Friday Finds [4]

Friday Finds are books that you've heard about during the past week. For me, I'm taking it a step further: these are books I heard about and may potentially read. Friday Finds is hosted by MizB @ Should be Reading

I'm getting around to this a lot later than I had hoped---I guess I know now not to take 3 benadryl at one time...

This week I found...

Eyes Like Stars (Theatre Iluminata, #1) by Lisa Mantchev

Enter Stage Right All her world's a stage. Beatrice Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater. She is not an orphan, but she has no parents. She knows every part, but has no lines of her own. Until now. Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the characters of every place ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known. Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience. Open Curtain

I have to say, I'm already in love with the concept! It seems like Thursday Next for theatre characters. I know that several blog/GR buddies have read and liked this series, so I guess I'll jump on the bandwagon! And the next book, Perchance to Dream, seems incredibly interesting too--but it's not coming out until May 25, 2010...booo. So if you've read this and have an opinion about it, please let me know! Does anyone know how many are going to be in this series--and are the MCs of, say, Book 1 the MCs of Book 2, or do they have different characters and stories?

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

Marrying a vampire definitely doesn’t fit into Jessica Packwood’s senior year “get-a-life” plan. But then a bizarre (and incredibly hot) new exchange student named Lucius Vladescu shows up, claiming that Jessica is a Romanian vampire princess by birth—and he’s her long-lost fiancé. Armed with newfound confidence and a copy of Growing Up Undead: A Teen Vampire’s Guide to Dating, Health, and Emotions, Jessica makes a dramatic transition from average American teenager to glam European vampire princess. But when a devious cheerleader sets her sights on Lucius, Jess finds herself fighting to win back her wayward prince, stop a global vampire war—and save Lucius’s soul from eternal destruction.

Hmm, I'm not really sure about this one. It looks good, and some of my blog/GR buddies have liked it, while others have not. If you know anything about this book, please let me know!

And I just heard of this book only a few minutes ago, and I'm already extremely anxious to read it!

The Replacements by Brenna Yovanoff, release date: 16 September 2010

Mackie Doyle seems like everyone else in the perfect little town of Gentry, but he is living with a fatal secret - he is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now the creatures under the hill want him back, and Mackie must decide where he really belongs and what he really wants. A month ago, Mackie might have told them to buzz off. But now, with a budding relationship with tough, wounded, beautiful Tate, Mackie has too much to lose. Will love finally make him worthy of the human world?

Since it's not out yet, I have like no information on it whatsoever, but just going by the blurb and the cover design (yes, cover designs weigh heavily in my opinion!) I have to say I'm hooked, or at least, pre-hooked :)

What did you "find" this week?

Last week's finds: Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver and James Dashner's Maze Runner

Friday Finds 2: Katherine Langrish's Troll Trilogy

Friday Finds 1: Catherine Fisher's Incarceron & Sapphique and Sarah Addison Allen's The Sugar Queen

Ohhh, a Questionnare!

Saw this questionnaire on Alexia’s Books and Such and couldn’t resist!

1. Book next to your bed right now: Incarceron by Catherine Fisher. It’s been “waiting in the wings” all week but because of Midterms of Death and Sinus Infection of Death, I haven’t been able to start it

2. Favorite series: Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. Started those books as a 10-year old, so in addition to just being a dadgum awesome series, there’s the nostalgia factor, too

3. Favorite book: You are Special by Max Lucado and Skellig by David Almond

4. The one book you would have with you if stranded on a desert island: This may sound ultra-cheesy, but I have to go with the Bible. That seems like a good thing to have in a situation like that…

5. Book/series you would take with you on a long flight: Oh, the Percy Jackson series!

6. Worst book you were made to read in school: Ohh gosh, it would be a tie between Wuthering Heights and The Great Gatsby. It doesn’t matter to me if a book is “classic” or not – if I don’t like the characters, I won’t be engaged in the plot and therefore will not likely care what goes on in the story

7. Book that everyone should be made to read in school: To Kill a Mockingbird, and from what I understand, a lot of people are made to read this! Ohh, and The Divine Comedy by Dante.

8. Book that everyone should read, period: You are Special by Max Lucado. Seriously, everybody! This book is like vitamins for your self-esteem!

9. Favorite character: Percy Jackson. That kid is one awesome little demigod. And in the entirely of a 5-book series, never once is he “boring”. Way to go, Rick Riordan!

10. Best villain: Hmm, of all time? I’ll have to be Miss Nerdy Nerdenstein and say Lucifer from Paradise Lost. Otherwise, Sauron from Lord of the Rings

11. Favorite concept series: T.A. Barron’s Great Tree of Avalon, in which the whole world is made up of one gigantic tree and all its parts: roots, bark, branches, leaves, etc. Once you wrap your mind around that, it’s pretty awesome!

12. Favorite invented world: I’ll say the Redwall world by Brian Jacques because it’s high fantasy with an all-animal cast! Seriously, there’s nothing cooler than sword-wielding MICE!

13. Most beautifully written book: JRR Tolkien has an amazing way with prose, and so does Lloyd Alexander (Chronicles of Prydain)

14. Funniest book/series: Off the top of my head, I’ll have to say the Percy Jackson series…In fact, most of the quotes on my goodreads page are made up of funny quips from those books!

So there you go! I love questionnaires like this because they offer an insight into reading experiences. If you decide to do this questionnaire, I’d love to read your answers and get a glimpse of your reading preferences!