This entry will actually be a combination of both last Saturday and last night. I just was too busy to get Saturday night’s done. But both nights I found several books, and some of these I’m listing are ones that I had seen before, but forgot about, so my plan of keeping track this way helps me remember those.
First though, one of the books I mentioned in an earlier Hazards blog was Ill Wind, and they had actually stripped the books to send the covers back to the publisher, and were recycling all of the copies! Fortunately they had not sent the stripped books to the recycle bin yet, so I was able to grab a copy. As soon as I check the Nook back in this Saturday it will probably be the first book I read. So look for a review for that soon.
Okay, here are the books I want to buy:
1. Austenland by Shannon Hale: The main character’s name is Jane Hayes, she lives in New York and is seemingly normal. However, she has a secret obsession with Mr. Darcy, well, the Colin Firth Mr. Darcy anyway. Because of her obsession, her dating life sucks, because there is no real man who can stand up to Mr. Darcy. She gets a surprise visit to an English resort that caters to Austen obsesseed women, where she gets to dress in regency period dresses and flirt with all the men there, whether they are only gardeners, or possibly actors hired by the resort.
2. Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse by Max Brallier: Okay, who remembers the Choose Your Own Adventures books that were the big deal when I was a kid in the 80’s, that they’ve even brought back to our store? This is basically that same thing, only for adults. It’s the same size as a normal trade paperback. And with all the zombie books and movies I’ve been into lately, this looks awesome!
3. Jane Goes Batty by Michael Thomas Ford: I actually am a little bit over the whole vampire or zombie re-writing of classics. This however sounds interesting. It is actually a sequel to another that I wanted to read, Jane Bites Back. Where Jane Austen is actually a vampire, and is a bookstore owner in New York. In this sequel she is now the author of a new book, and now she has to really fight to keep her identity as “the” Jane Austen secret. I haven’t read the first book, but I think Lord Byron is also a vampire. So she must deal with a Bronte sister coming back in revenge as well. Sounds like a fun romp to me!
4. Stolen by Lucy Christopher: This is a teen book I saw awhile ago and forgot about. But it sounds really intense! So I must make sure to remember to read it. The main character is 16 year old Gemma. She is kidnapped at the airport by a man named Ty. He takes her to the remote wild lands of the Outback in Australia. To Gemma who has always lived in the city, this is so scary how remote it is with no people for miles and miles. This book is told as a letter from Gemma to her kidnapper, as it seems she comes to understand her kidnapper. It brings up the Stockholm syndrome, which I think is very interesting for a teen to read about.
5. Claim to Fame by Margaret Peterson Haddix: Well, first, this is one of my favorite YA authors. Second, the story, the main character was famous as a child, but the stress of fame and the fact she could hear other people’s thoughts in her head caused her to have a nervous breakdown and disappear from the public eye. The rumor is that her dad kidnapped her. But really she’s gone to live far from all the voices and has become less stressed. Unfortunately some former fans think she’s been kidnapped, and these teens go to “save” her and bring her back to the headaches of hearing everyone’s thoughts. Sounds really good!
There are actually a few others I want to talk about, but as I’ve got plans to go see a movie tonight, and need to leave in about 5 minutes, I’ll post later on.
I am on a bit of a Jane Austen kick lately, and I have Austenland on my TBR. A lot of the books you list here I'm planning on reading, actually. I love Haddix… I feel a lot of her books have been hit or miss for me lately though. We'll see how much I like her newest.