Abducted by David and Rachel

Originally the plan, upon the completion of Dash and Lily's Book of Dares was to read a solo book by David Levithan, a solo book by Rachel Cohn and then finish off the week by reading the 2nd book that they wrote together, Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List. However, this just simply did not happen. I read David Levithan's Boy Meets Boy and enjoyed it just fine, then I read You Know Where To Find Me by Rachel Cohn...let's just say my reaction wasn't pretty.

I'm going to save my honest and thoughtful review on Rachel Cohn's novel for goodreads. I'd hate to bore my blog readers with it. I simply found this novel to be unsettling. So much so that I couldn't bring myself to read Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List. I had such a bad taste in my mouth towards Cohn upon finishing YKWTFM that I feared it would taint my enjoyment of Naomi and Ely, so I will put that book off for now.

I was also going to include my review of all these books in one post but as I started to write this out, I'm noticing it is getting kind of long. So I'm going to save Dash and Lily and write that one on Wednesday or Thursday. Below, you will find my brief explanation for You Know Where To Find Me followed by my review for Boy Meets Boy.




All I will say about YKWTFM is that it is a book about a young girl, not yet 18, named Miles. Miles has a close relationship with her cousin, Laura, and is sent on a downward spiral after Laura commits suicide. Although the actual writing of the book is not completely lacking of skill. The character development is amateurish leaving the main character hard to relate to and frankly unlikable. Add that with the constant drug use and lectures on D.C. politics and you have a book that is boring as much as it is infuriating.




Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan was far more enjoyable in comparison. There really wasn't much to the story in Boy Meets Boy, the title pretty much sums it up. Boy meets boy, boy looses boy, boy must go through a period of self-awareness and self-discovery in order to get boy back. The magic of this book does not come from the plot but from the landscape. The town that our main character, Paul, lives in is idealistic. A place where all citizens are welcomed and accepted. All forms of self-expression are not only allowed but encouraged. Levithan does a wonderful job of showing that even in a society where people are simply accepted for who they are, loving someone is still hard.

The town itself it made up by a wonderfully colorful group of supporting characters. My favorites in the town were the guy who runs the video store, refusing to stock anything but VHS and who chooses to organize the movies based on his own preference and offers no assistance to customers looking for something specific. I also loved the "I Scream Parlor", which is the ice cream parlor that shows scary movies while you wait for your dessert. I hate scary movies, but that idea is adorable!

The thing I liked best about how Levithan presented this town, was that he did not choose to makes this book about a complete world. It wasn't like everyone across the country, every big city and small town, accepted people for who they were. It was just this one town. But the people of this town did not go every day feeling like they were the ones moving forward, instead they just saw it as the rest of the world was moving backwards. They weren't the ones being revolutionary, they were just being who they were, everyone else, for reasons unknown, is just living in denial.

Every now and then the reader is given a glimpse of the rest of the world through Paul's best friend Tony. Tony lives with the knowledge that his family and his friends at school (a different school then the one Paul attends) do not support who he is. And the hope that resonates at the end of the story is not found with the main character Paul, but with the strength and courage displayed in Tony.

In conclusion, David Levithan and I will carry on, I look forward to reading more from him in the future, Will Grayson Will Grayson in-particular. However, I feel it is time for Rachel Cohn and I to go our separate ways. I will read Naomi and Ely (because I already bought it) but other then that...I mean Rachel what can I say...It's not you, it's me...I'm going through a selfish phase right now where I need more "me" time, and I would rather spend my "me" time with books I enjoy...as far as remaining friends...well, i just don't think that is best...for either of us.

Abducted by kindness

When in doubt the answer is...






YES! It is ALWAYS nice to get flowers!






And trust me, my crappy phone and the bad lighting of my office, really doesn't do them justice!

Abducted by Blog Hop 2.25.11

I can't believe that it is Friday and I totally forgot to do the blog hop this morning!!!

My excuse...

I had an eye doctor appointment yesterday and I got my first pair of contacts!!! I'm really excited but still getting used to them. This was my first morning to try to put them on before heading off to work and it took me 45 minutes (aka two episodes of How I Met Your Mother from season 3 because that was the dvd that was in my dvd player this morning!) just to get them in.

Needless to say by the time I got them in I had to rush out the door to get to work, then with in 10 minutes of getting here my boss showed up to do my audit (phew) so I've been very distracted this morning.

But I really liked the question for this weeks blog hop so I would still like to participate even though I'm coming in late.

As you all know the blog hop is hosted by CRAZY FOR BOOKS and this weeks question was...

"Do you ever wish you would have named your blog something different?"

No, I don't. My friend Kate created my blog for me and I think she did an awesome job. According to her there were 3 reasons why she wanted to create the blog for me. One being that we used to run an online book club together and when that ended she really missed getting to read my reviews on books. Two, she already had a book blog and really liked being a part of the book blogging community and thought I would like it to. But the most important reason of all was that she had come up with the PERFECT name for a book blog and she really wanted me to use it. She said that she looked every where to see if it was being used and was shocked to find that it was still available, so she gave it to me.

I love the title of my blog because Kate gave it to me and it also makes me laugh when I remember the message she left on my phone telling me that she was going to give me a blog. (laughing is a pretty normal reaction to many of Kate's voicemails!)

Also I think the title just fits me. I love books because they are an escape and they take you on journey's you'd never get to go on by yourself. Not to mention the number of times I'm late getting somewhere or I forget to do my laundry or I don't have time to clean or I stay up way too late all because I've been "abducted" by yet another book.

So no, I love my blog and really LOVE my blog title! Thanks Kate!!!

Abducted by Teaser Tuesday 2.22.11

It is time for another installment of a Teaser Tuesdays!!! hosted by MizB at SHOULD BE READING. Last week I finished listening to Dash and Lily's Book of Dares which is the third collaboration of Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. So this week I am having my own Cohn/Levithan marathon. I figured it was time to read a book by each individual author so I am currently reading Boy Meets Boy by Levithan and then I will read You Know Where to Find Me by Cohn. However, after Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2006) but before Dash and Lily's Book of Dares (2010), Cohn and Levithan also released the project Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List (2007) and that is the book I'm going to finish off the week reading so I'm going to tease you with it now....

alright, here we go, selecting a random page...


Okay I found this passage on page 181 and it kind of made me laugh, so here is it...


Before you can say "Where have all the cowboys gone?" Ely's onstage.

"Because my friend Naomi has all five seasons of Dawson's Creek, I think I know this one cold," he says. Then, warming into it, he adds, "This one is for Pacey, for being the Jughead. And Jen, who never got the respect she deserved. And Bruce."

("Was Bruce the gay one?" the girl next to me asks her staple-pierced boyfriend.

"No, that was Jack," the punk replies. "Andie's brother."

"Oh! I loved Andie!" the girl screams.)



Now of course, having not read the book yet, I have no idea what this has to do with the rest of the novel, I just thought it was funny to have them discussing Dawson's Creek because well, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit it, but I freaking LOVED that show!

For those of you still interested here is the discription that I got off Amazon

A witty and highly entertaining exploration of love, friendship, and misunderstanding. Like Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (Knopf, 2006), the story is told from alternating points of view and is about teens living in Manhattan.
Gorgeous Naomi and her best friend, the equally gorgeous and gay Ely, have been neighbors and soul mates since childhood, and in order to protect their relationship, they have created a list of people who are absolutely off limits for kissing. The list is meant to be "insurance against a Naomi and Ely breakup," but when Ely kisses Naomi's boyfriend Bruce the Second, it sets off a chain of events that causes a major rift in their longstanding relationship.
As the story progresses, Naomi comes to realize that the true reason she is so upset with Ely is not so much that he is romantically involved with her former boyfriend as it is that she has finally acknowledged that things are never going to turn out the way she has envisioned them. Major and minor characters begin new relationships and redefine old ones.
The themes of sexual exploration and sexual identity, as well as strong language, which is entirely appropriate for the characters and setting, make this a book for older teens, who will love the oh-so-hip music and pop-culture references. They will also love the main characters, who are smart and sophisticated college freshmen, but also very fallible, and will empathize with their confusion as they attempt to sort out their relationships and themselves.—Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ


My plan is to finish Boy Meets Boy, You Know Where to Find Me, and Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List this week and have a post out on Friday that will also include my review of Dash and Lily's Book of Dares. However, I do have to work on Friday and Saturday so we will just have to see.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great week!!!

Abducted by The Magician's Nephew

I've never participated in a read-a-long blog before so I am really excited that it is finally time to start our journey through Narnia! The journey is hosted by Whitney at SHE IS TOO FOND OF BOOKS We are reading the books in chronological order so this week we started with: The Magician's Nephew






Now, here is my opinion on how to read the books: by the date published or in chronological order. Having already read the series I enjoy reading Magician's Nephew first, not only because it is the prequel but because this book has an entirely different tone to the rest of the books. In my eyes it is kind of the calm before the storm. The other books are packed from beginning to end with daring adventures and battles and journey's to far away lands. And don't get me wrong the Magician's Nephew contains those elements as well, but they appear as mere snippets in the story, as opposed to making up the complete story. While Digory and Polly get there fair share of adventure, the Magician's Nephew is more focused on the creation of Narnia.

So I like to read the calmer creation story before diving into the rest of the series. However, if I am presenting these stories to someone who has never read them before, I would have them start with the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. That way they can still have that element of meeting Narnia for the first time as Lucy did. Plus, I really like the fact that C.S. Lewis began writing these stories based off this simple image in his mind of a faun...holding an umbrella...near a lamppost. Lewis never really questioned how Narnia came to be, he just wrote The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe as this stand a lone story. It wasn't until a friend asked him how the lamppost came to be in Narnia that he begun to write the story, and even then it was the one book out of the series that took the longest for him to write because he struggled with writing it so much.

One of my favorite parts in this book is after the creation of Narnia when Aslan is busy setting everything in place and the kids are off to get the apple that Aslan asked for. All the animals get a hold of Uncle Andrew and can't decide what he is, they finally decide that he is a tree and try to plant and water him. Then when he wakes up they realize that he is human and the bear tries to feed him by throwing the honeycomb at his head. But it is all the discussion between the animals that always makes me smile and laugh.

Especially the little bird who was the first joke in Narnia. And then anytime they all starting laughing he proclaims it as the 2nd joke and then the 3rd joke. I like to think that this was a hobby he continued through out his life, and if you ever found his nest, inside the tree it is perched on would be volumes and volumes of books were he chronicled all the jokes in the land of Narnia.

My favorite out of the whole series is The Silver Chair, so I am really excited to get into the next book because it just means we are that much closer to getting to my favorite one. I am also really looking forward to reading A Horse and His Boy because that one and the Last Battle are probably the two that I haven't read as often and so I'm having trouble remembering their complete stories.

Whitney has scheduled us to post on The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe on March 6th so please remember it isn't to late to join us!

Abducted by a Real Simple Book Club

Okay this is just going to be a quick post that probably wont interest some of you but I was excited to read it.

I recently started following a blog by THE AVID READER'S MUSINGS

and today she posted about the REAL SIMPLE BOOK CLUB which is an online book club. One of the things she mentioned she really liked about the online book club was that sometimes they feature an author and are then able to have that author answer a few of there readers questions. Apparently one of the ones they did recently was for One Day by David Nicholls. One Day was literally my favorite book that I read last year (and on my list of favorite books ever) and I already have it on my schedule to re-read this summer. So I was excited to read the questions that David Nicholls answered, especially the last question, it is a spoiler so beware if you haven't read One Day yet but I thought his perspective was very interesting.

For those of you who haven't read the post that Midnight Book Girl and I did for One Day you can read that HERE and if you already read the post but haven't read the book.............. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR IT IS AWESOME!!!

But if you have read the post and read the book and want to read what David Nicholls had to say about it you can click HERE

Abducted by Tuesday Teasers

So a couple of weeks ago I saw on another blog a meme called the "Teaser Tuesdays" and I thought it sounded like a really cool idea so I wanted to give it a shot. It is really simple, basically you just open whatever book you are currently reading, flip to a random page, and type it up in your blog post (preferably on a Tuesday) , and share it with the world. I believe it is being hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading so feel free to pass it on.

BUT NO SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!

Over this weekend I dreamt that I forgot to read the book for my next book club meet up and when I got there it turned out that NO ONE had read it. So I was sitting there trying to convince my friend Mandy, who is hosting this month, that I read it.

I was all "No, really, I read it, I swear I did. I really loved that one part...you know when that really important thing happened. I mean I don't want to ruin it for everyone else...but that part was really good." And Mandy was all looking at me like "Seriously, are you kidding me!?!" and I felt horrible. So now I am like full force ahead trying to get the book finished by Saturday. And that is the book that I want to feature for my first TEASER TUESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

The book is called Finder by Terri-Lynne DeFino.








Are you ready???


Here we go!!!


We are going to go with the bottom of page 101...





"You ready?"

"I am." Ethen smiled and reached for Zihariel. When she placed her hand in his, she noticed purple-black swirls on the inside of his wrist, almost like symbols; almost familiar.

"What's that?"

Ethen blushed and Dane chuckled. "He wanted marks of his own."

"Ethen?"

Ethen pulled up his sleeve. "It says, Zee. I don't know what means what, but that's what Dane says. He did it for me."

"I think it's a really old alphabet of some kind," Dane said. "Rury's mamahti used to decorate the pottery she made with it. She taught me. They look pretty, don't they?"

"They're beautiful," Zihariel told him.

"I figure if you have to wear marks saying you're mine, I should have some saying I'm yours." He kissed her nose. "No one will know that but you and me. Fair's fair."





Intrigued?

Yeah, I know, me too! Unfortunately I haven't made it that far yet! But I will...I will I promise!

And for those of you who want a little bit more here is the summary from Goodreads:

Survival along Therk's seedy coast is precarious.
Hounds rule the streets with fear and fists.
Former highwaymen now call themselves Merchants.
Spices, rare since the desert swallowed the Spice Way, are forbidden to all but the wealthy and powerful.

Ethen's ability to Find lost objects has helped him survive in this world; now, it's going to make him rich. The Merchant Juddah Luash has offered him a fortune, but not for an object he wants Found. Juddah wants Ethen to Find a person, the escaped slave, Zihariel.

To find her brother, sold after the Purge of Calaira, Zihariel has fled her luxurious life as a musician performing for the wealthiest households in the desert. She soon discovers the world is much bigger than she ever suspected, teeming with those who see her only as a pooni, an object to be bought and sold, used until she is used up. Not even her music belongs to her, but to the Dommi-sa who etches his mark onto her skin.

From the deserts of Therk to the island of Moscrea and across the Bloodbane Sea, Ethen and Zihariel lie and thieve their way to the great city of Bosbana. There, Ethen's promised fortune and Zihariel's greatest performance await - unless they sacrifice all to flee together into the Dragonbacks and become fugitives for the rest of their lives.

Abducted by Odd Thomas

Well the weather has been very snowy and cold here (in Oklahoma) these past couple of weeks which has been perfect staying inside and reading a good book weather! So I have used my time wisely by finishing re-reading Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz!






I love this book! I mean I really love it! In fact I honestly have never met anyone who has read this book who hasn't loved it! And for all of you out there in the blogging world that love YA paranormal books, I am telling you to give this one a chance. It isn't YA but it is fabulous, and the writing is fantastic and the story flows so naturally that it makes it a really easy and captivating read.

Odd Thomas is a guy who is in his early 20's and living in a small town called Pico Mundo in California. He has an awesome girlfriend named Stormy, he works at the local diner as a fry chef and oh yeah, he can see dead people!

The dead come to Odd seeking help in coming to terms with why or how they died. In some cases, if it was a murder, they come hoping he will help them in catching their killer. When the dead come to Odd they find in him a kind, willing, and loyal friend. I truly feel that Odd is one of the greatest characters in literature. He is funny and smart, he is caring and good, but at the same time he is a fully realized character. He doesn't come from this adoring childhood and both his parents are nightmares. Yet, Odd has somehow grown into this young man who is full of hope and enthusiasm for the future and has a pure faith in destiny.

This was my second time to read Odd Thomas. I first read it a couple of years ago. The only other novel by Dean Koontz I have read is Relentless, which I also LOVED!!! So, looking back I never doubted Koontz writing ability, but I will say that I had forgotten how his words flow so poetically. I don't know how to describe it but the way he uses his words really is like music and each one is chosen for a specific purpose and for the specific voice of each character.

Speaking of which I had forgotten how many delightful characters are in this book! The entire town of Pico Mundo is filled with these fascinating characters that are just there to add color and life to the world surrounding Odd. Like, his boss, Teri Stambaugh, who is obsessed with Elvis, or his landlord who he has to check in on every morning so that she can be convinced she hasn't passed away in the night, and of course his mentor Little Ozzie, a local author who Odd confides in. Each one of these characters (and many many more) is fully realized and Odd shares with you their histories and life stories that are sometimes humorous and sometimes tragic but always entertaining.

I had also forgotten all of the stuff about Odd's parents. They were just awful! But, at the same time it was such an amazing statement for Koontz to have in his novel. I mean here are these two people who are doing everything they can to run from reality. They both try to live these lives that are just lies and it in turn alienates Odd. And yet, when we meet Odd, he is full of life and promise, and joy- even in the bleakest of moments. He is an eternal optimist, like Lloyd Doubler!

I can say now that I am really excited about reading the rest of the books. I don't want to give away any spoilers but I feel like I have to explain why if I love this book so much I haven't bothered reading the rest of them.

How do I say this...well, not only can Odd see the dead but in a way he can also see when evil is coming. And actually that ability of his is more important to the plot of Odd Thomas then his ability to see dead people. At the beginning of the story he starts to realize that evil was coming to Pico Mundo. When evil dumps itself into a small town, no matter what the outcome, it is going to change the people. And this is the biggest challenge Odd has ever had to face so of course the outcome, whether it be triumph or tragedy, is going to change him. And I'm just not good with change, I was afraid that Odd would loose that special touch that makes him Odd, so innocent and simple yet brave and daring. But I have it on good authority that Odd does grow, like all characters do, but that I will still like him. So I'm ready to read the rest of the series now.



Hollywood is actually in pre-production on making Odd Thomas into a film. I have my doubts, which I always do, but I'm trying to stay calm. Everything I know I got off a site called comingsoon.net. I don't know how accurate they are and also keep in mind nothing is official until the movie starts filming and even then changes can be made. So far what I know is that Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Catch Me If You Can) is signed on to direc. And Anton Yelchin is signed on to, I believe, star as Odd Thomas. Now, this guy has been in Charlie Bartlett and Alpha Dog but I know him best as the creepy guy on this one episode of Criminal Minds. And I guess he will do a good job. I think he can play the innocence of Odd but also the haunted side.


I was leaning toward Jamie Bell myself but eh, what are you gonna do!?!





And yes, I realize that in these two pictures these actors look kind of similar, but trust me, Jamie Bell is way hotter...and way less creepy.

Abducted by Blog Hop 2.11.2011

Welcome!!!!

Earlier this week I had a scare! You see every day I get on my blog and I look to see how many followers I have. I LOVE all my followers and I get excited each time I gain another. These last couple of weeks I have been stuck at 69 followers and each day I get online and cross my fingers that that will be the day I'll cross over to the big 7-0!!! And earlier this week I got on and not only had I not gained a follower, but I lost one! For a whole day I was back at 68! I went around the house cursing myself, wondering what I had done wrong to cause one of my followers to jump ship! I mean I understand I haven't been posting much lately, but that is no reason to leave me all together. I've just been really busy lately and I haven't meant to neglect the blogging world. I promise.

Alas, it was only a glitch, for the next day I got online and I was back at 69! I can't tell you the relief I felt! I love all of you guys and sure one day I hope to be at 100 followers...or more...you know...whatever...no pressure... But no matter how many followers I have I will always love you guys that have been around the longest! Never for a second think that I don't appreciate you. And please for the love of all that is good and decent in this world...don't you ever leave me again!

So today is friday and it is time for some blog hopping! Now I am at work so I can't add the images for the blog hop, but I will let you know that it is hosted by CRAZYFORBOOKS and if you click on CRAZYFORBOOKS it will take you to the blog hop.

The question for this week is to share about a blog post you did from this week, the only problem is that I haven't posted this week. I know, I know, I really am sorry! See here is the problem, I have been reading a lot lately and that has taken up a lot of my time. I mean it is no excuse, I know, but it really has kept me busy. I do have a whole blog post ready to go in my head about finishing Odd Thomas, which was fabulous!!! And I have another book I'm almost done with and another book that I am going to start this weekend and hopefully be done with by early next week.

I hope everyone hopping around on the blog hop is having fun looking at all the other blogs! And I hope everyone has a great weekend! Tomorrow for sure I will post about Odd Thomas...so get ready...it is coming!

Don't forget if you do decide to follow me, let me know! I always want to return the favor and I will send you a very special thank you message for helping reach 70!!!

Abducted by Winter Weather in 2011

Wow! An entire week has gone by since my last post...I'm so sorry! I have missed all of you guys out there just as much as I am sure you have been missing me! :o)

Basically my situation is this, the internet is no longer working for my laptop at home, but I do have some truly amazing friends who were going to come over to my place and try to help me out. However, we ran into a slight snag when a blizzard decided to rip through Oklahoma! I'm not sure how the weather is where you are, but here it is a winter wonderland of ice and snow snow and more snow! Which of course is nice and beautiful, however dangerous for driving in.

So for now, I'm stuck just using my work computer. I can get on my blog but I can't add pictures because I can't get the image thing to work. And I can read certain blogs but my work computer blocks a lot of them because of the graphics or images used wont make it past our spam filters. So I can't comment on some of your blogs even though I promise I've been reading them.

It sucks though because on Tuesday when I was off work because that was when the storm hit and the whole state shut down, I started a book called Nothing to Fear, read more from Jane Eyre, and I FINISHED Odd Thomas!!! So I really want to share with you guys all about the books I'm reading now but I can't until I can use my own computer instead of my work one.

In spite of making some progress with Odd Thomas, Nothing to Fear, and Jane Eyre (I'm about half way done and loving it!!!) my TBR pile has been growing like crazy. Last weekend I bought Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan, and You Know Where To Find Me by Rachel Cohn. Then yesterday I ordered XVI by Julia Karr, Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy, and Beatle Meets Destiny by Gabrielle Williams!!! I am so unbelievably excited to read all of these books!!! OH!, and I plan on reading A Long Walk To Freedom which is the autobiography of Nelson Mandela. I actually bought this one back in the summer of 2006 and started it but never finished. It is on my list of books to finish this year and I figured it would be a great book to read during Black History Month!

So I have a lot of reading ahead of me and a lot of books to share with you guys and I for one can not wait! It may be another week before I can get to use my laptop, but I will be back...I promise!

But for now, I hope everyone is having an awesome February and for those of you having your own winter weather struggles, stay worm and stay safe!