2012 February » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

MINI-REVIEWS: Who What Wear, Goy Crazy, My Lunatic Life

Posted by Anastasia on February 29, 2012 No Responses »

Feb 292012

037. Who What Wear: The Allegra Biscotti Collection by Olivia Bennett
Publication: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (November 1, 2010), ebook, 258pp / ISBN 140224391X
Genre: MG Fiction

Read: February 25, 2012
Source: Freebie

Mini-Review

I wasn’t sure if I’d like this book at first, because the first chapter is kind of boring. But! It gets better, and by the end I thought it was really cute. Fashion is always a tricky subject to write about because it changes so rapidly, but Who What Wear was still current enough to not be completely distracting. Emma, the protagonist, reminds me of all those adorable teenage bloggers/fashion designers who have big dreams and aren’t afraid to make them happen, and since I know of a few teenage bloggers who’ve actually made some of those dreams happen I didn’t think the plot was all that implausible, either. And like I said: it’s just darned cute. Continue reading »

MINI-REVIEWS: Dust, My Fair Godmother, Wish

Posted by Anastasia on February 28, 2012 8 Responses »

Feb 282012

034. Dust by Arthur Slade
Publication: Dava Enterprises (February 5, 2011), originally published 2003, ebook, 192pp / ISBN 0385730047
Genre: MG Horror, Historical Fiction

Read: February 19-20, 2012
Source: Bought

Mini-Review

This was way scarier than I thought it’d be for some reason. It reminds me somewhat of The Boneshaker and how that was scary, how it deals with the power adults have over children physically, emotionally, and so on. I liked the writing in Dust a lot more than I did in The Hunchback Assignments, my first Arthur Slade book, and I liked the story more, too. It’s less of an action, kick-ass, “kid saves the world” kind of a book and more of a magical realism/”weird things happen in small towns” book, which I liked. Plus! There’s stuff about the importance of imagination and reading and thinking outside of the box! Defeating baddies through the power of your mind? Awesome! I love that, especially when it’s in a “boy” book. They don’t seem to get that sort of thing a lot in their books, to be honest. Continue reading »

MINI-REVIEWS: Five Tomorrows, Wolf Brother, Fame Fatale

Posted by Anastasia on February 27, 2012 No Responses »

Feb 272012

031. Five Tomorrows by Sarah A. Hoyt
Publication: Goldport Press (January 4, 2012), ebook, approx. 119pp / ISBN none
Genre: Science Fiction, Short Stories

Read: February 13, 2012
Source: Freebie

Mini-Review

I have a really hard time remembering short stories, especially when I read a whole collection of them all at once. So I can’t exactly remember which story in this collection of five sci-fi shorts was my favorite– I think it was the first one, though. That one was about these genetically altered kids who were bred to be super-soldiers and lived underwater and stuff. It could totally be expanded into a full-sized YA book, and I think it’d even do pretty well if the ending was changed a bit.

The best thing about this set of stories is that they all take place in the same universe, just in different points in time. I like it when things like that happen, idk why. It’s more neat, I guess? Continue reading »

The Sunday Salon (Feb. 26): One year older

Posted by Anastasia on February 26, 2012 10 Responses »

Feb 262012

It was my birthday on Saturday! I’m 24 now! I don’t feel any different from being 23, really, but compared to my 14/15-year-old self I feel much cooler. So that’s good.

If you didn’t know, I took a break from blogging this week. It was nice! I read books, didn’t worry about writing posts, etc. Stuffed my face full of rock candy, which probably wasn’t a good idea. And now I’m trying to figure out how to catch up on my reviews before the end of the month. The thing about taking a blogging break is that getting back into the flow is like climbing uphill in a snowstorm while dragging an anvil behind you. Yuck.

Review notes are nice because they go quick, but they do feel a bit like I’m cheating somehow. But who cares, right? I just gotta get something down before the plots start blurring too badly and any chance of a semi-coherent review (notes or otherwise) is gone.

How do you get back in the reviewing groove after a blogging break? Any tips for me?

Weekly Book Stats

Books read this week:
034. Dust – Arthur Slade [rating: 4] e
035. My Fair Godmother – Janette Rallison [rating: 3] e
036. Wish – Alexandra Bullen [rating: 3.5] e
037. Who What Wear: The Allegra Biscotti Collection – Olivia Bennett [rating: 3.5] e
038. Goy Crazy – Melissa Schorr [rating: 4] e

Books reviewed this week:
Nada.

Books acquired this week:

Antiques Maul by Barbara Allan (freebie).
Aladdin & His Wonderfully Infernal Device by Tee Morris (freebie).
Ordinary Magic by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway (NetGalley).

Tiny blogging break!

Posted by Anastasia on February 21, 2012 2 Responses »

Feb 212012

Not really feeling the urge to post anything this week, so I decided to go ahead and take a tiny blogging break. I’ll be back on Sunday! See y’all then.

Btw, I’m reading The Time Machine right now and it’s making me WAY MORE INTERESTED in The Time Machine movie with Guy Pearce than I was before. Is that good or bad?

The Sunday Salon (Feb. 19): A review of ebookfling

Posted by Anastasia on February 19, 2012 8 Responses »

Feb 192012

I’ve been a member of ebookfling since December, and though I haven’t used it all that much I really like it so far. Basically, it’s a website where you can lend and borrow ebooks with other people via the “lend” ability of Kindles and Nooks. As such, it only works with Kindles and Nooks (or Kindle/Nook apps) and their corresponding ebook formats and lending rules (two weeks to keep a borrowed book, can only lend each ebook once, can’t read a book you’ve lent to someone else while it’s being borrowed, etc.).

To borrow ebooks you need credits. You get credits from lending ebooks to other people, or from buying them for $2.99 per credit. I think that’s kind of a high price for a credit, especially since you don’t get to keep the book, but I suppose if you’re desperate to read a book it’s cheaper than buying a copy for yourself. (Maybe?) The easiest way to get credits is to just load a bunch of available-to-borrow ebooks to your account, and then wait for people to request them from you. I’ve got about 120 ebooks in my library at the moment, and I get about two borrow requests a week.

To request an ebook, you can either search for what you want or add books to your wishlist, which you can set to email you once a book is available. Once you request a book, the person you requested it from has about a day or so to agree to lend it to you. I’ve only requested one book so far (Those Who Hunt the Night) but it went very smoothly and I got it within a few hours of requesting it. Neat! From loaning books to other people I’ve noticed that you don’t learn anything about the person you’re lending the book to. The process is almost completely automated, and at the most I think you’d only see their username on ebookfling. Maybe their email, too. Continue reading »

Commonplace Post (22)

Posted by Anastasia on February 18, 2012 4 Responses »

Feb 182012

Comics are trash:

I used to believe that comics could be a legitimate art form like any other medium. And sure, they can be. But now I think that the more they are perceived as art, the quicker they will die. There’s something about comics as a medium that makes it real good at being trash. The way that illustration can simplify and caricature. The way information is conveyed quickly and effectively so that even kids and people who can’t read can read comics. And the way it only takes a person with a pen to produce one, and only takes another person a single train ride to consume one.

Did you know that television is art, too? Technically. But you don’t see it that way. It’s just there, something taking up time and space in your life, in all of our lives. It’s trash, it’s the idiot box, it’s something you know isn’t good for you but you just can’t quit it. That’s the kind of bad habit that comics need to be, instead of the kind of bad habit that you need a job to support and you go online to find other people who are into it. No-one needs to say they’re into TV.

On Objectivity, Again @ things mean a lot

Innovations Continue for 3M Cloud Library @ Business Wire. A less annoying version of Overdrive? Yes, please! Continue reading »