February 28, 2009

Mysteria Lane stories collection

Filed under: Light Reading, Paranormal Romance, Romance, Vampires — Tags: , , , , — susan @ 10:43 am

Several great authors add up to zero in this light-hearted science fantasy story collection.

What a great idea, to have this little funny town rife with mermaids, demons, vampires, and many folks with various magical talents. Each person has a story to tell, and the town itself is almost a character! I love paranormal romance, especially when it’s fun and easy and funny. But this book was just too much fluff for me to swallow, it was like trying to eat cotton candy for dinner.

With other books enticing me from my nightstand, I put this book down several times. I kept trying to come back to it later thinking maybe I just wasn’t in the mood. But, for whatever reason I just could not get into this book.

It could be with the short story format, there just wasn’t enough story for me to get invested in the characters. However, if you are bored, you prefer short stories, or you are looking for an easy light read, then you will like this book. These stories were well written.

There are four authors, four short stories in this collection. All are very talented writers. Here is a list of the authors below.
Mary Janice Davidson
Susan Grant
Gena Showalter
P.C Cast

I know MaryJanice Davidson and really like several of her other books series, including the vampire queen Betsy and Fred the mermaid. They are silly but have substance.

If you are looking for an easy read, sometimes cotton candy can be a fun break from a healthy diet of serious reading! Otherwise, you might want to avoid this collection and look for a book you can sink your teeth into.

Big Words for Little People by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell

Filed under: Childrens — Tags: , , , — susan @ 10:23 am

Book: Big Words for Little People
Author: Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell
Blog By: Susan Burgett, Stay-at-Home Mom Extraordinaire

This book is a great idea implemented into a great book. It is so special, that I even paid full price for it. And THAT is the most phenomenal endorsement coming from me, the consignment queen who has bought hundreds of children’s books at garage sales.

When she got this book at three, my daughter really loved this book and for at least the first week she picked it as her bedtime book every night. She really enjoys practicing her “big words” she learned from the book, her favorites are “privacy” and “disgusting”.

After all, why do we feel the need to talk down to our preschoolers? At three, my daughter surprised me with words in her vocabulary like “astronaut”, “similar”, and “elevator”. So showing her even more “big words” seemed like a spectacular idea.

This book also isn’t just about words; there are a few sections that are more poignant. It uses important words, like privacy and patience to teach life lessons in a light and easy manner. One section I think is very special is about the big word “different”. The book says, “Different is what makes this world so great. Different is never something to hate.” What could be more important to teach our children!?

The second section close to my heart is about the word “love”. Love is a shorter word, but as the book says, “but not all Big Words are as long as the rest.” Curtis talks about family and love and it is very sweet.

If you can’t afford to buy this book, grab it from your local library. It won’t change your life, but it will give you a few minutes of learning and joy. :-)

February 26, 2009

Fancy Nancy Explodes onto Toddler Scene

Filed under: Childrens — Tags: , , , — susan @ 3:58 pm

Fancy Nancy Explodes onto the Toddler Scene, featuring the Fancy Nancy books by Jane O’Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser.

Let me be the first to say that I hate the fact that every kids character is marketed a hundred different ways and sold over and over to children on a daily basis. Do we really need Disney Princess lunchboxes, Dora backbacks, Thomas the Train computers, Diego fruit snacks, and Batman shoes? Okay, so you get the point.

But somehow it seems better to me when the madness brings children more interest in books and reading. (Plus, I have to admit that we have BOUGHT these things because my little daughter will actually only WEAR her shoes that have Dora on them and not the plain ones. :-) )

Fancy Nancy is the latest such character to hit the market with a HUGE splash. She is pink and frilly, and adorable, and my favorite part is she likes “fancy words”. Q: What better way to teach children to speak intelligently!? A: Make it cool and fun!

These books have only been out a couple years and already Fancy Nancy has become a marketed phenomenon, with dolls, costumes, toys, and games. But hey, they can still be good books, right? These books, Starting with “Fancy Nancy” are great fun, and better yet, they make my preschooler want to use big words and sound intelligent.

Some parents don’t like Fancy Nancy because they believe she emphasizes material things. But, I believe that the author is simply emphasizing the frivolity that every little girl goes through, loving to get dressed up and wear high heels and be “fancy”. And it doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, black or white, anyone can be fancy - with the right accessories, of course. Ribbons, paper tiaras, christmas ornaments, hats out of a magic kit, and lace from the furniture aren’t exactly Haute Couture. LOL

I should say not EVERY Fancy Nancy book is a work of art. Out of the 16 plus Fancy Nancy books out there right now, with many more on the way, here are some of my favorites:

Fancy Nancy by Jane O’Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser
(original self-title)

Fancy Nancy’s Favorite Fancy Words by Jane O’Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser
(an A to Z word extravaganza)

Fancy Nancy: The Dazzling Book Report by Jane O’Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser
(explains what makes a good book is not just the cover)

Fancy Nancy Sees Stars by Jane O’Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser
(showcasing stars, constellations)

Maybe you can just buy the books, if you have a little girl, and avoid all the other Fancy Nancy products out there, good luck!!

February 25, 2009

Final Philip K. Dick book…

Filed under: Science Fiction - Fantasy, Technology, Thriller — Tags: , , — david @ 5:31 pm

Philip K. Dick’s widow is self-publishing a reworked version of the book that Dick was working on when he died. Story

Entitled The Owl in Daylight, the book is about a computer AI designed to run and amusement park but that gets bored and decided to rebel instead. This sounds a lot like a couple of my favorite Lincoln Child books: Death Match and Utopia.

Tessa Dick has said that the version is “an attempt to express ‘the spirit’ of Dick’s proposed book.” Unfortunately, little was known about the book aside from a letter written to his editor and agent. That alone makes this not a true Philip K. Dick book in my mind…at least not like my favorites: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and A Scanner Darkly.

Perhaps the most concerning item, however…is that Tessa Dick admits that there has not been much interest in her writing lately. Even for the rework of The Owl in Daylight. That’s why she is self-publishing the book. Given that Hollywood continues to make movies out of Dick’s books and popular authors like Child continue to draw inspiration from them, I would think that publishers would jump at anything with Philip K. Dick on the cover.

All that being said…I’ll probably still buy the book. Even if it’s not a true Philip K. Dick book…maybe it’s at least channeling him.

February 24, 2009

Up, Up and Away… Some Airplane Books for Kids

Filed under: Childrens — Tags: , , , , , — susan @ 4:05 pm

We recently visited the National Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio with our four year old daughter. Since she is so young, we thought that she would enjoy all the planes but that it might be overwhelming.

We prepared by talking about planes and transporatation, coloring plane pictures, flying toy and paper planes, and reading plane books. This was a great educational experience.

In order to prepare, I went out on the Air Force website and they have lots of educational resources. This link has coloring pages and suggested reading.
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/education/kids/index.asp

Below are some of the books we read to prepare:

This plane by Paul Collicutt
My favorite of all the plane books I could find, because it was entertaining and educational. A cute and simple story and great pictures to show balloons, bi-planes, jets and more. Shows them in historical context, so great for explaining the evolution of flight (as much as you can to a preschooler. LOL)

I love planes! by Philemon Sturges
A great and educational book. So few preschooler books show realistic pictures. These were painted and colorful and accurate. Collicutt shows all different types of planes and balloons, with their propellers and wings in the right places. :-)

Up! by Kristine O’Connell George
A very simplistic book for younger kids. It is a very basic action and word book with cute giant pictures. George introduces motion, movement, and pretending to be a plane.

While visiting the museum we spoke about the invention of the plane, and how planes fly all over the world, and how people even fly to space! Even if you can’t make it to a museum you could cap off this fun and easy lesson by visiting your local airport! Kids love to watch the planes take off and land. For two days after, Emma said she was going to be a pilot or astronaut when she grew up.

February 23, 2009

The Nation Guide to the Nation, by Richard Lingeman

Filed under: Book News — Tags: — david @ 12:06 am

Here’s an interesting new book that was released just last month. The premise is simple: if you’re a liberal trapped in a non-liberal area, this book will help you find other outcasts like yourself. This book highlights what I consider to be the most outdated, damaging element of our current political system: geographic distribution of political influences.
Growing up and living most of my life in Kansas, I’ve never known what it’s like to live somewhere where my Presidential vote counted. It doesn’t matter whether I vote Republican or Democrat…there is no possibility that my vote can have any impact. I understand the logic behind creating the system at the time…communication took weeks or months and a true counting of actual votes was simply not feasible. Today, however, we get holographic news anchors giving us tenth-of-a-percentage-point-accurate reports before the polls even close. Not only is a true election by majority vote possible today, I feel it is a moral imperative. In 2000, Al Gore should have won the election based on the votes of 102 million people rather than George Bush based on the votes of 9. (I don’t care on which side of the fence you sit, if you can be objective, this should be obvious.)
While I’m all for helping people find others who share their interests and ideals, the fact that there is a book for it seems odd. I’ll likely pick up a copy, however…because I’m interested in finding out where those commie bastards are hanging out near me…so I can go share my like-minded beliefs and help figure out how to ensure that no other Bush ever gets elected (sorry, Jeb). ;-)

February 20, 2009

Prey, by Michael Crichton

Filed under: Light Reading, Technology, Thriller — Tags: — david @ 8:02 pm

Prey Prey by Michael Crichton



My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
Like most Michael Crichton books, the story was well developed and I enjoyed learning about the characters.



What bothers me about Crichton books, however, is the technophobia that sometimes accompanies them. I can’t fully explain why, but this one was particularly bad. I came away from the book thinking that Crichton would be happier living in a log cabin in central Wisconsin. Usually I can dismiss this by reminding myself that without the technology going horribly wrong, there wouldn’t be a story. In this case, however, I just couldn’t get past what seemed like preaching against the evils of technology.


View all my reviews.

Going on a Road Trip? Kid’s Books to Get Them Ready for the Road…

Filed under: Childrens — Tags: , , , , , — susan @ 12:18 am

My hubbie and I just spent 14 hours in the car with a rambunctious 4 year old and a little baby. It was our first time traveling as a family, and I was dreading getting into that minivan.

My daughter, who has enough energy to power a rocket ship to Mars (and that’s before her nap) is not known for her ability to sit still. But she does love to read, and I wanted to prepare her as much as possible the few days before the trip.

I went on a quest, to find the perfect book to show in words and pictures a nice little preschooler sitting quietly in the back seat smiling. OK, you get the idea. The following were some great, simple preschooler books that I found at the local library. She enjoyed reading them and I felt like she got a good brainwash on (or at least she got the idea we would be in the car a long time, and it might be an interesting experience).

Kid’s Books to Get Them Ready for the Road…
Road Trip by Roger Eschbacher
Cows Going Past  by Bruce Balan
We’re Going on a Trip  by Christine Loomis
Dinos on the Go by Karma Wilson

Road Trip by Roger Eschbacher
Of all the books I filtered through, about travel and cars, my favorite was “Road Trip” by Roger Eschbacher. When talking about traveling in a car, it’s hard to explain to a preschooler without sounding too complicated or scary. I also didn’t want it to sound like we were prepping for a big holiday, because our trip was a functional one and we weren’t going to Disneyland at the end. Road Trip was the perfect book to explain, well, a road trip. Great big pictures, easy verbage, it was perfect for a preschooler to understand.

Cows Going Past by Bruce Balan
Cows going past was funny and I thought it was great in combination with the other more explanatory books. This was a light-hearted way of sharing that we would be driving through a lot of country for a long time. She even brought the book with her and pointed out the window at some of the cows as she read.

We’re Going on a Trip by Christine Loomis
This book was great, if a little complicated for what I needed, since we were only going in the car. But it would be a perfect book for those who might be traveling by train, plane, taxi, bus, etc. It was also educational for my daughter, who has never traveled. I thought it a great companion to the Road Trip book, and gave her a bigger picture of what traveling was all about.

Dinos on the Go by Karma Wilson
This book wasn’t really a ideal for “preparatory” or “educational” purposes, but it was cute and funny and it was quickly a favorite of my 4 year old. Also, I thought it was helpful to have multiple books about travel on hand, to get her thinking about the trip and preparing for road travel. These dinos use every form of transportation, bikes, trains, planes. It was a good way to highlight traveling for a preschooler, by laughing with cartoon dinosaurs. That and I couldn’t pry it from her hands. :-)

BTW, our trip was a success and we were very lucky with the baby in the car. Not too much crying or drama, while driving either on the way there or back. Our four year old behaved fantastically and amazingly she only asked “are we there yet” once, in 14 hours.

Maybe it was because she took in the car with her more movies and books and games than I had in my entire childhood combined. Or maybe it was because of the great books we read to get ready for our road trip adventure!

February 19, 2009

Pop Goes the Weasel By James Patterson

Filed under: Detective Novel — Tags: , , , , , , — susan @ 10:37 pm

Book: Pop Goes the Weasel
Author: James Patterson
Blog By: Susan Burgett, Avid Suspense Reader

I found this a very solid suspense novel with a good plot. Multiple murders going undetected in a poor area except for one decent detective (Detective Alex Cross from previous line of books) who fights for justice. An interesting premise, and the suspense and action was great. I loved that I didn’t know what was going to happen next.

The only issue was, in several parts of the story, the writing came across as hokey. The writing style was not like other Patterson books that I have read. It kept throwing me so much as I read, I was shaking my head. I found out later that Patterson doesn’t write all his own books. The person who wrote this had a VERY feminine voice, which some might enjoy but I found it awkward in a suspense novel. From the voice of the tough burly black detective, who wants to hear the gooey love-sick thoughts? I found it distracting and somewhat annoying.

Just as much of the book is told from the vantage of the killer as the detective, so this book is not for someone looking for some light and funny reading. But it was great as the reader, to see the whole story unfold and yet enough was held back that I could not puzzle out what was going to happen next.

*Spoilers*

 I enjoyed this book but thought it was a little frustrating. It’s great to have suspenseful plot and an intelligent nemesis, but come on! Great depth of characters with awesome dialog was marred by extremism.

For instance, the main character Cross is a bleached-out hero who spends his free time with needy kids and working at a food kitchen when not with his two perfect children. And his nemesis is a really, really creepy bad guy, who, of course hates life, hates everything, and even wants to kill his own little children.

It was worth the read, but only if you don’t have anything else at hand. Not one of the better Patterson books.

Pride and Prejudice…21st Century Style!

Filed under: Book News, Horror, Paranormal Romance, Romance — Tags: , , , , — david @ 1:26 am

There is something strange afoot in the Jane Austen section of your local library. The links below describe two remakes of the classic Pride and Prejudice that utilize more modern characters to spice up the narrative for today’s discerning readers. Specifically, aliens and zombies. That’s right…here come Pride and Predator and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. (You think I’m making this up…but look at the link to Amazon!)

Clearly, it must be April Fool’s day and I’m just not aware of it. But these stories are from Australia and the UK (respectively)…and I’m pretty sure they don’t both celebrate April Fool’s day on the same date in February.

Anyway…I was never a big fan of Jane Austen in school. So once I got out of school and was no longer obliged to read her work, I didn’t. However, now that some of the “chick lit-ness” (as my wife would say) has been removed and replaced with both brain eating and bad ass aliens with dreadlocks…I might just have to give ol’ Jane another chance. In fact, the author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies claims to have reused about 85% of the story’s original text. Now I know why I never liked her work…it’s not that it’s slow and overly mushy…it’s that it’s missing the 15% about the brain eating zombies!

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25025871-5012749,00.html

Pride and Predator: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/feb/17/pride-and-predator-to-give-jane-austen-extreme-makeover

NOTE: There is a book titled Pride and Predator by Sally Wright that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Jane Austen or the Predator.

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