Holiday Break Reading Challenge - Day 9 - Favorite Christmas Book

Today's challenge is to post about a Christmas book that I have read this year, or to post about a favorite Christmas book.  I will have to go with a favorite Christmas book, because I don't think I've read a Christmas book at all this year.

I will have to pick Skipping Christmas by John Grisham.  I thought this was such a fun book.

Holiday Break Reading Challenge - Day 8 - Hit and Miss

Today's challenge is to share a book that knocked me off my feet, and one that disappointed me.  It was difficult to choose a hit this year, because there were so many that I really loved.  I loved Anna Dressed in Blood, Unwind, Unwholly, Divergent, Insurgent, Article 5, Ashes, etc., but for my hit, I decided to choose a book that I didn't expect to like.

Hit for 2012:

I didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did.  Sure, it has zombies in it, so I thought I would like it, but it also features a girl who does NOT want to survive the zombies, a girl who wants to end her own life.  My thought was, that this was going to be a very depressing read, and it was in places.  But, it was also a wonderful look at interesting characters who are trying to cope with an impossible situation.  I'm glad I read this book.

 

 

Miss for 2012:

 



There were few books that were misses for me this year, but this one is the only book that I couldn't bring myself to finish.  I just wonder if my expectations were too high, because I had heard so many great things about this book.  Or, it could have been that I listened to the audio version.  Maybe I would have liked the book better if I had read it instead of listened to it.  Who knows.

Holiday Break Reading Challenge - Day 7 - Authors

Today's challenge is to make a list of authors you follow on Facebook and Twitter.  I have a few, but I'm sure I'll forget some of them!

Stephen King

Dean Koontz

Maya Angelou

John Green

Marissa Meyer

Diana Gabaldon

Robert Jordan


I think that's it!  I may have to add more later if I remember others that I've left off!

Holiday Break Reading Challenge - Day 6 - Book Riddles

The challenge for day 6 was a lot of fun!  I had to figure out the actual title of the eight young adult books from the synonym titles listed on the site.  I feel pretty confident that I got them all right, but there were a couple that were pretty tricky!!!  My answers are below!  I don't mind posting them now, since the challenge day is past!  I know!  I'm a couple of days behind on posting!  Trying to get caught up!  Once again, it's not too late to join the challenge!  Click Here!

Uprising Diecinueve  = Revolution 19

Swashbuckler Movie = Pirate Cinema (I had trouble with this one!  I didn't know there was a book with this title!)

Black Interior = Dark Inside

Fibber & Sleuth = Liar & Spy

Rejects in the Universe = Losers in Space

The Cemetary Tome = The Graveyard Book (this is the only one of these books I've read!)

Jealousy = Envy

Infantrodent = Babymouse

Holiday Break Reading Challenge - Day 5 - Create-A-Cover

 

It's time for this years Holiday Break Reading Challenge!  I completely missed the first few days, but I'm ready to get started now!  If you want to join me, click here!

Today's challenge was to create a book cover using the following instructions:

1 – Go to “Fake Name Generator” or click http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/

The name that appears is your author name.

2 – Go to “Random Word Generator” or click http://www.websitestyle.com/parser/randomword.shtml

The word listed under “Random Verb” is your title.

3 – Go to “FlickrCC” or click http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net/index.php

Type your title into the search box. The first photo that contains a person is your cover.

4 – Use Picnik, or something similar to put it all together. Be sure to crop and/or zoom in.

5 - Link your Book Cover post using Simply Linked.

And here is my entry:

 

Detach by Dolores H. Cox

Susan never thought she would hit rock bottom.  She had everything - popularity, the captain of the football team, great grades, and a chance to get into the college of her dreams!  But it wasn't enough to make her happy.  No matter what she achieved, she always felt empty and numb, until a friend introduced her to a new drug that made her feel again, and made her lose everything she thought didn't matter to her. 

This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

This Is Not a Test is a zombie novel on the surface, but it is also so much more than you would expect from this type of novel.  Yes, this book has zombies in it, but no, they are not the main focus of this book. I know that sounds weird, but this book focuses more on the unique, flawed characters as they try to cope with their situation. The main character, Sloane, is caught up in the zombie apocalypse on the day she planned to commit suicide to escape her abusive father. Her father has physically abused Sloane and her sister Lilly from a young age, after their mother's death.  Sloane and Lilly planned to escape him when Sloane turned 18, but since Lilly was older, she left Sloane behind.  She left Sloane a note telling her that she couldn't handle everything anymore, and she disappeared, even knowing that Sloane needed her desperately.  Sloane has been on a downhill spiral since her sister abandoned her, and she finally decided that the only way to truly escape the pain of the abuse, and the pain of her sister's abandonment is to kill herself.  Then, everything changes.  Zombies start attacking people. Sloane has given up on living and she is more than happy to just lie down and die, but a group of survivors find her.  She, and five other students, take cover and barricade themselves into the high school, where many of them start unraveling and becoming unpredictable and sometimes violent.  Sloane still does not want to live, but the others do.  She doesn't want to put them at risk, because she doesn't want to be selfish like her sister.  She is not the typical survivor of an apocalypse, but just as everyone else is losing everything, she starts to find things that make life worth living.
I read this book in one day.  I could not put it down.  The character development is excellent, the action scenes are exciting and memorable, and the ending is not predictable.  I really enjoyed this book from start to finish.

The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch

After a war with China, the United States has been almost totally destroyed.  Two-thirds of the population were killed by a plague released by the enemy.  Fifteen year old, Quinn, was born after "the collapse" to two survivors of the war.  His family has become salvagers to survive.  They salvage items and trade them at a survivor colony.  The one rule is to always keep moving to avoid slave traders, who would capture them for profit.  When an accident forces Quinn and his father to rely on a group of survivors who have built their own remote village, Quinn begins to undestand that there are more important things in life than just surviving.  He begins to make friends, but he also accidentally brings danger to the group. 

I liked the book, but I did have a little trouble getting into it at first.  I think that there were some parts that were a little slow.  It could be that I have read too many of these apocalyptic survival stories lately, and this one just didn't measure up to some of the other ones I've read recently.  Still, it was an interesting story that could easily happen in our future.  It was recommended to me by a student who loved it.  At the time, I was trying to hurry and finish it, so I could start a different book, so that could have played into my initial lack of enthusiasm for it.