Friday, April 29, 2011

Amazon kindle

I have always been hesitant about the kindles and nooks. I think they are a great idea, but I did not want to lose the experience of opening a book, turning the pages, etc. However, my siblings got me a kindle for graduation, and after playing around with it I really like it. The kindle is really easy to read off of, it is so convenient when you are traveling, and it is easy to get almost any book you want instantly. Classics are free and it has been really convenient to have. Although I will never give up actually getting a book, I like it! Thanks to my siblings! What do you guys think of them?

Monday, April 18, 2011

The Thief Lord

I'm sorry it took me so long to blog this. I finished it before vacation, but vacation was just too much about relaxing for me to focus on blogging.

Some of my kids in my fourth grade class were reading this for their book club book and my mentor teacher recommended I read it too. I was in the middle of some other books (see previous posts) so I didn't get to it right away. Once I did start I enjoyed the book for the most part. It moved along quite well with interesting characters. Basic plot outline: There are a group of kids living in Venice, Italy on their own (most of them runaways) that follow a character that calls himself the Thief Lord. The children steal in order to keep themselves fed and clothed and take are of each other. Problems start to arise when a private detective is hired to find two of the runaways. Overall it was a good book, but there were two things I didn't really love. One, I found many of the plot wrap ups to be very predictable from the beginning of the book. Two, I felt like the book switched genres mid-way through in a very deus ex machina way. I'll let you figure that out for yourselves if you choose to read it.