The Scorch Trials Cont.

I'm still reading The Scorch Trials by James Dashner. The Gladers have reached the city that they were trying to get to and found a group of savage-like "Cranks". They didn't really get along well with Minho and now their leader Jorge wants to cut of his fingers. After explaining their purposes The gladers formed am alliance with these cranks. Together they might be able to find a cure for the Flare and save the infected world. besides that we were introduced to this batch of new characters. Jorge is the leader of the cranks and doesn't really like to show mercy. Brenda who could be seen as second in-command seems to have taking quite a liking to Thomas. We've also seen Teresa again, but she didn't really do much this time, unlike in the first book where she had this huge role in escaping the maze. I personally don't know what i would do in this situation because i would prefer to not be in this situation. Overall this is still a good book, but like The Hunger Games it's just not as good as the first book, and it's also a little confusing at times just like Catching Fire.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

The Girl Who Played With Fire is quite unlike most books I have read. Though written primarily for adults, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Stieg Larsson's factual, but surprisingly descriptive writing, great characterization and voice, as well as gripping plot clearly have contributed to this book's success as a bestseller. The Girl Who Played With Fire is sequel to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and centers more around the most memorable character from the series, Lisbeth Salander, the misunderstood, ironically declared "incompetent", computer genius. I enjoyed T.G.W.P.W. Fire more than first book of its series because the story began and didn't stop until the very end unlike The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo where Larsson took a very long time to introduce his characters' and premise. In The Girl Who Played With Fire, Millenium magazine is about to publish the most shocking exposé on the sex trade in all of Switzerland's history but a shocking, triple murder has the exposé sliding to a halt. The stakes are heightened, Lisbeth's face is splashed across all the newspapers in Switzerland as the prime suspect in not one but three murders. Nobody knows where Lisbeth is, but Mikael Blomkivist, Millenium co-founder and financial journalist turned detective, is convinced of Salander's innocence. Throughout the book, Salander's murky past is revealed and she is forced to face it. Those parts especially were masterfully written and appealed to the audience emotionally. One problem I have with this novel is a few places which I considered a bit dry but other sections were downright amazing. All in all, I really couldn't put this book down until I saw the end of it and when I finished I was sorely tempted to run to Barnes and Noble then and there. Larsson did a very good job of progressing through the story by switching points of view to many characters instead of one or two. The result wasn't eclectic as one might think but instead added an interest and created a well-rounded piece. Because of Larsson's choice in writing sections from unlikable character's points of view, it made me react more strongly to what was happening and what they were saying. This book was extremely amazing but parts of the book had language that was strong and offensive and scenes that are frightening and mature, because of this, I would not recommend this to others until they are in high school. Though, this is not surprising as The Girl Who Played With Fire is written for adults. Overall, an amazing book and a series that is definitely worthwhile and written masterfully but is probably best if saved for the future.

Perseverance By Marc Trestman

Perseverance By Marc Trestman

If you are looking for a good non-fiction book about sports this is the book you should read. It is written by Marc Trestman (my Uncle) a current Head Coach for the two time defending champions Montreal Alouettes. This book tells the story of Marc Trestman how he persevered and got to where he is today. The book provides details of Marc's former jobs in the NFL as the, Running back coach of the Minnesota Vikings, the Quarterback coach in Tampa Bay, Offensive Coordinator of the Cleveland Browns, Offensive Coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers, Offensive Coordinator at Arizona, the Offensive Coordinator for the Oakland Raider (which made it to the Superbowl), the Assistant Head Coach in Miami. He also played quarterback for the University of Minnesota. He has also mentored quarterbacks such as Jake Locker, Sam Bradford and the recent superstar Tim Tebow. This book also has many details of what he would like to do in the future.

- Ryan

Spray

Spray By Harry Edge is a very interesting book, it involves a popular game as some call assassins. During this game there are about 100 or more players, you get a photo of your target and their name the goal is to find them and eliminate them/spray them with a water gun, then you get their target and so on. This game in the book is very scary because their are at least 500 people playing in a big city and they have to literally stalk them down until they can "shoot" them. It is a very disturbing book and I'm not sure if I will continue to read it. I would not recommend this book to people who are easily scared.

-Ryan

She is the Darkness

This story is a continuation of the Black Company series. This book follows the story of Murgen, the standardbearer of the company. The Black Company is fighting multiple enemies, even if they dont realize it. They are trying to conquer Longshadow, the last of the notorious shadow masters but they also have a goddess trying to bring on the end of the world. Kina, goddess of dealth and deception in the southern territories, comes to Murgen in his dreams, trying to tempt him. She also comes to Lady, who was used as a vessel to carry her new massiah. I find it really interesting that Kina only comes to these two characters, who are so completely different they almost never speak, except when it's about their dreams. I really enjoy how Cook, the author of the series, always has many subplots going on in the story and even connects the books in the series together, which I believe too few authors of series do. An instance of this is how he brought back many of the Ten Who Were Taken, which was the group of wizards that Lady controlled in her Northern Empire. Many authors would have just left them dead as they were believed to be but Cook brought them back which was a very interesting twist and leaves you wondering if more are still alive and about to join the story as a major player in the war.

The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

I've only read a couple of the pages in this book, but it's really good so far. Usually at the beginning of books, it takes a while to get into the real story and sometimes it can be really boring. But The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was different. Right from the beginning it got to the point of the story. A chinese man has a kid and a wife. However, his wife was diagnosed with cancer and passed away. He's dealing with the passing of his wife, but he says it was actually a relief because while she was alive, she was miserable, it hurt everyone to see her suffering, and she couldn't do anything on her own. Now, the man is at the Panama Hotel around a crowd with a bunch of people and news reporters. They found a whole bunch of Japanese items that were covered in dust in the basement of the hotel. The hotel owner explained that she found the "belongings of 37 Japanese families who she presumed had been persecuted and taken away. Their belongings had been hidden and never recovered - a time capsule from the war years." Having that little "dilemma" at the beginning of the book made me want to keep reading it and find out more especially because of my background with living in Japan. I think this book is going to be very interesting.

David Sedaris, When You are Engulfed in Flames.

pgs 1-300/321

This is, as I have said before, a funny book. Before actually thoroughly reading this, I've read a couple of his stories here and there. I'm thinking of reading one of his other books, Holidays on Ice, as it is after all the holidays, and I think it would be a nice way to kill the spare time on the week before Christmas. I have noticed a pattern in all of his short stories, they all are about typically inaproprate subjects. It is as if he is not emberassed to write about any of these events, and enjoys making fun of himself.

If you are looking for a book for over the holidays, I would recommend this book if you're parents don't take a look inside after you've put it down. They would probably think "what in the world kind of book are my children reading," and restrict you from reading it until you're 15 at least. If you're parents don't mind at all what you're reading, than I'd definately recommend this book to you.