Jaemi's Reading
Reviews on this Page: Where I want to Be | Magic or Madness | New Found Land | Smashed | The She | The People of Sparks | Tending to Grace
Wasted Beauty | The Spiderwick Chronicles 2-5

Reviews Page 9: Peter and the Starcatchers | Prom | The Field Guide | Chasing Vermeer | Sexy | The Golden Hour | Green Angel | Dragon Rider

Where I want to Be, by Adele Griffin
Where I want to Be This is one of those stories it's hard to explain without potentially giving it away...though I'll say they did a good job with the teaser on the jacket. ...You've got Lily, you've got Jane. Throughout the book we volley between their points of view, and their lives. Lily has always fit right in, Jane has never felt at home. Two complete opposites. But they're sisters. Follow along as these two come to grips with their alternate realities in ways you might not expect.

Magic or Madness, by Justine Larbalestier
Magic or MadnessLogic and mathmetics and childhood stories combine to create a solid world for Reason Cansino to grow up in...until it all falls apart. Suddenly the certainties all become questions, the assurances lies. ...Or were they? A coming-of-age tale with a definite twist, this book has something for Fantasy lovers and realists both. An enjoyable read that will also likely get your brain whirring. I'm looking forward to, or am at least hopeful for, more books to come from this author.

New Found Land, by Allan Wolf
New Found LandThe best review I could write for this book would be one that just said "Read it."

Not a light, or overly quick read, I found this book to be rather ingenious. This is a great look into the history of our nation, through many varied sets of eyes, and it would make a wonderful addition to any English or History class, in my opinion. Told in poems, letters, and journal entries, you're not going to find an account of the Lewis & Clark expedition like it. And to tell the truth, I think I learned things here that they just don't teach you in school. But as I stated when I began, the best I can do for this book is truly to just tell you to read it. It's more than worth the time.

Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood, by Koren Zailckas
SmashedI read this book because it passed me by in an Inter-Library Loan box and a co-worker said she'd heard it was good. I scanned the first page and it peaked my interest, so I put it on hold myself. It wasn't a disappointment--this was a truly excellent read.

Here's a young woman who takes an honest look back at her life and doesn't cut corners or sugar-coat anything. This is the story of a decade spent under the thrall of alcohol, not helplessly, but willingly for a lack of true sight, in that way where if you're too close to something, most of the time you just can't see it.

Even if you don't drink, I think this is a book to pick up. For it's honesty, and for a look into an issue that today is all too commonplace. Here's a real person who's been there, done that, and is now out on the other side and probably hoping to keep some people from learning what she did the same way.
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The She, by Carol Plum-Ucci
The SheThis is a book it's hard to form an opinion about. On the one hand, I really liked it, on the other I wanted to throw it at something. If you're prepared to have your feet knocked out from under you time and again, you'll be just fine.

It's funny, because the storyis about a teenager trying to come to grips with some haunts of his past, and adolescence alone will surely do that to you, let alone the ambiguity surrounding his parents' death. So in that respect, the style is really right on. And I suppose a good thriller will keep you on your toes, have you sure you've got it just to yank it away again.

My favorite Plum-Ucci book is still What Happened to Lani Garver, but The She was definitely and interesting and fairly exciting read. If you're into local myths and legends (The She hails from New Jersey, here), then this book may well be right up your alley. Same if you like the author or a good mind-twist. But if you want a nice, simple, easy and calm read...this is not the book you want to get your hands on.

The People of Sparks, by Jean DuPrau
The People of SparksIn this sequel to The City of Ember, the people of Ember stumble into a world vastly different from their own. It is at once both more primitive and more advanced than the life they are used too, which causes a stirring of mixed feelings on both sides. Having now read both of these books, I am intensely intrigued by DuPrau's imagination. Here for sure is one possible answer to a very large "What if..."

It's hard to really get into without giving away the points that make the books so interesting...but this story is for sure a lesson in learning from our past, no matter how distant, about working together towards a common goal. A story of how life truly does find a way. And if we have the strength, the right way. A way full, if not of promise, of hope. Chances.
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Tending to Grace, by Kimberly Newton Fusco
Tending to GraceThis is a story about founding your way. In more ways than one. Running off and never arriving, hiding in plain sight, and then from sight, only to emerge triumphant. Learning and growing through caring, and learning when not to care so much.

Compared to my previous read, the language is simplistic if not uneducated at points, but the story packs no less punch or knowledge for it.

We all want to hide sometime. And we all do, in whatever way suits us best. But none of us should, as this book will show.

Wasted Beauty, by Eric Bogosian
Wasted BeautyThe first thing I have to say about Eric Bogosian is he is amazing with words. With that said....this was not a light book. I don't think of the things I read as shallow, or drivel, or meaningless, though I do admit to reading some things merely because I know they'll be fun and aren't all heavy and weighted. But they're still meaningful in their own way. I've only read one book, Kevin Brooks' Lucas, that was so true and well written that part of me wished, when I had done, that I hadn't read it because it hit me so hard. Wasted Beauty reminds me of that.

This is an interweaving story, in which often times it seems like things are hopeless. I was actually stealing myself for a horrible end, because after a time it seemed like it was coming. The optimist in me held out though, knowing they could make it through. Those left alive that is.

Most of this tale takes place in the City, and not its brightest side. This is life in the shadows where the light never shown, but maybe peaks through when you're not looking. These are the big questions and battles and demons we fight, with their own faces and names and strategies. Innocence lost and dreams misled. But for all that, it isn't to no end. The prices all seem too high...but a waste? I can only hope that everyone would walk away not thinking so.

The whole time I was reading this book I felt a certain sense of ineptness for not being able to fly through it. But how do you fly through life and not miss it? How do you cross paths repeatedly with the same people and take it in if you're not spending time and giving attention? More than most, Wasted Beauty is the world in your hands. By no means all of it, but a part, a sizeable part, close to home. People's lives for you to flip through. And by all means worth the time.
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The Seeing Stone, Lucinda's Secret, The Ironwood Tree, The Wrath of Mulgarath, by Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black
The Wrath of Mulgarath
The Ironwood Tree
Lucinda's Secret
The Seeing Stone		In the second installment of The Spiderwick Chronicles, we pick up right about where we left off, and the adventure gets more dangerous.

Despite the advice of Thimbletack, the Grace children have kept The Field Guide, and now faerie elements are out to get them. While looking for his lost cat Tibbs, Simon is kidnapped by Goblins, and Jared and Mallory are forced to go after them. It is only through the help of the Seeing Stone that they can find him, as normally a human cannot see fearie folk.

The rescue effort is far from simple, and results in both magical gifts and a magical and highly unusual new pet for Simon. But it leaves Jared on the out's with Thimbletack, and all of them wondering what's next.

In books 3-5 we find out just what happened to the maker of the guide, why the faerie elements want it, why Aunt Lucinda is in a hospital, and what happens when you don't follow your brownie's advice. And while the ending may seem predictable, you'll actually be met with a surprising twist.


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