WWW Wednesday (8)

Hello blog, I have missed you! School started and everything went a little haywire, but I am back now (hopefully). I'm not taking an extreme number of classes but I am taking the SATs pretty soon and an AP class (AP Lit, of course) and getting prepared to apply to college, so everything is a bit stressful. 

I haven't done a WWW Wednesday in much too long and I have missed it so! Now, I am going to tell you what I have read since the last time we did one of these, but that's not as many books as I would like. This is hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and she asks that you answer 3 questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you'll read next?

Currently-Reading:

Probably too many books, as always.

Recently Finished:

I actually read a couple things I am only going to mention in passing. I read a couple books that might not count as full books to some people but I counted them and I kind of want to review ones picture book or not. A friend of mine may or may not of had a birthday party that included reading things outloud like picture books and the like (be jealous). I read The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, The Wolves in the Walls, and Evelyn, Evelyn which goes with the CD released by Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley. All of these were fantastic. And then, I forced myself out of the biggest reading slump that's ever happened to me...

Ill Wind (Weather Warden #1) by Rachel Caine (4/5 stars)

This book was much better then expected, just ignore the crushed velvet and everything will be fine. In all seriousness, though, I did like this book much more then I expected. There were some turns I didn't expect, and don't really feel were explained enough but I've given up on it and just accepted it, also, Djinn, how can you go wrong with them.

The Color of Magic (Discworld #1) by Terry Pratchett (5/5 stars)

I just posted my full review of it here so I don't think I can say much more. To sum it up this is a fantastic first book in the series and it was hilarious and I can't wait to read more.

Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Huunter #1) by Laurell K. Hamilton (4/5 stars)

I've heard so many good things about this book so I didn't really know what to expect but it was pretty good, there were even parts I really liked. It was a short, cute read.J

The Name of this Book is Secret (Secret #1) by Pseudonomous Bosch (5/5)

This series is fantastic, so very hilarious and so good. I loved the characters, the writing, and the plot. It was just so much fun to read! I definitely recommend this series. It's middle-grade, yes, but it's very, very good. 

If You're Reading This, It's Too Late (Secret #2) by Pseudonomous Bosch (5/5)

This one was almost better then the first one because we already knew the main cast of characters and I love that. So excited to read the rest of this series.

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner (3/5 stars)

You know how I mentioned that AP Lit course? Both this and the next one are apart of that. This is a short kind of creepy story, but I liked it plenty.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (5/5 stars)

If I could give this one 6/5 stars, I would. This book is fantastic and I loved it. I tweeted and posted on Goodreads the moment I realized that I truly loved this book. And I really did, I really loved some parts of this, well, really I loved this whole book. And the movie is coming out like next week and I am so glad to have read this before seeing it because this book is perfect. I have a lot of feelings about this boom, okay?

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures Vol1 by Laurell K. Hamilton and Others (4/5)
I really like comic book/graphic novel/whatever versions of books, it's intereting to see the story in a new media and I've never regretted reading one. It's so interesting to see what someone else thinks the characters look like, compared to what you visualized. This one was pretty good, too, going to pick up vol. 2 probably very soon (I got it for $5 at Newberry Comics. Bam).

Want To Read Next:

I'm currently-reading too many things to have listed up there but I'd also really like to read ThebDiviners by Libba Bray and many, many other books. Hopefully, I'll have the time eventually. 

Book Review: The Name of This Book is Secret

Book: The Name of This Book is Secret (Secret #1)
Author: Pseudonymous Bosch
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery, Humor (MG)
Rating: 5/5
Favorite Character: Cass. First, that's my favorite girl name ever (I also really like Anastatia. I love names that are slightly older, long, but can be shortened into cute nicknames). Also, Cass is really awesome with her survivalist stuff.

Plot: (From Goodreads)

This is the story about a secret. but it also contains a secret story.

When adventurous detectives, Cass, an ever-vigilant survivalist, and Max-Ernest, a boy driven by logic, discover the Symphony of Smells, a box filled with smelly vials of colorful ingredients, they accidentally stumble upon a mystery surrounding a dead magician's diary and the hunt for immortality.

Filled with word games, anagrams, and featuring a mysterious narrator, this is a book that won't stay secret for long.

Review:
This book was adorable, I think it's the best word for it overall. I mean, 11 years olds going on adventures is always fun, especially where there's a lot of hilarious narration thrown in. The whole thing is, is that this is a true story and to protect the innocent, the author changes their names and everything and then makes comments about this and that (how he can be bribed with good quality dark chocolate). And it had me giggling through most of it.

And it isn't just funny, it also has an original interesting story in it. I loved the overall plot of this book and how things were revealed and everything. It was just really, very well done. And done in an hilarious manor. Also, Cass and Max-Ernest are great partners, excuse me, collaborators. And there are footnotes at random parts of the books that are just perfect.

This is a funny, silly book, but it does have some real mythology and stuff that I loved. This is something I'd recommend to someone who loves a good middle-grade adventure book, because that's what it is and it's really well done. The characters are lovable, the story is original, and the writing is very good and funny. All those things added it up for me giving it 5/5 stars and even reading some little snippets out loud to my mom that had her laughing, too. (I just really like when a book makes me laugh out loud. It's harder to make me cry, but I love laughing because of a book. I definitely enjoy it more, that is, if it's suppose to be funny).

(Also, this isn't important to the story, well, it kind of is. The chapters have illustrations and some of them are just great, just perfect. As you can tell, I really just loved this book, I really can't actually think of anything bad to say. All of the secondary characters felt real and I loved all of their little quirks and everything).

Out Today (09-04-12)

So I thought I should start spreading the word about books I'm really excited for when they come out, even if I can't post a review of it as of yet for whatever reason. So there aren't all the books that came out today, but these are a few I'm excited for.

Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr
It's Melissa Marr! Of course I can't wait to read this book. I don't know why I haven't yet, it's right next to me, I've just been in such an awful slump. Anyway, this one sounds amazing and the book trailer makes it sound even better because it looks amazing.

Origin by Jessica Khoury
I'm pretty sure this a debut and the cover was what originally drew me to it, it's just so dramatic, but I'm also just really excited for this. It sounds really good, can't wait to read it.

And, on the first, another book came out that I've been dying to read.

The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron
It sounds so good and the cover makes me think it's has a bit of Steampunk, which I love. So excited for it!

It seems that I'm excited for a lot of things, but can you blame me? They all sounds just so very good. Hopefully I can get back in the swing of reading, but now school has started up again and I've got a lot to do. A lot of reading for school, too.

I hope that your summers were good and full of fun and everything. It's not quite fall yet, but with the start of school, it always feels like it is anyway. Have a fun the rest of the week and hopefully I'll be better at posting here, normally I'm good at getting stuff done when I have a lot of stuff to be doing. For some reason, that works best for me. (NaNoWriMo-style).

August Wrap-Up/September TBR

It was very empty month this month, on the reading and blogging front, at least. I was at LeakyCon and  then I had LeakyFlu and needed to sleep for like 2 weeks to fully recover. Anyway, I apologize, I meant to schedule posts so this didn't happen and it just didn't really work out well. Anyway, I only read 5 books this month. One was a picture book, but it was by Neil Gaiman and amazing, so here's the list.

Books:
The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman (author) (5/5)
I really enjoyed this. A lot. It was kind of awesome, you should probably check it out, it's creepy but just creepy enough.

Evelyn, Evelyn by Amanda Palmer and others (5/5)
This is kind of a companion to the album Evelyn, Evelyn which is all by (sung, lyrics, other) by Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley and it's amazing. So amazing. I loved everything.

30-Second Mythology by Robert A. Segal (5/5)
It's a basic explanation of classical mythology, meaning just Greek and Roman, and it's really good. It has a short explanation of each thing (god, hero, other) and it was really good.

Ill Wind (Weather Warden #1) by Rachel Caine (4/5)
This was for a book club and was surprisingly good, if you ignore the crushed velvet, which I did. (It was just a purple outfit, no crushed velvet at all).

The Color of Magic (Discworld #1) by Terry Pratchett (5/5)
I decided to just go for it, just jump into this series, and oh my god it was amazing. I was so confused, really, the whole book, but I loved it. I got the world and the characters, but the way things happened made no sense. I loved it.

And now, since there weren't many books I read last month, I thought I'd add the books I might be reading to this list. As you can tell, it never really works out the way I want it to. I read by mood and, lately, I've been in an awful reading slump and now I'm sick and have a crap load of school work I should be doing right now. However, not counting book club books, there are the books I'd like to read this month:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
I started this one is August and the movie is coming out at the end of the month and I want to have read the book before seeing the movie.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
This is technically for a book club, but also now for school. (John told us to read the rest by Tuesday! Oh god, can I do it?)

And whatever else might come my way. Hopefully much more then I read in August.