Trolls are real...

No really. They are. Well, at least to Amanda Hocking they are. I just finished reading her trilogy about Trolls nonetheless and to be honest after finishing them I truly wish they were. I know what some of you might be thinking... Why would I want to read a book about naked, stumpy, brown creatures that have crazy colored hair and jewels in their belly buttons. Or you might be thinking of Trolls in the other disturbing sense of creepy, ugly, nasty creatures that roam the earth wanting to eat everyone and everything. Either way, both assumptions are wrong. Amanda has placed a completely new meaning to the term Troll in her Trylle trilogy about their world and their secret kingdom, oddly enough located in Minnesota. (shout out to Jeanne Brown)

Somehow I managed to stumble upon the self-published author while rambling about Amazon.com. It's odd how I can get lost for hours researching book reviews. If there was a disease about being obsessed with reading I most definitely think I would fall victim to its diagnosis. Seriously. I. Am. Pathetic. In the last week alone I read over 9 books. 9 Books. And even though I don't have a "Job". I do have a 5 1/2 month old who requires a lot of attention. So by admitting that I have read 9 books in the last week says several things about myself that I would rather not admit. It's one of those situations where I can look at the glass half full or half empty. I choose half full... all the time. Its the optimist in me and also it allows me to continue on with my reading obsession without feeling like I am being a bad Mother. Which in all honesty I am not at least I don't think so. But you could also argue that anyone with an addiction would always see their choices as always being good and never being bad. An addiction is truly never good. But obviously I am not causing anyone pain or hurting myself by reading too much. My house might not be as clean as my neighbors, but at least I am expanding my creative thinking... right?

Anyhow back to the point. Amanda is a good writer. Not an awe-inspiring, jaw dropping, life changing author, but a nice, all around, good writer. And I don't think you find many authors who write Young Adult Fantasy and are out their changing lives with their fantasy realms about vampires, fairies and the endless forms of magic. But nonetheless they are extremely entertaining and rather addictive to my mind.

Her trilogy can be found on amazon.com and is only available through electronic copies because she is self-published. (although I believe the first and 2nd books are out in paperback now). The good news is that anyone can download the kindle app for their computer or iphone/android phone. Her books are inexpensive as well $.99 to $2.99. Which in comparison to $10-13 for most ebooks its a steal of a deal. Beware of some pretty major editing errors though. Overall they aren't horrible, but they are definitely noticeable, but what do you expect for the price and the fact that she self-published. Gotta give her 2 thumbs up for her success without having a mass market paperback.

Another great piece of information? Her books have been optioned for movie rights. I know it seems like all we hear about these days are books being turned into movies, but its because they make great movies. And trust me... after you read these books you'll be dying to see them on film.

So that's all for now. I know it wasn't much of a review, but I hope it at least encourages you to pick up the first book Switched and try it for yourself. It's only 330 pages so its an easy read.

Enjoy!

Book Review: Stieg Larsson's Trilogy

So this year I decided to age myself by 80 years and join a book club. And not just any Book Club, but "The Finer Things" Dinner and Book Club. To those of you who are fans of the Office you can get an idea of what we do the last Friday of each month. You may think it sounds nerdy, but I love it! I along with 6-9 of my friends depending upon who shows up vote on 1 book each month and then meet on the last Friday of that month for dinner and discussion.

Our first meeting in January was to decide on what our first book would be. We chose the first book from the bestselling trilogy by Stieg Larsson, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I will be the first to admit that pages 1-100 were anything, but fascinating. A lot of it was background on the Swedish financial industry and was a little rough to get through. However, the rest of the book really blew my mind. It went from 5mph to 60 mph in a matter of pages.

I spent 3 weeks getting through it all (having a baby has slowly inhibited my ability to read 600+ pages within a day or two). However I must say that Book 2 - The Girl Who Played With Fire - was so amazing that I finished within 5 days :). I will admit Eliana might have spent a little more time in the swing or sitting in her bumbo, but Kids babies need time to learn how to self entertain... Right?

Anyhow the point of this post isn't to point out my failures as a parent because I am obsessed with books. And the more I think about it if it keeps me sane and she is still happy then whose to say what is and isn't acceptable as a parent. So moving on... Book 2 was Wonderful. Exquisite. Exciting. Dramatic. Powerful. Engaging. and it kept me wanting more and more. So I picked up Book 3 and read it in 2 days. So basically my opinion of the entire Stieg trilogy is to just READ IT. Unless you are someone that likes books that are filled with nothing but heart shaped emotions and fairies sprinkling happy dust on everyone because these books have an intensely dark side and are definitely rated R.

But with that I have to tell you that everything serves a purpose. Stieg doesn't include random and ridiculous sexual encounters and neither does he make the book so utterly unrealistic that its a chore to try and imagine such events ever truly existing. I think he balances everything quite well and if you can't accept that dark and disturbing things happen in real life then you won't be able to accept them in his book. Move on. Find another prince charming romance. You know something about a boy who meets a girl and they live happily ever after. Blah. Blah. Blah. Yuck.

The only unfortunate thing about Stieg Larsson's  novels is that he wasn't alive to see them printed.

Next Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett along with The City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare and The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. The Rothfuss book still needs to be cracked open. I am saving it for when I know I have a good chunk of time to dedicate to it. It's no Mother Goose Fairytale. In the mean time I am reading Pride and Prejudice for the umpteenth time just because I love it that
much :)

New Adventures

About 2 weeks ago I woke up at 6:30am to my husband getting ready for an early day of work. He was brushing his teeth in the bathroom and shaving; doing what he normally does and I was laying in bed staring at the bathroom light that was pouring in to our bedroom. Normally at this time I would be very agitated at the light and my response would be to roll over while making loud grunting noises in hopes that he would realize my frustration and shut the door. But this morning was different. I woke up with the most vivid thought/concept ever and it just consumed my mind. It had to have been obvious that I was awake, but not my normal self because after staring into an abyss for 5 minutes, Hector finally snapped me out of my reverie and asked me what I was thinking about. I blinked my eyes several times and responded with a simple, "hmmm?." He then continued to repeat the question, "Babe, What were you thinking about just now?." I paused for several seconds and replied, "Oh lets see, ummm I think I am going to write a book....." My husband being as cool as a cucumber said, "Cool, sounds fun" and he continued on with his morning routine.

I spent 15 more minutes lying in bed contemplating this whole writing a book concept and was completely dumbfounded. I kept asking myself where it came from, why I woke up and just had this thought in my head and how I couldn't stop thinking about it. I mean everything from the title of the book, the introduction, possible chapters and the ending was just sitting in my brain like it had been planted by some weird elf in the middle of the night. I almost felt brainwashed. I have NEVER had any desire to write a book EVER. Sure, I LOVE reading them and some may consider that my reading passion is more of an obsession; but the entire idea of writing a book sounds utterly exhausting. It's not really something one does over night. Some authors take years to write books and then after they are done its several more months of proofing, editing and cutting through red-tape with your publishers. It honestly doesn't sound fun at all. So I keep asking myself why?

Right now my perspective is this... I have a good amount of free time on my hands so why not? Many people have very recently told me that I have a way with writing so it is possible, I think. One of the biggest things I lack in life is patience and long-term drive, if your gonna write a book you need both. So maybe an opportunity for growth? And finally I figured I might as well try because it could be a really awesome experience. So we shall see if I can really put the effort into it and put everything in my head onto paper. I don't have lofty expectations of writing a New York Times Bestseller, being on Oprah's Book List or even getting published, for I am very aware of how hard that is, but that doesn't mean I can't write it for myself to enjoy.

So while I continue to enjoy this world of blogging and writing you might be seeing bits and pieces of a book that I just might be the author of. It will be an autobiography of sorts so please don't think I am going to be writing some sci-fi or YA Fantasy about Vampires, Werewolves and demons. There is more then enough of those books out on the market. Also don't be surprised if I only write 1 or 3 chapters and then never ever speak of it again. I realize that I am going to be taking care of my first munchkin this November and I highly doubt that I can finish it before she makes her appearance. It's just that telling other people about the possibility of it makes it more real. And if its real then there is a greater possibility of it actually happening. And if I allow myself to believe that it will actually happen it probably will.

So here's to the possibility of me writing a book. And if you are lucky you just might make an appearance on its pages. Yahoo for new adventures!

Something to look forward to...

So one of my book loving friends (Carla) pointed out to me that one of my favorite Author's, Cassandra Clare, has her second book series the Infernal Devices coming out this August 31st. I finished reading her first series The Mortal Instruments last fall and since then have read them all over again :) When I realized that she had another series coming out I was ecstatic, however it seemed like eons before I would ever read it. Now its only 5+months away!

A few other things I have on my book reading calendar to look forward to:

June 5th, 2010 - Stephanie Meyer - The Second Short Life of Bree Tanner - interesting or lame?
August 24th, 2010 - Suzanne Collins - her final book of the Hunger Games Series - Mockingjay
August 31st, 2010 - Cassandra Clare - Infernal Devices
January 1st 2011 - Patrick Rothfuss - Book 2 Wise Man's Fear - Kingkiller Chronicles

Don't Judge a Book By it's Cover?

Whoever said that wasn't alive to see the 21st century and has absolutely no idea how to sell something to a woman. I am obsessed with packaging, product design, print design, typography, etc. Meaning that I wholeheartedly disregard the old saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" and thus judge a book by its cover. I hate to say it, but I am a sucker for a great cover and I hate bad ones.

Really hate bad ones.

Have you been to a Border's lately? I am there at least twice a month. Okay really its more like twice a week, but what can you do when your a sucker for literature and can't afford to buy every book you see. I go to Border's and read them for free. Yes, I have a library card and yes I use it on a daily basis, but NOT every book is available at the Library and the really popular ones have you on a wait list for up to 70 days?! Honestly, I am impatient and just can't wait that long when I really want, no need, no am obsessed with finishing a book. Especially if its a trilogy. All authors of trilogies should just write all of their books and sell them in one complete package! The waiting is excruciating sometimes and sooo frustrating. Example.. Suzanne Collins author of Hunger Games and Catching Fire has a 3rd book that doesn't release until August 24th. I am literally dying with impatience. However from a marketing perspective and a retail perspective I totally get the waiting period, but its just not fair.

Anyhow back to book covers. So I am reading this series by Ann Godbersen called The Luxe. I finished the first book and now I am onto the second. Why you might ask am I reading it? Was it because of the great reviews on amazon.com, a superb recommendation from a friend, or cuz it made the New York Time's Bestseller list? No, No and Nope. I just saw the front cover and thought to myself yummy that looks delicious.

Here is the cover.

Now, I understand if you personally aren't attracted to the cover. Pink dresses aren't exactly every girl's cup of tea, but honestly it takes place during one of my favorite time periods and is all about high society life for young wealthy New Yorkers. It basically equates to everything that I am not or have never experienced in life which = a good read. But if you asked me whether the book was great, I would probably say eh ummm ahhh uhh ohhh hmmm sort of? I read it rather quickly so it did keep my attention, but it was predictable and somewhat unoriginal. Think Gossip Girl circa 1800's, however it lacked the raciness, explicit teenage sex, and drug use (thankfully). So I am forced to continue reading because I have to know what happens! It's like I need closure when I start reading a series and even when I lose interest I find myself pressing on regardless of whether or not I enjoy it. Unless the book really sucks then it just sits on my coffee table with a bookmark in it until I have to return it to the Library.

So in honor of never listening to the old saying "Never judge a book by its cover," here are some books that I wanted to read without ever seeing a review because their cover just spoke to me.

I also have a list of GREAT books with horrible covers. Thank God for reviews in those circumstances otherwise I may never have picked up and read those wonderful words.

Do you have any favorites covers you would like to share?