Doctor Sleep

Hello there!

This is my one exception to the series rule for two reasons. 1) Most people have at least heard of The Shining, let alone have read or watched it. 2) It just needs to be talked about. So for all of you that don't know, Doctor Sleep is the sequel to The Shining both by Stephen King. There was a lot of anticipation with this book because The Shining is so good and so well known. But I will wait with my review until I get the main stuff out of the way.

Although, it's breaking my series rule, I'm including it in the challenge because I sat through it.

Angels and Demons

R

M

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Doctor Sleep

I Am Legend

L

L

O

S

Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for my review. Everyone was so excited for it and it was such a let down. There was very little of the original story we loved carried over. It was almost random. I would have liked it better if it was just a stand alone book and not the second part of a book I really liked. I don't want to completely bash this book because there were parts of the story that were good. The characters were well developed and pieces of The Shining that were brought through made the book even better. I liked the concept but I'm not sure it was followed through correctly. I don't think I would suggest this to anyone who has read and loved The Shining. I personally was disappointed. If you are curious go ahead and read it but if you're expecting a book like The Shining you too will be disappointed. I'm not saying don't read it but don't have really high expectations and you'll probably enjoy it. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars because I did enjoy it a little.

Keep reading!

Mackenzie

Fortunately, the Milk

Hey everyone!

So, the next book I read during my break of posting was Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman. I read this while it was very slow at work one day. It barely makes my page minimum clocking in at 114 pages. BUT I finished F already as Desmond told you in that last post. So you will simply have my review and a lovely picture of the cover.

Neil Gaiman, how silly you are. I really am fond of him. His stories are ridiculously silly, which is not very traditional in books. The other nice thing about his books is that they can be children's books AND adult books and not just an adult reading a children's book. This one however, is a children's book. It is far too goofy to be anything but. This story takes you through the adventure of a father who is simply trying to bring his children back some milk for their breakfast cereal. He goes through crazy obstacles and adventures to do so, and it is priority to make sure he gets the milk home. It was a really cute book. I would definitely read this to little kids. You can see Gaiman's imagination running wild with this book, as in many of his books. I gave it a 3 out of 5 stars for the fact that I was an adult reading it, although I did really enjoy sillyness of it, it .would have been better were I child reading it for the first time. I would suggest this to people who have little ones or to little ones reading this blog (?) or even to people who have a great imagination. I enjoyed this very short read and I think you should read it to your wee ones.

Happy reading!
Mackenzie

New FUN rules

Hey everyone!

I've decided to add some flair to my blog. I don't know if I've said this before but when I finish an animal I plan on writing a whole post dedicated to just that animal with pictures and fun facts and such! I'm hoping that adds some more excitement to the blog. Also, when I write a review of a book I'll post a picture of the cover so if you so choose you may find the correct book. Finally, my two year-old nephew, Desmond, is learning his letters and it is absolutely adorable. So when I finish a letter now I will try to post a video of him saying the letter. He doesn't always cooperate and I don't always see him. Or I'll post some other cute video of the letter somehow...?

I have finished F, P, and X. He doesn't know what X is yet. BUT I do have a video of the letter F. This post is brought to you by the letter:

It's just so cute I can't not include it.

Happy reading!
Mackenzie

UPDATE: I have NOT finished the letter "P"

Warriors Don't Cry

Hey everyone!

So since I'm an Education major I was required to take Education in American Society. For this class I was required to read Among Schoolchildren, which I've already reviewed for you all. The second book we had to read was Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Patillo Beals.

Yay!
I still have W's left to fill.

N
A
R
Warriors Don't Cry
H
A
L

This book is the recount of Melba Patillo Beals, one of the Little Rock Nine, and her time integrating previously all white schools. Most of us have heard the stories but this was her story. It was exactly what happened to her and how horrible it really was. We have learned what we know most likely from history textbooks but here's the chance to hear it from a new primary source perspective. I really enjoyed this book because it was a new way of hearing it. I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Happy reading!
Mackenzie

Just a Note

Hey everybody!

I just wanted to do a kind of side note. I don't think it's fair to review books that are further than the first book in the series without actually reviewing the rest of the series. Before I started my challenge I had started the Kay Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell. Soon after I took a break on this challenge I picked up the series again with book #10 Black Notice. After that I read The Last Precinct (11), Blow Fly (12), and Trace (13). There are 22 books in the series so I have nine left to go. It is a murder mystery series, where the main character is the Medical Examiner for the state of Virginia. I do highly suggest the series, it's very good with lots of twists and turns. I do suggest you read them in order because they do follow a story line for a few books on and off and halfway through Cornwell changes the point of view of the books. This is one of my favorite series, so far, despite the length. I'm not going to go into depth of on reviews for those books since I haven't reviewed the first nine, and that is all I will say about them.

My other favorite murder mystery series in the Women's Murder Club series. This is another series I started before this challenge and the books would not fit into the challenge anyway because the book titles start with numbers. I read 12th of Never when I was on my little sabbatical. Again, I'm not going to review for reasons previously stated but I do recommend you read them. They take place in California and it's about a group of women that are all prominent in the crime solving world. They all get together to work on various cases outside of work. I suggest if you do pick up this series to start from the beginning because there is a background story line to follow.

Keep reading!
Mackenzie

Reminder

Hello fellow bookworms!

I just wanted to remind you all of what I have for my list already.

Angels and Demons

R

M

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

D

I Am Legend

L

L

O

S

  

B

Under the Dome

Confessions of a Mask

K

S

C

O

B

R

A

S

  

D

I

N

G

O

S

Ender’s Game

L

E

Persepolis (The Complete)

Happiness Project (The)

Angel in a Fur Coat

Narrative of Fredrick Douglass

Two Towers (The)

S

Funniest Cop Stories Ever

E

N

N

E

Chemist (The)

Fellowship of the Ring (The)

O

X-It

G

O

R

I

L

L

Along for the Ride

S

Hobbit (The)

E

D

G

E

H

O

G

S

I

G

U

A

N

A

S

J

And the Mountains Echoed

C

K

A

L

S

K

Angel Sister

N

G

Among Schoolchildren

R

O

O

S

L

I

O

N

S

M

O

N

K

E

Y

S

N

A

R

W

H

A

L

S

O

C

T

O

Palestine

U

Speaker for the Dead

Perks of Being a Wallflower

E

A

C

O

C

K

S

Q

U

A

I

L

S

R

A

V

E

N

S

S

N

A

K

E

S

T

U

R

K

E

Y

S

U

R

C

H

I

N

S

V

U

L

T

U

R

E

S 

W

H

A

L

E

S

Xenocide

E

N

O

P

S 

Y

A

K

S 

Z

E

B

R

Aunt Jane’s Hero

S

I know in my last post I said I was done with A's but I have a few more left. As far as I've posted, I'm done with F's, P's, and X's and I have yet to finish a word although I am close.

Happy reading!

Mackenzie


UPDATE: I have NOT finished the letter "P"

Long time! and Among School Children

Hey everyone!

I'm back! I see I still have some readers and that gives me hope that maybe I can keep reviewing books on here and maybe even continue with my challenge. So I've read quite a few books since the last time I posted and I plan on reviewing those books starting from where I left off and hopefully fitting them into the challenge. This being said, from here on out not every book will fit in my challenge but I'll still review it for everyone's enjoyment.

So let's start.

Before going MIA I had mentioned I had read a few books and that I was in the middle of a book. The first book on that list was Among School Children by Tracy Kidder.

Luckily this fits in my challenge. It's my last A!

K
Angel Sister
N
G
Among School Children
R
O
O

I'm a little rusty at reviews but here we go:
I highly recommend this book to anyone going into a profession in education. This was a really interesting book. It's based on a real classroom written from a teacher's perspective. As an aspiring teacher I found this book so helpful as well as a good story. It shows the challenges teachers face and the amount of work teachers truly put into their students. Teaching is not just glorified babysitting! I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars because it was funny at points and displays a real classroom to the world.

I'll be back tomorrow with another review
Keep reading!
Mackenzie