Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – Audiobook Thoughts

Aug 122011

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale
Published in audio by Listening Library, published in print by Scholastic

Synopsis:

What more is there to say about Harry Potter, particularly the first book in the series? Harry is terribly mistreated by his relatives and has a generally miserable life, until he finds out he is a wizard. The discovery is slightly bittersweet when Harry finds out that his parents were brutally murdered by the now-disappeared evil wizard Voldemort.

Thoughts on the story:

It may be that I’ve finally just read this series too many times. I’m starting to see things that don’t quite line up throughout (I blame Michelle for pointing out inconsistencies in book 7 when we watched the movie). I was also struck on this reread at just how ridiculous the opening scene with the Dudleys really is. They might as well have been tying Harry to a railroad track and twirling their mustaches. Honestly, it sort of annoyed me a little. Eventually I was able to get back into the book, but it took longer than usual.

Thoughts on the audio production:

I’ve listened to the rest of the series in audio narrated by Jim Dale before and been impressed, but at times during Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone I distinctly heard Dale make mouth noises, such as lip smacking, which sort of disgusted me and turned me off.

Overall:

I was all excited about going through the series again, but now I’m feeling sort of blah about it. Anyone up for convincingme?

Buy this book from:
Powells: Audio | Print*
Indiebound: Audio | Print*

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And now from a brief word from our friends over at Audiobook Jukebox:

Are you a blogger who reviews audiobooks? Whether you review them regularly, occasionally, or exclusively, there’s a new place to find free review copies for your perusal. The site is called Audiobook Jukebox and we’ve recently started a new program called Solid Gold Reviewers.

The idea is to have a place where audiobook publishers can offer titles for review and reviewers can select those titles which interest them the most. At the beginning of this month, 9 publishers helped us get started by offering 42 titles and over 100 copies for review. I’d like to invite you to check out the guidelines and then take a look at the titles listed.

soundbytes picture I hope you’ll see something interesting to listen to and review. If not, check back next month (we already have some additional publishers who’ve said they’ll contribute). If we all participate, more publishers will contribute more of the audio we love. In turn, we’ll have the chance to tell others about more great listens!

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I’m launching a brand-new meme every Friday! I encourage you to review any audiobooks you review on Fridays and include the link here. If you have reviewed an audiobook earlier in the week, please feel free to link that review as well. Thanks to Pam for creating the button.

Source: library.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson – Book Review

Aug 042011

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
Published by HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins

Ginny’s Aunt Peg has always been incredibly fun, so when Ginny receives 13 blue envelopes from Peg and instructions to fly to Europe, she knows there is something special in store for her. Made all the more special by the fact that Peg has recently died, and must have created all these instructions for Ginny before she passed away. If there is one thing that the envelopes guarantee, it is an adventure.

Maureen Johnson is just such a fun, engaging writer, and 13 Little Blue Envelopes is no exception. Ginny is an adorable, loveable heroine. She has doubts and flaws like any realistic human being, but she manages not to be an overly obnoxious teen, even while she was asserting her independence from the adults in her life. Ginny’s adventure, too, is great fun, and Johnson keeps the story rolling along, while at the same time allowing Ginny some introspection.

All in all, great fun, and I’m intrigued to check out The Last Little Blue Envelope for the conclusion of Ginny’s story.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Personal copy.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Words by Heart by Ouida Sebestyen – Book Review

Jul 272011

Words by Heart by Ouida Sebestyen
Published by Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House

Lena is determined that she is going to win the school’s Bible verse recitation. As the only African American student in the school, a member of the only non-white family in town, she knows that, as much as most members of the town are not hostile towards her and her family, they only see her skin color and not her mind. Getting what you wish for is not always a good thing, though. Between Lena’s success over the white male student who everyone thought was a shoe-in and her father rising in the estimation of his employer, racial tensions begin to surface in their small town. Now, Lena must decide whether she believes in vengeance or forgiveness.

Words by Heart is a great look at faith and racism for young readers. Sebestyen walks a line very well of not shying away from the realities of hatred and the negative consequences, without writing a book too overwhelming for middle grade readers. Largely this is done by the strong message of faith and forgiveness. Lena’s father, in particular, is a proponent of forgiveness and attempts to teach her to forgive as he tries to do.

This is the sort of book I wish I had found when I was younger. While I could definitely appreciate both the story and the message, I know it would have meant quite a bit more to me if I had approached it as a pre-teen. I’m glad I read it, though, if for no other reason than that now I know about it to read with my own children when they are at an age to learn about the horrors of hatred and freedom of forgiveness.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater – Book Review

Jul 182011

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
Published by Scholastic Press

This is the third book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series. This review may contain spoilers for the first two books, Shiver and Linger. I also have a giveaway going on now for Forever.

Ever since her brother Jack was presumed to be killed by them, Isabel Culpepper’s father has had it in for the wolves of Mercy Falls. Of course Isabel knows that the wolves aren’t really wolves at all, but humans who spend time in wolf form, and that they didn’t kill Jack so much as turn him. Luckily Sam is human again these days, as is Cole most of the time, but Grace is finally turning, and has been a wolf all winter. Frankly, Sam has enough to worry about as a suspect in Grace’s disappearance, without worrying about Mr. Culpepper getting together a hunt and directly threatening her life, and the life of the rest of the pack.

There are some really interesting threads of story going on in Forever, particularly in Cole’s development. He is a much more multifaceted character than he was in Linger, especially as he begins to care for Grace and Sam – or at least for what they have together. By this point, Cole and Isabel really get to tell a great amount of the story, especially with Grace spending so much of her time as a wolf.

I think it was the fact that Grace was narrating out of a wolf’s brain so often that made me less enthused about Forever than about Shiver and Linger. Of course I love Sam, how could anyone not? And Isabel and Cole are certainly fascinating and relatively well-developed secondary characters, but it seems that Grace is the anchor of the series for me. With her a relatively small part of the book, narration-wise, I had much less emotional investment in this portion of the story. Luckily it was still strongly-written with an engaging plot, but it just didn’t do quite as much for me as the first three.

Despite my lack of enthusiasm for the third book in the series, I do recommend the Wolves of Mercy Falls series as a whole. Although secrets are kept and parents defied, the relationship between Grace and Sam is built on familiarity, respect, and affection, and it is much more romantic than certain relationships between certain klutzy girls and sparkly vampires, and much more the type of relationship I would like to read about myself and share with teens

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publicist.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Matched by Ally Condie – Audiobook Review

Jun 072011

Matched by Ally Condie, narrated by Kate Simses
Published in audio by Penguin Audio, published in print by Dutton Juvenile, both imprints of Penguin

If you posted an audiobook review today, Tuesday June 7th, please leave your link in the Mr. Linky before midnight Central time (US) and you will be eligible to win a prize.

Synopsis:

Cassia has been looking forward to her Match banquet for a long, long time. The Sorters of Society have this sort of thing down by now, and Cassia is dying to see who her perfect Match is. Amazingly, when Cassia’s Match flashes on the screen at the banquet, it is her best friend, Xander. Almost nobody is Matched with anyone they know, let alone a best friend. Everything gets all the more improbable when she reviews her files later at home and sees the face of another acquaintance, Ky. She is told by the Society that it is all a mistake, that Ky should not have even been in the Matching pool. Initially, Cassia accepts this, but her feelings begin to grow complicated, and she begins questioning even the most basic aspect of the Society.

Thoughts on the story:

SUCH a good dystopian (or negative utopian) novel! Early on, the descriptions of the Society in which Cassia lives reminded me a lot of one of my favorite books, The Giver by Lois Lowry. I was worried that it would be derivative. Certainly there are a number of similarities in the basic setup of the society, both seem idyllic from the outside, or to more naive members of society, but there are very real problems that became obvious as one looks closer. There are moments when Cassia’s confused feelings grow slightly obnoxious (“Xander! Ky! Xander! Ky!”), but it was not overwhelming, and it fit very well with her character.

Actually, I quite appreciated that Matched avoided the ubiquitous YA love triangle even as it puts Cassia between who boys who both might be perfect for her. Yes, she was unsure who to choose, but to Cassia her choice between Xander and Ky is greater than just between the two boys, the choice instead represented remaining a loyal and productive member of Society, or questioning the decisions made by those in power around her. The plotting and characterizations were incredibly well done, and I was left craving the next installment in the series.

Thoughts on the audio production:

I’m certain I could track down an advance copy of Crossed, the next book in this series, if I really so desired. At this point I am purposely not doing so, in order to wait and see if Kate Simses narrates the second book as well. If she does, there is no question in my mind as to whether I will attempt this in print or audio. The pacing of young adult literature works really well in audio, but frequently narrator choice is an issue for me. So many narrators of YA either sound too old, or sound like they are trying too hard to sound young. It can be really awkward. Kate Simses, on the other hand, has both the bearing of a professional narrator and a youthful enough voice that I absolutely believed her as the teenaged Cassia. I would say that she is the absolute best narrator of a young adult book I have yet heard.

One interesting thing about Matched in audio is that Penguin audio used sound effects at certain times. I know for many listeners this can be a huge turnoff, but I thought it was done very well in this case. Occasionally it was used as an announcement over a loudspeaker, or similar things that set the scene of the Society. For more discussion about the issue of sound effects in audiobooks, see today’s Audiobook Week discussion post.

Overall

Matched is a fabulous specimen of YA dystopia/negative utopia, and Kate Simses narration turns the great book into a fabulous audiobook, I don’t think you could go wrong with print or audio.

Buy this book from:
Powells: Audio/Print*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound: Audio/Print*

This review was done with a book received from the library.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins – Thoughts (Spoilers)

Aug 272010

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Published by Scholastic Press

This isn’t really going to be a review, just thoughts about “Mockingjay.” After reading “The Hunger Games” three times and “Catching Fire” twice, and anticipating “Mockingjay” for a year, I think I’m too subjective to do an actual review. For my opinions about the previous books in this series, please see my thoughts on the audios and my reviews of both “The Hunger Games” and “Catching Fire.”

To be completely honest, I was sort of bored at the beginning of “Mockingjay.” Maybe not bored, exactly, but not nearly as excited as I thought I would be. In fact, I sort of wondered why I was up in the middle of the night reading. The fact that Peeta wasn’t around for a long, long time might have been part of it, but I think more it was that Katniss was just sort of moping around, unsure of what she really wanted to do. Plus, she kept ending up drugged in the hospital, which always felt like a slightly cheating way for Collins to get her through situations.

Things started to turn around for me when Katniss went into the first disputed district. I loved how she stood up to Gale, determined to not just kill people who might be innocent. Finally, that felt like Katniss to me. It made me really dislike Gale, though, although he almost won my heart a bit with how he treated Katniss most of the time they were together in District 13.

The most horrifying moment of the whole book – perhaps the whole series – for me was Finnick’s revelation that President Snow had been pimping out the Victors. These are people that have had miserable lives in their districts, been pitted against other teenagers in a kill or be killed contest and manage to live, and now they are sexually abused? I almost threw up. “Mockingjay” got me really attached to Finnick, actually, and I was sort of devastated when he died.

A less devastating death for me was Prim’s. I know a lot of people didn’t like that scene, didn’t realize I was Prim, but I thought that was perhaps the most masterfully written scene in the entire book. I felt that I was truly experiencing the situation with Katniss, and she didn’t initially realize she was watching her sister die either. It seemed fitting to me that Prim died at the end of the series, since the entire thing started with Katniss trying to save her sister. It gave a sense of how much bigger than just Katniss and her family the entire thing had become, but was also a reminder of all that the people of Panem lost under the old regime and during the rebellion, a warning against complacency in the future. Plus, at least if Prim was going to die, she was dying doing something she loved and she felt was important, instead of being forced into the Games.

As to the romantic angle: I am SO GLAD that Collins did not kill off either of the boys. Regardless of who Katniss ended up with, if she had ended up with him only because the other boy was killed off, I would have been very annoyed. I was glad she ended up with Peeta, and glad that she realized that he is the one she needed, even if she hadn’t needed to get away from Gale after his weapon being used against Prim because, again, if she had seemed to end up with Peeta just because of Gale’s weapon I would have been really disappointed.

Buy this book from:
Powells.*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.*
Amazon.*

This review was done with a personal copy.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins – Thoughts on the Audio

Aug 272010

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, narrated by Carolyn McCormick
Published in print by Scholastic Press
Published in audio by Scholastic Audio

This is just going to be a commentary on the audio editions. I have previously reviewed the print versions of both “The Hunger Games” and “Catching Fire.” The following thoughts are completely spoiler-free.

When I first started listening to audio versions of “The Hunger Games” and “Catching Fire,” I was very disconcerted. There is pretty much no way at all that Carolyn McCormick’s voice could pass for that of a teenage girl. Don’t get me wrong, she has a gorgeous voice and I would love to listen to her read literary fiction, but it seemed very odd in the first person narrative of a teenager (incidentally, this is the second Scholastic Audio casting in a row in which I thought at least one narrator sounded far too old for their character – perhaps there is a dearth of narrators who can pass for teens?).

Although I had a hard time with such a mature voice narrating Katniss’s inner-most thoughts and giving voice to her words, McCormick did a fabulous job with the voices of other characters. Between “The Hunger Games” and “Catching Fire,” McCormick appears to have been given direction to actually do a voice for Katniss, instead of narrating in her own voice. Although it was still odd to hear Katniss’s thoughts in McCormick’s voice, it did help me believe her words as those of the teenager a bit better.

McCormick did a fabulous job with most of the voices, and imbued “The Hunger Games” and “Catching Fire” audios with the danger and drama of the books, so over all I would say these are highly recommended, even if her Katniss really had to grow on me. I can’t wait to get the audio of “Mockingjay” for a reread.

I borrowed both of these audiobooks from the library.

Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart – Book Review

Aug 242010

Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart
Published by Egmont USA

Katherine and Anna are twin sisters. Or, rather, they were. Now Anna is dead and Katherine wishes she was too, she has no desire to live without her sister, particularly because she blames herself for Anna’s death. The Centennial Fair in Philadelphia provides Katherine the perfect opportunity to end her life. All she has to do is go to the top of one of the tall buildings at the fair and throw herself off at the right time. Unfortunately, her dead sister’s boyfriend, Bennett, is haunting her like a ghost, trying to keep her from ending everything.

In “Dangerous Neighbors,” Kephart takes us through Katherine’s present grief and guilt, and slowly works through what happened between Katherine and Anna to bring things to this point. As always with Kephart, the writing is absolutely gorgeous and lyrical. People who think that YA books can’t be ‘literary’ would do well to read her work, her writing consistently ranks among the best I’ve ever read.

That being said, I felt that something was missing in the plot and characterizations. Because the entirety of Katherine’s story takes place after Anna becomes involved with Bennett and the sisters begin to grow apart, I didn’t get a good sense of the close relationship the girls had once had, it was notable only by its absence. Yes, I knew that Katherine felt guilty about Anna’s death, but I never learned it on my own, I was simply told repeatedly. I felt that I never got a really good feel for Katherine and her motivations, despite the fact that the entire book was told from her perspective. It seemed to me that so much was given over to making the writing gorgeous (and it really, really was) that not enough attention was paid to the characterization. I would have also liked to see the plot developed a bit more, the book was under 200 pages, so it was not bloated with excess, and could have been a bit longer.

I love Kephart’s work, but this was not my favorite. If a great book for you means beautiful writing first and foremost, then this is a great book and you will adore it. Personally I need more of a balance between writing and plot/characterization, of which there was not as much as I would have liked. If you are like me in what you need from a book, try some of Kephart’s other work, “Nothing But Ghosts” and “Undercover” strike this balance particularly well.

Buy this book from:
Powells.*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.*
Amazon.*

This review was done with a book received from Winsome Media.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater – Book Review

Jul 192010

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

“Linger” is the sequel to “Shiver” and the second book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy. This review may contain some spoilers for “Shiver.” If you haven’t read that book yet, you may want to read that review instead – and maybe you would like to enter the giveaway for both book at the bottom of the post.

Grace and Sam are thrilled to finally be together for good, without the pesky problem of Sam turning into a wolf and never again being human. You see, Sam was a werewolf, turning from wolf and back to human with the changes in temperature. Now, though, Grace and Sam’s biggest problem is the fact that her parents seem to dislike him more and more with every passing day. Until Grace finds a dead wolf in the woods. After that, she begins to get strange headaches, fevers, and nosebleeds. An illness that others pass off as simply a virus, but Grace knows is something more. After finding a way to stay together, are Grace and Sam going to lose each other yet again?

“Linger” took “Shiver” and made it ever so much better.

Don’t get me wrong, I really liked “Shiver,” but “Linger” was a much richer, fuller story. Many people complained about Grace’s parents absenteeism, but now they start to wake up and are actually somewhat present in Grace’s life. In addition, the relationship between Grace and Sam becomes more realistic. The reader sees both of them spending time doing things apart and with other people, instead of being together all of the time that Grace isn’t in school. They clearly care about one another, but they are still their own people – even Sam who hasn’t had that much opportunity to be a person. I also just thought that Cole and Isabella’s storyline was much better developed than Jack and Isabella’s storyline was in “Shiver.” I would have liked to see a little more with Olivia’s story, however.

If you were on the fence about the Wolves of Mercy Falls series, I think that “Linger” should tip you towards yes. If it is any indication of where Stiefvater is going with this series, I cannot wait for the last book in the trilogy. Highly recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells.*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.*
Amazon.*

This review was done with a book received from Stiefvater’s publicist.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Werewolves where? – Guest Post by Maggie Stiefvater, author of Shiver and Linger

Jul 192010

Maggie Stiefvater is the author of the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, the first two editions of which – “Shiver” and “Linger” – are available at your local bookstore. She is also the author of the A Gathering of Faerie series.

I get asked a lot about what it is that attracted me to the werewolf legend and how long I’ve been a fan of werewolves and what werewolf novels inspired me. I always feel a little silly when I have to tell readers that I really am not a werewolf person at all. I fell into them by accident — a fortuitous combination of me wanting to write a bittersweet love story and finding a werewolf short story contest at the same time. In my brainstorming for the contest, I put together the plot of Shiver, or “Still Wolf Watching,” as the short story was called. I wasn’t immediately sure that I could pull off an entire novel about werewolves. But I was sure of one thing: if I did, there would be no slobbering.

Technically, my werewolves are shape-shifters (at least that’s what they tell me), not true weres. Because when it’s winter, they are wolves; pure wolves, no touch of humanity. And when it’s summer, they’re humans; no touch of slobbering. I really didn’t want to write horror. I wanted to write about losing your identity, and I didn’t want to bury the pain of that behind a whole bunch of half-human half-wolf antics. It’s difficult to maintain a bittersweet mood when your protagonist’s lover is mauling a check-out clerk. But while being a wolf? Natural wolves are enigmatic and beautiful and sometimes cruel. They don’t need more spectacular special effects. The loss of conscious human thought is enough.

That’s not to say I didn’t read up on werewolves — but apart from laughing over some more hilarious bits of German legends, I found much more to love in wolf documentaries. No danger of me revamping Teen Wolf any time soon.

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Be sure to follow Maggie @mstiefvater and Kristi @thestorysiren before the party!
Anyone who tweets during the party using #Linger is entered to win a limited edition Linger tank top!
Watch for questions from @thestorysiren and win awesome prizes including an iPod Touch, Maggie’s artwork and gift cards!
To join the party, you can use our official party tweetgrid or just search #Linger on Twitter.
Ask Maggie questions or chat with other partygoers—just use the tag #Linger in all of your party tweets! (This is added automatically in TweetGrid.)
Please don’t post any spoilers and don’t forget to pay attention to the time zones, the party starts at 8:30pm EST.

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Devourer of Books

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – Audiobook Thoughts

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson – Book Review

Words by Heart by Ouida Sebestyen – Book Review

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater – Book Review

Matched by Ally Condie – Audiobook Review

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins – Thoughts (Spoilers)

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins – Thoughts on the Audio

Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart – Book Review

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater – Book Review

This review was done with a book received from Stiefvater’s publicist.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Werewolves where? – Guest Post by Maggie Stiefvater, author of Shiver and Linger

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This review was done with a book received from Stiefvater’s publicist. * These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

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This review was done with a book received from Stiefvater’s publicist.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.