Angels & Demons

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown.

This is a reread for me. I was inspired to read this again after reading The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp. Also release of the Angels and Demons movie is soon, and it's always nice to be able to remember the story line before you go to the theatre (at least in my opinion).

I think I liked this book a lot more the first time around, but I still think it has more excitement in it than The DaVinci Code. However, I felt that The DaVinci Code felt more intellectual.

Grade: A-

(BTW, this is book #39 since last June.)

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp by Rick Yancey

This story is about a 16 year old boy named Alfred Kropp, whose life is tragic and yet mundane. Recently orphaned after his mother's death, Alfred now lives with his uncle, who was recently offered a million dollars to help steal a well-guarded sword from his employer. His uncle needs someone else to pull of the heist and he gets Alfred to agree to it.

Alfred successfully steals the sword, but his uncle is killed in the process. He knows the sword isn't an ordinary sword, and we soon find out that it is Excalibur, the sword of King Arthur. The sword has been protected for thousands of years by a brotherhood of descendants of the original Knights of the Round Table. Arthur unknowingly has stolen the sword and given it to a rogue Knight. The sword possesses immense power - the power to bend the will of others. Alfred pairs up with Bennacio, a Knight of the Sacred Order, and goes on a number of adventures to regain possession of the sword.

This story had some great action scenes. Car chases, sword fighting, sneaky getaways. There is one car chase that was done superbly well. Seriously, the scene is 100% ready for an action movie.

This book is also made for boys. Not to say that girls won't like it, too, but the A-1 cars, focus on food, and fight scenes will really appeal to the YA male market.

I like stories about ancient mysteries being solved, and this totally prompted me to reread Angels & Demons.

Grade: B

Schooled

Schooled by Gordan Korman

Schooled starts off with the unlikely and ends with the unlikely too, but that's okay because every once in a while a middle school geek can dream, right? Cap Anderson is a home-schooled 8th grader who has been raised by his hippie Grandma named Rain. Rain is Cap's only true friend. His life consists of nature and self-directed learning ... and very little contact with the modern world.

When Rain falls from a tree and must be hospitalized for several weeks, Cap is taken in by a local social worker named Mrs. Donnelly. Cap is enrolled at Claverage Middle School and immediately becomes the butt of many jokes and the biggest prank of all... being voted class president. A longstanding tradition at C-Average Middle School involves voting the biggest loser as class president, and then giving him or her a hard time for the remainder of the year. At this point, hijinks ensue that make us grin (at times at Cap's expense), lift our spirits (due to Cap's unwavering belief in the good nature of people), and make us squirm (because it makes us feel awkward to see someone unknowingly blunder so badly).

This book is chock full of a cast of characters. Each chapter is told in first person from a different character's point of view. (The last book I read like this was My Sister's Keeper by Piccoult.) It's extremely well-done. The prose is peppy, quick, and easy to visualize. Readers will even find themselves relating to many of the characters and empathizing with them too -- even for the coolest (and cruelest) middle-schooler, Zach Powers. Some might criticize this book for being unrealistic, but it's nice to dream that the school outcast can become the most beloved member of a school.

This would/could make a great read aloud.

Grade: A-

Ink Exchange

Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr

(Warning: This book is marketed as YA, but I would not recommend it to anyone under 14. Depictions of sex and violence are a little mature and offer no real reflection to help a younger reader process it.)

A companion piece to Wicked Lovely, this story sets Aislinn’s friend Leslie as the protagonist. Leslie is ignorant of the fantastical changes that have overcome her friend. Aislinn is now Queen of the Summer Fairies. In fact, Leslie is unaware of the existence of fairies at all. She is only aware of the new presence of several overwhelmingly attractive and enigmatic people whom Aislinn now calls friends. Despite some of these odd changes, Leslie is preoccupied. She is hiding many dark secrets from her friends: the deterioration of her home life, an alcoholic father, and an abusive and drug-addicted brother. In the chaos of her life, Leslie is trying to keep it together and take control. It’s a tightrope balanced walk, and one way that she tries to regain control is through the reclaiming of her body with a tattoo.

Leslie finds herself mesmerized by a particular tattoo that is special and unique. Unbeknownst to her, it is the tattoo of the King of the Dark Fairies, Irial. The Dark Fairies, who feed off of negative emotions, have been going hungry ever since Aislinn gained rule and the reigning Winter Queen, Beira, was ousted. Beira had kept the emotional pot of fairy emotions at a constant boil, and there was no end to sating the evil fairies’ appetites. Now that a kind rule has come over the fairy world, the dark fey are starving, and Irial must devise a new way for them to feed.

Leslie’s tattoo is more than mere mortal body art. It is an ink exchange, which will link Irial and her together, allowing Irial to filter all of humanity’s emotions through her. While she detests having been used, Irial’s magnetic power is overwhelming. Leslie at turns fights being used as such a tool, and at other moments prefers her tethered state to her previous sad life.

Irial’s court is truly a dark one. Humans are used and abused in the foulest ways so the fairies may extract the fullest range and depth of negative emotions: lust, greed, pain, gluttony, rage, and insanity...

The character development of the main characters, Leslie, and Irial, is good. Most spectacular is the descriptive and emotional language that shows up regularly. However, I still feel as though the background story is not fleshed out enough. Readers are left asking too many questions about side characters and practical questions about fairies. What exactly happens to a fairy that starves? What exactly do fairies do? What is their purpose? The holes in this book caused me to put this book down several times and ask, “What is the point? Do I really even care to know the end?” I persevered, and I can’t really say I felt a sense of satisfaction at completing it.

GRADE: C

A Sucker for a Cheesy Young Love Poem

I love this song. I've been trying to figure it out for about a month; only catching snippets of it here or there on my way to work. In the end, I used my cell to record the song on the radio and then used my husband's iPhone's song recognition software to identify the artist.

It's awkward, and the poetry isn't any more spectacular than what you would have found in a late night coffeehouse from a few woebegone smokers nursing unrequited love and a latte.

But it's catchy, and I love it.

The Airborne Toxic Event - "Sometime Around Midnight"

Then she leaves, with someone you don’t know.
But she makes sure you saw her.
She looks right at you and bolts.
As she walks out the door,
your blood boiling
your stomach in ropes.
And when your friends say,
“What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”