Hello! My name is Katie, and I am a 20 year old college student majoring in English and Secondary Education. I love to read.
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Book Review: The List
An interesting book that is told during post-WWII and the Holocaust. The main characters, Edith and Georg, are struggling Jewish refugees in England who are trying to find lost relatives, while attempting to solidify their future. After countless rejections because of their Jewish faith, they find that, despite the end of the war and Hitler’s defeat, discrimination continues in England. Yet, there is a glimmer of hope in Palestine, who is fighting the British for total control of their country in order to create a new land for all Jewish people. Quickly, prejudices unveil, and everyone realizes that the end of the War and Hitler’s reign has created more problems than ever anticipated.
“It was clearly a list of who had been taken to the camps and who had survived. The idea was obviously to tick off those who survived and cross out those who didn’t.”
This novel takes readers on a roller coaster of emotions. With the characters I found myself rejoicing in their triumphs and weeping in their failures. Simply, Fletcher offers an interesting perspective of the effects that war, prejudices, and tyrannic behavior have on civilians. Moreover, it offers interesting insights into the obscure events that took place after the war.
The journey of Edith and Georg is eloquently imparted. At times, I struggled with the author’s writing style, but it never deterred me in truly appreciating this novel.
Overall, I’d have to give The List:
4/5 stars, and it deserves it!
Happy reading!
BookshelfBlogger, Katie
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*Please note: This novel is an adult fiction novel that contains some scenes and language that may not be suitable for a younger audience. Reader discretion is advised!*
0 notes • May 5, 2013 Books to Review
I’ve received this question quite a few times, and I just wanted to let people know that yes, I am available to review copies of your book. In order to do so, please shoot me an e-mail at katherineeweber@yahoo.com, and we can work out the details!
If you want an honest opinion of your book, send me an e-mail.
Thanks everyone and happy reading!
Katie
1 note • May 5, 2013 Book Review: The Devouring
Finally! A YA horror book that had some actual scary elements to it. I’m praising the literary gods that such a book does exist.
Anyway, this book follows a pretty tough chick, Regina Halloway, on her journey to regain her brother’s consciousness from the Vours, which are paranormal beings that live off human fear and have the ability to possess the human body. Regina is a pretty awesome protagonist, and for me, it’s hard to find a true gutsy heroine/hero in most YA books. To be honest, a lot of them are a bit flaky to me, but Regina was seriously a one of the best heroines that I’ve read in a long time.
The action is great, especially the ending where it gets super fast-paced that you can only read it in one sitting.
My only issue with the book was that it seemed too rushed. I felt some details were scarce, and characters acted rashly without an explanation, which had me scratching my head.
Of course, this is a series. I’m hoping that some of my questions will be answered, or the author’s writing style will improve throughout the rest of the books. I just want my answers!
Overall, this is a pretty great read. I look forward to reading the rest of the books in this series, but I would not consider it a “priority” series to finish at the moment. Due to this, I’d give the book a 4/5 stars!
Happy reading!
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2 notes • May 5, 2013 Book Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Wow. What book. I’m so disappointed that I was so late in reading this book because it is brilliant but better late than never, right?
So, this book is told in letters to an unknown individual from Charlie, our protagonist. Throughout his life Charlie has stood on the fringes of the dance floor, but upon meeting some friends, he learns to join in the dance.
Any more word could not do this book justice. It’s phenomenal, and I think it should be a must read for everyone.
Charlie is an extremely relatable character. Like him, I would consider myself a wallflower. The things Charlie said/did/experienced mirror how I am, which is comforting because I know I’m not alone. He’s awesome.
I’d recommend this book for introverts, people starting a new journey in their life, anyone who has ever felt alone, and everyone else. Seriously. You need to read this book. It will change your life.
Overall, I’d rate The Perks of Being a Wallflower:
5/5 stars, and it is on my favorite’s list. So, check it out!
Happy reading!
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3 notes • May 5, 2013 How would you guys feel if I posted video book reviews?
Or, should I keep with the text reviews?! HELP!
ALSO, I’m going home the Friday! So, you know what that means?? I CAN FINALLY POST MY MAY TBR LIST! *cue the joyous Hallelujah music*
1 note • May 5, 2013 Book Review: The Lucky One
The only Nicholas Sparks’s book that I have read is The Notebook. Sadly, I enjoyed the way the movie portrayed the romance as opposed to the book, and I know many other people feel the same way. Regardless, Sparks still has an ability to write meaningful romances that are beloved by many readers. I knew I needed to give him another chance, so I picked up The Lucky One from my shelf.
At the beginning of the book, Keith Clayton, sheriff deputy of the town, is running a background check on the suspicious Logan Thibault, a drifter with a mission. With nothing to find Clayton unwillingly lets Thibault and his dog, Zeus, continue. Anxiously, Thibault leaves Clayton because he finally has walked all the way from Colorado to Hampton, North Carolina in search of a beautiful woman in a photograph. As soon as Thibault found the picture when he was a marine stationed in Iraq, he acquired an overwhelming amount of good luck. The mysterious woman became his guardian and saved him from multiple life or death situations. Therefore, he deemed it lucky and regarded it as his destiny to find this woman because he owed something to her. When he arrives in Hampton, he finds the woman in the picture, Elizabeth Green, and he starts the process of repaying for her help. Clayton, also Greens’s ex-husband, is furious that she is spending so much time with a drifter, and he will do everything in his power to stop this budding relationship. With luck on their side, will Green and Thibault be able to withstand these trials in their relationship?
I was hooked. There are so many things that I absolutely adored about this book. First, I love how Sparks told the story from our three central characters’ perspective: Thibault, Clayton, and Green. It provided readers an in-depth view of these characters and their personalities, and it set the stage for the story and many events. I believe if the story was told from only one perspective, it would have been lacking and lost its impact. This style technique created some really thorough characters that I absolutely loved and hated. Also, this book always left me on the edge of my seat. Clayton was always up to something, and I always anticipated how Thibault and Green would reciprocate. Lastly, I was extremely content with the conclusion of this novel. We all know Sparks’s reputation for his works-tearjerkers, emotional blenders, etc. So, I certainly did not expect to feel this satisfied with the ending.
I loved this book. In fact, I would even go so far as to classify it as a favorite. The writing was impeccable. The characters were well-developed. And, the story was unique and unpredictable. This made me fall in love with Sparks, and I highly anticipate the next time I read another one of his books. Luckily, I have most of them sitting on my shelf. I can’t wait!
Overall, I’d rate this book:
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2 notes • January 1, 2013 Do you have a bookblog?
I want to follow more people!
7 notes • January 1, 2013 Book Review: Anna and the French Kiss
*With the new year, I have decided to change up my book review style!*
Well, I finally read it. This book has been sitting on my shelf for a good 6 months begging me to read the beauty between the pages. I put it off for these 6 months because I was apprehensive to read a YA Romance. At 20 years old I’ve found most romance in YA books to be a bit cliche and unrealistic. With all the hype this book got, I figured to give it a chance.
Immediately, I was hooked with Perkins’s writing style. It was easy to read, witty, and descriptive. I found myself, like most other girls who read this book, swooning over the beautiful St. Clair. The romance was cute, sweet, and not overdone, which made me happy.
While this book made me feel good, I had a few slight issues with the book. First, I felt that Perkins sometimes overly reinforced the fact that we were reading about teenagers. Sometimes the characters took on the whole “gum smacking in a jean mini skirt” persona. These were only occasional moments in the novel, but I still cringed every time I read these parts. These parts were too forced. I would not regard her characters to be of the “John Green quality.” Additionally, I was disappointed at the end of the book. Throughout the book we follow the tension between Anna and St. Clair. I highly anticipated that epic “I love you, kiss me we’re in Paris” moment. I patiently waited and read to get to that moment. Then, I turned the last page of the novel and was disappointed. For myself Perkins spent too much time building the anticipation and sprinkled over the conclusion. It seemed unfinished.
Regardless of the issues I had, it was still a great book. No, it is not a book that changed my life, but it did make me feel all warm and fuzzy. If you need a light breezy book to let you momentarily escape from your chaotic life, I recommend this book to you!
Overall, I’d rate this book:
1 note • January 1, 2013 Currently, I’m reading…
In the dawning light of a late-summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground. In the streets below, a slew of ordinary lives become extraordinary in bestselling novelist Colum McCann’s stunningly intricate portrait of a city and its people.
Let the Great World Spin is the critically acclaimed author’s most ambitious novel yet: a dazzlingly rich vision of the pain, loveliness, mystery, and promise of New York City in the 1970s.
Corrigan, a radical young Irish monk, struggles with his own demons as he lives among the prostitutes in the middle of the burning Bronx. A group of mothers gather in a Park Avenue apartment to mourn their sons who died in Vietnam, only to discover just how much divides them even in grief. A young artist finds herself at the scene of a hit-and-run that sends her own life careening sideways. Tillie, a thirty-eight-year-old grandmother, turns tricks alongside her teenage daughter, determined not only to take care of her family but to prove her own worth.
Elegantly weaving together these and other seemingly disparate lives, McCann’s powerful allegory comes alive in the unforgettable voices of the city’s people, unexpectedly drawn together by hope, beauty, and the “artistic crime of the century.” A sweeping and radical social novel, Let the Great World Spin captures the spirit of America in a time of transition, extraordinary promise, and, in hindsight, heartbreaking innocence. Hailed as a “fiercely original talent” (San Francisco Chronicle), award-winning novelist McCann has delivered a triumphantly American masterpiece that awakens in us a sense of what the novel can achieve, confront, and even heal.
Genres: Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Adult Fiction
Click here to learn more about the book!
0 notes • November 11, 2012 Book Review: City of Bones
Title:City of Bones (#1 in the Mortal Instruments series)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: McElderry Books
Length: 473 pages
My Rating: 4/5 Stars
*PLEASE NOTE: I HAVE BRACKETED A CERTAIN PORTION OF MY REVIEW; THAT MEANS IT IS A SPOILER. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK, DO NOT READ THE BRACKETED TEXT! I AM NOT HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYONE ACCIDENTALLY READING THE SPOILER. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! :)*
Plot Summary:
Clary Fray expects a fun night of partying and dancing at New York’s Pandemonium Club.That is, until she witnesses a murder done by young teenagers covered in mysterious marks; Clary later learns less than 24 hours later that these teenagers are Shadowhunters, warriors that slay the demons of this earth.Yet, a demon has somehow made its way into Clary’s house and kidnapped her mother.It is up to Clary, a mere mundane (Shadowhunter slang for “human”) and the Shadowhunters to recover her mother and ultimately find the demon’s true intentions.Through this mystery, Clary learns more about herself and helps one Shadowhunter, the gorgeous blonde, Jace discover himself, as well.However, sometimes secrets are sometimes better kept as secrets.
Thoughts:
I have been getting SO MANY questions from people on my Goodreads/Twitter/Tumblr websites asking me what is taking my so long to read this series.Basically everyone was concerned that I didn’t like this series.Fear not!I have been SUPER busy the past week and a half (with family to friends to working to my boyfriend) and it was incredibly hard to keep up with my reading.Now that summer is dwindling, I have become a recluse and have locked myself in my room to finish more books so expect some heavy duty reading!
I remember when this book was first published when I was in 8th grade.My friend begged me to read this book, but I had always declined.I remember one of her “ploys” to get me to try and read this book was by offering an extremely thorough explanation that this book was inspired by some Harry Potter fanfiction written by the author years ago.Flash forward five years later, and I am reading this book, suddenly remembering my friend giving me this piece of information.Immediately, I launched myself into research concerning this.Indeed, Cassandra Clare is quite a famous Harry Potter fanfiction author, and one of her stories served as an inspiration for this novel.Now, I am not an avid reader of fan fiction, but I will occasionally read a piece from time to time.So, after finishing City of Bones, I read her fanfiction inspirational piece and enjoyed it.Later, I read some reviews of City of Bones and found that people totally bashed Cassandra Clare for employing some fanfiction in her novel and basically accused her of plagiarism.As an avid Harry Potter nerd, I was not offended in the least bit by this novel.Never once did I think, “WOW.This is just like Harry Potter.”In fact, had my friend never told me this, I would NEVER have thought this was inspired by Cassandra Clare’s Harry Potter fanfiction.To me, these individuals’ claims regarding her plagiarism were too far-stretched and ultimately made no sense.Of course, we are all entitled to our own opinions.However, I just want to let those who were/are offended by this novel, to have no fear.This book has not and will never compare to Harry Potter’s standards.I get it; as a fellow Harry Potter freak, I would be ticked off if someone wrote an exact duplicate to the most amazing book(s) in the world, but this book, in my opinion, is totally different.
Therefore, I found this book to be rather awesome.I loved the plot.The whole premise was amazing and super creative.I was extremely hesitant to read this book, fearing it would be a lot like the Evernight series; I believed, based on the plot summary, that the Shadowhunters greatly resembled the vampire hunters seen in the Evernight series.Luckily, the storyline was completely unique.I was on my toes the entire time reading this book.There were so many twists and turns that I frequently gasped out loud by many unexpected events, which I love the unexpected!The ending left me on a good cliffhanger…is that possible?And, I absolutely can’t wait to start City of Ashes in the future!
While I did REALLY enjoy this book, I had a couple issues with this book:
- There are certain things in this book that totally left me confused. Cassandra Clare writes some pretty hefty explanations (full of many similes) for many scenarios throughout the novel which really added to the story. Yet, there are some details that I totally felt were neglected. For example, the magical “stele” which is possessed by all Shadowhunters. I originally believed this was a weapon, and I think I was wrong about that seeing as the Shadowhunters would draw on themselves/objects with it. So, does that make it a Sharpie? But, it also had these “magical abilities,” and Sharpies are merely for permanent inking, so I guess that option is out. Thus, what is this? Another example where I felt details were lacking was in regards to glamour/possessing the sight. Let’s take the Institute, for instance. The Institute is New York’s safe haven for Shadowhunters. Seeing as mundanes don’t know about the Shadowhunter world, the Institute appears as an abandoned church. Who’s to say that some teenagers eager to have an intense make out session wouldn’t choose this church because of its private settings? So, if these teenagers or other mundanes were to enter this abandoned church, wouldn’t they accidently be stepping inside the Institute and be exposed to all of the Shadowhunters’ glory because, if you recall, Clary’s best friend, Simon, enters the Institute (which he originally saw as the church) but is then greeted with the Institute’s amenities. To me, that just didn’t make sense. Now, I know these are a bit picky, but they seriously left me scratching my head the entire time. Maybe in the next books there will be a more detailed explanation(s).
- Speaking of Clary, am I the only one who found her to be the most irritable protagonist ever in this story? A huge issue I had with her, was the writing/developing of her character. Her mother gets kidnapped by DEMONS at the beginning of this novel. Had you accidentally skipped over this part in the book, you would have NO IDEA because she makes no reference or really seems to care throughout the entire book. In fact, she mentions caring and being concerned for Jace, a boy she has known less than 2 weeks, more frequently than she ever mentioned being worried for her mother. As I kept reading, I decided to come to the conclusion that Cassandra Clare just wrote Clary as a pretty typical self-centered teen. Ok, I guess I would just have to deal with that. Teenagers do tend to be selfish. However, the 3rd to last page, Clare writes, “And I know there’s no point in telling you how great my mom is, what an amazing, terrific, wonderful person that she is and that you’d be lucky to know her” (483). That was the FIRST and ONLY mention Clary made of how much great her mom is since her disappearance, and [Clary made this statement once she had been found]. To me, these two different Clarys made no sense. In my opinion, Clary was an amateur character. For all the hype this book gets, I expected a bit more professionalism in regards to characters and their development.
Regardless of the things I did not like, this book was splendid, not my favorite because those minor details that really bothered me, but it was still a really good book!I am so stoked to read City of Ashes soon!
Recommendations:
I’d recommend this book to those who enjoy fantasy, paranormal, vampires, angels, werewolves, and slight romance books.
3 notes • August 8, 2012 