Dewey's Read-a-Thon

This year I have decided to try and attempt the Dewey's Read-a-Thon - a 24 hour, read-as-much-as-you-can, also-enjoy-mini-challenges kind of event. I know that I will not be able to read for the whole 24 hours - 1) I need to sleep. 2) I have things to do. - but I am going to try to spend as much of my free time as I can reading. I'm hoping to, at the very least, finish the two books I'm currently reading and possible get through one more. But I'll just play it by ear. I'm also hoping to do a few of the mini-challenges as they come up. Should be fun.

The Read-a-Thon is tomorrow, April 27, so I'll post short updates as I go throughout the day. Happy Reading!

The Dewey's Read-a-Thon Website

Gone Girl

Gone Girl

Gillian Flynn, 2012

Nick Dunne wakes up on his fifth anniversary to his wife, Amy, making crepes in the kitchen. After heading to work for a few hours, he comes home to find the house in disarray and his wife missing. As evidence begins to come to light that Amy may have been murdered, and Nick begins to look like the prime suspect, we see the story both from Nick's point of view and from diary entries of Amy's from before the day she disappeared. But was she murdered, abducted, or is there something else going on?

This was a really cool, really well-written mystery story. I had been meaning to read something by Gillian Flynn for a while, hearing good things about her since Sharp Objects, but just never got around to one of her books until now, but I'm really glad that I picked this one up. I never saw the twist coming, and I thought that both the build up and the aftermath were great fun to read about. I highly recommend this one to anyone who likes a good thriller.

The Likeness

The Likeness (Dublin Murder Squad #2)

Tana French, 2008

In the Woods, the first book in this series, featured detective Rob Ryan, with detective Cassie Maddox in the supporting role. Here in The Likeness, we pick up the story six months after those events, with Cassie Maddox in the lead. In this case, Cassie is called to a murder scene where a woman has been stabbed to death - a woman who looks almost exactly like Cassie herself. In order to find the killer, Cassie is asked to go undercover, posing as the girl who was killed. But does she really want to go back to the undercover life? And if she does, can she keep herself from getting drawn in too deep?

I'm really enjoying this series. While I think I liked In the Woods better, this was a great murder mystery, with intriguing characters and a lot of drama and suspense. My only complaint is that Cassie, at times, is an idiot. I realize her motivation for keeping some of the secrets that she did, but she's a cop - she should have known better. Still a great story, though. I also found that the characters and their situation reminded me a lot of The Secret History, another book I love. 

Great addition to the series, and I'm looking forward to reading the next one. 

Dead End in Norvelt

Dead End in Norvelt

Jack Gantos, 2011

Norvelt isn't exactly the most exciting town to grow up in - originally set up by Eleanor Roosevelt as a place where the poor could have what they needed and help each other to get by, Norvelt is now falling apart. As the original "Norvelters" are growing old and dying off, someone is selling their empty houses to another state and shipping them off, leaving Norvelt even more in disrepair. Jack, who was looking forward to playing baseball all summer, has been grounded "for life" and is forced to stay on his own property, except when he is forced to help out old Mrs. Volker write obituaries for the local paper. But after all the remaining original Norvelters begin dying off, one by one, the town begins to wonder - is it natural causes, a curse, or something much more sinister?

I first want to say that, as a winner of the Newbery Medal, this book left a lot to be desired. It just doesn't have the substance to stand up to most of the other books in this category. I can't say exactly what should have been different, but it just didn't quite live up to the honor.

That being said, it was still an enjoyable enough book. It dealt a lot with death, but in a way that I think young readers would have been comfortable with. It easily could have veered into creepy, with so many people dying and with obituary writing being such a major plot point. But I thought that it dealt with these issues very well for the most part.

My main complaint, I think, is that the serious issues - mainly the sudden deaths of so many old ladies in the town - in the end were dealt with in such a weird way. While it made sense, technically, it still seemed out of character for this person to do what he did.

Still, there was a good message behind the book - mainly to never forget your history, lest you be doomed to repeat it... but at the same time, you shouldn't let history be your life either. Live your life, roll with the changes, but learn from your mistakes. Not a bad moral, especially for children. A good read, very amusing at times and pretty fun, just not necessarily Newbery material, in my opinion. 

Cursor's Fury

Cursor's Fury (Codex Alera #3)

Jim Butcher, 2006

In the world of Alera, everyone has some form of furycrafting, which allows for abilities such as faster healing, longer endurance, better swordfighting, and other. Those with more powerful abilities can even being the elements to life, developing a small amount of control over one aspect of nature. Everyone comes into their crafting abilities by age 13 - everyone except Tavi, who has no crafting skills at all. Because of this, Tavi - who in this book is undercover in one of the fighting legions - has to find a way to keep his identity hidden while at the same time doing what needs to be done without the abilities that others possess. In another area of the realm, the First Lord's reign is threatened, a mysterious enemy's existence is questioned, and a war begins. 

Out of the three Codex Alera books I've read so far, this one was definitely my favorite. There was a ton of action in this one, one storyline featuring Tavi and the ever-likable Max, the second centering around most of the other characters, including Amara, Bernard, and a number of questionable allies. I also really liked the way that Tavi's character is developing and can't wait to see where his story goes. In addition, we're finally given information in this book on Tavi's parents and how the heck Fade fits in to this whole mess. 

A great addition to the series and I look forward to following these characters through the last three books.

This Time Together

This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection

Carol Burnett, 2010

Not so much a memoir and more a collection of stories and anecdotes, this book brings together stories about the life of Carol Burnett, both her attempts to break into show business and her life in the spotlight. 

(Side note: The audiobook is read by the actress, and is therefore highly recommended, if only for the Tarzan yell.)

I love Carol Burnett. I used to watch her comedy show in re-runs all the time when I was younger and I can rarely remember ever laughing as hard as I did when I watched her show.  So I was excited to find out about her more as a person as well as listening to stories about what life was like filming the show. 

I wasn't disappointed. I thought that Burnett was funny and she seemed honest in the stories she told. At times I found it a little amusing that whenever she would talk about actors or singers that she worked with they always ended up being long-time friends, but honestly, I think if I ever met her I'd want to be her best friend, too. I'm glad I picked this one up and was able to find out a little more about one of my favorite performers. Now I just want to sit in front of my computer and pull up re-runs and blooper reels of The Carol Burnett Show on YouTube....

UnWholly

UnWholly (Unwind Trilogy #2)

Neal Shusterman, 2012

In this world, first established in Unwind, abortion is illegal. However, parents can decide on retroactive abortion for teens. For troublesome teenagers or orphans in group homes, anyone from the ages of 13 to 17 can be 'unwound' - the teens are not killed, but are broken down into individual parts and transplanted into those who need their organs. This is called a 'divided state' and is supposed to be a good thing - you know, except for those who are selected to be unwound. After one of the Harvest Camps was destroyed by runaway unwinds in the last book, a new law was put into place that 17-year-olds could not be unwound and a number of runaways have set up a safe haven at an old airplane graveyard. But things are not all good. Connor, the leader of the Graveyard, is trying to keep everyone safe and alive while worrying that they could be raided at any minute. And a new character, Cam, emerges, who puts a whole new spin on what unwinding can create.

I wasn't sure how I felt about this book when it first started, because I thought that Unwind did a decent enough job with the story that a trilogy wasn't absolutely necessary, and I wasn't sure what this book had left to cover. Despite a somewhat slow beginning, however, this one ended up being, in my opinion, better than the first book. I loved the characters in this book - the old characters were better developed and the new characters were really interesting and/or I wanted to punch them in the face (because they were written to be evil bastards). I also loved the direction the plot took. Can't wait to see what happens in the next book.