Nightlight: A Parody - The Harvard Lampoon

Nightlight: A Parody
By The Harvard Lampoon

Nightlight…oh Nightlight. How you ruined me. In case you don’t know, Nightlight is a parody of Twilight and this book was absolute random hilarity. The beautiful thing is that since everyone knows at least something about Twilight, I don’t think you have to have even read the books to enjoy it. Although the entertainment was very up and down, sometimes I would go pages without caring much about what I was reading and then I was suddenly cracking up, reading excerpts to anyone who was around me. The real problem was that I became so used to reading for a quick laugh and knowing that everything written was a joke, I had a hard time picking up any other book and taking it seriously. A word of caution: don’t read part of Nightlight and then try to read something else between sittings. I decided to list a few of my favorite quotes. If they make you laugh, this book will be right up your alley.

Here are some of my favorite quotes in all their dumb gloriousness:

Lucy was standing beneath a ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer Fans’ poster.
‘Join my club!’
‘No, thank you,’ I said icily. But I was not thankful and I think I conveyed that in my tone. I had no intention of supporting a show that encouraged the genocide of an already endangered species of immortals.
-pg 50

We walked together, our pointer fingers romantically linked. The cemetery loomed ahead of us covered in a dark haze of night, lit only by the silver moon of Twilight! I mean, Nightlight!
-pg 101

We settled down and began to enjoy the romance of each other, almost like a warm glow inside of us. This is the way married grownups feel all the time.
-pg 105

Source: Borrowed from a generous friend.

This is the Coolest Idea Ever!

This was one of those days I just want to sit and stare at my computer all day, but don't worry, those days are happening all week so you can just sit and stare with me.  Okay, I guess what I really want is to live in Seattle right now, but that's besides the point.

If, like me, you read Shelf Awareness today then you may have seen something called The Novel: Live!  It is this amazing event going on this week at the Hugo House in Seattle.  36 writers are coming together to write a book...LIVE!  This week you can check out the website (or if you are lucky and live in Seattle you can go to Hugo House and watch them with your very own eyes, no computer screen needed) and actually watch as each author takes their 2 hours to type out their part of the story (yes I have it open in another tab right now and I keep flipping back to watch).

Seriously, if you haven't checked it out yet then you are missing out.  It was so great to see the differences in each person's the writing process.  I was so fascinated with every pause.  What were they thinking? Was there some deep story-line brewing there or were they just stretching their fingers?  Okay, so maybe this has turned me into an author stalker--it was bound to happen--but I'm telling you, check it out and you will understand.  It is just a person sitting at a computer typing...and I love it!

Check out The Novel: Live! here.

They also have sweet loot you can buy in their merch store and the best part is all proceeds are being donated to 826 Seattle, a non-profit that encourages kids to develop their writing skills.

The Red Queen - Philippa Gregory

The Red Queen
By Philippa Gregory

The Red Queen is Philippa Gregory’s second book in her trilogy about the Cousin’s War. This book follows Margaret Beaufort through her life and determination to place her son on the throne, where she believes it is God’s will that he rule. Through her loveless marriages and all the hardships she must face a woman she remains devout to God and continues to believe she is destined to follow in the footsteps of Joan of Arc.

While I can’t exactly gush over this book, I did really enjoy it. I can say that although I knew how it would end, I was excited to get to the end of the book. Gregory did a fantastic job of building up the suspense, especially towards the end of the book, so even if you know the outcome, you still have doubts that it is certain to turn out that way. It’s like when you watch Romeo and Juliet and Juliet starts to stir and for a moment you think that Romeo is going to notice her starting to wake up and they are going to live happily ever after so you forget that Shakespeare doesn’t give them the happy ending you are hoping for and you are yelling at the screen “Look Romeo, she is waking up. Just look at her right now and you will see she didn’t die.” When the final battle begins at the end of The Red Queen, even if you know who is going to be the victor, you still hesitate for a moment, knowing where all the key players stand but still unsure of their intentions, you forget what you know about history and become lost in the uncertainty of the battle.

Although it did take me awhile to become fully interested in the story (the first part of the book was a bit slow) I cannot wait for the third and final book. I am excited to see where Gregory takes the story.

**Source: I bought this book with my own sweet loot.

Keeper - Kathi Appelt

 
Keeper
By Kathi Appelt

How do I express how much I adored this book and what was it that I loved so much? Was it the fittingly named four-legged friend BD (Best Dog)? Possible, but that was made even better by the other dog Too (Best Dog Too). Maybe it was the Seagull, Captain, who considered BD his best friend.

All of those things were wonderful but I think what really set this book apart were the mermaids. I mean who doesn’t love mermaids? Keeper sure does, especially since she has mermaid blood running through her veins. You see Keeper’s mother is a mermaid and on this special night, after a day that was supposed to be extremely special and turned out to disastrous, Keeper is going to find her mermaid mother because she really needs advice.

This sweet, delightful book captured me right away. Parts of it reminded me of a magical Island of the Blue Dolphins. The characters were so charming (especially the non-human ones), I wanted to be right there with them…even if some stupid crabs did ruin what was supposed to be a very special day.

I am going to pick up another copy of Keeper to send to my niece and I can’t wait to hear her thoughts on it.

**Source: ARC for review from publisher.

Not the post I was expecting to write

I was planning on telling you about the sweetest most cutest book I read recently but I had a really bad day today and am so grumpy that I would probably ruin the post so instead I am just going to tell quickly about the first time I have REALLY missed my cable.

On my drive home today my mom told me that breaking news cut into the Friends rerun she was watching because there was a fire in San Bruno.  At the time they thought it might be a plane crash (it is only a could miles from San Francisco Airport) but as I was talking to her they discovered it was actually a gas leak.  Many of you have probably already heard about it because it is all over the news by now but it killed me that I couldn't just turn on the TV and see what was going on.  Luckily the internet was already on it.  It is quite incredible:

Photos from The New York Times. 

My thoughts are going out to San Bruno, including some of my family members.

Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay
by Suzanne Collins

So pretty much all I can think to say right now is "Umm holy crap!"  I am still processing the how everything went down but that was NOT the book I was expecting!  I was most surprised by the general tone of the book because although the first 2 were obviously not all chipper (what with all the killing) Mockingjay had such a dreary blah sort tone that had me feeling hopeless...for the book.

Now don't get me wrong, I closed the book feeling like overall I enjoyed it but it just wasn't up to the Hunger Games standards that I was hoping for.  I read it all today, planning my rereads of the first 2 around my day-off and I don't want to say that I wasted my day but I definitely could have put it down and gone to work and to sleep which was NOT the case with Hunger Games and Catching Fire.

I didn't have many expectations of the book except that it would be amazing but I found that when I read through I did end up disappointed with certain twists and turns in the story.  I will say that the page before chapter 25 (if you read it you know what I am talking about) had be crying until the book ended but surprisingly the last pages of the book didn't make me teary and it just felt...again blah.  I didn't feel like it fit with the rest of the story.  Like I said, I did enjoy it but I was glad to jump onto some of my favorite blogs and see that I wasn't the only one left with feelings of disappointment.  If you haven't read it don't let this stop you but just prepare yourself and don't go into the final book of the Hunger Games with unrealistic expectations.  I still have hope that maybe some time will allow me to enjoy it if I dive to read it again.


**Source: I bought this book with my own sweet loot.

Quickly Quickly, I Have to Read

Okay folks, I have been waiting and waiting for the release of Mockingjay and when it arrived where was I? At a concert in San Francisco not even thinking about books. The worst part is I had all these grand plans to read the first 2 again and I haven't even started yet because I am so wrapped up in the other books I am reading! But I will read them and then quickly start and finish Mockingjay.

I think I am feeling sad because when Catching Fire was released the timing worked out perfectly and I had 2 days off where I only stopped reading to sleep and now I have work and all kinds of other things that are going to pull me away from my book! Argh the life of a grown-up, when did I sign-up for this? So to all of you who are currently enjoying the story (or who are WAY ahead of me and have already finished it) I envy you and I hope you are enjoying it. I am scared to read any blogs out of fear of a spoiler so I guess I better get reading...