Dust and Decay (with a little bit of Rot and Ruin)

Title: Dust and Decay
Author: Jonathan Maberry
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0235-5
Pages: 519

Why I choose this particular book: I read the first book in the Benny Imura series, Rot and Ruin, and needed to read this one. In general I choose this series because, of all the horror genre monsters out there, zombies really freak me out. Books are a great way to face my fear without being too visual (though sometimes my imagination is so much more graphic than movies/TV). I requested this book from my library's catalog and received it through inter-library loan. 

Started reading: June 26, 2012 at 12:13 AM

Finished reading: June 29, 2012 at 12:38 AM

Since this is the second book in a series and I don't have an entry for the first book on this blog let me give a mini review about Rot and Ruin. So fourteen years after First Night, when the zombie plague began, humanity is existing within fenced-in towns with only a few souls brave enough to go into the Ruin where zombies roam free. Benny Imura has just turned 15 and in his town, Mountainside, he must find a job or lose half of his food rations. After a few unsuccessful forays into employment he finally and reluctantly settles for entering into the family business - killing zombies. His older brother, Tom, is a bounty hunter and Benny is not his biggest fan but he doesn't have many options and wants to continue to eat.

Throughout the course of the novel Benny learns the truth about his own First Night story as well as what really happens out in the Ruin.

Paper Towns

Title: Paper Towns
Author: John Green
Publisher: Dutton Books, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-525-47818-8
Pages: 305

Why I choose this particular book: We have a teen book club at my library and I partner with a teacher from the local high school to run it. She choose The Fault in Our Stars by John Green as, I believe, May's book choice. I really enjoyed that book and began reading everything by John Green. I saw this at my library and checked it out.

Started reading: June 23, 2012 at 11:09 PM

Finished reading: June 25, 2012 at 11:58 PM

This book has everything a reader of Green's expects: a sensitive, clever protagonist; a girl on a mission; a fantastic supporting cast; and fun, witty dialog.

Q (short for Quentin) leads a quiet life of school, hanging out with friends, and playing the video game Resurrection. Except for one childhood trauma, Q's had a pretty 'normal' life until Margo, the girl next door, comes barging through his window at night a few weeks before they graduate high school. She convinces Q to help her take a bit of well-planned and excellently executed revenge out on some ex-friends of hers and then she disappears. Q gets caught up in trying to follow the clues Margo left behind in order to find her and bring her home. He's helped in his mission by his best friends - Ben and Radar.

Converstations with the Fat Girl

Title: Conversations with the Fat Girl: A Novel
Author: Liza Palmer
Publisher: 5Spot, 2005
ISBN: 0-446-69395-2
Pages: 319

Why I choose this particular book: I was cruising around online looking for a book (or five) to read and stumbled across this title. I thought it sounded interesting and requested it through my library's catalog and received it from inter-library loan.   

Started reading: June 22, 2012 at 3:52 PM

Finished reading: June 23, 2012 at 5:58 PM

I was taken in by the summary the publisher provided on the back of the book. It seemed like it would be a story about two old friends, one still overweight and one who'd had gastric-bypass surgery, and how their friendship has changed because of the surgery. Wow, I thought, this is right up my alley. I've gone through this exact thing. I'd had a best friend who'd gone through that surgery, left for college in another state, and somehow managed to change her entire personality. Even better, in the story the newly thin friend was getting married and the heavy friend was dealing with being a fat maid of honor. Well that also happened to me with the same friend. She'd gotten engaged in the one semester she managed to put in before coming back. Needless to say with her changed personality, the wedding caused a lot of friction. So, perfect, this story will be great because I've been there.

Below Stairs

(Note: I've set up this post the same way I set up my book journal entries.)


Title: Below Stairs: The Classic Kitchen Maid's Memoir That Inspired Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey
Author: Margaret Powell
Publisher: (Original) Peter Davies Ltd., 1968 (Current) St. Martin's Press, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-250-00544-1
Pages: 212

Why I choose this particular book: I'm a huge Downton Abbey fan, I loved Upstairs, Downstairs as well as Gosford Park and other period pieces. I have my BA in history and have always enjoyed reading historical fiction along side of non-fiction works. I'd heard about this book but finally decided to read it after a friend (and fellow Downton fan) posted a picture on Facebook of a book shop window featuring a themed display- a sort of if-you-like-Downton-you'll-like-these-books type thing. I'd read a few of the books featured and enjoyed them so I thought it was time to give Below Stairs a chance. I requested it through my library's catalog and received it through inter-library loan. 

Started reading: June 19, 2012 at 7:10 PM

Finished reading: June 22, 2012 at 11:37 AM


I really enjoyed the conversational, British-cheeky tone of the book. Margaret's style is very relaxed and easy. It was like listening to my grandmother telling stories of her life growing up in the twenties. I found it interesting how Margaret would comment about her family's living situation, the obvious poverty while she grew up, the lack of opportunities available to her, and be very nonchalant about it all. She accepted her past and looked for the positive aspects of life without letting it all drag her down. Her attitude may have been perspective - she wrote this book in her late fifties - or it may have just been her way to cope with it, I don't know. The only regret she seems to carry throughout her life is that, because of her family's lack of money, she was unable to accept a scholarship to become a teacher. She mentions it a few times, especially when she talks about her sons and their educations. She's very proud in the end of the book when she tells her readers that she passed her 'O' levels when she was 58 and was hoping to take the Advance levels before she turned 60.

Just a test

For some time now I've been keeping a book journal. It was just supposed to be an exercise in writing. I've tried to keep diaries and journals before but I've never been able to keep up with them. For whatever reason I've actually been able to keep the book journal going. I think it may have something to do with how informal I've kept it. No two entries have the same sort of focus, just whatever inspires me in the immediate aftermath of the book. Writing down my thoughts has also helped me transition from the book back into the world (or directly into my next book, which is often the case).

I've shared some of what I've been writing with a few close friends and they've urged me to attempt a blog. I don't think I have any great insight into the books I choose to read but my friends thought the wider world might be interested in what I have to say. I guess we'll find out.

I've just started a new book and will post my thoughts when I've finished.