Artemis Fowl: Time Paradox

I just finished reading the latest installment of Artemis Fowl. I enjoyed this one and it makes you think about the things you would like to go back and change. But, I'm always in a stupor about some of these time travel things. At least in Back to the Future when he travels back and alters the past his "present" life changed, but why didn't he? In the book Artemis' present life doesn't change like it does in Back to the Future. He just happens to bring back an evil genius pixie with him. So I thought that was wierd.
Artemis's mother has contracted a fairy disease because Artemis used magic on her...or so he thinks. The only cure is brain fluid extracted from an extinct Lemur, which he was responsible for. 8 years prior he kidnapped the last lemur and sold it to the Extinctionists. In order to save his mother he has to go back in time and undo what he has already done and go against himself. Of course, when he comes back he finds out that Opal had taken over his mother's body and had staged the whole thing because she wanted the Lemur's brain fluid so that she could be all powerful and invincible...as all maniacal geniuses want. Artemis discovers that because he went back in time to change all of this he allowed Opal to come to the future and arrange all of this and make it so that Artemis would bring the Lemur to her. He discovers that if he would have left things the way they had happened, things in the present wouldn't have gotten so out of hand. His mother was not in any real danger. I didn't quite understand this whole part...but ok!
The author left it wide open for another book which is great because I really like these books. I wonder what Opal Koboi will do next? What if she releases her present self from confinement? What kind of havoc will this evil pixie wreak on the fairy world? Or the human world for that matter.
Anyway, it was a good book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love books that only take me a few days to read instead of a few weeks!

Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Another great mystery by Agatha Christie! I really liked this one. For those of you who don't know much about her novels (like myself) I guess she has several different mysteries categorized by Ms. Marple and Hercules Poirot. I have now read the first one of each series and I like them both. I like Ms. Marple in the fact that she is older, a woman, and not in everybody's face about things. She just sits back and "watches." Hercules Poirot is an actual detective. In this novel he was "retired" and had come to live in this town to live a peaceful, retired life. But of course, there is a case for him to solve. I have to admit that I was very shocked at the end of this book. I had suspected this person at the beginning, but immediately dismissed him, as all the other characters did as well. Unfortunately I cannot give anything away about this book because it would spoil the entire story. But, it was very good. With Poirot you get to walk in the detective's footsteps and follow along with him on the case. The story is not written from his perspective, but the person whose perspective it is-follows him on the case every step of the way. Although Poirot is French and hard to understand sometimes, you like him and try to think like him. I kept going back to my original suspicions about this particular person, but could never find any real evidence to support that it was him. Read this and then we can chat. I hate reading these types of books and then trying to give a review because the whole review could be a spoiler alert...but this was very good and I thoroughly enjoy reading Agatha Christie. She is my new favorite author!

The Trapp Family Singers

I read the book about the Von Trapp Family-the Sound of Music. I was surprised to find that the movie only comprised about 100 pages or so of the book. The rest of the book was about what happened after the went up into the hills. I really enjoyed it but have to say that I don't if Maria was a real person. I mean she never complained about anything and always found the positive in everything. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that she can be so positive, but I was getting kind of sick of her cheery disposition about everything. I mean throw a fit already! Things did not go so well for all the time and nobody is really that positive are they?
Anyway, enough of that. I liked it and it was nice to know what happens after the movie. I've always wondered if they escaped and what happened to the family after the war, where they went and what they did. And now I know. If you like the movie you'll like the book. I only say that because if you don't care about the hills being alive with the sound of music, then you won't care about what happens to the family. I have to warn you though, this is not an easy read. I like to read at night in bed when it's nice and quiet and I could not get through more than a few pages without falling asleep. I don't know why it's so hard to get through, but it is. Enjoy!

Agatha Christie's Murder at the Vicarage

So, I'm not a huge mystery fan because I can usually guess the culprit before the end. Sometimes it's so obvious that it's not even fun. Plus, I'm kind of a paranoid person and then I start thinking that these things can really happen and I start dreaming about them in my sleep and they are happening to my family. So, I just try to avoid them altogether. However, for bookclub next month we are reading an Agatha Christie book called Murder at the Vicarage. I've heard a lot about Ms. Marple and so I was actually interested in reading this book. I thought that this one was the first of Ms. Marple but I am not sure on that. I expected it to be written from Ms. Marple's perspective, but it wasn't. It's from the Vicar's perspective. Anyway, I won't give any of the details away because, after all, it is a mystery, but it is very good! My dad wrote a Murder Mystery for a dinner party and he wrote it so well that only one or two people have actually figured it out. In fact, I don't think anybody has actually figured out the whole thing but they have guessed either the "weapon" or the murderer, but I don't think they've guessed both. Anyway, this story was written in kind of the same fashion. There were a few minor details that played a big role in solving the mystery. It's very good. I'm sorry that I can't do any better than that in details but I don't want to give anything away. My only complaint is that I did get a little lost in the language of the Vicar. He doesn't say "thee's and thou's" but it is British and I felt that some things ran together and I had to go back and reread what I had just read because it didn't make any sense. But other than that, no complaints here! My husband and I like to watch Perry Mason at night and try and figure it out. This was very much a Perry Mason kind of thing. I'm going to try and see if they made a movie of this particular book because I know that there are several made-for-tv movies of Agatha Christie's books. This is a great read even if you don't like mysteries!!

Battle of the Labrynth

This is the fourth book in the Percy Jackson series. I love these books! They just get better and better. I'm almost sad to read the last book. I don't want it to end. These books remind me of Harry Potter. They are not as "complex" as HP was. There are not as many puzzle pieces, but they are still action packed and have many twists and turns that keep the story going.
In this book they are trying to find their way through the labrynth in order to stop KRONOS from rising and waging war on their world. Percy is now just getting into the "girl stuff" and can't quit figure it out. It's actually kind of funny how oblivious to things he is. Maybe that will be his greatest quest. They finally find a lost god and learn things about a few of the other "lesser" gods.
Very good. I couldn't put it down and once again stayed up late to finish it. If you haven't started these books by Rick Riordan you need to. Very entertaining and fast paced. You won't be able to put them down!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I have heard a lot about this book. I've had a lot of friends reading it for various book clubs and have wanted to read it for some time. I was at the library the other day and they were having a book sale. This book was on the table for 50 cents so I thought, why not? I'm so glad that I paid 50 cents because it was such a great book!!!!!!!
This book is written in letters and correspondence. There is a main character, Juliet, and it's her letters to various people and their letters to her. I really liked this style of writing because I felt that I was getting to know the characters as individuals and not as...well...characters.
It's set in a time just shortly after WWII in London/the Channel Islands. During the war, Juliet wrote several articles for a local newspaper under the assumed name of Izzy Bickerstaff. After the war, her editor friend decided to collect all the articles and make them into a book. During the German Occupation, a few people that lived on the Channel Islands in Guernsey had read the book and wrote to Juliet about it. It was revealed in one of the letters that they had somehow (quite by accident and desperation) formed a group called the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Juliet, being quite intrigued by this strange group, wrote back and wanted to know more about the Society and how it came to be. She was in the process of thinking up another idea for a book and a few more articles for the newspaper. She decided to write about this fascinating group.
Each page (or letter I should say) is a different emotion. One page you'll be laughing out loud, the next you'll be angry. Then you are sad and then you turn the page and you are laughing again. The language is so beautiful and captivating right from the beginning. The story is hilarious and heart warming at the same time and you feel like you are a part of the Society.
One of my favorite parts about the book is that it was about other book lovers and the different books they loved. One guy (yes guy) would only read cookbooks! Just shows that you can form a book club about anything!
I strongly recommend this book and hope that you like it as much as I did. Definitely a book that you can read again and again without getting bored with it.

**I know that Guernsey is a real place and that the German Occupation really happened there, but I don't know if the Society is real or what is fact from fiction in that book. Because I've already lent my copy out to someone else I cannot check on this for you. But real or not, it's still a fabulous book!

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind

This is a very cute and funny book by Anne Ross. It's about a southern woman who's husband has just passed away. He was a wealthy and respectable man...or so she thought. One day she gets a very nice present on her doorstep...his son. They were never able to have children. So this comes as quite a shock to her. The adventure that they go through is quite exciting and funny. A few things made me mad, like the clergy trying to get their hands on her wealth and making her think that she has committed a serious sinful crime.
She is a delightful character and you can't help but just feel like you are one of her closest friends. She starts thinking for herself, which is something she was not allowed to do while her husband was alive. At first she despises the woman that her husband slept with, which is only natural. But as things start to unfold, she begins to despise her husband and become friends with the "harlot", which again, is only natural. There are so many delightful characters to love and hate.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants some light reading and could use a chuckle or too. There are several other "Miss Julia" books but I haven't read any of them and I believe that this book is the first. By the end of the book you will be saying "I declare!"