Tag Archives: stephenie meyer

Book Review: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

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The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Grade: A+

The first thing you should know is that I am a huge fan of Stephenie Meyer and loved the Twilight series. The second thing you should know is that I had a lot of reservations about reading her other book, The Host, and even after I bought it, I waited a long time to read it, picking it up and putting it down several times. The third thing you should know is that when I finally sat down and read it, forcing myself to get past that first chapter and dispelling my disbelief and ignoring that part of my brain that said, “A love triangle / body snatching story, really?” … after all that, I loved it. I did.

This story is unlike anything I’ve ever read, except maybe Twilight. Meyer’s writing style really shines through in this and if you think about it, a love story with a super natural twist? Yeah they are similar. It takes place right here on Earth, except things are a bit different now as we’ve been taken over by an alien planet who have literally snatched our bodies out right from under us. But who is the bad guy in this story? It depends on whose point of view you are reading. And in this one, we get both points of view, often at the same time. Because something has happened to the main character and her body  that has almost never happened before – the host’s mind and soul have not left the body. Cramped quarters, am I right?

I expected myself to relate to and find myself sympathetic to the poor girl whose body has been snatched, but Meyer’s writing is so phenomenal that by the end of the book you really do find yourself rooting for and cheering on the soul, or the alien who took over her body. And it doesn’t really take that long to be honest. The love story in the book is intriguing and at times just utterly impossible, but Meyer really fleshes out the whole thing and ends with a solution that works – but not without tormenting your (the readers) feelings the whole way. I also love the details she gives of all the other worlds that these souls have taken over, why they took over Earth, how they take over … basically she leaves no stone unturned, hence the enormous size of this book. And yeah, it’s a long book – and alot happens, the story constantly evolving, but after a couple of chapters I don’t think you’ll mind the length. I got really sucked into this one and loved spending time with it every night. And now… here… on the other side? Having finished this book, I find myself in a similar place as at the end of each Twilight series book – wishing I hadn’t finished reading.

I loved The Host by Stephenie Meyer and would recommend it to guys and gals alike – my husband is starting to read it right now in fact.

Have you read The Host? Are you planning to? Why, why not, and if you did read it, what did you think?

My Nightstand: April

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I probably have way more important things I should be doing right now, but I wanted to get this up while I had a chance and I’m guessing this is that one chance, sooo…

This month I read:

  1. Here’s the Story by Maureen McCormick – Finished April 2, 2009 – This memoir was so much more than I thought it would be. She recalls not only her life as the actress portraying Marcia Brady, but her fight with depression, drug abuse, an eating disorder, falling in love, getting married, having children, and trying to attain a better relationship with her parents and siblings against pretty straining odds. I really loved this memoir. – Full Review -
  2. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink – Finished April 11, 2009 – This was not an easy read for me – very difficult to relate to, from start to finish, but fascinating. The Nazi Germany history was interesting but what really kept me reading was the unfolding story of the main female character’s secret of illiteracy and how keeping that secret affected her life. I would not say that I loved this book, but I liked it and I’m glad I’ve read it. – Full Review -
  3. Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich – Finished April 24, 2009 – I always love a good Janet Evanovich book. The between the numbers books are good light fluff, even more so compared to the rest of the series. This one was hilarious and a very quick read. Leprechauns, Atlantic City, hot guys. Good stuff.

I am currently reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer. I am more than half way through it and absolutely hooked. The hype is real – it does start out a teeny bit slow but only because you’re scratching your head trying to wrap your mind around the whole body snatching / love triangle thing, but she does a great job getting you into it, and understanding it, and then totally rocking your world. I recommend it, obviously.

Up next, I’m thinking will be some combination of the following…

Books I’m browsing on the Kindle 2 which I’m reviewing (on a loaner basis – drats!) for Mommas Review:

Simple Woman’s Daybook: April 20

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I almost never do this meme but my thoughts and life are so all over the place I thought this might help me to get all the miscellaneousness out into blog form. Plus Jean does it, so clearly it’s cool.

Outside My Window: Spring has finally sprung. Warmer weather has prevailed for the most part, although the wind has kept today pretty cool despite supposedly high temperatures. And it’s only supposed to get warmer from here on out. The trees are also starting to bud which is good to see, after this winter’s ice storms I was a bit worried as to how many trees would actually survive but the cycle of life seems to be carrying on okay.

I am hearing: Sweet silence. The boy is napping and Dan is working on a presentation because…

I am thinking: HURRAY! Dream Company is flying out Dan and I for an in person interview. We’ll be getting there the day before the interview to “sight-see” around the area. We’re planning to go apartment hunting and look at the five places I’ve narrowed my list down to thanks to internet searching. Assuming that they can give him a yes or no answer by the time he leaves the interview, we may be able to put down a deposit before we fly home. ::fingers crossed::

I am hoping: That Dream Company gets back to us tonight with flight plans. I’d love to be able to start planning for that ASAP. I already have my doctor’s written seal of approval to fly and as soon as I have dates I can arrange child care for MM and set up some appointments to look at apartments while we’re there. I’m not jumping the gun on this, I don’t think. I want to have anything planned that I can in the event that they are smart and hire him.

From The Kitchen – This whole menu is subject to change if we find ourselves traveling really soon.
Monday: We’re having dinner at my grandma’s tonight – yay for not cooking!
Tuesday: Spaghetti Bolognese – my husband is very excited, he loved this dish the last time I made it. I’m excited to have him home to sauté the onions for me.
Wednesday: Cheesy Chicken & Vegetables thing – I’m trying to make mac & cheese look healthy basically
Thursday: Burger night – I’ll be putting BBQ sauce and sweet pickle relish on mine – oh and cheese obviously
Friday: I’ll have the hubs make pepperoni pizza

I am reading: The Host by Stephenie Meyer – finally, I know. I’m about 200 pages in and mostly loving it. It’s long dude, but the story is very riveting and I’m definitely in it for the long haul. I’m occasionally loathing half the main “character,” Melenie. Sure I feel sorry for her, but sometimes her dumbness just annoys me. And I’m pretty curious to see how their little love triangle could possibly work out, although right now them surviving seems to be top priority over any love connections that might work out. I’m liking it, it’d be easier if I weren’t always exhausted by the time I sat down to read at night.

I am creating: A cookbook – I’m reviewing the bookmaking website blurb.com for Momma’s Review and making a book of all of our favorite family recipes. It’s been quite a task gathering all those recipes, since they are currently all over the place in various forms of “organization” but I love their software so far and all the control they give you creatively. I look forward to seeing / using the final product.

Around the house: I’m trying to get laundry done but more people seem to be home during the week than normal and the laundry room “schedule” seems to be  a bit crazy. I got one load in and I’ll try again tomorrow, unfortunately I wasn’t able to battle for my territory since I had other things to do today, too. Oh well. In the meantime, I’m now looking around the apartment, picturing everything in boxes, which it might be soon if we get this job. I wonder how quickly we’ll be able to move…

One of my favorite things: Having that sweet husband of mine home to help with cooking and playing with the boy. Also getting to visit family a lot more often than usual, trying to squeeze it all in now while we can in case this Really Does Happen.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Look for a new pair of maternity pants – preferably something non-denim and inexpensive; Get Dan’s hair cut for the interview, likely start packing for the flight soon & all that jazz that I mentioned above.

A Picture Thought: How cute are my boys in this adorable shot? I don’t think I’ve posted this one yet, but my appologies if I have. Pregnant brain and all.

Teaser Tuesday: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

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teasertuesdays2Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! ;)

My Teaser:

“It mocked the very essence of who we were as souls. We made our worlds better places; that was absolutely essential or we did not deserve them.”

from page 47 of The Host by Stephenie Meyer

What's On My Nightstand: March

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It’s time for What’s On Your Nightstand, my favorite book meme @ 5 Minutes For Books – this is a pretty open ended book meme for anyone unfamiliar with it – you can review the books you read this month, list what you are planning to read – take a picture of your nightstand, just list out the books – whatever you feel inspired to do this month basically. So here’s what I read this month:

  1. The Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart - Finished March 4, 2009 – I think the second book in this new series might have even been better than the first. I loved the whole thing for much the same reasons I loved the first. I think it’s such a smart, well written book and even better for kids expanding their vocabularies and showing all the different ways you can solve problems, make a difference and be smart. A truly inspiring work. – Full Review -
  2. God’s Debris: A Thought Experiment by Scott Adams – God’s Debris by Scott Adams – Finished March 10, 2009 – Parts of this book kind of annoyed me with a lot of scientific mumbo jumbo that went completely over my head (like sitting in a room with two people talking about something you know nothing about). But other parts I LOVED – Adams has some great ideas about religion, gender, learning, communication and much, much more. – Full Review -
  3. Waiting For Birdy by Catherine Newman - Finished March 18, 2009 – This memoir is about a mother’s experience in a second pregnancy – the author also had a 3 year old son at the time of her pregnancy – and so there are comments on pregnancy as well as hopes and fears of raising a second child and securing the relationship she has with her first child. There are a lot of memoirs and books out there on first time pregnancy but not so many on additional children – and this one was excellent to boot. It was the perfect book for me to read right now. – Full Review -

And here are the books I have slated to read next:

  • Here’s The Story by Maureen McCormick - this is the memoir of the woman who played Marcia Brady in the Brady Bunch, so it has lots of behind the scenes stories from the show, but also deals with her own less than shiny past, what happened to her after the Brady Bunch and how she recovered from the bad roads she took during her life. I’m really looking forward to this book.
  • Operating Instructions by Ann Lamott - I have heard about this parenting memoir and it was just recommended to me again after I reviewed Waiting For Birdy by Catherine Newman – she is supposed to be fantastic and the few paragraphs I read definitely intrigued me.
  • The Host by Stephenie Meyer – I swear I’m planning to read this soon, I seem to be stuck in a memoir rut of sorts though – and I’m enjoying it, so I’m not too concerned about dragging myself out just yet.
  • And I haven’t picked any books for this yet but I’m planning the semi-near future to start reading about the different world religions, probably at least one book from each religion I can think of – we’ll see if I follow through on that / when I get to it. One book I plan to read sort of in that field is The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins – that should cover an atheist-esque standpoint anyway. But if anyone reading this has any book recommendations for this endeavor – feel free to share – I’m not necessarily looking for each religion’s bibles – I’d prefer something either opinion related or a factual / historical account – but interesting to read I hope!

What’s on your nightstand this month?

My Nightstand: February

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It’s time for the February installment of What’s On Your Nightstand, a book meme hosted by the lovely ladies at 5 Minutes For Books.

Last night I finished devouring Revenge of the Spellmans the latest Spellman installment by Lisa Lutz. I think it’s safe to say I completely utterly adored it. I have some pretty incredible series in my rotation right now and this one is no different. It’s described as Harriet the Spy meets Stephanie Plum meets Dirty Harry. All I can say is it’s awesome. Terrific writing, intriguing plots, lovable characters. There is one small completely unsatisfying kiss in this book (if you follow the series, you will know who I’m talking about) that actually brought tears to my eyes and that’s all I will say about that. Loved it.

I’m still needling my way through Walk Away the Pounds by Leslie Sansone. I am enjoying it (you know the tiny bit I’ve read) but I’m terrible at reading nonfiction and haven’t made the least bit of progress with it. Ho hum. The best I can say for myself here is that I’m doing better with her DVDs than her book – that’s something, right? And again it’s no reflection on the book – I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every page I’ve read. I’m just strange.

So the books slated to be read next area:

And two others on their way from Amazon…

Weekend Diversions: Flying Cars, Werewolf Pop Stars, Photshopped Beauties & John Mayer Entertaining on TV

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It’s a car it’s a plane, it’s… a Terrafugia? Apparently we are a lot closer to the world’s first flying car than I would have anticipated – just watch the video below for more information and see this bad-assed vehicle in action – it’s pretty great.

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Speaking of nothing related to flying cars, apparently Vanessa Hudgens really wants to be in the next Twilight movie, New Moon. Hudgens auditioned for the part of Leah Clearwater – can anybody see her in this role? This might be mean to say, but she seems maybe too pretty to be Leah – or maybe cute and bubbly is the right phrase? Either way, I don’t personally see it, but it would add another big name to the cast, which isn’t a terrible thing for a teen flick. I just hope people realize that New Moon is not a funny, cheesy romantic comedy at all – at least, I don’t remember it being that way, but maybe I’m wrong. ::shrugs:: Wouldn’t be the first time.

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Has anybody else seen these ads that were “adbusted” in a Subway in Berlin? I think these are pretty terrific:

Gizmodo comments:

“Messing with ads in subways is becoming an artform, but this “Photoshopping” of ads in Berlin takes things to the next level by creating a Photoshop interface with stickers. This is pitch-perfect adbusting right here.”

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Okay one last thing – some of you may have heard rumors about John Mayer getting his own tv show gig awhile back – well according to this article on People.com, it looks like the rumors are true. Johnny is going to have his own variety show on CBS with the goal to simply entertain people by using music to communicate and engage the audience. Whether the CBS project will evolve into a series or will be a one-time broadcast remains to be seen. Personally, I’ll take any opportunity to add more John Mayer to my day – I think he is truly an entertainer and that this could be awesome.

Movie Madness: Twilight (the Cliff Note’s version?)

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Has anyone seen the Veggie Tales dvd, Tomato Sawyer and Huckleberry Larry? In the beginning of the movie Larry goes to his book club where they are talking about Huckleberry Finn. It is discovered that the whole group has been reading the “Norm’s Notes” version of the books for their club and to be honest are more interested in the desserts they’ve brought for the meeting. A pretty typical description of a lot of book clubs, I think, not discluding my own. Except that I’d never read the Cliff’s Notes version of a book, unless of course it was for a college course. That’s different. But a book that was meant to be read for pleasure? Nobody wants the condensed version, as we all know it will not be able to contain all of the genuine emotions and delicate plot details that we know and love in the full version. It won’t have the true essence of the story.

This is the problem with movies based off books. It’s no surprise – we’ve seen a million of them, going in anxious and optimistic, leaving with a grumble of complaint about the butchering of an amazing work of fiction, and how could they leave this out and really what were they thinking and will they ever learn?

It would appear not. Now I understand that movies can only be so long – that the book Twilight for instance is not a short book, even if many of us devoured it in one sitting – it’s an experience – things take time in this book, as Meyer’s carefully constructs each detail working hard to not make Bella’s love story seem trite or typical and prone to the fleeting feelings of most high school girls. This story is different and it’s complex and heavy – and it’s a story about so much more than Edward and Bella – it’s a legendary vampire history, with amazing new twists on an old favorite genre – it’s about the inner workings of the mind of Bella, who was never an ordinary teenager in the clichéd sense. It’s about what a person becomes when they can live forever. It’s about family dynamics, small town dynamics, small town high school dynamics and on and on and on with rich characters that we grow to care about – each and every one – even Jessica and Mike Newton.

But this movie? I don’t want to insult the good work of many actors and actresses, but could this script have been any more fast paced? In one second Bella has just arrived and she’s easing into her new school and questioning her body odor (I’ll admit that scene was funny and brilliant) – and in practically the next scene she’s confessing love to Edward. And while their love story was not necessarily a long one per say, it was not that quick and we all know it (we who read the books). We know what an agonizingly long process this was for Bella and the movie seems to make light of that which irked me. All of the so true feelings of Edward and Bella seem almost mocked as if to say, “Don’t worry, no one is taking this serious.”

And while I don’t mind laughing at some of it, this movie seemed to be laughing at all of it – and rushing through the story in a very cliff notes fashion. You get the basic plot with very little of the essence. It felt very forced to me and I don’t think anyone was given a chance to do their characters and stories justice. Which is unfortunate, because every now and then when they slowed down a bit, I saw some beauty in this story come to life – the baseball scene was so absolutely stunning and well done that it literally blew me away. The Cullen’s house was more beautiful than even I had imagined it – so beautiful that my husband practically drooled on my shoulder and now we both want to live in Forks if only for that house, those mountains… That scene with Edward catching the apple was so brilliant and well done that I’m still visualizing it as I type this. The vampiric actions were deliciously fun to watch, even the bad guys, maybe especially the bad guys.

So I’m not saying I hated it – it would be hard to hate anything related to Twilight – and some small parts I really really loved. But a lot of it… felt… like how people see Twilight from the outside looking in, which I found very sad. I hope Stephenie Meyers likes this movie as it’s her baby really at the end of the day – her vision come to life. I’m just a fan who saw many things differently and was disappointed with how rushed and chopped a lot of (most of) the book was. I thought Bella and Edward were played well, but really neither were exactly how I picture them – the only person who was perfect, like spot on brilliantly perfect was Alice, who had maybe five lines in the movie sadly.

I feel like I might regret saying this, but I do hope they make movies for the other books, because as disappointed as I was, I enjoyed parts of it and it got me craving the rest of the story, wanting to see more – the amazing stuff to come in the next books that I had to use so much restraint to keep from blabbering to my husband about. And really this series got better with age, maybe the movies would, too? Or maybe each movie would leave me saying, “When will enough be enough? When will I learn?”

Grade: C

So did you see the movie? Did you like it?

Twilight Themed Friday Follies

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This week’s Friday Follies is Twilight-themed in honor of the movie coming out today!

Team Edward or Team Jacob? Team Edward

Favorite Cullen? Probably Alice, she’s just awesome

Would you rather control emotions, see the future, or read minds? I’d love to read minds – then I’d know what people want or really think – it might be bad news sometimes but at least it’d be honest.

If you had to choose, would you rather go on a date with Tyler, Eric, or Mike? Really? I guess Mike.

Shiny silver Volvo or an antique truck? Volvo for sure

Who were you more like in high school? Bella, Angela, or Jessica? Definitely Bella

Which appeals more to you? Forks or Arizona? Forks – I don’t think I’d like the constant hot of Arizona – it’d be nice for a few months but then I’d miss the changing seasons. But in the winter I’d regret my decision :P

With whom would you rather hunt? Edward, Emmett, or Alice? OR…James, Laurent, or Victoria? Alice – guys can get all crazy macho and I’d rather not hunt with the evil vampires

Favorite love story, fiction: Gone With The Wind

Favorite love story, non-fiction: Erm… I have no idea?

If you could be in love during any period of time, which era would you choose? I’d love to be in love when women were women, wearing gorgeous gowns or at least dresses and the men were chivalrous and really tried to romance and court a woman.

Favorite big screen romance: lol Gone With the Wind

Favorite TV romance: Brennan & Booth in Bones or Sydney and Vaughn in Alias…

Favorite song about love: Oh I’m having a hard time with this one… I guess Daughters by John Mayer but I know that’s not really a love song…

For more Friday Follies, head over to Kat’s blog @ Sunshine and Lemonade!

Breaking Dawn: I want YOUR thoughts

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* warning * Spoilers below * end warning *

So I finished reading Breaking Dawn a few days ago and I’ve been trying to decide how to go about reviewing it on here, as I feel some form of commentary is necessary. I mean, I’m sure I could go on at length about how amazing it is (and I might), but I don’t think that’s enough – I want more than that – I already know that I loved it. I know I consider it to be one of her best works of fiction yet – the best in the series by far, and that I loved every minute of it. I know that I enjoyed thinking, “Oh I totally know what’s going to happen” and loved even more the several times that I was WRONG, though I was so right about a few things…

But I also know that a lot of my readers (Red Knows How, Trials and Tribulations, My Musings, Four Seasons Farm, to name a few…) read or are reading the book also and I bet there are more of you lurking out there. I know for the past month or so I’ve had loads of my friends asking me, “Did you finish it yet?” both in real life and here in blogland via comments. Well, let it be known: I FINISHED

And what I really want to know is – what did YOU think about the book?

What was your favorite part? Least favorite?

Did anyone reading this NOT like it, because I keep hearing about these “negative” reviews it got and I just don’t understand WHY? Are they just sorely unhappy Jacob fans or is there something I missed? I mean, I saw a couple of typos, sure, but show me a book without a typo and I’ll show you a euclidean love story… I mean… Um. Never mind, Sesame Street humor.

So – who’s up for some book talk? Anyone want to join me in the comments session for a little OMG fun – tell me about your favorite characters, your favorite scene, your least favorite scenes & also tell me, are you going to see the movie?

To answer my own comments, I think my favorite character has to be Bella as she is so much like myself but I also love Alice – she cracks me up and is such a good friend, sister and sister-in-lawish. I’d love to have someone like Alice in my life, the ultimate in ego boosts since 2005.

My favorite scene in the book was probably the first few hours of Bella being a vampire, after the long drawn out burning bleck, when everything was amazing and bigger than life and all the sensory description just sent me into overdrive and I can still remember going for a drive shortly after putting down the book after that chapter and feeling that “too cool for school” vibe I get whenever I see an action movie or watch an espionage show on tv or read a book like this – my mind wants desperately to see that action itself and I walk a little cooler, until I trip stumble and remember, yeah, that’s still not me. I stand a good chance of being a Bella Swan, but Bella Cullen, not likely…

My least favorite part? I guess the first chapter of Jacob’s section kind of threw me for a loop – I didn’t see it coming, I didn’t understand what was going on, and I missed Bella’s “narrative style.” Obviously Jacob doesn’t think the way Bella does, so Meyer didn’t write it the same either and it took me a few pages to get used to it, but in the end I really loved being able to see inside his head for awhile and I grew to love those pages just as much as the rest of the book.

And I’m definitely going to see the movie – it comes out one week after the new James Bond flick so I’m toying with the idea of getting the girls together with their respective guys so that WE can go see Twilight and THEY can go see Bond and WE can ALL be happy. Red, you with me?