Review: The Squad: Perfect Cover by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Squad: Perfect Cover
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
YA, chick lit
273 pages
published: 2008
3 of 5 stars

About

Bayport High’s Varsity cheer squad is made up of the hottest of the hot. But this A-list is dangerous in more ways than one. The Squad is actually a cover for the most highly trained group of underage government operatives the United States has ever assembled. They have the perfect cover, because, beyond herkeys and highlights, no one expects anything from a cheerleader. -- from Goodreads

More directly, it is about Toby, a rebel black belt, combat boots kinda gal who hates school and school spirit and obviously cheerleaders. That makes it especially difficult when she becomes the next recruit.

I'm almost embarrassed that I read this. But a while ago I read someone's review and died smiling. How?? Could there be anything more ridiculous?? And so of course, I wanted to read it. During a recent library trip, with a goodreads to-read list in hand, I scanned the shelves and found it available. After The Book Thief, a good cheerleader spy novel sounded just right. (I'm wondering if I've ever written a more improbable sentence.....that would be yes...but I was serious this time....)

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Here is the first paragraph, which I read out loud to my husband while waiting for seats at a restaurant after our library date trip, and after rendering him speechless by reading the back: 

If you'd told me at the beginning of sophomore year that I was going to end up a government operative, I would have thought you were crazy, but if you'd told me I was destined to become a cheerleader, I would have had you committed, no questions asked. At that point in time, there were three things in life that I knew for certain: (1) I was a girl who'd never met a site she couldn't hack or a code she couldn't break, (2) I had a roundhouse that could put a grown man in the hospital, and (3) I would without question chop off my own hands before I'd come within five feet of a pom-pom.

My first thought? I like her!

I smiled nearly the whole time I was reading this one. It requires a large suspension of belief, but suspension is good. It was fun. And I enjoyed that all those horrid cheerleaders where not flat characters - they had problems and depth and talents and even brains. Well, most of them. And there really was spy stuff in there.

I wasn't crazy about how "feminine wiles" really could solve anything. I mean, there are a few men out there with a brain (in their head) right?? And I actually started spacing out during some of the spy stuff. But that only reflects my interests. I never have picked up a spy novel becuase I knew it wouldn't be my thing...and I was SO right. I found myself thinking (and this blows me away) that I wanted to get back to the girly-cheerleader-love-interest crap. (Anyone who knows me will now know how much I truly boring I find spy stuff.)

So. This wasn't the next great thing. I doubt I'll end up owning it unless I find it at a used book store. But I enjoyed it. You'd probably enjoy it too.

One more quote:

...I became the owner of a limited-edition hot-pink cell phone identical to one owned by innumerable vacuous celebrities. Mine, of course, came equipped with a variety of special features, ranging from my very own electron wave accelerator to the world's teeny-tiniest hard-core hard drive, but that didn't make it any less pink.

Fablehaven Release Party

The glorious Fablehaven release party happened on March 23rd, nearly a week ago. For the record, it is not entirely my fault I am so late on posting it. There was an issue with involving a dirty rotten rat who stole my USB cable. It is still not located. I had to resort to the well-I-suppose-you-could-use-this-one that my husband found in some secret electronic stash in our bedroom. And...I really do have 5 small to midlin' children. Anyway....

Welcome to Fablehaven 5!!! (Cue really cool music.)

I was not at all sure we could attend this, but my whim took over, the stars aligned (meaning two "babysitters" were found last minute) and we went. We = me, my husband, my baby, my two oldest children, and our teenage helper friend.

We did have to wait in a line, but it moved quickly and was hardly painful. We climbed 3 million steps to sit in the last available seating - the nose bleed section. No problem. We could see the whole stage. The excitement was palpable.

Such a huge crowd! And oh you should have heard the cheering. Brandon Mull is a superstar! And Shannon Hale, who hosted, is not too shabby either! :)

There was a super funny show put on by D.C. Comedy - a movie preview called Sense and Senseless Violence. Pop culture referenced:

1. Harry Potter
2. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson got the biggest roar of applause!)
3. Pride and Prejudice (the love-interest was Edward Darcy)
4. Sense and Sensiblity
5. Twilight
6. Pirates of the Carribean
7. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (He got stuck in the Quiet Box)
8. The Hunger Games (Katniss thought things should be decided by a fight to the death :)
9. the Matrix
10. Fablehaven (of course)
11. Avatar

Hilarious.

Later it was discovered that Brandon Mull couldn't come out of the magickal knapsack because Shannon Hale (aka Creepy Stalker) had hidden the knapsack in her locker and put a rock on it. She was put in the Quiet Box. Good stuff! The kids ate it up. 

There was a little ballet performance, some dancing satyrs, and an appearance by the illustrator of the Fablehaven series, Brandon Dorman. There were also some announcements from Brandon Mull: yes, this really was the LAST Fablehaven, the sequel to The Candy Shop Wars would be coming soon, and he is writing a new fantasy series about some kids that get transported to a world with no superheroes because the badguys are taking 'em out called the Beyonders.

A Funny Sequence of Events:

1. Early in the show, handfuls upon handfuls of glow sticks were thrown into the audience, but none reached the top of the nosebleeds where we were. 
2. My 8 year old son took this very hard. 
3. Later, when Brandon Mull was asking the powers that be if there were any other questions he was supposed to be answering, my little boy held up his hand and bounced around like Mr. Mull was going to see and call on him. 
4. On the way out a random kid handed 4 glow sticks off to my kids and their evening was made blissfully complete.
5. While walking to the car I remembered to ask what the Boy wanted to ask so badly.
6. "If we could have a glow stick!" he answered.
7. :)))

 Picture of my cute baby (who also waved at strangers and clapped a lot) covering his ears with my hands. It was loud.

Well, if you haven't read this amazing series...what are you waiting for!!! It is awesome. LoveLoveLove it!

Listful Mondays: Where Do You Do It?

 Welcome to Listful Monday again! Upon some reflection, I realized it would be much easier to participate if I gave the heads up as to what I'd be listing next week. That way thoughts could stew for a week and a list would just POP out. Right? Right. So this week I picked a real easy one and I'll put next week's topic at the end. But again, I would love to read any list of yours.

{Places you read, or have read.}

1. on the super squishy couch in the family room while the baby plays on the floor
2. in my bad at night
3. while rocking in the nursery to a lap full of kids
4. laying on my belly on the futon in the library
5. in the bathroom *blushes*
6. in the kitchen while eating, or waiting for the water to boil, etc...
7. in the tent, while camping, to restless kids
8. in the car waiting to pick up or drop off
9. outside in the swing or the hammock
10. out loud in the hospital
11. on the beach
12. in class
13. at the doctor's office
14. out loud to a working husband (painting a bedroom, in the garage....)
15. while hiding (example...in the closet...)
16. while watching tv (or husband is watching a movie I don't want to see)
17. in the car (either out loud or CD cuz I can't actually read in the car)
18. while walking - usually around campus - though this can also make me dizzy/sick and is only a last desperate resort
19. while walking a baby (this could be anywhere in the house, and since it mostly involves swaying or pacing I can manage it with much more frequency)
20. in stores - waiting

I generally keep a book either in my hand when I move locations, or in the car, or in my Life (purse to the rest of you) so I have a book at all those "waiting" locations. A Life has to be big enough to hold a first aid kit, a diaper, and a novel.

 Where do you do it??

{Next week: Book Food (food mentioned or described in books) that you want to eat or have eaten.}

I Got Gutsy and Put My Name on the Book Blogger Hop

There is a way cool thing over at Crazy-For-Books where you can check out new book bloggers, and hopefully get a few to check out you! Go check it out! Now I'm off to read the 10 I picked to check out today...

(If anyone came here from there, would you comment and let me know, please?)

Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
Historical Fiction, World War II
552 pages
published: 2006
For: book club
6 of 5 stars

About

Death is tired. He has much to do on any day, but war requires overtime. He vacations in colors and tries to avoid the "leftover humans." Unfortunately, he fails one day and takes notice of a small girl who steals a book. Death keeps running into this girl as the years pass and war ravages Germany, the world, and her. The last time they meet he pockets the girl's diary so as to preserve her story, and eventually share it.

There were powerful themes of endurance, kindness, the power of words, and friendship. Most of all friendship - the power, necessity, and requirements of friendship.

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I had a very unique experience with this book. It took me an unearthly long time to read it. I found myself carrying it up to my bedroom at night, and carrying it back down in the morning to sit by my spot, but I would not crack it open for a week at a time. When I was reading it, I didn't want to stop. When I wasn't reading it, I didn't want to start. "That bad?" you wonder. No. Anything but.

Let me step back. I challenge anyone to read this and believe, really believe, that the "characters" were fictional. They were real. They were beautiful and flawed people - people you know and understand and love and hate (for a moment) before you love them again. They were more real than I.

The writing was incredibly metaphorical. Here are some snippets:

"His skin widened."

"The only sound I'll hear after that will be my own breathing, and the sound of the smell, of my footsteps."

"...carrying handfuls of suffering..."

"His face tripped over itself."

 "Trust me, though, the words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain."

(All these quotes are from the beginning of the book. I apologize, but I am unable to search through the book for more, or later, or better, examples.) The writing wasn't just lyrical, or beautiful, it was poetry. Even the paragraphs were poetry. And it was sparse, sometimes the most powerful thing on the page being the amount of white space.  And being poetry, it had a unique power over me.

* * * SOME PERSONAL INFORMATION * * *

ABOUT ME

I am a poet.

Poetry is my first love, my first language.

Under usual circumstances, I am able to keep an emotional book at arm's length. I have a barrier, a protection, that keeps the book in a place where it can make me feel and experience and all the things a book can and should do, without taking me over. This is important because I do have a life outside of reading that I'm required to function in. This book bypassed my barrier. It cut straight through my skin. The poetry was the sword it used. This book spoke my language and I had no protection.

A book like that is dangerous.

And that is the reason I hesitated to pick it up again. I needed to allow healing time to pass between readings.

I should also mention that the pacing is also very post modern. The narration jumps around in time. Events aren't just foreshadowed, events happen multiple times. You'll be at one spot and totally unprepared for when everything jumps forward, and in that sparse and poetic way, announces how a beloved character will die, or when. There is no shielding from something like that. Yet, the narrator is so hospitable, so compassionate, that you can't fault his method of telling. And I suppose it was a kindness to die by degrees, instead of one fell sparsely-poetic death swoop.

Let me clarify that I am NOT a WWII virgin. I obsessed over WWII literature in early elementary school and have been reading and collecting it since. This book really is special. It made me cry. I don't mean misty eyes and can't see the book crying. I don't even mean seeping tears and hiccuping crying. I mean face-crumpling, should-shaking, check-sopping, book-dropping, loud-bawling crying. Over and over. I hate admitting this. But I need you to understand.

This book destroyed me.

Should you read it?? Yes. Please. It is amazing. It will be a classic from our time. The story is brutal. The characters are real and unforgettable. The writing is haunting. The plot is taken from our world - a darkest point in history - and never slows. It humanizes those who need a rewritten history, for not everyone in Germany was a monster. Not even many.

And there is every possibility that it will not have quite the same effect on you. This book was recommended, highly and repeatedly, to me by several different people, and no one mentioned that it was poetry or that my soul would be in danger.

And if you do not read it, how will we reminisce about our lost and mutual friends??

P.S. I love that Death is the book thief in the end.

Jadyn's Review: Mayk by Angie Sage

Introducing my oldest (10 years) daughter, Jadyn. She has grown into quite a reader of late and I've invited her to do some reviews for my blog. Enjoy!


MAGYK is about Jenna, Boy 412, and the Heap family.  It is also about how Boy 412 helps Marcia.  In the story Jenna finds out that she is a princess and people are trying to kill her.

What I liked -

1. I like how the story goes.
2. When there's action it's packed.
3. It was very interesting and hard to put down.

I read 552 pages in two days.

I felt such concern and sympathy for them and they felt real to me. I pictured Jenna as me but with longer blacker hair and a gold circlet or a crown on her head .  I pictured Nikko Heap as Xander (my little brother) but with a litte longer blonder, curlier hair and a bit taller too.  Septimus looked like Xander too, but taller and with much curlier hair.  Marcia looked a lot like Mommy but with longer black hair, taller, and most of all, fancier. Silas Heap, the father of all the 7 Heap boys, I pictured as Daddy but with slightly curlier hair and a bit shorter. Sara Heap reminded me of Mommy but with longer blond curlier hair and depthless deep dark green eyes like Silas and all 7 Heap boys. The other 7 boys I would explain but my time is running short.

I LOVE Magyk.
I'm Jadyn and bye!

The is SUNSHINE in my soul today!

Suey gave me an award!! How totally amazingly awesome is that!?!?!

I've been thinking about who to pass this one on to...

and I've decided that my reasons,

though possibly silly,

are as good as any other reasons.

If it makes me smile - that is Sunshine!

Diary of a Quilter because she makes me come back and read even though I'm not a quilter. Not even a sew-er. She is fabulous.

Typing with My Toes because she is obsessed with Fablehaven. And if there were box seats to obsession, I'd be sitting next to her.

Reading Thru the Night because she was (somehow) right there and leaving great comments when I began blogging again.
One Librarian's Book Reviews because her blog always makes me feel calm and "mature romantic garbage" makes me smile every time.
Candles and a Cup of Tea because she gets my Jane Austen thing and we reviewed the same silly book on the same day once.

Have a bright and lovely Spring day!!

Listful Mondays: More Ways in which My Mother Tried to Drown the Fantasy Out of Me

{Books suggested/given to you. Books from your formative years.}

She was unsuccessful. But upon reflection, I have realized that my mom gave me excellent things to read.

I love every one of them.

1. Christy by Catherine Marshall
2. Julie by Catherine Marshall
3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
4. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
5. Follow the River by James Alexander Thom
6. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
7. The Journey Home by Johanna Reiss
8. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
9. White Fang by Jack London (love is too strong a word for this, but it is a solid like)
10. The Call of the Wild by Jack London (like for this one too - can't ALL be winners)
11. Incident at Hawk's Hill by Allan W. Eckert
12. Blitzcat by Robert Westall

The One Book My Mom Gave Me that I Refused to Read in a Fit of Teenage Pique:

1. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

And I still need to read that...silly teenage me...

Listful Mondays Makes an Appearance!

I have wanted to add a wee more structure to my blogging. It would be especially helpful in weeks like the last one when I get little reading done. But it couldn't be anything too difficult or research intense. I happened to think about my penchant for making lists on one listless Monday - that being the exact phrase in my head at the time for some reason. For obvious reasons, the ideas merged. I mentioned my delicate seedling idea to my photoshop savvy husband, who hauled off and made me a button on the spot. (That is still shocking to me. Where was the necessary procrastination and requisite stressing about the potential failure of it all??)

So now I have a button, a happy husband, and no choice but to proceed. [Step #9 was supposed to be a joke, but he stuck it on there anyway. It refers to Sleep Talkin' Man, which is a pee-you-pants hilarious place. But don't go there if you can't handle "colorful" language.]

So. My plan is to put up a bookish list every Monday. It will have a "theme" or "question." I would love for anyone to join me. If you do decide to participate, please leave me a link or your list in the comments. And for the record, I don't care if you use my theme or if you just write me your shopping list. Oh, and please grab the button if you want to play!

Onward!

Weekly Geeks 2010-10 : Literary Tattoos

Many lovers of books and tattoos have combined the two. In my opinion, there is a magic in being able to carry your favorite quote with you wherever you go. I'm far from being the only one who feels this way. LiveJournal has a group called Bookworms with Ink in which people share their literary tattoos and ask for advice before getting one.
And so I ask:

• Do you have a literary tattoo? Please share it with us and tell us why you chose it.

• Do you have any ideas for future literary tattoos? Are there any quotes that you might one day want to have printed on you? (No plans on ever getting a tattoo? Just let us know what you would get if you were to ever get a tattoo!)

• How do you think the author feels about having their work permanently inked on a fan's body?

I don't not have any tattoos, and because of my particular belief set, I will not be getting any tattoos.

BUT

I have forever thought tasteful tattoos are cool. (Tasteful to me = small, not on the face, not obscene, etc...) I have often teased my husband about how I wanted to get a little tattoo on my ankle or shoulder blade. I just didn't know what. A butterfly? Dolphin? Nothing seemed right.

A literary tattoo had NEVER occurred to me.

How completely AWESOME is that?!?

I clicked around in the links offered in this Weekly Geeks post, then went straight to an image search to inundate myself with the idea. Here is some shameless image swiping:

This exercise has put on more tick in the bibliophile category for me. I found that there aren't any quotes that come to mind that I'd want on me. (Except of course for "Don't Panic." Who wouldn't want that?) What I swoon over is that actual books. My favorite that I found was the huge stack of books (above ;) on the lady's arm. I would just want a smaller stack. So lovely.

While browsing I read on one lady who wanted the Desiderata on her back, but worried it wouldn't all fit. You're right, Honey. It won't. But I can sympathize. I love the poem with all my heart.

I also saw a lot of Twilight tattoos - especially that lion and lamb quote. I did wonder what Stephenie Meyer would think of that...and I decided she would...oh heavens I don't know. I only know what I would feel - flattered and embarrassed.

But as for Don't Panic...Douglas Adams was probably the one tattooing it on the guy's arm!