Laura Lee Gulledge, Vera Brosgol, Trevor Marriot and Hiromu Arakawa

Jan 22 Book Reviews, Part II: 

Young Adult

Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge
I picked this up by accident at the library while browsing the last time, as I was feeling like some new graphic novels and it looked interesting. This journal style graphic novel is about Paige, a shy 16 yr old girl from Charlottesville, Virginia who moves with her writer parents to New York City. It is a huge change for her, not only because she moved in the middle of her junior year of high school but because she doesn't know anyone and it feeling rather lonely. She decides to reinvent herself by keeping this journal sketchbook and making new friends, who she in turn helps out with their creative adventures. I thought it was really well done at showing what it is like to be a very introspective quiet girl who wants so desperately to fit in but doesn't want to do the wrong thing (I know I have definitely felt this way, more so in college than high school, but I also moved the middle of high school so I know how she feels). She ends up publishing her own mini magazine of drawings, which she calls Pages by Paige. Recommended for ages 14+, 5 stars.


Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol
I've been wanting to read this one forever but never had the time until now. It was well worth the wait, although I thought the story was a little slow at times. Anya's Ghost is about a high school Americanized Russian teenager named Anya. She seems constantly annoyed/embarrassed at her mother and brother, only has one friend and never quite seems to fit in anywhere. One day while cutting through a park, she falls down an abandoned well and meets a ghost named Emily who follows her to school. At first they get along and Emily helps her out with schoolwork and flirting with Sean, the boy that Anya likes. This is until Anya finds out what Sean is really like, a humongous jerk, and that the only reason that Emily is helping her out is to live through her, as she never got the chance. Anya decides to investigate Emily's murder and turns out that things are not as they seem and suddenly everything starts going pear-shaped. What is Emily's real story? Will Emily and Anya ever really be happy? To find out, read this intriguing graphic novel. Recommended for ages 12+, 4 stars.

Emma, Volume 2 by Kaoru Mori
I liked this volume better than the first because of the character development. In Volume 2, Emma finally get to go on an outing with William, to the Crystal Palace to look at the exhibits and their relationship finally begins. Her employer Kelly dies and she decides to leave town, and tries to meet up with William but they miss each other. We get to meet William's brothers and sisters, and they are scandalized when they learn about Emma (esp his youngest sister). Meanwhile Evelyn, the girl that William's father wants him to marry, has become friends with William's older sister and is starting to fall in love with William. I can't wait to see what happens in Volume 3! Recommended for ages 12+, 5 stars.

Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1 (Fullmetal Alchemist, #1) by Hiromu Arakawa
This manga version of Fullmetal Alchemist is pretty much exactly like the beginning of the anime series. I had watched the original version of the anime but was told by manga fans that reading the manga version or seeing "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood" was better because it gave the actual story. Volume 1 explains how the Elric brothers, Edward the eldest who is the State Alchemist and his younger brother Alphonse whose soul is trapped in a suit of armor. This occurred when the brothers tried to use alchemy to bring back their dead mother and forgot the rule of equivalent exchange, so Al lost all but his soul and Ed lost his right arm and left leg. He is called "fullmetal" because he has all metal appendages to replace the ones he lost. They have two adventures in this volume, the first to a town where a man claiming to be a priest who performs miracles supposedly possesses a piece of the Philosopher's Stone. The second is about a mining town owned by a tyrant military man who taxes the occupants nearly to death. Recommended for ages 14+, 3 stars.

Adult

Master Chef Tom's Burns Night by Tom Bridge

A e-book guide to doing your own Burns night (usually celebrated around Robert Burns' birthday, Jan 25), it gives you a basic introduction of what the event is and includes recipes you can use to create your own menu.
3 stars. 

Jack the Ripper: The 21st Century Investigation by Trevor Marriot

I would like to preface this review by saying that if you do not like very graphic and detailed descriptions, with some pictures, of crimes, then this is not the book for you. I first became interested in Jack the Ripper in high school after I read a book about the subject. I was fascinated and horrified by what happen, and I guess part of the appeal is wondering why in the heck someone would do something like this. I've seen the Patricia Cornwell special that she did in the late 90s, and while it was interesting, I don't believe the mystery could be tied up in that complete a package like she made it out to be.

In this book the author, a former Detective in London, breaks down the murders into manageable chunks that makes everything easier to understand. The five "canonical" murders as he calls them, are discussed in detail which includes the actual court proceedings, along with four additional murders which may or may not be attributed to the Ripper. The second part describes the possible motives for the killer, the evidence, the Ripper letters (which the author basically says were all manufactured by journalists of the day), a list of eleven suspects that the author doesn't believe did the murders and a final suspect that he believes committed not only the 5 canonical murders, but also at least 6 others all over the world. I thought it was a very well done book. 4 stars.

It's getting closer to D-Day...and no I'm not talking about WWII

I'm about six weeks away from my delivery date, assuming Baby H comes on time, and believe me when I say that I really hope that he does. Last week was rough baby wise because I was feeling pretty crappy and very crampy pretty much all day every day. Apparently I am having more Braxton Hicks contractions as my tummy has been as tight as a drum, though the round ligament pains have also stepped up a notch as well. My mom says I'm not drinking enough water so I'm trying to drink a couple more glasses per day to cure that. My next doctor's appointment is this Wed and I'm probably gonna end up taking my ultrasound pics over again since my previous OB-Gyn has decided not to forward all the info from the ultrasound technician, even though we've been asking for them for about a month. I am not looking forward to that, even though it would be nice to see how the baby is developing. I finally preregistered at the hospital so they know about when to expect me. My grandparents have ordered the crib and it's supposed to come sometime on Thursday, so looking forward to finally having that. So the last major baby stuff that I need to get is the stroller and car seat. Oh and still need to pack my overnight bag for the hospital because as my husband keeps pointing out, it could literally be anytime in the next six weeks, and once things start happening I will be pretty incapacitated. We're still trying to decide on a name, have it down to final two but still not nailed anything down yet. 

The exciting news that I have to tell is about my hubby. Since he moved here, he has been trying to figure out what he wants to do career-wise and was thinking about making a change. He's a carpenter/house remodeler currently but wants to do something different. He really likes to cook and since there are at least three cooking schools in the Phoenix area, we decided to check them out. So we went to visit Le Cordon Bleu, the most famous of the three, and were really impressed. It was very up to date and despite having about 1000 students, the student-to-teacher ratio and class size was small. So he decided to enroll there and we've spent the weekend trying to get financial aid sorted. The program is 9 months long and he'll be taught basic French techniques on the basics, culinary arts, intro to baking/patisserie and given the option to pursue an Associates/Bachelors in Restaurant Management if he so wishes. The fees include a knife and utensil set, all textbooks, and the uniform (jacket, cravat, cap, pants and perhaps shoes). He is getting very excited but also nervous about starting. The funny thing is that he said he was more scared about starting the program than he was about the baby coming. He starts August 15. 

We had a nice weekend, which started with us going to the movies on Friday morning to see the new X-Men: First Class. I really enjoyed it because of the excellent cast and the back story that explains how Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Erik (Magneto) formed the X-Men back in the 1960s, and how they picked sides. It also talks about the first X-Men came about and they included some that weren't in the previous movies or cartoon series that I had grown up watching. I'm thinking maybe they are in the original comic book series. My favorite character would probably be Hank because he starts out as this insanely smart young nerdy guy who because he wants to fit in, ends up becoming the Beast that we know now. My Dad's birthday was on Saturday and he decided to invite a couple friends over for gourmet burgers. Since we've moved here and especially since John has decided to go to cooking school, he has been the primary cook of the house. So he made up the burgers to order on Saturday. I had a beef burger with caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms under provolone cheese with bread and butter pickles and guacamole. Delicioso! Saturday was also apparently a Facebook friend's civil union ceremony and another acquaintance's Episcopal deacon ordination, so congrats to all of them. Sunday we went to a new church, which was an interesting experience, and then all the way out to Mesa (about an hour's drive away from us) where we had this insanely yummy brunch at a little bistro. It was actually the perfect blend of lunch and breakfast items as my hubby usually won't eat breakfast food, so they had beef, lamb and mussels for him but things like made-to-order omelets, Eggs Benedict, bacon and sausage for me. And the most enormous but still incredibly sweet and juicy strawberries with a chocolate fountain. We actually went out to Mesa for the free first Sunday of the month admission at the Arizona Natural History Museum that my hubby had found and suggested. For a free museum it was excellent, but I would've have paid the $10 per adult to go there on a regular basis. It was packed full of kids and parents there who were taking advantage of the same deal. It was very hands-on and kid-friendly with about 5 rooms of dinosaur stuff, the origin of the earth, rocks & minerals, a special exhibit on The Sea of Cortez near Baja, CA, Southwestern history, and even a gold panning area outside.