April Book List

The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
An old sci-fi novel - I think it inspired Minority Report, but it's not that similar. It's set in a society where psychics prosecute criminals, so effectively that murder is almost unheard of. A non-psychic CEO goes crazy and decides to kill his business rival, enlisting the help of a psychic gone bad to prevent him from being found out. Interesting, but at the end, all I could say was, "That was weird."

Party Princess (Princess Diaries, volume 7) by Meg Cabot
In this princess episode, Mia's grandmother cons her and her classmates into putting on a musical about the history of Genovia. There are also surprising revelations about some of the original characters. These books are pure fluff, but they're fun fluff.

Traits of a Lasting Marriage by Jim and Sally Conway
My young-married Sunday School class has been reading this together all year. We started out seriously, but ended up making fun of the book more than discussing it. The basic thesis (as stated by our YM pastor) is "As long as you communicate and you exercise, you'll be fine." :P Seriously, getting in shape was a suggested solution for almost every problem. So insulting (IMO). But if you can get past that, there are some good thoughts here. I still recommend Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas if you're looking for a marriage book.

The City of Ember and The People of Sparks by Jeanne Duprau
The city of Ember is "the only light in a dark world." The founders of the city provided supplies to last hundreds of years, but those supplies (and electricity) are running out and people are getting scared. Two twelve-year-olds team up to find a way out, and discover the truth about their city. I won't say anything about the sequel so as not to ruin the first book. :)

Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas
Rob Thomas is the creator and director of Veronica Mars - NOT the Rob Thomas from Marchbox 20. :) This book (written a while back and set in the early 90's) is in some ways a sort of template for the show, except that the main character is a guy, and there's no detective work. It's about a dadaist group that forms at a snooty high school and their various escapades. I expected to like it more, but it was just aight for me.

Make Him Look Good by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez
I read this book for two reasons: 1) it's set in Miami 2) it has an ensemble cast of characters that starts out totally separate, but everyone's connected by the end. These are two of my favorite qualities in a book. :) The plot revolves around a Latino singer who's obviously supposed to be Ricky Martin and the many women in his orbit, including an obvious Jennifer Lopez (and this author clearly hates Jennifer Lopez). There's a lot of raunchiness, so much that I almost gave up on it several times, but I was too invested in the characters. With some editing, this would make a great movie. I kept seeing America Ferrerra in my head.

Total for April: 7
2007 year to date: 38

April Book List

The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
An old sci-fi novel - I think it inspired Minority Report, but it's not that similar. It's set in a society where psychics prosecute criminals, so effectively that murder is almost unheard of. A non-psychic CEO goes crazy and decides to kill his business rival, enlisting the help of a psychic gone bad to prevent him from being found out. Interesting, but at the end, all I could say was, "That was weird."

Party Princess (Princess Diaries, volume 7) by Meg Cabot
In this princess episode, Mia's grandmother cons her and her classmates into putting on a musical about the history of Genovia. There are also surprising revelations about some of the original characters. These books are pure fluff, but they're fun fluff.

Traits of a Lasting Marriage by Jim and Sally Conway
My young-married Sunday School class has been reading this together all year. We started out seriously, but ended up making fun of the book more than discussing it. The basic thesis (as stated by our YM pastor) is "As long as you communicate and you exercise, you'll be fine." :P Seriously, getting in shape was a suggested solution for almost every problem. So insulting (IMO). But if you can get past that, there are some good thoughts here. I still recommend Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas if you're looking for a marriage book.

The City of Ember and The People of Sparks by Jeanne Duprau
The city of Ember is "the only light in a dark world." The founders of the city provided supplies to last hundreds of years, but those supplies (and electricity) are running out and people are getting scared. Two twelve-year-olds team up to find a way out, and discover the truth about their city. I won't say anything about the sequel so as not to ruin the first book. :)

Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas
Rob Thomas is the creator and director of Veronica Mars - NOT the Rob Thomas from Marchbox 20. :) This book (written a while back and set in the early 90's) is in some ways a sort of template for the show, except that the main character is a guy, and there's no detective work. It's about a dadaist group that forms at a snooty high school and their various escapades. I expected to like it more, but it was just aight for me.

Make Him Look Good by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez
I read this book for two reasons: 1) it's set in Miami 2) it has an ensemble cast of characters that starts out totally separate, but everyone's connected by the end. These are two of my favorite qualities in a book. :) The plot revolves around a Latino singer who's obviously supposed to be Ricky Martin and the many women in his orbit, including an obvious Jennifer Lopez (and this author clearly hates Jennifer Lopez). There's a lot of raunchiness, so much that I almost gave up on it several times, but I was too invested in the characters. With some editing, this would make a great movie. I kept seeing America Ferrerra in my head.

Total for April: 7
2007 year to date: 38