Oh Snap!

i have been wanting to do create something like this for a long time and no better place to start then LJ!

when i was searching for information on americans on working holiday visas in new zealand i found very little information. i found tons of stuff targeted towards europeans (mainly uk'ers) but nothing on americans and that frustrated me greatly! i have been wanting to start something targeted towards americans and the right forum and format finally came to me.

if you are interested in working holiday visas (you don't have to be american to join!) please join:

americansonwhv

well, this is it!!

NZ, it's been nice knowing ya. i have no worries that australia will not beat the time i had here. but it's there and i have time and i have to leave NZ like now, so what the hey. but i'll be back!

next stop, oz.

New Mom has a variety of new friends. Old ones, New ones, rich ones, poor ones. It was a bit hard trying to keep everyone straight. The new child was well behaved at all times, which I can’t say I minded. Her new rich posh friends, where the most entertaining, as books like these go. As you can tell, this book didn’t really make an impression on me.

Grade: C-

Selfish, selfish selfish. What is it when British people? All this reading makes me never want to go back. Seriously, I wish Americans knew more about the s. pacific countries. Not only are they easier to get into and stay for a while, but the people are so much less selfish! Okay, I am going off onto something else here now. Anyway, this book is about a Girl who can’t make up her mind between the old and the new. And I couldn’t tell either of the Dude’s apart, as their names both began with the letter J! Why do authors keep doing that to me? I know I am at the smarter end of the scale of people who read this crap and if I can’t tell anyone apart, godhelp the rest of the population. New J asks girl to marry him. Girl says no because she had a bad experience with marriage when she was like 20. New J moves on. Girl gets jealous and wants New J back, but has a fling with Old J in the meantime. Like nothing happens! I forgot who she ends up with in the end, but like, who cares. I really need to start using my time for better things.

Grade: C-

This book worked out way too neatly. Girls mother dies and the man she thought was her father her whole life turns out not to be. Turns out, it’s some aging Ozzy Osbourne-type. One of his ex-wives, who is now his manager (think Sharooon!) meets the Girl and makes her his tour manager (what?). Touring happens. One of the tech guys is Ozzy’s son from another relationship, so that makes him Girl’s brother and he hates her from the start. In fact, he hates his father as well, because he left him and his mother. Nothing happens and for some reason, sparks fly between Girl and her brother. I mean EWWWW! I hate story plots like this. They just totally gross me out. And they seem like they are everywhere these days (see last season of BROTHERS & SISTERS). So you totally know that something is going to happen to make them not be bro and sis, but that still grosses me out like so much. Within all of this, someone keeps sending Ozzy death threats and his current wife doesn’t want him to tour anymore because of it. Like the second before they tell you who is sending the death threats, I figured out who it was. Very predictable. Very fan-fic, if I was like in the 9th grade, where everything works out. An entertaining read, but nothing new.

Grade: C

Compared to the crap that I fly through, this one wasn’t too bad. Also considering I know nothing about knitting as well, the story was good, but I was clueless on the details. Single mother runs a yarn store. Has an eclectic group of friends that hang out with her. Father to her child comes back into their lives. Interesting twist to make Girl white and Father black, I liked that a lot. And the person that helps her out in the store a lot is an older women whose husband has died and family doesn’t live in The City anymore. The other friends in the store were a bit much. There was slightly too many of them, that not enough time in the rest of the book could be spent with them in detail and you forgot who was who half the time, because there were so many people. If the book had been a bit tighter with the cast, it would have been better. A bit over dramatic at the end, but one of my better reads lately. But that still doesn’t say much.

Grade C+

God, so boring. I don’t even know why this book was on my list. I think I read a review of it that said it was about a Dude’s travels around New Zealand, fishing, which is something that I am sort of interested in. But not the way this book was written. It was way more about fishing then I could ever care about. Luckily, I could read it in one day. More like flip through it.

Grade: N/A

A simple story about a young teenager, her mother who is in an iron lung and her caregiver and how they relate to each other in the backwaters of Mississippi in the 60’s. Everyone was very real in this book and it was written with just enough detail you need but not overwhelming. Good amount of characters as well. Always appreciate that, as most books overstuff. It was a very quick read. The end, while slightly unrealistic, works because that is just the way this book is. Sorry I didn’t go into much detail, but I do recommend this book. The less I say about something, the better.

Grade: C+

An Oprah book club pick! Yes, even books down here advert that fact. I quite enjoyed this book until the end. I like good books about siblings that kind of hate each other, but underneath, get a long. Until the end, in this book. The overview, is a family with 4 kids, the mother is in jail for shooting her husband because he beats the kids. It is told from the point of view of the oldest child, a son. He was written very well, very real and I always appreciate that. He is now raising his younger sisters in the back roads of Tennessee or somewhere like that. He has a fling with a mother of one of his younger sister’s friends. His next to oldest sister is a slut and they have major issues. I did not like where it went with the two of them (if you get my drift). The end wasn’t what I expected and I liked that. Minus where it went with the protag and sister, it was a good read. But then, that is just on taste and it wasn’t mine.

Grade: C

This book had the potential to be pretty good. I know I saw that a lot and most of the time I am really let down. And this, by no surprise, was one of them. The overall plot was what if a Nazi was elected president? The answer, according to this book of fiction, is not much. The story took place from the view of the younger boy in a Jewish family. His parents were against the president, but his older brother and aunt kind of got sucked into the world of trying to make everyone the same. Some chapters were okay, but most of it was a road to nowhere.

Grade: D+

Books about “clubs” seem to be trendy as of late. Throw a word that girls like in front of it (shoes, chocolate, knitting) and you have a bestseller all wrapped up. Girls with issues all meet up to discuss them. The book does center around one girl who is taking a long time to get over her long time boyfriend. The best part was when the girls get back at some dude who stole from one of the girls in the group. She slept with him and he steals all her jewellery and money and the girls set him up to get it back. That part, while it worked out a little too perfectly, was still the best part. The center girl starts dating some guy who seems pretty shifty and I thought it was going to be the guy that stole everything but it turns out he is some “escort” who one of her friends saw once and center girl gets all pissed. I thought that was pretty lame. The lead girl gets mad at her friend, which is so stupid, because it’s not like either of them knew. Not the worst book ever, but not the best.

Grade: C

This book I was totally looking forward to when I picked it up from the library! And the payoff was total crap. One thing the travel writing class taught me that I brought to when I read this book is what kind of book it was. There are books that “show” you what people see when they travel and there are books that “tell” you what they see when they travel. “Show” books are usually more interesting and people like them more and I know I do. This book fell into the “tell” category and because of this, it was sooooo boring! Another thing that made this book boring is the scope that it covered. It covered nearly the whole world! The writer went to every continent except Africa, well, he did the north a little, but he included that in Europe. I have read books before were the write covers the whole world, but oddly enough those are families that do that and for some reason, makes it slight more interesting. The only angle this guy had was riding around on a motorcycle, but he started in Portugal and only got as far as like eastern Europe before shipping the bike to India (not riding it around the mid-east) and then couldn’t get it out of customs there, so pretty much just got rid of that idea and it turned into a regular boring ass trip. Also, he complained about everything! If the hotel wasn’t a freakin’ Hilton, it was a shithole. It was interesting to read his take on India, as I have no interest in ever going there, but everything I read are usually rave reviews about it and this guy had nothing to say but crap about it. So different, but a bit of a downer.

Grade: D

I think this book had a little too much factual stuff in it for me. And maybe the topic wasn’t as interesting as I thought it would be. The found of Lonely Planet travelled to the most dangerous countries in the world. The ones I found more interesting were N. Korea and Cuba. Mainly because those are the two that get the most coverage in the US. I was looking forward to this book and the payoff wasn’t that great. I don’t know if I’ll pick up the sequel.

Grade: C-

hello and goodbye from sydney!

it's been a fab week. it's nice to be back in a big city again, thought i do miss small town life a little bit. it will be nice to come here again in a few weeks. it is getting me excited about the future.

more when i am back on free internet!

This book apparently was started as a nanowrimo entry that actually turned into a book. Cool! But not a good book. God, what even happened? The protag was lame and just annoying. One of those, I think I’m so cool so I am going to be an asshole to everyone and people still end up liking her. I hate people like that. The ex-husband factor who beat her and she ran off was an okay twist and made her a little more interesting, but people who stay with people like that annoy me. I don’t get it and that’s fine but I don’t like reading about it either.

Grade: C-

Typical. Two best friends each with something great to give the world (typically, one beautiful, but kind of stupid and the other not too pretty but really motivated with a great job) each are jealous of each other and each think that the other has it easy. Duh! You can see where this is going already. And ohmigod, it took like a year and a half to get to the end of this book! They were also friends with a dude, who was the ex step-brother of the pretty but dumb girl. I wish they did more with him, but they didn’t. And his wife was a total idiot and annoying. I usually really like the ugly but smart girls, but this girl was just an idiot who wanted to please her boyfriend so much because she didn’t think she was worthy of him, so she did everything she could to keep him. I hate shit like that. Give him the keys to the street now women! Agh. The pretty but dumb girl actually wasn’t too bad. Her expectations were a little high, but eh. I liked that she didn’t end up with anyone in the end, but was kind of annoyed that the ugly but smart girl ended up with the pretty ones ex-boyfriend.

Grade: C

Seriously, this book was written just for me. The burbs of NY, Girl is a college counsellor and her ex-boyfriend loves to travel, used to work at a travel agency and now writes high-end guide books. The only downside was the crazy family and the grandmother, who tried to be a Good Person in the book, but to me, was just kind of crazy. Hell, she is the one that talked Girl out of marrying Boy in the first place because he was poorer then them? I hate shit like that. And now the guy is successful and the girl is kind of a loser, working at a public high school. Stuff it grandma! And the Girl was kind of a loser, which is sort of like me, but I don’t like to read about people like that! I liked the high school, it kind of reminded me of the school I picture my friend Jess went too. Public, but high end, where the parents and school expect a lot from you, even if it’s not for you. I like the behind the scenes-ness of applying for colleges and stuff. I am so into that kind of stuff. Yes, I am lame. If I ever become a college counsellor, my motto is going to be, it’s not where you end up, but what you do with what you’ve got, or something like that, which of course I can’t think of now. Mainly because I think, who cares where you go for your undergrad?! It’s how you make the most of what you’ve got. God, I could go on and on on this subject forever, but I’ll shut it now. I loved the subject matter but the execution was a little flat.

Grade: C+

I liked the protag in this book a lot. One of the supporting characters was so unbelievable, but the rest of the book was okay. Mainly about a family with a new baby who move from SF to NY where the Man is from, but the Girl has to learn how to navigate the wilds of the UES. Drama! One of the women that the Man sets the Girl up with as a friend was pretty lame. Seriously, like, if she didn’t want to be friends with the Girl, then she wouldn’t be. The part about the schools was interesting, because I could totally see that being true. Of course, there is the obligatory Man thinks Girl is cheating on him because he spends too much time at the office and she becomes friends with an old college professor whom she almost had a thing with. So lame. At least the wicked mother-in-law was crazy, but she lived in CT most of the time, so that wasn’t a big deal. And I liked how the Girl and her child went out to Brooklyn only to find out that everyone there is pretty crazy too. So true!

Grade: C

I always see tons of books from this author at the library and last month was like chick-lit month on the welcome table and this book was on it, so what the hell, I picked it up. It was eh. She has written a lot of books and it’s kind of disappointing when the first one you pick up from a new-to-you author is not that great. Because you know there is some good stuff out there, but you don’t have the motivation to pick any up because of the first one you read. Anyway, this one was about a family who owns an art gallery, but has sold fake paintings in the past. I hate recapping books with people where the lives intertwined and this book was it. Some of it was confusing, because they would call the same person by two different names (I hate that!) and one of the characters like had some sort of split personality and it was the same person, but she went by two different names. I don’t like books with a lot of characters and while this book didn’t have that many, all the different names messed me up a little bit. It would make an easy movie though.

Grade: C-

I liked the story in this book except for the ending. The ending is what ever girl wants in life, but sorry sister! Rarely happens. But it’s endings like this that makes girls have hope when they are wasting time thinking this. The story starts with the Girl dumping her boyfriend because she doesn’t want him to propose because she is scared. She then spends the rest of the book, sort of casually trying to get him back and eventually, for some reason, she does. I liked the protag a lot except for this part. I liked the relationship she had with her grandfather and people that live at his “home”. I liked the relationship she had with her father, abit, it really wasn’t one. Her relationship with her best college friend was a little cliché, but that was okay. I liked her story with her work and she ends up quieting and it works. Why does quitting and not having a job for weeks on end only work when the job quite was being a lawyer? Oh well, I can live with that. The Boy kept getting in the way and that story line was just blah. I know that’s why we read them, but stories like this just people hope when it’s never there. Give it up already!

Grade: C