Hannah Just DIDN'T Read: Another Faust

Okay, so, I was totally planning on reviewing Another Faust by Daniel & Dina Nayeri, but let me tell you, it was terrible, and I couldn't read it, so I put it down. I mean... it was bad. I feel like I gave it a fair shake. I probably read 60 pages of it, but I had NO IDEA what was happening and I was bored out of my skull. Has anyone out there read Another Faust and liked it and thinks I'm really lame for not liking it? Let me know in the comments, even if you're mad at me because Another Faust is your favorite book of all time.

Now I'm reading I Will Save You by Matt de la Pena on my Kindle that I got for Christmas, and I will have a review of that for next week, and maybe I'll talk about my Kindle more, because it is my new favorite thing ever.

So since I didn't give you an actual review of a book I'll give you a couple of links to some other, better reviews of books:
A review of If I Stay by Gayle Forman (which I still need to read!)

A review of Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (which I still need to read and am SO excited about)

A review of The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King (which I just read and it was awesome, but the library doesn't own it)

Hannah Just Read: Road Trip Books- Two Way Street and Amy and Roger's Epic Detour

I know that Christmas is just over, and maybe I should be reading books about snow and Christmas miracles and such, but quite frankly, it is COLD out, and I do not need to be reminded of that fact. Consequently, I have been feasting on road trip books lately, and over Christmas break I read two of them. The first was:

Two Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt. I had been meaning to read this book since I first saw it go through the library more than a year ago. I finally got around to it, and I have to say I wasn't too impressed. I mean... it was good, but it wasn't great. If you're only going to read one road trip book, don't read this one. The two main characters, Jordan and Courtney, have just broken up, but they were planning on road tripping to college together. It is too late to change plans now, so they still set out to drive from Florida to Boston. The story is told from their alternating perspectives, which works sometimes, but in this case, the whole book was just kin of... lacking. I was mostly frustrated by this book and I really didn't like Courtney at all--she was really annoying. However, I also read:

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson, which was excellent and funny and sweet and I loved it. This one is about Amy Curry, who has just lost her father, her brother is in rehab, and her mother moved across the country a month ago to start her new job and set up their house. Roger is a neighborhood kid (now a college student) whose mom has volunteered him to drive Amy to her new house. Amy's mom mapped out a very specific (and boring) route from California to Connecticut, but Amy and Roger decide to make up their own route. Like I said, I really liked this book. The story just seemed a lot fuller than Two Way Street, and, plus there were fun extras peppered throughout. I would definitely recommend this book.
So, now that I have done my road trip book study, I've noticed some similarities between road trip books. It seems like there is always a gender mix--it can't just be all girls or all boys, because without a mix there is less likelihood that hi-jinks will ensue. It is always summer in road trip books, too. It is either just after school lets out, or just before it starts again. Also there is usually a party pooper or someone who doesn't want to go or someone whose parents have forced them to go. This sets the characters up for self discovery which, too, is a quality of road trip books, which is expected, because a physical journey nicely sets up the ever present journey of self discovery. (I feel like journey of self discovery should be italicized or capitalized or something: Journey of Self Discovery; Journey of Self Discovery.) There is always a lot of terrible junk food involved, too, and, of course, an excellent playlist.
And here is a list of even MORE road trip/travel books if you, too, are feeling antsy cooped up inside.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Paper Towns by John Green

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Hannah Just Read: Twenty Boy Summer

I have to say, I was really kind of nervous about reading Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler. I was under the assumption that it would be about girls who were acting stupid and running around trying to lure boys in with their feminine wiles and that I would hate it, because I hate stuff like that. But the book is on the 2010 Teens' Top Ten Nominations for the Young Adult Library Services Association and I've been trying to read all of them (and I'm failing miserably-- I still have 14 left and only like... 17 days left in the year). So anyway, I picked this one up and, as it turns out, I really enjoyed it a lot!
Anna and her best friend Frankie are going with Frankie's parent's to Zanzibar Bay in California for the A.B.S.E. (Absolute Best Summer Ever). They make a bet that they can meet twenty guys in the twenty days that they're there. Frankie wants to meet boys for herself, but she really wants Anna to have a summer fling. Anna, however, doesn't want to meet anyone. She's still mourning the death of Frankie's older brother, Matt, who died tragically the year before. He was Anna's first kiss and first romance, and Frankie has no idea.
What I really liked about this book was how thoughtful and mature Anna is. Sometimes maybe even a little bit too mature--way more mature and thoughtful than I ever was at 16, but it works for the context of the book. When Anna meets Sam, just boy number four into the twenty-boy summer, and starts to like him, she gives a lot of thought to what liking someone else means to her short relationship with Matt.
I would recommend this book very highly, but probably to high schoolers mostly. It can get pretty intense sometimes. Also, if you've read this one already and liked it, Sarah Ockler has a new book that just came out called Fixing Delilah. I told Mrs. G to order it, so hopefully it will be in in the new year!

Hannah Just Read: It's Kind of a Funny Story

As per the recommendation of one of our fabulous pages here at the library, I recently finished reading It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. The book is about Craig Gilner, who due to the huge pressures of his super fancy New York City high school, becomes clinically depressed. After a particular bad during which he plots to jump off of the Brooklyn Bridge, Craig checks himself into the hospital and is committed to the adult psychiatric ward.
As the book started I didn't know if I'd like it. The plot starts out pretty non-linearly--things jumped around a lot, but as I got more and more into the story I really started to appreciate Vizzini's humorous take on such a serious subject. There were parts in the book where I was thinking to myself, "should I be laughing at this, because it feels wrong, but it is also really really funny."
There were definitely some cringe-worthy moments, too, like when Craig calls the girl he likes and then she shows up at the hospital to visit. Ughh.
So I would very much recommend this book pretty much for anyone, even your parents, because I think Vizzini does a good job of showing what being fifteen is like, I mean, if you're clinically depressed and in a psychiatric hospital and you're really funny.

Oh! Also, I almost forgot, the book was made into a movie this year starring Emma Roberts and Zach Galifianakis. Here's the trailer:

The Movie and Some Changes and More

Well, I loved the movie, and I confess: I saw it twice last weekend, once in IMAX and once on the regular screen. I won't say too much about it here for fear that people haven't seen it yet; but, I have to say, it was worth it. So congratulations to the winners of our Harry Potter ticket giveaway, because the IMAX is awesome. I wish I could see it again for the first time.

In other news, if you're really observant you might have noticed the labels tag cloud on the right sidebar of the blog. This is something I've been working on with my reviews as well as Mrs. N's old ones. I've been trying to label them with words that might help you delightful readers find a good book to read, so if you're into fantasy books, you can click on the fantasy label and see all of the books that Mrs. N and I have reviewed that were fantasy books. I went through a lot of old reviews on this blog, and I only wanted to label the books that Mrs. N and I have both read, so if you are ever looking through old blog entries and you see a book that you've read that wasn't labeled, let me know in the comments with what you think it should be labeled, and I'll get right on it.

I'm just finishing up It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, and I'll be back with my review of that next week! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Congratulations to our Harry Potter IMAX Ticket Winners!

This morning we drew the names of the four lucky winners of our Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows IMAX tickets. They are:

Benjamin F. from Ravenclaw
Heather M. from Gryffindor
Corey H. From Ravenclaw
Austin T. from Gryffindor

Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to the Whitaker Center for donating the tickets!

SPOILER ALERT!

I've been attempting to avoid spoilers thus far in my Potter posts, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to break with tradition as I post my last post before I see the DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1 on Friday. So if you haven't finished book 7 or you just like to avoid spoilers in general, turn back now. I'll scroll down to below the dark mark and then start my actual post, but before I do that I wanted to remind you all of the giveaway we're doing at the Fredricksen for one of four pairs of tickets to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 at the IMAX in Harrisburg! Come in and enter ASAP! It is easy, you just write your name and Hogwarts house down! You barely even have to do anything!

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I spent last evening debating with my sister and a friend where the first movie would end and the second one would begin. It is hard to say, because the book is pretty bottom heavy--there is a lot of stuff that happens in the last third of the book, and a lot of wandering around in the woods before that. When I first started thinking about where the first movie would end (which, admitedly, was about four seconds after I found out that the seventh book was being made into two movies rather than just one) I thought that it would likely end on a sour note, just after Ron leaves, because it would be very dramatic and suspensful leading up to the second movie.

But now, probably because I am a bit more than half way through book 7 and remembering all of the little things that I forgot about, I realized that that can't be where they stop, because NOTHING HAPPENS before that. I completely forgot how long Harry, Ron, and Hermione wander around in the forest doing very little before they actually destroy the first Horcrux. So I have revised my thinking about where the first movie will end, and I predict that it will end just after the three find out about the Deathly Hallows from Xenophilius Lovegood, listen to Potterwatch, and are captured and taken to Malfoy Manor.

When do you all think the first movie will end? Do you think my predictions are right, or do you have another idea. Let me know in the comments, and I'll be back next week with my movie review!

Smash Brothers Brawl!

Wow, what a BRAWL! It was a good size crowd today, coming to take home the Smash Brother championship! Twenty one people battled, but it came down to three, Ruben, Darren, and Derek. After a very exciting game, Derek won with Ruben coming in second! (And to think, Ruben almost didn't enter the tournament!) Congratulations, Derek, who took home an iTunes gift card! While waiting their turn in the tournament, many played Mario Kart on the Nintendo or Smash Bros. Melee on the Gamecube. Oh, and a lot of popcorn and soda was consumed! Look for a Smash Brothers Tournament in the future!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows IMAX Giveaway!

It is sort of last minute, I know, but the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg has just donated 4 pairs of tickets to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 at their IMAX theater downtown. We are passing on those tickets to YOU dear blog readers, and here is how to get one of them:

1. Be a teen currently in grades 6-12.

2. Come in to the Fredricksen Library Reference Desk

3. Fill out our Harry Potter IMAX Ticket Giveaway form and tell us what Hogwarts house you'd be in (Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, or Gryffindor)

4. Enter it into our sorting hat for a chance to win one of

four pairs of tickets to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

at the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg

The giveaway will begin today, November 10, and we will draw the four lucky winners on Monday, November 22.

Good Luck!

9 DAYS LEFT!!!!!

According to theleakycauldron.org there are 9 days, 12 hours, and 22 minutes until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 is released. This is simulataneously exciting (because I really want to see the movie) and terrible (because I'm only on page 32 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) for me. I'm not saying that I'm not going to finish the books in time, but... well... I'm getting a little nervous.
I finished Order of the Phoenix yesterday at lunch, and I was very satisfied. One thing (one of the many things) that I think that J.K. Rowling does really well throughout the series is aging her characters accordingly, and that becomes most apparent in the fifth book, I think, when Harry is SO ANGRY all the time. I mean, I like that, and I can appreciate it, because he has every right to be angry, and he is, and he lets people know.
One of the other strengths of the fifth book, an annoying strength of the fifth book, is Delores Umbridge, because, oh man, she is so much fun to hate. And the Weasley twins' exit from Hogwarts... I love it, every time.
I remember reading Order of the Phoenix for the first time the night that it came out. I stayed up all night just zipping through it, and I remember that at about 3 in the morning I got close to the end and (I won't actually say what happens, just in case someone, somewhere hasn't read it) just crying and crying about the... ahh... end. It is a good ending though.
Ok, enough reminiscing, here's a YouTube video I found. It is the trailer for Part 1, but it is the literal version. I thought it was hilarious: