The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean

by Susan Casey
Hennepin County Library audioCDs 9 discs
read by: Kirsten Potter
genre: non-fiction, science (sort of)

Likes: lots of interesting stories and information, Potter's voice work is great

Dislikes: seemed to be 80% surfing . . . which got really, really old. Info on tsunamis was minimal (and I still question the accuracy of her wave height information in relation to tsunamis).

My dad wants to re-listen to it.

Zita the Spacegirl

by Ben Hatke
PRMS paperback 184 pages
genre: YA graphic novel fantasy adventure

Love it! Already know the kids I'll recommend it to, and looking forward to re-reading it. Hatke's storyline and artwork effectively tell an enchanting tale full of (clean) adventure, drama, and friendship. Wonderful book!

The Tail of Emily Windsnap

by Liz Kessler
CMSE hardcover 209  pages
genre: YA fantasy

Emily finds out she's a mermaid! She has adventures with her new mermaid friend Shona, rescues her mother from the evil Mr. Beeston who has been wiping mom's memory and spying on them for years, rescues her dad from the merpeople prison, and convinces Neptune to change his tune on human / mer love relationships. Perfect for dreamy sixth graders. I won't read the sequels, but at least now I "get" why some kids love them.

Debt Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About

by Kevin Trudeau
Hennepin County Library audioCDs 9 discs
genre: non-fiction financial advice

What I liked:
He pointed out that if you pay your bill in full, any new charges do not accrue interest for thirty days. BUT if you have a balance from one month to the next, any new charges start accruing interest immediately. I hadn't really thought about that . . . all the more reason to pay credit cards off completely!

What I disliked:
- he's a blowhard whose vitriolic speech is NOT helpful
- he read his own book - fine. BUT he paces his reading ineffectively and unprofessionally. You can also hear the rustling of papers in the background. Not a high quality audiobook.
- in the intro, he implies that anyone who is listening to his book doesn't read or can't read . . . insulting. There are commuters who listen to audiobooks while they drive!
- he keeps saying what he's going to tell us about / teach us. It got to the point where I wanted to scream "just say it, then!" Very similar to the last audiobook I tried about financial advice.
- he is terribly unethical, advising people to unload old debts by lying. I cannot imagine trying to get out of paying for things that I charged.
- he doesn't seem to think that consumers need to have any kind of personal responsibility for their choices. It's all about the evil consumer credit industry and the evil government conspiring to screw us out of our money and keep us enslaved . . .

I couldn't even finish disc two. This guy was just too obnoxious. Any good points he might have to offer are lost in his inflammatory language and ineffective communication style.

Bad Island

By Doug Ten Napel
PRMS paperback ? pages
genre: YA fantasy adventure

A family goes on a sailing trip but encounters a huge storm. They end up on a strange island with unusual flora and fauna. The teen son, Reese?, ends up being a pretty cool hero. The whiny daughter carries her dead snake around - nasty. It was a little jarring when the space fight story interrupted the family story, but it all worked out in the end. I really like Napel's work! I will re-read this one, but it's already checked out to an avid graphic novel reader.

Broken for You

by Stephanie Kallos
Mary's paperback 372 pages
genre: realistic fiction

This was a get-under-your-skin book on so many levels! Margaret Hughes is elderly and has a tumor in her brain. Wanda Schulz is by turns an efficient stage manager and a sobbing basket case. Both women have past hurts hidden deeply. The day they break Margaret's wedding china (on purpose), their lives start to change in significant ways. Mosaics, Detective Lorenzini, Michael (aka MJ), Paris, Gus, Susan and Bruce, August (Augie), dreams, Irma, bowling, and of course Troy! What an amazing wonderful challenging book. I had to keep wiping my tears away at the end.

What a Difference a Dog Makes: big lessons on life, love and healing from a small pooch

by Dana Jennings
Hennepin County library audioCDs 3 discs
read by the author
genre: memoir, pets, cancer

Quick read. I mostly liked it. It was irritating when he practically deified dogs . . . they're just dogs, not mystic entities. I liked where he talked about dogs living in the "now" - that's definitely a wonderful trait!

Too distracted right now to write . . . too many people asking me questions and needing things. Tiring day. I appreciate the author's candidness about his prostate cancer and how it affected him. I was surprised that he included so little about his wife in this book.

Canned

by Alex Shearer
PRMS paperback 237 pages
genre: YA mystery

What an odd book. Written by a Brit, I love the language differences - taking things to the "dip" rather than the dump, a grocery trolley rather than cart, . . . Fergal Bamfield is a strange boy. He doesn't really have friends, but he does have a reputation for being clever. When he starts collecting cans (unlabeled, sealed, bargain-bin cans), his parents tolerate it for a while. But when he finds some strange things in a few cans, he doesn't share it with his parents. Or the police. Enter Charlotte, another strange child with a can-collecting hobby.

It will be interesting to hear what my sixth grade book club thinks of this one. I enjoyed it but didn't love it.

The Eleventh Plague

by Jeff Hirsch
Hennepin County library audioCDs 6 discs
read by Dan Bittner
genre: dystopian adventure

Liked: characters and their growth, especially Stephen and Jenny. Loved Violet, Marcus, and Jackson & their family dynamics.

Disliked: more depressing futuristic nihilism (sp?) / lack of explanation of the actual plague and its immediate aftermath / Mr. Tuttle and his 1950s-style of "education" . . . seriously?

The story opens with Stephen and his father burying grandpa, whose strength and discipline have ruled their lives since the Collapse. When Stephen and his father encounter some nasty Slavers, things go from uncertain to downright scary. Entering Settlers Landing is like going into a whole new world.

Bittner's vocal work is quite good, but I think I might have enjoyed this story more if I were reading rather than listening, especially in the suspenseful parts.

The Horse Boy

by Rupert Isaacson
Hennepin County Library audioCDs 9 discs
genre: memoir, autism, spiritualism
read by the author

Too tired to blog now. Son has severe autism. Wife is vegetarian Buddhist. Author has excellent accent (British). He seeks healing for his son via shamanism. They travel to Mongolia to visit different shamans. Interesting and thought-provoking.

Just read a review here: http://the-word-of-jeff.blogspot.com/2009/07/horse-boy-book-review.html

1/15/13 note:
One thing that bothered me with this book was how he would use the Lord's name in vain and then be praying to God in the next sentence. Isaacson's theology seems to be a hodge-podge of New Age spiritualism and a dash of anything that may work for him. It was disconcerting to hear him using the Lord's name as a swearword, and then praying to the Lord for his son's healing. Anyhow, this book made me appreciate more than ever how healthy my own children are! It also made me wonder (a lot) about the causes and treatments for autism.

Thunder and Rain

by Charles Martin
Hennepin County Library hardcover 367 pages
genre: Christian fiction, adventure

Tyler Steele is a third generation Texas Ranger who pretty much sees life in black and white. The story of his life is engaging and I enjoyed it for the most part. There was a little too much gun-love, Texas-love, and Ranger-love for me . . . but it was balanced out with a great cast of characters (I love Georgia and Dumps!) and his love for Andie as well as for Samantha created a lot of tension. Brodie and Hope were great kid characters, but Hope's journal often sounded much, much, much too mature and reflective for a ten-year-old.

Grace Kelly: American Princess

By Elizabeth Gillen Surcouf
PRMS withdrawn / hardcover 64 pages
genre: non-fiction biography

This is one of the books I weeded out of the collection at school this fall. It was interesting, but fairly superficial. I enjoyed reading it both out of curiosity and because the photographs are stunning (of Princess Grace and of Monaco). She was a gorgeous woman. I would have liked more details about her life and death. The author doesn't really even explain how her daughter survived the car accident that took Grace's life.

Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword

by Barry Deutsch
PRMS paperback 139 pages
genre: YA graphic novel, adventure & fantasy

Interesting title, but not destined to become one of my favorites. Tag on the top of the front cover: "Yet another troll-fighting 11-year-old Orthodox Jewish girl." Hmmm. Mirka is likable enough. It is instructive without being overbearing in regard to Jewish customs. The plot just seemed a bit too awkward to me, though.

Slumdog Millionaire

by Vikas Swarup
Hennepin County Library audioCDs 9 discs
read by Christopher Simpson
genre: realistic fiction

This was a re-listen. What an incredible story! Mr. Simpson voices it very effectively. The tale of Ram Mohammed Thomas and his unlikely success winning a billion rupees amazes me in its intricacy and beauty amidst the horrors. In searching online to find out how to spell his unusual name (to satisfy the expectations of three different faith leaders), I'm horrified that his name is different in the movie version. Yet another reason NOT to watch the movie! The story of his name is one of my favorites in this wonderful book of storytelling.

Twisted

by Laurie Halse Anderson
Hennepin County Library audioCDs 5 discs
read by Mike Chamberlain
genre: YA coming-of-age

It always surprises me when an author's protagonist of the opposite gender hits the nail on the head. Tyler has transformed from a nobody nerd to a troublemaker with muscles. One dumb act of vandalism has changed his life; hormones and growth do the rest. I just don't feel like blogging now. Good book. Intense. Deals with a LOT of teen topics including suicide (thoughts and attempts), sex, drugs, bullying, family violence, etc. Chamberlain's vocal work was excellent.

Odd Apocalypse

by Dean R. Koontz
Hennepin County Library hardcover 355 pages
genre: paranormal mystery

I was on the waiting list for this for a looooong time so it was gratifying to get it and have time to read it (on the bus to TIES and waiting for a tire rotation). Odd and Annamaria have ended up at Roseland, an impressive estate with something very wrong. As Odd lets his psychic magnetism guide him, the dangers mount on all sides. I love the role Nikola Tesla played in this story. I find it amusing that Alfred Hitchcock is manifesting to Odd in this tale. Koontz has woven many current pop culture references in this story (including Justin Bieber). Delightful story, though I'll probably take a listen to it again when it comes out on audio. I simply adore the vocal work that David Aaron Baker does!

Vampire Knight

by Matsuri Hino
Dakota County Library paperback less than 200 pages
genre: YA manga paranormal romance

Surprisingly, though this one had the creepiest cover, I liked it best of the four I read recently. The school in this story has day classes and night classes (for vampires only, though that's top secret). Two students are members of the disciplinary committee - making sure students don't go in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yuki Cross (who looks shockingly young for so much responsibility) and Zero Kiryu (hot & older, naturally) have a strange mix of attraction and frustration toward one another.

Kitchen Princess

manga by Natsumi Ando & story by Miyuki Kobayashi
Dakota County Library paperback 200ish pages
genre: YA manga romance

I actually kind of liked this one - it's emphasis on food anyhow. Shocker - there are two boys interested in the same girl. The girl looks waaaay too young to be interested in older guys (she's middle school; they seem older teen / early 20s). I liked the drawings of the different desserts and the recipes at the end.

Story basics - Najika is in the Seika Academy and entered in a baking contest. The youngest contestant there, the academy's director points out that she's the daughter of two famous (but dead) pastry chefs. He basically wants to use her for marketing for his school. She's in love with one of the director's sons, but the other son is interested in her too.

Gakuen Alice

by Tachibana Higuchi
Dakota County Library paperback 200ish pages
genre: YA manga, fantasy

Sigh. In this one, best friends Mikan (looks like Alice in Wonderland) and Hotaru are separated when Hotaru goes to a special "Alice" school. Heart-broken, Mikan decides to go find her. Lo and behold, the school is for students with special giftings (called "Alices" - even for the boys). Turns out whiny Mikan has a special talent, too, only she doesn't even know what it is.

At least this one had some suspense and adventure in it, but it still isn't my cup of tea! I'm trying to find something that will meet the needs of my girls who keep asking for The Black Butler (because he's hot, basically, in a graphic sense of the word).

Land of the Blindfolded

by Sakura Tsukuba
Dakota County Library paperback 202 pages
genre: YA manga paranormal romance

"Kanade can sometimes see the future and Arou can always see the past. Even with the chemistry they feel, it's impossible to forecast what will become of their relationship. Adding to the tension, Namiki (a new student who can also see the future) develops a crush on Kanade."

My reactions to this (and other manga of this style):
1. I don't really get it or like it.
2. Why is the female drawn like a little girl and the guys drawn like hot teenagers? That's just creepy.
3. What is it with the female crying like an idiot every two seconds?

Nuff said.