Girl, Stolen

So this was the second book from the 2011 Best YA Fiction list that I read, and I think I actually enjoyed it a little more than Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, despite the fact that I prefer fantasy over contemporary.  Then again, debut novels really aren't my thing.

I picked up Girl, Stolen, by April Henry, because (duh) I thought it sounded interesting: A blind girl currently down with pneumonia is resting in the backseat of a car while her step-mother fills her prescription, when BAM, the car--complete with our heroine, Cheyenne--gets stolen on impulse by Griffin, who was originally just looking for packages.  But really, leaving your keys in the car is like asking someone to please steal it.

At any rate, I did indeed enjoy this book, and I swear it's not just because of my weird obsession with borderline-bad-boys.  (Just me?)  It's very well-written, and gives us the point of view of both Cheyenne and Griffin, and how an accidental kidnapper and a reluctant kidnappee (though I doubt there's any other kind) react to their situation(s).  It was a fairly short, quick read, but if I have to complain about anything, it would be the ending.  I know a lot of people enjoy an open-ended book, where the "rest of the story" could potentially go in many different directions--maybe because of the open-endedness of life or something, I don't know--but unless it's done in such a way as to indicate a sequel, then I'm usually not a fan.

And in case you couldn't tell, Girl, Stolen has an open ending.  Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay...


But if you think it sounds interesting, I do suggest you give it a try.

And Now...Something Completely Different!

Gonna take a quick break from talking about books, to talk about something that without which would make books impossible:

Words.

I love words.  I'm a logophile!  I'm not concerned with whether or not words are sesquipedalian, or requires a lexicographer's intuit to understand (sorry, I had to use some big words in a post about words!).  I just love the way some words sound, and how choosing a synonym of a word can help you be more precise in what you say.

And while I was talking with my mother one day, I began listing off some of my favorite words (does that make me a nerd?), and realized as I did so that I apparently have a favorite letter of the alphabet: P.  There's just something about the way that letter pops when you say it, especially at the beginning of a word.

Plethora.  Palindrome.  Perpendicular.  Precipitate.  Preposterous.  Persistent.  Penultimate.  Pyrrhic.   Prestidigitation.  Pulchritude.  Pusillanimous.  Penchant.  And possibly my favorite: percolate.  There's just something about the "puh" and the "kuh" so close together, and it's a bit longer than perk and perky, which just makes the word sound bubbly, even though it basically means filtering something.  Oh, and "pulchritude" up there?  It sounds so putrid, but really it's quite beautiful.

And of course, there are other words I love that don't start with P, like lickspittle (it's a word!), syzygy, interdigitation, or magnanimous.

...okay, yeah, most of these are sesquipedalian words, but come on.  Say them out loud!  Aren't they awesome?

I even have preferred words for body parts (although a blog post about that may push this into NC-17 territory...).  A SFW example:  I was reading a love scene, when all of a sudden there was a line: "He kissed her tummy."

Wait, what?  Tummy?  Really?  In this love scene (between adults, obviously), you decided to use a word that invokes an image of children?  Because really, to me, "tummy" is what you say to children as you tease them with tickles.  Not adults who are in the process of skoodilypooping.  Even "belly" would've been better, although I think "ab/domen" or even a generic "stomach" would've been the best alternatives.

At any rate: words.  Spread the love.

Llama Llama Mad at Mama

Okay, so confession time: I've been putting off doing this blog, Llama Llama Mad at Mama, by Anna Dewdney, because I wanted to have more than one thing to say.  But really, honestly, the more I thought and worried over it, there was really only that one thing I have ever really wanted to say about this book.

Even llamas don't like llama drama:

Thank you, and good night.

Geronimo Stilton: Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye

Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye is the first in a series of...a lot...and is written by, uh, Geronimo Stilton: an anthropomorphic scaredy-mouse journalist and editor of The Rodent's Gazette who would really rather not get caught up in the adventures that his younger sister (Thea), cousin (Trap), and nephew (Benjamin, age 9) are always dragging him into.

Originally published in Italy, there are now 49 Geronimo books (with two more planned for July and October 2012), spin-off Thea books, spin-off Creepella books, special editions, graphic novels, and even a television series and audiobooks.

It's popular, is what I'm trying to say.

And honestly, I'm not sure why it wouldn't be popular.  Because this is what it looks like as you read:

HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!  It's as if a bunch of typographers attacked a novel!  For those with children who are reluctant to read--and who don't want to give them comic books, for whatever reason--then this series is probably what you should slip them.  They get checked out almost as much as The Magic Tree House and Junie B. Jones series, and I'm forever straightening them up after the "hurricane kids" sweep through, plucking out the ones they want to read.

Probably my only complaint would be that Mr. Stilton is a little too scaredy-mouse; I would rather have a more confident main character.  But ah, well; can't have everything we want.