I'm still reading!

In fact, I have 2 books to post about. I just can't get my act together. I find I'm down to about a post a week next door.

But in lieu of books I've actually read, here's a short list of books I'm dying to read but probably won't any time soon since they still haven't been ordered by my library.


Perhaps I should be ashamed of myself for including this book on the list (and listing it first, too!!). IMHO, the Shopaholic series started to get really old and really predictable with Shopaholic Ties the Knot. (Crap, woman, how horrible would it be to have two weddings????? Please stop making problems for yourself, already.) But it's still highly addictive--I picked up this book at the store today and managed to read through 8 chapters before the Boy woke up. So I already can predict that she's going to hyperventilate herself into a tizzy worrying about Luke (WTF does he see in this woman???) and her OBGYN, Venetia, who used to be Luke's girlfriend at university...and I am fairly certain Shopaholic is carrying twins...

but I just can't help myself....I cannot wait to read this and get irritated by this character all over again.


Would this book be on my list if I didn't already know that Joe Hill weren't Stephen King's son? Probably not--but not because I don't believe in literary nepotism! See, I really enjoyed the other King progeny (Owen)'s writing, so Joe's couldn't be too bad. (As far as I know, the firstborn King, Naomi, is a Unitarian minister and not a writer.)

Wonder why there's a big marketing gambit with this book, though--first, why go by the name "Joe Hill" if you're going public about who your dad is? I've seen Joe on the talk shows (looking much like his dad except for a less angular, and thus gentler face, though who can say for sure since he's got quite a beard going), and the hosts always bring up the fact that he's Stephen King's kid....which, if I were Tabitha--SK's wife and also a fine, highly-respected writer--I might be a tad pissed off about, given that she actually shoved the kid through her vjj. Also, I don't remember a similar push with Owen's book.) Third, this book is reviewed by two highly regarded writers on Amazon's site--Scott Smith and Harlan Coben. I know SK loves their work...(in fact his recommendation for Scott Smith's The Ruins was such that I had to read it, and it's one of the books I need to post about)...did they feel obliged to review HSB (with such high praise, too) because of the boost they've gotten from SK from time to time?

But I actually browsed through this book at the store, and I have to admit the few pages I read got my heart pounding with interest and anxiety and anticipation. --The feeling was very similar to the way I've felt when I read through some of my favorites from SK's backlist. I'm almost certain that this book will make people sit up and notice Joe for his own writing ability. (I am also dying to get my hands on this other work of fiction by him.)



Haven't seen the movie of the first book yet, and I can't remember anything about the third book in this series, which makes me think I haven't read it yet...but I still absolutely need to read this book. (I only belatedly realized that Carmen is played by America "Ugly Betty" Ferrera in the film...and I absolutely love America Ferrera!--I suppose it's time to renew the Netflix and watch SotTP.)




I really, really enjoyed the first book and I think this series is a promising "next", once the last Harry Potter book comes out in 5 months. For one, it's very well-written (in both plot and dialogue!). For another, there's so much background story about the gods & goddesses that's really interesting--reading The Lightning Thief made me want to read Bullfinch's Mythology (or something way more fun)--it's potentially very rich territory that kids can engage with.