I'm putting in my angry eyes!

Did any of you read this? I am livid! Livid I tell you! Because one person decided to be dishonest in their dealings with their fellow man, the rest of us will suffer. Isn't that how it usually works? Sigh.

The book I just told you all to go read Chapter 1 of....has been indefinitely postponed. I am truly saddened by this as I was really looking forward to this next installment of the Twilight series. Alicia...you need to convince her to finish it and then give me a copy. :0) Tell her I promise to respect her copyright priviliges and refuse to share it with anyone else. To the rest of you....I'm sorry....you'll just have to wish you were me. :0) OK, so I'm kidding here. But seriously...Stephenie....if you are reading this {which I'm sure you are because my blog is THAT popular} please finish it! I need more Edward and Bella. It's a sickness...I know. Even after reading Breaking Dawn and being sad that there wasn't a big fight at the end where the bad guys were demolished....I still love them.

Sigh.

You can still go to her website to read the portion that she has written of this novel. She decided to share that much with the public as it had already been leaked. Sniff. I'll just never know the whole story from Edward's point of view. Sniff.

Edward's Story

Just in case you hadn't gotten your hands on the first chapter of Stephenie Meyers next book, I'll share with you the website so you can read it for yourself. So far...I'm loving it. It is Twilight again, but this time through the eyes of Edward Cullen. So glad to know I won't have to miss him for too long. :0)

http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/pdf/midnightsun_chapter1.pdf

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Since I haven't been able to make it to an actual city that has Broadway musicals...I've had to resort to watching the movie versions or reading the books. The latest on my list has been this one...

Can I just tell you how good this book is? The basic plot is how the Wicked Witch of the West became, well, WICKED. But it is so much deeper than that. The time is pre-Dorothy and actually begins with Elphaba {the Witches real name} still in her mommies tummy. And, instead of being mostly about the fantasy of the Land of Oz, as in the Wizard of Oz, this book focuses more on the Land of Oz itself. The different cultures and races and religions....it gets into the politics of the land as well. It is truly interesting and one of the better books I have read in a while.

I haven't finished it yet, but am getting closer. As I have continued on in my reading, I keep thinking about how impossible it would be to include all of the information in the book into a Broadway musical. I wonder if they have left anything out. Anybody out there that has read the book and seen the musical...fill me in. Otherwise, I guess I'll just have to wait. :0) I did download the entire Soundtrack today from iTunes. I have had 'Defying Gravity' in my collection for a bit, but have gotten so involved in the lives of Elphaba and Glinda that I wanted to hear the rest of the songs.

And, um, is it only me that gets teary eyed at some of the songs? That's what I do when I read a good book. I get INVOLVED and feel like I know the characters personally. And this book honestly makes me feel like I have misjudged the poor Wicked With my entire life. :0(

And....guess what I just found out? Wicked....is going to be made into a movie! Oh yeah! Sure, it's going to be a couple of years before it comes out...but still! That means there is truly hope for me to actually SEE what it would be like to go to the musical. Minus the stage...and props....and atmosphere...but you get the idea. :0)

Read any good books lately?

Ok, Honey Bunch...this is for you. Don't say I never did anything for you. :0)
This is the list of books I have read since January {I think anyway...it's hard to keep track}. I love to read. I have been known to stay up until the wee hours of the night in order to finish a book. In fact, just the other night I was up until past 1:00 a.m. finishing off this one.....

This is the latest book by one of my new favorite authors, Stephenie Meyer. It was not at all what I expected it to be like. I knew it had to do with aliens taking over human bodies, but the story line was so intriguing and thought provoking it kind of took me off guard. It made you think about what qualities make humans truly human and perhaps if some of us don't act very humanely at all.
This one honestly, just looked interesting to me. I've always been curious about weegie boards, but never dared even touch one. Bad karma. The main character of this book is able to see and speak to the spirit of a man who was wrongly accused of several murders. Nobody else can see him but her, as she did the whole weegie board thing. The real murderer is back out on the prowl and so she has to try to figure it out with the help of a handsome policeman. Yeah, I know...typical story line. It was an ok book though.
This one was interesting. Two little twin girls are kidnapped. One is returned. The other is assumed dead. The one still alive appears to have some sort of "twin connection" with the other one, making some believe that her sister is really still alive and out there somewhere. Made me wonder if twins really do have that kind of connection. You've heard about twins separated at birth that knew they were "missing" something and ended up along similar paths in life. Weird stuff.
My friend, Alicia, totally hooked me up with this book. She literally brought it to my house. Now that I think of it, I read this in September. Oh well...can't leave it off the list right? I read the book in 2 days and borrowed the last two in the trilogy from her immediately after. I read the other two in only a couple more days. I couldn't put them down. When I was done with the third one, Eclipse, I was angry that the next book wasn't out already. I mean, seriously...what is up with making me wait? Don't they know I don't "do" waiting? Sigh.
This one was another mystery sort of book. A retired attorney, who is also a single dad, ends up having to come out of retirement to help out an old friend accused of rape and murder. Interesting storyline. It was ok.
Yes, Ashlee read the "devil books". My brother has not let me live it down. There was so much hype over these books and everyone just kept saying that you weren't supposed to read them or watch the movie....yada yada yada. I knew at some point, my book loving son would want to read them and I needed to be able to make an educated decision over whether or not I would allow it. So, I read the books. I'm an adult. If the books were really evil, I would figure it out pretty quickly and/or be able to look past the subtleties. It doesn't really get into the taboo stuff until the third book. But, honestly, whether or not the authors intentions were to portray man killing God or whatnot, I read it strictly as a fairytale. People can read whatever they want into pretty much anything these days. The characters live in a different reality, a different world actually. In their world, things are different. Their souls live outside their bodies. Anyway, it's all pretty much fictious and as long as it is read that way, there's not too much to worry about. It's kind of like reading into Narnia. Sure, one could say that the big lion is portraying Jesus, but really? He's just a lion. See my point? Anyway...the books were pretty decent up until the end of the third. I was seriously let down. Three books leading up to the big finale.....that wasn't so big. I was pretty disappointed. They weren't horrible, but not that great. Moving on....

Santa brought this book to my son this last year. Apparently Santa didn't pay too much attention because this book is way too old for an 8 year old. Sigh. Good times. Not old as in "too mature", just old as in....he wouldn't understand half the stuff or half the words. It's kind of like Harry Potter...made up words for a made up place. So, I stole it and read it. They said on the cover it was supposed to be like Harry Potter....not so much. The wizards don't really have powers. They summon demons to do their dirty work. I know, I know...here I go with demons and evil blah blah blah. They are not evil demons. They are creatures that are like nymphs and fairies and stuff. They are forced to do the will of the wizard that enslaves them. Got it? It was just ok. Perhaps a tween might like it.
Ah, yes. This fabulous book comes out in just a couple of days. I have been DYING for it to come out. I hope they don't run out of copies for me. Actually, I'll be in Boise this weekend, so I probably won't be able to even focus on getting a copy for myself until I get back next week. But then...I'm off to scavenge for one. This is book #4 in the Twilight Series. yes, the one I couldn't wait for, but was forced to because Stephenie hates me. Not that she really knows me, but if she did and she really loved me, she wouldn't make me wait. Right?
This one was wierd. But, apparently not wierd enough {or maybe just weird enough} for Hollywood. The movie version of it has already been made. It will be in theatres next October...meaning 2009. A teenage girl is raped and murdered {I know, again with the violence} and her murderer is never found. She goes up to heaven and is able to look down on her family and see what happens to them after her death. Like I said, weird.
This one was interesting. They made it into a "made for TV movie", which didn't do the book justice. They left out half the stuff. Sigh. A doctor ends up having to deliver his own baby one blizzardy night in the 1960s. Turns out, his wife was pregnant with twins. Though the first born, which was a boy, is perfectly healthy, the second born, a little girl, is born with downs syndrome. Back in that generation, people thought that this meant the baby would die soon after birth. The doctor, and new father, is afraid of what it would do to his wife to deal with that kind of loss, so he gives the baby to his personal nurse that is there to help him and tells her to take it to a home for people with this "disease". He tells his wife that the girl died. It destroys her. The nurse can't give the baby up and ends up raising her as her own. The book describes what life is like for both children and the parents afterwards. It wasn't my favorite book, but it was enlightening and interesting.
This book was almost the death of me. It was over 1000 pages long. Longest book {besides a text book} that I have ever read. Holy cow! Though the descriptions of the architectural elements were totally boring to me, the storyline was good. I was completely involved with the characters and their relationships with each other. It was interesting to see how they all affected each others lives.

I bought the book, Wicked, to take with me this weekend. Don't know if I'll have time to read, and really I should be reading my chapters for next weeks assignments instead, but I figured what the heck. This book is the same story as the musical, which I would love to go see. It is a twist on the whole 'Wizard of Oz' story, which is told from Dorothy's perspective. I am told this is the story of how the Wicked Witch became wicked. Sounds intriguing. I'll let you know!

What books have you guys read? I'm always looking for a new good one to add to my library.

Good Reads!

Just read a post over at Bridget's blog and was excited to find out about this great website! Goodreads.com is a website that you can go to and share your favorite books with your friends. I'm always looking for a new great book to read, though I have been disappointed with the last two I purchased. They had great reviews, but that doesn't mean that they are truly "good". So, to have the opinions of friends is great! If you sign up...please add me to your friends! My email is ashleeburnham@yahoo.com. I want to know what you've read and truly enjoyed! I love a good book! And I'm in need of one right now.
I've added several to my list of books I've already read...check them out and let me know what you think. Am I missing some important ones on my list?

Curl Up With A Good Book

So, I thought I'd pass on some good reading for all you book lovers out there! I LOVE to read. If I have found a good book, I will stay up till the wee hours of the night reading it. I won't be able to put it down. And I love how books can do that to you. How they pull you into the story so much you feel like you truly know the characters. You get to feel what they feel. It's truly amazing. Only the good authors can do that. Here are a few that I have stayed up till the wee hours of the night for....

~Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer

~The Kingdom and the Crown Series by Gerlad N. Lund

~Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling

~Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series by Ann Brashares

~In The Garden Series by Nora Roberts

~The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Notice that most of these are done in a series. They can't contain the story into just one novel. I love that. I don't love having to wait for the next installment though. I like my stories to start and end...not be left hanging wide open. Sigh. Patience is not one of my better qualities. Oh well. And I know you're probably thinking, "Sisterhood the Traveling Pants?" The movie seriously did not give the books justice and it only covered book 1. They actually came out with #4 not too long ago and though I purchased the book, I have not had time to read it yet. I got into the Stephanie Meyer books instead and haven't gotten back to the Pants yet. The Pants book are just warm and fuzzy girls growing up trying to figure themselves out books. I cried. yep. I did. Warm. Fuzzy. Good stuff. And the Garden Series is a nice change from the norm as well. Three books done in a series, but each one is done from a different persons perspective. No, you don't go back and relive the same events from another characters eyes. It is a continuation of the same story, just from another persons perspective. And, if you like the whole fantasy type aspect of the Stephanie Meyer books, you'll like these too because it's a ghost story. ;0) The Thirteenth Tale starts out kind of slow, but don't let it trick you. Such a good story! It's kind of a mystery, but not really. ;0) And the Kingdom Series is one that everyone needs to read. It is the story of the life of a family living in the time of Jesus and their experiences with him. Obviously not true to life, but the main parts of the Bible describing the miracles of Jesus and his resurrection are depicted in such a way that it makes it quite a bit more personal for you. It also helps you to understand what the times were like and their ways of life and why it was so hard for the believers then. I bawled in each book. How could you not?

Anyway...as you can see I don't have a specific author that I stick to, nor do I stick to a specific genre. If it's a good book....I'll read it! Let me know if you've read any of these or if I've missed some on my list of good reads!