Novels Now

I just love Neil Gaiman (not to mention that his looks remind me of a close friend I had in college). Well, I love his books, too, and this one was no exception. It’s my third Gaiman, and although I still think I liked Coraline a tiny bit better, I loved The Graveyard […]

Popularity: 57% [?]

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My Name is Number 4: A True Story from the Cultural Revolution by Ting-Xing Ye
Pages: 230
Finished: Oct. 26, 2008
First Published: September 2008
Genre: YA, memoir
Rating: 4/5
Reason for Reading: Received a Review Copy from the publisher. Also qualifies for the Canadian Challenge.
First sentence:
The morning of my exile to the prison farm arrived, a characteristic November day in […]

Popularity: 27% [?]

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The Shadow of Malabron by Thomas Wharton
The Perilous Realm: Book 1
Pages: 385
Finished: Oct. 25, 2008
First Published: August 19, 2008 (Canada, Hardcover) Aug. 4, 2008 (UK & US, paperback)
Genre: YA, fantasy
Rating: 4/5
First sentence:
In a chamber high in a tower a young woman sits at a loom, weaving threads of many colours into a tapestry so large […]

Popularity: 24% [?]

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Bookweird by Paul Glennon
Pages: 250
First Published: Aug. 19, 2008
Genre: YA, fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5
First sentence:
The weekend started out well for Norman Jespers-Wilnius.
Comments: Norman’s behaviour gets himself grounded from his computer for the weekend. Fortunately, he is also an avid reader so he starts the weekend off by picking up the umpteenth book in his favourite series (a […]

Popularity: 24% [?]

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Written for Young Adults, but Just as Engaging for Adults
The year is 1925 in small town Tennessee. The school year is winding down and the children are excited about having a laid back summer. However, when it comes to the towns peoples attention that the science teacher, J. T. Scopes taught Darwin’s theory of evolution […]

Popularity: 25% [?]

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Night Runner by Max Turner
Pages: 261
First Published: Sept. 8, 2008 (Canada only)
Genre: YA, paranormal
Rating: 5/5
First sentence:
My name is Daniel Zachariah Thomson.
Comments: Zack is an orphan. His father died in an accident when Zack was four. Zach was there as well and was sent to the hospital in a coma. After awakening from the coma it […]

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558 Pages
Michael Grant
Sam Temple is sort of reserved but he is cool in a crisis. Two years ago, when his school bus driver had a heart attack, Sam’s quick thinking and a quiet calm helped him to save everyone on the bus. Ever since then, other kids have looked up to him.
While sitting in history […]

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321 pages
Susan Beth Pfeffer
The Dead and the Gone is the companion book to Life As We Knew It which I read earlier this year.
The disaster in this book is the same as in Life As We Knew It. An asteroid has hit the moon and knocked it closer to earth which affects the tides, volcanoes, […]

Popularity: 25% [?]

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Getting the Girl: A Guide to Private Investigation, Surveillance, and Cookery by Susan Juby
Pages: 339
First Published: Sept. 19, 2008 (CAN), Sept. 30, 2008 (US)
Genre: YA, realistic fiction
Rating: 4/5
This book came as an extra. I had requested two YA books from the publisher and they were packaged together with this one as a boxed set of […]

Popularity: 20% [?]

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Far World, Book 1: Water Keep
by J. Scott Savage
Shadow Mountain, September 2008 (ARE)
Fantasy (YA); 419 pgs
One of the first things I do when I crack open a book is to read the dedication. This one I read out loud to my husband and he immediately zeroed in on the mention of solving Ultima games. […]

Popularity: 28% [?]

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