The Kari AnnAlysis

Release: May 3, 2005

Sookie Stackhouse is at it again. Her brother experiences his first “shift” to the supernatural and is loving it, but when shifters start getting shot, he’s one of the first people to be questioned. But figuring out who the shooter is is just one of the troubles Sookie is facing. Her house is caught on fire, Bill has a new lady he’s bringing in the bar and since she’s been named a “friend of the pack” to local were pack, she must take part in the ritual to choose a new leader.

This book didn’t really do it for me. I love Sookie and all the twists and turns in the book, but this one didn’t pull me in like the others. I read the first 100 pages in a couple of sittings, but after that it fell off for me.

I think the main turnoff for me in this bok was the ritual of choosing a new were leader. It was very gruesome and although told well, it was just too much for me.

I normally have a lot to say on these, but I’m at a loss for words and not in a good way.

To the point, I give Dead as a Doornail  2 bookmarks and have my fingers crossed that the rest don’t let me down. But, I will say that with the Stephanie Plum series, some books I loved, others I didn’t, so my hopes are still up!

Sookie Stackhouse Series:
1. Dead Until Dark
2. Living Dead in Dallas
3. Club Dead
4. Dead to the World

Teaser Tuesday is brought to you by Should Be Reading. I haven’t taken part in this the past month or so because I haven’t had anything that’s jumped out at me as a tease. But leave it to Sookie Stackhouse to get me going again.

Dead as a Doornail pg 114

“Pulling a stethoscope from a pocket, she knelt by the man and listened to various parts of his body. ’Yep dead as a doornail,’ she said”

I am always a sucker to find in a book or a movie where the title came from.

What are you reading this week?

Musing Monday is brought to you by Just One More Page.

This week’s question is: Where do you keep any books borrowed from friends or the library? Do they live with your own collection, or do you keep them separate? Do you monitor them in any way?

I just recently got my first library book in years. I immediately read it, so it didn’t have a chance to mingle with the others, but I do have a place for borrowed books. I have a book shelf just for books “to be read”. The first shelf holds books I’ve bought. The second shelf contains my Sookie Stackhouse series as well at the Private series. On this shelf, I also put books I’ve won, received from an author/publisher or books I borrow from people.

I try to take extra care of books that I win/borrow/get from library. Unless I love it, I am getting into the habit of hosting giveaways for books I’ve won or ones I’ve received from the publisher. I am trying to keep my shelf space open for ones that I can’t live without

For the Holiday Swap this year, I got Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty. So, I decided I needed the rest of the series. I got Sloppy Firsts, Charmed Thirds and Fourth Comings.   I decided not to get Perfect Fifths yet because I always carry a book with me and I like carrying paperbacks better than hardbacks. The paperback for Perfect Fifths comes out in March. That gives me enough time to get through the rest

I also got LA Candy by Lauren Conrad. I feel like I watched Lauren grow up from Laguna Beach to The Hills. I quit watching the show when I got out of college, but I was really excited when this book came out. But, like already mentioned, I wanted to wait until it came out in paperback.

Now I know I said I got 5 books, but only mentioned 4. The other was a gift for someone that they aren’t getting for a couple of weeks, so I’ll wait until I give it to them to post it, just in case they happen to stop by

This week, I got a lot of presents, to me, from me. Borders.com had a special where you could buy 4, get one free. So, of course, since I had tons o’ gift cards, I took advantage. I got 5 books using gift cards and still have a few dollars left.

Release: January 1, 2002

The Lovely Bones tells the story of Susie Salmon (like the fish). The young girl is walking home from school one day when a neighbor rapes and murders her. All that is found after she is killed is a book, a notebook and her elbow. Her father will stop at nothing to prove the killer is Mr. Harvey.

This book is told from Heaven by Susie. She travels around from her parents lives, to her brother and sister, to a couple of school friends, the lead detective on her case and of course Mr. Harvey.

When I first started reading this book, I absolutely loved it! It was gripping and I loved how Susie narrated it from her Heaven. But about halfway through, and years later, I started to lose interest. The extreme drama at the beginning dropped off, leaving me wanting more.

I know this book isn’t meant to be completely believable, your narrator is in Heaven. But towards the end, there is an “out of body” experience that wrapped up the story, but is very unbelievable. I was ok with traveling around with Susie because I don’t what it’s like in Heaven and don’t know who all is with us and how often, but coming back as someone else, is too much for me.

I really liked that Susie told her own story. And I really liked the idea of Heaven in this book. It got me thinking about what my Heaven would be like. What would be the main buildings, who would I hope to be with me?

This isn’t a book that I wanted to read until the movie came out and we wanted to see the movie. So, I didn’t have much expectations going into it. I had heard a lot of great things about it and while I loved how it was told and the beginning of the novel, it really didn’t do a whole lot for me.

I give The Lovely Bones, 2 bookmarks.

We plan on watching the movie soon, so I’ll be sure to compare and contrast, but I’m having a really hard time now figuring out how the movie will play off the book and work. I’ve heard the Susie narrates it all from Heaven like in the book, I’m just not sure if I’ll like it. We’ll wait and see.