October 2012

Book Review: Hidden Mickey 5

Katie October 19, 2012 0Comment

Chasing New Frontiers is the 5th book in the Hidden Mickey series.  I have no read any of the other books in the series, so at first I was not sure how this would affect my reading and enjoying of this book.  It is a fictional story based loosely on a true story that tries to incorporate the magic of Disney as well.  It seemed like a stand alone story, or if it related to the others I didn’t get that vibe from it.

It did take me a little while to actually get into it though.  There were several chapters going back and forth between the 60s and modern day (2010) and it took me a bit to get to figuring out who was in which time period (it says at the beginning of each chapter too, but it was still confusing me for some reason.) About halfway through the mystery of the story really started coming together and I got in to it.

“Missy” (actually pop star Malaysia) meets Blain, a guy who works at Disneyland.  While they are out they find a really old wallet. In the wallet is some money and a cryptic note and a key.  Somehow they follow the note to various locations around the park and near by to try and find out more information.

Meanwhile, they find out that back in the 60s a lot of money went missing from the park and it hasn’t been found in 40 plus years.  They think that this might be what the key will lead them to.

There are some other twists and turns along the way too – but I don’t want to give it away.  All in all in was a great mystery and while some of it was predictable there were a few twists in there I was certainly not expecting at all! I definitely recommend this for Disney enthusiasts and especially those who love a good mystery book.

Now I have to go track down the rest of the books…

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in order to write this review.

About the Book

Hidden Mickey 5: Chasing New Frontiers follows Disneyland cast member, Blain Walters, as he and a beautiful Swiss visitor to Disneyland, Missy Johansen, stumble upon a decades-old, lost wallet. The wallet holds the key to a forty-four-year-old mystery of lost, stolen money and Walt Disney’s legendary and mysterious red-diamond pendant. While Blain and Missy follow a trail of lost clues, they also find themselves wanting to follow their hearts as they find a real connection with each other. Adding to the intrigue, Blain is unaware that Missy is in reality—and incognito—the rising international pop star from Switzerland, Malaysia Hosiner. Where do the cryptic clues lead the young couple? How long can Malaysia keep her true identity a secret? And, who else seeks the long-lost Disney fortune?

Book Review: How Music Works

Katie October 18, 2012 0Comment

A couple weeks ago my parents went to a concert. David Byrne they told me.  Never heard of him, I said back.  And now here I am having read his book!

The book is a little bit autobiography and a little bit history and technology, though I wouldn’t say it goes in to really HOW music works like the book I read a while back does. (Book Review: How Music Works by John Powell) and it is interesting to hear about it all from the perspective of a musician.

I found interesting where he talked about how the length of a song was influenced greatly by the length of time that would fit on one side of a 45, which also changed the style of writing.  Now, music is digital and can be as long or as short as you’d like but it seems like the 3 minute song to 3.5 minutes is still the norm.

His thoughts on royalties were also interesting – I am always curious to know how much an artist gets depending on how you buy their music – digitally or on CD, etc.

Definitely an interesting read for anyone looking to make it in the industry, interested in how it works or just looking for a good book to read!

I received a free e-copy of the book from the publisher in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

How Music Works is David Byrne’s remarkable celebration of a subject he has spent a lifetime thinking about. In it he explores how profoundly music is shaped by its time and place, and he explains how the advent of recording technology in the twentieth century forever changed our relationship to playing, performing, and listening to music.

Acting as historian and anthropologist, raconteur and social scientist, he searches for patterns – and shows how those patterns have affected his own work over the years with Talking Heads and his many collaborators, from Brian Eno to Caetano Veloso. Byrne sees music as part of a larger, almost Darwinian pattern of adaptations and responses to its cultural and physical context. His range is panoptic, taking us from Wagnerian opera houses to African villages, from his earliest high school reel-to-reel recordings to his latest work in a home music studio (and all the big studios in between).

Touching on the joy, the physics and the business of making music, How Music Works is an irresistible adventure and an impassioned argument for music’s liberating, life-affirming power.

Book Review: The Girl Who Was On Fire

Katie October 17, 2012 0Comment

The Girl Who Was On Fire is a series of essays written by other young adult authors dissecting the Hunger Games trilogy.  This is a re-release called the “movie edition” which included several additional essays about the movie in addition to the stories about the book.

The essays do mention events from all 3 of the books so it is best if you have read all 3 books and seen the first movie before reading the essays, unless you don’t mind having some events spoiled.  That said, I will try to avoid spoilers in the rest of my review, but you might not want to continue reading if you don’t want to be spoiled.

The essays talk about the love triangle and Peeta vs Gale (and why current YA novels that are popular all seem to involve a love triangle), relating the Hung Games which is supposed to be  this big science fiction fake thing, but when you compare it to current reality TV games – like Big Brother – it doesn’t seem so sci fi and off the wall after all.

While a lot of the essays do focus on the reality tv aspect – a couple focus on the technology.  There are Tracker Jackers in the game, genetically engineered bugs, like wasps that can kill with their sting.  Is there a possibility that this is in our future – in real life? We’ve cloned a sheep after all.  Is using this technology for bad just around the corner?

And one essay talks about if the 3rd book sucked.  It was by far my least favorite book so it was interesting to see why the author thought this was.

This book will definitely make you think and would be a great companion for any one who has read the book but wants to think about it more – especially for teachers looking for lessons around the book in their classes.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Katniss Everdeen’s adventures may have come to an end, but her story continues to blaze in the hearts of millions worldwide.

In The Girl Who Was on Fire – Movie Edition, sixteen YA authors take you back to Panem with moving, dark, and funny pieces on Katniss, the Games, Gale and Peeta, reality TV, survival, and more.

• How does the way the Games affect the brain explain Haymitch’s drinking, Annie’s distraction, and Wiress’ speech problems?
• What does the rebellion have in common with the War on Terror?
• Why isn’t the answer to “Peeta or Gale?” as interesting as the question itself?
• What should Panem have learned from the fates of other hedonistic societies throughout history—and what can we?

The Girl Who Was On Fire covers all three books in the Hunger Games trilogy.

Book Review: Seventeen’s Terrifying True Teen Stories

Katie October 16, 2012 0Comment

I used to always love to read the stories in Seventeen magazine that were true stories from teens.  Now I guess I am a bit too old to be reading Seventeen magazine so it has been quite some time since I read any.  When I saw that they were coming out with a book with Terrifying True Teen Stories I figured I’d relive my youth and check it out.

There are many stories in the book – about a girl who lost her finger in a firecracker accident, a girl who was home while her house was being robbed – and when her boyfriend showed up the robber his in her closet – in the room where SHE was hiding as well!   A girl who needed brain surgery in order to relieve headaches she was getting.  A girl whose life was changed by multiple cheerleading accidents.  But it was the final story that seemed to affect me the most – a girl who got a tattoo because her friend encouraged her to.  They didn’t know if the tattoo artist was licensed and it was basically done in a backyard and she got an infection.  The details of this story were DISGUSTING and almost made me sick.  And it definitely is making me reconsider wanting to get a tattoo (although I know to go to a reputable parlor and there are also links to sites you can use to look up legit places to go.)

A great book if you have teens to let them know of dangers that are out there by having them read real stories of situations that happened to real teens.

I received a free ecopy of this book from the publisher in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

What would you do if your house were robbed—while you were in it? What would you do if you were kidnapped? Or if you needed brain surgery? In Seventeen’s Terrifying True Teen Stories, eleven teen girls share how they bravely handled life’s most tragic and frightening challenges. The details are crazy, but their stories are amazing!