopedia of the world, which included all three parts of Lord of the Rings as well as the Appendixes. I do really like and appreciate the books and the whole world of Middle Earth, though I struggled with The Two Towers and sort of took a two year break in the middle of it. I'm sorry but I was getting pretty bored and sick to death of Aragorn and company boringly chasing after Merry and Pippin for so long. I also have all three movies on extended version DVDs (watch the special features! they are amazing!!!). I have also seen the very old 1977 TV animated movie of The Hobbit, which is actually kind of funny to be thinking about in the background of your mind as you read the book. With December 14th coming up fast, I knew I had to finally buckle down and read The Hobbit to hype myself up for the movie and prepare. Yes, I am also a big movie nerd as well as book nerd. And so, this brought me to read The Hobbit on my trip to Indiana.

The first thing that I noticed about The Hobbit? The writing style. I was absolutely surprised about how easy the reading style was in The Hobbit compared to Lord of the Rings. Now, it has been some years since I read Lord of the Rings, and perhaps I am more mature now and could read it better, but the writing style is much more laid back and in a teasing way in The Hobbit compared to Lord of the Rings. I almost feel like it is Gandalf that is the narrator in the way that they will mention that a certain character has other stories about them, but they are not important currently, or in the way that the narrator explains things that reader might not know, like how they describe hobbits at the beginning of the book. The writing style made me feel like I was interacting with the narrator and made getting into the book even easier.

The mood of the writing is also very interesting as you red. The book has a somewhat sarcastic tone to it. The specific line that sticks in my head that is repeated quite often is about how Bilbo keeps wishing that he was back in his hobbit hole, and it wouldn't be the last time that he wished that. You get a sense that things are also pretty bad and horrible in some parts of the world, and that things have gotten very bad in places that were once good. The heroes conquer still. In the end you are left with a sense of security when Bilbo goes back to his quiet, though very changed, peaceful life in Bag-End.

All in all it is the characters who really make the book. Especially Bilbo. Bilbo makes me think of the quote: "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." -William Shakespeare. Bilbo is all these things. He is born great, but does not know it. He achieves greatness, quite reluctantly. And he most certainly has greatness thrust upon him. Bilbo does not even want anything to do with adventures when Gandalf first shows up at his door, but Gandalf sees more in him than he can even see in himself. Bilbo beyond proves himself  by the end of this tale. I really feel like all of the characters, though important themselves in other ways, are really all there in this story to shape Bilbo into the hobbit he was meant to be. He is very much the focus. Each of the other characters are certainly interesting and important, especially Gandalf, who is very much an architect of many things going on, and Thorin, the other twelve dwarves, Bard Gollum, and many others that they meet along the way.

The Hobbit is a beautifully intricate story about the adventures of the reluctant adventurer, or burglar as he is referred, Bilbo Baggins. There are dangers, both magical and not, other-wordly creatures, treasure, dragons, revenge, magical rings, sure-death situations, and even some war action. A quiet and boring hobbit transforms into a worldly and traveled hobbit on the fringe of his own kind, that surprises everyone and especially himself.

All in all, I think that everyone should read this book. It is such a classic story that I feel anyone would enjoy and I highly recommend it.

Five Star Approved.

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A Love/Hate for American Gods

So, for one of my book clubs, I read the book American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

This book took me almost a month to read. A MONTH! Books never take me that long!! It was just so boring! I cared about what was going to happen and I did really like some of the characters, but I honestly didn't really get into the book until the last few chapters.

I really liked the theme of religion, especially the old religions, throughout the book. You quickly find out that a lot of the characters in the book are gods and goddesses of pagan religions. There is a big tension between the "gods" of today like television, money, etc, vs the old gods that have very few followers and believers in America.

There is a lot of talk about how people today view religion and god or gods. I found the book very thought provoking and philosophical. I happen to be a pagan, so for me it really made me think about religion a lot and what I believe in and re-evaluate.

I really loved the writing of the book. That is one of my favorite parts of this book. Neil writes very close-handed. By that, I mean that it is like someone at poker. You do not know any more than what the author wants, and he only releases certain details slowly and at the perfect times. You don't know exactly what is going on until the last chapter or two.

There were a couple of really weird things about the writing style though. There would be random parts that had absolutely nothing to do with the plot of the story. They were just other random parts where the story kind of had to with old gods and things, but it was just kind of weird and I think totally unneeded parts that could have been left out of the book.

Have you read this book?? What did you think of it?

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Pointless?

Title: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Author: Douglas Adams

Time it took to read: 2 days

Rating 2 out of 5

So I am not the biggest Sci-fi fan. I read this book for one of my Goodread book clubs, and that’s why I read it. So many people say that this is such a classic read that everyone should read it, but honestly I don’t see why anyone should read this book. Just so you know, I have seen the movie before reading this book. All I even remember from the movie is some weird guy with three arms. The movie is not worth it at all. The book is barely worth it more than the movie.

Maybe it is just the writer’s style, but they sound like an idiot. The whole book is pretty much pointlessly about the Earth being destroyed and how one man got off the Earth before it was destroyed and his bungling adventures. I don’t know, maybe the book series gets better, but I just really didn’t like the book much. It was so easy to finish because it took fewer brain cells to read than to work facebook. 

If it’s your kind of thing, then fine, but it’s not mine.

Secret Society Girl Series

So this is a book series that I am in LOVE with! I have only read the first three books out of the four because my library system doesn't have the fourth one :(

Book 1: Secret Society Girl
Author: Diana Peterfreund
Time to read: within two days
Rating: 5 out of 5

From the back: In a fabulous blend of the bestselling traditions of Prep and The Devil Wears Prada, Secret Society Girl takes us into the heart of the Ivy League’s ultraexclusive secret societies when a young woman is invited to join as one of their first female members. 

Elite Eli University junior Amy Haskel never expected to be tapped into Rose & Grave, the country’s most powerful—and notorious—secret society. She isn’t rich, politically connected, or…well, male. 

So when Amy receives the distinctive black-lined invitation with the Rose & Grave seal, she’s blown away. Could they really mean her? 

Whisked off into an initiation rite that’s a blend of Harry Potter and Alfred Hitchcock, Amy awakens the next day to a new reality and a whole new set of “friends”—from the gorgeous son of a conservative governor to an Afrocentric lesbian activist whose society name is Thorndike. And that’s when Amy starts to discover the truth about getting what you wish for. Because Rose & Grave is quickly taking her away from her familiar world of classes and keggers, fueling a feud, and undermining a very promising friendship with benefits. And that’s before Amy finds out that her first duty as a member of Rose & Grave is to take on a conspiracy of money and power that could, quite possibly, ruin her whole life.

A smart, sexy introduction to the life and times of a young woman in way over her head, Secret Society Girl is a charming and witty debut from a writer who knows her turf—and isn’t afraid to tell all....

That last sentence describes the whole series. You go along with Amy as she tries to find her place in her society and beat all the opposition that comes her way. Witty is probably the best way to describe the author's style. 

The writing is wonderful, but it is the characters that keep you interested. Sometimes you want to just smack the main character over the head, but you cannot help but love her and root for her every step of the way. In the second and third books, the part that really kept my attention and made me love the books soooo much, was the character development. If there is one thing I love in a book, it is character development where you learn more and begin to like the characters more as the story goes on. If every writer wrote characters like this author, I would have a really hard time finding a book that I didn't like!

Book 2: Under the Rose

-same author

-same amount of time to read

-and same rating :)

Book 2 follows Amy as one of her pledge members, unknown to the rest, tries to tell Rose & Grave's secrets to the world, one of her sisters disappears, and they uncover a more sinister plot that may destroy the whole society.

Book 3: Rites of Spring (Break)

-same author

-same amount of time to read

-and same rating :)

Book 3 follows Amy to a private secret society Spring Break where someone is trying to sabotage the girls of Rose & Grave and may even lead to more harm than intended.

A wonderful book series with intrigue and a little romance along the way ;) I would definitely recommend this series to anyone!