Recent Arrivals chronicles the books that have made their way onto the Today, I Read… bookshelf. Here’s the latest arrival: Numbers by Rachel Ward

First line: There are places kids like me go. Sad kids, bad kids, [...]

Initial thoughts:  I can’t remember the name of the blog, but I remember reading a synopsis of the book and thinking to myself, I want to read that book.

Then lo and behold, the book fairy delivered a copy to me (OK, it was really the publisher via the postal lady) and I did a little happy dance.

It’s about a girl who can look into someone’s eyes and see the date of their death. There’s a bit more to it, but that’s the gist.

The premise just sounds intriguing, no? Right up my alley.

Book description:

By the Numbers…

"Listen, Jem." The words came spitting out of her face. "I don’t need this today, so just…shut…up." Syllables stinging like angry wasps, her venom fizzing all around me. And all the time, as we sat eye-to-eye, her number was there, stamped on the inside of my skull: 10102001.

Four years later, I watched a man in a scruffy suit write it down on a piece of paper:

Date of Death: 10/10/2001

Book Details: 336 pages; Chicken House; Pub. February 2010

Recent Arrivals chronicles the books that have made their way onto the Today, I Read… bookshelf. Here’s the latest arrival: The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

First line: When I was five years old, I walked down the aisle with [...]

Initial thoughts: This book looks adorable. When I read the description, I laughed out loud and shook my head in amazement. As someone who has sworn off love and men a time or two, this just seemed like it was bound to be an entertaining read.

Book description:

(Rather than a back cover blurb, I’m presenting you with the opening page.)

I, Penny Lane Bloom, do solemnly swear to never date another boy for as long as I shall live.

All right, maybe I’ll reconsider it in ten years or so when I’m no longer living in Parkview, Illinois, or attending McKinley High School, but for now I’m done with guys. They’re all lying, cheating scum of the earth.

Yes, every last one of them. Pure evil.

Sure, there are some that seem nice, but the second they get what they want, they’ll dump you and move on to their next target.

So I’m done.

No more dating.

The end.

Book Details: 320 pages; Point; Pub. January 2010

Happy Tuesday! It’s time again for another edition of Teaser Tuesdays…

Here are the rules:

• Grab your current read
• Let the book fall open to a random page
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• You also need to share the title of the book where you get your teaser from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given
• Please avoid spoilers

I’m smack dab in the middle of two books right now, but the one nearest to me is Fallen by Lauren Kate and so that will be from where the teaser is pulled.

This week’s teaser:

“Even from this distance, Luce could see black mold covering the face of the dorm. All the windows were obstructed by rows of thick steel bars.” pg. 17 Fallen by Lauren Kate

So far the writing is smooth, but there has only been one small bit of action that’s piqued my curiosity. In fact, I’ve already developed a few quibbles.

I don’t know what to make of Luce just yet, but she’s teetering perilously close to the edge of being a whiney heroine and I believe nearly nothing about her new “friend” Arriane; her actions are anything but consistent with what we’re told. But there’s still time for character development. I might be surprised.

At best I feel the book will redeem itself by the end, and at worst, it will just turn out to be another average read. (I’m hoping for the former.)

It’s just into the 23rd hour of the read-a-thon and I gotta admit I’m starting to feel The Sleepiesâ„¢ despite my best efforts involving chocolate ice cream, Cherry Coke Zero, and 5 Hr Energy. It doesn’t help that my reading partner was zoning out on me…until, that is, she finally threw in the towel. There she is waving me good night. Traitor.

As I mentioned in my last update post, I decided to move onto Soulless by Christopher Golden as my next read. It’s not a long novel, but doesn’t truly count as a short one either. And I wish I could say that it’s as engrossing as my previous read, but don’t get me wrong, it is a good read so far.

It started off with a mass seance. Basically, three mediums go on a morning news show to demonstrate their gifts and to allow the deceased, on a grand scale, to communicate with their loved ones. Unfortunately, something they didn’t plan for happened: all those ghosts wanting to communicate with their loved ones are technically soulless (hence the title) and therefore cannot control their rampant urges and the mediums, along with the two news hosts, are locked together (hand to hand) and no one can seem to wake them up or pry them apart.

Dead bodies are now animated by spirits (which are different from souls, by the way) all over the Northeast and it’s spreading fast. There’s chaos and carnage and people are panicking left and right. There’s all kinds of zombie goodness going on while the people trapped inside the news studio try to figure out how to separate the three mediums, and the two poor news hosts, and praying that doing so will fix everything. Exciting stuff I tell ya.

Now, why is it not as engrossing? There’s some character development going on admist the zombie uprising and some of it just seems wildly unnecessary and only serves to quell the awesomeness of people getting their cheeks eaten off and whatnot. But, it’s not enough to get me to set aside the read because sure enough, when I’m ready to throw in the towel, another zombie comes out of nowhere and I’m giddy with fear again.

On an almost related note, I just had a glance outside and at this time of the morning, it seems much darker than I’d expect it. I’m not scared or anything, but I was hearing a couple strange noises coming from the back patio and erm…uh…yeah.

Well, I’ve just finished reading Dawn by Kevin Brooks and I’m a bit numb right now. Figuratively and literally (my butt).

The story, for lack of a better cliche, was intense, and not entirely what I expected.

Sure, I expected some twisted bits (the allusion to something happening to her while quietly laying in bed one December night is like a flashing neon sign), but I never expected it to be that twisted and a bit heart-wrenching.

I swear I felt a tear pricking at my eye and trust me, it was not a moment when I should have been crying and certainly not for the person I nearly cried for.

Ultimately, this is a heavy novel, but much of it is written with a light touch. There are passages that had me cackling and packages that had me shaking my head with consternation.

And since Dawn likes to make lists, allow me to make a list of just a few of them:

• Dawn makes it her mission to kill God. (Although he doesn’t exist.)
• Painted snails. Yes, really. Painted snails.
• “Jesus licks his arse.” (Since I know your eyes may be bugging out, let me say that Jesus is the name of her dog. She also has another named Mary.)
• Born-again alcoholic.

I’m still trying to let the story digest for a bit before I come out with a full review. One thing is for certain though, it certainly had me glued to the pages.

In the meantime, I’ll be taking a fifteen minute break to grab some caffeine, make the rounds to see how everyone else is doing, and then start on Soulless by Christopher Golden.