Wow, I have been super busy! I looked at my last log in date and it was in JANUARY!!! Holy Cow... It's no excuse, but I've been taking a very time intensive MLS class so it has been very difficult to get here and blog. I'm thinking of taking a different approach to this blog, I have just been doing book reviews which is all nice and good... But it gets somewhat repetitive... So yes, hello... Happy Easter for those who celebrate it.. for those who do not.. Happy Sunday....
-JB -

Dirty Job

Dirty Job is by Christopher Moore, the same guy that wrote You Suck and Bloodsucking Fiends (two books that I loved!) Dirty Job is about a fellow named Charlie Asher *who kind of reminds me of Woody Allen in the beginning. * He considers himself to be a "Beta Male" and he is the biggest worrier ever, and I found him very annoying. So the story starts out with Charlie and his wife Rachel(who is obviously out of his league) at the hospital after having their baby.
Well, this little bit of happiness just can't last now can it? Charlie walks into his wife's room seeing a man in a mint green suit.... and apparently he wasn't supposed to see him. Pretty soon he starts seeing things glowing red... and people are dying around him.... not to mention that his daughter is going through a ridiculous amount of pets... fish, turtles, even a cockroach! which after they die seem to dissapear into Charlie's neighbor's "flower box" and by "flower box" I mean her dinner...
Charlie finds out later that he is the equivalent to Santa's elves, his little helpers... and by Santa I mean Death....
I eventually got over my annoyance with Charlie and found him likable in the end. I mean the poor guy has to deal with the whole being Death's helper, having Hellhounds in his house, and having his daughter kill anything she looks at with the word "kittie." This book was laugh out loud funny.
Next Up:Plum Spooky
-JB-

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell

I stumbled across this book by accident. I can't even tell you what it was I was looking at first when this book came up-I think it was perhaps a Chelsey Handler book, but the point is I found it. One of my friends has been quoted saying "I hope they have a Harry's [Chocolate Shop] in Heaven." For those unfamiliar with the Purdue University campus Harry's is not a chocolate shop it is in fact a bar (a very good bar I might add). So anyway I saw the title of Max's book I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell and I just could not resist a look. I then took a closer look and I read the description it reads...

"My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole. I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging dickhead. But, I do contribute to humanity in one very important way: I share my adventures with the world."

After I saw the above paragraph I was hooked-I mean, how could you see that and NOT read the book? So I ordered this book thinking that this is going to be the funniest thing I have read in a while.... I wasn't wrong...

The entire book consists of stories that are about Tucker, his friends, and the situations he finds himself in... often. The only way I can describe this book is that it is so offensive that it's hilarious. I found myself reading parts of the book thinking "he did NOT just do that!" but laughing my ass off because yes, he did indeed. Reading his stories remind me of some of the best times I had while in college, and had me remembering some of the shenanigans me and my friends had gotten into.

If you can take a joke and not be offended by swearing, sex, and asshole type comments. Then I say totally read this book, but if you are someone who get's offended by excessive drinking and humiliating and demeaning comments about not just girls but people in general. Then yeah, this book isn't for you.

I on the other hand haven't laughed so hard in a while :)

Next Up: Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
-JB-

Kiss of Shadows

Anyone who is familiar with Laurelle K. Hamilton's work knows that she does not write the typical characters and plots of boy meets girl... It's more Vampire boy(man?) meets Necromancer girl. Well in her Anita Blake series anyway. Kiss of Shadows is the first of her newest series the "Merry Gentry" series.

Now, I had read her Anita Blake and loved it, and I am happy to say that her Merry Gentry series is just as good. I do admit that I was hesitant to read this series because I am such a fan of the Anita Blake, but it's just too good to resist.

In Kiss of Shadows we are introduced to a world of Humans and Fey(Fairies.) There are also a couple different kinds of Fey, Seelie and Unseelie. When reading I got the impression that the Seelie are considered the best kind of Fey. Unseelie are anyone that the Seelie will not have. Well, not anyone, Merry is considered Unseelie-in fact she is the Princess of the Unseelie Fey, but she is mortal which is looked down upon even in the Unseelie court. So not only do we have a Princess who is different from the rest of her family, but add that she is on the run and in hiding from her aunt that wants to kill her, and we've got ourselves a good story. Add in the quirkey friends, the handsome guards, and of course the evil family members and I'm hooked!
I did have some trouble following the whole Fey hierarchy of Seelie, UnSeelie, and sehid... I think I got the jist of it.

Hamilton continues to impress with her "new" series (I say "new" because it's a few years old-I'm just now getting to it). I'm very excited to read the next in the series.

Next up: I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker Max.

-JB-

Seasons Greetings!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your holiday is full of fun, love, and safety... For your enjoyment, I have included a Christmas tree that you can print and color :) *because let's face it inside we are all 5 years old and love to still color*



Kiss of Shadows is done, but I have to get around to writing a review for it.

Happy Holidays,
-JB-

The Age Old Question

Does the movie ruin the book or enhance it? Does reading the book ruin the movie for the viewer? Take the book/movie Harry Potter for example, I loved the books, and when the movie came out, the effects they used were wonderful and some of the spells and effects they used I could never even imagine it... so this is how the movie has helped enhance the book! However when I watched the movie, I would go through my mind "That's not right!" or "Where is Peeves?" I could not enjoy the movie because I kept thinking how it was straying from the book and leaving out some of my favorite things from the book *this is the case of the book ruining the movie* my sisters who have never read the books just love the movie, they have no problem with things that are missing... Now another example with Twilight, I can no longer read the book without picturing the actor in Edwards place... And the way the movie portrayed him sparkling in the sunlight.... well, in my mind it was quite different (actually a lot better) Now I that's all I see(the movie's version) when I think about that part of the book... This is a case of the movie ruining the book...
I wanna know... has a book ever been ruined for you by the movie or the movie ruined because you read the book?
Thoughts anyone?
-JB-

P.S. I'm working on Kiss of Shadows and I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell it's just taking a little longer than I thought *you know busy with the season*

Dewey

The book I just finished up was Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron and Bret Witter. This book kind of gave me a Marley and Me feel... with the whole story being an animal that has somehow touched our lives. This storey begins with Vicki, a director of a small library in a small town in Iowa opening the library to find a small kitten shoved into the book drop. Here's the thing, it is January and the cat is almost frozen to death. Vicki helps the kitten until it is in good health. They then decide to adopt him. As I was reading this, it was nice seeing a community bonding over this cat.
The story went on to describe the life of Dewey Readmore Books. The chapters ranged from what he ate, to his quirky habits, to how the community received him. Me being a dog person did find it difficult to get into the book too deeply. I had no experience to draw from when it comes to owning a cat, but I did enjoy the book. It was very well written and even though I do not have experience with a cat, I did snicker a little bit as the author describes the cats antics, and I did shed some tears as the tragedies came. I think anyone who enjoys animal stories such as Marley and Me, We Bought the Zoo, The Cat Lady of Concord, and Rescuing Sprite will enjoy the story of Dewey.
-JB-
Next up: Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton

Time of my Life

Time of my Life written by Allison Winn Scotch I found to be a great book. I found it to be very inspirational as well. Jillian has it all, a home in suburbia, a great and faithful husband, and a daughter; but when she hears that her ex boyfriend is getting married, she has to think "What if?"-what if she stuck it out, what if she never married Henry (her now husband), what if she never had Katie(her daughter). On a visit to a masseuse he goes to unblock her chi and is whisked back to seven yeas earlier-she has yet to meet Henry and is still with her ex. She thinks that she is going to do things different this time round, but then everything starts to go wrong and Henry keeps popping up in her life over and over again... She later finds out that everything that she was unhappy about was her own doing. That her life was in her hands and she had a choice to be herself or to be what they wanted her to be. That is the part that I find inspirational. Everyone needs to know that being who they want you to be is not going to make you happy, you've got to be true to yourself first.
This book was very well written and a very easy read. I would recommend anyone who likes chick-lit to read it.

-JB-

Next up: Dewey

Walking in Circles Before Lying Down

This book, written by Merrill Markoe first got my attention from the back of the book summary "her Life Coach sister provides perpetual interference, and her eccentric parents need parenting." Plus any book where a dog is talking to you and sassing you is always fun... (plus my sister decided that she wants to be a Life Coach... gulp!)
So the gist of the book is this woman is not very lucky in love, with a crazy family... the one thing that is a constant good in her life is her dog. With her latest "love" walking out, she turns to Chuck her shelter dog for comfort, who then starts talking with her. Whether or not this was really happening or if she was becoming a head case was never really sorted out.
Hands down, my favorite part of this book is when Dawn(the main character's name BTW) accidentally burns one of her client's kitchen (she dog sits/washes/walks, etc...) She tells Chuck that her dad is coming to help fix the kitchen and not to freak out when he knocks on the door.
What do you know, when her dad knocks on the door the dog goes crazy barking... only you can understand what he is saying..
"Someone's at the door! Someone's at the door!.. Get away from the door you miserable jack-off, I'll rip your ass in half.... We hate you. We hate you. We hate you. We hate you"
...and then as soon as Dawn opens the door
"Come on it! Great to see you again! Thank God you're finally here! We missed you. Where have you been?"
This part of the book had me laughing so hard I was in tears... I still giggle when I think about it. Just the 180 that the dog does from hating and wanting to rip someone in half to being so happy and excited... well, it reminds me of my dog :)
For the most part the book was pretty good. I was able to stay interested in it. It was not one of my favorites though.

Next up: Time of my Life by Allison Winn Scotch.

-JB-

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is by Sherman Alexie. This is a book I had read for my Children's Lit class. I first want to say that the whole reason I picked this book was for the illustrations. One of the things that draw me to books are if they are not written like a typical novel (The Cheese Monkeys, and Extremly Loud and Incredibly Close are two other examples.) I enjoyed this book because the author told part of the story through illustrations which were hilarious (my favorite being the main character Junior throwing a book at the geometry teacher.) Although this book was funny, the author would be making you laugh one minute and then in the next sentence say something that would make you reread it and go "oh no!" This book also looked at some of the serious cultural issues faced today among the remaining Native Americans, poverty, alcoholism, and a loss of culture that Junior's teacher describes as "killing the Indians."
Even though this book is classified as a young adult, this is something that adults can enjoy and appreciate as well.
-JB-
Next up: Walking in Circles before Lying Down by Merrill Markoe