Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

This book is a 'research' book that looks into different situations (obviously unusual and extra-ordinary situations) and shows why those situations are extraordinary. It talks about Bill Gates and how he became successful, why famous hockey players are mostly born between Jan- Mar., what lead to Korean Airline crashes and how they turned it around. It was such a cool book. I highly recommend it. It's really not a research book, but he does present information or data, but please don't be deterred. It's not like a textbook at all, it's really good.

"A Book of a Thousand Days" and "River Secrets"by Shannon Haleand

A book of a Thousand Days:
A girl goes to work for a wealthy family and the girl makes her promise that she will stay with her always. She promises and then finds out that the girl refused to marry a wealthy man and her father is putting her in a tower for 7 years or until she decides to marry him. The book is the maids journal and her thoughts, feelings and what they do. Don't worry, there's more to the story, but I don't want to ruin it.

When I started it I thought it was going to be so boring, 7 years in a tower...come on, boring. However, events turn and it ended up being a really good read. I enjoyed it.

River Secrets:
This is about a boy who is good friends with the king and queen (it's been awhile since i"ve read it and I can't remember the names...oops!). He is apart of the army and is suprised to find that he will is asked to be apart of a group that will be escorting a ambassador to a place that they just defeated in war. He continues to find dead bodies that resembles the way his country ended the war. He has to keep covering then up, so as not to start another war. He is trying to find out who is framing his country, and finds himself, as well as a little friend (yes, it's a girl...there has to be romance, right?!)

This book is a branch off (not quite sure if it counts as a trilogy) of the Goose Girl and Enna's burning. I didn't know this when I started, but it referred back to it. However, I couldn't remember the story that well (and I hadn't even read Enna's burning) and it really didn't matter. It did make me want to read the other books though. It was a good read, not the greatest, but still good.

Shannon Hale's writing style isn't my favorite. She really doesn't get to the true plot of the story until well into the book, so I get bored and it takes me awhile to finally get into it.

*Sorry Kathryn about all my run-ons and errors. I'm totally shot tonight. Just think of it as editing practice!

I, Mona Lisa by Jeanne Kalogridis

Oh my goodness. I LOVED this book. This book is 515 pages and I absolutely loved each page! Seriously, I don't think I can convey how much I loved this book. I really like historical fiction, so I had been reading a lot of Phillipa Gregory but her books have some really raunchy parts in it. But there was nothing even CLOSE to what Phillipa Gregory does.

The story is about Lisa di Antonio Gherardini, or Madonna Lisa, or Mona Lisa. She has secrets from her past that she doesn't even know about and she has to do some crazy stuff to not only find out about it, but to help save lives. The famous Medici family is in charge of Florence, but there is political turmoil, assassinations, love triangles, and I was totally gripped to the end! I think I read 300 pages in one day.

I strongly recommend this book. Strongly.

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!

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:

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.