January is almost gone...

So, I started off the year very strong. Reading a lot of books and blogging about a couple, but finals came (early because of the altered school year) and then, WHAM- semester two started.  I found myself with much less time to be reading and blogging.  I will try to pick out a new book for review very soon and hopefully I'll have a new one up before the end of next week.  I don't even know if anyone reads this blog, but I like to pretend that people read it and would be sad if I didn't put reviews up like I said I would. I'm a bit of a fantasist in case you couldn't tell.

The other area of my work, taking up so much of my time, is the ordering of new books.  Yes, I went on a buying binge after Christmas break.  And now that I've put all of my orders into various publishing companies and vendors, I'm afraid.  I'm afraid that they will all show up at the same time, on the same day and demand to be catalogued.  I may not be worried about the "slow time" in the library for a while.  I did get one order in and cataloged last week, but that was an order I made at the end of December.  I've made several orders since and they haven't appeared yet.

If you are a student at WCS, some of the new books are on display at the front entrance.  As the new books arrive and I've catalogued them, they will also start to appear on the display at the front.  Please stop by and have a look at the new titles.

Happy Reading!

Comme si comme ca....a so, so book

 

Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer by Kate Alender
Publisher: Point
ISBN: 978-0-545-46809-1

Synopsis: Colette Iselin is excited to go to Paris on a class trip.  She'll get to soak up the beauty and culture, and maybe even learn something about her family's French roots.  But a series of gruesome murders are taking place across the city, putting everyone on edge.  And as she tours museums and palaces, Colette keeps seeing a strange vision: a pale woman in a ball gown and powdered wig, who looks suspiciously like Marie Antoinette.  Colette knows her popular, status-obsessed friends won't believe her, so she seeks out the help of a charming French boy.  Together, they uncover a shocking secret involving a dark, hidden history.  When Colette realizes she herself may hold the key to the mystery, her own life is in danger... (from book cover)

I so wanted to love this book!  But, as Abe Lincoln once said, "I cannot tell a lie". I have read a ton of biographies and historical fiction about Marie Antoinette; the doomed and misunderstood Queen of France, who was executed by guillotine at the end of the 18th century.  I love Versailles and seeing picture and movies from that palace. I also love, love, love a good campy ghost story, with a centuries old mystery to solve.  This book had everything that I loved combined, but in the end it was a bit disappointing and didn't meet my expectations.

The first thing that put me off was her rich friends.  One was ok and a normal, well-to-do teenage girl, but the Queen Bee of the group was horrible.  I just could not understand why anyone would care what she thought, never mind be her friend.  I would have told her to bugger off in the first few lines of the book.  I kept waiting to see if she got her comeuppance in the book, but she didn't really.  I would have loved to see some of that bad Karma come back on her.  The main character of the book was quite good.  I was rooting for her with the mystery, with her friends and with the French tour guide.

The description of Paris, Versailles and le Hameau were great.  Alender did a great job of describing them to the reader (especially since this reader has never been).  I also liked the description of how the surroundings and the history made Colette feel because I think I would have a similar reaction.  The early encounters with the ghost were also quite good and creepy. There was a nice build up to the climax.

The climax is the main thing that let this book down.  We have been building to this moment and the showdown with the ghost and I had a "what just happened" moment.  Spoiler Alert: the showdown was over by someone just saying sorry.  And not a long, explanation of why they were sorry, just a vision and then just, "Je suis desole".  I'm sorry too because I was disappointed.

It wasn't a terrible book, but it wasn't one of my favourites either.  I think that if you are into history, the French Revolution and ghost stories, this could be good, easy read.  It was a quick read.  I started after lunch, was mostly done by 4:30 and finished the last chapter this morning.  It was just lacking that je ne sais quoi that good ghost/mystery stories need to make me happy. 

If you've read the book and would like to comment, agree or disagree, please post a comment below.

Happy Reading!

Up next for review....

I will be reading Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer by Katie Alender for my next book review.  It is a newer book for our shelves and I figured that I can combine my love of historical fiction, biographies and thrillers.  I'm hoping that it can deliver.

On another note, I was looking at books to order before my budget deadline sneaks up on me and I went to the New York Times bestsellers site.  I am happy to report that we currently have 8 out of the top ten YA novels!  I will be ordering the other two as soon as I can.  We also have 2/5 of the "also selling" books, so I'm pretty pleased with my fall selections this year.

If you have any books that you would like to have in the library, please stop by my office for a chat.

Happy Reading!

My first Review...

The first book that I chose to review for the blog is Asylum  by Madeline Roux.  This was one of the books that piqued my interest from my cataloguing pile.  It was especially interesting because it came in around Halloween and I love to read scary stories around that time of year. 

Synopsis: " For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, a summer program for gifted students is the chance of a lifetime.  No one else at his high school gets his weird fascinations with history and science, but at the New Hampshire College Prep program, such quirks were all but required.  Dan arrives to find that the usual summer housing has been closed, forcing students to stay in the crumbling Brookline dorm- formerly a psychiatric hospital.  As Dan and his new friends Abby and Jordan start exploring Brookline's twisty halls and hidden basement, they uncover disturbing secrets about what really went on here...secrets that link Dan and his friends to the asylum's dark past.  Because it turns out Brookline was no ordinary psych ward.  And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried." (from book cover)

Right away, the concept of this book intrigued me.  Living in Weyburn, where we had a world-famous psychiatric hospital (the term "psychedelic was coined here) and hearing all about the ghost stories people had about it, I was eager to read a book where I could picture everything happening.  The setting of the story is what caught my attention and Roux did a good job of describing it in the book.  Very familiar, yet very eerie.  I think that anyone picking up this book could picture the campus and the atmosphere of it.

The character of Dan was well done.  I do wish that the relationship between Abby and Jordan was developed a little more.  As the book goes on, their behavior is affected by the things they are thinking and experiencing and I found myself wanting to know more about what they were doing and about their thought process.

The "ghost story" aspect was very creepy, but I would've liked more carrots dangling and more information given to me as the story went along.  When I read mysteries I like to be fed a few nibbles to get me interested in the big finish.  I did find that a lot was alluded to, but I didn't find out a whole bunch until the climax of the book and the end. The way that Roux used the real-life pictures through out the book also added to the story.  Being able to see the pictures that Dan was describing was very cool.

I was looking to be creeped out and to figure out a mystery and in the end, that's what I got.  I enjoyed the book and I would recommend it to anyone that is into horror or thrillers.  The book is available in the library right now and I would love to hear from anyone that's read it.

Happy Reading!

3 years and counting....

Happy New Year! 

It was slow in the library before Christmas break, and surprise, it is still slow in the new year.  Because I've been waiting on a few book orders I made in December, I've been trying to figure out what to buy next.  I have a lot of budget left and so I started looking at YA blogs for suggestions about books that we don't already have in the library.  So, when I signed into my account to start following some good YA blogs, I found that I hadn't posted on this site for three years!! Three years! I guess I got lazy. 

Before the break, I had read some really interesting YA books that we had in the library.  They were new books and I had made a note of them while I was cataloguing.  So, as my New Year's resolution (one that I might keep) I'm going to write some of my own reviews in the hopes that someone may read it- a pipe dream, I know.

If you happen to stop by and read one of my reviews, please leave a note and better yet, if you've read the same book I'm reviewing, please tell me your thoughts.

Happy Reading!

New Books!

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a great Christmas break and is getting ready for finals.

I don't want to disctract anyone from studying for their finals, but we do have some new books in and I wanted to let everyone know what we have. There is something to suit everyone's taste.

Our new titles are:

The Scorch Trials- James Dashner
Torment- by Lauren Kate
Elixir- Hillary Duff
Fallout- the newest in the series by Ellen Hopkins
Night Star & Dark Flame- Alyson Noel
Stolen- Lucy Christopher
Virals- Kathy Reichs (the author of the books that inspired the TV series Bones)
Linger- Maggie Stiefvater
Half Brother- Kenneth Oppel
The Gift- James Patterson
Witch & Wizard- James Patterson
Sugar & Spice- Lauren Conrad
Before I Fall- Lauren Oliver
Zombies Vs. Unicorns- various authors, a collection of fantasy and horror short stories
Revolution- Jennifer Donnelly
The Book of Spells- Kate Brian
Monster High- Lisi Harrison
This Lullaby- Sarah Dessen
A Bend in the Road- Nicholas Sparks
A Walk to Remember- Nicholas Sparks
At First Sight- Nicholas Sparks
Five People You Meet in Heaven- Mich Albom
The Rescue- Nicholas Sparks
The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Stephen Chbosky
Someone Like You- Sarah Dessen
The Truth About Forever- Sarah Dessen
Fallen- Lauren Kate
Just Listen- Sarah Dessen
Birth of a Killer- book 1 of a new series by Darren Shan

These books will be on a display table in the front area of the library for a while. Please stop by and have a look!

Happy Reading,
Miss Bell

Welcome Autumn!

Well, October is upon us and therefore we are fully into fall. The weather has turned around quite nicely and we are enjoying beautiful weather. Let's hope it continues for a while!

I did promise a review of Kate Morton's book, but I must confess that I have been side-tracked by my new Nintendo DS game; Professor Layton and the Unwound Future. Yes, I am sad to admit that your librarian loves, love, loves, Professor Layton games and I find them quite addictive! So, I have put my night-time reading off in order to help Layton and Luke solve the mystery. I think that I'm coming close to the end, so I'm sure that I'll be back at my reading by the weekend.

Mrs. Harder has been with us now for over a week and she has been busy! She is creating some really cool bulletin board displays for the library and she's got a couple finished already, so come and have a look. One is 3D, which is really neat. I'm hopeless at bulletin boards, so I'm so glad she enjoys doing them. She is doing a fantastic job, so please pop in and introduce yourself.

I will be getting the Halloween display with scary stories organized this week, so if you are a person who likes a good fright, stop in and sign out a book that will keep you up at night!!

Have a safe and fun Thanksgiving weekend and enjoy the beautiful fall weather!

Happy Reading,
Miss Bell