At First Touch by Mattie Dunman 🇺🇲

Вторая книга из моих давно скаченных запасников Kindle называется At First Touch (автор Mattie Dunman).

Начало было супер. Потом все пошло не так, как я ожидала.
Зато выписала кучку интересных слов/выражений (с примерами употребления):

five o’clock shadow – короткая щетина, которая образуется в конце рабочего дня (… rubbed his five o’clock shadow…)
throw someone for a loop – ошеломить, очень удивить, сбить с толку (… sensitive response threw me for a loop)
get someone’s goat – доставать, намеренно разозлить (You know, what would really get his goat?)
greasy spoon – дешевая закусочная, забегаловка (… the usual greasy spoon options…)
nip something in the bud – подавить что-либо в зародыше, пресечь в корне (I had to nip this in the bud)
not hold water – звучать неубедительно, не выдерживать критики, выглядеть неправдоподобно (… or it wouldn’t hold water)
blow – (здесь) кокаин (… he had lots of blow just sitting around)
deep dish pizza – “глубокая” пицца по-чикагски (… make a run to Tony’s Pizzeria in Chicago for my favorite deep dish)
G-man – агент ФБР (… he gave me his best G-man glare…)
laundry list – подробный список, перечень (I managed not to roll my eyes at his laundry list of rules…).

Nora’s Sun by M.S. Fowle 🇺🇲

Давно не заходила в свою библиотеку на Kindle. На майские как заглянула… – и давай листать Young Adult / Fantasy / Paranormal книжки, которые бесплатно скачала когда-то. Наверное, лет десять назад. :)
Сходу приглянулись две. Первая – коротенькая история Nora’s Sun (автор M.S. Fowle).

Немного сумбурно. Больше похоже на наброски. Но дочитала все равно.

Book review: Just Plain Weird ★★★★★

Just Plain Weird by Tom Upton. I got this book as a free kindle purchase some years ago (on January 7, 2014) and I really wasn’t expecting it to be that good.

What a story! I really loved this book. This was one of the best YA science fiction I’ve read so far.
It was well written, interesting and just-plain-weird. :)
Highly recommended!

Started Reading – 22 September 2018
Finished Reading – 07 November 2018
My Rating: 5 Stars

A short book review: Project Snow ★★★★★

Project Snow by Cherita Smith. I got this book as a free kindle purchase about six months ago (on November 21, 2017) and I really enjoyed reading it a lot.

It was an interesting short story that had me gripped from the very beginning and kept me guessing until the very end! I’d definitely like to read more books written by this author.

Started Reading – 24 June 2018
Finished Reading – 28 June 2018
My Rating: 5 Stars

A good Spanish book for beginners

Funny Tales In Easy Spanish 1: Jaimito va a la escuela by Álvaro Parra Pinto.

I got this book as a free kindle purchase some months ago (on November 12, 2017) and I really enjoyed reading it. The stories were short, funny and interesting. I’d definitely like to read more such books!

Finished Reading – 15 April 2018
My Rating: 5 Stars

Интересно, но ожидала бОльшего

Давно уже прочитала, да все как-то не было времени опубликовать. :)
Hell’s Hollow by Summer Stone (Publication Date: Mar 14, 2013. Print Length: 182 pages).

Не понравилась концовка, скучновато немного, но в целом для дебюта – очень даже хорошо.
Интересные слова и выражения:

Bark up the wrong tree = обратиться не по адресу, ошибиться, напасть на ложный след (You may be barking up the wrong tree asking me this stuff);
bide one’s time = ждать благоприятного, подходящего момента, случая (I was dying to ask him more about being locked up, about what he’d meant when he’d said “murderer”, but I needed to bide my time);
blow off = отшить (Suddenly he seemed sad and serious. I worried that it meant he wasn’t interested in being friends with a freak like me – that he was struggling to find some polite way of blowing me off);
circa = c. = ca. = приблизительно (Just then, the circa – 1970 transistor radio on the metal desk came on by itself blaring oldies. The Hollow was up to its tricks);
croak = (разг.) умереть (The chipmunk died suddenly, like it was super strong and healthy for a minute, like crazy good, and then it had a heart attack or something and croaked);
lay claim to = предъявлять права на что-либо (A few of the local men tried to sneak in and lay claim to this land);
legal pad = блокнот с отрывными страницами из желтой линованной бумаги, без обложки, очень популярный в США (She scribbled notes on a legal pad);
let down = разочаровывать, подводить (I trusted you. How could you let me down like this?);
stall = глохнуть – о двигателе (I knew he’d gotten stuck here when his car had stalled out on his way from West Virginia to San Francisco);
spring= побег, освобождение из тюрьмы или плена. Возможно, от слова «spring» – открывать с помощью пружины, отомкнуть (You figure out how to block those radio signals, then come back and spring us);
wound-up = взвинченный, заведенный (I paced around my small room, too wound up to be still).

This entry was originally posted in my livejournal (LJ) but I don’t use LJ anymore so I’ve transferred all of my Livejournal content to this website.

Не все то золото, что…

Прочитала-вымучила: The Secret by Taylor Hart (Publication Date: March 24, 2013. Length: 259 pages).

Зря купилась на красивую обложку! В книжке лишь отдельные моменты ничего, а по большей части – скука несусветная… Зато выписала немного новых слов/выражений:

HOV lane = carpool lane = полоса движения, выделенная для машин, в которых едут два и более человека, включая водителя (I noticed the limo was in the HOV lane, going faster than what should be legal);
license plate number = регистрационный знак на автомобиле (Your friend memorized the license plate number);
make-shift = самодельное, временное, кустарно-сварганенное-на-коленке (Rob sat down at the make-shift computer station he’d put together at the kitchen table);
pinky = (ам. разг.) мизинец (I touched the lily with my pinky, catching it as it formed into the real thing before it could fall to the ground);
putz = придурок, идиот (You’re such a putz!);
sitting duck = легкая добыча, удобная мишень (We are like sitting ducks here, just waiting to be taken or killed);
sucker punch = a sudden surprise punch, esp. from behind (Shaking my head, I felt like I’d been sucker punched);
take a load off = присесть, дать ногам отдохнуть; что-то типа «в ногах правды нет» (The officers came in and Reed motioned for them to sit on the couches. «Take a load off».);
tarnation = a euphemism for damnation (Sheriff Boyle looked slowly around the cave. «What in tarnation has been going on?»);
tick off = (ам. разг.) выводить из себя, раздражать, сердить (He laughed again, which was starting to tick me off);
wear one’s feeling on one’s sleeve = скорее всего, равно по смыслу словосочетанию: wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve = не уметь скрывать своих чувств. Синоним нашего «рыдать и сопли рукавом вытирать», видимо (I could feel he has disappointed, but he hasn’t a man to wear his feelings on his sleeve).

This entry was originally posted in my livejournal (LJ) but I don’t use LJ anymore so I’ve transferred all of my Livejournal content to this website.

A great plot twist!

Прочитала и всем любителям YA-books советую:
Funny Tragic Crazy Magic by Sheena Boekweg. (Publication Date: December 8, 2013. 307 pages).
Amazon и Goodreads оказались правы. Действительно, интересная вещь! Да, есть небольшие пропуски (провалы) в повествовании, и стиль изложения довольно своеобразен, но эта книга стоит того, чтобы ее прочитали!
Надеюсь, что скоро будет продолжение, и одновременно боюсь этого. Достаточно кошмариков выпало на долю девочки – главной героини, пусть подрастет сначала. :)

Традиционно, фразы:
a tad = a little (While he looked at my hands, they felt a tad hotter);
bisabuela (Esp) = прабабушка (I could get my mother’s notebook back. It was my legacy. There were runes in there, from her abuela… maybe her abuela’s bisabuela);
bleeping = a word to block out or substitute swear words (Every day from the hours of three until five, I come into the cafeteria: the one room in this bleeping place that they allow us a computer);
dog ear = загнутый угол страницы (My notebook had a crease down the middle, and a few of the pages were dog-eared);
doodle = рисовать чертиков, или просто каракули, когда мысли заняты чем-то другим (Joe took out a black BIC pen and started doodling on the edge of my notebook);
drop cloth = чехол для защиты мебели от пыли и т.п. (There was a furniture inside covered with drop cloths);
faux = фальшивый (His hair has this sticky-up faux Mohawk («ирокез») quality, which I have never found attractive);
farmers tan = интенсивный загар открытых участков тела во время полевых работ (He had a farmers tan);
ground beef = говяжий фарш (My parents were in the kitchen talking about the price of ground beef);
half ponytail = прическа «Мальвина» (Ms. P. had long light brown hair pinned up in a half ponytail);
in a pinch = при крайней необходимости (I don’t usually lie, but in a pinch, I find I’m pretty good at it);
IOU = I owe you = я тебе/вам должен (Inside the car, on a post-it note stuck to the steering wheel, was a note – IOU one ride to school ~ J.);
my bad = my mistake (Whoops, guess I just spilled a Witch secret. My bad);
on a hunch = интуитивно (On a hunch, I opened my backpack);
on the dot = ровно, точно в срок, пунктуально, минута в минуту (Ryan got a haircut like every three weeks on the dot);
silver lining = a comforting or hopeful aspect of an otherwise desperate or unhappy situation (At least Joe was still in his right mind as they decided whether they should kill him or not. Silver lining);
USPS = United States Postal Service = почтовая служба США (A couple days later, when the hospital returned all my family’s belongings through USPS, my mom’s notebook was gone).

И еще одна фраза зацепила: «The house looked like chaos and felt like home». Хорошо сказано!

This entry was originally posted in my livejournal (LJ) but I don’t use LJ anymore so I’ve transferred all of my Livejournal content to this website.

Mother’s Heart

I finished reading the last book of the Mother-Earth Trilogy:
Mother’s Heart (Book 3) by Alan Tucker. (Publication Date: February 22, 2012. 348 pages).
Great books, all three of them! The author has created a unique and believable world with great characters and storylines. I love Jenni and Sara, Brandon and Bonnie, Alisha and Crank, Denny, Lori, Todd… even Mogritas. They are all so real! I miss them already. Hope to find more books as good as these someday!

Some interesting expressions from the last book:
drop a monkey wrench = throw a monkey wrench = to cause something that is going smoothly to stop = т.е. что-то вроде нашего выражения «вставлять палки в колеса» (Jenni hoped she had dropped a monkey wrench in Mogritas’ plans by delaying the additional help he’d requested);
if anything = пожалуй, если на то пошло (If anything, the great dragon had increased in size since she’d first seen him);
I’ll bite = я сдаюсь, (иногда) не знаю («Okay», Sara said. «I’ll bite. What are you going to do with us?»);
keep in the loop = keep in the picture = держать в курсе дела, информировать (Colonel sighed, «General O’Neil didn’t exactly keep me in the loop as to what he was doing…»);
knock one’s socks off = заставить обалдеть, удивить, поразить кого-либо (The friends were on winter break from school in Colorado Springs, but one them, Rick, was failing their Earth science class and needed a final project to knock the teacher’s socks off);
long story short… = если коротко, то…
nothing short of smth. = нечто иное, как; полное (The control these Masters’ have over the country seems nothing short of absolute);
off the wall = strange, out of the ordinary, stupid (Hard to figure out dreams some times. They can be so off the wall);
spring for = раскошелиться, раскрутиться на («I missed my birthday», Jenni said aloud. «Sweet sixteen! Most girls would have been busy with big parties, getting their driver’s license, and wondering if their parents might spring for a car as a present»);
tip the balance = turn the balance = turn the scale(s) = перевесить, склонить чашу весов («That boy’s future depends on us», Crank thought suddenly. «We need to do something to tip the balance of this war»);
up front = честный, открытый, искренний (He understood the logic of it all; he just wished Ba’ize and the others had been up front about it).

P.S. What to read next? Let’s see… The Perfect Chemistry Trilogy?.. Yes! I’m definitely looking forward to this series!

This entry was originally posted in my livejournal (LJ) but I don’t use LJ anymore so I’ve transferred all of my Livejournal content to this website.

Just finished the second book in the Mother-Earth Series

A Cure for Chaos (Book 2 in The Mother-Earth Series) by Alan Tucker. (Publication Date: January 24, 2011. 348 pages)
Can’t wait for the last book!

Some useful words and expressions:
a far cry = большая разница, как небо и земля, совсем не то, что (He had topped out at five foot ten, a far cry from the foot and a half he was when Jenni had first seen him);
death sentence = смертельный приговор (Despite the words, the emotions behind them sounded like a death sentence and Jenni had to turn away);
dog paddle (разг. америк.) = doggy paddle (разг. брит.) = плавание по-собачьи (He started dog paddling his way to the eastern bank);
in sequence = один за другим, последовательно (The bulb in the lamp post directly ahead of them burst, followed by the rest in sequence along the fence line);
make oneself scarce = удрать, улизнуть, стараться не попадаться на глаза (Alisha had made herself scarce as much as possible, retreating to her former quarters and enjoying the comparative wealth of comforts);
oh brother = блин («Oh, brother. Thank goodness I asked about it!»);
school of fish = стая рыб;
small game = мелкая дичь (Once inside the forest, the bowmen became more active, bringing down small game whenever they flushed some out of hiding);
square one = самое начало (He sighed. «So I guess we’re back to square one»);
to leave smb. to his (her) own devices = предоставить кого-либо самому себе (The next day, Jenni left her mother to her own devices);
water under the bridge = something that happened in the past and can’t be changed («Water under the bridge, Roger,» Mrs. Osorio said. «The past year or so has been hard on all of us»);
window-shop = to look at goods in shop windows without buying them (After they ate, the two of them window shopped in silence).

This entry was originally posted in my livejournal (LJ) but I don’t use LJ anymore so I’ve transferred all of my Livejournal content to this website.