The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick Review

Title: The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World

Author: David Kirkpatrick

Genre: Social Media, Marketing

Page Count: 384 pages

Publish Date: February 1, 2011

Book Type: Owned Paperback

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

ISBN: 9781439102121

Picture from Goodreads

My Review: Kirkpatrick really makes “The Facebook Effect” an easy read. It would be well suited for anyone looking to better understand the beginnings of Facebook. Many of the people at Facebook, including Zuckerberg, were involved in “The Facebook Effect,” but the book is not all praise, which is nice. The book is set-up as a timeline of Facebook’s evolution - which is sort of funny considering the new layout on Facebook currently. Throughout the book, Kirkpatrick emphasizes the effect social networking sites have had on the way people interact with each other. 

While nicely describing the evolution of Facebook, “The Facebook Effect” could have detailed how businesses use Facebook a bit more like promised in the Prologue. The book mainly focuses on the company and a bit on how consumers use Facebook. It would have been nice to read more information about Facebook’s users instead of mainly company information. The user information seemed sort of thrown into the book toward the end. Even with “The Facebook Effect’s” faults, the book was still engaging and an interesting read.

Kirkpatrick spent a good amount of time discussing Zuckerberg and Facebook’s willingness to change, which was a good thing. Much like every day, real life, social networking sites need to evolve and not remain stagnant. Even newer emerging niche social networking sites, such as Pinterest, allow for Facebook integration. Zuckerberg was smart in allowing Pinterest to utilize Facebook. The integration allows for both sites to flourish without explicitly taking users away from each other.

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In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren and is awesome for sure.




Won:
4 pack of Tru-Blood from HBO
Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones from Epic Readathon (I know I said ArmchairBEA, but I'm pretty sure it was the readathon. Sorry!)
SimonTeen pack from ArmchairBEA
*Captain Awesome to the Rescue by George O'Connor, Stan Kirby
*The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann
*Perfect by Ellen Hopkins
*Fury by Elizabeth Miles
For Review:
Wolf Storm by Dee Garretson from HarperCollins


Super exciting! What did you get in your mailbox this week? I would love to know!

Crank by Ellen Hopkins Review

Title: Crank

Author: Ellen Hopkins

Genre: YA

Page Count: 537

Book Type: Library Paperback

Publisher: Simon Pulse, an Imprint of Simon & Schuster

ISBN: 978-0-689-86519-0

Picture from Goodreads

Summary from Goodreads: Kristina Georgia Snow is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. But on a trip to visit her absentee father, Kristina disappears and Bree takes her place. Bree is the exact opposite of Kristina -- she's fearless.

Through a boy, Bree meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild, ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul -- her life.

My Review: I love how simplistic this cover is. There really isn’t much to talk about, since it is so simple, but I really, really think it has an impact. 

At first, I thought I wasn’t going to be able to get into the poetry style writing of this, but after about 5 or 6 pages I found myself enjoying it immensely. Despite the thickness of this book it is quite a quick read. The subject matter is heavy, but it is appropriate. The writing style adds so much to the story and pauses in all of the right spots. By now, I’m sure you are all aware of the story matter and I will just add in that it is powerful and raw. I give Ellen Hopkins very high praise for her ability to draw the reader into the story and take us on this journey with Kristina/Bree. I highly recommend this book--it will make you think for quite awhile. 

This is the first of my reviews of banned/challenged books for the month. I don’t think that books should ever be banned. Every family needs to make their own reading limits and discussing “hard” books can be a great family bonding experience. It makes me so mad (and sad) when books are challenged because, I guarantee, half of the time the challenger hasn’t even read the book. Anyway, I’m just throwing my two cents in there. 

Have you read Crank yet? What is your favorite banned/challenged book? Let me know in the comments!

Harry, A History by Melissa Anelli Review

Title: Harry, A History: The True Story of A Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon

Author: Melissa Anelli

Genre: Non-fiction

Page Count: 330

Book Type: Library Paperback

Publisher: Pocket Books, A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 

ISBN: 978-1-4165-5495-0

Picture from Amazon

Summary from Goodreads: This personal and in-depth look at the dizzying pop-cultural phenomenon surrounding the Harry Potter series is written by the webmistress of the most popular and most trusted Harry Potter fan site on the Internet.

My Review: What can I say about the cover? It’s darling. Anything with Harry Potter’s glasses on it, I would love. It’s so perfect with the glasses teetering on top of two old fashioned books. I love the color as well. 

This book made me wish that I was more involved with the Harry Potter fandom from the beginning. It brought me back to that feeling of when I read the books for the first time. Pure and utter joy. Melissa is just as enthusiastic (probably more, considering she is the “webmistress” of the Leaky Cauldron) as I am about the series and everything it stands for. It makes me wish I had more friends locally who enjoy the series as much as I do. Although, one of my friends (Ashley, this is you...) quit her job so she could read Deathly Hallows straight through. That’s pretty dedicated. 

Melissa describes her experiences beautifully. The language and sentence structure that is present throughout the book made me really appreciate it. Clearly Melissa is a talented writer and journalist. Her words transported me to whatever event she was talking about and made me wish I was actually there. 

It still baffles my mind how parents could want these books banned from schools. It breaks my heart a little bit to imagine certain children not being able to experience the series. For this reason, I think I will be completing the Harry Potter reviews I have been putting off doing during banned books week. 

Over all, I would recommend this book 100 times over if you are an avid Harry Potter fan. Check out the website for the book, even though it hasn’t been updated in quite awhile. It’s interesting to go back through the posts anyway. 

Have you read this one? Which is your favorite non-fiction Harry Potter book? This one is my favorite.... so far.

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare Review

Title: The Mortal Instruments Book Two: City of Ashes

Author: Cassandra Clare

Genre: YA

Page Count: 453

Book Type: Library Paperback

Publisher: Simon Pulse, An Imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

ISBN: 9781416972242

Picture from Amazon

Summary from Goodreads: A murderer is loose in New York City ... 

... and the victims are Downworlder children. Clary Fray and her fellow Shadowhunters have a strong suspicion that Valentine, Clary's father, may be behind the killings. But if he is the murderer, then what's his true motive? To make matters worse, the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, has been stolen, and the mysterious Inquisitor has arrived to investigate, with his eyes vigilantly targeted on Clary's brother, Jace. 

Clary will need to face some terrifying demons and even more terrifying family decisions. No one said that the life of a Shadowhunter would be easy.

My Review: I think the cover is gorgeous. I always seem to like Cassandra Clare’s book covers with their cityscapes and one character focus. I’m not a huge fan of the Stephenie Meyer quote being directly in the center, but to each their own. I love how the protagonist is a red-head. Yay for the red-head love. I’m so happy all of these books seem to match each other, so when I do buy them, they will look excellent next to one another on my shelf. They will also look nice with the Infernal Devices books. Score. 

I just want to start out with a couple things I tweeted while reading... 

1. “Page 271 out of 453 in 'city of ashes' by @cassieclare. i want to punch valentine in the face.” 
2. “he's such a jerk face” 
3. “Wahhh i just want to find out how city of ashes ends!”. 

Side-note: If you follow me on the Twitter, these are the kinds of things you will see. 

I’m pretty sure that Cassie makes me an impatient reader. It always seems as if I cannot read fast enough because I just want to know how this is going to end! Clearly, it will be awhile before I find out with one more book already printed in the series and three more after that which are currently unprinted. Luckily, the journey to find out what on Earth is happening in these books is quite excellent as well. 

I really like Clare’s writing style. She gives her characters some snark, which I always appreciate. She always makes me curious as to what is really happening. It makes me so frustrated when the characters think one thing, but in actuality, I think that something else is going on. It makes for a frustrating, but excellent read. I cannot wait to find out what the real deal is with Jace, Clary and Valentine. 

I may have preferred City of Bones a bit more, but that could change from day to day. I am really looking forward to the next installment I’m really glad I have it checked out from the library already!

Have you read this one? Which is your favorite book of the series? Let me know!

White Cat by Holly Black Review

Title: White Cat (Curse Workers Book 1)
Author: Holly Black
Genre: YA
Page Count: 310
Book Type: Library Hardcover
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books: An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division
ISBN: 978-1-4169-6396-7

picture from www.amazon.com

From Goodreads: Cassel comes from a family of curse workers -- people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail -- he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

My Review: The cover is what completely drew me into this book. I actually hate cats, but I like this cover, so I guess that is saying something for it. I'm assuming the boy on the front cover is Cassel, which fits his description pretty well I would say. It's the people on the back cover that confuse me a bit. I'm not sure if they are supposed to be Anton, Barron or Philip. It doesn't really matter; however, I am curious. 

It is refreshing to read something in YA that isn't vampires, which is why I think I enjoyed this book as much as I did; however, at times in the story I got a bit confused because it seemed as if every single person in the whole entire world was being evasive. I also think that Cassel's family may go down in history as one of the worst fictional families ever. The granddad is one of the only redeeming family members, and even he is a drunk. Also, it seemed as if it didn't flow well at some points---extremely chaotic with all of the elements that were trying to be intertwined. 

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it and it was a quick read, but I don't think I enjoyed it quite as much as I was hoping. Cassel was a good main character, but I think it was the supporting characters who were less than desirable. I don't mean that I disliked them because they were not nice--I'm a person who thinks Bellatrix Lestrange is an absolutely delicious character--I mean that I disliked them because they seemed more one dimensional. All in all, this book left me feeling a bit chaotic, just like its story. I was satisfied and dissatisfied all at the same time.

Have you read White Cat and did you enjoy it? Let me know in the comments!

  

Wake by Lisa McMann Review

Title: Wake
Author: Lisa McMann
Genre: YA
Page Count: 210
Book Type: Library Hardcover
Publisher: Simon Pulse
ISBN:  978-1-4169-5357-9

Picture from www.amazon.com

From Goodreads: Ever since she was eight years old, high school student Janie Hannagan has been uncontrollably drawn into other people's dreams, but it is not until she befriends an elderly nursing home patient and becomes involved with an enigmatic fellow-student that she discovers her true power.

My Review: When I first saw the cover, for some reason, I thought it was a bag of drugs. Upon further investigation and actually using my head, I realized that it was a pillow. I like the simplicity of the cover and the one word title which is large. Black book covers always make me happy and if you would look at my bookshelf, you would see that I have nearly two shelves of them. I always saw this book at the store and would pick it up and put it down again and I am not really sure why. I finally put it on hold at the library and I was pleased.

You just have to feel a little bad for Janie. She is virtually living alone and trying to deal with her issues all by herself. Working constantly to keep up with house duties and hopefully go to college someday, she has a tough life. The whole concept of the story was very interesting. I always thought if someone saw my dreams, they would be so creeped out. I always dream things that don't make sense. Janie has the unfortunate curse of being sucked into the dreams of everyone sleeping around her. 

Sometimes I just wanted to shake Janie and say, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?". She doesn't think somethings through, but that makes her real to the readers. I am very much looking forward to the sequel and have downloaded the companion piece to this one already. It was a super quick read and one night, without realizing it, I stayed up until 5 AM reading. 

Have you read this series? Did you like the following books?

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare Review

Title: The Mortal Instruments Book One: City of Bones
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: YA
Page Count: 485
Book Type: Library Paperback
Publisher: Simon Pulse, An Imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division
ISBN: 978-1-4169-5507-8

From Goodreads: Their hidden world is about to be revealed.... 

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder--much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Clary knows she should call the police, but it's hard to explain a murder when the body disappears into thin air and the murderers are invisible to everyone but Clary. 

Equally startled by her ability to see them, the murderers explain themselves as Shadowhunters: a secret tribe of warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. Within twenty-four hours, Clary's mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a grotesque demon. 

But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know....

My Review: I love all of the covers for Cassandra Clare's books. I like how you can't really see their faces, but you still know exactly what character they are supposed to be. Add in the cityscape and I'm sold. 

A little background from me.... I read an ARC of Clockwork Angel (review) before I started the Mortal Instruments series. I'm not quite sure why I never read them (obviously I was delusional). I always picked them up in the bookstore and then put them down. I still don't get it. I clearly love the covers. The synopsis' are awesome. Just a major fail on my part, I suppose. Anyway, I adored Clockwork Angel more than anything so I had to snatch up City of Bones as soon as I could.

Clare has the talent of making you trust a person completely and then turning the whole story around on you. It is amazing. She draws me in and then plucks at my heartstrings. It is a testament to how delightful this book is that I was on vacation in Boston and all I wanted to do was get back to the room so I could read. Jace is the quintessential bad boy with a past--how could you not love him? One of my favorite things about Clare's writing is she draws me in with the characters and then the plot. Obviously the story is fantastic, but it would be nothing without the strong characters to support it. 

If you have been living under a rock, like I apparently have, go read these books...now. Is there anyone else out there reading them for the first time?