The Year of Mysterious Giveaways: January winner!

Always a few days late, I am....

Thanks to all who entered my January Mysterious Giveaway!

The winner is...

Ann

Ann said...

Thanks for the giveaway!

summergal05(at)gmail(dot)com

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

B.Y.O.B Book club Review: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Publisher: Delacorte

Format: Audio

Purchase: Indie Bound

Challenge: 2012 Audio Book Challenge

This was the second audio book I listened to in its completion. It was a hard transition from my first choice but as I got going, I found it to be quite fun to listen to. My B.Y.O.B Book club chose this as our first young adult book to read. I was planning on reading it but I thought I would give the ol' audio a try.

A brief description from Indie Bound:

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess.

If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.

My friend Laura wrote her review from the book club since I made the silly mistake of overbooking myself and missed the meet up. Check out Myriad Musings for her take. My opinion will be a bit different since I was the only one who listened to it.

It was an intriguing story and I was eagerly anticipating what was going to happen. Would they get out of the maze? Who was really controlling it all? Why did Thomas seem to feel like he had been there before?

I was easily intrigued and looked forward to getting back to the story after each pause. Once again, I listened to it in my car so it took me a good two weeks to finish. My only real issue with it all was the language in which the characters created. Having been confined to this world surrounded by a maze with no recollection of a life before, they essentially created their own swear words. They would call each other "Shank!" and "Greenie". It was a tad bit annoying at first and it took me a few discs to get used to. Also, there were several different characters and one narrator. He did a good job making each individual character stand out, however, some of the voices were a bit over the top. It got a bit jumbled at times. If I had read it, I don't know if I would have had the same irritation with it. Usually if there are parts that I find a bit tedious in reading, I would skim. You can't really skim with the audio version.

Most of my fellow book club friends continued on with the series; Scorch Trials and Death Cure. I had the best of intentions to do so but ended up choosing other things to read and listen to. I can't say that I won't in the future but not at this time.

Overall, they all seemed to enjoy it.

Rating: Recommend

This would not be my favorite young adult read, but I did enjoy it. It was fast paced once it got going and kept my interest. It was different enough and the world of the maze was interesting. This would be more suited to a younger reader, perhaps a fan of Maximum Ride series by James Patterson or The Last Apprentice series by James Delaney.

Next Book Up:

Blindness by Jose Saramago (March)

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

The Year of Mysterious Giveaways: January 2012

Are you all ready for year 2 of The Year of Mysterious Giveaways?!

(I'm imaging crowds screaming...whoooooooo!)

Well, alrighty then!

I'm going to give it a go and deliver up a variety of mysteries to give away;

from cozy to thriller.

This month I wanted to start out with a little cozy.

The White House Chef Mysteries are really fun reads! I've only read one, Buffalo West Wing, and had a lot of fun with it. My mom has read all of them and just wants to borrow this before I give it away!

Click here for a full description!

I did not feel like I missed out on much not having read the first three books.

Contest Rules:

Contest runs from January 5-January 31

Please reside in the United States

Please be a follower

Please leave an email address

Thanks to Dana Kaye @ Kaye Publicity for sending me a copy to give away!

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

The Ladies Book Club: January 2011

Book Read:

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

by Stieg Larsson

Ladies in Attendance:

6 plus 2 very social cats.

Treats Shared:

Chocolate Cake, Peanut Butter cookies with Chocolate Kisses, Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Bars, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Pretzels, juice and WINE! We all kinda forgot to bring appetizers. Oops!

To Read or Not to Read:

3 Ladies read the book.

2 Ladies did not.

1 Lady saw the movie.

My Reaction:

I enjoyed this book. I found it to be the perfect read for the dead of winter since most of the book is set in the middle of nowhere, on a snowy island in Sweden. However, the beginning just plain sucked. It took me about 200 pages to get into it but luckily I had some trusted readers in my life that told me this. I did not get discouraged though I did put it down and pick it up several times before finally committing.

If you click on the title, it will link you to Amazon for a description. For my book club posts, I will not go into much detail of the book, I will mostly post my Ladies' reactions and whether or not it would be a good pick for book clubs in general.

We had a great discussion about it. We talked about the mystery throughout, the choppy translation from Swedish to English, the power of Lisbeth (the female punk hacker and the "Girl" that they refer to in all of the book titles) and the overall lure and crazy of the Vanger family (the family in which the book is based around and their dirty little secrets).

The Ladies Reactions:

I was one of the 3 that read it. The other two ladies enjoyed it as well but admitted that is was trying to get through the beginning and when the mystery is solved towards the end, we all felt a bit confused as to why there were still 100 some pages left. They enjoyed the characters, loved Lisbeth and felt she wasn't present enough in this first book. The title makes it seem like it would be all about her but it wasn't. One of the ladies has read the entire trilogy and she ensured us that we would indeed find out more about Lisbeth in the next two books. It also brought up some frank discussion on the abuse of women in Sweden and the political affiliations of the author. Did his early death in 2003 create the buzz about these books?

Good Book Club Pick?

Yes, we all agreed it was a good pick for us. Though half of our group did not read it, (2 started and one saw the movie), they were intrigued with the story and the power of its success and allure.

Next Book Up:

February- Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child