Blur (Steven James)

When I first bought Blur, it was largely due to two factors. First, I couldn't remember ever reading a thriller, and the very name sounds appealing. Second, it seemed that Steven James had won all of the critics' hearts. "A thought-provoking and thrilling mystery" proclaimed the New York Journal of Books, while The Suspense Zone went as far as to say "(James' writing will) leave you breathless." Being the young, impressionable teen I was two months ago, I happily purchased Blur. Only recently did I realize that all of that praise was in fact directed at James' other books.

Blur was a series of ups and downs the whole way through, my mental rating system constantly torn between two and five stars. There was so much potential within those pages, and so many careless errors. It was frustrating.
 Momentarily, I'll be ripping the book apart, although it pains me to do so. Know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and let's plunge into the darkness.

The first third of Blur was painful.

We open on a town hit by the tragic drowning of a Emily Jackson, an unremarkable girl in high school. Everyone believes that the death was accidental, including Daniel Byers, a senior at Emily's former school. However, this all changes when Daniel starts seeing things. Visions of Emily start appearing, which no one but Daniel can see. "Stay. Seek. Learn," she says to him. Find the truth. Not knowing what else to do, Daniel follows her instructions as his line between reality and fantasy begins to blur- and what he discovers will change his life forever.

That all sounds great until you start reading.

One of my main problems with Blur would have to be the characters. It's almost as if James, this being his debut YA novel, thought he could cut a few corners and get away with it. But no! We're on to you, James.

This lack of care is perhaps most notable in the main character, Daniel, as well as a poorly thought out bully named Ty. The problem with Daniel is that he's a character with virtually no flaws. He's a brave, confident, smart, caring, modest guy who also just so happens to be the quarterback of the football team and a math genius. As if this isn't bad enough, it's practically shoved down our throats within the first chapter or two through cliché encounters and clumsy writing.

Ty, on the other hand, is somehow even more stereotypical and one-dimensional. It's as if his only purpose is to show the reader how great Daniel is. Honestly, we first meet this guy when he's stuffing some poor younger kid into a locker, until Daniel strolls over and saves the day. It's all rather predictable, rather dry.

During that scene, Daniel reflects that bullies are cowards like to pick on the weak. This soon proves to be false, however, when Ty goes out of his way to attack the strongest and most popular kid in the school-Daniel. He goes so far as to lay a trap for Daniel late at night on a isolated road, during which he pulls a knife. What's Ty's problem, honestly!? Sure, Daniel is annoying as hell, but... some explanation, or perhaps cutting some scenes, would make Blur a much stronger work.

Thankfully, the other characters were a slight improvement. Daniel’s friend Kyle was actually somewhat interesting, and as were most of the underused females. It was the relationships between these characters that got me through the rough start.

Indeed, the first third of Blur was hands down the worst. This was largely an issue of pacing. During that time, we were just getting introduced to the characters and nothing too remarkable happened to them. The middle was a little faster paced, and then the book tried to make up for lost time in the last few chapters. This made for a great ending, but significantly reduced the chance a reader would make it that far.

The one thing that James did manage to flaunt was the plot. By no means was the story groundbreaking, or without it’s flaws. It merely did it's job of being engaging. The questions of why Daniel had these hallucinations and who or what killed Emily were ever present and intriguing and, as we drew closer to the answers, the entertainment factor improved tenfold.

I do hope that this, as well as what can be salvaged from the characters, are enough to get any readers through the first third of Blur. The next two parts are exponentially better, and I promise it’s worth it.

Overall, Blur had great potential. The characters could have easily been fascinating, the premise was promising, but it was sadly done rather sloppily at first. Thankfully, it got it's act together in the second half, and manages to hang on for a respectable 7/10 rating.

Thanks for reading,

-Mark

Finished the book, and want to talk about it more in-depth? A separate, discussion post will be up soon!

Oh no. There's another!

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Douglas Adams)

Note:

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second novel in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series. If you'd like to read my review for the original guide, click here. Enjoy!

     In my mind, there are four essential elements to a good novel. First, an engaging plot line to keep you wondering. Second, great characters to keep you invested. Third, a thought-provoking message or theme, and finally pure entertainment value. Frankly, both The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe fell miserably flat on three of those points- and aced the fourth.
      Let's get the worst bits over with first. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe has a plot which is at best patchy and at worst utterly meaningless. It's rather tough for me to sum up, in fact. You could say that we follow Zaphod Beeblebrox, ex-president of the galaxy, in his attempts to evade the intergalactic police while searching for information about his past. Even that vague plot line, however, is flawed. In truth Zaphod doesn't seem to care much about what happened before part of his brain was locked off, and nobody seems to give much thought to the police. Anticlimax follows anticlimax, and you begin to understand that the author wasn't too focused on making a legible plot. In truth, it's nothing but a farce designed to bring you from one joke to the next.
Even that seems like giving the plot too much credit. I'll tell you now, once you get into this book and realize that everything that happens will end up underwhelming and inconsequential you begin to wonder why you even care. As a result, you don't. 
      Another recurring problem from the last book is the flat, two-dimensional characters. Most of the comedy in The Restaurant at the end of the Universe stems from the characters being oblivious/stupid/repetitive, or simply not caring about anything that goes on around them. This works well for comedy, but it's infuriating for the reader looking for relatable or indeed likeable characters. There's no character development. No lessons are learned. Everyone in the book is so incredibly predictable that the reader doesn't care  about them, either.
     I believe that I said in my review of Will Grayson Will Grayson that the ultimate goal of fiction should be to somehow make the reader think more deeply about their own lives. One way that an author can do this is by inserting themes or morals into their story. Again, Douglas Adams fell tragically short in this regard. If there is a theme, which I somehow doubt, it's that "The world has gone mad." I didn't walk away from this book thinking any deep philosophical thoughts, let me tell you.
      As if that's not enough, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe committed two more heinous crimes to make me even more ticked at it. First, they introduced time travel. Second, they murdered my favourite character. 
      I don’t know about you, but I just can’t accept time travel in any universe. I simply cannot comprehend how anything can function with people zipping in and out of centuries and mucking about in them. In this case, time travel damaged a plot that was already about to keel over and die. 
      Worse, my favourite character died. As previously noted no characters in the book were particularly likeable, but the one who I did somewhat sympathize with died in a blazing explosion and shows no sign of coming back. To add insult to injury, the other characters continued their theme of never caring about anything and didn't even mention him/her after (s)he died. That really ticked me off, to say the least.
     Clearly, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe has some major issues. Shaky plot, shaky characters, no lesson learned. Three of my hastily made benchmarks for a good novel thrown down the drain.
Still, the fourth benchmark entertainment, and that's where The Restaurant at the End of the Universe found it's stride. It's a hilarious read, and while there were some slower moments, it kept me engaged almost throughout.
The best way to understand why would be to read the book. In light of the fact that your shaking your fist at me now because that's a cheap response, I'll save myself the trouble of trying to explain and instead bring some of the book to you.
Let me set the scene. Dim the lights, and transport yourself a couple billion years into the future and a couple million light years away. You're at an extremely fancy restaurant, filled with people. Above you there's a glass roof, showing you the universe in all its glory. You've come through time and space to be here at this moment; the moment when the universe finally, completely, and literally ends.
There's a stage in the centre of the restaurant, where a humanoid entertainer named Max is at this moment listing some of the distinguished guests to the restaurant that night.
“And thirdly,” he said, “thirdly a party of Young Conservatives from Sirius B, are they here?”
A party of smartly dressed dogs stopped throwing rolls at each other and started throwing rolls at the stage. They yapped and barked unintelligibly.
“Yes,” said Max, “well, this is all your fault, you realize that?"
Isn't that gold? In four sentences that bit conveys the tone of the novel. I feel as though there are dozens of satirical references in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe that go right over my head. That one I caught, and appreciated greatly.
In conclusion, the entire Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series has been a rather interesting journey thus far. It’s certainly not for everyone; I had to cast aside my views as to what makes a good book in order to not hate this one from the outset. You'll have to consciously swallow your doubts about the novel in order to keep it an enjoyable read. If you can lose yourself in the humour of it all, however, you'll find that it'll be worth your while.
7.5/10 stars.

Thanks for reading,

-Mark

Will Grayson, Will Grayson (John Green and David Levithan)

It's the same spiel every time I read a John Green book. I get onto this blog, tell you how amazing John Green and his books are, and then I tell you how great the last book of his I read was. Today, it's a little different; I'll be raving not only about John and his book, but about John's co-author David Levithan, as well.
For John, I've nearly run out of words to praise him with. If you want to learn about him, click here and here and here and here and here and even here or here. I'll let previous me and a few other sources do the talking about John Green, which lets me get onto David Levithan.
I don't know too much about Levithan, besides the fact that he's a popular writer among the teen folk. He's written at a prolific pace since 2003, producing twenty novels by my count in twelve years. Many of his books involve gay characters, and he's been credited for changing the stereotype of gay novels from focusing relentlessly on the trials of homosexual characters to viewing them as regular kids with who just so happen to be gay. I'll for sure try to pick up another of his books in the future, as if all of the novels he produces are similar to Will Grayson Will Grayson, then I'll have my reading cut out for me for months to come.
Will Grayson Will Grayson is interesting in that almost all aspects of physical plot are cut out. At it's heart, it's about people's relationships with one another. There is no grand road trip or search for someone à la Paper Towns, or struggle against disease as in The Fault In Our Stars, just people struggling to understand each other with the fat cut off. Sure, that fat is often used to convey a message more effectively or to make a book more entertaining, but for whatever reason I didn't feel it was needed in Will Grayson Will Grayson. There was little to go on but the characters, and this made the characters so much more interesting to the reader.
The two primary characters in the book are, wait for it, Will Grayson and Will Grayson. The first of those is a high school student who's two main rules in life are don't care too much and shut up. Most definitely a result of this, he has approximately two friends. The first is the possibly-gay Jane, for whom Will has... mixed feelings. The second is the extremely gay in both senses of the word Tiny, who provides the only real plot of the story by putting on a musical all about his life.
Will Grayson the second, on the other hand, is a depressed, angry, and scornful gay person. When it comes to friends, he has none who would stand by his side in the real world. He does, however, have Isaac. Isaac is a boy Will met online, and the only ray of light in Will's otherwise dark and gloomy life.
Of course, near the middle of the book, the two Will Grayson's meet, and they're lives start to change.
Did I say before that the lack of conventional plot allows for more focused exploration of the characters, which makes them much more interesting? I did? Well, I'm saying it again anyways. It cannot be stressed enough; Green and Levithan nailed their characters.
There's not a character in this book who doesn't have multiple sides of their personality revealed. Both Will's, of course, have opposite, more sensitive sides. Tiny is explored very deeply, just as much as the Will Graysons are. In exploring these characters, the reader starts to relate to them.
So much so in fact that I feel the entirety of myself is hidden in the characters. I'm a good part Tiny, with a fair helping of Will Grayson the first thrown in there. I'm a dash of Jane, and a sprinkle of the other Will Grayson.
With so many characters being so relatable, I could almost feel that I was learning the lessons they learned along with them. Through fiction, I thought more deeply about my own life, which I honestly think should be the objective of fictional writing. Rarely do I come across a book like this. 9/10 stars, easily.
The last thing I want to talk about before I go is the contrast between John Green on his own and David Levithan with John Green. I've read no other works by Levithan, but I did get a bit of a feel for him because of how he affected Green.
For one, the book gained a larger sense of realism then any of the other John Green books I've read. This is not only in the lack of an extraordinary event to set the ball rolling, but also in the characters. I've heard people say that John's characters speak too eloquently for their age, don't act quite how they should. A large amount of them, it's said, seem to be amateur philosophers. In Will Grayson Will Grayson there was still a bit of that, but it was noticeably toned down. You should note that I'm usually all for slightly unbelievable elements if it strengthens the story, but I did feel that the down-to-earth nature of Will Grayson Will Grayson was the best thing for it.
Also, the story was considerably darker then other Green novels. Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns, and An Abundance of Katherines are all generally cheery novels. Sure there are problems, sure the characters are often upset, but overall the story is one grand adventure. Even in The Fault in our Stars, it's a love story more then anything. They keep their chins up.
Not always so in Will Grayson Will Grayson. One of them, as I said, is depressed and angry. All of the characters are imperfect, while some are downright treacherous. It doesn't all work out in the end.
This, however, just leads to a more engaging plot which you can lose yourself in. This is a book that kept me up at night. This is a book that I forced myself to stop reading at times just so that I could savour it. This is a book that I recommend to everyone.
Let's see what John Green comes up with next.

Thanks for reading,

-Mark

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)

Everyone in the galaxy, it seems, has read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Except me.
This Sci-Fi/Comedy novel would've never strayed into my hands had so many people not suggested it. Friends talked about it, teachers recommended it. Even YouTubers sand it's praises.
Had it not been for them, I probably never would've picked up The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. It's a sci-fi/comedy mashup, and I've never read much into either of those genres. More importantly, this book was in that terrible unknown of the bookstore... the "adult section."
Rarely have a strayed into those dark recesses of Chapters. Those sections which sell books the likes of which my parents read, where no grand adventures are had, no one dies nobly, and the theme is some broad criticism of society in general. Basically, they're boring as hell.
Still, to appease the masses I put aside my qualms and bought the first four books in the series all jammed into one package. My reading material for the next month thus cut out for me, I brought it home and promptly forgot about it for a few months.
Only a week or two ago did I finally rediscover it and read the first few chapters. Next thing you know, I'm hooked. I finished just a few days later. Let me tell you now, it's good. Give me a few more minutes of your time, and I'll try to explain why.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy starts with a man named Arthur Dent's house being demolished. Shortly thereafter, the earth is as well, and Arthur finds himself flying along on an alien spaceship along with a friend from earth who just-so-happened to be from another planet. Calamity ensues.
Thats really the clearest way I can think to sum it all up. I'll be perfectly honest when I say that, in this first novel at least, there isn't any grand over aching plot, which in retrospect makes it seem like the book would be terrible. There's some setup for the next novel, but mostly the characters just do without an obvious purpose. Jokes are made. Adventures are had. Nothing connects.
There wasn't a cohesive story. There was never any pressing worry for more then a chapter or two at a time, never some desperate, universe-altering quest, and yet I was riveted. Why? Because the book was damn funny, that's why.
The best way I can think to describe the humour in the book is that it's Monty-Pythonesque with a hint of ASDF movie or Rejected. Basically, some clever satire with a whole lot of seemingly random stuff. And it's brilliant.
Let me give you a small example of just how random this all is; as it turns out, dolphins are actually much smarter then humans and escaped the planet just before it was destroyed. The only creatures on earth smarter then dolphins are mice, who, as it turns out, experiment on humans while letting us think that we experiment on them.
Weird. Off the wall. It's done in such a clever way, though, that you forgive the randomness, the forget the lack of any real plot, and you just laugh your way through the novel. Please do give this book a shot- it's well worth it. It's worth it just so you know what your friends are talking about when they slyly say "You know the meaning of life? 42."

Thanks for reading,

-Mark

Looking For Alaska

I'm in shock. I'm in absolute shock. I've read three novels by John Green, and loved them all. And then I read this one... and it's just as good.

Seriously, is this guy a human being, or is he just an incredibly awesome writing machine, gaurenteed to write bestsellers every time he puts down his pen?

The first thing that stands out in Looking for Alaska is the division of the book into two parts. The first few hundred pages of the book are in a section called "Before," with each chapter labeled as "X number of days before." Then, after the event that throws everything the characters in the book know of of whack occurs, we move into the "After" section of the novel.
As with many if not all of the John Green books, the story centres around one major tipping point in the plot that plays with the protagonists emotions and forces them to rethink the world. This happens once again in Looking for Alaska, when due to a certain event our protagonist's life is thrown into a tailspin.
God, not being able to spoil the book is frustrating!
This is why I think that the "Before" and "After" scheme is really quite clever as an interesting way to clearly mark the change in the protagonists worldview. However, I've lingered on a trifle when I should have been giving you the whole picture, so let's move on.
The overall plot of the book was interesting, the writing meaningful as always. To give you an extremly quick overview of said plot, the protagonist of the novel goes off to a school away from home to spend his year. There, he learns to let his wild side go free under the guidance of his new friends. He has his world most rocked, however, when he meets Alaska- a beautiful, wild, and free girl who throws both his life and his heart around with reckless abandon.
A compelling plot, to be sure. Dispite this, the plot was not what most stood out in this novel.
To me, the most powerful aspect of John's writing is his ability to create complex and three-dimensional characters. You begin to understand the people in his worlds. You find that you can relate to them, and that's what really makes John's writing shine.
This book explored that idea once again, with Alaska and the protagonist shining. This made for another great book, as I believe that John Green is at his best when he writes with his characters in mind as opposed to plot. Looking for Alaska, The Fault in our Stars, and Paper Towns were all focused intensely on the experiences of the characters, and all of those books were beyond wonderful. An Abundance of Katherines, while also a respectable book well worth a read, was less character driven- or really strongly driven at all, I wouldn't say- and so didn't quite stack up to the other three aforementioned books. Having said that, I really hope that I didn't previously post a review of that book stating the opposite. It's been too long since I've posted on this blog!
In the end you may rest assured, good reader, that Looking for Alaska is a great book. I mean, I just compared it to Paper Towns and The Fault in our Stars! What do you expect?
Make sure to give this book a try if you haven't already. If you don't like the book, call me up and I'll personally reimburse you. I have that much faith that you'll like it.
Until next time, thanks for reading.

-Mark

Inkheart

Inkheart holds a special place in my own heart.

Some of my earliest reading memories come from Inkheart. I have no idea how old I was when I first opened it's cover. All I do know is that when I picked it up once more a few weeks ago, I had nothing but a few wispy scraps of memory to go on.

I knew the basic premise of the series, which was that some guy named Mo could read things out of books, and that one day he'd gone and accidentally read out some villains. I knew that there was someone named Dustfinger who did stuff with fire, and I remembered a fairly important plot point about him and some kid that tagged along with him. I knew that there was a writer who got used to writing on parchment paper, which I believe was because he'd been transported to Inkheart land (although I'm pretty sure that we only get to see Inkheart land in the second or third book. I honestly can't remember). I remembered Dustfinger sneaking into someone's room, and I'm pretty sure that there's a castle later on in the series.

When I started reading this book for a second time, I didn't really have much to go on. The only other thing I remember about the book that I haven't listed already is that it was really good!

It was nice to be able to read a book, not knowing anything about it, but knowing that you liked it. It's like I forgot the ending to The Lord of the Rings movies, and then had the pleasure of rediscovering it. I almost found reading the book more relaxing that way.

For those of you who haven't read the book, let me give you a brief rundown. 

As I mentioned before, the premise behind the book is that a man named Mo has the ability to read characters out of their novels. Mo doesn't really understand this ability himself, or it's dangers- chief among them being that for every item he reads out of a story, something has to go into the story from his world. I'll leave out the fact that halfway through the book this inexplicably stops happening.

Anyways, Mo discovers this fact one night when he is reading out loud to his wife. Suddenly she is gone, along with his two cats, to be replaced by two evil villains from Inkheart as well as the character of Dustfinger. Capricorn and Basta, the villains, are driven away by Mo, leaving Dustfinger behind. Dustfinger, however, is immediately homesick and wishes he could be sent back into the world of Inkheart, something Mo does not know how to do. Eventually, Dustfinger simply leaves, and Mo is left in peace to raise his daughter Meggie. And so his life returns to a somewhat normal state. Then one night, Dustfinger shows up once more, still asking to be read back into his story. With the coming of Dustfinger danger arrives as well, and soon the villains from the story are attempting to hunt Mo and Meggie down. 

If Capricorn is able to find Mo, he'll attempt to use him, use him to bring from Inkheart an immortal monster known only as the Shadow. With the shadow by his side, Capricorn can take control of this world…

Inkheart has several things going for it. The author's love for literature shines through, with the characters often longing for a book to keep them company, as well as quotes from various works easing us into every chapter. The storyline is intriguing, the characters believable. This book isn't the kind of book that will keep you up reading all night, but it is a book that you want more of. One incredible thing about it? I cannot find a single thing blatantly wrong in this entire book. I am, however, upset, although not about anything in this book. I'm actually upset that there are more books in the series. 'But I thought you said that you loved the book!' I hear you say. True, true. Let me explain.

Predictably, by the end of this book everything is looking pretty good. The happiness levels of the main characters are generally on the happy side of the scale. Aside from a few loose ends necessary to justify a sequel, everything is wrapped up with a neat little bow, and the ending is satisfying. Unfortunately, the author couldn't leave it at that.

There are three books in this series, and from what little I remember of them and from what I've heard from my sisters, they are quite dark compared to the first book in the series. And I'm upset by that.

The author did a nice job in making the reader emotionally invested in the characters, and with the exclusion of a select few their future looks bright by the end. But then the author has to give us more! A new problem, more strife for the characters!

Usually, I love series. However, everything was wrapped up so nicely that it seems to me that the series should be over, finished. And I'm worried what might happen if we go through it all again.

Still, I enjoyed the book. I'll give it a solid 7.5, and cross my fingers that the next two books in the series don't make too much of a mess of it.

Thanks for reading,

-Mark

Untitled

Hey everyone, I just finished this one book that I have to tell you about. Interestingly, it doesn't have a title so far. Still, it's an absolutely brilliant book. It was written by Mark Jones... Wait.
WHOA! I FINISHED ANOTHER BOOK! TAKE THAT WORLD! BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Ahem. Right. Just letting you know! :)
Interestingly, my one subscriber Laura recently finished a book. Go Laura! This Christmas we'll have editing parties, and then they'll both be bestsellers, and then... we'll rule the world! :)

Thanks for reading,

-Mark

Paper Towns

Hi everyone! Sorry I missed yesterday's post... and the post before that... and the post before that...

A long time after...

and the post before that. I swear, I still love you. I just took a five month vacation from you, thats all.
Today, we have Paper Towns, by John Green, on the table.
Now, I don't know if I mentioned this in my review of An Abundance of Katherines, but John Green, if you're one of the few people who still hasn't heard of him, is awesome. First of all, he writes great books. Bestselling books. In fact, I looked up a list awhile back of the 100 best books for teens, and all four books John Green wrote on his own were there, as well as a book he co-authored with David Levithan. He hits the mark every single time.
And then there are his youtube channels; vlogbrothers, which he does with his brother and has videos ranging from education to songs to funny things that happened to them the other day, and Crash Course, which is an entertaining but informative video series on science and history and all that good stuff. As well, he and his brother created vidcon, which I'm sure most of you have heard about. Overall, John Green is just an incredible guy. Look him up, people.
And now for the book. Paper towns is about a high school kid called Quentin, or Q for short. He likes (and by like I mean like likes) a girl named Margo Roth Spiegalman, who is crazily adventurous and quite good looking, to. He's always been half-friends with Margo, but then one day, she arrives at his window in the dead of the night. She wants him to go with her on a crazy adventure throughout the city, breaking into stores and parks, and just going crazy. Of course Q accepts.
It all seems to be going dreadfully well for Q. I mean, he's spending time with a girl that he really likes, and he's having a grand old time going on an adventure with her. But then, of course, a wrench is thrown into his life. The next day, Margo has disappeared, run away. And she's left a breadcrumb trail that it seems she wants Q to follow. And so he tries to, and discovers along the way that there was a lot more to Margo then he had originally thought...
Duh duh duh! I'll tell you right now, people, it's a great book. And you should read it right now. Why, you may ask? Well, they're making a movie out of it! Coming out sometime next year, people. So read the book! You won't regret it!

Thanks for reading,

-Mark

The Last Thing I Remember (Andrew Klavan)

Mr. Klavan, you've got some explaining to do.
This book was slightly unsatisfying. Sure, it's only the first book in a series, but at the end of the book, we're left with more questions then answers. Right from the beginning, we are faced with a question; what is the books main character, Charlie West, doing strapped to a chair in a room he's never been in before? Why does it look like he has been brutally beaten and burned? Why can't he remember going to this room, or who the people there are? Neither Charlie or the reader ever find all the answers. All he can remember is that yesterday night he went to bed as usual, and then woke up in the room. And unfortunately for him, someone has just ordered his death.
But as it turns out, it wasn't just his transportation to this weird room that he's forgotten. In fact, it seems that he has forgotten an entire year! And more importantly, that he was accused of murdering his best friend in that past year, and then escaped the police. He also, it seems, somehow got a girlfriend in that last year (which seems very odd, considering he supposedly killed his friend the day before his memory cut out. That would mean that he was probably arrested in the next few days, giving him little time to call his crush up, become her boyfriend, and still have time to talk about there life plans and mutually declare there love for one another).
Now, this isn't your usual memory loss story, where everyone else is the same way, or someone wiped his memory for some diabolical reason. No, in this novel, our main character has lost his memory and not a single soul, not even the people trying to kill him at the beginning, seem to believe him or have a clue why it's gone. Huh.
Aside from that convenient memory loss, there are a few plot holes in this book. There was the aforementioned getting of the girl. As well (Spoiler Alert; do not read this next paragraph if you plan on reading the book!), he is supposedly a part of a terrorist group trying to destroy America, (he doesn't remember this) but that same terrorist group is... Trying to kill him? It turns out that the people who had strapped him to the chair in the beginning of the book were part of that same terrorist group he was in. What the heck? As well, that group built this huge fortress for there operations, where they were keeping Charlie. Isolated as it may be, wouldn't the authorities eventually find this thing and wonder why there was a large, uncharted fortress in the middle of the woods?
And there were a couple other things that bothered me, on a deeper level then the ones mentioned above. The main one? The terrorist organization featured in the book, the homelanders, are "Americans, recruited by the Islamists. Because (they're) not foreigners (and so) don't draw suspicion." and that, I think, is the root of my discomfort about this book. I mean... in the book they're always talking about the Islamic extremists who are all trying to destroy the US, and all that jazz. But I mean... every religion has it's extremists, some people who take it a little two far or interpret the religion wrong. If you ask me, religion shouldn't even be mentioned when talking about people. There are terrorists all over the world, but I don't think that any of them are the way they are entirely because of there religion.
Also, the quote above says that Americans are recruited into the homelanders because they are not foreign and so don't draw suspicion. I really hope that that doesn't mean that people look at people who arn't from there country and are instantly suspicious of them. That would be a sad world.
But to backtrack a little bit, I doubt that the author actually means it that way. I mean, it's not like he said "people who arn't Christian are evil!" or anything like that at all. Still, that and a few other quotes from the book bothered me.
The book was, however, still a good book. It was fast paced and well written. And I like the authors writing style; he also wrote If We Survive, which attracted me to this book. I also love this type of book, where the characters are trying to escape from the authorities. And perhaps the most telling argument for the "I liked this book" cause is the fact that I finished it within 48 hours. I do not read books I don't like that fast! 
So give it a try, if this kind of book is your cup of tea. An added bonus is that it is a part of a series, so if your out of books to read, this will keep you for a long while. Maybe they'll actually explain some things!
Thanks for reading!
-Mark

Updates

Hi guys,
this is just a quick post to tell you about a couple new things on the blog. First and foremost, the blog just hit 500 veiws! World record right there, folks. So pop open the champagne bottles and let's have ourselves a party!
Incidentally, it took me, I think... six or seven months to get that many veiws. My new goal is now to get 500 more veiws in the next 2 months. We can do it!
Aside from that, my blog also has a new page now. So far I havn't actually done much of anything to it, and it's title is, at the moment, just "experimental page." To be honest, I actually have no idea what I'm going to put on it. So help me out here. Write in the comments below what you think the new page should be about!
And that is really all you need to know at the moment. I tried to make a new survey, but for some reason it wouldn't display the questions, so that one was a bit of a dud. Anyway, I'm constantly searching for new gadgets to use, so you should see some new ones very soon.
By the way, if you happen to see anything on another blog that you like, just let me know in the comments and I'll see if I can do something similar here on my blog.
So anyway, thank you all for reading, and I'll see you soon.
-Mark

Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince)

This book has eighty-five pages of text. Thats it, eighty-five. Take away 16 pages of full-page pictures, and the book is only 69 pages long. Then, if you include the smaller pictures scattered throughout the novel you are left with, I'd say, sixty-five pages. Sixty-five pages to tell a story of such power that it would go on to sell one hundred and forty million copies, making it the third best-selling book of all time. Sixty-five.
I wrote a review for The Little Prince perhaps six months ago on Goodreads. I remember writing something along the lines of "I won't say much in this review, as nothing I say can possibly do this book justice." And you know what, I still believe in that statement. Nothing I, or anyone else can say, will be able to fully convey the depth and magnitude of Antoine De Saint-Exupery's work. But I'll do my very best.
Right at the beginning of the book, a lone pilot crashes in the middle of a desert. Hundreds of miles from any inhabited land and with enough water only for a few days, he understands that he will either have to repair the plane or die. He goes to sleep, but is awakened at daybreak by a small boy who, of all things, asks the pilot to draw him a sheep. And so, hundreds of miles away from any inhabited territory and in danger of dying, the pilot meets the little prince.
And that is, now that I think about it, all that has to do with the pilot, more or less. The story then goes on to talk about the little prince's travels, until near the end when the story returns to him and the pilot.
And to be honest, the prince's travels on there own would have been quite unremarkable. I mean, he goes to a couple planets and talks with a couple foolish people. Then he travels to earth, chats with a plant, a fox, and several more people before finding the pilot. And that, in essence, is the entire plot.
But thats the thing about this story... it talks the entire story about the little princes wanderings, and him talking to the pilot, but these things by themselves are not the story. In fact, I would say that the story isn't about the little prince at all, but the lessons he teaches us.
In the story, the little prince, and the pilot, talk about there experiences. But from each and every one of these experiences, the reader can draw a message. For an example, I'm now going to write a short snippet from the story, one of my personal favourites. To give you some background knowledge, the little prince has been wandering around earth talking to people for awhile now, and this day seems no different. This time, he has found a salesclerk.
"Good morning," said the little prince.
"Good morning," said the salesclerk. This was a salesclerk who sold pills invented to quench thirst. Swallow one a week and you no longer feel any need to drink.
"Why do you sell these pills?"
"They save so much time," the salesclerk said. "experts have calculated that you can save fifty-three minutes a week."
"And what do you do with those fifty-three minutes?"
"whatever you like."
"If I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked," the little prince said to himself, "I'd walk very slowly toward a water fountain..."
A simple story, and yet one that, to me, rings with... truth.
It's like when your out for a long walk on a hot day. You desperately want a glass of cool water, but lets say you're still ten minutes away from home. You could just pop into a corner store or Starbucks to get a drink. But if you deny yourself that pleasure, and instead walk the remaining distance home before getting yourself a drink, I'd be willing to bet that the water at home would be much sweeter then water ten minutes before. Just like if we were all handed a billion dollars, I honestly don't think it would keep us happy for more then a week. Achieving something through your own hard work is so much more satisfying then having it handed to you.
And I honestly don't know if that example is any good. Maybe you think that the book sounds terrible, maybe your mouse is moving to get you away from this page right now. But no matter what you think of this post, no matter what you think of anything... go read this book. I swear, the world would be a better place if everyone read this masterpiece. It is hands down the best book I have ever read.

Thank you for reading,
-Mark

Have you read The Little Prince? If so, let me know what you thought of it in the comments. Put your favorite quote from this extremely quotable book as well, if your in the mood.

Weekly Stat Attack; Best Selling Books

Hello everyone for the very first weekly stat attack here at Marks Book Blog. For your enjoyment, I will now post a list of interesting book facts every week.This week, I'll start off with a fairly run-of-the-mill stat; a list of the best-selling single books of all time.
10. The Da Vinci Code (80 000 000 copies sold)
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (85 000 000 copies sold). I never actually read a word of this book. I'll tack it onto my to read list.
8. She: A History of Adventure (100 000 000 copies sold) I've never even heard of this book.
7. The Hobbit (100 000 000 copies sold) A few years ago I read perhaps 60% of the book and then couldn't take it anymore. I'm still reading The Lord Of The Rings, though, albeit slowly.
6. Dream of the Red Chamber (translated from Chinese) (100 000 000 copies sold)
5. And Then There Were None (100 000 000 copies sold) I read this book just last year. It was good, but I would never expect to see it on this list.
4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone (107 000 000 copies sold) Good ol' Harry Potter. Although maybe I can't call him that, seeing as I've never read the sixth book and I thought that the books were only "good." My sisters disowned me for that one.
3. The Little Prince (translated from French) (140 000 000 copies sold) One of my very favourite books.
2. The Lord Of The Rings (not considered a series) (150 000 000 copies sold) The movies were, of course, incredible, and the book isn't bad so far. It's a little slow to get through... Scroll down this page and you'll find my review for the first half of The Fellowship Of The Ring. 
1. A Tale Of Two Cities (200 000 000 copies sold) Don't really know a thing about this book, but if it's got the top spot, it must have something going for it.

Thank you good ol' wikipedia for providing all of this info. All information presented to you came from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books, which was accessed on July 18'th, 2014.
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time.

-Mark

If We Survive

Hi again all for another exciting post here at Marks Book Blog. Sorry that this post has taken so long to be created. However, today I have a valid excuse. This may take a minute, by the way, for those of you who won't give me a chance at an explanation and want to scroll the page down and read the actual review. For those of you who will hear me out, I want you all to know that you are officially in the Club Of Mark, which only accepts awesome people like you as members. Meetings are every Saturday and Sunday at my place, one o'clock sharp. Sandwiches and drinks provided. Casual dress code.

But now for my reasons why I havn't posted lately. Let's start at the very beginning...

Several weeks ago one of my sisters read my blog for the first time, and posted on her Facebook page about it, and included a link. Now, it just so happens that she has some 450 friends on Facebook, and it seems that just about every last one decided to show up on my blog, boosting my view count to... about 450. You can guess the rest. First, the newspapers started blaring my success all over the world. Three days later, the president of the United States called me up.
"Son, I heard that your blog has over four hundred veiws now," he said. "I'm just calling to personally congratulate you on this incredible achievement, and to let you know that June 15th is now an international holiday."
With all this fame, the newspapers have obviously been scrambling to get an interview with me. In fact, I've been so busy talking to newspaper reporters and going on talk shows  that I have just had no time for my blog. And so I apologize, but being a world-wide celebrity just eats up your time. These accusations against me that say that I

• Am too lazy to write on my blog
• decided to ditch several books I was halfway through or
• am just a slow reader

Are all completely false. Rub those thoughts from your mind. Look, I've been doing my best to keep the paparazzi at bay, but it hasn't been easy... however, I have started turning down interviews and have changed my name and address, so I should now have some time to write book reviews. And, speaking of which, I think that it's high time I got to the actual book review for this post. And so, without further ado...
A few weeks ago I somehow I found myself in a bookstore with ten bucks in my pocket. Of course, ten bucks doesn't get you very far in a bookstore, so I didn't have much hope that I would find a book. However, I soon stumbled upon the teen "bargain books" section, where all the books were something like 75% off. However, most of them looked uninteresting. There were plenty of books with pictures of girls in flowy dresses. There were plenty of books with pictures of girls in flowy dresses staring adoringly at shirtless guys with six-packs. There were also plenty of books with girls in non-flowy dresses staring adoringly at guys who didn't have their shirts off (although these books were the minority). In fact, there were so many of these kinds of books that I considered ditching the teen section altogether. (Perhaps I should have, and instead bought myself a new dictionary. I obviously need one to tell me that "flowy" isn't a word.) However, right then I saw two books that actually didn't look sappy. One of these was a big thick book that had to do with an alternate world and wonky glasses. This one was the first to catch my eye. However, it turned out that the book that was on sale was the second in the series, and they didn't have the first book available in the store. What's up with that?
Anyway, the second book was called If We Survive. I bought it for $5.99 and the rest is history.
This book follows Will Peterson and his four companions as they travel to a poor region of Central America to build a school. Unfortunately for them, the country they travel to ("Costa Verde," they call it. From Wikipedia, I can tell you that Costa Verde is not an actual country, but could be: 1. a coastline in Brazil 2. a "coastal region" in Portugal or 3. a coastline in Sardinia) is on the brink of a revolution, which breaks out in full force just before the Americans prepare to leave. Quickly, the group find themselves at gunpoint, with no idea how to escape. Hostile rebels swarm through the streets. The country's government quickly collapses. They plan to get to a plane and fly out of the country, but it's looking grim...
I have just a couple problems with this book. First off, the characters. I had several people who I quickly hoped wouldn't survive, so as to rid me of having to read about them. First and foremost there was a girl named Nicki, who was constantly screaming, crying, and being generally useless. Then there was a guy named Jim, who more or less just sat in a corner and spouted useless facts about Costa Verde. There was also a 20 year old named Meredith, one of the leaders in the group. She just happened to be completely angelic and fearless throughout the entire novel. Literally nothing could shake her. And so, she quickly became boring as well. The main character, at least, I could stand, although he was also unremarkable.
As well as one other adult in the group, who I actually liked, there was also an ex-soldier who, as the back of the book said, had "lost his faith" and could "betray them at any moment". The only thing is, it was extremely obvious that he wasn't a bad guy, despite the book's efforts to make you think otherwise. He never really looked like he was going to betray them at all, truth be told. But actually, he was another of the likeable characters.
Aside from some people who I didn't like in the book, however, my objections to the book are fairly minimal. But they are definitely still there. For example, the main antagonist at the beginning of the book was a rebel leader named Mendoza. Fairly early into the book, the surviving members of the party seemed to escape him. But then, he turned up again, a hundred miles away. Why was a small local thug suddenly, conveniently, right where the group of Americans was? Didn't they already get past this guy? Are there no more thugs to take his place? Apparently not. In fact, even when they shook him a second time, he decided to try his luck a third time. To be perfectly honest, in fact, it seemed that Mendoza had made it his life goal to track these people down, whereas every other rebel in the country gave up after a few chapters.
But as usual, I'm being way to harsh on a good book. I mean, it was an easy read, despite the subject matter. It was entertaining. I enjoyed it enough to finish it in a couple days. The book was well paced, had an interesting premise and a good plot. In fact, I was impressed enough with this book to look up what else the author has written. And that right there should tell you something. So, considering all these points, I'm going to give the book a healthy 7.5/10 stars.
As always, thank you for reading, especially when the article drags on for as long as this one has :).
I'll see you soon,
-Mark
(By the way, before editing this post was just over 1300 words; roughly 5 pages in a book! After deleting a sentence here, adding a sentence here, and changing a sentence here, the post is now at 1330 words. New record!)
(Oh, and a final note; a special thanks to my assistant editor for this post, Laura Jones)

I Want To Go Home

I went to camp, once.
It was a five day affair in which I literally got 130 mosquito bites, was almost crushed by a falling tree, practically starved due to my picky eating, was nearly shot by an arrow, and almost froze to death.
It was not fun.
In fact, I was so homesick, so miserable, that I honestly considered taking off down the road and escaping. However, if I Want To Go Home taught me one lesson, it taught me that escaping camp is easier said then done. If it taught me two, then it taught me that Gordon Korman is awesome.
Admittedly, not all of Korman's books are great. I never liked the Swindle series, or the Dive books. (Also, you can't email him, you have to send a full out letter which is supposed to take three months to get to him and back!) However, when he gets them right, he gets them right! The Kidnapped and On The Run series, Schooled, and many other books of his are wonderful. However in my opinion, he only really struck gold with I Want To Go Home. Indeed, it's one of my favourite books of all time.
The book follows Rudy Miller; a stoic, literal boy with an incredible knack for seemingly everything. At the advice of his school's guidance department, Rudy is sent to camp Algonkian for the summer; perhaps, they think, he'll open up, ditch his constantly unenthusiastic attitude. Upon arriving, he meets Mike Webster, who, like Rudy, hates the camp. United by there dislike, they become friends. And although at first Mike participates in the camp activities, Rudy soon convinces him to take his way out; refusal to do anything.
 However there bunk warden, Chip, is less then enthusiastic about this idea. He tries to get the two involved in the activities going on; after all, there just homesick, and will soon snap out of it. Rudy and Mike have other plans. There obviously not going to be left in peace, and so they begin to hatch daring plans... escape plans. This, of course, will be difficult, especially since the camp is on an island far from the mainland. But Rudy is clever, and has more then a few tricks up his sleeve...
This book, as I've already mentioned, is wonderful. It's the funniest book I have ever read. No matter what I write here, I will not even get close to how wonderful the book is. So buy it. Read it. Study it. This book is amazing.

Thanks for reading,

-Mark

Gadgets

Hi again for another special episode of This Post Has Nothing To Do With Books. Yes, today I've decided to catch you up with some new features on the blog! After signing up for Google+ yesterday, I discovered "Gadgets" on the blog layout page. For those of you who don't know, gadgets are like widgets. For those of you who don't know what widgets are... Well, I don't really get what widgets are either. The best definition a friend could give me was "widgets are apps that you don't have to click on to view." If you are one of those few people who can actually give a good explanation of what widgets are, then please do so in the comments. In English please. I swear, I don't even know what a harddrive is, and everytime I ask someone they're to busy laughing to answer. But then again, perhaps you don't have to put the comment in English, because you can now use a gadget to translate this post, or any other post, into almost any language! (Even Japanese! For some reason thats my favorite language to translate to. The letters are just so different from the ones I am using right now.) You can find that one in the very bottom left corner of this page.
I also found a page view counter. Incidentally, I suspect that later today this blog will have a grand total of two million page veiws!... Wait, what was that?
Oh, sorry folks, it turns out I'm actually at two hundred page veiws. Oh, well...
There is also a gadget for surveys, and at the time of this posts posting you can find it in the upper right corner of the blog.
And last but not least, there is a Random google+ counter thingie!... No idea what that actually does, but oh well.
I was also extremely tempted by other gadgets you could get such as the daily puppy picture and the daily Harry Potter spell gadgets, but in the end I decided to turn those down. This is a blog about books, after all. But then again, those puppy pictures sure looked cute...
And that concludes today's episode of This Post Has Nothing To Do With Books. Thank you so much for reading and please leave a comment!

-Mark Jones

Fighting Fantasy

I think that if someone were attempting to merge video games and books without the use of electronics, the Fighting Fantasy series is about as close as that person would get. We have all seen this type of book before; a book where it is your decisions, as the reader, that determine the fate of the protagonist. These books can, at times, be cheesy. They can be infuriating when you read for two hours only to have your character meet a bloody end. They can also be addicting.
Have you ever had that moment when your watching a movie, and your sure that its a trap/she shouldn't trust him/the character is making the stupidest decision ever, but despite you yelling at the screen the character goes ahead and makes the mistake anyway? In my mind, books where you make the decisions for your character are the equivilent of making a movie character hear your advice. And that, to me, is pretty awesome.
The Fighting Fantasy series is, frankly, a series. Composed of 59 books in the original series, the books are written by multiple authors and, perhaps as a result, few are connected in any way. However, despite the abundance of books to choose from, I have yet to complete a single book. Whether the books are set in space, a dungeon designed to kill you, or in a mountain in which lives a powerful sorcerer, I am always killed within the hour.
These books are wickedly frustrating. At the beginning of the book, I generally have good scores that decide my character's strengths and weaknesses (there are three things that your character needs to make it through the book; high skill (to determine if he or she kills the monster or can make it across the hall without hitting a tripwire) high luck (to see if the boulder the tripwire sent tumbling down towards you misses you) and high stamina (to see if your character can survive being crushed by a ten-ton boulder). However, after an hour or so of cleaving my way through the monsters, my reserves of luck and stamina begin to run dangerously low. Then I decide to jump the pit instead of trying to find another way across the chasm, but this time my luck fails me and I'm sent hurtling to my death. And that is a typical Fighting Fantasy game book for me. And even if you do crawl your way through almost to the end, the writers always have something waiting for you at the end of the road. Almost every book, when you get to the final challenge, there is someone lurking at the end to finish you off. "Just through these doors," that person says with a sneer, "there is that magical object/a cheering crowd to congratulate you for surviving/whatever it is that you've spent the last three hours trying to get to. But to unlock the door, you must have collected three keys or a similar number of some other random item. If not, (and at this point the man guarding the exit pulls out a crossbow) then you will become my slave!" And at this point you put the book down because you know that the game is over.
And so I can see why you might give up on these books after awhile. However, if you like these sort of books, then I would definitely recommend the Fighting Fantasy series. It's an interesting concept that adds a twist to reading, that can entertain you for hours. In fact, if you have a child who dislikes reading, then this might very well be a good way to start them down the reading path.

As always, thanks for reading, and I hope to see you in the comments below! As well, if you haven't read my last post ('And Now... A Survey!'), please do and let me know what you think!

-Mark Jones

And Now... A Survey!

Hi again, all. I've been trying desperately to keep the reviews coming on a regular basis, however due to my slow reading and lack of new books that I care enough about to finish, I must admit that, on book reviews alone, I cannot post as much as I would like. And so today, I've decided to mix up my routine.
For a while now I have been wondering when I should release a review of my personal favourite book. However, I don't think that the moment is quite right. And so in the meantime, to set the mood, I present you with a survey; which book do you believe is the best book of all time?
Survey Rules
As there are an estimated 129 million different published books out there (according to Google in 2010), I obviously cannot make a "proper" survey on blogger, as it would take me a rather long time to write down all those titles for you to choose from. Instead you, the reader, will comment on this post (or any other post), what book you think deserves the top spot.
Now, I know that a lot of you will not be sure exactly what your favourite book is. Therefore, I will except up to three choices. You can rank these as your favourite, second favourite and third favourite, but all books mentioned will only get one tally regardless of there rank.
For this survey, I will rank the best books in the world- not the best series.
As for how long his survey will run for, I honestly couldn't say. It could be a month, it could be a year, or it could never end, with periodic updates on the rankings. Or, alternatively, it could be the first book to receive a certain amount of votes.  (Tell me when/how you think it should be decided in the comments below!)
No matter how the winner is decided, I'll be interested to see how this survey plays out (especially to see if my personal favourite does well). I'm sure that it will be a close contest, with many good books put forth. Until that time, however, I give you a sincere thank you for reading. See you next time.

-Mark Jones

The Book Of Awesome

The title says it all, really. Recently, I logged onto goodreads to see what others were saying, and was somewhat surprised by the results. Although The Book Of Awesome has been receiving considerable media attention, it could only obtain 3.9 stars (still a good score, but still...). Most reviews, as expected, were positive. However on the opposite end of the spectrum, the negative reviews were scything. Dan C said that The Book Of Awesome is "not really re-readable." Mr. "T" said that he "slogged through it across six months."  Eva said that the book was "sad... annoying and incredibly stupid." I say that these people have no soul.
Lets look at Eva's comment. She said that this book was "sad." I would just like to point out that this entire book revolves around celebrating the little "awesome" things in life that make life so wonderful. She also said that this book was "annoying." Although I suppose that constantly cheery, bubbly and optimistic attitudes could start to grate after too long, the writing in this book was so sincere, so relatable, that I could never get irritated by the writing. She also said that the book was "incredibly stupid." Well, if celebrating things like popping bubble wrap is stupid, then I don't know what isn't.
This book started out as a blog, 1000awesomethings.com, (I couldn't figure out how to make a direct link, but if you highlight the name and select "search with google" it will bring you one click away from the blog) and eventually became a best-selling book. This book is quite obviously modelled after the blog, with every awesome thing being essentially a copy of one of his blog posts. And so admittedly, you are not going to read this book from cover to cover in one go. However, if you are ever feeling down or are simply in the mood for a laugh, this book is the place to go. It's really incredible how many of the things in this book we take for granted, or that you had no idea other people also did. For example (and now comes what is inevitable for anyone reviewing this book; a list of there favourite awesome things); old, classic board games, the sound of ice cracking in a drink, cutting your sandwich into triangles, and the sound of rain on a hot sidewalk. And my friends, if these things aren't worth sharing and celebrating, then I don't know what is.
And now I ask you to remember Dan C, who posted on goodreads that The Book Of Awesome was not re-readable. And perhaps the chances of this mysterious Dan C actually finding this blog, then finding this post, and reading to the very end are one in 100 million.  However, Dan, if you are reading this right now, then I have something to say. The Book Of Awesome has to be the book I have re-read the most times out of my entire collection. I have never become tired of reading about friends saving me seats, or smiling at strangers, or friends with swimming pools. And I hope that someday everybody can appreciate all these wonderful things that we experience every day, without even realizing it. Truly, the best things in life are free.

-Mark Jones

If you'd like to hear Neil speak, use "search with google" on http://www.ted.com/talks/neil_pasricha_the_3_a_s_of_awesome to hear his speech at TED talks in 2010. As always, thanks for reading and leave a comment below!

Boys Own Stuff

When a book's pages fall out in chunks of 100 at a time, this can tell you three things; 1. The book was poorly made. 2. The book received constant attention and eventually fell apart from to much love. Or, 3, the owner is just a crappy owner and let harm come to his or her book. In my case with Boys Own Stuff, I believe it was a combination of the three. Now I know that at the moment you are probably ignoring the second point, and probably the first to a certain degree, and so I want to impress a point upon you. I do not intentionally let harm befall my books; on almost all occasions it was a simple mistake. For example, don't wrestle with your father when books are in the vicinity. Don't let your book and food come within one meter of each other. Never overlook the fact that backpacks, suitcases and messy lockers are death traps for book's covers. And of course don't huck books onto the floor or a bed. Follow all these rules, and you will be a better person then I am in the art of book preservation.
However I repeat that I still take good care of my books. Aside from the occasional ripped cover or stain, only two books of mine have all-out fallen apart. The Lord Of The Rings, in my defense, was something like thirty years old. As for Boys Own Stuff, I have already presented the reasons in the first sentence of this post. And if now you will ignore the first and third reasons, you will see that Boys Own Stuff was damaged mostly for one reason; it was a great book.
Boys Own Stuff is comprised of dozens of different guides on subjects that will lead you to "boyhood like it's meant to be." These range from "how to polish your shoes" to "build your own stomp rocket" to "SAS survival skills IV: finding and purifying water." as well as activities like these, the author included interesting stats such as those on fighter aces, and several entertaining stories. Perhaps one of my favorite features of the book is the section entitled "fifty movies every boy should see." As the title of the section implies, all the movies that I have so far seen I would recommend. If you are more into books then movies, however, lists of recommended books are also included. I however, was not to interested in most of the mentioned titles (ironic how I'm writing a book review blog and yet liked the movie list better...) and so couldn't tell you if the books mentioned truly deserve the spotlight. And perhaps that is the beauty of the book; I didn't care for that particular section of the book (or many others for that matter),  but I still found dozens of sections that I enjoyed reading and re-reading. This book has a medal in the mind of yours truly for the best travelled book in my collection; ever since receiving this book two or three years ago, I have not gone on vacation without Boys Own Stuff in tow.  It is truly indispensable. 8/10 stars.

-Mark

As always, thanks for reading and leave a comment below! You can contact me at m.jones10@hotmail.ca or in the commons if you have any questions. Thanks!

An Abundance Of Katherines

It never fails: when reading a book I am always the most likely to be interrupted when I am about to finish. The battle is raging at full swing, the character is about to make some deep philosophical discovery about themselves, or the mystery is about to be solved when, suddenly, someone comes stomping in and completely snaps my concentration. And then of course I can't recapture the moment, because by the time it takes me to get back in to mood of things you've already missed the crucial moment. I'm sure you can relate. It happened during The Fault In Our Stars. It happened during The Book Thief. And literally thirty minutes ago, it happened during An Abundance Of Katherines. (Twice in fact. In the last two(!) pages.) I mean sure, on most of these occasions there was good reason to interrupt me; I've been reading for an hour and a half on the toilet perhaps, or maybe it's just getting late. But still, you'll excuse my rant. To clarify, all you really need to take from that is I may not have fully comprehended all of the deep revelations that the main character, Colin, was making, and so my view of the book may be slightly diminished. Not to say that it wasn't a good book; quite the opposite in fact. But lets back it up here.
This story follows the aforementioned Colin; a child prodigy who longs to become a genius and, perhaps more importantly, not be forgotten when he dies- something I can personally relate to (the being remembered part only, I'm afraid...). For reasons mostly unknown (coincidence, he says, though this seems odd), Colin has only ever dated girls with the name Katherine. It is after a breakup with Katherine the 19'th that he, in an attempt to recover, takes a road trip across the United States with his happy-go-lucky friend Hassan. They soon find themselves in Gutshot, Tennessee, where Colin has his "eureka moment;" the idea of creating a mathematical formula that will predict the outcome of any relationship. This he hopes, will turn him from a prodigy into a genius. From someone who does what others have done and knows what others have known to someone who is the first to discover, the first to do. This proves to be just a little trickier then previously thought, however...
All in all, I was very satisfied with this book. It was short and entertaining enough so as not to drag on, but long enough so that I walked out satisfied with almost all loose ends seemingly tied down. I had heard that all of John Greens characters were similar from book to book, however I did not find this when comparing to The Fault In Our Stars. This book was funny, interesting, and overall simply well written. 8/10 stars.

-Mark Jones (well, he is the only person writing on this blog at the moment... :)

If you enjoyed this review or any on this site, it would mean a lot to me if you would leave a comment below. As always, thanks for reading and I'll be back as soon as I can.