Sweetblood by Pete Hautman (Bibliomancy)

I've been neglecting to do any bibliomancy entries these past few weeks. Quite possibly due to the fact that I lost the little Moleskine notebook that I keep all my reading notes etc. in.

So this week's book is Sweetbood by Pete Hautman. It's a slim young adult novel filled with a troubled diabetic, internet vampires, teenaged theories, and a dorky best friend turned love interest.

Rating:
3.5 granola bars out of 5

Bibliomancy:

Q: Should I drop out of school and join a cult?

A: "Over dinner, I find out that Fish is just as bad as the rest of them. My parents tell me that he wants me to see a psychologist. Some guy named Carlson, a specialist in adolescent behavior."

Tags: bibliomancy, sweetblood, vampire novel, Pete Hautman

Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Bibliomancy Wednesday)

Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith is a fun read that was published earlier this year. It is a welcome addition to the seemingly never-ending onslaught of vampire novels for young adults. However, this book is not the ordinary bandwagon book. Instead it is an immensely readable and enjoyable tale filled with a hairy love interest, a chef from Paris... Texas, chilled baby squirrels, suspicious Italian food, and a few nods in homage to Bram Stoker's Dracula

Rating:
4 red cowboy boots out of 5

Bibliomancy:
Q: Will I ever get over my fears?

A: "I refused to be intimidated, though. The veal tartare was exquisitely raw, the foie gras terrine predictable, the main courses--from pig's feet to boar's head pie--a toe-to-top invitation for the eager carnivore, the sides obligatory, but the deserts.... The deserts were something else and something else, at least one of them was. I lingered over the last bite of the rice budding blood cakes."
(page 175)

More Info:
Author's Website

Tags: bibliomancy, Tantalize, Cynthia Leitich Smith

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken

(copied from other blog)

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase is a story full of hungry wolves, orphan schools, a boy and his geese, a trip by foot to London, parents that are presumed dead, kind doctors, and lying amnesiacs.


Bibliomancy:
Q: What is meant by “Good”?

A: "I hope the train hasn't been delayed by wolves," she said presently.

My Rating:
4.5 snarling wolves out of 5

Tags: joan aiken, wolves of willoughby chase, bibliomancy

Marly's Ghost by David Levithan

(copied from other blog)

Marly's Ghost by David Levithan is a remix of Dickens' Christmas Carol. It is a tale about love, loss, ghosts, heavy charm bracelets, Tiny & Tim, and Valentine's Day.

Bibliomancy:
Q: What is truth?

A: "But what if we don't? I don't want you cutting your hair off for me. I don't want you ripping your heart up for me. Do you understand that? It's not going to get better, Ben. It's going to get much, much worse. And then maybe after that it will get better again. Maybe."

My Rating:
4.5 candy hearts that say Luv Sux, out of 5

Tags: Marly's Ghost, Dickens, valentine's day books, YA fiction, David Levithan, bibliomancy

The Hostile Hospital (ASOUE Book the 8th) by Lemony Snicket

(copied over from my other blog)

The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket is the 8th book in A Series of Unfortunate Events. In it the Baudelaire orphans encounter disguised villains, cheerful volunteers, handbags shaped like eyes, a library of records, and a little bit of truth.

Bibliomancy:
Q: Given that the atoms in your body get replaced over each seven-year period and that your mind both develops and forgets old data, how can you define identity? Are you really the same person, you were yesterday?

A : "Today is a very important day in the history of the hospital. In precisely one hour, a doctor here will perform the world's first cranioectomy on a fourteen-year-old-girl."

My Rating:
4 rusty knives out of 5

Tags: bibliomancy, Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Daniel Handler, hostile hospital

Bibliomancy

Bibliomancy is the use of books in divination. The method of employing sacred books (especially specific words and verses) for 'magical medicine', for removing negative entities, or for divination is universal in all religions of the world.

Method:
1. A book is picked that is believed to hold truth.
2. It is balanced on its spine and allowed to fall open.
3. A passage is picked, with the eyes closed.

--from Wikipedia

I delve into a bit of bibliomancy at my other (now pretty much dead) blog. Now, I don't actually believe in bibliomancy. I don't think my future is being told by a book, but I think it's a fun little exercise. Sometimes it's even a little eerie. But, it's not telling my future. In fact, I usually ask silly or deep philosophical questions that have nothing to with my future.

An example from Avalon High, by Meg Cabot:

Q: If there were no evil in the world, would good cease to have meaning?

A:
I was truant.
I was a delinquent.
And the worst part of all?
I didn't even care.


See? The randomly selected answer fits the question pretty well.

So, I'm thinking of combining both blogs, as I like the idea of both. I'm just not sure if I am going to bring in non-Halloween books. I probably will, and slightly change the name of the blog. Oh well, I worry about the little things too much.

Tags: bibliomancy, meg cabot, avalon high