Friday, January 29, 2010

Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

I loved loved loved this book. If you've read her other stuff, you know Kinsella has a way of making the awkward moments so funny. I literally laughed out loud many times while reading this book. This is my favorite book of her's so far. If you've read any of her other stuff, you know she's kind of a potty mouth, but I feel like there wasn't as much (maybe it's been awhile since I've read 'Shopaholic'). I highly recommend this book.

Synopsis: It's about a girl, Lara, who is having all kinds of trouble in her life. Boy trouble, work trouble, etc. Her great aunt dies and she has to go to the funeral. At the funeral her dead aunt's ghost comes to her asking her about a necklace (her ghost is in her 20's because she says everyone feels like their in the 20's on the inside). The book is about their interaction with each other as they find the necklace and try to fix other problems. It's really cute! Read it!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

The Time Traveler's Wife

I wasn't really sure what to expect with this novel. I'm not a huge science fiction person, so i didn't know if the time traveling thing would get all spacey and sci-fi-y, so I was a little apprehensive.

On a literary scale, this book is great. Very well written. The story was imaginative and character development was wonderful.

You guessed it; there's a but. There was a lot of violence and swearing. And sexuality. It was a timeless love story, but there were some scenes, some phrasing and moments that made me a little squeamish. If I weren't an LDS girl, they might not have been so bad.

For a Reader's Digest of the plot: Henry time travels and can't help it. He meets Clare when she is very young and they are basically predestined for each other. But she has to live with the fact that he time travels. Sometimes he gets hurt or doesn't come back for days at a time. But there's also a wonderful love story unwinding throughout the novel, and I'm always up for a sappy love story. Would I recommend you read it? Yeah, I think so. Just know that this author holds nothing back. Here's the official trailer for ya:

Friday, January 22, 2010

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

This is a book that discusses something that Paul and I like to talk about. Science vs. religion. This book deals with the conflicts of the "purists" of each group. One man who is very religious, as well as a scientist, has discovered something that will show that science and religion are linked. A science faction (that ONLY believes in science) springs from the grave, kills the man and takes his experiment and plants it in Vatican city (it's pretty much a massive bomb). Robert Langdon, a expert on this science faction and other religious symbology, is called in to identify and help with discovering this group. Along with the Physicists daughter, who worked with her father on the experiment, they set out to Vatican city to recover the experiment before it goes off. They have 24 hours, but complications arise when 4 cardinals (the pope had just died and they were electing a new Pope, so all the cardinals from around the world are there) disappear and a man from the science faction calls telling them at each hour a cardinal will die. They must follow the clues around Rome to stop the murders as well as find the experiment before it blows Vatican city and some of the surrounding area.

It was a good book, a little disturbing, but good. It was captivating and solidified my stance on science and religion. It also made me sad that people don't know the truth about God and why we are here and where we are going (mormon.org will help if you are wondering about these questions). It's not my favorite book, I don't love Dan Brown, but I enjoyed the intellectual adventure. It definitely made me want to go to Rome though!

Night Runner by Max Turner

This is a teen book...so you know where I'm going with this. This book is actually about a vampire. This kid has his life turned upside down when a crazy man crashes into the hospital where he is living and tells him someone is after him. From that point on the kid finds out that he isn't really "sick or diseased", but is a vampire. He finds out his dad wasn't really an archaeologist and someone really is after him. The whole book is about him running, the friends that help him, and his past coming together. It is one of a series (I think it's new, so there are no other books yet). It a fun and easy read. Nothing spectacular, but entertaining and a little different.