Killing Kennedy

Goodreads Synopsis:    A riveting historical narrative of the shocking events surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the follow-up to mega-bestselling author Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln

More than a million readers have thrilled to Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln, the page-turning work of nonfiction about the shocking assassination that changed the course of American history. Now the anchor of The O'Reilly Factor recounts in gripping detail the brutal murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy—and how a sequence of gunshots on a Dallas afternoon not only killed a beloved president but also sent the nation into the cataclysmic division of the Vietnam War and its culture-changing aftermath.

In January 1961, as the Cold War escalates, John F. Kennedy struggles to contain the growth of Communism while he learns the hardships, solitude, and temptations of what it means to be president of the United States. Along the way he acquires a number of formidable enemies, among them Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and Alan Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency.  In addition, powerful elements of organized crime have begun to talk about targeting the president and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

In the midst of a 1963 campaign trip to Texas, Kennedy is gunned down by an erratic young drifter named Lee Harvey Oswald. The former Marine Corps sharpshooter escapes the scene, only to be caught and shot dead while in police custody.

The events leading up to the most notorious crime of the twentieth century are almost as shocking as the assassination itself. Killing Kennedy chronicles both the heroism and deceit of Camelot, bringing history to life in ways that will profoundly move the reader.  This may well be the most talked about book of the year.

My Thoughts:

-    I loved Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly, so I was super excited that he was doing another one about Kennedy's assassination.  It didn't disappoint. 

-    Every history book should be written this way!  It would make History one of the favorite subjects in school! 

-    The PT-109 experience reads like a good castaway book.

-    I  learned a lot about what kind of man JFK was, and let me say, it wasn't good.  He was a very vein guy and very immoral.  I can't believe he was able to keep all of his philandering a secret.  

-    I think JFK handled the Cuban Missile Crisis well, and I learned a lot of stuff I didn't know about that crisis.  

-    I just learned a lot period.

-    I KNEW IT!!  I knew Martin Luther King Jr. was a scum!  I'm so glad the book addressed that.  

-    I was sad to learn some things about Peter Lawford.  He is one of my favorite MGM stars.  He had a nice voice.  Too bad he didn't have a nice life.  

-    I wish O'Reilly would write a book about all the President's and their time in office.  It would be fun to learn about each one.  

-    The book was so interesting, and even though I knew what the outcome of many things were, I still loved it and it kept me turning pages.

-    Lee Harvey Oswald was a messed up guy!  He just didn't know what he wanted in life, so he took someone else's.  YES!  LET IT BE KNOWN THAT LEE HARVEY OSWALD WAS THE MAN WHO KILLED KENNEDY!  I also believe he acted solo!

-    Even though, I don't really like Kennedy (or his family), I was still sad when I read about his death.  It was a terrible thing.  I feel bad for Jackie.  I can't even imagine seeing my hubby's head explode.  

-    If you love history, and even if you don't, I highly recommend this book.  It is good to know about your country, and this is a book anyone could enjoy.  

Series Info:

Killing Kennedy is a companion book to Killing Lincoln.  Click on the photo to read my review.  

Legend of the BoneKnapper Dragon

My Thoughts:

-    This is a really weird short film with the cast of How to Train Your Dragon.

-    The animation changes during Gobber's stories, and it is really weird.  Was their budget low for this or something?

-    A lot of this was pretty dumb.

-    The disc has some other features, like a DreamWorks Jukebox that has some music videos from various DreamWorks films.

Tyson's Thought:

-    The Kung Fu Panda music video was the best thing on the DVD.

Hubby's Thought:

-    I don't get why the bone dragon liked to be scratched on his armor.

How to Train Your Dragon

My Thoughts:

-    This is probably my favorite DreamWorks movie.  The story and characters are so great!

-    It is very funny and very heart warming!  The story has something for everyone.

-    Toothless's head is Stitch's head.  

-    The CG in this is pretty good.  There are some really nice environments, and the flying sequences are really amazing!

-    I like that they created different types of dragons.  It was really fun to see the different classes that do different things.  They were really creative with the dragon designs.

-    Toothless is SO cute!!  I want one!  His expressions are so cute and funny.  I love how he shows so much emotion just using is facial expressions.

-    The voice acting is spot on!!  I love the people they got for the voices.  They fit their characters perfectly! 

-    I know this has been out for a while, but if you haven't seen it, SEE IT!!

Tyson's Thought:

-    I want one of the big fat dragons.

Frankenweenie

My Thoughts:

-    I love that Tim Burton decided to make his short into a full length feature!  If you haven't seen his short film of this, go check it out! It is live action.  I love that he chose to redo it with claymation.

-    It parodied a lot of old school horror movies like Frankenstein and Dracula.  It was fun to see the similarities.

-    A lot of the movie had an Edward Scissorhand feel.  The community, the music, and overall theme was a lot like it.

-    The Asian boy cracked me up!  I loved his accent.

-    If I could bring my Mr. Nibbles back to life, I would!

-    The music was awesome!  I LOVE Danny Elfman!

-    The little girl with the cat was creepy, but funny.

-    This movie was very Tim Burton.  His style, weirdness, and comedy was everywhere!  I loved it!! 

-    This is a great movie for this time of year!

Lois Lowry

I had a the pleasure of seeing Lois Lowry last night with my friends!

Jenni Elyse, Penelope, Me, Emily, I forgot her name (SORRY!), Suey, Jenny, and Jessica!

I also snapped a picture of Enna, but it came out fuzzy!!!  I was going to use it as blackmail, but alas...she befuddled my camera to fuzziness to keep her secret identity.

Here is Lois Lowry telling us about her books.  I was so happy she told us how they are all connected!

 Here she is signing books!  I had the pleasure of standing in line behind "Tiger" ;)

It was a fun night!  I look forward to more Author events at the library!  

Although, it was Courtney's last event, and I'm sure future Authorlinks won't be as awesome.  SO SAD!

Book Moment

My little fam went to Bridal Veil Falls a couple weeks ago.

On our walk to the falls, I saw this tree.

 It had this big hollowed knot in it.  Perfect for hiding stuff.

(yes, I took pictures so I could blog about it.)

It made me think of To Kill a Mockingbird.

I wanted to hide something there for a child to find.

Sadly, I didn't really have anything to put in there.

I just love life moments that remind us of books.

Eve and Adam

Goodreads Synopsis:    Sixteen-year-old Evening Spiker lives an affluent life in San Francisco with her mother, EmmaRose, a successful geneticist and owner of Spiker Biotech. Sure, Evening misses her father who died mysteriously, but she’s never really questioned it. Much like how she’s never stopped to think how off it is that she’s never been sick. That is, until she’s struck by a car and is exposed to extensive injuries. Injuries that seem to be healing faster than physically possible. 

While recuperating in Spiker Biotech’s lush facilities, she meets Solo Plissken, a very attractive, if off-putting boy her age who spent his life at Spiker Biotech. Like Evening, he’s never questioned anything... until now. Solo drops hints to Evening that something isn’t right, and Emma-Rose may be behind it. Evening puts this out of her mind and begins her summer internship project: To simulate the creation of the perfect boy. With the help of Solo, Evening uncovers secrets so big they could change the world completely.

My Thoughts:

-    Most of the book is pretty flat and a bit cliche.  I wasn't too impressed.

-    The whole Terra/Terror thing is SO true!!  My little sister had a friend named Tara, and I called her Terror all the time.  Because she was a complete Terror!

-    The viewpoint of the book changes between Evening, Solo, and Adam comes in later.  I really didn't think it needed to change point of views.  Some of the Solo stuff was important I suppose.

-    Solo's name might be awesome cause it reminds me of Han Solo, but he is kind of a loser.  He likes to get hit in the head, and he was vein enough to think that a girl was checking him out after she was in an accident and got her leg ripped off.  He is also a bit dirty in the head.

-    What may be a perfect man to Eve, is NOT going to be the perfect man to everyone and their dog! 

-    I really didn't like Aislin.  I don't think she was a very good friend, and she is WAY messed up.  Eve kept having to help Aislin with everything, and I didn't really see what Aislin brought to their friendship. 

-    A lot of the characters in this book didn't have a lot of dimensions to them.  They were pretty flat.

-    The plot was a bit predictable.  There wasn't a ton going on.  

-    I don't think I'll finish the series.  There wasn't really a cliffhanger, and I not intrigued enough to continue.

FrankenRun

If you are going to participate in the FrankenRun, please use the following coupon code when you register:

WasatchWinds

My band gets money for everyone who uses the coupon code.  We'd really appreciate the support!!

What is FrankenRun you ask?

It is a costume 5k run that supports Utah Arts Organizations.  

"Walkers and runners are encouraged to get into the Halloween spirit of the

race and wear a costume. Some common-sense costume guidelines are offered.
Costumes should not protrude more than 8-inches beyond the runners body in
any direction that might interfere with fellow racers.
Runners should keep in mind this is a family-friendly event."

What: FrankenRun 5k
Where: Art Dye Park, American Fork, UT
When: October 13th, 9am
Pre-registration: $22 at FrankenRun.com through October 11th Day-of-Race
Registration (8am): $30

Prizes:

Fastest

Best Adult Costume

Best Child Costume

Best Frankenstein Costume

Best Team Costume

Best Couple Costume

Here is the website for more info and registration:    http://frankenrun.com/

Thanks!!

Lemon Tart

From Goodreads:    A recipe for murder!

* 5 families living on Peregrine Circle
* 1 flowered curtain tieback
* 1 missing child
* 1 body in the field


Mix with a long list of suspects and top with two very different detectives. Increase heat until only the truth remains.

Award-winning author Josi S. Kilpack introduces a new series of culinary "cozies" that is sure to tantalize mystery lovers. In this debut volume, cooking aficionado-turned-amateur detective, Sadie Hoffmiller, tries to solve the murder of Anne Lemmon, her beautiful young neighbor - a single mother who was mysteriously killed while a lemon tart was baking in her oven. At the heart of Sadie's search is Anne's missing two-year-old son, Trevor. Whoever took the child must be the murderer, but Sadie is certain that the police are looking at all the wrong suspects - including her!

Armed with a handful of her very best culinary masterpieces, Sadie is determined to bake her way to proving her innocence, rescuing Trevor, and finding out exactly who had a motive for murder.

My Thoughts:

-    This murder mystery (that was chucked full of yummy food) was really fun!  It had everything a good mystery book needs:  good cop, bad cop, murder, several suspects, chase scenes, hiding scenes, sneaking around scenes, shocking secrets, etc.  It was great!

-    This made me want to bake and cook....A LOT!!  I'm definitely trying out most of the recipes in the book.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the book includes recipes to some of the yummy goodness mentioned in the book. 

-    I loved the main character.  Sadie is so funny and so believable.  I think I know a few ladies just like her.  

-    This whole book took me through so many emotions.  It was suspenseful, thrilling, sad, anger inducing, and other varieties of emotions. 

-    There were a lot of victims in this book, not just the one that got killed.  I feel really bad for some of the people in Sadie's life.  I hope the other books address how everyone gets their lives together...or don't get their lives together. 

-    There were some slow bits in the book, but there were a lot of "I can't turn the pages fast enough" bits too.  The latter outweighed the first.  

-    The whole story and plot were really well thought out!  Koodos for the author!  She did a good job putting this whole mystery together and how it was going to be solved.  There was no way for me to predict the ending!  It was really well done. 

-    My only worry is that there are a lot of books in this series, and I hope they aren't really similar so I get tired of them.  I'm looking forward to the next one though!

Green Lantern

My Thoughts:

-    I don't know as much about DC comics as I do Marvel, so I'm not positive, but I think they got a lot of things right about Green Lantern.  They did well with the guardians and how the rings work and everything.

-    The Green Lantern "theme" I kept hearing sounded an awful lot like the Superman Theme.

-    The "you look pretty" line in the bar was LAME!  No girl is going to go for that.

-    Hal's friend, I didn't catch his name, looked like a Moss wannabe.

-    The overall movie was really slow.  There needed to be more action and less boring stuff!

-    Hector looked like he got stung by Tracker Jackers.

-    The CG was good for some things, but wasn't great in other places.

-    Sinestro is a bad guy!!!  I didn't know he started out good, but if they end up making more Green Lantern movies, my bet is that it will be about Sinestro going bad.

-    Ryan Reynolds made a great Hal Jordan, but I think his talents were kinda wasted on this movie.

Tyson's Thoughts:

-    This movie was terrible!

-    Captain Planet was smug.

-    If I had a ring, I'd make a good cheeseburger.  A never ending always fresh cheeseburger.