Hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

This was a hard reading week. I started several books before I found one that held my interest.

Ape House by Sara Gruen had my attention before it even began. The quote page at the beginning says,

“Give orange give me eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you” – Nim Chimpsky, 1970s
“Gimme gimme more, gimme more, gimme gimme more” – Britney Spears, 2007

This book is about a language lab in Kansas that has learned to communicate through spoken language and sign language with bonobos. An explosion critically injures a scientist there and the apes are all kidnapped. They show up later on a 24 reality show called Ape House because bonobos are very sexually active as part of their everyday life and this is good for ratings. The scientist who worked with them watches as their lives deteriorate (they order only junk food when given a choice, etc) while she tries to find a way to free them.

This book was wonderful. The conversations in the book with the apes are based on real conversations the author had with bonobos in a language lab in Iowa. Humans speak to them and they can sign answers or they pick out answers on a computer screen. This book gives great insight into the mind of great apes and humans.

A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett – I found out about this book on this meme last week. I’m a huge fan of the Discworld books but haven’t read a lot of his YA books. I think the only one I have read is the prequel to this book. In this book Tiffany is an 11 year old witch in training. She has a lot of power that she doesn’t understand. She is “helped” by the Nac Mac Feegle who are fairies that were kicked out of the fairy world for drinking and fighting. She helped them in the last book so they are returning the favor by spying on observing her to make sure no one harms her. The YA Discworld books don’t have the asides and sarcastically profound statements that I love in the adult books but they are still fun.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan – I had never heard of this series until the movie came out. I liked the movie so I decided to read the book. The book is much better and very different from the movie. The basic quest is the same. Zeus’ lightning bolt has been stolen and Percy, the son of the sea god, needs to find it and return it. All the other details are different. This is a YA book also but I would recommend it to anyone.