So today is our last day in our old apartment. We still have some moving to do and cleaning ahead of us tonight. Honestly, I can’t say I’m excited for that but it is nice to know that, one way or another, we will be done with that mess tonight.

I recently stumbled upon Ommwriter and thought I’d share it with you guys. For those who might not know, Ommwriter is a program that you can download for PC and Mac. Their objective is to create a distraction-free writing space. Now, I write out my rough drafts by hand because I prefer the aesthetic but also because typing original work is hard for me to do without getting distracted, even if it’s just by the buttons and options in the word processor program itself. [I can get hung up on formatting for ages] Ommwriter removes even those program distractions, having designed a space where the only thing you see is what you’re typing. You can adjust font, background, and ambient music to create your own work space in which to find your Zen [if you see mine let me know]. I could see this working really well for typing up school related things if you have a hard time focusing while on the computer. You can check out their website to learn more and see a demo video. My laptop is still out of commission but I might nudge my hubby a little harder to get it up and running again because I really want to try this. If any of you have experience with this program or decide to give it a test drive, please let me know what you think and how it works for you!

Every once in a while I get on a comic-book kick. I've had this desire for a while to become more familiar with American comics but it’s a bit of a struggle for me to find “original” story lines for popular series like X-Men and Spiderman and the like. Even trickier is navigating the waters in such a way that allows me to avoid the worst of the scandalous comics/issues that I really have no desire to read. Thankfully  I have some reliable ins into the comic world, one of which, when asked, suggested I try The Uncanny X-Men for a classic comic that’s clean and has characters and a universe I’d recognize. I have more experience with various manga so reading an American comic was a little weird for me. For one, the art style is completely different and, admittedly, I prefer the look of Japanese works in comparison but I do respect the skill involved in American designs. I did enjoy reading the issues of The Uncanny X-Men available in my library and I intend to find the next ones soon. The one thing that kept throwing me off though was the use of bolding in the text. There is a lot of it. I don’t know if that’s only true for this comic but bolded words were everywhere and the constant emphasis on 2-3 words per sentence was a bit tiring and didn't seem to make sense in some cases. Do most American comics have this kind of focus on grandiose, dramatic speech? If anyone is more familiar with this medium I’d love to hear your input and also if you have any recommendations for further reading. I’d love to get my hands on some Batman and Captain America comics sometime.

I promised you guys a review of Death Cloud and I am now prepared to deliver on that promise. To recap, Death Cloud is the first in a YA Sherlock Holmes series about teenage Sherlock himself. This series has been officially approved and endorsed by the Arthur Conan Doyle estate and I can see why. Death Cloud is a great read because you can see Doyle’s adult Sherlock in Lane’s teenage rendition. The intellect is there but clearly not as developed as it will be in later life. He has yet to pick up the violin and his social skills are a little bit less offensive. What I may love the most is how carefully Lane has crafted the context and characters that help to shape the Sherlock Holmes so many know and love. The Sherlock you meet in Death Cloud is anything but cold and unattached. As he is forced to spend the summer with relatives he doesn't know or particularly like you get his sense of homesickness and how much he misses and loves his family. The supporting characters that Lane has developed are wonderful. Sherlock has not yet developed his insanely keen sense of observation or understanding of city layouts, including information like where certain people live and what they do. The supporting characters, however, do possess much of this information for various reasons and it’s fun to watch as Sherlock learns the value of knowing such physical, real-world things like the schedule of a police watch or the characteristics of bees. I think everyone realizes that Sherlock Holmes can’t have always been the vast knowledge resource that he is in Doyle’s tales so it’s really cool to see Lane’s interpretation of how he accumulated that knowledge and I love that it comes from other people because it suggests that Sherlock is not as self-sufficient as he seems sometimes.

Overall, I found the story and the mystery to be engaging and age-appropriate for a 14 year-old Sherlock. The characterization is well written and believable and, for those interested, there’s even a touch of romance. I am eager to read the second book in the series to see how Lane follows up on his ambitious endeavor!

I’m a fan of Shannon Hale. Princess Academy was the first book by her that I ever read and owned so when I heard that she was publishing a sequel I had mixed feelings. For one, I really enjoy Princess Academy but I wasn't sure how I felt about a sequel since I thought the first was finished up nicely as a stand-alone novel. This is probably why it took me so long [relatively] to get my hands on Princess Academy: Palace of Stone and commit myself to read it but I’m glad I did. Palace of Stone is one of the most frustrating books I've read in a long time. Generally, I have a hard time putting a book down long enough to do other important things like chores and cooking but that wasn't the case here. I’d read a chapter or two and then throw it down [figuratively. no books were harmed in the making of this review] in frustration and walk away for a while. This probably sounds like a really negative thing but it’s actually a positive in my book. Granted, this process was exhausting but I was getting frustrated for good reasons, not because the writing was bad. Hale has a talent for developing conflicts and characters that just drive you up a wall.

The basis for the plot is that Miri and friends go to the capitol to visit Britta before her wedding. While there, they are exposed to a world they've never had access to which, in many cases, completely challenges their mountain way of life. Miri gets caught up in learning more than she ever dreamed there was to learn which includes the political upheaval threatening to destroy the kingdom. Miri must decide whose side she’s on which will also decide who, between Peder and a new young man, her heart will belong to. Hale does an excellent job of making Miri’s struggle realistic and her decisions believable, if infuriating at times. I do want to assure you that pushing through the grief is very worth it. I thought the resolution at the end of the book was completely satisfying and I was impressed because Hale went so far as to resolve the plot conflicts beyond the level that I think most authors would go, completely addressing latent conflicts that wouldn't have been solved with some simple band-aide resolution.

All in all, I’m really glad I read this. The characterization is wonderful and invests you in the characters and a story that is more than worth reading.