REVIEW: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Title: A Christmas Carol
Author: Charles Dickens
Date Published: December 19, 1843
Genre: Ghost story, Morality tale, Novella, Parable, Social criticism,
Page Count: Unknown
Year Read: 2011

Goodreads: One of the best-loved and most quoted stories of "the man who invented Christmas"-English writer Charles Dickens-A Christmas Carol debuted in 1843 and has touched millions of hearts since. Cruel miser Ebeneezer Scrooge has never met a shilling he doesn't like. . .and hardly a man he does. And he hates Christmas most of all. When Scrooge is visited by his old partner, Jacob Marley, and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come, he learns eternal lessons of charity, kindness, and goodwill. Experience a true Victorian Christmas!

Review: Charles Dickens wrote an excellent novel when writing the Christmas Carol. I love the title... A Christmas Carol sounds like a happy christmas song, yet it's quiet the opposite. Dickens  is very descriptive throughout the novel, setting the mood to each situation very nicely. It's just like watching the movie (Disney's A Christmas Carol)... but better... in my opinion.

Book Haul || Purchased Books - Horror.

Walmart (Near Me) Price $12.59

 If you want Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children I would check the Walmart near you... apparently they have sales going on ^^:;

My beautiful copy (picture below)

I took with Instagragram app on the iPhone

Book Haul || Purchased Books - Winter.

I've been wanting to read the Christmas Carol for some time, and finally got a used copy of it. Hopefully, I enjoy it as much I did the movies. :P

[Covers link to Goodreads]

AUDIO BOOK: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

How I've been meaning to read this book since it came out... I hope that I get to it soon... but luckily... I get the first few chapters... thanx to

Thanifex on Youtube.

Audio Book (On Youtube):

EPILOGUE

[Begin Audio Book]

CHAPTER 1

[PART 1]  [PART 2]

CHAPTER 2

[PART 1] [PART 2] [PART 3]

CHAPTER 3

[PART 1] [PART 2] [PART 3]

*AS OF: NOV 29, 2011

REVIEW: Finding Katie edited by Beatrice Sparks

Title: Finding Katie
Author: Beatrice Sparks, Ph.D.
Date Published: October 1, 2005 

Page Count: 192 pages
Year Read: 2011

Goodreads: Katie is always surrounded by wealth, but feels terribly alone because of the secret horror of her angry, abusive father. When she s thrown out of her house and put into foster care, it seems like the end of the world. But as she moves through the foster care system, she begins to realize that she can help others. Can she, at last, find courage and strength of her own?

Pre-Review: This diary opened my eyes to the Foster care of kids how they could be abused, though I've seen news reports and already believed what goes on. Just seeing it all through the eyes of a young girl who experienced it just makes you realize were this world has been coming to...

REVIEW: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Title: If I Stay
Author: Gayle Forman
Date Published: January 1, 2009

Page Count: 199 pages
Year Read: 2011

Goodreads: In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen year- old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck...  A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make -and the ultimate choice Mia commands.

Review: First things first.. what the buck... the Summit Company (owns Twilight) did not want to turn this novel into a movie, because many "compared" it to Twilight. I do not see how Twilight is even relevant to  this novel. Maybe in the sense of have to choosing "X-Choice" or "Y-Choice" but seriously what the buck. This novel could become a great emotional film, if filmed properly, but who knows maybe this is a good thing and someone picks up this novel and just does a fantastic job with the film. Can't even say how mad I am.

REVIEW: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Title: The Bell Jar
Author: Sylvia Plath
Date Published: 1963

Page Count: 244 Pages
Year Read: 2011

Goodreads: Plath was an excellent poet but is known to many for this largely autobiographical novel. The Bell Jar tells the story of a gifted young woman's mental breakdown beginning during a summer internship as a junior editor at a magazine in New York City in the early 1950s. The real Plath committed suicide in 1963 and left behind this scathingly sad, honest and perfectly-written book, which remains one of the best-told tales of a woman's descent into insanity.

Review: The Bell Jar by Salvia Plath let me start off by saying how much I enjoyed this book. Esther Greenwood is a protagonist whom I will never forget. She was just awesome. Especially since she was a feminist protagonist in the fifties. I would believe most women in that time would want to be married and have kids, but Esther was the total opposite. She would do anything not to please a man. She did not like the idea of being a "slave" for a man.

REVIEW: Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

Title: Along for the Ride

Author: Sarah Dessen

Date Published: June 1, 2009

Page Count: 383 pages

Year Read: 2011

 Goodreads: It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live. A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother. Then she meets Eli, an intriguing loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal world of the town. Together they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she’s been denied; for Eli, to come to terms with the guilt he feels for the death of a friend.In her signature pitch-perfect style, Sarah Dessen explores the hearts of two lonely people learning to connect.

My Review: Let me start of by saying I am a big fan of Sarah Dessen’s books, she is just amazing author of sweet teen romance... whose books I will read just because their hers. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen, I really loved this story I felt like I could relate with the situation especially since when I read this novel I was in summer and about to become an official college freshman in like two weeks so just reading a book about a girl who just wanted some change from her usual routine from being the smart girl, the girl who avoided the parties and the social life.

REVIEW: Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

Title: Living Dead Girl
Author: Elizabeth Scott
Date Published: September 2, 2008
Page Count: 170 pages
Year Read: 2011
Goodreads Synopsis: Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared. Once upon a time, my name was not Alice. Once upon a time, I didn’t know how lucky I was. When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over. Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her. This is Alice’s story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget.

My Review: Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott when I first saw reviews of this book being so gruesome. I expected nothing less and ended up putting this novel in such a high scale. I imaged it being a very gruesome book enough to make me WANT to check it right away, but after reading this novel I was extremely disappointed because in my opinion it wasn't an all-gruesome book.

REVIEW: Bound by Donna Jo Napoli

Title: Bound

Author: Donna Jo Napoli
Date Published:  August 1, 2004 

Page Count: 192 pages
Year Read: 2011

Goodreads: YOUNG XING XING IS BOUND. Bound to her late father's second wife and daughter. Bound to a life of servitude as a young girl in ancient China, where a woman is valued less than livestock. Bound to be alone, with no parents to arrange for a suitable husband. Xing Xing spends her days taking care of her half sister, Wei Ping, who cannot walk because of her foot bindings, the painful tradition for girls who are fit to be married. Even so, Xing Xing is content to practice her gift for poetry and calligraphy, and to dream of a life unbound by the laws of family and society. But all of this is about to change as Stepmother, who has spent nearly all of the family's money, grows desperate to find a husband for Wei Ping. Xing Xing soon realizes that this greed and desperation may threaten not only her memories of the past, but also her dreams for the future. 

My Review: Bound by Napoli Donna Jo, this book made the disney cinderella look like she had it good. How "stepmother" would treat her was just wow, I really did not like this lady at all. I know most retellings of cinderella may have a horrible stepmother and cinderella may have a horrible life but this isn't your typical cinderella story.