My Lack of 'Required Reading'

So, over the weekend, I finished reading Eden Lake by Patrick Carman. It was pretty good. Suspenseful. While some elements of the story didn't work for me at all, I was generally interested in the twisty ending. It turned a mostly realistic-type book into an undeniably supernatural one. It's due out in November and will include some sort of companion phone app. I'm sure if I had a smart phone, I'd probably spend hours playing with it. Nowhere did it mention 'free' - so my red flag of 'this probably costs money' was blinking every time I read that.

Since this is a week before September, which I still can't fully believe (I mean, where did the summer go!?), I still haven't gotten a new book/reading assignment from Kirkus. This puts me in the odd position of not having anything I have to read for review purposes. While this might seem like a blessing since I can finally read what I want, it turns out that... meh. I don't really have time to start a new book (since I'll probably get a new one next week anyway) and it's actually pretty nice to have a break. I don't feel like I have to be reading, which is something I both like and dread in pretty equal measure.

It's 'Weird Science' All Over Again...

So, after sucking it up and finally staying up late to get my reading on, I finally feel a little bit better about my workload. I am currently reading ONE book (at the start of the week, it was 3). This one had a the latest of all the review deadlines - until August 1st - so I really got to make sure I get this one done in a short amount of time. I was initially worried when I read the description...

It's about two boys building a robot. A girl robot. With all the dumb jokes you can imagine.

Finally reading the book? It's not as bad as I thought. In fact, it's surprisingly readable. It's a lot like "Swim the Fly" in two ways - one, boys are going to primarily like it and two, it fits nicely into that 10-13 age range for kids when I never know what to suggest for them to read. Fifty pages in, they've already found the robot (in one father's lab, naturally) and the she-bot has escaped their house to go run amok.

Bonus points on how they download their Facebook interests into the robot's hard drive.

There's a nice little website for the book here. But really... did the author Paul E. Watson see Weird Science? Or that episode of 'Batman Beyond' that Shiri Appleby did a voice for? This idea has been done for. I'm still going to read his book, and probably give it a nicer review than it deserves. But... c'mon. REALLY!?

In Review: Viola in Reel Life

Very rarely will I ever gush about a book. This is one of those rare times. I love "Viola in Reel Life" by Adiana Trigiani. I actually finished about half this book in less than an hour (something I haven't done in a very, very long time) and put it down for a few days just to savor the thought of the ending. This book had a lot I could relate to- I picked it up as my "vacation" book while I was traveling, so I too was leaving New York City behind, just Viola. I can also relate to her experiences going to a school she wasn't super excited about; in my case, it was a NH prep school in the good part of town. For Viola, it's in Indiana. Hers was worse.

Viola has a cutting, witty personality that I think many girls (and even none girls) can relate to. She manages to be hip and cool without being overly whiny. That is always on the plus side. With her and her roommates, it gets a little too much like a certain sisterhood involving pants a little too fast, but I do like that she befriends one of them, Marisol, a little better than the rest- especially when they are both stuck at the school for Christmas. I would have liked it a little more if Viola had some more conflict within her perfect room, maybe with Romy the sports star, but alas. Viola is not even really given a proper nemesis; but since this is the start of a possible multi-book series, that can totally be something that develops down the line. I also like how Viola handles her men; she doesn't seem to care that much on the outside, but internally she's not thinking about a lot else. Her documentary filmmaker parents are cool, and I like her strained relationship with them, but the emotions they stir in Viola definitely made me see her as a little less cool, a little more vulnerable. This is worth the read for people of any age, especially is you like your protagonist sassy and cool, which I always do.