Wait What.

    Books have been taking up a great amount of my time. Followed closely by my 2 projects that were due this week. School is starting to take its toll, and I do not like it at all. Thank goodness there is only 2 more weeks of this madness left! Until June when I start first session, good times. Here's what I've read most recently and loved.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

  A while back I started a list of books I definitely wanted to read this year, and Neil Gaiman's work was at the top of that list. I figured, he writes science fiction/fantasy a genre I can really get behind. Especially since there's no new Harry Potter to look forward to, unless JK's new book is book 8 (dear goodness, please let that be true!!), I figure that going back to older books is a fine plan. 

   Neverwhere was the first Neil Gaiman book I ever read. It was set in London, which won me over immediately. I have a thing for England and anywhere in England. 

   In the story there is an average Londoner, he works for a large company, has a fiancee, and lives a fairly normal life. Until one day he sees a girl on the street bleeding and he stops to help her. Once he's helped her, he gets pulled into life in London Below; London Below is where people go who have fallen through the cracks in London Above (or regular London). He gets pulled into this world, and all he wants is out, especially once he's set a task with the girl he helped.
   A great story, and a quick-ish read. It took me a couple of days to get through the book, but that is always fine by me.
   I also discovered that there is a BBC series based on the book! So now I have to get it from Amazon or some other fine retailer.



Uglies by Scott Westerfield.

   Uglies is set in the future where there are two groups of people. The Uglies and the Pretties. All the Uglies are turned into Pretties on their 16th birthday; once they've become pretty, through an intense plastic surgery session, the Pretties only job is to party and have fun.
   Tally wants to be pretty, it's all she wants. She wants to be pretty and join her best friend who turned 16 three months before she will. So she fills her days with tricks, until she meets Shay who doesn't want to become pretty and tells her about this place where you don't have to be pretty and you don't have to live within the city's confines. Tally doesn't go, but when the city officials find out that Shay has gone missing and that Tally might know where she is, they send her to find her and bring her back to the city. Tally learns while she's away that becoming pretty isn't what she thought.
   This is the first book in the series, and I'm working on finishing the series, but I just started another Neil Gaiman book (American Gods, SO good so far!!), but this book could easily stand alone. Though, the last chapter makes it necessary for there to be a continuance of the story.


Pretties by Scott Westerfield.

   Pretties is the second book of the Uglies series. And boy does it measure up to the first book. I don't want to talk about the story line too much, because it gives away a lot of the plot at the end of Uglies. Just know, that it is amazing, and could have been a stand alone book too, though the ending again begs for a continuance of the story of Tally Youngblood. 

Now I just have to finish American Gods so I can move on to Specials!