You can check out my blog too. I've added a lot of interesting books to it recently that you might like. This blog has some really great books so please comment and let us know what you think about the books we post.
-kkuhar
http://kkuharsbookblog.blogspot.com/
7.31.2010
7.23.2010
Mariah Mundi and the Ghost Diamonds
319 pages
" 'It was murder. I don't know how or why but I think I can prove it' There is never a dull moment for Mariah Mundi living in the Prince Regent Hotel. But catastrophe strikes when three eminent visitors spontaneously combust at a hotel party. Just a freak of nature or a cleaverly plotted murder? Mariah Mundi senses a conspiracy. and when his best friend, Sacha, is kidnapped, he knows that he must find answers-urgently. Who's the masked man seen prowling the streets? And why is the richest man in the world so interested in the hotel? Could the answer lie in the mythical Ghost Diamonds?"
summary from the back of Mariah Mundi and the Ghost Diamonds (Faber and Faber, 2009 paperback edition)
With this book, I found it a lot easier to read than the first one in the Mariah Mundi series. The first one seemed to take forever to read, but I got through this one much more quickly. In this book, Mariah is on his first case with the the Bureau of Antiquities. It doesn't really do much to advance the plot of the series, except for that it gives even more clues as to what might have happened to Mariah's parents. There were a few loose ends which I hope will be tied up in the next book but I can't tell if the main action of the next book will revolve around Mariah's role in the Bureau or what happened to his parents. Also, once you find out what happened to his parents, I don't know if the series could continue beyond that, so far there is only one other book (which I think is the last one). I would say that the Mariah Mundi series is pretty average based on the first two books, I wouldn't read it again, but I did enjoy the books. Rating: 3 stars
-mnm1309
See the review for Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box
6.29.2010
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma
391 pages
"If you fail all is lost. Join the Mysterious Benedict Society as Reynie, Kate, Sticky, and Constance embark on a daring new adventure that threatens to force them apart from their families, friends, and even each other. When an unexplained blackout engulfs Stonetown, the foursome must unravel clues relating to a nefarious new plot, while their search for answers brings them closer to danger than ever before. Is this the end of the Mysterious Benedict Society?"
summary from inside cover of The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma (MT Books, 1st edition October 2009)
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma is written by Trenton Lee Stewart. I like this book as much as the first one. In this book, the children are being kept at Mr. Benedict's house to protect them from Mr. Curtain, they can't leave. The government keeps trying to get the Whisperer from Mr. Benedict but he is doing everything he can to keep them from getting it because he knows they will use it to invade peoples minds. They have people guarding the house, but one of them is a spy for Mr. Curtain and he helps Mr. Curtain steal the Whisperer and capture the children again. I really like the ending and if you have read the other two books, I would say it is definitely worth it to finish the series. Rating: 5 stars
-mnm1309
6.22.2010
The Dead-Tossed Waves
404 pages
"Gabry lives a quiet life, secure in her town next to the sea and behind the barrier. She's content to let her friends dream of the dark city up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. Home is all she's ever known and all she needs for happiness. But life after the Return is never safe and there are threats even the Barrier can't hold back. Gabry's mother thought she left her secrets behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth but, like the dead in their world, secrets don't stay buried. One night beyond the Barrier... One boy Gabry's known forever and one veiled in mystery... One reckless moment, and half of Gabry's generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry knows only one thing: of she has any hope of a future, she must face the forest and her mother's past".
summary from inside cover of The Dead-Tossed Waves (Gollancz, First Edition 2010)
The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan is about Mary's daughter. I just want to say that this one is much better than the first book (The Forest of Hands and Teeth). Mary now lives in and operates the lighthouse on the beach she found after escaping from her old village. The new town she lives in is called Vista. Here, they are not cut off from the rest of the world and they know there are other people alive and they communicate with them, unlike in Mary's old village. Mary leaves to try and find the people she left behind in the forest, she has tried before but she could never find them. A little later, Gabry is forced to follow her with some of her friends from Vista. At first Gabry seemed just like her mother, risking the lives of her friends and the two guys she likes, so I thought this book would be like the first and I wouldn't like it. Towards the end though, she kind finds out a lot about her past and her mothers past which changes her a little. The third book is set to come out at the beginning of 2011, and I'm actually looking forward to finding out what happens to Gabry and her friends, the book ends with a lot of unresolved things going on. Rating: 3 stars
-mnm1309
6.21.2010
The Secret Countess
345 pages
"ST. Petersburg Russia, 1919. Anna's world is under threat. The eighteen-year-old countess has lived in luxury all her life, but revolution is tearing Russia apart - and her family must escape... London, 1919. Now penniless, Anna is working as a servant for the aristocrat Westerholmes. But as she falls in love with the young earl it becomes harder to keep her true identity secret..."
summary from back of The Secret Countess (Picador, 2007 edition)
The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson was first published as a A Countess Below Stairs in 1981. The reason I read this book was because I have read other books by this author and they were pretty good. In this book Anna and her family have fled from Russia and now are now living in England. They are there with a lot of other royal and high ranking families that have fled as well. Because they no longer have very much money they all have to work hard, but none of them are bitter about it. This is a romance book, the person Anna loves is engaged to a woman who is 'perfect' but turns out to be an awful person. I usually don't like books like this but this one was actually pretty good, and I kept wanting to find out what happened to her. A lot of times when I read books like this, I get bored with them. It has a lot of funny parts, but the ending isn't very unexpected. Altogether it was an interesting book and I would recommend it more to girls 13 and under, although other people might like it also. Rating: 3 stars
-mnm1309
6.20.2010
The Forest of Hands and Teeth
308 pages
"In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But slowly, Mary's truths are failing her. She's learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power. And, when the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. Now she must choose between her village and her future, between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded by so much death?"
summary from inside cover of The Forest if Hands and Teeth (Delacorte Press, 1st edition 2009)
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan is about a girl named Mary who lives in walled town in the middle of a forest. They are totally isolated from anything else and they are the only humans left alive on earth, or so they are told. The reason they are protected by Barriers is because after the Return, anyone bitten by the Unconsecrated (they are like zombies) will become Infected and become one of them. One day though, Mary sees someone who has come from the forest. Her entire life, she has heard stories of the ocean and she has always wanted to leave to find it. In the end she makes it there, but the main thing I didn't like about the book was Mary and her obsession with the ocean. By the time she made it there, everyone she loved was dead. She said she loved them but she literally sacrificed their lives in her quest to find the ocean. It just really bothered me how she would throw herself at two guys and make long speeches about how much she loved them, and then was the cause of their death because she couldn't let go of the ocean. Overall it wasn't to bad, but it wasn't the best book I've read, although zombies are new. I've never read a book about them. Rating: 2 stars, this is because I found a lot of the things Mary did annoying, as you can tell from my rant about her ...
-mnm1309
p.s. I am reading the second book now and will post about it soon
6.19.2010
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey
440 pages
"Children you must not come STOP Dangerous. The Mysterious Benedict Society is back with a new mission: a mind-bending international scavenger hunt designed to test their individual talents. As they search for all the clues and riddles Mr. Benedict has hidden for them, Reynie, Sticky, Kate, and Constance face an unexpected challenge that will reinforce all the reasons they were brought together in the first place and require them to fight for the very namesake that united them. Join the Mysterious Benedict Society at your own risk!"
Summary from back of The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey (MT Books, may 2009 Edition)
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart is more about how the 4 children have changed after their previous adventure. They have to try to save Mr. Benedict from Ledroptha Curtain but along the way you learn how each of them has changed. They have all regained/found their families. Their parents are always worried for their safety after their last adventure and in order to save Mr. Benedict they have to sneak away and go against their parents. All in all it was a really good book, I liked the first one a little more but it is definitely worth continuing the series. Rating: 5 stars
-mnm1309
p.s. I'll post about the last book soon
6.01.2010
The Mysterious Benedict Society
The Mysterious Benedict Society485 pages
"Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities? When this peculiar add appears in the newspaper, dozens of children enroll to take a series of mysterious, mind-bending tests. (And you, dear reader, can test your wits right alongside them.) But in the end just four very special children will succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and resourceful children could complete. With their new found friendship at stake, will they be able to pass the most important test of all? Welcome to The Mysterious Benedict Society."
Summary from the back of the Mysterious Benedict Society (MT Books, April 2008 edition)
Rating: 5 stars
Tell us what you think, comment!
-mnm1309
p.s. I will post about the next book soon.
5.18.2010
Elephant Run
Elephant Run is written by Roland Smith. It is 318 pgs. long.
In 1941, bombs are being dropped on London. One night fourteen year old Nick Freestone's apartment is destroyed. Nick's mother decides the situation in England has grown too unstable. After spending a night at his mother's office in the U.S. embassy, he is flown to Burma.
His mother feels it is safer to send him to their family's teak plantation in the jungles of Burma. Nick gets there and he is excited to learn about the elephants that help to run the operations of the plantation. After only a matter of days of arriving at the plantation, the Japanese soldiers invade and take his father and a worker prisoner. All the other workers are forced to work as servants for the Japanese. After the hope of being released is destroyed, Nick and his friend Mya plan their escape. They want to rescue their families from the prison camps. It will be extremely hard and dangerous for them. The Japanese, the wilderness, and the long distances stand in their way. It is a really good book and I could hardly put it down.
5 stars
-kkuhar
5.08.2010
Dead Girls Don't Write Letters
144 pages
Sunny Reynolds' older sister Jazz died when her apartment building lit on fire. Sunny's family is broken by her death. So when months later, Sunny receives a letter from her sister, she is more than a little surprised. The thing is, the person who shows up at their door isn't her sister and Sunny has to find out who this person is and what she wants with her family.
my own summary
Dead Girls Don't Write Letters by Gail Giles was a really surprising book. Its a quick read, I read it one afternoon after school. The author builds up all of the clues until you think you know who the girl is and what will happen at the end and then surprises you. I really liked the ending and it was totally unexpected. I would definitely recommend reading this book.
Rating: 4 stars
Tell us what you think, comment!
-mnm1309
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