Deconstructing Jen

The Host: A Novel

The Host: A Novel by Stephenie Meyer

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
On the whole I was very surprised to find that this story was much more compelling than Meyer's Twilight series. The writing is better, the story more cohesive and the characters even more intriguing.

The premise: Earth is being over taken by parasites using humans as their host. What happens when the humans fight back?

The main character Melanie/Wanderer is complex, smart, entertaining, and compelling. The supporting characters are also well written and dynamic. In the end I got much more than I expected despite the slow start. Well worth the time to read it.

View all my reviews.

holy crap girl, you better get off that computer and start reading

I have a to read list a mile long it seems. I'm finding new reading material faster than I can get through what I already have. Life is currently motoring by at a neck breaking pace and I scarcely have time to read more than Goodnight Moon and If You Give a Moose a Muffin each day.

Over our past weeks of illness I did manage to dig up and finish Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult. It was good. Very good. It was slow to start but picked up pace in the middle with compelling lead characters with an interesting dynamic. More than any of that though it did pose some very thought provoking questions about the struggle of being a parent. Without ruining the plot I can't say much but it is a good read. And one of the only Picoult books that didn't disappoint me on the last page.

Here's whats on my immediate to read list:

A Great and Terrible Beauty, Libba Bray
The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
Wicked, Gregory Maguire
The Friday Night Knitting Club, Kate Jacobs
The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis (I never did read these as a kid)

What's on yours?

Speak

On the first day of class with my 8th graders we did this quick little get to know you activity. One that I hope was relatively painless. There was no pairing in groups, no circles and names to remember, no bean bags tossed, just a simple little sheet to fill out. One of the questions was do you like to read? If so what's your favorite book? As we were wrapping up the day I read my answers to the kids as I think it's only fair that I divulge a little embarrassing interesting information about myself if they had to do the same. One of the tid bits I shared was that I am always looking for something good to read. Much to my surprise, the next time my 8th graders came to class one of my students brought me a book. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. 

Not wanting to disappoint my student and because the book was scarcely 300 pages I jumped right in knowing I would finish quickly. Little did I know that the scant little book would suck me in an I would read the entire thing in one night. 

Speak tells the story of Melinda, a freshman, who is struggling through her first year of high school all because of one thing that happened the week before school started. Now a social outcast and struggling she has to confront her own demons in order to confront a much bigger one. 

I was struck by how frankly this story is told. It was a fascinating read told in a way that will get kids to sit up and notice and will give adults a vast amount of insight into the depth of their children's silence. 

Inkheart

So I finally finished the book that refused to be finished, better know as Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. I've been putting off writing a review of it because it was blah and thusly the review will be blah. But then I learned that Brendan Fraser is playing the lead male role in the movie and all the sudden it wasn't so blah. Yippee!

So the book. It's a very interesting plot line about a man and his daughter. The Mo (the guy) has a special gift in regards to books (that I'm not going to post about because I don't want to spoil the movie). One book in particular, Inkheart, has special significance to him and his interaction with it is the basis for the book. It's a really well told story that moves like molasses when you read it. It should have rocked my socks off but the character interaction didn't make me love them and so it took me forever to read. You might like it so if you have a couple of free days and nothing else in particular to read you should check it out. (just to warn ya, it's the first in a series of 3, the 3rd is out in October.

Now the movie. Holy heck. Based on this trailer, it looks like the movie is going to be every thing the book should have been and more. From what I can see the casting is excellent and the look and feel of the movie are brilliant. I will definitely see it (if I can drag Chris out to see it too). It does freak me out a little that Brendan Fraser is playing Mo, he just doesn't look as old as the Mo I had pictured in my head, but hey what the heck, it is Brendan Fraser so who am I to judge. Yes, I love him like a 13 year old loves the Jonas Brothers, like Chris loves Seven of Nine in the Next Generation. We're cool, yo. (sorry, it's late, I couldn't help myself.)

breaking dawn #2

Beware. I liked it. A lot.

***No worries, I won't leave spoiler***

So it's roughly 1 am on Aug. 4th and I finished the book. I think I read something like 400 pages today. And I am speechless. I'm going to try to do this without spoilers cause I hate that.

I'm astounded at how wonderful this book was. I was skeptical at first. The premise threw me and I was skepitcal. But this book more than pulled itself together and morphed into a force of nature. In the way the first two spoke of the passion of first and true love this book speaks of the passions of an entirely different love. And it's amazing.

I'm in awe of Stephenie Meyer's writing ability. To not only make a completely implausible reality real, but to make you latch on in spite of those implausiblities and sink your whole self into the book and cry and cheer and laugh with the characters is amazing. And it's true. There was a moment that caught me so off gaurd that I had enormous painful tears jetting down my cheeks. And another moment when I was so happy and elated and again surprised that I nearly squealed loud enough to wake my sleeping family.

I'm sad I'm finished but I am so ecstatic that it ended as uniquely and wonderfully as it did. And I'll be happy to re-enter these delightful books many, many more times in the future.

breaking dawn post #1

So I went to Border's last night at midnight to get my book. I had not originally planned to but since Amazon didn't SHIP the books until Aug. 2 (thank you to the jerks who leaked vol. 7 of the Harry Potter series) and I wasn't about to wait 5 days to get my book I waited in line until about 12:30. Not bad all things considered.

I was home by 12:37 am and by 3:00 am (shhh, don't tell my husband, I said I would go to bed at 2:00 am) I was at page 117. Decent progress. Now I'm questioning my sanity as my son woke up at 7:00 as usual and my husband snored right through it. (I don't hold tooo big of a grudge - he really can't wake up for anything short of a earthquake or hurricane.) We have a birthday party at 9:45 am to go to so I'm not going to get much reading done until a little later. So far I'm not disappointed and I'm happy that there seems to be some surprises in there, or at least a few things I didn't expect.

If you are reading it. How far are you? (please don't leave spoilers, danke)

book love

Rebekah started a summer reading group and I am soooo in! Thanks for letting me crash the party. :D

The deal is that we are supposed to set 'realistic' (yeah right - do you know me?) reading goals for the summer. If it's two books a week or one book a month - it's supposed to be reasonable for you. Just Read. Then share what you've read on your blog, grab the logo and post on your blog and link to Rebekah's post so others know you are participating and maybe more will join in. Be sure to leave a comment if you are joining so I can check out what you are reading.

We'll have a reading celebration in August. Sweet! Party!

So my goal - I'm going to go with a one book a week goal. That's pretty reasonable for me since I read pretty fast and I'm not opposed to stay up into the wee hours reading. I think that will leave me with 7 books for the rest of the summer.

Now what will I be reading. Hmm. I'm currently reading Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. It's been a slower read than I anticipated, I'm having a hard time getting hooked (which is odd for me). I also have The Host by Stephenie Meyer waiting to be read. I promised myself I would finish Inkheart first so The Host sits and taunts me on the coffee table. I also plan to reread the Twilight series in anticipation of August's release of Breaking Dawn which is already pre-ordered. I'm only going to count those as one book though since they are a re-read and I'm pretty sure I could read all 3 of them in one week. What else, well, I'm not sure. We'll have to see what the summer brings.

And now the best part. There are prizes! If you comment on Rebekah's blog and participate in August there will be prizes. Check it out!

Hope to see you joining in. :D

the book thingy

so the fabulous 60Piggies tagged me to do a book meme. yay...book memes! I'm not usually a meme person but a meme about books has to be okay doesn't it?

So here goes:

THE BOOK MEME
the rules....there must always be rules for this sort of thing. I wonder who sits around thinking up these rules?
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.**

Well, unfortunately for you guys the nearest book was a stack of three so you are gonna get all of 'em, cause you know rule breaking and me, we're tight. Alright, not really but it sounded fun.

    "Trust me. Your transmission will go out. Your kid will need braces." 
(The Total Money Makeover, Dave Ramsey) This reminds me I haven't been spending enough quality time with Dave.

    "Wasn't it just as telling a mark of motherhood to see how, from this awful moment on, she behaved?
    She reached across the red line until she could embrace Peter. She didn't care if it was allowed or not." (Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult)

    "No, she had tried to imagine it thousands of times, drawing on her ideas of all the villains she had ever read about in books: Captain Hook, crooked-nosed and thin; Long John Silver, a false smile always on his lips; Injun Joe, who had haunted so many of her bad dreams with his knife and his greasy black hair...
    But Capricorn looked quite different.
    Meggie soon gave up counting the doors they passed before Basta finally stopped outside one."
(Inkheart, Cornelia Funke)

Now I tag (whew, I actually know 5 people with blogs who read that I can tag, that's a relief):

1. Not Just Any Jen
2. Kathryn
3. Stephanie
4. Kris
5. Javidan

My Sister's Keeper

I finished reading My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult last week and I have to confess that I while I thought it was really well written and entertaining while I was reading it really left me feeling gilted when I was done. This is the second book I've read by Picoult and while I really like the way she develops a story, I don't enjoy the way they end. I read A Plain Truth and was so frustrated by the last chapter that I almost didn't read My Sister's Keeper when it was given to me. Maybe that's the point - to leave you unsettled or to make you think about the ending of the book. I'm not sure. I think I may like my books to be tied up a little prettier at the end.

Has anyone else read this? What did you think?