Frankly My Dear I'm Dead

Frankly My Dear, I'm Dead by Livia J. Washburn

Kensington Books, 2008

213 pages

Mystery, 1st in series

Summary: Delilah Dickinson has set up a tour agency where people can come and explore the Atlanta of Gone with the Wind. At a recreation of Tara, the actor playing Rhett Butler is killed. Consequently everyone on the tour and all of the other actors are suspects unless Delilah can figure it out.

Why I Read: I really liked the title and I'm still somewhat obsessed with mysteries so I requested it from the library.

My Thoughts: To start with, I did not figure out the murderer although I did figure out that it was a very dumb idea to go and confront that murderer instead of relying on the police who are right there. Everything happens very quickly: the whole story takes place over three days, which was interesting. I've read some mysteries where it takes weeks for everything to come together. I also enjoyed the GWTW tidbits there although the description of the book made me think there would be more.

Overall: 3.5 out of 5. It's not that it wasn't good but it wasn't great and it was not gripping beyond the ordinary call of finding out who the murderer was. I have requested the second book Huckleberry Finished and hope to read that before school ends.

Cover: I do love GWTW but the faces here are really creepy to me. This Delilah is no Vivien Leigh.

A Match Made in High School

A Match Made in High School by Kristin Walker

Razorbill, 2009

278 pages

YA; Contemporary

Summary: Fiona's high school has made a marriage ed class mandatory for graduation! Will she be paired with her hot crush Gabe? No, instead it's jerk Todd Harding while his girlfriend Amanda is paired with Gabe. Then her best/only friend Marcie is paired with Johnny Mercer, who may or may not like Fiona. Can they make it through the year?

Why I Read: I saw good reviews and won a swag pack for it.

My Thoughts: I really liked the characters, even when they were infuriating. Every character pretty much had at least a mini story which we got to follow and deepen our understanding of them. Fiona and Todd had such fun banter (to read); it's how I wish I could be. In some ways books give me unrealistic expectations because almost always people have fantastic comebacks whereas in real life I pretty much never have a comeback :-(

I also loved Fi's relationship with her sitting charge Sam who provides an important lesson to Fi regarding friendship when her friend Marcie is an absolutely crappy friend (I'm not saying Fi was always a great friend but you just don't do that; Marcie was a way worse friend-can't say why, too spoilerly). It was just a funny book and a VERY quick read.

I do think it's dumb for a school to institute a yearlong, mandatory for graduation course without having tested it first so the whole concept is shaky to me but it's so much fun that I didn't mind plus Fiona's mom challenges it.

Reader Warning: I thought there was a lot of swearing; I'm not saying that's not accurate for high school (because in my experience it is) but I didn't like it much.

Overall: 4.5 out of 5. Slightly disappointed in language and Marcie but highly recommended!

Cover: Cute-I love the different faces and expressions describing the high school experience.

New Template

I was inspired by a post at Pure Imagination to do a little work on my blog. At some point I would like to have a custom designed header but for now I am sticking with the freebies. I love polka dots so I really like this. I am also going to keep experimenting to figure out what I like and want and what I don't. Please bear with me as I go through this!

House Rules

House Rules by Jodi Picoult

Atria Books, 2010

532 pages

Contemporary

Summary: Jacob has Asperger's syndrome and an obsession with forensic analysis. When his social skills tutor is found dead, Jacob ends up the prime suspect. His mother Emma and his brother Theo are caught up too wondering if he could have done it...

Why I Read: I've enjoyed Jodi Picoult since I read My Sister's Keeper so I haunted the library until this was put on the shelves.

My Thoughts: While I read Handle With Care and Nineteen Minutes, I didn't like them that much; it felt more obligatory. I loved House Rules though. I feel like autism in general has become such an important topic as some parents refuse to vaccinate and blame vaccinations for causing autism which creates conditions for possible pandemics* so I liked learning a little bit more about it (I realize that I will have to read more extensively to understand better but this provided a window for me to peek in.)

I really liked the characters, which is very important to me in a book. One thing I love in fictional characters is when they can spout off random facts, such as that one intern on Bones and Jacob who knows basically everything about whatever he becomes obsessed with. I loved Emma, a single mother struggling to care for Jacob and in the process somewhat ignoring Theo. I did not like Theo as much (he has a habit of breaking in to houses) but his feelings toward his brother reflected some of the feelings I've felt toward my neurotypical (ie "normal") sister so an accurate description of sibling relations. I also liked their lawyer Oliver, whose first case this basically is.

Overall: 4.5 out of 5. I loved this and found it much better than the last couple of Picoult books although it did not make me cry like Sister.

Title: Very important to the mystery.

Cover: I think it's really cute although the boy ought to be a teenager in order to accurately reflect the story.

*I've read about recent increases in outbreaks of measles and other illnesses that had been basically eradicated by vaccinations and the threat of pandemic is terrifying to me.

Blog Award!

So it has taken forever for me to post this but I received two awards from Maggie at Bibliophilia. Thank you so much!

Here are the rules: Thank & link to the person that gave you the award.

Pass this award onto 15 bloggers you’ve recently discovered and think are fantastic

Contact the blogs and let them know they’ve won.

State 7 things about yourself.

SEVEN THINGS ABOUT ME:

1. I love Orville Redenbacher Movie Theater Butter Popcorn.

2. I'm very punctual, as in if you show up "on time," I will still consider you late because you should have been at least five minutes early.

3. I think my favorite genre at the moment is mystery even though I usually can't figure it out.

4. I've been playing the viola for thirteen years.

5. I love romantic comedies, even when they're crap; sometimes even because of how crappy they are.

6. I'm going to Europe for the first time this summer with my younger sister.

7. I was obsessed with the Baby-Sitters Club books from about the ages of 6 to 12 (and I still read them even now)

Ten Things That Make Me Happy:

1. When the sky is this one particular shade of blue; it is so gorgeous (and it is that color as I write this)

2. My family-love them, am pretty much always laughing with them.

3. Reading! Especially when I have just discovered a new author and have an extensive backlist to dive into

4. Being able to quote from one of my favorite books or TV shows or movies or songs

5. Having lots of posts on my google reader because it means I get to read a lot

6. Disney World and Disneyland (going there next week!)

7. Symphonie fantastique by Berlioz-check it out because it's amazing!

8. Yummy food-pizza, popcorn, chocolate, etc

9. Solving the crossword puzzle (I can usually do Monday and Tuesday for the NY Times but not usually the other days)

10. Finishing all of my homework

Updates!

I did a little bit of editing to my blog by adding pages to the top. I have highlights from my massive want to read list (there are at least 1000 books on it); I have a complete list of reviewed books through March; and I have my fill-in-the-gaps challenge page so I don't always have to be searching for it through my archives. Please check them out and let me know what you think!

DWTS Week 3

Stories!

1. Evan and Anna were SO adorable this week; admittedly the quickstep is my favorite dance so I may be a little biased but it was adorable. Evan is definitely improving and he danced with broken toes, like that's not a big deal. They didn't have much of a story though-she was late and he was waiting for her.

2. Buzz and Ashly: So glad he's gone; must confess that I didn't watch this-sorry!

3. Chelsie and Jake: a little over the top with like every Egyptian cliche in the book but not that bad. Jake seems kind of annoying but I do really like seeing Chelsie so hopefully they'll hang around a little longer.

4. Niecy and Louis: touching story and romantic waltz but not one of my favorites. I like to see her more upbeat.

5. Chad Ochocinco and Cheryl: I feel like Cheryl does really good paso dobles (think of her dance with Gilles which was a big hit although I didn't really like him). There was passion and a story but he's definitely lacking in technique.

6. Pam and Damian: Charo shows up in their clip package-um what?! But I liked her outfit and definitely saw the passion as Pam is very anti-animal cruelty.

7. Aiden and Edyta: thank you producers for showing him throw up last week, definitely something I wanted to see. Didn't much like their quickstep although I liked the color of Edyta's dress.

8. Erin and Maks: Loved it! So dramatic, definitely one of the more interesting waltzes I've seen for this show. Love their rehearsal footage-they're so cute together!

9. Kate and Tony: I like "Paparazzi" although it's not my favorite Lady Gaga song.

10. Derek and Nicole: I did enjoy it with the song ("Anything Goes") and Derek does such amazing choreography but I just don't like Nicole. I'm hoping they'll be kicked off early and dramatically like Sabrina and Mark.

What did you think? Are you happy Buzz is gone, too? Hoping for Kate next week? Does it bother you that I'm posting about DWTS on a book blog? Because I'm probably going to finish out the season unless for some reason the final three are Kate, Aiden, and Nicole-that would be seriously painful to me.