The Candy Shop War

Title: The Candy Shop War

Author: Brandon Mull

Pages: 8 discs?

Genre: Children's Fiction

Grade: B+

Synopsis: A new Candy Shop opens on Main Street and Nate, Summer, Trevor and Pigeon are especially excited after they meet the sweet shop owner, Mrs. White, who recruits them to help her out with a few things.  As payment the children are given candies that allow them to do all sorts of things, such as defy gravity, change their appearance or become unbreakable.

My Review: Ada and I listened to this book on our short, ill-fated visit to Las Vegas (where we watched the Utes get creamed by Oregon in the Pac-12 Conference Tournament).  It was perfect for such a trip and Ada just loved it.  I think that she ended up listening to most of the book a couple more times before I had to return the discs to the library.  I like Brandon Mull's Fablehaven Series better than this book, but it was still an enjoyable read.

Following the Light of Christ into His Presence

Title: Following the Light of Christ into His Presence

Author: John Pontius

Pages: 255

Genre: LDS, Religion

Grade: B

Synopsis: Just as the title describes, this book is about following the Light of Christ through personal revelation.  Holding onto the iron rod and recognizing and acting upon the promptings of the Spirit are all keys for doing this.

My Review: The content in the book is decent (although it felt like about 1/3 of the book was just quotes from Bruce R. McConkie), but something about the material presentation just felt a bit off-putting and often came across in a holier than thou style (Not to mention that it took me almost 3 months to slog through).  However, as is usually the case, there was still plenty to think about and ideas and impressions of behaviors to implement in my own life.

The Boy in the Suitcase

Title: The Boy in the Suitcase

Author: Lene Kaaberbøl

Pages: 10 discs?

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: Nina Borg is a nurse for the Red Cross who is contacted by her friend Karin with a key to a public locker in a train station.  When Nina gets to the locker she finds a heavy suitcase and upon opening the suitcase she is shocked to find a young boy inside.  The boy speaks no English (or Danish as in the original), so Nina embarks on a quest to find out more about this boy in the suitcase.  When her friend Karin is brutally murdered, Nina realizes that her life is in danger as well.

My Review:  It was tough for me to get into this book as it jumped around quite a bit and things were hard to follow in the audio version as I wasn't always sure when a new section started and it was sometimes difficult to catch the different place-names.  Once I had that down, then I started enjoying the book more.  Apparently it was quite popular in Denmark, but it just ended up being ok for me.

Nineteen Minutes

Title: Nineteen Minutes

Author: Jodi Picoult

Pages: 18 discs

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B+

Synopsis: The book takes place in a small town in New England.  An unhappy high school student brings an arsenal of guns to school looking for the jocks and popular kids killing 10 and wounding many others.  The best witness for the defense is the judge's own daughter, but she claims to not be able to remember anything about the whole ordeal.

My Review: I initially started listening to this book without knowing anything about it and when I realized that it was about a school shooting then I was going to skip it and move onto a different book (I didn't have a whole lot of interest in getting into the details of a school shooting).  However, after reading some reviews of the book online I decided to stick with it and I was glad I did because the book wasn't that bad and it makes a good case that there are always two sides (or more) to every story.  The shooter isn't excused from the damage or killing that was done, but you certainly feel for him as well as the victims.