Waiting on Wednesday (18)

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine, and it is a way to show off the books you can't wait to be released!!

This week I chose:
"Glimmerglass"
by Jenna Black
St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: May 25, 2010

The following description is from Goodreads.com:
Dana Hathaway doesn’t know it yet, but she’s in big trouble. When her alcoholic mom shows up at her voice recital drunk, Dana decides she’s had it with being her mother’s keeper, so she packs her bags and heads to stay with her mysterious father in Avalon: the only place on Earth where the regular, everyday world and the magical world of Faerie intersect. But from the moment Dana sets foot in Avalon, everything goes wrong, for it turns out she isn't just an ordinary teenage girl—she's a Faeriewalker, a rare individual who can travel between both worlds, and who can bring magic into the human world and technology into Faerie. Soon, she finds herself tangled up in a cutthroat game of Fae politics. Someone's trying to kill her, and everyone wants something from her, even her newfound friends and family. Suddenly, life with her alcoholic mom doesn't sound half bad, and Dana would do anything to escape Avalon and get back home. Too bad both her friends and her enemies alike are determined not to let her go . . .

I just found out about this book last week. It sounds a little like Holly Black's Tithe series to me, anyone else think so? I mean that as a compliment, I loved that series!!

What are you waiting for this week?

In My Mailbox (18)

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren, and is a way for everyone to show their new books for the week, including those bought, swapped, won, or received for review.

"The Last Song" by Nicholas Sparks

I won this from Kristina at The Cajun Book Lady, the book was sent by Grand Central Publishing. I was so excited to win this one!! I've been waiting to read this book since it came out and now I can just in time for the movie release! Thank you!!

Glee Volume 1 CD

I won this from Alyssa, Jake, and Gregory at Teens Read and Write!! The cd is awesome, I love the songs and this show! I can't wait for the new "season" to start in April. Thanks so much!!

There's been a lot of debate around the blogosphere this week about IMM, do you feel like it's a good post?? I really think IMM is a great way to give a shout out to the awesome bloggers who have sponsored contests that I have won. Hopefully I can give their blog some traffic through my post, just as another way of saying "Thank you!" I also think it's a way to give exposure to a book that a publisher has sent for review. After all, that's why they send us books, right? To get exposure? Of course I'm still going to write a review when I'm finished, but a lot of times the IMM posts get more traffic than a review post. What do you think about IMM???

"Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Curiouser"

"Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Curiouser"

Series Editor: William Irwin
Edited by Richard Brian Davis

Source: received from the publisher for review, thanks to Julie at FSB Associates

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

My Review:

Athena Smith, the costume curator for a Chicago museum, is elated to finally see the legendary vintage gowns worn by a city icon, Bertha Palmer. But the gowns are owned by the Clayworth family, who are not on good terms with Athena's family. The Clayworths just fired Athena's father from their company for unknown, but scandalous, reasons. So Athena has little hope of gaining the gowns for an exhibition at the museum. While looking at the gowns, she inhales a toxin which acts as a truth serum. Wh...more This collection of essays is a fantastic addition to any "Alice in Wonderland" fan's collection. These are scholarly essays, and even though they are easy to read, don't expect fluff stories that were thrown together to feed off of the recent Tim Burton movie release. These are highly researched and well thought out studies of the original book.

Some of the essays, I loved and would give 5+ stars to, but my rating is for the book as a whole, which did sometimes seem repetiti...more This collection of essays is a fantastic addition to any "Alice in Wonderland" fan's collection. These are scholarly essays, and even though they are easy to read, don't expect fluff stories that were thrown together to feed off of the recent Tim Burton movie release. These are highly researched and well thought out studies of the original book.

Some of the essays, I loved and would give 5+ stars to, but my rating is for the book as a whole, which did sometimes seem repetitive. The book is separated into four parts, each with essays that related to each other in topic. There are 14 essays in all, and reading all the essays back to back made the content seem repetitive to me. I think I would have enjoyed this book much more if I had only read a few at a time.

My favorite essay was "Unruly Alice: A Feminist View of Some Adventures in Wonderland" by Megan S. Lloyd. Lloyd gives strong examples of how Alice can be seen as a feminist icon. Some of her examples I had noticed before, but some were new to me and fascinating.

Another essay that stood out was "Jam Yesterday, Jam Tomorrow, but Never Jam Today: On Procrastination, Hiking, and...the Spice Girls?" by Mark D. White. Not only was the content of this essay strong, but the way that it was written was so appealing! I feel like White really embraced the nonsense that is Wonderland and he wrote the entire essay in that style.

I also enjoyed the comparisons of Carroll's work to Socrates. The authors point out that Carroll did study Socrates so these nods to his philosophy were no accident. I learned another biographical fact of Carroll that I hadn't known, that he suffered from migraines and that contributed to his writing about distorted reality (from the Scott F. Parker essay).


Bottom Line: I would definitely recommend this book to a fan of Alice in Wonderland. The book helped me understand the book in ways that I never did before. I only would have preferred to read the essays over a longer period of time so that the content wouldn't overlap so much. I'm eager to read some of the other titles in the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series.

Book Blogger Hop

It's Friday, which means it's time for another Book Blogger Hop!!

Check out Jennifer's page, Crazy-for-Books, and enter your link and check out some of the other book blogs out there!!

I've been able to find some great new blogs to read!!

So join the fun and spread the word about this new event!!

(isn't the new logo cute??)

Waiting On Wednesday (17)

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine, and it is a way to show off the books you can't wait to be released!!

This week I chose:
"A Most Improper Magick"
by Stephanie Burgis
Atheneum
Release Date: April 20, 2010

The following description is from Goodreads.com:

Her mother was a scandalous witch, her brother has gambled the whole family into debt, and her Step-Mama is determined to sell her oldest sister into a positively Gothic marriage to pay it off--so what can twelve-year-old Kat Stephenson do but take matters directly into her own hands? If only her older sisters hadn’t thwarted her plan to run away to London dressed as a boy and earn a fortune! When Kat makes a midnight foray into her mother’s cabinet of secrets, though, she finds out something she never expected. Her mother wasn’t just a witch, she was a Guardian, a member of a secret Order with staggering magical powers--and Kat is her heir. Of course, there’s no chance of Kat choosing to join the Order that forbade her parents’ marriage...but Mama’s magical mirror doesn’t seem to understand that. It keeps following her wherever she goes, even when the family travels to Grantham Abbey to meet the sinister Sir Neville, her oldest sister’s chosen fiancé. And what with Sir Neville showing a dangerous interest in Kat’s untapped powers, her mother’s old tutor insisting that she take up her mother’s position as a Guardian, and her sister Angeline refusing to listen to her about anything, *as usual*...well, it’s a good thing Kat kept her boy’s clothing, because she may well have to use it--especially if the rumors of a highwayman are true.

This one looks like a great escape book!! A little bit magical, a little bit gothic, it sounds great!! And the cover is so cute and fun!!

What are you waiting for this week?

In My Mailbox (17)

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren, and is a way for everyone to show off their new books for the week, including those bought, swapped, won, or received for review.

Contest Wins:

"Highlander's Sword" by Amanda Forester

I won this in a contest from Anna at Anna's Book Blog. The book was sent from the publisher! I love historical romance and I can't wait to read this new one!! Thanks, Anna and Sourcebooks!

"A Stray Drop of Blood" by Roseanna M. White

I won this book from Michelle at Michelle V's Blog. The book was sent and autographed by the author! Roseanna also runs a great blog at Writing Roseanna!! I've just started this one and so far it is fascinating!! Thanks Michelle and Roseanna!!

"Katy's New World" by Kim Vogel Sawyer

(review here)

I won this in a Goodreads First Reads Contest from Zondervan Books. This one was so cute for tweens!!

Received for Review:

"Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Curiouser" edited by William Irwin and Richard Brian Davis

This book was sent to me from Julie at FSB Media. I can't wait to read this one, I've always been a fan of Alice, especially after seeing Tim Burton's version!! Thanks, Julie and FSB!

What did you receive in your mailbox this week??

"Katy's New World"

"Katy's New World"
by Kim Vogel Sawyer

Source: Goodreads First Reads contest, sent from Zondervan Books

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

My Review:

Athena Smith, the costume curator for a Chicago museum, is elated to finally see the legendary vintage gowns worn by a city icon, Bertha Palmer. But the gowns are owned by the Clayworth family, who are not on good terms with Athena's family. The Clayworths just fired Athena's father from their company for unknown, but scandalous, reasons. So Athena has little hope of gaining the gowns for an exhibition at the museum. While looking at the gowns, she inhales a toxin which acts as a truth serum. Wh...more Katy is the only teenager in her Mennonite community who wants to extend her education past the required 9th grade. She is given special permission to attend the public high school, but will she be able to keep her faith while exposed daily to "worldly" things and experiences? Katy's mother left the Mennonite faith when she was little, and that meant she left Katy and her father too. Katy worries that by being exposed to "worldly" things, she'll follow in her mother's footsteps, hurting her father and grandparents.

"Katy's New World" is a great story for young teens. Katy is high school, but this book is geared more to younger teens and tweens and their issues. At first, I was skeptical about this one because it seemed a little cliche, but once the characters were developed, I was really drawn in. Katy's relationships with her old friends, her new friends from her new school, and her father are carefully written and realistic.

At her new school, Katy realizes that not all "worldly" things are bad. She quickly makes friends with Shelby, the daughter of a preacher. Sometimes, Shelby proves to be a better friend to Katy than her friends from the Mennonite community. Katy struggles trying to balance her two worlds, and the result is that she feels like an outsider both at school and in her community.

Katy overcame challenges to her faith and she does make mistakes. However, she learns from her mis-steps and in result she makes a choice, a decision, instead of blindly following along with what she is told to do.

Main Characters: 4/5
Supporting Characters: 3/5
Setting: 3/5
Romance: n/a
Uniqueness: 3/5
Cover: 2/5 (not really a fan of this cover)
Writing: 3.5/5


Bottom Line: This was a great book for tweens, with rich characters and honest feelings about fitting in that all young people feel.