everydayreading's reviews
1633 reviews

I read several books early last year that were similar to this one and “What Do You Do All Day” is far superior to any of them. Jennifer Bradley is a much more solid and multi-dimensional character, who seems desperately real. It seems to me that books like this often have heroines that are either terribly angry or depressed or happy or organized. Jennifer, rather, was an excellent mix of all characters, acting just the way you generally would expect. Also, it seemed like a lot of women in these books are either workaholics mourning missing their babies or stay-at-homes longing to not be. Jennifer, rather, clearly sees the pros and cons of both lifestyles and definitely cherishs the opportunity to spend time with her children, while missing aspects of her old career.

Additionally, there are a number of other really great characters, none of them falling into the stereotypes so common among this kind of book. Rather, the book takes a great deal of care to analyze Jennifer's decisions in career, family, mothering, friendship, and love, how she relates to those around her, and how she views herself and feels others view her.

All in all, the book seemed so much less cliche than others in the same genre. Still not masterful fiction, by any means, but an obvious front-runner of the genre.

Read my full reivew at: http://everydayreading.blogspot.com/2007/01/what-do-you-do-all-day-by-amy-scheibe.html

In the end, the best way to describe this book, I think, is summed up the summary of the book on the Newbery page: "With seeming yet deliberate randomness, Perkins writes an orderly, innovative, and risk-taking book in which nothing happens and everything happens." It's an enjoyable book, excellent for the writing, rather than the storyline.

Read my full review on my blog: http://everydayreading.blogspot.com/2007/01/criss-cross-by-lynne-rae-perkins.html

Sometimes I come across a book that is so good that I can hardly read it. I don't want it to be over too quickly; I want to enjoy each new development without rushing into the next. And yet, at the same time, I can't stop myself from reading because it's SO good. Twilight, people, is that book . . .

Read my complete review at http://everydayreading.blogspot.com/2007/01/twilight-by-stephenie-meyer.html

http://everydayreading.blogspot.com/2007/02/new-moon-by-stephenie-meyer.html

It's just so wonderful to see the combination of major events with little personal ones. One entry read "President Nixon resigned; made an appointment to get my hair cut." I've already returned the book to the library, so I can't quote much more than that, but there were hundreds of entries that I just adored. Dozens of them had me nodding to myself and thinking "I know exactly what she means" and "I thought I was the only one who'd ever thought that." I was astounded that anyone else had ever had that crazy urge and fear to put their hand down the running disposal. "Washing food down the disposal is like standing on the edge of a cliff," she says, "which naturally makes you think about jumping off." Exactly!

She captures the ups and down of being a teenager perfectly; it really is the kind of journal you can imagine any teenager, yourself or one you know, writing. One day it's "Everything is wonderful" and the next "I'm just so depressed." She struggles to get along with her parents, desperate for their praise, but also just wanting to be alone. No one understands how very important it is that she make the dance team (made all to evident when her sister suggests she not try out and help their pregnant mother more). And there are boys, of course. She's very pretty (although she doesn't seem to think so); she is also devoutly religious, of her own accord beginning in middle school, and that's a bit aggravating to several of her boyfriends. She's an excellent student and bothered that the teachers hassle her when she's already acing all her classes. By the end of the book, she is anxious to go away to college, to get a new start, and to find new friends.

Read my complete reivew at: http://everydayreading.blogspot.com/2007/08/miss-american-pie-diary-of-love-secrets.html

This book made me laugh but it also made me think - he raises some good points that helped me seriously consider the state of our country and what I can do to fix it.

'm really quite surprised that I enjoyed this book so much; it's the sort of thing that ususally wouldn't appeal to me in the least. And yet, for some reason, I really did like it. I think part of it was that I listened to it in the car, so I could just let the story wash over me and start really concentrating once I was in to the story itself, rather than getting fed up with the odd style quickly and giving up.

Read my complete review at http://everydayreading.blogspot.com/2007/08/walk-two-moons-by-sharon-creech.html

There's no use lying about it; I was deeply disappointed in this book. I absolutely loved Bridge to Terabithia, which I read about two years ago, so I had high hopes for this book. It was a small book, with a nice cover, and I liked the feeling of holding it in my hands. Basically, I would have enjoyed this book far more if I'd just held it instead of actually opening it and reading it. I started it in the car on the way up to Oklahoma City and finished it the next day. And I only really enjoyed about fifteen minutes of the total reading. Even with my super-speed reading, I find that to be a very very poor ratio.

Read my complete review at http://everydayreading.blogspot.com/2007/07/jacob-have-i-loved.html