The Year We Disappeared

Normally I don't read much non-fiction, and the only true crime novels I read are Ann Rule, because I love that woman.  But the title of The Year We Disappeared by father/daughter duo John and Cylin Busby caught my eye.  The book is a true account of John Busby's near fatal shooting (in which he lost his jaw and almost his life) and his family's struggle in the aftermath that eventually led them to relocate in order to escape further attempts on their lives.  The story is told mostly in chronological order with John and Cylin taking turns telling the events.  While the book was interesting, I have to admit that I wasn't a particular fan of John's story telling skills.  Some of his narrative came across as bragging and boastful, and the ending of the book is abrupt although there is an attempt to fill in some of the blanks.

The Year We Disappeared gets a Midnight Book Rating of a solid 9pm, it won't keep you up late, but you'll probably get caught up enough in the book to want to finish it.  If this type of book interests you at all, then I would recommend Lois Duncan's Who Killed My Daughter?, the author's true account of her daughter Kaitlyn's mysterious murder and possible police cover up. 

My First Friday 56!

The Friday 56

Found this challenge on Shiloh Walker's blog, she in turn got it from The Bookoholic Zone.

Here's how it works:

The Rules:

• Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
• Turn to page 56.
• Find the fifth sentence.
• Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
• Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
• Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

My book is Heck: Where The Bad Kids Go by Dale E. Basye

Sentence: "You're in Heck's Disorientation Center."

Way Back Wednesdays- They're Back!

Welcome back to the third (I won't mention all the ones I've missed if you don't) edition of my weekly blog, Way Back Wednesdays.  Here's what ya do:

1. Grab a book of your shelf that you have not reviewed on your site (unless you've been blogging a super long time). Selection can either be random, or an oldie but goodie that you're dying to share with people. List title and author.

2. Give a 7 word description of the book.

3. If you can, post a picture of the book.

4. Open the book at random and type the 3rd full sentence found on the right hand page (or the left, if you're left handed- Midnight Book Girl does not discriminate- do both pages if you're ambidextrous).

5. Answer these questions:
    1. Did you like the book?
    2. How well do you remember it?
    3. Would you recommend it?
    4. Would you re-read it?

6. Post a link to your post in my comments box, or just answer there if you're not going to post the picture of the book cover.

Here's my Way Back Wednesday book:

1. The 10th Kingdom by Kathryn Wesley

2. NY girl finds love in other realm

3.

4.  "I wish you and your entire family would kiss my ass," he snapped, "and be my slaves forever."

5.  I love this book, and I often re-read it.  It's based on the Hallmark Entertainment mini-series, which I just loved.  I often read books based on movies, because you tend to get a bit more plot and insight out of them (at least you do if a decent author is writing it).  This book was not a let down.  If you love fantasy, fairy tales, true love, then you need to read this book. And it'd make a great, light Readathon book!

Under the Dome With My Favorite Author

Sometimes I think Stephen King wrote Misery about his fears regarding me, that I might kidnap him and force him to write endless sequels to Eyes of the Dragon and The Stand.  But Stephen, I would never do that horrible thing to your legs.  Then again, you're a pretty creative person, so it will take a lot to keep you hidden...  Hmmm, maybe Annie Wilkes had it right in the first place.  Moving on...

Under the Dome by Stephen King is utterly awesome.  Yes, it is a bit like the Simpsons Movie, but in the hands of a creative genius like King it becomes a bleak, yet hopeful look at the worst and the best humanity has to offer.  Plus, the main dude's name is Barbie- you've gotta love that.  Under the Dome is not a horror book, but then neither is most of King's books although they are often characterized as such.  There is some horror in between the pages (a little over a thousand of them) but they are horrors we humans are best at creating.  One rarely gets off lightly in a Stephen King novel.

Should you pick up Under the Dome if you've never read a Stephen King novel?  Yes, if you're not daunted by thick books.  The novel starts with action and ends with action, and at least for me, rarely lets up.   If you're a King fan, and especially liked books like Needful Things and Salem's Lot, then you'll no doubt love the author's take on his specialty- small New England towns.  This books has lots of characters- a whole town full, not to mention a few dogs.  It's a lot to take in, but King is great at making you feel like you're reading about people who could be your neighbors, especially the ones who make you want to sell your home.

Here's the basic plot, a small town is suddenly enveloped by a huge and invisible dome.  It goes far enough underground that they are unable to dig beneath.  It allows a small percentage of air and water to penetrate, and it's here King shows his research skills- how the dome will affect the physical health of the inhabitants.  But thanks to a small town despot intent on running the show, it's the mental health of the town that quickly beings to deteriorate. Plus King throws in a psycho killer, a meth head, and a trio of really cool tweens (this may sound a bit like an oxymoron, but occasionally tweens aren't annoying. Yeah, I was shocked too.) to help add to the chaotic conditions under the dome.

Midnight Book Rating?  Full on Midnight, although this book might take you through many midnights before you're done, Stephen King does not disappoint. 

Script Frenzy, or Screnzy for those of us compelled to shorten names.

Script Frenzy is nearly upon us!  This will be the first year that I attempt to write a screenplay (original horror) and I am pretty excited.  After the success of NaNoWriMo I know that if I apply myself I can get it done, even if the end result is a steamy pile of doo doo.  It can't be any worse than some of the horror movies I watch for free off of Fear Net, and somebody not only wrote that suckfest horror movie that starred Lindsey Lohan, but they probably even got paid for inflicting that kind of mental torture on innocent movie watchers.  There's no reason to think that I too can't rise to that level of mediocrity! 

Two of my Okie friends are taking part in Script Frenzy as well, but my one good friend has no lap top.  Hers broke last year (It fell off the back of a chair, she maintains that it committed computercide) and during Nano she borrowed her dad's laptop and managed to get a virus the very last day of the challenge, so she is hesitant to borrow it again.  Bittner is instead saving up her pennies for her own shiny laptop before next November.  Needless to say she's a bit worried that she won't be able to hand write 100 pages of script, but she's going to give it a shot.  Or will she?

See, when I was doing NaNoWriMo last year, one of the ladies at my write ins was using a little portable word processor called an AlphaSmart, and she loved it.  It turns out you can buy one pretty cheap on ebay, so I just ordered one for Bittner (it's kind of an ugly color but any port in a storm, right?).  It's green (or it appears to be green), she's kind of a red head, she'll make it work.  Plus I'm hoping to surprise her.  She doesn't have regular internet access so I doubt she'll read this blog entry... and if she does then she'll know how proud I am of her for sticking to NaNoWriMo even when the going got tough. And the main reason she's doing Script Frenzy is to support our other friend Ame, who'll be assisting the ML.

Here's a pic of the Alpha Smart:

So all I have to do is finish the last of my NaNoWriMo novel.  I kind of collapsed after achieving the 50k and didn't make it quite to the end of the novel, but now I'm almost at the finish line and I'm trying not to get distracted by the bright, shiny and new idea for Script Frenzy.  But, oh, the temptation!

Any of you considering doing Script Frenzy?  I plan on getting an early writing lead so that I can take time off for the 24 Readathon.  April is going to rock!!!

You can find me in Suite Scarlett

Every once and awhile a reading gal like myself catches a break.  Excited over my newly acquired Kindle, I was ready to download books by the buckets.  But then it occurred to me that that plan required a lot of money, money that I really didn't have much of, having blown my book money on purchasing the Kindle.  Lucky me, Amazon occasionally offers books for free. And not just the sucky ones!  Actually, since getting my Kindle, I've read new authors, new genres, and liked them! 

The first book I read on my Kindle was a freebie.  It wasn't from an author unknown to me, I had read 13 Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson last year, and followed her on Twitter- she is wildly hilarious with her tweets.  And for a brief, shiny moment in time Amazon was offering up her book Suite Scarlett for free.  For those of you in the dark, that's $0.00 dollars, which fits into my book budget perfectly. 

Suite Scarlett is about a young teen living in her family's once glamorous but now kind of run down and broke down hotel.  The hotel itself is another character in the book.  Johnson does a great job breathing life into the setting without having the hotel dominate the other characters.  And what great characters!  There's a rich, quirky, former actress that Scarlett is in charge of for the summer, there's her awesome, quirky, handsome older brother, Spencer, and lots of intrigue.  Now, the book is a young adult novel, so I did figure out things before Scarlett did, but as a 32 year old woman, I really enjoyed it.  And I will read the follow up novel, Scarlett Fever, which is no doubt why Amazon briefly made the first book available for free, to get me hooked.  Well, I say well played, Amazon, well played.  It worked.  You want to give me the first book in a series free?  I am on board with that.  And thank you for making it the first book, and not the third or fifth, because I have OCD issues with reading novels out of order. 

Suite Scarlett gets a Midnight Book Rating of 10:30pm, it's a quick, easy, delightful read.  It's no longer free, but with the Read-a-thon coming up just around the corner, it would make a great addition to your TBR pile. 

Oh, and yes, I know I suck for not having blogged in a long time, but I had issues!  I mean, I still have issues, they're just not as issuey now.  And I am reading lots, e-books and regular old paperback/hardback books.  I will catch up, I promise, and bring you lots of reviews and deep thoughts (of the Jack Handey variety) in the weeks to come.  Thanks for hanging in there!