Finally read a book! It helps when you’re up late at night feeding the baby and have time on your hands (and your son is a lazy eater and takes his time).

This is the novel that inspired the movie that came out this last year (starring Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson), though it is not the same story at all. The book is completely different from the movie, apart from the names of characters and the fact that Davy is a jumper. Of course, the book is better than the movie (it always is, isn’t it?). This is also the prequel to Reflex, which was another book I enjoyed reading, and which, in my opinion, is the better of the two.

Davy Rice is a troubled teen. He’s been abandoned by his mother, and is physically abused by his alcoholic father.  One day, as his father prepares to give Davy an especially brutal beating, something happens — Davy vanishes and reappears in the safety of the local library, a place he has always felt safe. At first, Davy thinks he dreamt it all, and that the stress of the beating is blocking his memory. He decides to run away and make it on his own in New York City. On his way there, he hitch hikes with a trucker who has some nasty plans in mind for Davy that make a beating from his father preferable. As the trucker starts to carry out the plan, Davy vanishes once again and finds himself back in the safety of the library. This is no mental blockage — Davy realises he can teleport, or “jump” and he begins to practice his new skill, learning that he can only jump to places he has been and can picture vividly in his mind.

Davy’s new skill gives him some purpose in life. While he uses his skill to teleport into the vault of a bank and rob a million dollars, he does also use the money to support himself as he performs some good deeds; for example, helping the homeless or teleporting around the world to catch terrorists who have hijacked planes. It is certainly interesting to think about what life as a teleporter would be like. No need to spend hours and money on transportation; you can teleport yourself home anytime you want to take a quick nap, make a snack, or use your own bathroom; nothing could stop you from going where to want to go.

I enjoyed this book, and I thought the story was well plotted, though not necessarily well-written. Some of the dialogue was awkward and the character development of Davy and his girlfriend, Millie, could have been a little better as I found their relationship and the way they spoke to one another to be a little too contrived at times. And, not that it impacted the story at all, but (my pet peeve) the editors missed some spelling and grammatical errors (gah! drives me nuts!) as well.  But overall, this was a well-paced, interesting story.

I’m a mommy! My son, Alexander, came into the world last Wednesday, July 9th, weighing 7 lbs, 2 oz. and measuring 19 inches. He’s healthy, happy, and he lets me get some sleep. What a wonderful gift to give his mommy!

I never really believed in love at first sight, but I do now. I loved the idea of my child before I was even pregnant, but I can’t even describe the love I felt for my adorable baby boy the second I laid my eyes on him. Stronger than the idea, stronger than the bond we formed when I grew him. Stronger than anything I could imagine. My life has changed completely.

I haven’t had much sleep in the last while, and I’m too tired and overloaded with new feelings and experiences to formulate a coherent post, so I will leave it at that for now and get back to my sweet boy and my wonderful, thoughtful, super helpful husband. Life is good :)

Lexi Smart wakes up in the hospital one day to discover she’s lost all memory of the last 3 years of her life. All she remembers is being the frumpy, unappreciated girl everyone calls “Snaggletooth” due to her uneven teeth and untailored wardrobe. But the Lexi that wakes up in the hospital is completely different — she’s toned and sleek with designer clothes, she’s now the director of her department at work, and she’s married to a hunky millionaire and lives in a massive penthouse overlooking London. Yep, apparently, all that can happen in 3 years! As Lexi tries to recover her memories of the last 3 years, she starts to learn about the person she’s become. Nope, no suprises with this plot line. The Lexi of 3 years ago was a much nicer, more joyful person than the Lexi who wakes up looking perfect and living the rich life.

I can’t say this was a good novel. It was predictable and the story won’t be memorable down the road (good thing I have this blog). It wasn’t as fun as Kinsella’s “Shopaholic” series (which, in my opinion started losing the fun factor after the second book, anyway), though there are some funny bits here and there to keep you rooting for Lexi along the way. I also think the ending was decent enough, which is good since I hate finishing books and being disappointed with the turn of events at the end. But overall, not something I’d recommend unless you’re looking for a quick and fluffy read with an uncomplicated story that won’t require any thinking. (more…)

Time.com released its list of the 50 best websites of 2008, which is how I came across this great site called LookyBook which allows you to view children’s picture books from cover to cover online. I used to read a lot of picture books and review them on this site when I worked at a public library, but since I left there for my current job, I haven’t looked at too many other than a few flips through whatever’s on the book table at Costco from time to time, which is a shame because I love picture books (the stories, the colors, the illustrations) and find they can easily make me go from grumpy to happy in just a few minutes.

Now that I’m just a few weeks away from the birth of my own first baby, I’ve been thinking more about picture books, so I was happy to find this site today. I found a few books I remembered reading and loving when I came across them at the library, and it was nice to see them again online. It’s certainly a good reference source for those people trying to remember what a picture book was about. It’s also a great way to preview a book before you buy it from Chapters or Amazon, etc. Librarians, teachers, and people who work with children could spend hours going through these books looking for the next story time read.

Personally, I’m not sure how authors and illustrators might feel about having their entire works on display on the site (I wonder about legal issues, etc.), but I assume that books don’t appear on the site without permission from the appropriate people. I suspect it could be a reason for why the site currently only has 300 books online (though they are “growing daily”). However, don’t let that number stop you from browsing — there are a lot of excellent books in that number.

Twelve year old Veronica (Ronnie) Swan is babysitting her two younger sisters and playing hide and go seek. As Ronnie hides in the shed by their house, she starts to think that her sisters are unusually quiet and taking a long time finding her. Pushing open the shed door, she faces a gruesome sight — her sisters lay in a pool of blood on the ground with their necks slashed, while a man, covered in the girls’ blood, stands nearby, spinning madly and talking to himself.

The man, Scott Early, is later diagnosed with untreated schizophrenia. He is found guilty of the murders of Ronnie’s sisters, but declared mentally insane at the time. Instead of being sent to prison, he is sent to a psychiatric hospital for 3 years of treatment and is then released to live freely with his wife and new baby girl. Ronnie and her family, however, must live in their own prisons of guilt and grief as they mourn the loss of the two little girls.

Ronnie grows up quickly in the aftermath of her sisters’ murders. She takes care of her grieving mother and her new baby brother, born just weeks after the murders. She takes care of the house and what’s left of her family while her parents fall apart. Her mother takes to her bed and sleeps as much as possible, while her father leaves them to walk aimlessly night after night in the woods behind their house. After a few years of living in a fog, both of Ronnie’s parents finally come around and make a decision — they decide they will visit Scott Early in the hospital and give him their forgiveness so that they can move forward with their lives.

Ronnie can not understand her parents. To her, forgiving the man that murdered her sisters is like telling him they accept his apology and the deaths. For Ronnie’s parents, forgiving is an act of faith, brought on by months of prayer and the belief that judgment is reserved for God, not them. But Ronnie can not forgive Scott Early. Instead, she decides she will bring some judgment on him herself, and makes a plan to deliver him some of the pain he has caused her family.

Throughout the novel, Ronnie is described as an exceptionally smart young woman. Home-schooled with excellent grades, she graduates from high school early and plans to become a doctor one day. However, for such a smart person, she sure makes some poorly thought-out plans. I suppose that years of grief and thoughts of revenge can cause a person to not think clearly, but then again, she does have years to think things through and plan her revenge. Her plan, once put into action, isn’t very smart, and it certainly isn’t carried out well. I sort of expected more repercussions for her actions, but instead the result has very little consequence to herself. In fact, the ending of the novel turns out to be a little too gratifying. And I suppose after years of pain and sorrow, Ronnie deserves a little happiness in the end, but something just doesn’t feel right about it. Perhaps it has to do with how easily her life goes on, and how well things turn out for her, and how willing everyone around her is to let her off the hook for what she does.

I’d say this is a good book despite the ending. It is well-written, and the pages fly by with an interesting plot to carry it forward. Religion is a major factor in this novel, and I did expect more preaching and religious discussion, but there is surprisingly little apart from some setting up in the beginning and then the overly sweet ending that I found a little hard to believe. Overall, a good read with some interesting themes. (more…)