Infected Review

As mentioned in my previous review, I've found a new appreciation for audiobooks since my return trip from Minnesota. In my family's search for listening materials we found podiobooks. Podiobooks are podcasts of books, many are offered for free from the Podiobooks website. I think this is a great way to advertise books, they even have a few classics. The search feature was not as user friendly as I would have liked, but it's a relatively new site. If you are looking for a legally free book, check them out.

Now, onto the book I read through this service (I downloaded it from them through iTunes, you can also stream them directly from the net.). As you may have guess from the title of this blog article, the book is called Infected. It was written and performed by the author, Scott Sigler.

In the beginning, we learn that there is a mysterious disease causing regular people to go crazy and slaughter their families, friends, and themselves. There is no pattern to the outbreaks and no known means of transmission. A low level CDC agent, Margaret Montoya, notices the incidents and contacts the CIA to help her look into it. They determine that this has to be kept quiet to avoid creating a national panic. From her viewpoint, we see the fear and actions of those trying to stop the disease from spreading.

The other main perspective in the story belongs to Perry Dawsey, a former football player with anger management issues. He is one of the infected, we witness his descent into madness. His history with anger management issues, actually assists him in staving off the affects of the disease. We also get insight into what the disease is, and how it is spread.

Sigler did a lot of research into disease transmission, progression, and parasitic organisms which gives the story a stronger feeling of credibility. His explanations of the scientific reasoning used by Margaret and her partner, and Perry, is well done with out being over technical. He even introduces the disease by going through the process of it gaining hold in a human host.

The story is very intense emotionally and physically. The descriptions give you a very clear mental pictures of the events taking place, sometimes you wish they weren't quite so good. Sigler employs a lot of gore and violence in this tale, so if this isn't your cup of tea I warn you to avoid reading this book. However, if you enjoy intense scifi/horror novels than this book is definitely for you. It is the first in a series, and gives you a classic cliffhanger ending. I look forward to reading the next book.

I wasn't sure if I would be able to get into the story, the first few chapters. It wasn't because of the plot, but because Mr. Sigler's reading was a bit rushed. His reading improved as the novel progressed, as parents and teachers know, reading aloud well is an acquired skill and requires practice. If audiobooks or podiobooks aren't your thing, you can get the book in printed format as well. If you choose the audiobook, please remember it is not child appropriate.

The Passage by Justin Cronin

I heard about The Passage on Twitter, it seemed to be a story that is right up my alley. A post-apocalyptic tale of a military science experiment gone horribly wrong that decimates the population of the United States, maybe even the world. It is the first part of a planned trilogy, so we may discover whether the disaster spread world wide. The experiment to create a super soldier results in vampire-like creatures, these creatures then escape (wouldn't be an apocalypse without that part).

When reading a new author for the first time, I am often concerned that though the story concept is excellent the execution will be poorly done or the writing style isn't a good match for the genre. That concern was completely unfounded with Mr. Cronin. I've heard some people say the novel is slow to start, though it takes longer to get to the disaster than expected, I didn't find it so.

The novel is divided into several books. The first book begins with the story of a young mother. The writing is very hectic, and though I don't think I could have read a whole book like that, it fits with the mother's love for her daughter and her desperate desire to care for her child. I found this section very emotional, maybe because I am a mother myself. The mother decides that it is best if she leaves her daughter at a convent, as she does not believe that she can care for her anymore. Once the young girl, Amy, is at the convent we meet Agent Wolgast. His job is to acquire volunteers for the military experiment. The "volunteers" are death row inmates, Wolgast does not even know what will happen to them in the experiments.

Wolgast and his partner have few qualms with their recruitment efforts, as the men they are recruiting are scheduled to die, until they are ordered to go get Amy and bring her to the laboratory. Wolgast has more of an issue with this assignment than his partner, this may be due to the loss of his own daughter due to illness. Sadly, Wolgast is unable to avoid taking Amy to the lab; however, they are able to escape when the experiments break out. We spend some time with Wolgast and Amy while they hide and survive in this new world, during this part of the narrative we only know what they know, and are in the dark about what is happening elsewhere.

We then skip forward in time, about 100 years, where we meet a colony of survivors. They have managed to survive using lights that run on batteries. There are conflicts between community members and a horrible secret, the batteries will not last much longer. Without the lights at night, the "virals" (the vampire-like creatures) will swarm the colony. There is conflict among the few who know about how to handle this situation.

This book's plot takes many new angles. I don't want to go further into the story, I'm afraid I might spoil some of the twists. I found the characters believable, and the protagonists were flawed (as we all are) but sympathetic. There are many suspenseful moments, and emotional ones. They are not overplayed nor do they feel forced, and you are carried along with the characters. As expected with the first novel in a trilogy, there is a cliffhanger ending. I really hope that the rest of Cronin's works get published, I would like to continue my journey with these characters.

The Graveyard Book

During our road trip, at least on the way up north, we mostly listened to music. As the driver, I felt the need for something different on the way home. I thought a good audio book would be a great way to help keep my mind alert during the trip, it was a good idea. The challenge was to find something the whole family would enjoy. The daughter was unsure about the idea of an audio book, but became completely entranced. Luckily, I was able to preview the audio books before purchasing one. I would not purchase any audio book without listening to a preview first. Even if the story is excellent, a bad reader will ruin the book and lose the audience. The search was successful. We will definitely be utilizing audio books more on future road trips.


I picked Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book because we had all enjoyed the movie Coraline based on the book by Mr. Gaiman (I still need to read the book, but my to-be-read list seems to grow exponentially.). My husband and I have also enjoyed many of his other works. In this production of the book, the author reads it himself. Neil Gaiman is an excellent reader, this may be due to his experience as a father reading to his own children. His voice was expressive, and he did excellent voices for the different characters.

This book won many awards including the Hugo and the Locus Award. It is the first book to win the Newbery and Carnegie Awards in the same year. Gaiman combines action, humor, history, mythology, and sincere emotional moments masterfully within this tale.

The story is about a boy that survives the murder of his family by a mysterious man named Jack. The boy stumbles into a graveyard, gains the protection of the ghosts that live there, and cannot leave without risking the man finding him. The ghosts name him Nobody Owens, Bod for short. He also has a enigmatic guardian named Silas, who acquires him the necessities of life such as food and clothing, as the ghosts can't leave the graveyard.

Most plot points are revealed to the audience as they are revealed to Bod, this adds to the suspense for the reader or listener as the case may be. Bod is mostly educated by people in the graveyard, so he acquires a very unique and thorough knowledge of history. Time skips are utilized to hit the important points in Bod's development into a young man, and keeps the story moving well. Bod is a very likable character, a mostly well-behaved child with and innate curiosity about the world, which sometimes leads him into adventures and precarious situations. There are some surprising twists in the story, especially for younger readers. Adults with experience may be less surprised at the twists, but they are enjoyable and well handled.

Overall, I really recommend this book, especially if you like fantasy/adventure stories.

I'm a Magister Now

The last two years have been very challenging and interesting. My spouse and I went from discussing the pros and cons of me doing an online program to get a masters for Leadership in  Educational Technology, to me being a full-time teacher and part-time student, to me completing my coursework.

Balancing work, family, and studies is very challenging. At times, it was overwhelming. Especially towards the end of the courses, when I was mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted. Despite being close to the end, there were times when it was hard to maintain my motivation and energy level. The time and energy that went to my studies pulled from energy for work and family. I think work suffered a little more, my family was wonderfully understanding. Thank you, guys. I persevered and it really paid off. I completed my studies and I feel I did very well, I am excited about the opportunities that this opens up for me and my family.

I learned a lot about myself while taking these classes. I'm often a terrible procrastinator, but I found I was able to set a schedule and stick to it. I was really worried about this before starting the online classes. I hope this new skill carries over into the rest of my life. I did a lot better with more open ended assignments than when I was younger. I stressed a lot over assignments, and my husband would remind me that I always do fine and that I shouldn't worry so much, but I'd fret anyway. I guess fretting is in my nature.

The program was fairly new, which offered it's own challenges. There were glitches in some of the assignments, directions were sometimes changed during a class. I'm considering continuing on to get a doctorate, something I never thought I'd do, but it won't be for a couple of years. I want the kinks worked out of the program before I take part in it, though I know it will mean tougher grading of the assignments.

Right now, I am just glad to have a little time to relax and go back to doing some of my hobbies before returning to work. When I get back from vacation I'll start writing for my professional blog again. Until them I'll be reading and cross stitching, and enjoying the Minnesota weather.


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Ready for Delivery

About to go visit the family, so I had to hurry up and put the back and hanger on this stocking for my nephew. Never know what is going to happen between now and Christmas, this way I know he'll get it. Glad to be done with my studies so I have time to do this sort of thing again. I can now find my meditation zone. I'll be starting two other stockings this summer, one on request and one as a surprise present. Shh...don't tell anyone.