Shopaholic Abroad - Sophie Kinsella

image via FantasticFiction.co.uk

Shopaholic Abroad (also called Shopaholic takes Manhattan) is the second book in the best-selling Shopaholic series, by Sophie Kinsella.

This time, Rebecca Bloomwood, the shopaholic, moves to New York, where her boyfriend, Luke, has made a deal. She also has a chance to work there.

New York is a shopping paradise for Rebecca, but can she pay off all her debts and stay with Luke?

Will Rebecca be able to keep her job when Alicia, who works for Luke at Brandon Communications, tries to ruin Rebecca and Luke’s reputation?

Near the end of the book, things start to get more thrilling and you’ll become excited to know what will happen to Rebecca.

This is the first Shopaholic series book I’ve read, and even though I don’t like these types of books, I enjoyed this one. It was downright funny. Even though I wanted to, I couldn’t laugh hard at school or else I would have looked awkward. I adored how the author, Kinsella, wrote the book in Rebecca’s point of view. It was very realistic too.

This was an exhilarating read, but I didn’t find the end satisfying. I also thought some parts were unnecessarily long.

Sophie Kinsella's website

Quizlet - great for studying

Today, I've discovered a highly efficient website, Quizlet, which allows you to create your own flashcards and study them or play other flashcards created by users in order to prepare for tests or quizzes.

I'm giving this site 5 stars and it deserves to be linked at my sidebar. It's also very easy to use.

There are lots of ways to study and help you to memorize things at Quizlet.

I think that teachers and students will really benefit from this site. The good thing is that you could join a group (such as your classmates) and study or edit your flashcards.

Did you know that Quizlet was created by a high-school student? read the Quizlet story

 
Andrew Sutherland, creator of Quizlet

I'd say that Quizlet is superb for studying vocabulary, definitions for any subject and facts of points. I've already created an account and made flashcards for the new words I've discovered and for my Geography test.

Please share Quizlet with your friends.

http://quizlet.com/

Book meme from Booking through Thursday

Hello, this is my first meme which I found on Books Worth Reading. Click here (Booking through Thursday) to do it youself and find other memes.

I’m tagging Meghna and the authors of Taking it further.

What was the last book you bought?
The last e-book I bought was Atonement by Ian McEwan. Actually I used my dad’s credit card…

Name a book you have read MORE than once
The only one is Animal Farm by George Orwell: one of my favorites

Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?
I don’t know… maybe Tess of the d’Urbervilles, One Hundred years of Solitude…

How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews
By recommendations and reviews; and for classics: my dad knows the good books

Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?
I prefer fiction… but I’d also like to try different genres including biographies

What’s more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot?
The size is very important. I hate those terribly long books, especially classics like Great Expectations. But Harry Potter is an exception.

I think beautiful writing is important, but so is clarity. I don’t like those books when you have to read a sentence twice to understand what it says. A gripping plot is also crucial. I think the best examples are Harry Potter, Agatha Christie books and The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Most loved/memorable character (character/book)
Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, because he’s witty, and has a bizarre character, and is very fond of himself.

Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?
What’s a nightstand?

What was the last book you’ve read, and when was it?
The last book was One Hundred Years of Solitude… I finished it the day before yesterday at school when typically, the teacher didn’t appear in class

Have you ever given up on a book half way in?
No, I don’t even risk reading un-known books which are bad

One Hundred years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Today I have accomplished a great achievement – I’ve finished reading One Hundred Years of Solitude, a novella by the noted Colombian author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who has written other great works including Chronicle of a Death Foretold – which I’ve already read and appreciated, and Love in the Time of Cholera.

I found One Hundred Years of Solitude quite a long book, and I wouldn’t have read it all if it wasn’t an amusing, clever story.

One Hundred Years of Solitude was not like any other novel I have read: it had no particular plot; it was rather a series of events that have happened in the fictional town of Macondo, which is similar to where Garcia Marquez grew up. The story covers more than a hundred years (according to Wikipedia), as you read about the lives of the Beuendia family through generations.

Although the story is purely fictional and has the wittiest happenings I’ve ever read – even wittier than Harry Potter – it seemed so real and magical.

Lots of parts in the book were skillfully hilarious and bizarre.

What confused me was that members of the Buendia family were named after each other, since the story went on for about seven generations; sometimes I couldn’t identify who was who.

As you read One Hundred Years of Solitude you’ll encounter war, amnesia, spirits, solitude, heavy rain, incredible Gypsies and supernatural amusements. The story also contains a shade of mystery behind it.

This surely is a book to read. It’s a very long book, but you’ll never regret reading it.

Visit Wikipedia to read more about One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Bookreporter.com - a site for booklovers

image via bbc.co.uk

I'd like to share a site called BookReporter.com with those who love to read or those who are interested in books.

It's a simple book site with reviews, author information, interviews, recommendations, content for book clubs and more...

On BookReporter.com, you'll find thousands of book reviews of mostly modern books books of different genres. It's a community for bookworms to delve into the world of reading and discuss books.

The only thing that I find impractical about the website is that if you want to search for anything, you'll need to open a whole new page; you cannot find a search bar on top of every page.

Other than that, I highly recommend readers to open this site. I'd give BookReporter a rating of 4/5.

Visit bookreporter.com

Stardoll is fun

Whenever I’m bored, I visit Stardoll and dress up my favorite celebrities including Hilary Duff, Avril Lavigne, Jennifer Hudson and others.

 
credit: http://www.cnet.co.uk/i/c/nws/software/stardoll/stardoll1.jpg

Stardoll is a site where you can dress famous celebs, actors and actress, singers, and other well-known people. It’s a very easy-to play-flash game, and the clothes you can dress each celebrity with are those which they’ve worn in real-life.

But Stardoll is much more than just dressing people. After becoming a member, you could become a ‘superstar’ after paying some money to get exclusive advantages and dolls to dress. Although you could also buy stuff and do numerous things, I still stay on the shallow end and just have fun dressing dolls!

Visit stardoll.com

Be part of an online drama at To be Continued

BBC Switch is hosting a very interesting site where those over 16 and under 24 can direct, write, and act their own film as part of a drama called To Be Continued. There are certain outlines and characters of the drama that you can learn more about by visiting the site.

Those who want to be part of this would write their script and edit it at the Studio, which is on the site, and share the film with the community.

According to the site, the people behind To Be Continued will decide when to release each act.

Remember that you have to be the age stated to join To Be Continued. After becoming a member, gather your crew and start working on Act one.

You could do all this at the site, http://www.bbc.co.uk/tbc/

This activity looks fun and will engage people in creativity.

If you're younger than 17, you shouldn't be a member, but you could still create your own drama series and post it on YouTube.

visit to be continued

visit the BBC Switch YouTube channel

The Diamond Girls - Jacqueline Wilson

image via http://www.readingmatters.co.uk/book.php?id=258

A classmate lent me The Diamond Girls by Jacqueline Wilson (thanks); I’ve just finished reading it, so here’s the review.

The Diamond Girls is a heart-warming story about 4 sisters, Martine (the eldest), Judy, Rochelle, and Dixie (the youngest), who live with their mother, Sue, who is pregnant with a boy. They call themselves the Diamond Girls, but they’re not prosperous as their name suggests. All of the girls have different fathers who are not living with them. The Diamond Girls have just moved to a new home, hoping to live happily ever after, but things turn out totally different from what they’ve expected. Devastated and disappointed, Martine, Judy and Rochelle start going their own ways. Read the book to find out how Dixie tries to bring the family together and make things better when she finds out that the baby is a girl, her new friend is abused by her mother, and that Martine, the eldest sister, storms out and goes to their old home and her boyfriend Tony.

I loved reading this book because it deals with all sorts of problems that happen in people’s lives including abuse and teen pregnancy. Jacqueline Wilson sure has a talent of telling the story from a child’s point of view.

However, the only thing that annoyed me about this book was that the author made the story unnecessarily longer by adding too many details on Dixie’s imagination and the way she thinks. That made a book a bit tedious for older people to read, even though the book looks suitable for those a little bit older than tweens.

Other than that, The Diamond Girls is a very good book with an uplifting ending.

I highly recommend this book for those aged 9 to 12.