We're on a roll, I guess, with the princess theme....I had to listen to a Meg Cabot story next. Although I've only seen The Princess Diaries on the TV screen, the flashbacks to it in this fourth story of Princess Mia were not too confusing.

The narrator for this audio edition (Clea Lewis) did a remarkable job capturing the youth, (humorous) ignorance, and overall character of Princess Mia. The other character's voices didn't sound too overdone, yet they were easily extinguishable. Lily's voice (her best friend) had an "artsy edge" to it, while Michael's was soft and calm, while definitely more masculine.

As I mentioned before, this (audio) book flashbacks often to the previous stories, which was good at first, but then got a little overdone. I loved how Mia was oblivious to her "true talent" and the antagonists were not too cliched or underdeveloped. Mia learns that people aren't as easy to categorize as she thought, and learned to have sympathy and even empathy for her hard-core grandmother.

Speaking of audio books, I tried out, Sleeping Freshman Never Lie earlier this year, also in audio book format. The book was highly recommended and I thought that the full cast would be interesting. Well, plainly, it stank. The main character's voice (Scott) was really annoying after a while. The other characters were either hard to distinguish from one another (his many young male friends, for instance) or equally annoying (his mother and father). The worst part of all was the way they added lullaby music to the parts when Scott was writing in his diary to his little brother (who is in vitro). The words, "ball of slime," and, "creepy alien," and other terms he uses before his brother has a name just sound idiotic on audio. However, as this was an ALA Best Books for Young Adults and recommended as hilarious by several other respected readers/friends of mine, I just had to try the print version. Results? Much, much better. The diary part wasn't nearly as annoying, the voices weren't confusing, and I really got into the story as Scott grew up during his freshman year. I still wouldn't rate this as one of my favs, but it was decently funny and the characters had some kind of depth (although the way that Wesley changed was a little unbelievable).

To broaden my horizons within the genre manga, I picked up Bleach 3: Memories in the Rain. It's the story of Ichigo, who can see ghosts. It's the anniversary of his mother's death, the description of which is not unveiled until about a third of the way through. Not having read the first two, I had to figure out that Ichigo's skill in seeing ghosts has allowed him to become a soul reaper, someone who leads the newly dead across. The story jumps back and forth between past and present, and doesn't always stick to Ichigo's point of view, so it can get a little confusing. It was difficult to figure out the characters, jumping in to the third book in this series, so I'll probably get the first to help solidify my understanding of the events in this one. Overall, not bad! Reading backwards feels normal now :)

Chick Flicks

When our Netflix envelope came on Wednesday (we got a trial subscription in order to get some hard-to-find films and fell in love!), my poor husband didn't suspect that The Devil Wears Prada would be our Friday night flick. I had been wanting to watch it for a while, just because I have a love/hate relationship with fashion like the main character. However, while waiting for it to move up our Netflix queue, I happened to read the book.

The novel version was certainly far better than the film, as the characters were more developed and Miranda was just pure evil (see above link for a good discussion of film versus book). It was fun to get caught up in the world of fashion, despite my anti-materialistic attitude. However, the film was barely watchable. Mostly because it different so much from the book. Miranda was almost likable and the "gay guy makes over the girl," gets old. Also, I'm not typically a chick-flick watcher, because they are so formulaic! Understated girl gets a makeover and gets the guy/falls in love by the end. I also get annoyed with Anne Hathaway, who seems to be type-cast as the "quiet/shy girl turned beauty-queen." My husband is even less into chick-flicks than I am (his last pic was Charlie Wilson's War, which was pretty good!), but once I mentioned Anne Hathaway, he sat down and "somehow got through it." Next up on our movie queue? Lawrence of Arabia. Guess who picked that one....(it wasn't the vegan in our house).

Now I'm turning to some different reads.... Bleach 3 (manga) and Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning, by James W. Fowler. I'm trying all kinds of graphic novels and manga, trying to figure out which series and styles I enjoy so I can make better recommendations to the teens I work with. The other book was checked out from the "library" at my fellowship. I am constantly analyzing my spiritual journey, and this book just called out to me! It's great so far, with its definitions of "faith" versus "beliefs," and how those terms have changed over time.

But what's in my car? The audiobook of Princess in Waiting, by Meg Cabot. Guess I just can't escape Anne Hathaway. Have you seen my shoe collection??

Reading and Eating

Since I already have a foodie blog, this one will be for the other love of my life... books! I have been a voracious reader since childhood (about Kindergarten) and have finally fulfilled my lifelong dream to become a librarian (and a public librarian, to boot, which was my ultimate goal!). I work with young adults (a.k.a. teens) in Virginia, which means most of my current reading is YA literature. However, I try to find time to read, "adult" titles, so once in a while I will blog about them here as well! I hope visitors to this blog will post about their own favorite titles and respond if they've read the same ones. Recommendations are always welcomd!!

This week, I've been listening to a Juvenile book, actually, as part of my job on the Mock Newbery Committee at our library system. I finished, "Bird Lake Moon," by Kevin Henkes last night. It was an audio book and since I have a short commute, it took me a little while to finish. It is the story of two boys going through difficult times, who meet through coincidence at Bird Lake. Twelve-year-old Mitch and his mother are staying at his grandparents' house after his father left them for another woman. Ten-year-old Spencer, whose older brother, Matt, drowned at the lake eight years ago, is visiting the house with his family as they try to decide whether or not the tragedy will affect their ability to live or vacation there. As Mitch tries to deal with his parents' impending divorce, he falls in lovce with Spencer's family's house, and struggles with the seemingly-perfect family live they also enjoy.

Bird Lake Moon was really good in the beginning - great character development and very descriptive, especially with regards to the setting and people's actions. However, by about two-thirds of the way through, I was ready for it to be over with. I don't know if it was the reader (Oliver Wyman) that was the problem (his different character voices, especially Lolly's, the little sister, began to grate on me), or that the ending was just dragged out. A nice story about friendship, but not much action. The moon (part of the title) seems to get thrown in at the end of the book. On my rating scale of 1-4 stars, I give this about a 2 1/2, maybe three.