Sunday Salon ~ August 3rd, 2008

This last week has been a busy one here at Planet Books.  We’ve been graced with guest posts from three great new authors.  (Click on the highlighted names to view the guest post.)  Kathleen McCleary, author of House & Home talks with us about what she learned in the three years it took to write her debut novel.  Author of Keeping The House, Ellen Baker, shares with us her different experiences that helped evolve a story she was writing that became her novel.  And last but not least, author of Schooled, Anisha Lakhani tells us why she chose to write her first guest post ever here at Planet Books and gives a little hint of what she’s up to now.   

I’m working on reading some ARC’s I received in the mail last week and staying cool during this extremely hot and humid Okinawan summer.  A schedule of reading in the air conditioning is what I have to look forward to this week.  Whew!  Oh, and watching the Washington Redskins play in the 2008 Hall of Fame Game against the Indianapolis Colts.  “Hail To The Redskins!!”

I’m really enthralled with an advance reading copy of Deborah Copaken Kogan’s Between Here and April right now.  I started it last night and am half-way through.  It’s a page turner!  What are you reading?  Any ARC’s or something that you purchased recently?  Not living in the States right now, I was unable to participate in the craziness that I’m sure filled many bookstores nation wide this past Friday night at midnight.  Did you get your copy of Stephenie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn?  If you did, or your teen did, are you/they done yet?  Is it any good?  Please no spoilers!!

Let Me Tell You About A HUGE Book Giveaway!!

UPDATE:  This book giveaway is not through this blog site but actually through MAW BOOKS BLOG.  Everyone who has left comments here is not eligible for this giveaway.  If you just left your wonderful comment to say “Hi” and that you love Stephenie Meyer, THANK YOU!! – Karen @ Planet Books

Maw Books Blog is HOSTING a HUGE giveaway right now.  If you are a Stephenie Meyer fan than this is the contest for you. 

Book Review ~ TWILIGHT

“About three things I was absolutely positive.  First, Edward was a vampire.  Second, there was a part of him – and I didn’t know how dominant that part might be – that thirsted for my blood.  And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.”

 

                                                   

Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer, is a story about a seventeen year-old girl named Bella, who moves from the Valley of the Sun to the cold, dreary, rainy yet beautiful Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.  There she starts to make a life with her father Charlie and the kids at the local high school where she joins as a junior.  There, Bella meets Edward Cullen and the Cullen family and her life is never the same again.  After a scary and almost life ending accident she realizes that Edward is not like herself.  He has strength and speed unlike anything she has ever seen before.  Bella puts the pieces together with the help of an Indian reservation myth and little hints and discovers that gorgeous Edward and his beautiful family are actually vampires, but not in the way that we are familiar with.  They have been able to change their diet to animal blood instead of human blood. 

 As Bella’s friendship with Edward grows they realize (very suddenly actually, but remember this is a vampire story) that they are deeply in love with each other and that they can never be apart again.  Due to a terrible case of klutziness, Edward becomes Bella’s guardian and vows to keep her safe forever.  Little do they know that that will mean safe from a “tracker vampire” later on. 

 This book was an amazing read and I thoroughly enjoyed every word of it.  The mystical atmosphere that this book brought over me in the last six days has been wonderful.  I found myself reading during any free moment I had.  I didn’t watch much television and I didn’t surf the web much because I was reading.  The character development was well paced and the plot was strong.  I felt that the school scenes were right on and I found myself reminiscing about high school and the boys who I dated over my four years at Paint Branch.  I remember being as boy crazy over one in particular as Bella was with Edward in the story.  He was mysterious, romantic, interesting, brilliant and not what I was expecting either.  He broke my heart but I don’t regret the experience.  

I am very excited about reading the rest of the Twilight series and finding out what happens to Bella, Edward and the Cullen’s.  I have also been watching the trailer and behind the scene footage I have come across online.  The movie, Twilight, will be in theatres on December 12^th, 2008. 

 

If you have read this book, please take a moment to share what you thought of it and if you haven’t, will you read it before the movie comes out or just wait for the movie?   

 

 

 

 

{5 out of 5 stars}

The Sunday Salon ~ June 8th, 2008

What is he?  That’s my biggest question since I started reading Stephenie Meyer’s hit novel “Twilight” on Friday evening.  I am just enraptured with this book!  I love the main character Bella and I am as curious and taken with Edward Cullen as Bella is.  I know he’s supposed to be a vampire but to what level?  Is he good or is there some evil behind his changing eyes?  I look forward to finding out as the week progresses.              

Reading this book has taken me to a place that I haven’t thought too much about in a while.  High School.  I graduated from high school in 1992 and though I had a wonderful high school experience, I still remember wondering where I fit in sometimes.  I was a chorus and theatre geek but had friends in all the different clicks so I considered myself a bit of a chameleon for those four years, 9 – 12 grades.  

I did do a little research and found out the the town where “Twilight” is set in, Forks, WA, is a real place.  My folks are from the Seattle area originally and one summer, when visiting the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, we took a vacation to Kalaloch Beach on the west coast of Washington State.  I can still remember the beauty of the beach and the drive up being surrounded by lumber trucks.  It makes it a little easier to picture the area’s described in the book with my memory of that summer.  Kalaloch is further south along the west coast of Washington State from Forks, but it’s still part of Olympic National Park and gorgeous.

  

Today’s Favorite Song

Well, the rainy season is here and I’m settling in with my books and some good music in the air conditioned house for the long summer.  Last night I started reading “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer.  I was reading in the recliner in the study and had Pandora Radio playing on the computer and along cam 10,000 Maniacs through the speakers.  I remembered I had a few of their cd’s on my iTunes so I started to listen to those instead.  The sound of the music and Natalie Merchant’s voice seemed very appropriate background music to “Twilight”.  This song, “Few and Far Between” is my new favorite 10,000 Maniacs song this weekend.  It’s so upbeat and the horns sound so rich behind Natalie’s strong and vibrant vocals.