I am Number Four- Pittacus Lore

First off, thanks everyone for informing me of my bad grammar :/ I meant to say 'end my unplanned hiatus' in my last post. Anywayy, here's the second blog of my summer, chosen to give you all plenty of time to read the book before it's sequel comes out in late August. Pittacus Lore (not the author's real name, although that would be pretty awesome) gave us this gem of a book that became a movie last summer. Never saw the movie, but I can tell you that I am Number Four is a great book to read this summer. Quick, easy read that's perfect for beaching, especially if you have an e-reader instead of carrying the hardcover around.

The book, set in first person present tense (annoying, but at least it's good instead of sucking too) opens with the death of Number Three in the South American rainforests, then flashing to Number Four, John Smith in this book, receiving his fourth ankle scar. He is one of the last of an alien race who lived on the planet Lorien before it was destroyed by Mogadorians. The nine survivors are part of the Garde, and can only be killed by Mogadorians in a specific order. However, being number four, this means John is next, and he and his guardian Henri flee to the middle of nowhere, Paradise Ohio.

Tired of running, John aims to settle down in school and in life. He befriends a boy named Sam and a dog named Bernie Kosar, as well as has his first girlfriend Sarah, making an enemy of her ex boyfriend Mark. He finally embraces the idea of staying in a school longer than a few months and loathes the day he will have to flee Paradise and the Mogadorians again. It is in this town that he develops his Lorien Legacies (his supernatural powers) and begins to train to fight to survive along with the help of his companions.


Yes, this is a teen book. That unfortunately means that there is a lot of teenage angst throughout the book. There is also a lot of action and the novel is written with just the right amount of emotion. One of the only downsides to me is the first person narrative style of writing. First off, present tense isn't a great way to write a story to me, and it gets confusing. Or maybe I'm just stupid, which could definitely be the case. Anyway, the fact that it was so well written got me to look past the style of writing, and perhaps it's for the best. After all, who knows a teenager's mind better than the teen himself? I've realized a lot of books with young adult protagonists take place in first person (I am Number Four, the Hunger Games, Water for Elephants) and I'm thinking that the authors feel the same about getting the right amount of angst and emotion and about getting the reader to understand what the protagonist is going through, something that can't be done with third person novels. Hmm.. I guess I'll have to keep that in mind when I'm writing my novel. (no, that's not actually happening).

So, there you have it. Make sure you finish this book before August 23, because that's when the Power of Six, the second book in the series, comes out in hardcover. I'll be back on with another post in just a few days and most likely with a handful of posts instead of just one.

Deuces,
Justin

Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt

Hello! I'm finally back and prepared to spend my summer (finally) posting to this blog more often than I have been. Sooo I really hope everyone's ready to read as much as I am.

I'll start my unplanned hiatus with what is certainly going to be one of my top reads for 2011: Gary Schmidt's Okay for Now, an outstanding coming-of-age tale set in the late 1960's.

I couldn't tell you why Patrick Stump holding ice cream came up when I looked for a picture of the book to put up, but there you go.

Anyway, this book is sort of a side story to his kids' story "The Wednesday Wars", which I've never read but have heard about since elementary school. His new book is about Doug Swieteck and growing up in a small town in upstate New York. Having spent his childhood in Brooklyn, Doug isn't expecting to enjoy life at the "Dump", as he calls his new house. It takes a local girl named Lil Spicer and adventures with James Audobon's "Birds of America" book for him to open up and enjoy the world around him.

One of the best parts about this book is the fact that Schmidt is able to instill emotion in the reader from the beginning pages. Books that can get me to make happy or sad faces as I'm reading it based on what's happening in the story must be good, otherwise I would be much more neutral and not really care about what I was reading as much. The story was well-paced and a hell of a lot of fun to read. I wasn't happy about getting to the end, only because I wanted there to be more to read. Definitely a priority novel to read this summer and I will be very upset if you don't.

Up next, I'll get started on Rick Riordan's books. I read both "The Lost Hero" and "The Throne of Fire" recently so I'll most likely make a few entries, one for each of his series. Keep me posted on anything you're reading now, whether you agree or disagree about a book review, or really just wanna talk to me about books. Seeing as I work in a bookstore I kind of enjoy those conversations.

Peace,
Justin

Oh PS, here's a picture from Audobon's book. I think these are awesome pictures, it would definitely be worth learning more about Audobon and his work in the future..

Once upon a midnight dreary...

So yeah, I'm well aware that a) it's 1.21 in the morning and b) I haven't done any book reviews in over a month. And sad to say, I won't have another post for another two weeks. It's one thing to read a book, it's quite another to write up a review of the book. Needless to say, I have a laundry list of books to review and I promise I'm going to get them all done once my semester is over (again, 2 more weeks till I have a life). Expect reviews of:

- Sacrament: Clive Barker
- Conspirata: Robert Harris
- I am Number Four: Pittacus Lore
- The Lost Hero: Rick Riordan
- The Gunslinger series: Stephen King
- Okay for Now: Gary Schmidt
- Throne of Fire: Rick Riordan

and probably in the next 2 weeks, at least 2 other books (I need something for when I take a break from studying). If you're looking for books to start your summer reading pile, I recommend any of these, especially I am Number Four, Okay for Now, and the Gunslinger series; they're all excellent novels by great authors. And they go pretty quickly, so they're good for rainy days, beach days, whatever days are ahead in the coming weeks. Oh, and Rick Riordan's 3 series are all outstanding, but I definitely would recommend starting with The Lightning Thief and the other four books in his Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, before starting the Lost Hero (subseries) and the Kane Chronicles (The Red Pyramid and Throne of Fire, both modernized novels featuring the ancient Egyptian gods).

In any case, make sure you're picking up books. Can't rest your mind all summer and expect it to function well in the fall! I'll be up and posting again in 2 short weeks!

Wish me luck on finals.... or just take them for me..
Justin

Notes from the Underbelly

"Hi, welcome to Barnes & Noble. How can I help you?"

"Yes, I'm looking for a book."

"...."

"I don't remember the title of it, or the author, but it had a black cover and was about this guy who did a couple different things, and saved the princess."

"I can't find anything like that, because you've given me almost nothing to go off of."

"Then what good are you? What are you doing working in a bookstore? Just use the computers, or point me to somebody who can actually help me."

Do people really think like this? I would love nothing more than to be this superhero bookseller who can find a book someone's looking for just because the word 'almost' is in it or something like that. Unfortunately, I cannot. Just because you can't remember what you're looking for, however, does not give you the right to be upset with me. I can't find this anonymous book you're looking for, sue me. Yelling and complaining and threatening to go to Borders is not gonna help you get your book, nor is it going to do anything to me besides make me less willing to help you (by all means, go to Borders. Hurry though, because they're closing).

Most people I've talked to know about my grand goal in life, should I ever become President: make every single U.S. citizen work retail for at least 1 full week. This will drastically reduce the number of annoying, stupid, rude customers who come in and make a mess, destroy the products, cause mischief, or what-have-you. Who's going to go into a store and leave a mess when they know that just last week, they were complaining about somebody else doing the same thing in their place of employment? Malls and stores will be cleaner, associates will be happier, customers will be happier, and the economy will slowly but surely rise.

Also, this is probably why I'll never go into politics... I'm a little too optimistic and unrealistic. Customers don't often give a damn. When I get a 'thank you' I'm genuinely pleased and flattered, because it actually means something. You know that phrase 'chivalry is dead'? Apparently, it's not the only thing. People are very self-centered nowadays, and even in groups where you would think people would care about each other, they only care if it boosts their rapport or something else in their own life. Need a favor? What will I get in return? You need help with something? Will it boost other people's opinion of me? It's sickening, really.

Don't get me wrong, I'm just as guilty as the next guy. I think the difference is that I'm aware of my faults, and actively trying to change this. I smile at my cashiers, and don't leave messes for them. I don't open things that clearly aren't supposed to be opened before they're purchased, and I generally try to make their work days as easy as I can as a consumer.

For some reason, I've been griped at, complained to, and yelled at several times in the past week at work. I don't understand why someone would yell at somebody else for simply doing their job, or for not being able to do something for whatever reason, but if you plan on coming back into a store, you might wanna make a habit of not pissing off the people that work there. You'll have more and more problems finding what you want when you need it.


Oh, and I'm aware that this isn't a book review, haha. I just finished Clive Barker's Sacrament about half an hour ago, but there's no way I'm getting a full book review out tonight. I'll get it out to you later this week; hopefully I'll have Conspirata by Robert Harris finished and reviewed before April 11th (the start of my spring break aka my deadline for both these books and book reviews).

Deuces,
Justin