Category Archives: book review

Bookish Superlatives!

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Jamie at the Perpetual Page-Turner is at it again!  I love her fun bookish surveys.  You should do one too.

bookish-survey

Characters

Most Likely To Change The World

Aslan from Narnia
(Is that cheating? :-))

Cutest Couple

Will Trombal and Francesca Spinelli from Saving Francesca and The Piper’s Son

“Come here,” she says.
“No, you come here.”
“I said it first.”
“Rock paper scissors.”
“No. Because you’ll do nerdy calculations and work out what I chose the last six times and then you’ll win.”
Will pushes away from the table and his hand snakes out and he pulls her toward him and Tom figures that Will was always going to go to her first.

However, Eleanor and Park sure applied the pressure.

Class Clown

Jace from The Mortal Instruments series

Most Likely To Become Famous For Their Athletic/Musical/Artistic Abilities

Athlete: Rudy Steiner from The Book Thief
(Go, Jesse Owens!)

Musician: Joe Fontaine from The Sky is Everywhere
(“This is what happens when Joe Fontaine has his debut trumpet solo in band practice: I’m the first to go, swooning into Rachel, who topples into Cassidy Rosenthal, who tumbles into Zachary Quittner, who collapse into Sarah, who reels into Luke…”)

All Around Good Person

Webb from Jellicoe Road

Biggest Flirt

Joe Fontaine from The Sky is Everywhere

Most Likely To Be Fought Over

Joe Fontaine from The Sky is Everywhere

Mostly Likely To Be Friends Forever

Chaz and Raffy from Jellicoe Road
Frankie and Justine from Saving Francesca and The Piper’s Son

Most Likely To Have Their Own Reality Show

Conner and Risa from Unwind.  It would be called “Inside the Graveyard.”

Most Unique

Stargirl Carraway from Stargirl and Love, Stargirl

Most Likely To Survive An Apocalypse

Katsa and Po from Graceling

Most Likely To Be A Villain

Tom Riddle from Harry Potter
(or Dolores Umbridge!)

Biggest Wallflower

Conrad from Ordinary People

Most Likely To Break Your Heart

Augustus Waters from The Fault in Our Stars

Most Changed

Froi from The Lumatere Chronicles

Most Likely To Get Arrested

Jonah Griggs from Jellicoe Road

Self Proclaimed God/Goddess

Jace from the Mortal Instruments series

Best Person To Bring Home To Mom & Dad

Will Trombal from Saving Francesca and The Piper’s Son

Books

Most Likely To Make You Cry

Duh.  The Fault in Our Stars.

Dares To Be Different (in world, plot, storytelling, etc.)

Everyday by David Levithan (fascinating, gender-bending premise!)

Best Dressed (pretty cover!)

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Most Likely To Make You Swoon

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Loveliest Prose

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
tied with
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
tied with
The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle
tied with
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

Most Likely To Be A Favorite Of 2013

(Very much anticipating the following:)
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider
Aimless Love by Billy Collins

Most Likely To Change The World (or change your life)

The Fault in Our Stars really *did* change my life because it showed me that I wanted to write YA fiction!

Book You Are Most Likely To Keep Putting Off

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Most Likely To End Up As Christmas Gifts For Everyone You Know

Jellicoe Road for everyone!

Most Likely To Be Thrown

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Most Likely To Be Reread More Than Once
(I’m an avid re-reader!) (No, really.)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Most Likely To Make You Read Through An Earthquake Because It’s THAT Engrossing

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Most Likely To Be Passed On To Your Children

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Most Likely To Break Your Heart Into A Million Pieces

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Most Likely To Brighten Up Your Day

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
(There has to be a reason I’ve read it six times in the last six weeks, right?)

Sequels I am Dying to Read

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1. While City of Bones wasn’t my favorite, every TMI (The Mortal Instruments) book got better and better.  I am dying to learn what will happen to Jace and Clary (and Simon, Isabelle, Alec, Magnus, Maya, and Jordan too!).  Oh, and Sebastian …

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2. I love Aria and Perry and NEEDTOKNOW how everything shakes out.  Will the Tides and the Dwellers be able to live in peace?  Will they find the still blue?  And what about Roar??  (Spoiler free but hinty: I’m not convinced about Liv.)

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3. I was so completely irate with Juliette at the end of Unravel Me!  I mean, pissed.  I need to see how this whole clustercuss is going to end up.

IGNITEME

How about you?

Jackie’s Favorite C.S. Lewis Books

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cs lewis1. The Chronicles of Narnia are hands down my favorite of Jack Lewis’s books and so take the #1 spot.  Were I pressed to delineate the order in which I rank them, I would say this: The Last Battle; The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; The Horse and His Boy; The Magician’s Nephew; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; Prince Caspian; The Silver Chair.  I think.  I love them all though and usually listen to a Narnia audiobook to fall asleep each night.  In this way, I read the whole series perhaps a dozen times a year.  That’s a lot of Narnia– just the way I like it.

2. The space trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength.  Theological science fiction?  Heck yes!  And each book is better than the last.

3. The Great Divorce.  One crazy bus ride through the afterlife.

4. Till We Have Faces.

5. A Grief Observed.  Written after his wife died.  I read this in one evening.

6. Mere Christianity.

7. The Problem of Pain.  How can God be all-good and all-powerful if there is still pain in the world?

8. Letters to Children.  A collection of Lewis’s letters written mostly to kiddos.  LOVE.

Notably absent:
The Screwtape Letters.  While this book of advice from one demon to his nephew is an oft-quoted favorite of people, it’s not one of mine.  It’s clever and valuable, and you should definitely read it, but it’s a lot to swim through.  Even Lewis claimed it was “not fun” to write and that he’d never written anything with “less enjoyment.”  He wrote, “Though I had never written anything more easily, I never wrote with less enjoyment . . . though it was easy to twist one’s mind into the diabolical attitude, it was not fun, or not for long. The strain produced a sort of spiritual cramp. The work into which I had to project myself while I spoke through Screwtape was all dust, grit, thirst, and itch.”  He “was resolved never to write another ‘Letter.'”

Surprised by Joy.  This is Lewis’s autobiography, and while it’s been many years since I’ve read it, it certainly wasn’t a favorite of mine.

A to Z Bookish Survey!

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AtoZsurveyI thought this survey, hosted by The Perpetual Page-Turner, looked right up my alley … and yours!

Author you’ve read the most books from:

C.S. Lewis!  (Unless you count the childhood years, in which case, Ann M. Martin wins … I think I owned 150+ Babysitters Club books, ha!)

Best Sequel Ever:

Perelandra by C.S. Lewis or The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta

Currently Reading:

UnWholly by Neal Shusterman

Drink of Choice While Reading:

Mmm … hot cocoa.  (Well, in those Minnesota winters, at least!)

E-reader or Physical Book?

Well … I’m mainly an audiobook girl!

Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated In High School:

I would have wanted to date Augustus Waters.  Or Jonah Griggs.  Be still, my teenage heart.  (My top 10 literary boyfriends here!)

Glad You Gave This Book A Chance:

City of Bones by Cassie Clare.  This is soooooooo not my normal kind of book, but I ended up really enjoying The Mortal Instruments series!

Hidden Gem Book:

The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle.  I try my hardest to recruit people to read it!

Important Moment in your Reading Life:

I can think of a couple: 1) Reading Where the Red Fern Grows, the first book to make me cry; 2) Staying up late to finish the Harry Potter series; 3) Reading The Book Thief in pajamas till 5pm one Saturday.

Just Finished:

The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan

Kinds of Books You Won’t Read:

Here is a list of books topics that turn me off!

Longest Book You’ve Read:

Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix.  870 pages of teenage angst.

Major book hangover because of:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  I take personal offense if people don’t like this book.

Number of Bookcases You Own:

Three.  A “favorites” shelf, a jam-packed fiction and literary writing shelf, and another full non-fiction shelf.

One Book You Have Read Multiple Times:

Well, I just read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe five times in the last month.  Narnia addict.

Preferred Place To Read:

I love listening to audiobooks on long car rides!  Otherwise, I want to be in bed!

Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you’ve read:

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Reading Regret:

I regret giving into the pressure to read Twilight.

Series You Started And Need To Finish(all books are out in series):

The Unwind dystology by Neal Shusterman!  (Actually, I’m not sure the third book is out yet …)

Three of your All-Time Favorite Books:

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (I know that’s cheating, and I don’t care); The Book Thief by Markus Zusak; Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Unapologetic Fangirl For:

Narnia!!! Harry Potter!!!

Yep, we played this before one of the midnight showings ... our blindfold was a Gryffindor scarf.

Yep, we played this before one of the midnight showings … our blindfold was a Gryffindor scarf.

Very Excited For This Release More Than All The Others:

Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi

Worst Bookish Habit:

Not using the library enough.  Using my credit card too much.

X Marks The Spot: Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book:

To Own a Dragon by Donald Miller and John MacMurray Jr.

Your latest book purchase:

The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider (preordered: it is released later this month!)

ZZZ-snatcher book (last book that kept you up WAY late):

The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay, which I rather enjoyed.

Review: The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan

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lover's dictionaryHaving enjoyed David Levithan’s recent YA book (Every Day) as well as his co-authored book with John Green (Will Grayson, Will Grayson), I was excited to see he had another novel out, The Lover’s Dictionary.

I read it in about an hour.

It’s a delightful little novel/poem/dictionary with short entries and unnamed main characters, just “you” and “I.”  I didn’t know how much I’d get to know the characters through the tiny little vignettes, but the answer was a lot.  And it was a story too– a novel, though a non-traditional one.  The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger, but it seemed quite satisfying for it to end that way.

I hope you’ll enjoy it.  It includes delicious little lines like these:

“Knit me a sweater out of your best stories.”

“It was after sex, when there was still heat and mostly breathing, when there was still touch and mostly thought …”

“Cranes, the birds with the rubber necks, don’t always find carnage.  Sometimes it’s just rain.”

Favorite Endings

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme over at The Broke and the Bookish.  Today’s topic is

TOP TEN BEST BEGINNINGS & ENDINGS.

I’m focusing on endings today.  Remember, I come at this not just as a reader but as a writer … so my favorite endings are not necessarily happy ones.  Sometimes they’re downright sad– but that perfect, satisfying, necessary sadness that works at the end of an incredible story.

I’ll try to go ultra-light on the spoilers, though it’s hard when this post is about endings.

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10. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White | That ending!  That speech!

9. Stargirl & Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli | Yes and yes.  I couldn’t figure out how Love, Stargirl could end in a satisfying way, but Jerry Spinelli pulled it off masterfully!

8. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern | The way it had to end.

7. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead | All i’s dotted and t’s crossed.

6. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis | BOOM!!!  The ending is INTENSE.

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5. Every Day by David Levithan | A selfless ending.  Blew my mind.

4. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak | Max.

3. The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle | Mmm, epic.

2. Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling | An ending seven books in the making.

1. The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis | No better ending.

Your turn!  What books have your favorite endings, happy or sad?

Review: Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

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throughtheevernightThe second book of the Under the Never Sky trilogy, Through the Ever Night was great!  As you may remember, I loved the first book but was frustrated with its ending (too much packed in too quickly), but I was willing to keep reading to learn more about Aria, the girl who’d grown up in a biosphere and was now trying to stay alive on the outside, and Perry, the boy who was helping her to do so.

I’m so glad I did.

Hard decisions.  Lots of responsibility.  Heart-pounding drama.  You get it all with this book.

I can’t wait till the third book Into the Still Blue … January 2000-freaking-14.  I really should not start series till they’re all out (that’s what happened with me and Potter, and it was delicious).

Review: Son by Lois Lowry

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sonOver the years, I have read all the books in the series that start with The Giver.  I like to think of The Giver as the original dystopian novel (though I’m sure it’s not)– the story of Jonas and “The Community.”  This book is followed by Kira’s story in Gathering Blue and then Matty’s story in The Messenger.

Now, Son ties them all together.

And that was really the brilliance of Son.  I didn’t find it especially well-written or thrilling.  It was a bit disjointed and the ending was too fast and too easy.

But for those of us who originally loved Jonas and Gabe, the little boy he escaped with, this book feels like tying up all loose ends, and there is a satisfaction to that.

Review: Golden by Jessi Kirby

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tbr5Reading contemporary YA books can be a struggle for me, since that’s my genre– it’s my favorite, but I compare it to my own writing so much that sometimes it’s actually hard to read.  (Hence why I cried for two reasons while reading The Fault in Our Stars.)  

Golden is the story of Parker Frost, a high school senior who never takes chances.  Everything she does is dictated by what her mother wants and what people expect of her.  But when a decade-old journal falls into her hands which sheds light on a town mystery (the mysterious car crash of Julianna and Shane, the town’s former golden couple), Parker might need to step out of her shell.

This book had so many great elements to it– a story within a story, plenty of poetry, a cute boy, a mystery.  And yet it fell a little flat for me.  I liked it, but I didn’t love it.  I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.  I found myself frustrated with how pokey Parker was (and that is coming from me, who is definitely a goody-two-shoes), and I felt confused over Parker’s relationship with her best friend Kat.  I guess, ultimately, the problem for me was that I didn’t feel that I truly got to know the characters, and characters are probably the #1 most important part of a story (for me).

Should you read it?  If you’re into contemp, then yes, go for it.  It’s a quick read, and I’m glad I read it.  It’s given me lots of ideas for my WIP.  If it’s not your genre, skip it.  

I need more contemporary YA to read.  Any suggestions?