If you grew up in a small town, there are probably a number of fairly inoffensive words that come to mind to describe it—at best, you might say “peaceful”, “prosaic” or “familiar”. If you didn’t like your small town, it was probably “boring”, “insular”, or “depressing.” A lot of small towns I can think of, including the one where I lived some of my childhood, do not inspire strong feelings one way or the other – perhaps above all, they just don’t register as very […]
14 – The Apartment Too Good To Be True
“14” What a great fun book! Couldn’t put it down Our hero, Nate is a slacker SoCal loser dude. Down on his luck, no girlfriend, needs new apartment and – Bam! – he stumbles into the best deal ever on a cool vintage apartment in downtown LA. The Kavach Building. Ok – so, sure there are some rules, strange rules, kind of an odd super…but whatever right? It’s cheap, it’s nice, the power is free! the neighbors are nice. Oh, wait – […]
Time. Traveling. Ghost.
I think this book could be used to start discussions with girls and boys about unacceptable ways to be treated or to treat other people, because this is pretty much a novel-length exploration of how not to look out for your own safety. We skip the prologue from a killer and go straight to Melissa Dryden waking up the house because there are tree limbs knocking on her window and she’s afraid of the Fear Street Prowler. Melissa is rich, lives on Fear Street, and […]
Fatale: A murder/mystery with more murder and more mystery
It is raining. Darkly clad people under umbrellas at the funeral of Dominic Raines. One woman stands out, beautiful and dark. Our protagonist is immediately taken with her as she explains how her grandmother had a fling with the deceased – the godfather to our protagonist. This is the scene where Nicholas Lash meets Josephine. We meet these people just this day because this is the day Nicholas Lash’s life changes; people try to kill him at his Godfather’s house and Josephine appears to save […]
Coraline – Review #6 for AamilTheCamel
Sixth book reviewed as part of the 130 Challenge. Also my 50th blog post! Yahoo! Let me tell you first that I read this entire book in a British accent, and might I add, it was a delightful experience! I suggest that you try it too. Coraline is a delightfully creepy (oxymoron?) and surprisingly witty story about a girl who is not particularly fond of her surroundings and the people that inhabit them. Her parents don’t really pay much attention to her. The weather, being […]
Best Summer Job Ever
This is a Fear Street book that breaks the mold by not starting with a first person narration by a murderer and also doesn’t ever feature any menacing phone calls. There is a prologue featuring our main character sleepwalking, in case you weren’t sure why the book was called that. It’s also got cover art by an artist who may have read the book, or at least part of it. (I’m going to pause to say I adore the covers on this series. The last […]