“Book Reviews - Library Journal” plus 2 more |
- Book Reviews - Library Journal
- Interesting Reader Society - Book Reviews by Young Adults - School Library Journal
- Book Reviews: Fire Your Stock Analyst and Far from Random - Seekingalpha.com
| Book Reviews - Library Journal Posted: 14 Dec 2009 03:56 PM PST
In the Bookroom
September 26, 2008 Getting Inside an "Inside Out Girl" I am generally intrigued by stories that involve relationships, especially romances, ... More fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Interesting Reader Society - Book Reviews by Young Adults - School Library Journal Posted: 17 Dec 2009 02:59 AM PST Interesting Reader Society -- School Library Journal, 12/16/2009 Hale, Shannon and Dean. Calamity Jack. Illus. by Nathan Hale. Bloomsbury. January 2010. ISBN: 978-1-59990-076-6. Gr 7 and up.
Jack. He's the guy who does the whole "Jack and the Bean Stalk" thing. You know, the story where he gets the beans and tries to plant them to try to get the golden goose so that he can give it to his mother so she can fix their bakery. Oh, and there's a girl–Rapunzel! She helps him and…. What? You don't know that story? Well then! You've got to read this! Calamity Jack is the sequel to Rapunzel's Revenge—and sadly, it did not live up to its prequel. But Calamity Jack is still a very good story—it's just that Rapunzel's Revenge was better. Calamity Jack is special in many ways. It's the amazingly told tale of "Jack and The Bean Stalk" with lots of fun twists and turns. The artwork is amazing, and the cover gives the readers a great view of all the main characters and other important ones, too. It also gives a hint as to who—or what—the villain is. In addition, the setting is well created for the comic book. The best part of the book was the interesting twist on a classic fairy tale and the fact that it was almost nothing like the original tale. There are new characters, different places, blended fairy tales, and so much more. The only thing that disappointed me was a few of the words in the dialogue. Everything else fit perfectly.—Jordan H., age 14
Katarina Bishop is trying to get out of the family business, but that's a bit difficult when that business is thievery. When her father is suspected of stealing a priceless art collection from an Italian mobster, she has to steal it back to save his life. The problem? She has no idea where to even start looking for the collection. This is a fun read, albeit a fast one. There's a tipping point in every book where it becomes engrossing; for me, this was the end of the first chapter of Heist Society. The jet-setting teenage characters are entertaining, if not realistic as far as I know, and they have enough conflicts that their success is actually in question at points. Their deadline to deliver the goods really drove the plot along—that and wondering how in the world these teenagers were going to crack the Henley. But it was the sense of time slipping away that made that predicament more important. The only trouble with this book is that it was too short!—Lisa M., age 16 Bracken, Alexandra. Brightly Woven. Egmont. March 2010. ISBN: 978-1-60684-038-2. Gr 9 and up. Brightly Woven is a wonderful new addition to the fantasy genre. Sydelle Mirabel finds herself the "reward" for Wayland North, a wizard who ended the 10-year drought in her city of Cliffton. His reasons for choosing her are mysterious because she is only a simple weaver, or so she thinks. As the novel moves on, Sydelle learns more about North and the dark magic in play all around her. As they travel through crazy weather, Sydelle must decide who she wants to be, who North is to her, and what he has at stake in her well being.
The most fascinating aspect of the book had to be Bracken's ability to show rather than tell the reader what was going on. Rarely have I found a book that gives me such a vivid picture of what was happening without having paragraph after paragraph of descriptions. With Sydelle's narration, the reader gets to see everything she sees, without all the breaks to describe what's going on around her. Despite this, it would have been very helpful for the book to have had a map; with all the places involved in the story I had trouble keeping up with which country was which and where those countries were. Also, it might have helped to have had the tie between Auster and Saldorra explained since there is some conflicting information about just how they come into play.—Rachel M., age 16 Another take… Sydelle Mirabel is a weaver in a small, drought-plagued town. But on the day the rain comes, her life changes. The wizard Wayland North has been offered anything he wants as a reward for bringing the storm, and he chooses her. Sydelle finds herself swept off toward the capital city in an effort to stop a war, but that's not all North wants; there's something important about her own nature that he's not telling her. This book is perfect: phantasmagorical, amazing, and beautifully flawless. I rarely say this about a book—actually, I don't think I've ever said this about one. The plot is complex and engaging, the romance is absolutely gorgeous, and Sydelle's narration is beautifully rendered. I will recommend this to everyone I know; I can't think of a single person who wouldn't enjoy it. The cover was a very well-done photo manipulation/collage. I like the vividness of the colors, the expression on Sydelle's face, and the lightning in the background—it represents the book very well. The romance between Sydelle and North was incredibly well done, especially the parts when Sydelle got very mad at him. Without spoiling anything, I'll just say that it was, like everything else in this book, beautiful in its emotion. I would have liked a map, but that was a minor detraction. Brightly Woven reminded me of nothing so much as Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, but I actually found it better, which is amazing. I wish there could be a sequel, right now, and I would like to be a Wayland North fangirl. I was so happy at the end of this book that I was bouncing up and down and grinning from ear to ear. It was that incredible. As a text-based role-player, I can say that this kind of story is what every good RPer is seeking—fast-paced, complex, with a powerful romance that enhances (instead of dominates) the plot and enough twists and turns to keep the story charged with an incredible energy.—Lisa M., age 16The Interesting Reader Society (IRS--"teens, not taxes!"), is a library teen advisory and reading group for kids in grades 6-12 from the Poudre River Public Library District in Fort Collins, CO. Currently, there are about 40 members with an average of 25 teens per monthly meeting. IRS is also one of the 15 2009-2010 national teen reading group appointees for the Teens' Top Ten/YA Galley project of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). Talkbackfivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Book Reviews: Fire Your Stock Analyst and Far from Random - Seekingalpha.com Posted: 17 Dec 2009 07:09 AM PST Tonight's book reviews are of two very different, yet very similar books: Fire Your Stock Analyst!: Analyzing Stocks On Your Own (2nd Edition) Why different? Well, the first relies on fundamental analysis, and the second on technical analysis. Why similar? They are both very single-minded in the way they present how to win in investing. There are other differences, though. Fire Your Stock Analyst, by Harry Domash, is a very complete fundamental investing guide for both value and growth investors. Very complete, to the degree that most average investors will not be able to do all that Harry recommends. There is a lot to do, and not all of it is of highest importance in my opinion. Many professional investment shops ignore steps that he prescribes. I don't do half of what he prescribes, and I do better than most. Also, much of what he prescribes is not applicable to financial stocks, but he does not seem to realize that. Far from Random has a different flaw. It spends 75% of the book talking about what does not work, and only 25% on what he thinks works. In the last quarter of the book, the author asserts that trend channel analysis works through giving stylized examples. There are no academic studies to prove the point, or, audited track records, as Michael Covel is fond of. (This makes me want to recommend Trend Following (Updated Edition): Learn to Make Millions in Up or Down Markets Who could benefit from these books: With Fire your Stock Analyst, someone who wants an introduction to fundamental analysis could benefit. Far from Random, I'm not sure anyone could benefit. There are much better books on technical analysis. Full disclosure: Publishers send me books for free. I review some of them, the ones that I think are most interesting. If you enter Amazon through my site and buy anything, I get a small commission. Don't buy anything you don't want. I do this as a service to readers, and am not looking for remuneration as much as tips for what I have written more generally. fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
Carter, Ally. Heist Society.Hyperion, February 2010. ISBN: 978-1-4231-1639-4. Gr 7-11.
The romance in this book is very well written. It isn't one of those "slap you over the head" romances, where the guy and girl are head over heels after the first date. Instead, Sydelle and North's relationship goes from one of hate to one of cautious friendship to love. It is a great illustration of that famous fine line between love and hate. Also, Bracken does a good job in creating Sydelle's world and the wizards within it, even if she pulled a bit of Harry Potter magic into play with the "twisting." I also liked the chaos on the cover. It reflects the chaotic feelings Sydelle was wrestling with throughout the book and it has some nice foreshadowing in the lightning bolt in the background.
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; there is more logic behind it than Far from Random.)| You are subscribed to email updates from Book-Reviews - Bing News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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